Out-of-school experience categories influencing interest in biology of secondary school students by gender: exploration on an Abu Dhabi sample

This study employed the international Relevance of Science Education questionnaire to survey the interest in biology and the out-of-school experiences of Abu Dhabi secondary school students (median age 17, mean age 17.53 and mode age of 16) in the third semester of 2014. It included 3100 participants. An exploratory factor analysis was used to categorise the items for both interest in biology and out-of-school experience. Ten interest in biology and 12 out-of-school experience factors were extracted. The summated means for each factor indicated that ‘health and fitness’ and ‘disease control’ enjoyed highest interests among students. For out-of-school experiences, the two factors of ‘digital applications’ and ‘medical treatment’ received the highest scores. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that all factors for both interest in biology and out-of-school experience exhibited significant differences between boys and girls. More girls than boys were interested in disease control, reproduction (human biology), alternative science, health and fitness, zoology, and applied cosmetic biology. No significant differences were observed for the remaining five other categories. Furthermore, analysis of variance revealed significant differences between boys and girls with regard to individual items comprising each of the factors. The highest correlations were between the two factors of out-of-school experiences of ‘the natural world’ and ‘learning through observation’ and the interest in biology factor related to ‘plant and animal farming and agriculture’. Results suggested that more emphasis must be placed on students’ out-of-school experience and their engagement in informal learning in contextual outdoor environments to enhance their interest in learning more about biology and the living environment in general.     

The what,how and why of doing macroecology

Macroecology is a growing and important subdiscipline of ecology, but it is becoming increasingly diffuse, without an organizing principle that is widely agreed upon. I highlight two main current views of macroecology: as the study of large‐scale systems and as the study of emergent systems. I trace the history of both these views through the writings of the founders of macroecology. I also highlight the transmutation principle that identifies serious limitations to the study of large‐scale systems with reductionist approaches. And I suggest that much of the underlying goal of macroecology is the pursuit of general principles and the escape from contingency. I highlight that there are many intertwined aspects of macroecology, with a number of resulting implications. I propose that returning to a focus on studying assemblages of a large number of particles is a helpful view. I propose defining macroecology as “the study at the aggregate level of aggregate ecological entities made up of large numbers of particles for the purposes of pursuing generality”.     

肠道味觉受体细胞及其甜味感受

味觉是人和动物的一种基本生理感觉,用来识别食物的性质、调节食欲、控制摄食量.味觉不仅仅存在于口腔中,同样存在于胃肠道中.最近研究表明,动物肠道的粘膜上存在着表达味觉受体和味觉相关因子的细胞,调控着肠道激素如GLP-1和GIP的分泌以及糖转运体SGLT-1和GLUT-2的表达.甜味剂的刺激影响这些激素的分泌及载体的表达,从而影响机体对葡萄糖的吸收和利用.肠道味觉的研究有助于揭示肠道消化吸收功能的调控机理,同时为糖尿病、肥胖、代谢失调及其它饮食相关疾病的治疗提供新的切入点.主要介绍了肠道粘膜上的味觉受体细胞、味觉的信号转导途径以及甜味感受对肠道激素的分泌和葡萄糖吸收的影响,最后讨论了味觉细胞生物学的发展方向.     

Beyond “beyond GDP indicators:” The need for reflexivity in science for governance

“Beyond GDP” initiatives flag the limits of the quantitative indicators of progress currently used for governance. Focusing on the quality assessment of quantitative information used for governance, we use some of the conceptual tools of theoretical ecology and evolutionary biology in order to identify the pre-analytical choices that determine the usefulness and pertinence of a model. Starting from the definition of a model as a formal representation of a specific and necessarily subjective observation, we show that the production of indicators is the final result of a series of decisions on what to observe and how. These choices, in turn, depend on the narrative, or set of narratives, adopted. Narratives provide causality and context to knowledge claims and are needed to select the indicators to be used for policy. Moving beyond the GDP debate requires reflexivity, that is, awareness of the key role that pre-analytical choices play in the definition of both the relevance of the chosen perceptions and narratives (determined by the normative stands of different actors – who defines wellbeing?), and the usefulness of the chosen models and data (determined by the pertinence of the resulting representation – how to measure wellbeing?). Reflexivity is essential in order to take into account the purposes for which different indicators were created and to define new purposes for the “beyond GDP” indicators.     

Basic versus applied research: Julius Sachs (1832–1897) and the experimental physiology of plants

The German biologist Julius Sachs was the first to introduce controlled, accurate, quantitative experimentation into the botanical sciences, and is regarded as the founder of modern plant physiology. His seminal monograph Experimental-Physiologie der Pflanzen (Experimental Physiology of Plants) was published 150 y ago (1865), when Sachs was employed as a lecturer at the Agricultural Academy in Poppelsdorf/Bonn (now part of the University). This book marks the beginning of a new era of basic and applied plant science. In this contribution, I summarize the achievements of Sachs and outline his lasting legacy. In addition, I show that Sachs was one of the first biologists who integrated bacteria, which he considered to be descendants of fungi, into the botanical sciences and discussed their interaction with land plants (degradation of wood etc.). This “plant-microbe-view” of green organisms was extended and elaborated by the laboratory botanist Wilhelm Pfeffer (1845–1920), so that the term “Sachs-Pfeffer-Principle of Experimental Plant Research” appears to be appropriate to characterize this novel way of performing scientific studies on green, photoautotrophic organisms (embryophytes, algae, cyanobacteria).     

导师制科教管理模式在分级诊疗中运行的探索

分级诊疗是国家推动基层和社区医疗发展的全新政策,导师制科教管理模式在分级诊疗中的开展目前尚处于起步阶段,在实际实施过程中还存在着一定的问题和不足。如何使导师制科教管理模式在分级诊疗中发挥更大作用,以导师制促进区域医疗联合体（医联体）管理模式的建立、健全导师考核体系以及建立“学校—三级医院—医联体社区医院”3层教育管理体制是医院转型发展关键时期应该尝试的科教管理方法,也是打破医院传统管理模式、提高医院管理效率的一个有效手段。