Targeting deprived areas within small areas in Scotland: population study

No abstract available

Changes in BMI and waist circumference in Scottish adults: use of repeated cross-sectional surveys to explore multiple age groups and birth-cohorts

Objective: To document changes in body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) over a 10-year period 1998-2008, in representative surveys of adults.<p></p> Subjects: Adults aged 18-72 in the Scottish Health Surveys conducted in 1998, 2003 and 2008 were divided, separately for men and women, into eleven 5-year age bands. ‘Synthetic birth-cohorts’ were created by dividing participants into thirteen 5-years-of-birth bands (n=20,423). Weight, height and waist circumference were objectively measured by trained observers.<p></p> Results: Subjects with data available on BMI/waist circumference were 7743/6894 in 1998, 5838/4437 in 2003 and 4688/925 in 2008 with approximately equal gender distributions. Mean BMI and waist were both greater in successive surveys in both men and women. At most specific ages, people were consistently heavier in 2008 than in 1998 by about 1-1.5 BMI units, and waist circumferences were greater, by about 2-6 cm in men and 5-7 cm in women. Greater increases were seen at younger ages between 1998 and 2003 than between 2003 and 2008, however increases continued at older ages, particularly in waist. All birth-cohorts observed over the 10 years 1998-2008 showed increases in both BMI and waist, most marked in the younger groups. The 10-year increases in waist within birth-cohorts (mean 7.4 cm (8.1%) in men and 8.6 cm (10.9%) in women) were more striking than BMI (mean 1.8 kg/m2 (6.6%) in men and 1.5 kg/m2 (6.4%) in women) were particularly steep in older women.<p></p> Conclusion: People were heavier and fatter in 2003 than those of the same age in 1998, with less marked increases in WC between 2003 and 2008 than 1998 and 2003. There were proportionally greater increases in waist circumference than BMI, especially in older women. This suggests a disproportionate increase in body fat, compared to muscle, particularly among older women.<p></p&gt

Following-Up on Feedback through Repetition inAssessments (in the Science Disciplines)

In practice, the student learning cycle involves learning, assessment and feedback. The student learns about a particular topic through a combination of lectures, research and/or action. They are then assessed on what they have learned and are given formative feedback on their performance. Unfortunately, the cycle seems to end at this point. A new topic is presented and the learning cycle repeats. This is typical of a module in which several different topics are covered over the course of a semester. However, some obvious questions emerge. What do the students do with the feedback? Do they really learn from it? How do we know? This paper proposes to follow-up on feedback by simply ensuring that a proportion of the next assessment covers material that students had difficulty with on the previous one. Students are informed of this fact so as to encourage them to actively engage with the feedback. Test results show a marked improvement in the students’ performance, particularly in the case of the repeated material, while student feedback responds favourably to this method of ensuring that the student learning cycle is properly completed. Details of the assessments, test results and student feedback, as well as some personal observations and discussions, are presented within

The Relationship of the Language Skills Required for Reading and Speech Reading Skills for Children with Hearing Impairment

Currently there is no model of the development of reading skills currently exists for children with hearing impairments. Using the framework of a commonly excepted model of reading for children with typical hearing researchers have sought to determine how children with hearing impairments develop reading skills. The purpose of this is study was to examine a possible link between two components of reading development, speech reading and language. Participants consisted of 5 school aged children with severe to profound hearing loss with cochlear implants or hearing aids. These children were administered the CELF-4 and a department created speech reading test. Results indicated that children with poor language scores had the best speech reading scores while the child with good language scores had poor speech reading score. Performance on tasks examining syntax proved to be crucial to performance on speech reading tasks

Honey: a therapeutic agent for disorders of the skin

•Introduction •Antimicrobial properties of honey in relation to skin disease •Immunomodulatory properties of honey •Anti-carcinogenic properties of honey •Evidence for the efficacy of honey in the treatment of skin diseas

On the Use of Multiple Class Test Assessments to Promote and Encourage Student Learning

Abstract included in text

On Using Fuzzy Logic for Grading Highly Subjective Assessment Material – a Case Study

It is difficult to remove subjectivity from assessment, especially when the assessed material is highly subjective by nature. While one assessor deems work to be of high quality, a second may view it as poor. Moreover, although two assessors may agree that the work is of satisfactory quality, they may nevertheless proceed to grade it significantly different, based on their interpretation of what is meant by satisfactory. While this is part of human nature, it is important that we strive for an assessment mechanism that is fair to all students, particularly when multiple personnel are involved in the grading process. This paper investigates the suitability of using fuzzy logic, and its ability to model linguistic terms, for the purposes of achieving fair assessment. A case study is carried out in which both the fuzzy logic and the standard numerical grading approaches are applied to a postgraduate poster competition. The results from this case study are presented and discussed within

"Curioser and Curioser!": Exploring Wonderland with Alice

When first published in 1865, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" built upon existing traditions of literary fairy tales and nonsense verse, but struck new ground inthe scope of its imagination and the introduction of a female protagonist whose defining characteristic was not virtuous obedience or domestic docility, but an impetuous curiosity. In celebration of 150 years with Alice, "Curioser and Curioser!" invites you to explore the creatures and landscapes of Wonderland through a selection of "Alice" editions and other related material.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/120246/1/curiouser_and_curiouser_15.pd

The Myth of Increasing Real Resources for Schools

Education and the national economy are intertwined