Critical reading of science-based news reports: Establishing a knowledge skills and attitudes framework

A recognised aim of science education is to promote critical engagement with science in the media. Evidence would suggest that this is challenging for both teachers and pupils and that at science education does not yet adequately prepare young people for this task. Furthermore, in the absence of clear guidance as to what this means and how this may be achieved it is difficult for teachers to develop approaches and resources that address the matter and that systematically promote such critical engagement within their teaching programmes. Twenty-six individuals with recognised expertise or interest in science in the media, drawn from a range of disciplines and areas of practice, constituted a specialist panel in this study. The question this research sought to answer was ‘what are the elements of knowledge, skill and attitude which underpin critical reading of science based news reports’? During in-depth individual interviews the panel were asked to explore what they considered to be essential elements of knowledge, skills and attitude which people need to enable them to respond critically to news reports with a science component. Analysis of the data revealed fourteen fundamental elements which together contribute to an individual’s capacity to engage critically with science-based news. These are classified in five categories ‘knowledge of science’, ‘knowledge of writing and language’, ‘knowledge about news, newspapers and journalism’, ‘skills’ and ‘attitudes’. Illustrative profiles of each category along with indicators of critical engagement are presented. The implications for curriculum planning and pedagogy are considered.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between complement component 3 and age-related macular degeneration: A HUGE review and meta-analysis

We performed a meta-analysis to estimate the magnitude of C3 gene polymorphism effects, and their possible mode of action, on age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The meta-analysis included 16 studies for rs2230199 and 7 studies for rs1047286. Data extraction and risk of bias assessments were performed in duplicate, and heterogeneity and publication bias were explored. There was moderate evidence for association between both polymorphisms and AMD in individuals of European descent. For rs2230199, patients with CG and GG genotypes were 1.44 (95% CI: 1.33 – 1.56) and 1.88 (95% CI: 1.59 – 2.23) times more likely to have AMD than patients with CC genotype. For rs1047286, those with GA and AA genotypes had 1.27 (95% CI: 1.15 – 1.41) and 1.70 (95% CI: 1.27 – 2.11) times higher risk of AMD than those with GG genotypes. These gene effects suggested an additive model. The population attributable risks for the GG/GC and AA/GA genotypes are approximately 5-10%. Stratification of studies on the basis of ethnicity indicates that these variants are very infrequent in Asian populations and the significance of the effect observed is based largely on the high frequency of these variants within individuals of European descent. This meta-analysis supports the association between C3 and AMD and provides a robust estimate of the genetic risk.

The association between complement component 2/complement factor B polymorphisms and age-related macular degeneration: A HuGE review and meta-analysis

The authors performed a systematic review of the association of complement component 2(C2)/complement factor B (CFB) gene polymorphisms with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In total, data from 19 studies published between 2006 and 2011 were pooled for 4 polymorphisms: rs9332739 and rs547154 in the C2 gene and rs4151667 and rs641153 in the CFB gene. Data extraction and assessments for risk of bias were independently performed by 2 reviewers. Allele frequencies and allele and genotypic effects were pooled. Heterogeneity and publication bias were explored. Pooled minor allele frequencies for all 4 SNPs were between 4.7% and 9.6% for all polymorphisms, except for an Indian population in which the C allele at rs9332739 was the major allele. For the C2 polymorphisms, the minor C allele at rs9332739 and the minor T allele at rs547154 carried estimated relative risks (odds ratios) of 0.55 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.46, 0.65) and 0.47 (95% CI: 0.39, 0.57), respectively. For the CFB polymorphisms, the minor A alleles at rs4151667 and rs614153 carried estimated risks of 0.54 (95% CI: 0.45, 0.64) and 0.41 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.51), respectively. These allele effects contributed to an absolute lowering of the risk of all AMD in Caucasian populations by 2.0%-6.0%. This meta-analysis provides a robust estimate of the protective association of C2/CFB with AMD.

Self-esteem and self-efficacy: Associations with alcohol consumption in a sample of adolescents in Northern Ireland

Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have reported equivocal findings regarding the association between self-esteem, self-efficacy and adolescent alcohol use. Data were collected from a sample of 11-16-year olds in Northern Ireland (n = 4088) over two consecutive academic years measuring global self-esteem, academic, social and emotional self-efficacy and alcohol involvement. Results showed a domain-specific association between alcohol involvement and self-efficacy, with more problematic alcohol use associated with higher social self-efficacy but lower emotional and academic self-efficacy. Additionally, regression analyses revealed that all self-concept measures significantly predicted drinking group membership. The results are discussed in terms of reported drinking behaviour, interventions with adolescent groups and general development.

Spanish Golden Age Poetry in Motion: The Dynamics of Creation and Conversation.

The fourteen essays of this volume engage in distinct ways with the matter of motion in early modern Spanish poetics, without limiting the dialectic of stasis and movement to any single sphere or manifestation. Interrogation of the interdependence of tradition and innovation, poetry, power and politics, shifting signifiers, the intersection of topography and deviant temporalities, the movement between the secular and the sacred, tensions between centres and peripheries, issues of manuscript circulation and reception, poetic calls and echoes across continents and centuries, and between creative writing and reading subjects, all demonstrate that Helgerson's central notion of conspicuous movement is relevant beyond early sixteenth-century secular poetics, By opening it up we approximate a better understanding of poetry's flexible spatio-temporal co-ordinates in a period of extraordinary historical circumstances and conterminous radical cultural transformation

Sexing up the city in the international beauty contest: the performative nature of spatial planning and the fictive spectacle of place branding

This paper responds to recent calls for more academic research and critical discussion on the relationship between spatial planning and city branding. Through the lens of Liverpool, the article analyses how key planning projects have delivered major transformations in the city's built environment and cultural landscape. More specifically, in concentrating on the performative nature of spatial planning it reveals the physical, symbolic and discursive re-imaging of Liverpool into a 'world class city'. Another aspect of the paper presents important socioeconomic datasets and offers a critical reading of the re-branding in showing how it presents an inaccurate representation of Liverpool. The evidence provided indicates that a more accurate label for Liverpool is a polarised and divided city, thereby questioning the fictive spectacle of city branding. Finally, the paper ends with some critical commentary on the role of spatial planning as an accessory to the sophistry of city branding.

Developing Social Work Education: Academic Perspectives

During the past decade, a new culture of pedagogic research has emerged in social work in the UK. A succession of child-care tragedies that have led to government and public criticism of social work have highlighted the need for improvements to professional standards and stimulated renewed interest in social work education. Research aimed at developing knowledge of ‘what works’ in the educational process have included studies of student experiences and the perspectives of other stakeholders including service users and practice teachers. However, there has been little systematic investigation of the role of academics in social work education and their perceptions of what needs to be done to improve the quality of provision. This paper aims to address this gap in research by examining the perceptions of academics about their work. The authors utilise an adaptation of the conceptual model developed by Fraser and Bosanquet (2006) as a theoretical framework for analysing the findings and exploring the complex interrelationship between academic perspectives and the variety of concepts, ideas and stakeholder expectations that shape pedagogical practice. The findings should provide important lessons of relevance to educators in the UK and in other countries seeking to develop social work education.

'False, fleeting, perjured Clarence': pseudonymity and criminality in the writings of James Clarence Mangan

This article explores the significance of the adopted partial pseudonym “Clarence” to James Clarence Mangan (1803-1849), who is increasingly regarded as the most important Irish poet before W. B. Yeats. Tracing the literary history of “Clarence” from Shakespeare to Maria Edgeworth, this essay argues that the intriguing adoption exposes a preoccupation with themes of unlawful textual copying that is at the centre of Mangan’s imagination. These tropes assume singular significance when appreciated alongside Mangan’s profession as a scrivener. While literary criticism has separated Mangan the poet from Mangan the legal scribe, his hitherto under-explored assumption of “Clarence” provides a clue to their close and crucial connection. These themes of pseudonymity, copying, and criminality combine with particular resonance in his quasi-translation “The Man in the Cloak” (1838) to open up new perspectives on Mangan’s writing and its participation in wider European cultural contexts and concerns. The essay will conclude with a salient comparison of Mangan’s story with Nikolay Gogol’s seminal story “The Overcoat”, or, “The Cloak” (1842).

Critical Dialogue in Architecture Studio: Peer Interaction and Feedback

Most tutors in architecture education regard studio-based learning to be rich in feedback due to is dialogic nature. Yet, student perceptions communicated via audits such as the UK National Student Survey appear to contradict this assumption and challenge the efficacy of design studio as a truly discursive learning setting. This paper presents findings from a collaborative study that was undertaken by the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, and Queen’s University Belfast that develop a deeper understanding of the role that peer interaction and dialogue plays within feedback processes, and the value that students attribute to these within the overall learning experience.

The paper adopts a broad definition of feedback, with emphasis on formative processes, and including the various kinds of dialogue that typify studio-based learning, and which constitute forms of guidance, direction, and reflection. The study adopted an ethnographic approach, gathering data on student and staff perceptions over the course of an academic year, and utilising methods embracing both quantitative and qualitative data.

The study found that the informal, socially-based peer interaction that characterises the studio is complementary to, and quite distinct from, the learning derived through tutor interaction. The findings also articulate the respective properties of informal and formally derived feedback and the contribution each makes to the quality of studio-based learning. It also identifies limitations in the use or value of peer learning, understanding of which is valuable to enhancing studio learning in architecture.

Addressing potentially inappropriate prescribing in older patients: development and pilot study of an intervention in primary care (the OPTI-SCRIPT study)

Background: Potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) in older people is common in primary care and can result in increased morbidity, adverse drug events, hospitalizations and mortality. The prevalence of PIP in Ireland is estimated at 36% with an associated expenditure of over [euro sign]45 million in 2007. The aim of this paper is to describe the application of the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework to the development of an intervention to decrease PIP in Irish primary care.

Methods: The MRC framework for the design and evaluation of complex interventions guided the development of the study intervention. In the development stage, literature was reviewed and combined with information obtained from experts in the field using a consensus based methodology and patient cases to define the main components of the intervention. In the pilot stage, five GPs tested the proposed intervention. Qualitative interviews were conducted with the GPs to inform the development and implementation of the intervention for the main randomised controlled trial.

Results: The literature review identified PIP criteria for inclusion in the study and two initial intervention components - academic detailing and medicines review supported by therapeutic treatment algorithms. Through patient case studies and a focus group with a group of 8 GPs, these components were refined and a third component of the intervention identified - patient information leaflets. The intervention was tested in a pilot study. In total, eight medicine reviews were conducted across five GP practices. These reviews addressed ten instances of PIP, nine of which were addressed in the form of either a dose reduction or a discontinuation of a targeted medication. Qualitative interviews highlighted that GPs were receptive to the intervention but patient preference and time needed both to prepare for and conduct the medicines review, emerged as potential barriers. Findings from the pilot study allowed further refinement to produce the finalised intervention of academic detailing with a pharmacist, medicines review with web-based therapeutic treatment algorithms and tailored patient information leaflets.

Conclusions: The MRC framework was used in the development of the OPTI-SCRIPT intervention to decrease the level of PIP in primary care in Ireland. Its application ensured that the intervention was developed using the best available evidence, was acceptable to GPs and feasible to deliver in the clinical setting. The effectiveness of this intervention is currently being tested in a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial.

Trial registration: Current controlled trials ISRCTN41694007.© 2013 Clyne et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

On Not Reading Fifty Shades:Feminism and the Fantasy of Romantic Immunity

This paper explores the politics of feminist criticism of the Fifty Shades novels as seen in both traditional media commentary and popular online news and cultural websites and blogs. I argue that much media commentary, in broadsheet and other ‘respectable’ outlets particularly, has featured avowedly feminist writers dismissing the books as ‘bad’, not only containing bad writing and bad sex but, ultimately, as being bad for their women readers. Situating these responses within a history of feminist discomfort with popular erotic and romantic fiction marketed to women I read these responses as a form of ‘anti-romantic’ fantasy in which the reader/critic is able to assert both her immunity from the romantic fantasy offered in the text and her cultural distance from those women who are subject to it. Further, this act of disavowal is often linked to a professed concern for the women who read the novel who the critic argues will, inevitably, replicate the abusive and harmful relationship dynamics that the novel represent. Such a move then positions the feminist critic as not only more culturally intelligent than women readers of the novel but enacts a fantasy of respectable, middle-class feminist cultural custodianship. Such a fantasy, I argue, is connected to the post-feminist era in which we live, which has produced a class of self-appointed ‘feminist’ cultural critics who seek to contest their own cultural marginalisation through enacting a governmental authority to worry about other women. This paper, therefore, is a critical investigation of the pleasures and politics of very publicly not reading Fifty Shades and its significance for analysing the contemporary politics of popular culture and feminism.

The role of personality and self-efficacy in the selection and retention of successful nursing students:a longitudinal study

Aim: This paper is a report of a study to examine the role of personality and self-efficacy in predicting academic performance and attrition in nursing students.

Background: Despite a considerable amount of research investigating attrition in nursing students and new nurses, concerns remain. This particular issue highlights the need for a more effective selection process whereby those selected are more likely to complete their preregistration programme successfully, and remain employed as Registered Nurses.

Method: A longitudinal design was adopted. A questionnaire, which included measures of personality and occupational and academic self-efficacy, was administered to 384 students early in the first year of the study. At the end of the programme, final marks and attrition rates were obtained from university records for a total of 350 students. The data were collected from 1999 to 2002.

Findings: Individuals who scored higher on a psychoticism scale were more likely to withdraw from the programme. Occupational self-efficacy was revealed to be a statistically significant predictor of final mark obtained, in that those with higher self-efficacy beliefs were more likely to achieve better final marks. Extraversion was also shown to negatively predict academic performance in that those with higher extraversion scores were more likely to achieve lower marks.

Conclusion: More research is needed to explore the attributes of successful nursing students and the potential contribution of psychological profiling to a more effective selection process.

Use of the child health utility and strengths and difficulties outcome measures in economic evaluations of school-based interventions: data from a cluster-randomised controlled trial in Northern Ireland

Background There is growing evidence linking early social and emotional wellbeing to later academic performance and various health outcomes including mental health. An economic evaluation was designed alongside the Roots of Empathy cluster-randomised trial evaluation, which is a school-based intervention for improving pupils’ social and emotional wellbeing. Exploration of the relevance of the Strengths and Diffi culties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Child Health Utility 9D (CHU9D) in school-based health economic evaluations is warranted. The SDQ is a behavioural screening questionnaire for 4–17-year-old children, consisting of a total diffi culties score, and also prosocial behaviour,
which aims to identify positive aspects of behaviour. The CHU9D is a generic preference-based health-related quality of life instrument for 7–17-year-old children.

Cross-age tutoring in kindergarten and elementary school settings: a systmeatic review and meta-analysis

Background: Qualified teaching staffs are neither available nor affordable to provide large numbers of children with individual attention. One solution to providing individual tuition has been the development of tutoring programs that are delivered by nonprofessional tutors, such as classmates, older children and community volunteers. Objectives: We have conducted a systematic review of cross-age tutoring interventions delivered by non-professional tutors to children between 5 and 11 years old. Only randomized controlled trials with reliable measures of academic outcomes, and continuing for at least 12 weeks, compared to instruction as usual, were included. Results: Searches of electronic databases and previous reviews, and contacts with researchers yielded 11,564 titles; after screening, 15 studies were included in the analysis. Cross-age tutoring showed small significant effects for tutees on the composite measure of reading (g=0.18, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.27, N=8251), decoding skills (g=0.29, 95% CI: 0.13, 0.44, N=7081), and reading comprehension (g=0.11, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.21, N=6945). No significant effects were detected for other reading sub-skills or for mathematics. The quality of evidence is decreased by study limitations and high heterogeneity of effects. Conclusions: The benefits for tutees of non-professional peer and cross-age tutoring can be given a positive but weak recommendation, considering the low quality of evidence and lack of cost information. Subgroup analyses suggested that highly-structured reading programs may be more useful than loosely-structured programs. Large-scale replication trials using factorial design, process evaluations, reliable outcome measures and logic models are needed to better understand under what conditions, and for whom, cross-age non-professional tutoring may be effective.