Programmed cell death features in apple suspension cells under low oxygen culture

INTRODUCTION A number of abiotic stresses have been shown to induce programmed cell death (PCD) responses in plant cells. High temperatures (e.g. 55 篊) induce nuclear condensation and DNA fragmentation in cultured carrot, cucumber and Arabidopsis cells (McCabe et al., 1997; McCabe and Leaver, 2000), and also mitochondrial cytochrome c release in cucumber cotyledons (Balk et al., 1999). The PCD pathway also appears to be activated by ozone. Ozone induces an oxidative burst with acc…     

The influence of interactions with students for the development of new academics as teachers in higher education

The aim of the current investigation was to provide an insight into how new lecturers in higher education develop as teachers and to identify some of the main influences upon this development. A qualitative, longitudinal design with three semi-structured interviews over a 2-year period was employed with eleven new teachers from a range of higher education institutions and settings. The analysis used case studies, alongside a thematic analysis, to provide fine-grained and idiosyncratic insights into the teachers’ development. The principal finding from the current study was the identification that instances of interactions with students, acted as a core influence upon the new teachers’ development. These instances appeared to provide the teachers with richer and fuller feedback about their teaching. This feedback supported their reflection and influenced the way in which they thought about teaching. Based on these findings it is suggested that teacher development could be enhanced by focussing upon specific instances of interactions with students as these instances provide specific and tangible moments that allow individuals to reflect upon and discuss their conceptions of teaching.     

A deniable and efficient question and answer service over ad hoc social networks

When people are connected together over ad hoc social networks, it is possible to ask questions and retrieve answers using the wisdom of the crowd. However, locating a suitable candidate for answering a specific unique question within larger ad hoc groups is non-trivial, especially if we wish to respect the privacy of users by providing deniability. All members of the network wish to source the best possible answers from the network, while at the same time controlling the levels of attention required to generate them by the collective group of individuals and/or the time taken to read all the answers. Conventional expert retrieval approaches rank users for a given query in a centralised indexing process, associating users with material they have previously published. Such an approach is antithetical to privacy, so we have looked to distribute the routing of questions and answers, converting the indexing process into one of building a forwarding table. Starting from the simple operation of flooding the question to everyone, we compare a number of different routing options, where decisions must be made based on past performance and exploitation of the knowledge of our immediate neighbours. We focus on fully decentralised protocols using ant-inspired tactics to route questions towards members of the network who may be able to answer them well. Simultaneously, privacy concerns are acknowledged by allowing both question asking and answering to be plausibly deniable. We have found that via our routing method, it is possible to improve answer quality and also reduce the total amount of user attention required to generate those answers.     

Synthesising case-study research – ready for the next step?

Within the emerging field of research on education for sustainability (EfS), case studies are an important if not the predominant research approach, although often criticised for its lack of internal and external validity and a tendency to draw conclusions with insufficient rigour. While, basic concerns have been expressed and discussed in an early issue of this journal, main assumption still hold true after more than 10 years of research in the field. Only a few approaches so far have tackled the challenge to provide cross-case comparison and the synthesis of case-study results still remains a research desideratum. In this paper, we argue that developments in the field of qualitative and quantitative meta-analysis in educational science offer a framework, which can be used to overcome that shortcoming. After describing the idea of research synthesis, different types of such a meta-analysis are identified and their potential is discussed for existing case studies in higher EfS. This paper concludes with recommendations for further case-study research in the field.     

Integrating ICT into College English: An implementation study of a national reform

This paper describes a mixed-methods case study of a national reform of College English teaching in China which called for the integration of ICT (information and communication technology) into English classroom teaching and self-access learning. The study examined ICT implementation of the national reform in a specific tertiary institution from the perspectives of ICT use in language education and ICT-related policies and practices for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers. The findings indicated that the reform had represented a challenge for teachers, who were expected to adapt to technologically-enhanced teaching materials, embrace student-centred classroom teaching and guide students’ autonomous learning in ICT settings. Constraints included insufficient ICT facilities, teachers’ limited ICT skills and pedagogic expertise; and lack of effective communication networks and inadequate technical support and ICT-related training also hindered the smooth ICT implementation of the reform. Implications for national and institutional policy-making are discussed.     

A PROSPECTIVE STUDY INVESTIGATING THE LINKS AMONG CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT,SCHOOL CONNECTEDNESS,AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN ADOLESCENTS

School connectedness and classroom environment have both been strongly linked to depressive symptoms, but their interrelation is unclear. We tested whether school connectedness mediated the link between classroom environment and depressive symptoms. A sample of 504 Australian seventh‐ and eighth‐grade students completed the Classroom Environment Scale, Psychological Sense of School Membership scale, and Children's Depression Inventory, at three time points. Together, the classroom environment and school connectedness accounted for 41% to 45% of variance in concurrent depressive symptoms, and 14% of subsequent depressive symptoms with prior symptoms accounted for. Only a partial mediation was found, with both classroom environment and school connectedness continuing to contribute uniquely to the prediction of concurrent and subsequent depressive symptoms. These findings provide additional support for the idea that school‐based pathways to depressive symptoms are a complex interplay between environment and individual difference variables, necessitating individual and environmental school‐based interventions.     

Inquiring in the classroom

This paper considers the part played by teaching assistants in the implementation of the National Literacy and National Numeracy Strategies, two widespread UK government reforms. Evidence from two sources of evaluation (the Ontario Institute in Canada and OfSTED, the school inspectorate for England) indicates that assistants are providing ‘remedial’ support for up to 25% of children in English primary schools. However, although the evaluators note this, they fail to truly acknowledge the important contribution of assistants to the functioning of the Strategies. The paper argues that the lack of acknowledgement arises from the evaluators’ view of teaching assistants as ‘peripheral’ and teachers as ‘core’. This does assistants a great disservice, but also masks the shortcomings of the Strategies, particularly with regard to the way in which a required pedagogy, linked to targets and tests, has created an exclusionary pressure leading to the separation of teaching by teachers and assistants, respectively.     

British and Australian Media

Graham Cleverley's The Fleet Street Disaster: British National Newspapers as a Case Study in Mismanagement (London: Constable [Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications] , 1976—4.50 [$12.95])

Recent Books on Mass Media with British Imprints, January 1975-September 1976 (41 pp.)

Current British Research on Mass Media and Mass Communication: Register of Ongoing and Recently Completed Research (74 pp.)

Television and Radio 1977 (Independent Broadcasting Authority, 70 Brompton Road, London SW3 I EY, England–L1.40, or about $2.50, paper)

Davis, Anthony. Television: The First Forty Years (159 pp.)

Fairley, Peter. Television: Behind the Screen (160 pp.)

Davis, Anthony. Television: Here is the News (144 pp.)

Ian K. MacKay, Broadcasting in Papua New Guinea (Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press [ISBS Inc., P.O. Box 555, Forest Grove, Ore. 971161, 1976—$22.50 in the U.S.)