But no one in my family has been to university - aiming higher: school students attitudes to higher education

In this paper, we present findings from the second stage of a three year longitudinal study involving 3,570 students aged 13-18 in a London Borough looking at the impact of Widening Participation (WP) on the attitudes of students. We outline findings from a previous stage and then focus specifically on two cohorts of Year 10 students (aged 14-15) in two consecutive years. The students completed the specially designed Attitudes to Higher Education Questionnaire (AHEQ) and provided information on WP activities in which they had participated. Data on the students' academic attainment and social backgrounds were also included. There were significant sex and cohort differences and interactions which were found to be related to WP activities specifically aimed at increasing the participation of socially disadvantaged students in higher education. The implications of findings are discussed in relation to theories of social identity and self concept and the implementation of strategies to increase participation in Higher Education

New genus and two new species of the family Ethmolaimidae (Nematoda: Chromadorida), found in two different cold-seep environments

This study describes a new genus Dystomanema gen. nov. with two new species, D. cadizensis sp. nov. and D. brandtae sp. nov. within the family Ethmolaimidae, subfamily Neotonchinae, based on specimens from two low-activity cold-seep environments at distant geographical locations. The new genus was first identified in samples from the Darwin mud volcano (1100 m depth) in the Gulf of Cadiz and later on also found in samples from a low-activity seep in the Larsen B embayment (820m depth) off the eastern Antarctic Peninsula. Until now, the family Ethmolaimidae contained nine genera: Ethmolaimus and Paraethmolaimus in the subfamily Ethmolaiminae, and Comesa, Filitonchoides, Filitonchus, Gomphionchus, Gomphionema, Nannolaimus, and Neothonchus in the subfamily Neotonchinae. The most important family characteristics are: an annulated cuticle bearing transverse rows of dots, cephalic sensilla arrangement of 6+6+4, a spiral amphid, an oesophagus with muscular posterior bulb, paired gonads and males with cup-shaped precloacal supplements. The new genus resembles Comesa and Neotonchus, but is typified by a ventrally displaced oral opening with three very small teeth that are easily overlooked. D. cadizensis gen. nov. sp. nov. is characterized by the 1401-2123 mu m long body; cuticle transversally striated with fine punctation; head conical; low lips; amphid spiralled 3 turns, oral opening ventrally displaced, male with outstretched testes; spicules of equal size; gubernaculum plate-like and ten to twelve conspicuous cup-shaped precloacal supplements with external longitudinal articulated flange. D. brandtae gen. nov. sp. nov. can be distinguished by the 2438-3280 mu m long body; cuticle transversally striated with fine punctuation; head conical; low lips; amphid spiraled 3+ turns; oral opening ventrally displaced; male with anterior testes outstretched and posterior one smaller and reflexed; spicules of equal size; gubernaculum plate-like and twenty conspicuous cup-shaped precloacal supplements with external longitudinal articulated flange. Notes on the ecology and habitat of the new genus are provided in light of its discovery in cold-seep environments.

Family-level AMBI is valid for use in the north-eastern Atlantic but not for assessing the health of microtidal Australian estuaries

Analysis of benthic macroinvertebrate samples at a higher taxonomic level than species, e.g. family, potentially provides a more cost-effective protocol for environmental impact assessments and monitoring as it requires less time, funds and taxonomic expertise. Using the AMBI database, species ecological group scores are shown to be coherent within families. Faunal data from a wide range of environmental impact scenarios in the north-eastern Atlantic demonstrate that AMBI, calculated from mean values for families, exhibits a strong linear relationship with species-level AMBI, the correlation improving by using square-root transformed rather than untransformed abundances. In many regions of the world, however, the sensitivity of benthic macroinvertebrates to environmental perturbations is unknown, precluding the use of AMBI for environmental assessments. Yet the families are essentially the same as in the AMBI database. The utility of family-level AMBI is tested using data for four south-western Australian estuaries previously subjected to environmental quality assessments, but where only 17 species of the 144 taxa are included in the AMBI database. Although family-level AMBI scores reflect differences in environmental quality spatially and temporally within an estuary, they do not follow variations in environmental quality among estuaries. Indeed, south-western Australia estuaries are numerically dominated by families with high AMBI scores, probably due to the detrimental effects of natural accumulations of organic material in estuaries with long residence times. As taxonomic distinctness follows trends in environmental quality among estuaries, as well as temporally and spatially within a system, it provides an appropriate substitute for assessing the 'heath' of microtidal estuaries.

The type I antifreeze protein gene family in Pleuronectidae

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) protect marine teleosts from freezing in icy seawater by binding to nascent ice crystals and preventing their growth. It has been suggested that the gene dosage for AFPs in fish reflects the degree of exposure to harsh winter climates. The starry flounder, _Platichthys stellatus_, has been chosen to examine this relationship because it inhabits a range of the Pacific coast from California to the Arctic. This flatfish is presumed to produce type I AFP, which is an alanine-rich, amphipathic alpha-helix. Genomic DNA from four starry flounder was Southern blotted and probed with a cDNA of a winter flounder liver AFP. The hybridization signal was consistent with a gene family of approximately 40 copies. Blots of DNA from other starry flounder indicate that California fish have far fewer gene copies whereas Alaska fish have far more. This analysis is complicated by the fact that there are three different type I AFP isoforms. The first is expressed in the liver and secreted into circulation, the second is a larger hyperactive dimer also thought to be expressed in the liver, and the third is expressed in peripheral tissues. To evaluate the contribution of these latter two isoforms to the overall gene signal on Southern blots, hybridization probes for the three isoforms were isolated from starry flounder DNA by genomic cloning. Two clones revealed linkage of genes for different isoforms, and this was confirmed by genomic Southern blotting, where hybridization patterns indicated that the majority of genes were present in tandem repeats. The sequence and diversity of all three isoforms was sampled in the starry flounder genome by PCR. All coding sequences derived for the skin and liver isoforms were consistent with the proposed structure-function relationships for this AFP, where the flat hydrophobic side of the helix is conserved for ice binding. There was greater sequence diversity in the skin and hyperactive isoforms than in the liver isoform, suggesting that the latter evolved recently from one of the other two. The genomic PCR primers are currently being used to sample isoform diversity in related right-eyed flounders to test this hypothesis.

Coupled Temperature-Displacement Modelling of Injection Stretch Blow Moulding of PET bottles using Buckley Model

This study presents a fully coupled temperature–displacement finite element modelling of the injection stretch-blow moulding (ISBM) process of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles using ABAQUS with a view to optimising the process conditions. A physically-based material model (Buckley model) was used to predict the mechanical behaviour of PET at temperatures slightly above its glass transition temperature. A model incorporating heat transfer between the stretch rod, the preform and the mould was built using axisymmetric solid elements. Extensive finite element analyses were carried out to predict the deformation, the distribution and history of strain and temperature during ISBM of a 20 g–330 ml bottle, which was made in an in situ test on a Sidel SB06 machine. Comparisons of numerical results with the measurements demonstrate that the model can satisfactorily model the sidewall thickness and material distributions. It is also shown that significant non-linear differentials exist in temperature and strain in both bottle thickness and length directions during the process. This justifies the employment of a volume approach to accurately predict the final mechanical properties of the bottles governed by the orientation and crystallinity which are highly temperature and strain dependent.

Biaxial Characterisation of Materials for Thermoforming and Blow Moulding

During free surface moulding processes such as thermoforming and blow moulding heated polymer materials are subjected to rapid biaxial deformation as they are drawn into the shape of a mould. In the development of process simulations it is therefore essential to be able to accurately measure and model this behaviour. Conventional uniaxial test methods are generally inadequate for this purpose and this has led to the development of specialised biaxial test rigs. In this paper the results of several programmes of biaxial tests conducted at Queen’s University are presented and discussed. These have included tests on high impact polystyrene (HIPS), polypropylene (PP) and aPET, and the work has involved a wide variety of experimental conditions. In all cases the results clearly demonstrate the unique characteristics of materials when subjected to biaxial deformation. PP draws the highest stresses and it is the most temperature sensitive of the materials. aPET is initially easier to form but exhibits strain hardening at higher strains. This behaviour is increased with increasing strain rate but at very high strain rates these effects are increasingly mollified by adiabatic heating. Both aPET and PP (to a lesser degree) draw much higher stresses in sequential stretching showing that this behaviour must be considered in process simulations. HIPS showed none of these effects and it is the easiest material to deform.