Inventing and commemorating Queen Elizabeth School,Ilorin, in Nigeria (1956–2016)

ABSTRACT

This article explores the establishment of Queen Elizabeth School (QES), the first government secondary school for girls in Northern Nigeria in 1956, and commemorations in 1961, 1981 and 2016. Connecting past and present, several invented traditions were deployed to socialise students, secure QES’s reputation and status, and foster national unity among Nigeria’s diverse peoples. In 1961, British Woman Education Officer Kathleen Player, the foundation principal, highlighted QES’s alignment with the traditions of the British Public school and its commitment to ‘unity in diversity’ following Nigeria’s independence in 1960. She was honoured during QES’s twenty-fifth anniversary in 1981, and new traditions promoted institutional and national loyalties. However, the 2016 commemoration coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of Sir Ahmado Bello, the Premier of Northern Nigeria (1954–1966). In this context, Player’s legacy and the colonial past were marginalised in favour of Bello as founder of QES and symbol of national unity.     

From Day School to High School: An Exploratory Study on Jewish Adolescent Girls’ Identity Development

ABSTRACT

What does it mean to be a Jewish girl today and how do Jewish adolescent girls navigate their identity? The study that I undertook is exploratory and designed to understand how three girls, who are recent day school graduates, experience the process of identity development as they begin high school. While the sample is small, the study reveals new directions for looking at Jewish girls and questions that need to be asked when researching their lives. It concludes with a few suggestions for thinking about how to conduct future research with Jewish girls.     

Disparate plasma cortisol concentrations in sexually abused female children from Johannesburg,South Africa

A growing body of research indicates that a bidirectional response to a stressor may occur in maltreated children and may be associated with later life psychopathology. However, few studies have investigated stress reactivity in children when they first present to a sexual abuse clinic. Thus, in order to evaluate whether HPA axis dysregulation would be evident at first presentation to a sexual abuse clinic in young girls (n = 26), between the ages of 6–12 years old, blood samples were obtained immediately following examination at a forensic sexual abuse clinic and from the matched control group of children (n = 14; 10.1 ± 0.8) immediately following a bone density scan. Stratification of the sexually abused group into those children who were reportedly abused by a stranger and had no other family stressors (n = 15, 10.4 ± 1.8) and those children whose parents reported abuse of the child by a stranger and other family stressors (n = 11; 9.5 ± 1.8) revealed differences in stress reactivity. Plasma concentrations, of the children from the forensic clinic, were significantly increased in children who reported abuse by a stranger only (322.3 ± 117.4 nmol/l) and significantly decreased in children whose histories indicated sexual abuse by a stranger and other family stressors (149.6 ± 39.7 nmol/l) when compared to the control group (225.5 ± 47.5 nmol/l). In conclusion, following sexual abuse and a secondary stressor, the forensic examination, there is evidence of divergent cortisol responses in the stratified clinical group of children.     

In-betweenness in moving images: six experimental tactics of video-ethnography to narrate South Asian immigrant girls’ subjectivities

ABSTRACT

After exploring the interactions between moving image-based art practices and anthropology in recent decades, and the permeable membranes in ethnographic research, we will describe six tactics of video-ethnography used to create experimental narratives with a group of South Asian immigrant girls. Positioned in feminist critical poststructuralism, postcolonial theory and film theory, the research gives visibility to how the participants construct their identities when attending secondary school in Catalonia. Learning from artists like Ursula Biemann and Trinh T. Minh-ha, we have experimented with visual modes of producing cultural knowledge, with the aim of narrating migrant subjectivities and difference through moving images. Specifically, we focus on the production of stories through video-ethnographic research, based on the contributions of Michel de Certeau, who describes tactics as mobile, situated and fluid. In the end, this video-ethnographic research has experimented with reflexivity, ‘facing’, re-framing, in-betweenness, the interval, and spectatorship as tactics of narrating ‘otherness’     

从抒情主体的转移看词“别是一家”

抒情主体的转移是文学创作中的一种普遍的现象。本文从抒情主体转移的角度,来考察词“别是一家”的文体特质。首先,比较了诗、词中抒情主体转移现象的异同,由于“词为艳科”的传统观念所限制,导致了词的抒情主体以歌妓为主。其次,本文从文化背景和创作主体两个角度,考察这种现象之所以形成。认为:燕乐风俗、歌妓制度是词之抒情主体转移的文化背景;文人士大夫的双重性格是词的抒情主体转移的必要条件。最后,分析了花间词和“花间范式”,认为“花间范式”是抒情主体转移所造成的词体定型,由于后代词人皆以花间词为“鼻祖”,由此确定了词的那种“要眇宜修”、幽隐深微的文体特质。     

女儿性、妻性、母性——《女孩子的花》与《大家小事》对比阅读后的思考

由《女孩子的花》《大家小事》的对比阅读,引发对鲁迅的"女儿性、妻性、母性"说的思考。在厘定这三个概念并阐释其中的疑问之后,本文认为"女孩子的花"之所以陨落是由于把"母性"完全置换为"妻性",而《大家小事》中富有弹性和张力的夫妻关系是由于"妻性"适度渗透进"母性"而造成的。《女孩子的花》的叙事语调是"女儿性"的:天真、唯美、浪漫;《大家小事》的叙事语调是"母性"的:深广的同情贯穿其中。     

Evaluating the Prediction of Maximal Heart Rate in Children and Adolescents

In this study, we compared measured maximal heart rate (HRmax) to two different HRmax prediction equations [220 — age and 208 — 0.7(age)] in 52 children ages 7-17 years. We determined the relationship of chronological age, maturational age, and resting HR to measured HRmax and assessed seated resting HR and HRmax during a graded exercise test. Maturational age was calculated as the maturity offset in years from the estimated age at peak height velocity. Measured HRmax was 201 ± 10 bpm, whereas predicted HRmax ranged from 199 to 208 bpm. Measured HRmax and the predicted value from the 208 — 0.7(age) prediction were similar but lower (p < .05) than the 220 — age prediction. Absolute differences between measured and predicted HRmax were 8 ± 5 and 10 ± 8 bpm for the 208 — 0.7 (age) and 220 — age equations, respectively, and were greater than zero (p < .05). Regression equations using resting HR and maturity offset or chronological age significantly predicted HRmax, although the R2 < .30 and the standard error of estimation (8.2-8.5) limits the accuracy. The 208 — 0.7(age) equation can closely predict mean HRmax in children, but individual variation is still apparent.     

The influence of ventilatory control on heart rate variability in children

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of breathing frequency and tidal volume on resting heart rate variability in children aged 9 years ( n = 29) and 16 years ( n = 19). Heart rate variability was measured in four conditions: (1) without the control of ventilation followed at random by (2) a fixed breathing frequency of 12 breaths· min -1 , (3) a breathing frequency of 12 breaths· min -1 but with a fixed tidal volume of 30% vital capacity and (4) a fixed breathing frequency of 6 breaths·min -1 and a tidal volume of 30% vital capacity. A total of 128 RR intervals (the time between two spikes in the heart rate) were detected and absolute high- and low-frequency spectral components were calculated using autoregressive modelling. The younger children were unable to control ventilation to achieve conditions 3 and 4; therefore, a 2 2 2 (group 2 condition) analysis of variance was used to analyse conditions 1 and 2. There were significant interactions between group and heart rate variability conditions for the low-frequency component and the ratio of low to high frequencies ( P ? 0.001). The main effect for condition showed that at 12 breaths· min -1 with no fixed tidal volume there was a significantly higher standard deviation of the RR interval, total power and high-frequency ( P ? 0.01) and lowfrequency spectral components ( P ? 0.05) than in the condition with no ventilatory control. Across the four breathing conditions for the older participants, the high-frequency spectral component was significantly higher in the condition at 6 breaths· min -1 with a fixed tidal volume than in that with no ventilatory control ( P ? 0.005); the ratio of high to low frequencies was significantly lower for the spontaneous condition than those performed at 12 breaths· min -1 ( P ? 0.001). The results provide evidence of the need for ventilatory control when assessing short-term resting heart rate variability in children.     

Girls and Boys Like to Read and Write Different Texts

This study explored girls' and boys' (aged 10–11) attitudes towards reading and writing. Girls enjoyed reading significantly more than boys. Boys liked mostly comics and humorous books; adventure books were girls' favourites. Poetry did not appeal to pupils. Many boys did not enjoy typical school texts. Most pupils, especially boys, did not like to read aloud. Even many fluent and motivated readers felt embarrassed when doing it. Pupils' attitudes towards writing were more negative than those regarding reading. Boys were significantly more reluctant writers than girls. To interest boys the writing task should have a meaningful purpose or a communicative function. The results suggest that pupils' interest should be a key factor in the selection of reading material; otherwise, many students will avoid reading and may develop a lifelong aversion to it.