E-Science in the classroom - Towards viability

E-Science has the potential to transform school science by enabling learners, teachers and research scientists to engage together in authentic scientific enquiry, collaboration and learning. However, if we are to reap the benefits of this potential as part of everyday teaching and learning, we need to explicitly think about and support the work required to set up and run e-Science experiences within any particular educational context. In this paper, we present a framework for identifying and describing the resources, tools and services necessary to move e-Science into the classroom together with examples of these. This framework is derived from previous experiences conducting educational e-Science projects and systematic analysis of the categories of ‘hidden work’ needed to run these projects (Smith, Underwood, Fitzpatrick, & Luckin, forthcoming). The articulation of resources, tools and services based on these categories provides a starting point for more methodical design and deployment of future educational e- Science projects, reflection on which can also help further develop the framework. It also points to the technological infrastructure from which such tools and services could be built. As such it provides an agenda of work to develop both processes and technologies that would make it practical for teachers to deliver active, and collaborative e-Science learning experiences on a larger scale within and across schools. Routine school e- Science will only be possible if such support is specified, implemented and made available to teachers within their work contexts in an appropriate and usable form

Diabetes isn't an illness- It's a nuisance

Diabetes is a controllable, but not curable, long term condition usually self-managed in daily life. Much existing knowledge of diabetes is focussed on the biomedical and compliance models of care. In contrast, this thesis focuses on how women in midlife perceive the experience of living with diabetes. An exploratory sequential mixed methods approach, within a feminist empowerment framework, examined the experiences of women aged 41-60 with insulin treated diabetes. Data collection methods included a focus group (Stage 1; n=5), survey (Stage 2; n=59), and face to face interviews and journal keeping (Stage 3; n=23 and 18 respectively). It is with the final stage that this thesis is primarily concerned. Ethical approval was obtained from an advisory ethics committee at the Open University. The research questions were: - What do women describe as stressful in relation to their insulin treated diabetes? - What impact do these stressors have on women's lives? - How do women with insulin treated diabetes interpret and manage their lives? Two overarching and interlinked themes of experiencing stress and maintaining control were identified from Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Three other major themes were: - Diabetes as a nuisance; - Diabetes in daily life; - Diabetes during times of crisis. Conclusions were that women in midlife who live with diabetes experience a range of stressors, and that there is a complex cyclical relationship between stress and diabetes with the potential for this to become a spiralling one. The originality of the study is in the area of identifying diabetes as a nuisance. Poetic representation of the data has been utilised to represent this theme, which will be used in dissemination of findings to both lay and professional audiences. There is the potential for both clinical application of these findings and future research

The accelerating influence of humans on mammalian macroecological patterns over the late Quaternary

The transition of hominins to a largely meat-based diet ~1.8 million years ago led to the exploitation of other mammals for food and resources. As hominins, particularly archaic and modern humans, became increasingly abundant and dispersed across the globe, a temporally and spatially transgressive extinction of large-bodied mammals followed; the degree of selectivity was unprecedented in the Cenozoic fossil record. Today, most remaining large-bodied mammal species are confined to Africa, where they coevolved with hominins. Here, using a comprehensive global dataset of mammal distribution, life history and ecology, we examine the consequences of “body size downgrading” of mammals over the late Quaternary on fundamental macroecological patterns. Specifically, we examine changes in species diversity, global and continental body size distributions, allometric scaling of geographic range size with body mass, and the scaling of maximum body size with area. Moreover, we project these patterns toward a potential future scenario in which all mammals currently listed as vulnerable on the IUCN\u27s Red List are extirpated. Our analysis demonstrates that anthropogenic impact on earth systems predates the terminal Pleistocene and has grown as populations increased and humans have become more widespread. Moreover, owing to the disproportionate influence on ecosystem structure and function of megafauna, past and present body size downgrading has reshaped Earth\u27s biosphere. Thus, macroecological studies based only on modern species yield distorted results, which are not representative of the patterns present for most of mammal evolution. Our review supports the concept of benchmarking the “Anthropocene” with the earliest activities of Homo sapiens

SYMMETRY OF GROUND REACTION FORCE MEASURES IN SUCCESSIVE FOOTFALLS DURING RUNNING

Historically ground reaction forces have taken pl'ace using a single force platform during running. Dainty and Norman (1987) stated that force platforms must be designed to accommodate foot contact with a minimum necessity of targeting the platform. Such statements are verified by differences in ground reaction force variables when a subject has to alter their stride pattern on the approach to the plate. Differences have been primarily evident during the impact phase for both walking and running (Ohallis, 2001). The alteration of these kinetic variables was related to modification of lower limb angles at contact with the platform (Challis, 2001). It can be concluded that targeti ng of the force platform in gait analysis would produce kinetic measures that are not representational, or typical of subjects standard foot contact pattern. Many of the problems of targeting can be eliminated by sound experimental procedures, such as adequate approach and run-off distances, clear verbal instructions, and ensuring the subject maintains optical focus away from the platform surface. In addition, it is possible to measure footstrikes on more than one force platform. Providing the sUbject has no major biomechanical' deficit, or injury at the time of testing, measurement of successive footstrikes should not yield ground reaction force differences in normal walking or running (Dyson and Janaway, 2000). However, recent results in running (Smith et ai., 2004) revealed vertical impact loading rate and braking forces to be greater on the second of two successive footstrikes in soccer players. It was proposed this result could be attributed to increased muscular development on the SUbjects preferred r1imb. The aim of the current investigation is to assess the symmetry of successive footstrikes during running, with a secondary aim of investigating differences in force between the preferred and non-preferred limb

The early presentation and management of rheumatoid arthritis cases in primary care

Recent NICE guidance has emphasised the importance of early recognition and referral of patients with inflammatory arthritis so that disease modifying treatment can be promptly initiated. The timely identification of such patients, given the large numbers consulting with musculoskeletal complaints, is a considerable challenge and descriptive data from primary care are sparse. Our objective was to examine GP records from three years before to 14 days after the first coded diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis in order to describe the early course and management of the diseas