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Notwithstanding the apparent consensus in the UK over the last half a century that the ‘key goal’ of physical education (PE) is to prepare young people for lifelong participation in physical activity (Kirk, 2002), it is evident that the types of PE programmes and activities viewed as most likely to achieve this outcome remain a highly contentious issue. Grounded in sociological work on the ‘new condition’ of youth (Roberts, 1999), alongside data from various participation surveys in England and Wales, this paper responds to what is seen as the alleged failure of multi‐activity, sport‐based PE programmes to facilitate lifelong participation in sport and physical activity. It is argued that when developments in PE curricula in England and Wales are considered alongside trends in participation among young people, it is apparent that participation in sport and physical activity has become part of present‐day youth cultures. This may well be due, at least in part, to the ways in which multi‐activity PE program...

The study of winter-active small mammals beneath the snowpack has proved challenging for researchers because of the relative inaccessibility. We present a technique using hair tubes that permits the detection of small mammals active in the subnivean space. Hair tubes are cylindrical or funnel-shaped structures containing suitable bait and an adhesive surface that harvests hairs from small mammals as they attempt to reach the bait. Hair tubes eliminate many of the difficulties often associated with live trapping and permit the expansion of systematic sampling to larger scales than allowed by conventional live-trapping methods. The technique was used successfully to detect five small mammal species in the subnivean space in Kosciuszko National Park (KNP) in southeastern Australia. These included the common bush-rat, Rattus fuscipes; the dusky and agile antechinus, Antechinus swainsonii and A. agilis; the broad-toothed rat, Mastacomys fuscus; and the mountain pygmy possum, Burramys parvus. Although hair tubes have a number of limitations, such as not providing a measure of abundance or allowing the identification of individual animals, we believe that these limitations are balanced by the fact that the technique can be used at any spatial scale. Hair tubes are particularly suited to studies of animal distribution at the landscape-scale, because many hair tubes can be deployed and dispersed over large areas, and monitored on a regular basis by a small team of researchers. The technique also makes use of readily available, low-cost materials and could be easily adapted to a range of conditions and different target species.

This paper explores physical education (PE) teachers' views of the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in PE from a figurational sociological perspective. Starting from the premise that teachers' views cannot be adequately explained by studying the concept of inclusion or the teacher in isolation, it is argued that we can only begin to make sense of such views by locating teachers within the figurations of which they are a part and by exploring two particularly salient features of those figurations: namely, teachers' habituses and contexts. In doing so, the paper focuses upon the training teachers receive, the constraints imposed upon them by their colleagues and pupils, and, most importantly, the suitability of the National Curriculum for meeting the needs of pupils with SEN. The paper concludes by highlighting some of the unintended consequences of the inclusion of pupils with SEN in PE.

SUMMARY A broad consensus has emerged in relation to the desirability of promoting exercise among a variety of ‘at risk’ groups via ‘exercise on prescription’ (EoP) schemes, as an alternative to orthodox, biomedical approaches to the management of health problems. Underpinning the rationale for such schemes is the notion that they can act as vehicles for encouraging long-term adherence to exercise. Whilst there is a common sense appeal to using EoP schemes to promote exercise, research to date suggests that evidence of their impact is limited. This paper attempts to make sense of these findings in the light of recent debates about adult lifestyles and exercise. More specifically, it brings work in the sociology of leisure to bear on the topic, on the premise that any study of adults’ propensity towards sustainable physical activity needs to be viewed as an aspect of their lives ‘in the round’. Such an analysis points up the value of synthesizing perspectives from across the disciplinary divide in order to shed light on particular ‘problems’, which obviate the necessity for further empirical work. The paper concludes by identifying a number of implications for public health policy and practice with respect to the matter of encouraging lifelong participation in sport and exercise in general, and via EoP schemes in particular. One such implication is the development of a model for understanding participation that shifts the emphasis away from a focus on motivation and behaviour change per se towards satisfaction and enjoyment through the development of skills and relationships. Reconceptualizing the matter of participation in this way is likely to lead not only to a more realistic appreciation of what can be expected from EoP schemes, but also a more adequate understanding of adherence to exercise in later life.

This paper contributes towards the construction and application of a method to assess the long-term impact of the development of pervasive technologies on the environment. It seeks to integrate insights from studies of technology regarding long-term growth with questions of sustainability. Using a methodology based on long-wave theory and a sector classification based on technological characteristics, the likely effects of the three pervasive technologies (information technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology) on the input-output structure of selected sectors and on the levels of emissions of industrial greenhouse gases are considered.

A bounded socio-technical experiment (BSTE) attempts to introduce a new technology, service, or a social arrangement on a small scale. Many such experiments in personal mobility are ongoing worldwide. They are carried out by coalitions of diverse actors, and are driven by long term and large scale visions of advancing society’s sustainability agenda. This paper focuses on the processes of higher-order learning that occur through BSTEs. Based on the conceptual frameworks from theories of organizational learning, policy-oriented learning, and diffusion of innovation, we identify two types of learning: the first type occurs among the participants in the experiment and their immediate professional networks; the second type occurs in the society at large. Both types play a key role in the societal transition towards sustainable mobility systems. Two case studies, in which the Design for Sustainability Group at Technical University of Delft has participated, provide empirical data for the analysis. One...

The sustainability of global food consumption and production systems (FCPSs) over the next 25 years depends on changing economic developments, changing household consumption patterns and new technological developments, as well as on the environmental context of agriculture. This paper explores the interaction of these dynamics by examining the claims for sustainability of supposedly competing 'strategies' for the transformations of FCPSs. An FCPS includes not just agricultural production but also processing, retailing, eating and waste disposal phases. The four strategies are characterized as 'industrialized', 'traditional sustainable', 'organic' and 'new industrialized'. The paper argues that each strategy works in a variety of politico-economic structures and that focusing only on food crop production (such as in agriculture) ignores major environmental problems that are due to other phases of a food's lifecycle.

A broad consensus has emerged in recent years in relation to the desirability of one particular purpose for physical education (PE); namely, the promotion of lifelong participation in sport and physical activity. This paper represents an attempt to rectify what is taken to be the relative failure of those investigating (whilst typically advocating) lifelong participation through PE to make use of a sociological perspective on leisure, youth cultures and sport. More specifically, it brings the seminal work of someone often referred to as a 'founding father' of the field, Ken Roberts, to bear on the topic, on the premise that any study of young people's propensity towards ongoing involvement in sport and physical activity needs to be viewed as an aspect of their lives 'in the round' and that, in this regard, Roberts' contribution is especially important. The paper argues that among a number of lessons to be learned from Roberts' work over the last decade or so is that sports participation--contrary to the c...

In assessing the likely demand for biotechnology products it is not sufficient just to look at what is happening in firms and their immediate market environment. There is no one 'market' for biotechnology products: there are differences between sectors and between countries. You have instead to look at the institutional contexts of the biotechnology product's development. This paper reviews work which has been carried out by social scientists, especially those using 'social shaping' approaches, on the development of new products based on advances in biotechnology and on the creation of markets to go with these products. It examines work on public attitudes to the exploitation of the technology, focusing especially on the issue of social inclusion and exclusion and how biotechnology might make exclusion more likely. It concludes by considering what current differences in public attitudes to the development of some biotechnology-based products might mean for the development of markets for those products in ...

This paper presents the rationale and results of a scenario exercise concerning possible future developments in UK biotechnology. The final output of this exercise is a 'consensus' vision of what success might look like for the UK in biotechnology in 2005. The 'success scenario' was developed during a two-day workshop through structured discussions in a group of people active in biotechnology in industry, research agencies, consultancies or academe.

A high factor environmental efficiency improvement, towards a Factor 20 by 2050 AD — needed due to the assumed doubling of the world population combined with a fivefold increase of wealth per capita and a halving of the total global environmental burden — cannot be achieved through good housekeeping and technological innovation alone; any technological solutions will have to be combined with social innovations, in lifestyles and cultures. This paper describes the conclusions of the SusHouse (Strategies towards the Sustainable Household) Project that has been exploring possible socially and technologically innovative strategies for sustainable households. The Project has covered three household ‘functions’: Clothing Care, Shelter (Heating, Cooling and Lighting) and Food (Shopping, Cooking and Eating). These have been studied in five European countries (Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands and the UK). The methodology of the Project has involved stakeholder workshops, the construction of Design-Orienting Scenarios, environmental, economic and consumer assessment of the Scenarios and strategy formulation. The paper describes: (1) the methodology for devising design-orienting scenarios, with examples from the three functions; (2) the results of environmental, economic and consumer acceptability assessments of these scenarios; and (3) comments on how the methodology can be developed and applied.

Since 1981 there has been debate over whether foxes ( Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus) selectively prey on the broad-toothed rat ( Mastacomys fuscus Thomas) relative to the bush rat ( Rattus fuscipes (Waterhouse)). In the present study, three areas of the argument are examined. (i) In a study of fox diet over 3 years at both alpine and subalpine altitudes, M. fuscus outnumbered R. fuscipes in faecal remains in all seasons, in all years, and at both altitudes. Overall, M. fuscus occurred in scats five times as frequently as did R. fuscipes in the alpine zone and twice as often in the subalpine zone. (ii) Data from population studies of M. fuscus and R. fuscipes showed no evidence that M. fuscus is trap shy; neither the pattern of captures of individuals caught once, twice and so on, nor the proportion of the estimated population of each species captured during trapping sessions was significantly different. (iii) The suitable habitat for M. fuscus within the potential home ranges of foxes contributing to the subalpine fox scat collection constituted approximately 50% of the total area. However, there was no significant difference between the numbers of fox trails encountered in habitat suitable or unsuitable for M. fuscus in 19 paired transects skied in winter, indicating no preferential foraging in either habitat. Selective feeding on M. fuscus was therefore established, but how that choice is exercised was not determined.

This paper examines differences and similarities between private and public sectors regarding green supply: the incorporation of environmental considerations into procurement and supply chain relationships. While there are considerable differences between the sectors, there are two key areas of similarity. Firstly, responses in both sectors are heavily influenced by organisational structure and patterns of decision-making and information flow. Secondly, the success of green supply initiatives appears to be heavily dependent on organisation’s ability to align activity with dominant corporate objectives.

This paper seeks to explain the socio-genesis of PE teachers' 'Philosophical' (or, rather, ideological) orientations from a sociological (specifically, figurational) perspective. Starting from the premise that such 'philosophies' cannot be adequately explained by studying either the ideas themselves or the teacher (him or herself) in isolation, it argues that PE teachers' everyday 'philosophies', and the underlying ideologies therein, can only be fully understood when teachers are located in the figurations they form with each other--as inescapably interdependent people. Two salient dimensions of the figurations of PE teachers are identified as their deeply-rooted attachments and associated convictions (e.g. towards the value of sport) and their practice of PE or, more precisely, the constraints circumscribing their practice. It is claimed that whilst various social processes (such as medicalization and professionalization) may well prove to be motors that drive psychical change towards health and academi...

Within the varied justifications for physical education (PE) a broad consensus has emerged over the last decade or so in relation to the desirability of one particular purpose; namely, the promotion of lifelong participation in sport and physical activity. Indeed, in one form or another, concern with encouraging ongoing participation in sport and physical activity, after the end of compulsory schooling, has been a persistent and enduring theme in government policy towards school sport and PE in recent decades. Part One of this two‐part paper argues that much official and semi‐official rhetoric related to school sport and PE in recent years fails to acknowledge actual participatory trends in sport and physical activity ‐ towards so‐called lifestyle activities’ and away from competitive, performance‐oriented sport ‐ among young people. In doing so, it does a substantial disservice to those engaged in PE with a view to promoting lifelong participation by promulgating a misguided response to a ‘fictitious ill...

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Leisure studies on 19 August 2014, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/02614367.2014.938771. This version will be made available 18 months after it was published. This paper explores Norwegian youngsters’ (and, to a lesser extent, adults’) engagement with conventional and lifestyle sports via an examination of recent trends. In the process, it explores the significance or otherwise of ‘nature-based settings’ and the developing character of lifestyle sports. In terms of changes in youth sport, young Norwegians are the quintessential sporting omnivores. However, the particular mix of conventional and lifestyle sports that Norwegian youngsters favour has shifted within a generation, with the latter more prominent in 2007 than they had been even a decade earlier. The changes appear emblematic of a shift among Norwegian youth towards sports activities that offer alternative forms and styles of participation to those traditionally associated with ‘the outdoors’ as a style of life. In theoretical terms, the findings suggest that, as a generic and popular collective noun, the term lifestyle sport is most useful when it draws attention to the ‘commonalities’ shared by many of the activities often corralled under it.

In order to determine the mechanisms that drive changes in plant community composition across spatial and temporal scales, plant functional traits were used to interpret the results of a repeat species survey across a gradient of five alpine summits in south-east Australia. Vegetation changes were strongly affected by the high and increasing proportion of tall shrubs and graminoids, especially at the lower elevation summits. Several significant relationships between the community trait-weighted mean of different traits and elevation may suggest processes such as competition are influencing vegetation preferentially across the elevation gradient, with shrubs and graminoids driving these patterns., Classical approaches to investigating temporal and spatial changes in community composition offer only partial insight into the ecology that drives species distribution, community patterns and processes, whereas a functional approach can help to determine many of the underlying mechanisms that drive such patterns. Here, we aim to bring these two approaches together to understand such drivers, using an elevation gradient of sites, a repeat species survey and species functional traits. We used data from a repeat vegetation survey on five alpine summits and measured plant height, leaf area, leaf dry matter content and specific leaf area (SLA) for every species recorded in the surveys. We combined species abundances with trait values to produce a community trait-weighted mean (CTWM) for each trait, and then combined survey results with the CTWMs. Across the gradient of summits, more favourable conditions for plant growth (warmer, longer growing season) occurred at the lower elevations. Vegetation composition changes between 2004 and 2011 (according to non-metric multi-dimensional scaling ordination) were strongly affected by the high and increasing abundance of species with high SLA at high elevations. Species life-form categories strongly affected compositional changes and functional composition, with increasing dominance of tall shrubs and graminoids at the lower-elevation summits, and an overall increase in graminoids across the gradient. The CTWM for plant height and leaf dry matter content significantly decreased with elevation, whereas for leaf area and SLA it significantly increased. The significant relationships between CTWM and elevation may suggest specific ecological processes, namely plant competition and local productivity, influencing vegetation preferentially across the elevation gradient, with the dominance of shrubs and graminoids driving the patterns in the CTWMs.

This paper explores the rapid growth of academic examinations (GCSE and 'A'-level) in physical education (PE) from a sociological, specifically figurational, perspective. It utilises data from the author's own research in order to examine: (i) how one might explain the significant increase in GCSE and 'A'-level PE and Sports Studies sociologically; and (ii) if such growth can justifiably be said to represent the emergence of a 'new orthodoxy' or, for that matter, an orthodoxy at all-rather than merely a consensus of thought and practice among PE teachers. The paper concludes that, far from indicating a substantial change in PE teachers' 'philosophies'-towards the theory and, concomitantly, away from the practice of PE-the growth in examinations is more adequately explained in terms of a conjuncture of several interrelated processes; notably the academicisation and professionalisation of PE. In addition, it is suggested that, while the 'old' orthodoxy-of sport and team-games-can be said to represent mere a...

To find routes and implement solutions to sustainable development will require relevant stakeholders from a broad range of societal groups to be involved. To create these routes will need radical ideas and profound visions because clearly current systems are not helping society towards sustainable development. This paper describes part of the SusHouse (Strategies towards the Sustainable Household) project which explored possible strategies for creating sustainable households based on a Factor 20 improvement in environmental efficiency by the year 2050. It describes so called 'Design Orienting Scenarios' (DOSs) using the case of 'shopping, cooking and eating' developed in Hungary, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The DOSs were developed from stakeholder creativity workshops with the aim of providing normative heuristic scenarios to illustrate a range of environmental futures, and thereby informing the design, business and policymaking processes. The variety of developed DOSs ensured that alternative futures were compared, each having concrete proposals for product-service systems. This paper also indicates that the methodological approach has potential for application to other research projects and particularly to design processes that aim to generate products for sustainable futures based on interactive stakeholder participation.

This paper presents the findings from semi-structured interviews with 35 physical education (PE) teachers in secondary schools in the north-west of England. The principal aim of the study was to examine teachers' everyday 'philosophies' of PE, from a sociological perspective, in an attempt to identify the existence of philosophical - or, more accurately, ideological - themes therein and to explore the socio-genesis of such 'philosophies'. Analysis of the interview data revealed several prominent ideological themes - sport, health, academic value, education for leisure and 'sport for all'. These themes bore little resemblance to the more academic conceptions of PE to be found in PE theory and documentation. In this vein, teachers' commitment to particular notions, such as enjoyment, begged questions regarding the ostensibly educational element of physical education. Having identified the existence of what might be termed a 'theory-practice' gap between academic philosophy of PE and the ideological themes i...

The use of consumer pressure in greening the economy has long been advocated by environmentalists. This article takes the view that the traditional image of the consumer as the primary agent of environmental change is inadequate. Efforts to green the economy require an understanding of corporations and public organizations as consumers as well as an understanding of individuals as consumers. The article sets out the arguments for treating all organizations as consumers and as a dominant but underemphasized force in greening the economy. It then considers organizational consumption in the context of supply chains, with respect to the issue of agency within the organization and with respect to the transmissions of market signals for innovation. The discussion makes clear the importance of considering the interorganizational context and ways in which this context both constrains and enables green purchasing initiatives. Reference is made to examples from a range of organizations.

(2000). Book Review Essay: Understanding Physical Education Teachers’ Lives, ‘Philosophies’ and Practices: The Benefits of a Sociological Approach. European Journal of Physical Education: Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 259-271.

This paper explores the alleged sporting ‘bias’ within extra‐curricular physical education (PE) in England and Wales, from a sociological perspective. By drawing upon aspects of figurational sociology ‐‐ in particular, by exploring the habituses of PE teachers and the networks of relationships in which they, as the providers of extra‐curricular PE, are bound up ‐ the paper attempts to expand our understanding of the particular orientation of extra‐curricular PE towards competitive team sport and the more able youngsters. The apparent sporting ‘bias’ inherent in extra‐curricular PE is explained in terms of how sporting ideologies and practices come to be embedded in the normative behaviour of PE teachers and the manner in which a variety of constraints at the local and national level serve to reinforce the apparent tendency towards providing ‘more of the same for the more able’.

This paper reports the results of a preliminary investigation into how green issues are influencing the process of research and development (R&D) as a contributor to innovation. R&D and other managers in UK companies were interviewed about their work, the methods used to select and manage that work and the way in which the green agenda is affecting the organization and its activities. The investigation looked at changes the ‘green agenda’ may be making in the innovation framework of firms, and differences between the flows of signals about green issues and those about other product performance issues around these frameworks. The paper concludes that, if the process of developing greener products and services is to be speeded up, then supply companies with the capacity and will to innovate need to push green issues on to the agenda of their dialogue with users in order actively to seek opportunities for progress. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment

Since the early 1980s, the health benefits of exercise have become an increasingly regular and significant inclusion in physical education (PE). The incorporation of health as a permeating theme in the revised National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE) of 1995 and the proposals to integrate health‐related exercise (HRE) requirements into all programmes of study in the current revision of NCPE (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), 1999), provide substantial evidence of the constraints upon teachers to deliver HRE to ‘all corners’ of the PE curriculum. At the same time, it is evident that PE teachers have experienced difficulties extending HRE beyond gym‐based, fitness‐oriented activities to the range of NCPE activity areas. In this paper, we attempt to relate the fairly recent expansion of interest in effort perceptionamong paediatric exercise scientists to HRE in PE. We argue that, inasmuch as it represents a potential building block for the self‐monitoring of health‐related activity on the p...

This paper discusses the literature on `techno-economic networks' (TENs) and `techno-economic paradigms' (TEPs). The object of study in both literatures is some form of combination of the `technical' and the `socio-economic'; the phrase `techno-economic' thus points to the need to see that the widest variety of `actors' may be of significance for particular innovations. The literature on TENs has focused mainly on describing the emergence and stabilisation of specific innovations; the literature on TEPs has focused more on the issues and problems arising from the diffusion of highly `pervasive' generic technologies. The two perspectives thus constitute different ends of a spectrum regarding the formulation of research and policy issues. The central concern of this paper is to illustrate that, by maintaining a focus on innovation and by shifting theoretical registers between the TEN and TEP perspectives, a number of issues emerge around what we call the `meso-level techno-economic': at the level of the nation, of national governments, of specific firms and organisations of particular scientific and technological disciplines, or of particular market arrangements and patterns of consumption. The paper explores some of the applications of the approaches to technological development in relation to the environment and constructive technology assessment (CTA); it concludes by presenting a possible framework for analysis of the meso-level.

This paper compares the macro- and micro- analyses of techno-economic change. Arguing for perspectives which are sensitive to the local flexibility of innovation but which can also provide suggestions for policy and intervention, it describes and reviews the two major contributions: work on Techno-Economic Networks, and on Techno-Economic Paradigms. It is argued that the former has greater depth of analytical sensitivity, whilst the latter is more policy-relevant. Whilst there are approaches, such as Constructive Technology Assessment, which attempt to combine the two perspectives, these are seen as failing to retain sensitivity to the power differentials between key actors such as firms, experts, governing agencies or citizens' groups. The paper concludes by advocating attention to the ‘meso-level techno-economic’—the networks of institutions and actors at work in: geographically bounded systems of innovation; scientific and technological disciplines; firms, their strategies and linkages; and the nexus between production and consumption.

Reporting ongoing and developing research this paper examines what might loosely be called the ‘philosophies’ of physical education (PE) teachers from a sociological perspective. The paper is concerned, in part, with the relationship between, on the one hand, philosophies which have been articulated by academic philosophers seeking to define what they consider to be the ‘essential’ characteristics or nature of PE and, on the other hand, ideas about PE which are held by teachers who have the practical task of teaching PE within schools. Making use of autobiographical references the paper outlines two influential philosophical conceptions of PE before offering a brief outline of a figurational perspective on the sociology of knowledge. By exploring the social relationships in which PE teachers are involved the paper takes tentative steps towards a more adequate understanding of PE teachers' ‘philosophies’. The paper offers preliminary thoughts on what, it might be hypothesised, are likely to be som...

Asks how does green purchasing change the environmental performance of the firms in a supply chain/network and what is the influence of supply chain and industry structure on that performance? Do such changes contribute to companies’ overall environmental performance and to sustainability? Discusses these, and related questions, by exploring the activities of the UK hardware retailer, B&Q, as an example of green purchasing and supply in action.

This paper seeks to: (i) outline and critically evaluate the widely accepted idea that exercise and sport are beneficial for health; (ii) examine the different patterns of social relations associated with exercise and sport; (iii) examine some of the health consequences of these social differences; and (iv) explore the implications of this analysis for physical education. No simple generalisations can adequately encapsulate the complexity of the relationships between physical education, sport and health. In terms of their social relations and their consequences for health, we need to differentiate (i) between exercise and sport and (ii) between types and levels of sport, with the distinctions between contact and non-contact sport and between mass and elite sport being particularly important. In the case of rhythmic, non-competitive exercise, health benefits substantially outweigh health 'costs'. However, as we move from non-competitive exercise to competitive sport, and as we move from non-contact to contact sport, so health 'costs', in the form of injuries, begin to mount. Similarly, as we move from mass sport to elite sport, the constraints to train more intensively and to continue competing through pain and injury increase, with a concomitant increase in the health risks. The physical activities prioritised in the revised National Curriculum for Physical Education in England and Wales enforced by recent official and semi-official statements, are precisely those competitive and contact sports in which the health 'costs' are greatest while those activities which are marginalised within the physical education curriculum offer substantial health benefits with fewer health 'costs'. To the extent that they are successful, recent policy initiatives in relation to physical education are likely to work against the promotion of those forms of exercise which are most beneficial to health and thus hinder the promotion of health-related exercise in physical education.

To present the safety and efficacy of intravitreal implants releasing 0.2 μg/day fluocinolone acetonide (FAc) in patients with chronic versus nonchronic diabetic macular edema (DME). To assess ocular characteristics, anatomic changes, and re-treatment and ancillary therapies that may explain the differential treatment effect seen with intravitreal implants releasing FAc 0.2 μg/day in patients with chronic and nonchronic DME. An overall benefit-to-risk assessment for the FAc 0.2-μg/day and FAc 0.5-μg/day doses has been reported previously.Preplanned subgroup analysis of chronic (duration of diagnosis, ≥3 years) and nonchronic (duration of diagnosis,3 years) DME in patients from 2 randomized, sham injection-controlled, double-masked, multicenter clinical trials.Patients with persistent DME despite 1 or more macular laser treatment were randomized 1:2:2 to sham injection (n = 185), FAc 0.2 μg/day (n = 375), or FAc 0.5 μg/day (n = 393).Patients received study drug or sham injection and after 6 weeks were eligible for rescue laser. Based on re-treatment criteria, additional masked study drug could be given after 1 year.Percentage of patients with improvement of 15 letters or more from baseline. Secondary outcomes included other parameters of visual function and foveal thickness.At month 36, the difference between FAc 0.2 μg/day and sham control in the percentage of patients who gained 15 letters or more was significantly greater in chronic DME patients (FAc 0.2 μg/day, 34.0% vs. sham, 13.4%; P0.001), compared with patients with nonchronic DME (FAc 0.2 μg/day, 22.3% vs. sham, 27.8%; P = 0.275). The greater response in patients with chronic DME was not associated with baseline ocular characteristics, changes in anatomic features, or differences in re-treatment or ancillary therapies. The ocular adverse event profile for FAc 0.2 μg/day was similar regardless of DME duration.This is the first published analysis correlating duration of diagnosis of DME with treatment effect. In patients with chronic DME, FAc 0.2 μg/day provides substantial visual benefit for up to 3 years and would provide an option for patients who do not respond to other therapy.

Vitenskapelig, fagfellevurdert artikkel Based on quantitative data from the Norwegian Statistisk Sentralbyrå (Statistics Norway) study of Mosjon, Friluftsliv og Kulturaktiviteter (Vaage, 2009), this paper explores trends in Norwegians’ participation in sports, with a focus on young people. Norway boasts particularly high levels of sports participation as well as sports club membership and young Norwegians are the quintessential sporting omnivores. Among other things, the Statistics Norway study reveals substantial increases in participation (among young people and females especially) during the period 1997-2007, a shift in the peak of participation to the late teenage years, a relatively high level of lifelong participants, a re-bound effect in the post-child rearing years and a growth in lifestyle sports. Young Norwegians grow up in a socio-economic context of relative equality between the sexes and high standards of living. An abundance of natural and artificial outdoor and indoor sporting facilities alongside a well-established voluntary sports club sector and an elementary school system that emphasizes physical exercise and recreation, as well as high levels of parental involvement, add to the favourable socio-economic conditions to create seemingly optimal circumstances for sports participation. All this reinforces the sporting and physical recreation cultures deeply-embedded in Norwegian society and embodied by the very many middle-class parents in a country which, for the time being at least, remains relatively young in demographic terms. In terms of lessons to be learned for policy towards sports and physical education beyond Norway, there may be grounds for some optimism around parental involvement in children’s sport as well as the potential appeal of lifestyle sports. That said, it is likely to be the greater socio-economic equalities in Scandinavian countries such as Norway that make them unrealistic benchmarks for sports participation elsewhere. 2014-08-25

Average depth of snow in the mountains of southeastern Australia is decreasing at a rate of 0.48 cm a-1, while the duration of the snowpack has been shortened by 18.5 days since 1954 ( - 3 days per decade). The major factors responsible for these declines are an increasing temperature trend of 0.36 C per decade, and a reduction in winter precipitation at the rate of 10.1 mm a-1. While the depth of the snowpack is dependent upon precipitation trends and minimum temperatures (multiple r2 = 0.43), the shortening in the length of the snow period is best predicted by increasing temperatures and reduced humidity. The major forcing of the warming trend involves greenhouse gasses, in particular atmospheric carbon dioxide and water vapor. However, the decline in winter precipitation seems to be unrelated to the forcing of greenhouse gasses, and is instead statistically associated with the Southern Oscillation Index (r = 0.38). Inverse correlations were found between depth of snow and solar irradiance, which in turn is inversely correlated with the number of sunspots per cycle. The latter findings suggest that the declining precipitation and snow trends could additionally be associated with a reduction in solar activity during the past five decades.

pundits frequently comment that the pace of innovation in higher education can be measured by the 40 years it took to get the overhead projector out of the bowling alley and into the classroom. The (few) pundits who know something about both bowling and technology often add that faculty are now far more likely to find computerized projection systems in bowling alleys than in college classrooms. But something significant is happening. Fueled by more than four decades of aspirations and a dozen years of sustained (if often ad hoc) experimentation, information technology has finally emerged as a permanent, respected, and increasingly essential component of the college experience. New data from the annual Campus Computing survey, now in its sixth year, indicate a major gain in the proportion of college courses (and by extension, college faculty) using information technology as an instructional resource. These data reveal that the use

The use of polymer floods to efficiently displace heavy oils with viscosities up to 10,000 mPa.s has be tested successfully in laboratory scale evaluations; commercial success on the field scale has been achieved with oil viscosities up to 2000 mPa.s in Western Canada1 and other parts of the world1. Since it has been established that the polymer flood technology can be successful at displacing heavy oils on a field scale, it is timely to improve the efficiency of this technology. Researchers have shown that heterogeneities are more detrimental when waterflooding heavy oils than experience obtained from conventional waterfloods3, 4. Hence, it is essential to understand the polymer flood displacement of heavy oil in the presence of heterogeneities. In addition, it was beneficial to conform the impact of large scale heterogeneities with judicious use of associative polymers. Building a high and low permeability layer into a cylindrical sandpack allowed for demonstrating the impact of heterogeneities on a waterflood and polymer flood displacing heavy oils; the high permeability layer had a permeability 10 times greater than the low permeability layer. The reduced oil recovery in the heterogeneous, dual permeability core can be modeled correctly using a reservoir simulator if a capillary pressure difference curve is introduced during the simulations. The capillary pressure difference curve controls the degree of cross-flow from the high permeability layer to the low permeability layer and corrects the sweep efficiency. Salinity and hardness tolerant associative polymers suitable for injection into reservoir core have been screened and developed for heavy oil displacement processes. These specialty polymers generate a higher in situ apparent viscosity by forming large hydrodynamic radii through association between polymer molecules. In reservoir applications, these associative polymers may generate tremendous resistance factors in high permeability streaks. The dual permeability corefloods demonstrated that associative polymers outperformed the regular partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamides in two aspects: (1) the associating polymer generated incremental oil recovery after HPAM recovery and (2) the mobility reduction (or resistance factor) of the associative polymers was significantly higher than HPAM. Hence associative polymers can be used for blocking and diverting purposes in high permeability layers where regular polymers may not be as effective.

Purpose To compare aqueous levels of fluocinolone acetonide (FAc) after administration of FAc inserts or FAc implants (Retisert; Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY). Design Comparison of pharmacokinetics from 2 prospective, interventional, clinical trials. Participants Thirty-seven patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) (Fluocinolone Acetonide in Human Aqueous [FAMOUS] Study, C-01-06-002) and 7 patients with uveitis (NA-00019318). Methods Aqueous FAc was measured after administration of FAc implants or 0.2 μg/day (low dose, ILUVIEN; Alimera Sciences Inc., Alpharetta, GA) or 0.5 μg/day (high dose) FAc inserts. Main Outcome Measures The primary end point was aqueous levels of FAc. Results At 1 month after administration for subjects who received 1 treatment, mean aqueous FAc levels were 2.17 (low dose) and 3.03 ng/ml (high dose) for FAc inserts and 6.12 ng/ml for FAc implants with maximum levels of 3.83, 6.66, and 13.50 ng/ml, respectively. At 3 months, mean FAc levels were 1.76, 2.15, and 6.12 ng/ml, respectively. Between 6 and 36 months after low-dose inserts, aqueous levels of FAc were remarkably stable, ranging from 1.18 to 0.45 ng/ml. After high-dose inserts, mean FAc levels were stable between 6 and 24 months, ranging from 1.50 to 0.84 ng/ml and then decreasing to 0.35 ng/ml at 30 months and 0.15 ng/ml at 36 months. In implant-containing eyes, mean FAc levels remained >6 ng/ml through 15 months, the last time point with measurements from at least 6 eyes. Conclusions Low- and high-dose FAc inserts both provide stable long-term release of FAc with comparable peak levels in the aqueous: slightly >2 ng/ml for approximately 3 months followed by steady-state levels between 1.0 and 0.5 ng/ml through 36 months for low-dose inserts versus levels between 1.5 and 1.1 ng/ml through 24 months for high-dose inserts. Steady-state aqueous levels after FAc implants were >6 ng/ml. These results provide new insights that aid in the interpretation of efficacy trials and indicate that there is a dose effect for steroid-induced ocular hypertension. In susceptible patients, prolonged aqueous levels of FAc >1 ng/ml moderately increased the risk of glaucoma and levels >6 ng/ml posed a markedly increase risk. Financial Disclosure(s) Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found after the references.

Objective To assess long-term efficacy and safety of intravitreal inserts releasing 0.2 μg/d (low dose) or 0.5 μg/d (high dose) fluocinolone acetonide (FAc) in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME). Design Two randomized, sham injection-controlled, double-masked, multicenter clinical trials. Participants Subjects with persistent DME despite ≥1 macular laser treatment were randomized 1:2:2 to sham injection (n = 185), low-dose insert (n = 375), or high-dose insert (n = 393). Methods Subjects received study drug or sham injection and after 6 weeks were eligible for rescue laser. Based on retreatment criteria, additional study drug or sham injections could be given after 1 year. Main Outcome Measures Percentage of patients with improvement of ≥15 letters from baseline. Secondary outcomes included other parameters of visual function and foveal thickness. Results At month 36, the percentage of patients who gained ≥15 in letter score using the last observation carried forward method was 28.7% (low dose) and 27.8% (high dose) in the FAc insert groups compared with 18.9% ( P = 0.018) in the sham group, and considering only those patients still in the trial at month 36, it was 33.0% (low dose) and 31.9% (high dose) compared with 21.4% in the sham group ( P = 0.030). Preplanned subgroup analysis demonstrated a doubling of benefit compared with sham injections in patients who reported duration of DME ≥3 years at baseline; the percentage who gained ≥15 in letter score at month 36 was 34.0% (low dose; P P = 0.002) compared with 13.4% (sham). An improvement ≥2 steps in the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study retinopathy scale occurred in 13.7% (low dose) and 10.1% (high dose) compared with 8.9% in the sham group. Almost all phakic patients in the FAc insert groups developed cataract, but their visual benefit after cataract surgery was similar to that in pseudophakic patients. The incidence of incisional glaucoma surgery at month 36 was 4.8% in the low-dose group and 8.1% in the high-dose insert group. Conclusions In patients with DME FAc inserts provide substantial visual benefit for up to 3 years and would provide a valuable addition to the options available for patients with DME. Financial Disclosure(s) Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found after the references.