Economic Choices and Popular Toys in the Nineteenth Century

The commercial toy industries of England, Germany and the United States supplied much of the Canadian market in the late nineteenth century. By 1871 the value of imported toys had grown to $27,000, representing a volume of about 300,000 items for 3.5 million Canadians. In variety and price toys ranged from simple wooden and composition animals and American cast iron toys for a penny to the most expensive rocking horse for fifteen dollars. Most toys were marketed to a growing Canadian middle class, but the small, simple toys were likely cheap enough to be bought by city factory wage earners and small farm owners who worked in a self-sufficient barter economy with little surplus cash. Popular toys, available in homemade and commercial versions, reflected a child's view of the adult world and were likely the first toys owned by a child; these are identified as wooden rocking horses, horses on wheels, dolls, sledges, children's furniture, and rag dolls made from scraps of material. Résumé Les fabriques de jouets d'Angleterre, d'Allemagne et des États-Unis approvisionnaient une bonne part du marché canadien à la fin du XIXe siècle. En 1871, la valeur des importations de jouets s'élevait à 27 000$, soit un volume d'environ 300 000 objets pour trois millions et demi de Canadiens. On trouvait de tout, à tous les prix, la gamme allant des animaux en bois ou en matériel synthétique et des jouets américains en fonte pour un sou, au cheval à bascule le plus coûteux à 15$. La plupart des jouets étaient vendus aux membres de la classe moyenne grandissante du Canada, mais de petits jouets simples étaient vraisemblablement assez bon marché pour être achetés, en milieu urbain, par les salariés des usines et, en milieu rural, par les petits propriétaires terriens qui pratiquaient une économie d'échanges et qui possédaient un peu d'argent liquide. Les jouets les plus populaires étaient fabriqués à la maison ou achetés en magasin; ils reflétaient le monde des adultes vu par un enfant. Ils constituaient probablement les premiers jouets offerts à l'enfant. Il s'agissait de chevaux à bascule en bois, chevaux sur roulettes, poupées, traîneaux, meubles d'enfant et poupées en chiffons

Working effectively to address child sexual exploitation: An evidence scope

This evidence scope draws on knowledge from research, practitioner expertise and young people’s experience to identify the barriers to dealing with CSE, and the approaches and interventions that can make a difference to young people. The scope, accompanied by an executive summary, examines different models of CSE, how risks and needs are identified and assessed, and what interventions appear to be most promising. It offers six key principles for service design and practice development, highlighting the importance of young-person-centred practice and participatory approaches, considering what might be most effective in terms of early help and education, as well as focusing on the critical issue of how to ensure multi-agency working, and what support the workforce needs. This resource, produced by Research in Practice, was commissioned by Wigan and Rochdale councils as part of the Greater Manchester project on Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), funded by the Department for Education Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme

Excitation-contraction coupling in muscles of the Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus

Crustacean muscle fibres are classified into tonic and phasic types. Within this classification a further subdivision of fibres can be made on the basis of histochemical and biochemical techniques, and electron microscopy. While some muscles are composed of fibres with uniform morphological and physiological properties (homogenous muscles), others muscles comprise mixed populations of fibres with different properties (heterogeneous muscles). Crustacean muscles have been used extensively as a model system in the study of the excitation-contraction (EC) coupling mechanism, but few studies have related the properties of EC coupling to the differences between fibre types, mainly due to difficulties in fibre type identification following physiological measurements. Working on the heterogeneous population of S1 and S2 fibres found in the lateral and medial bundles of the superficial flexor (SF) muscle of the Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus overcomes this problem of relating structure to function since the fibre types have been identified on the basis of several criteria. This project uses the SF muscle system to investigate the EC coupling properties of two slow fibre phenotypes. Experiments on membrane-intact fibres of the SF muscle, both as intact nerve-muscle preparations and as single fibres, demonstrate that the EC coupling mechanism in the medial and lateral bundles of the SF muscle is Ca2+-induced Ca2+-release (CICR) since both the flux of Ca2+ ions across the sarcolemma and the release of Ca2+ ions from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) are essential for muscle contraction, and since the external Ca2+ ions themselves cannot directly activate the myofibrillar proteins (indicating the involvement of an intermediate step-release of Ca2+ from the SR). Evidence for this includes: (1) an inhibition of the subsequent steps of CICR on removal of external Ca2+ from the saline, (2) depletion of the SR of Ca2+ by repeated application of caffeine, and (3) the application of pharmacological agents: tetracaine blocks the release of Ca2+ ions from the SR. and 2,3-butanedione monoxime acts in a similar manner to caffeine to induce the release of Ca2+ ions from the SR in the absence of external Ca2+. Based on experiments conducted on the whole muscle bundle preparation, the medial and lateral muscle bundles express similar EC coupling properties. However, studies using the two electrode voltage clamp technique indicate that the S1 and S2 fibre types express different populations of sarcolemmal ion channels. Differences were observed in both the inward Ca2+ currents the outward K+ currents. The heavy metal ion Mn2+ has been used as a tool to investigate the involvement of Ca2+ ions in the different steps of EC coupling, both at the level of the sarcolemmal ion channels and in the activation of the myofibrillar proteins. Experiments conducted on the nerve-muscle preparation show that Mn2+ at high concentrations (above) inhibits the neuronally-evoked muscle force and the force evoked by electrical field stimulation in a dose-dependent manner, and at concentrations above 10 mM blocks the K+-induced force. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

SETTING NEW STANDARDS: SOUND CHANGES AND GENDER IN NEW ZEALAND ENGLISH

Social dialect data demonstrates that women tend to lead linguistic change in New Zealand English over a range of linguistic variables. This paper describes current sound changes in New Zealand English, discusses their potential sources and suggests possible mechanisms by which the percolate through the system Women’s role in language change is a controversial area. The final section examines a range of explanations which have been proposed to account for the patterns identified by researchers and assesses their relevance to the New Zealand data.Datos obtenidos sobre los dialectos sociales demuestran que la mujer tiende a liderar los Cambios lingüísticos del inglés neocelandés en numerosas variables lingüísticas. El presente artículo describe cambios fonéticos actuales del inglés neocelandés, discute sus fuentes potenciales y sugiere posibles mecanismos a través de los que se transmiten por el sistema. El papel de la mujer en el cambio lingüístico) es un área controvertida. La sección final examina diversas explicaciones ofrecidas para estos patrones identificados por los investigadores y evalúa su relevancia atendiendo a los datos obtenidos en el inglés neocelandés

Impact of Texas Counselors' Network on students: A preliminary study.

This study assessed the impact of the Texas Counselors' Network (TCN) on students of counselors who attended TCN workshops. TCN is a professional organization created in 1996 for the professional development of counselors. TCN impacts primary and secondary school students by providing counselors with selected skills to assist them in helping students. In theory, TCN thus impacts these students by improving overall skills of participating counselors. This study assessed the progress of students before and after implementation of TCN. Students' progress was considered in four areas: Texas Accountability Assessment Scores (TAAS), attendance rates, dropout rates, and high school student enrollment in technical programs. The current study compared student performance in the above four areas during a two to three year period prior to the establishment of TCN, with the initial six years of TCN existence. This study examined data attained through the Texas Educational Agency (TEA) Website using their Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) for four regional TCN groups. The study used a paired t-test to compare the performance of students before versus after counselor participation in network workshops. The findings indicated that overall, counselor participation in TCN could have a significant effect on student performance. In fact, eight tests were run and all were found significant at the .05 alpha level

Mismatch between conservation higher education skills training and contemporary conservation needs

Scholars have detailed the range of skills required for conservation and voiced concerns that training is not fit for purpose. Still, we have little understanding of what skills conservation education aims to teach. This study uses survey data and content analysis of online module descriptions to examine skills and methods teaching in conservation higher education across the United Kingdom and Australia. We found most conservation-specific modules aimed to develop disciplinary and communication skills, but fewer than half aimed to develop interpersonal or project management skills. Social science methods training was absent from the core offering of over half of the conservation degrees reviewed. To prepare students for conservation careers and the complex problems they will encounter, the conservation education sector should further focus on building essential nonacademic skills and provide training on the breadth of methods that contribute to effective conservation science. This analysis can help educators to reflect on teaching aims and forge a curriculum that will best prepare students for contemporary conservation challenges