621 research outputs found
The representation of scientific research in the national curriculum and secondary school pupilsâ perceptions of research, its function, usefulness and value to their lives
Young peopleâs views on what research is, how it is conducted and whether it is important, influences the decisions they make about their further studies and career choices. In this paper we report the analysis of questionnaire data with a particular focus on pupil perceptions of research in the sciences and of the scientific method. The questionnaire was a 25-item Likert Scale (1-5) distributed to seven collaborating schools. We received 2634 returns from pupils across key stages 3, 4 and 5. We also asked teachers to complete the questionnaire in order to explore how they thought their pupils would respond. We received 54 teacher responses. Statistically significant differences in the responses were identified through a chi-square test on SPSS. As what is being taught influences secondary pupil views on research we also consider how the term âresearchâ appears in the national curriculum for England and Wales and the three main English exam boards. The main theoretical construct that informs our analysis of the questionnaire data and the national curriculum is Angela Brewâs 4-tier descriptor of perceptions of research (domino, trading, layer, journey). We use this framework in order to map what, when and how research is presented to school pupils in England and Wales. We also use this framework in order to highlight and discuss certain pupil views that emerged from the questionnaire data and which indicate areas where curriculum and pedagogy intervention may be necessary: pupils seem less confident in their understanding of research as involving the identification of a research question; and, they often see research as a means to confirm oneâs own opinion. They do however understand research as involving the generation of new knowledge and the collection of new data, such as interviews and questionnaires as well as laboratory work, field trips and library searches and they appear relatively confident in their statements about their ability to do research, their school experiences of research and the importance of research in their future career choice
Older consumersâ perceptions of functional foods and non-edible health-enhancing innovations
Increasing interest in health and well-being is likely to drive a growth in demand for products that have positive effects on health. Consumersâ acceptance of and willingness to buy functional foods has been widely studied, but there has not been research on consumersâ attitudes towards innovative non-edible products with health effects. This study examines how older consumers perceive functional foods and novel non-edible health-enhancing products, how willing they are to purchase such products, and how health orientation influences their views. As an example of a âradicalâ innovation, consumersâ acceptance of rubbing their hands in a specific soil-based mixture to modulate the immune system is explored. The research material, 13 thematic interviews, was collected in Lahti region, Finland, in 2015. The study indicates that the older consumersâ market is not homogeneous. Based on a qualitative, in-depth approach, the study distinguishes four consumer segments with different lay understandings of health and attitudes towards health-enhancing products, which influence people's willingness to purchase such products. The segments are health-seeking consumers, cautious consumers, critical consumers and natural health consumers. Various motives and barriers for using products with health claims are also identified. The case of rubbing hands in organic soil-based mixture indicates the difficulty of predicting which consumer segment will first adopt this kind of âradicalâ innovation. The results highlight that the credence qualities of a novel product must be communicated and advertised before entering the market while also taking into account the sensory properties of the product. âRadical innovationsâ must be in a form that consumers can easily accept.Peer reviewe
Observations and modelling of the wave mode evolution of an impulse-driven 3 mHz ULF wave
A combination of an HF Doppler sounder, a network of ground magnetometers,
upstream solar wind monitors and a numerical model is used to examine the
temporal evolution of an Ultra Low Frequency (ULF) wave. The event occurred
on 16 April 1998 and followed a solar wind density and pressure increase seen
in the upstream ACE spacecraft data. The magnetometer and HF Doppler sounder
data show that the event develops into a low-<I>m</I> (−6) field line
resonance. HF signals that propagate via the ionosphere exhibit Doppler
shifts due to a number of processes that give rise to a time-dependent phase
path. The ULF electric and magnetic fields are calculated by a
one-dimensional model which calculates the wave propagation from the
magnetosphere, through the ionosphere to the ground with an oblique magnetic
field. These values are then used to determine a model HF Doppler shift which
is subsequently compared to HF Doppler observations. The ULF magnetic field
at the ground and Doppler observations are then used to provide model inputs
at various points throughout the event. We find evidence that the wave mode
evolved from a mixture of fast and Alfvén modes at the beginning of the
event to an almost purely shear Alfvénic mode after 6 wavecycles (33 min)
Vaginal biogenic amines: biomarkers of bacterial vaginosis or precursors to vaginal dysbiosis?
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common vaginal disorder among reproductive age women. One clinical indicator of BV is a "fishy" odor. This odor has been associated with increases in several biogenic amines (BAs) that may serve as important biomarkers. Within the vagina, BA production has been linked to various vaginal taxa, yet their genetic capability to synthesize BAs is unknown. Using a bioinformatics approach, we show that relatively few vaginal taxa are predicted to be capable of producing BAs. Many of these taxa (Dialister, Prevotella, Parvimonas, Megasphaera, Peptostreptococcus, and Veillonella spp.) are more abundant in the vaginal microbial community state type (CST) IV, which is depleted in lactobacilli. Several of the major Lactobacillus species (L. crispatus, L. jensenii, and L. gasseri) were identified as possessing gene sequences for proteins predicted to be capable of putrescine production. Finally, we show in a small cross sectional study of 37 women that the BAs putrescine, cadaverine and tyramine are significantly higher in CST IV over CSTs I and III. These data support the hypothesis that BA production is conducted by few vaginal taxa and may be important to the outgrowth of BV-associated (vaginal dysbiosis) vaginal bacteria
An exploratory study looking at the relationship marketing techniques used in the music festival industry
There are current issues and trends in the music festival
market, which may affect the success of an event, and market saturation
is at the forefront of these issues. Previous literature, maintaining
the need for a marketing approach to festivals, identifi es the need
for maintaining strong stakeholder relationships in order to succeed
in a business environment; attention has been focused to the theory
of relationship marketing (RM) because of the recognition that this
practice is complementary to the marketing of festivals. The very nature
of the music festival as an annual, usually, 4-day event means that
effective marketing is needed to keep connections with the consumer
throughout the year. This article focuses on the RM techniques
utilised within the music festival industry from the viewpoint of the
festival organiser in an attempt to establish how festival organisations
value and monitor organisational relationships. This article explores
the extent to which these relationships are valued and managed;
furthermore, the variations between these intricate relationships
are considered by focusing on those held with the organisation â s
consumers and sponsors, the results of which have provided the
ability to establish the importance and relevance of RM to the industry
and further identify the marketing communication methods employed
to establish and maintain such relationships. In-depth, convergent
interviews have been conducted with a segment of music festival
organisers from a range of events. The results have been integrated
with the study of current literature to best exemplify these issues. It
has been established that RM has a strong role in today â s commercial
and independent music festival industry; technological advances are
enabling the organiser to support online relationships further and
increase consumer loyalty. There is a need to expand the research
further because of the complexity of organisational relationships and
the varying categories of festivals
Two-atom dark states in electromagnetic cavities
The center-of-mass motion of two two-level atoms coupled to a single damped
mode of an electromagnetic resonator is investigated. For the case of one atom
being initially excited and the cavity mode in the vacuum state it is shown
that the atomic time evolution is dominated by the appearance of dark states.
These states, in which the initial excitation is stored in the internal atomic
degrees of freedom and the atoms become quantum mechanically entangled, are
almost immune against photon loss from the cavity. Various properties of the
dark states within and beyond the Raman-Nath approximation of atom optics are
worked out.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Relationships among intramammary health, udder and teat characteristics, and productivity of extensively managed ewes
Mastitis is an economically important disease and its subclinical state is difficult to diagnose, which makes mitigation more challenging. The objectives of this study were to screen clinically healthy ewes in order to 1) identify cultivable microbial species in milk, 2) evaluate somatic cell count (SCC) thresholds associated with intramammary infection, and 3) estimate relationships between udder and teat morphometric traits, SCC, and ewe productivity. Milk was collected from two flocks in early (\u3c5 \u3ed) and peak (30 to 45 d) lactation to quantify SCC (n = 530) and numerate cultivable microbial species by culture-based isolation followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS; n = 243) identification. Within flock and lactation stage, 11% to 74% (mean = 36%) of samples were culture positive. More than 50 unique identifications were classified by MALDI-TOF MS analysis, and Bacillus licheniformis (18% to 27%), Micrococcus flavus (25%), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (7% to 18%), and Staphylococcus epidermidis (26%) were among the most common within flock and across lactation stage. Optimum SCC thresholds to identify culture-positive samples ranged from 175 Ă 103 to 1,675 Ă 103 cells/mL. Ewe productivity was assessed as total 120-d adjusted litter weight (LW120) and analyzed within flock with breed, parity, year, and the linear covariate of log10 SCC (LSCC) at early or peak lactation. Although dependent on lactation stage and year, each 1-unit increase in LSCC (e.g., an increase in SCC from 100 Ă 103 to 1,000 Ă 103 cells/mL) was predicted to decrease LW120 between 9.5 and 16.1 kg when significant. Udder and teat traits included udder circumference, teat length, teat placement, and degree of separation of the udder halves. Correlations between traits were generally low to moderate within and across lactation stage and most were not consistently predictive of ewe LSCC. Overall, the frequencies of bacteria-positive milk samples indicated that subclinical mastitis (SCM) is common in these flocks and can impact ewe productivity. Therefore, future research is warranted to investigate pathways and timing of microbial invasion, genomic regions associated with susceptibility, and husbandry to mitigate the impact of SCM in extensively managed ewes
Excitation thresholds of field-aligned irregularities and associated ionospheric hysteresis at very high latitudes observed using SPEAR-induced HF radar backscatter
On 10 October 2006 the SPEAR high power radar facility was operated in a power-stepping mode where both CUTLASS radars were detecting backscatter from the SPEAR-induced field-aligned irregularities (FAIs). The effective radiated power of SPEAR was varied from 1â10 MW. The aim of the experiment was to investigate the power thresholds for excitation (<I>P<sub>t</sub></I>) and collapse (<I>P<sub>c</sub></I>) of artificially-induced FAIs in the ionosphere over Svalbard. It was demonstrated that FAI could be excited by a SPEAR ERP of only 1 MW, representing only 1/30th of SPEAR's total capability, and that once created the irregularities could be maintained for even lower powers. The experiment also demonstrated that the very high latitude ionosphere exhibits hysteresis, where the down-going part of the power cycle provided a higher density of irregularities than for the equivalent part of the up-going cycle. Although this second result is similar to that observed previously by CUTLASS in conjunction with the TromsĂž heater, the same is not true for the equivalent incoherent scatter measurements. The EISCAT Svalbard Radar (ESR) failed to detect any hysteresis in the plasma parameters over Svalbard in stark contract with the measurements made using the TromsĂž UHF
PRILOG PROUÄAVANJU SUDSKE PRAKSE O NAKNADI Ć TETE ZBOG OZLJEDE NA RADU (2)
International audienceObservations from the WHISPER (Waves of High frequency and Sounder for Probing of Electron density by Relaxation) instrument on board Cluster, for the interval spanning 2001-2012, are utilized to determine an empirical model describing the total electron density along closed geomagnetic field lines. The model, representing field lines in the region of 4.5â€L -3 above the background power law dependence. The resulting model illustrates some key features of the electron density spatial distribution. The role of the number density distribution, represented by the empirical electron density model, in determining the total plasma mass density is also explored. By combining the empirical electron density model with an empirical average ion mass model, the total plasma mass density distribution is inferred, which includes contributions of both the number density and ion composition of the plasma in the region
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