‘All the places we were not supposed to go’: a case study of formative class and gender habitus in adventure climbing

This paper explores the origins of meaning in adventurous activities. Specifically, the paper reports on a study of 10 adventure climbers in the Scottish mountaineering community. The study explores how formative experiences have influenced engagement in adventure climbing. Work has been done on the phenomenology of adventure and how individuals interpret and find meaning in the activity—this paper goes a step further and asks where do these dispositions come from? Using Bourdieu’s ideas of field, habitus and forms of capital to frame these experiences in the wider social environment, early experiences are identified that, for the subjects of this study, provide a framework for their later adoption of the ‘adventure habitus’. Among these influences are mainstream education, adventure education in particular, as well as broader formative experiences relating to factors such as gender and class. In addition, the study suggests that accounts differ between males and females in terms of their attitudes and dispositions towards adventure. This may relate to their respective experiences as well as expanding opportunities for both males and females. However, while the ‘adventure field’ provides a context where women can develop transformative identities, these are nearly always subject to male validation.

Machine Translation and the Internet

Jones, E. H. G., Thomas, Ned, and King, Alan, 'Machine Translation and the Internet', Mercator Media Forums (2001) 5(1) pp.84-98 RAE2008

Coronal loops heated by turbulence-driven Alfven waves

Li, Xing, Habbal, S. R., 'Coronal loops heated by turbulence-driven Alfven waves', The Astrophysical Journal, (2003) 598(2) pp.L125-L128 RAE2008

Handedness and social anxiety: using Bryden's research as a catalyst to explore the influence of familial sinistrality and degree of handedness

Phil Bryden's work has impacted on many areas of laterality, including degree and measurement of hand preference, as well as influences of familial sinistrality (FS). For example, Bryden[(1977). Measuring handedness with questionnaires. Neuropsychologia, 15, 617–624] is a well-cited and influential paper that remains relevant to this day. Inspired by this we extended our analysis of the relationship between handedness and anxiety in a number of ways. We used familial handedness and strength of handedness to examine their potential influences on anxiety, and extended our research by exploring their relationship to social anxiety, using the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN). Inconsistent left-handers (ILH) were found to be more socially anxious. In all categories of SPIN except avoidance, ILH were significantly more anxious than consistent right- and left-handers. There were FS differences between ILH with a first degree left-handed relative (FS+) compared to ILH with no first degree left-handed relative (FS−) on all categories of anxiety scores. Within FS+ participants, ILH had significantly higher anxiety scores, compared with consistent handers across all categories. This suggests that ILH's social anxiety may be influenced by a close left-handed relative. Inspired by examining Bryden's work for this special issue, we will continue to add both strength of preference and familial handedness to our work.

The Challenges of Pluralism: Locating Religion in a World of Diversity

This is a postprint (author's final draft) version of an article published in the journal Social Compass in 2010. The final version of this article may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0037768610362406 (login may be required). The version made available in OpenBU was supplied by the author.

The double bind for non-traditional families in post-primary settings; to tell or not to tell their family identity

This thesis involved researching normative family discourses which are mediated through educational settings. The traditional family, consisting of father, mother and children all living together in one house is no longer reflective of the home situation of many Irish students (Lunn and Fahey, 2011). My study problematizes the dominant discourses which reflect how family differences are managed and recognised in schools. A framework using Foucauldian post structural critical analysis traces family stratification through the organisation of institutional and interpersonal relations at micro level in four post-primary schools. Standardising procedures such as the suppression of intimate relations between and among teacher and student, as well as the linear ordering of intergenerational relations, such as teacher/student and adult/child are critiqued. Normalising discourses operate in practices such as notes home which presume two parents together. Teacher assumptions about heterosexual two-parent families make it difficult for students to be open about a family setup that is constructed as different to the rest of the schools'. The management of family difference and deficit through pastoral care structures suggests a school-based politics of family adjustment. These practices beg the question whether families are better off not telling the school about their family identity. My thesis will be of interest to educational research and educational policy because it highlights how changing demographics such as family compositions are mis-conceptualised in schools, as well as revealing the changing forms of family governance through regimes such as pastoral care. This analysis allows for the existence of, and a valuing for, alternative modes of family existence, so that future curricular and legal discourses can be challenged in the interest of equity and social justice.

Intravital microscopy evaluation of angiogenesis and its effects on glucose sensor performance.

An optical window model for the rodent dorsum was used to perform chronic and quantitative intravital microscopy and laser Doppler flowmetry of microvascular networks adjacent to functional and non-functional glucose sensors. The one-sided configuration afforded direct, real-time observation of the tissue response to bare (unmodified, smooth surface) sensors and sensors coated with porous poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA). Microvessel length density and red blood cell flux (blood perfusion) within 1 mm of the sensors were measured bi-weekly over 2 weeks. When non-functional sensors were fully implanted beneath the windows, the porous coated sensors had two-fold more vasculature and significantly higher blood perfusion than bare sensors on Day 14. When functional sensors were implanted percutaneously, as in clinical use, no differences in baseline current, neovascularization, or tissue perfusion were observed between bare and porous coated sensors. However, percutaneously implanted bare sensors had two-fold more vascularity than fully implanted bare sensors by Day 14, indicating the other factors, such as micromotion, might be stimulating angiogenesis. Despite increased angiogenesis adjacent to percutaneous sensors, modest sensor current attenuation occurred over 14 days, suggesting that factors other than angiogenesis may play a dominant role in determining sensor function.

A framework for revising preservice curriculum for nonphysician clinicians: The mozambique experience.

Mozambique, with approximately 0.4 physicians and 4.1 nurses per 10,000 people, has one of the lowest ratios of health care providers to population in the world. To rapidly scale up health care coverage, the Mozambique Ministry of Health has pushed for greater investment in training nonphysician clinicians, Tιcnicos de Medicina (TM). Based on identified gaps in TM clinical performance, the Ministry of Health requested technical assistance from the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) to revise the two-and-a-half-year preservice curriculum. A six-step process was used to revise the curriculum: (i) Conducting a task analysis, (ii) defining a new curriculum approach and selecting an integrated model of subject and competency-based education, (iii) revising and restructuring the 30-month course schedule to emphasize clinical skills, (iv) developing a detailed syllabus for each course, (v) developing content for each lesson, and (vi) evaluating implementation and integrating feedback for ongoing improvement. In May 2010, the Mozambique Minister of Health approved the revised curriculum, which is currently being implemented in 10 training institutions around the country. Key lessons learned: (i) Detailed assessment of training institutions' strengths and weaknesses should inform curriculum revision. (ii) Establishing a Technical Working Group with respected and motivated clinicians is key to promoting local buy-in and ownership. (iii) Providing ready-to-use didactic material helps to address some challenges commonly found in resource-limited settings. (iv) Comprehensive curriculum revision is an important first step toward improving the quality of training provided to health care providers in developing countries. Other aspects of implementation at training institutions and health care facilities must also be addressed to ensure that providers are adequately trained and equipped to provide quality health care services. This approach to curriculum revision and implementation teaches several key lessons, which may be applicable to preservice training programs in other less developed countries.

Lost in Translation, book review of Urban Landscape Perspectives

In Sofia Coppola's 2003 film Lost in Translation, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson's characters find themselves culturally stranded and oddly mismatched as an improvised tourist couple in contemporary Tokyo. This is an urban landscape that they cannot comprehend but only temporarily experience, in a fragmented and surreptitious way that allows no possible understanding and categorizations, but offers physical inclusion, emotional participation and momentary embeddedness.

Projecting marine fish production and catch potential in Bangladesh in the 21st century under long-term environmental change and management scenarios

The fisheries sector is crucial to the Bangladeshi economy and wellbeing, accounting for 4.4% of national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 22.8% of agriculture sector production, and supplying ca.60% of the national animal protein intake. Fish is vital to the 16 million Bangladeshis living near the coast, a number that has doubled since the 1980s. Here we develop and apply tools to project the long term productive capacity of Bangladesh marine fisheries under climate and fisheries management scenarios, based on downscaling a global climate model, using associated river flow and nutrient loading estimates, projecting high resolution changes in physical and biochemical ocean properties, and eventually projecting fish production and catch potential under different fishing mortality targets. We place particular interest on Hilsa shad (Tenualosa ilisha), which accounts for ca.11% of total catches, and Bombay duck (Harpadon nehereus), a low price fish that is the second highest catch in Bangladesh and is highly consumed by low income communities. It is concluded that the impacts of climate change, under greenhouse emissions scenario A1B, are likely to reduce the potential fish production in the Bangladesh Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by less than 10%. However, these impacts are larger for the two target species. Under sustainable management practices we expect Hilsa shad catches to show a minor decline in potential catch by 2030 but a significant (25%) decline by 2060. However, if overexploitation is allowed catches are projected to fall much further, by almost 95% by 2060, compared to the Business as Usual scenario for the start of the 21st century. For Bombay duck, potential catches by 2060 under sustainable scenarios will produce a decline of less than 20% compared to current catches. The results demonstrate that management can mitigate or exacerbate the effects of climate change on ecosystem productivity.

Biomonitoring of air pollutants by using lichens (Evernia prunastri) in areas between Kenitra and Mohammedia cities in Morocco.

In this study, Evernia prunastri, a lichen growing in its natural habitat in Morocco was analysed for the concentration of five heavy metals (Fe, Pb, Zn, Cu and Cr) from eleven sites between Kenitra and Mohammedia cities. The control site was Dar Essalam, an isolated area with low traffic density and dense vegetation. In the investigated areas, the concentration of heavy metals was correlated with vehicular traffic, industrial activity and urbanization. The total metal concentration was highest in Sidi Yahya, followed by Mohammedia and Bouznika. The coefficient of variation was higher for Pb and lower for Cu, Zn and Fe. The concentrations of most heavy metals in the thalli differed significantly between sites (p<0.01). Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed a significant correlation between heavy metal accumulation and atmospheric purity index. This study demonstrated also that the factors most strongly affecting the lichen flora were traffic density, the petroleum industry and paper factories in these areas. Overall, these results suggest that the index of atmospheric purity and assessment of heavy metals in lichen thalli are good indicators of the air quality at the studied sites.