‘Miss,you're so gay.’ Queer stories from trainee teachers

This study focuses on interviews with six lesbian, gay or bisexual trainee teachers, and explores their experiences in relation to sexual orientation. Initial analysis reveals interesting perspectives on the lives of trainees in Higher Education, during school‐based work and socially; it also provides a window onto the attitudes to sexuality (individual and institutional) encountered by interviewees. Further analysis takes theoretical tools from three overlapping discourses in which these trainees are participants: the local campus culture, the construction of sexualities in schools, and wider society's perceptions of gender and sexuality. These tools uncover significant concerns around identity management, vulnerability and powerlessness, institutional silence, and the hegemonic masculinity of some student cultures. They also reveal significant creative resistance to discrimination, enabling us to conclude that, in spite of some methodological difficulties, idealism is not misplaced as an inspiration to emancipatory endeavour.     

Information Technology in Initial Teacher Education: preconceptions of history and geography interns,with reflections of mentors and tutors

ABSTRACT

The results of a survey of experiences, feelings and preconceptions concerning information technology (IT) that University of Oxford history and geography interns bring to the one year secondary teacher training course are reported. A notable finding was the significantly greater importance attributed to the use of computers in subject teaching by geography interns compared with historians, and the relatively large numbers of the latter ascribing little or no importance to the use of computers in the teaching of history. Analysis of the qualitative data provided by this study provided a range of insights into the ways in which geography and history interns viewed information technology. There was a marked difference between the two groups not only in their feelings about IT but in the degree of sophistication with which they articulated IT issues. The geographers were more positive and were able to support their views with specific examples of software and applications. Their level of knowledge and understanding was often well developed. The historians, in contrast, rarely exhibited the same level of specificity. They viewed IT in a more generalised way. It was often assumed to be ‘a good thing’ and something that might be useful, but there was a marked degree of uncertainty. There was however a distinct group within the historians who exhibited a high degree of anxiety about IT and where views were expressed in very emotive terms. Reflections of a group of school mentors and university curriculum tutors on the findings are also described, and a number of issues and dilemmas for initial teacher education partnership schemes are identified.     

Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias: An Organizational Approach to Identifying and Addressing Practices and Learning Needs of Family Physicians

ABSTRACT

Caring for patients with dementia is complex and demanding. Since family physicians (FPs) provide much of this care, we examined their practices, learning needs, and barriers to care concerning Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. We surveyed 392 (approximately 50%) Nova Scotia FPs and conducted focus groups and interviews with: FPs; staff of long-term care facilities; health professionals in home care; patients and their caregivers; FPs with advanced geriatric training; geriatricians; and psychiatrists. Results suggest that many FPs do not perform assessment and management practices as frequently as they ideally should. However, systemic factors, not only inadequate knowledge, affect care.     

Dynamic pressure effect on horse and horse rider during riding

Horse riding predisposes to degenerative spinal injury to both rider and horse. This study evaluated the dynamic pressure exerted on horse and horse rider. The main comparison investigated was how the flocking (cushioning) material of a saddle affected the pressure exerted on both. Six horse riders and one horse were used to conduct this study. The Pliance^® horse saddle and seat pressure testing systems, designed by Novel_GmBH, were used for this study. Pressure recordings were carried out from a saddle fitted with wool then again following its conversion to air flocking. Both flocking materials were tested during a variety of different gait settings using two pressure mats to record the pressures firstly being exerted onto the horse and secondly onto the rider. This study was the first carried out to examine the pressure exerted on horse and rider. Results found that both the mean peak pressure (MPP) and mean pressure–time integral (PTI) exerted on the rider increased by as much as 21.9 and 22 %, respectively, following conversion to air flocking. In contrast, the air flocking saddle exerted a lower MPP and PTI on the horse by as much as 25.3 and 26.6 %, respectively. This study has shown that air flocking reduces the pressure exerted on the horse; however, it has also indicated that it increased the pressures exerted on the rider. As a result of our study, further research needs to be conducted to determine the most appropriate material to flock a saddle with.     

Power variation strategies for cycling time trials: a differential equation model

In cycling time trials, competitors aim to ride a course in the fastest possible time and the implementation of a pacing strategy is therefore essential. In this study, a differential equation model of a cyclist incorporating continuous changes in velocity is formulated and applied to a selection of theoretical courses and athletes. The model is augmented with a constraint corresponding to a mean work rate and various pacing strategies are considered. The inclusion of continuous accelerations experienced by the cyclist forms an essential component in a model for courses comprising many changes of gradient, and a steady-state approximation, which has previously been used to assess pacing strategies, is not suitable. In addition to formulating a result on the mathematically optimal solution of the model equations subject to the mean power constraint, it is also shown that substantial time savings can be realized by cyclists increasing their work rates on uphill sections and suitably reducing their work rates elsewhere. However, the amount of time saved is highly course- and athlete-dependent with the greatest gains arising on courses with the longest continuous ascents by cyclists of greatest mass.     

Assessing Direct Contributions of Morphological Awareness and Prosodic Sensitivity to Children’s Word Reading and Reading Comprehension

We examined the independent contributions of prosodic sensitivity and morphological awareness to word reading, text reading accuracy, and reading comprehension. We did so in a longitudinal study of English-speaking children (N = 70). At 5–7 years of age, children completed the metalinguistic measures along with control measures of phonological awareness and vocabulary. Children completed the reading measures 2 years later. Morphological awareness but not prosodic sensitivity made a significant independent contribution to word reading, text reading accuracy, and reading comprehension. The effects of morphological awareness on reading comprehension remained after controls for word reading. These results suggest that morphological awareness needs to be considered seriously in models of reading development and that prosodic sensitivity might have primarily indirect relations to reading outcomes.     

Social class and violent child death: An analysis of fatal nonaccidental injury,murder, and fatal child neglect

A total population study to analyse socio-economic status (SES) concomitants of violent and nonaccidental deaths involving children in Queensland, Australia is reported. Cases were traced from coronial files of the Institute of Forensic Pathology, Queensland. All children dying of nonaccidental injuries, neglect, and murder were included. Children were excluded where death was part of the neonaticide syndrome of pregnancy-parturition-concealment. Socioeconomic status scores were assigned to each case using the Congalton four point scale of occupational status. Of the 43 children in the study, 58% were girls. The age of greatest risk of death was in the 1st year of life. A second modal age at 3 years was evident for children who were murdered. Differences in age distribution and socioeconomic status were evident between children who died as a result of nonaccidental injury (N.A.I.), and those who were frankly murdered. All of the children who died as a result of N.A.I. were from lower socioeconomic groups. However, the socioeconomic status distribution for all violent deaths (N.A.I., murder and neglect) is not unlike the socioeconomic status distribution for the general population.