Assumptions about later life travel and their implications: pushing people around?

Taking four assumptions in turn, this review article considers some of the lenses through which researchers might look at later life leisure travel and the implications of adopting each of them. First, we consider the ‘active ageing’ agenda and what this means for how leisure travel may be thought about in academia and beyond. Second, we turn to studies underpinned by worries about the appetite for significant consumption thought to typify the ‘baby boomer’ generation and question whether these studies could inadvertently be promoting the very future they hope to avoid. Third, we explore how research on the benefits of everyday ‘mobility’ in later life may have morphed into a more general belief about the value of travel in older age. Finally, we reflect on how relevant studies of tourism are often underpinned by an argument about the financial rewards that now await those ready to target the older traveller. Our overall contention is that, though for different reasons, all four could be serving to encourage more later life travel. Whilst for some this prospect is not at all troubling, the spectre of adverse energy demand consequences leads us to explore a more critical view

Tympanic membrane organ culture using cell culture well inserts engrafted with tympanic membrane tissue explants

Tissue engineering approaches using growth factors and various materials for repairing chronic perforations of the tympanic membrane are being developed, but there are surprisingly few relevant tissue culture models available to test new treatments. Here, we present a simple three-dimensional model system based on micro-dissecting the rat tympanic membrane umbo and grafting it into the membrane of a cell culture well insert. Cell outgrowth from the graft produced sufficient cells to populate a membrane of similar surface area to the human tympanic membrane within 2 weeks. Tissue grafts from the annulus region also showed cell outgrowth but were not as productive. The umbo organoid supported substantial cell proliferation and migration under the influence of keratinocyte growth medium. Cells from umbo grafts were enzymatically harvested from the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membrane for expansion in routine culture and cells could be harvested consecutively from the same graft over multiple cycles. We used harvested cells to test cell migration properties and to engraft a porous silk scaffold material as proof-of-principle for tissue engineering applications. This model is simple enough to be widely adopted for tympanic membrane regeneration studies and has promise as a tissue-equivalent model alternative to animal testing

Perceptions of air pollution and health in social and geographical contexts.

Air quality management is currently receiving attention in the UK, with limit objectives for air pollutants to be met within the next few years. Local authorities must put strategies in place in order to meet these objectives, and this must be done with public consultation. At present, policy decisions rely heavily on scientific and medical information, which is uncertain. This thesis examines the public view of air quality and air pollution, and its impacts on their lives and health, in different neighbourhoods in the London Borough of Bamet. The study takes place in four areas, contrasting in terms of levels of ambient air pollution, and in terms of socio-economic characteristics. In choosing contrasting areas, the research aims to examine the role of context in terms of social and geographical factors, in shaping people's perceptions and experience of air pollution and its effects. In doing so, air pollution is conceptualised as an environmental risk, and tensions between naïve realist and constructionist framings of risk and its significance become important. Concepts of environmental equity are also considered. As well as examining understandings of air pollution and its potential health effects, the research looks at how such lay knowledge is formed, through both personal experience and the use of expert-produced information and institutional information sources. The relationship between lay knowledge and expertise is discussed and the latent significance of epistemological divergence considered. The research employs a mixed methodology comprising qualitative and quantitative techniques. A first stage of depth interviews, analysed qualitatively, is followed by a questionnaire survey which is analysed using statistical techniques. The epistemological implications of using such a research design are debated, and the possible benefits of using such a strategy are reflected on in the light of the empirical study

Celsius: a community resource for Affymetrix microarray data

Celsius is a new system that serves as a warehouse by aggregating Affymetrix files and associated metadata, and containing the largest publicly available source of Affymetrix microarray data

Investigation of fiber/matrix adhesion: test speed and specimen shape effects in the cylinder test

The cylinder test, developed from the microdroplet test, was adapted to assess the interfacial adhesion strength between fiber and matrix. The sensitivity of cylinder test to pull-out speed and specimen geometry was measured. It was established that the effect of test speed can be described as a superposition of two opposite, simultaneous effects which have been modeled mathematically by fitting two parameter Weibull curves on the measured datas. Effects of the cylinder size and its geometrical relation on the measured strength values have been analyzed by finite element method. It was concluded that the geometry has a direct influence on the stress formation. Based on the results achieved, recommendations were given on how to perform the novel single fiber cylinder test