Special Article: Physical Activity, Physical Fitness, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Childhood

In adults, physical activity and exercise training are associated with reduced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, a reduced likelihood of developing adverse cardiovascular risk factors, and improved insulin sensitivity. In childhood, participation in appropriate physical activity may prevent the development of cardiovascular risk factors in the future and complement treatment of existing cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, and overweight. Exercise in children can also significantly improve insulin sensitivity independent of weight loss. These e fects are mediated in overweight children by increases in lean body mass relative to fat mass and associated improvements in inflammatory mediators, endothelial function, and the associated adverse hormonal milieu

Variations in groundwater chemistry and hydrology at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, UK

This paper presents the results of a project in which the seasonal changes in the chemistry of groundwater in dipwells at Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve were investigated for the first time. Thirteen dipwells arranged in two roughly perpendicular transects across Wicken Fen were sampled for groundwater on a monthly basis between April 2010 and April 2011. Surface water from a drainage ditch (Gardiner’s Drain) and groundwater from a further location (dipwell 17) were also sampled at the same interval. The water samples were analysed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), major solutes (Ca, Na, Mg, S), nutrients (N, P, K) and trace elements (Al, Fe, Mn) in the laboratory. Measurements of pH and electrical conductivity were also taken from the soil at the fourteen dipwell locations. The results of these analyses are compared to borehole data, groundwater levels and precipitation data to form a new conceptual model of the spatial and temporal variations in groundwater chemistry at Wicken Fen, which have important implications for future hydrological and vegetation management regimes.The National Trust provided funding for the investigations in this study. The author would like to thank James Selby, John Hughes, Martin Lester and other NT staff for their help with collecting water samples and water level data during the study period

Imaging Periglacial Stripes using Ground Penetrating Radar at the 'GRIM' training site, Grimes Graves, Breckland, Norfolk

The geological structure of periglacial patterned ground made visible by heather ‘tiger’ stripes at the GRIM Military Training Site, Breckland, Norfolk was investigated using Ground Penetrating Radar. A tripartite deposit model comprising an upper pellet chalk, a gravelly diamicton and a lower chalk rubble, overlying bedrock Upper Chalk is proposed. Frost cracks active during the Devensian Stage appear to have allowed the diamicton to ‘heave’ to the surface during solifluction. Coversand has been deposited in the gullies formed by the frostcracks during the Devensian. It is the acidic coversand that supports the growth of heather and makes this site of both geological and ecological interest

Middle Pleistocene ice-marginal sedimentation in the transitional zone between the constrained and unconstrained ice-sheet margin, East Anglia, England

It is uncommon in the North Sea basin and northwestern Europe for the ice-marginal glacial successions of the Middle Pleistocene, Anglian (Elsterian) age to be well preserved and not overridden by subsequent glaciations. The existence of extensive and thick (˜20 m) Middle Pleistocene sand and gravel successions in East Anglia, England, provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct and understand the palaeoenvironmental conditions in the Anglian ice-marginal zone, and further across the North Sea basin. This paper uses data from 80 sections in two sand and gravel quarries in East Anglia to provide the first evidence concerning: (i) the character of the ice-marginal processes in the unique, transitional zone between the topographically constrained and unconstrained Anglian ice-sheet margin; (ii) the role of meltwater in the re-shaping of topographically driven preglacial drainage; and (iii) the position and the number of oscillations of the Anglian ice-sheet margin in the form of a sediment-landform assemblage. Moreover the current research adds to the discussion on the presence and extent of the proglacial lake in the North Sea Basin during the Anglian glaciation. The sand and gravel successions in the Anglian ice-marginal zone are primarily reworked proto-Thames sediments deposited by meltwater. At the beginning of the glaciation, the meltwater followed the preglacial (proto-Thames) river course. However, as the ice sheet advanced, it was re-routed, overwhelming and abandoning the old river course and depositing an extensive ice-marginal subaqueous fan. The succession includes evidence for at least two enhanced meltwater release events, as well as indications of glaciolacustrine sedimentation. The character of the described sedimentary settings is discussed in the wider context of the presence of the North Sea Lake

Can we trust “Magnitude-based inference”?

Editoria

In-service Initial Teacher Education in the Learning and Skills Sector in England: Integrating Course and Workplace Learning

The aim of the paper is to advance understanding of in-service learning and skills sector trainee teachers’ learning and propose ways of improving their learning. A conceptual framework is developed by extending Billett’s (International Journal of Educational Research 47:232–240, 2008) conceptualisation of workplace learning, as a relationally interdependent process between the opportunities workplaces afford for activities and interactions and how individuals engage with these, to a third base of participation, the affordances of the initial teacher education course. Hager and Hodkinson’s (British Educational Research Journal 35:619–638, 2009) metaphor of ‘learning as becoming’ is used to conceptualise the ways trainees reconstruct learning in a continuous transactional process of boundary crossing between course and workplace. The findings of six longitudinal case studies of trainees’ development, and evidence from other studies, illustrate the complex interrelationships between LSS workplace affordances, course affordances and trainee characteristics and the ways in which trainees reconstruct learning in each setting. The experience of teaching and interacting with learners, interactions with colleagues, and access to workplace resources and training are important workplace affordances for learning. However, some trainees have limited access to these affordances. Teaching observations, course activities and experiences as a learner are significant course affordances. Trainees’ beliefs, prior experiences and dispositions vary and significantly influence their engagement with course and workplace affordances. It is proposed that better integration of course and workplace learning through guided participation in an intentional workplace curriculum and attention to the ways trainees choose to engage with this, together with the use of practical theorising has the potential to improve trainee learning