Managing ambiguity: between markets and managerialism - a case study of 'middle' managers in further education

Advocates of devolved and market oriented Education reform, point to the benefits from self determination which enhance both teacher and managerial autonomy. Critics refer, on the other hand, to the ways in which running education institutions on business and accounting principles have introduced a new managerialism (Clarke et al, 1994; Pollitt, 1990; Clarke and Newman, 1997), which has driven a wedge between lecturers and senior manager interests. In Further Education, according to Elliott (1996a), this finds expression in conflict between lecturers in defence of professional and pedagogic values, and senior managers promoting the managerial bottom line (Randle and Brady, 1994). The danger in polarising such interests in this way is that it presents a plausible, if not oversimplified, analysis of organisational behaviour as market forces permeate FE. If this paper concurs with many critics on the effects of the new managerialism, it departs company from a prevailing determinism which assumes an over controlled view of the FE workplace (Seddon and Brown, 1997). Despite evidence of widespread casualisation and depro-fessionalisation in FE, this paper examines changing managerial cultures in the FE workplace, in this case among academic ‘middle’ managers, which suggests that managerialism is not as complete or uncontested as is often portrayed. The paper draws on an ESRC research project conducted by the authors (ESRC no. R000236713), looking at Changing Teaching and Managerial Cultures in FE, at a time when the sector is emerging from a series of funding crises associated with redundancies, industrial action, mismanagement and low morale at college level

Effects of Backgrounding and Growing Programs on Beef Carcass Quality and Yield

Clearly, the future of the beef cattle industry in the United States depends on the quality of the product. The majority of calves are born in the spring; therefore, to have a consistent supply of feeders entering feedlots and to take advantage of forages, a variety of stocker programs exist. Cattle enter the feedlot at varying weights and ages and from different nutritional backgrounds, and this variation could produce differences in carcass quality. The economically important measures of carcass quality are yield grade and quality grade. They are directly related: as cattle fatten in the feedlot, both quality grade and yield grade increase. Because cattle are commercially fed to fat-constant end points, it is logical to make comparisons at equal fat end points. Then, marbling (percentage Choice) becomes the primary quality criterion. We analyzed data from 534 cattle serially slaughtered and found that the percentage grading Choice increased 12 ± 1 percentage units for each 1-mm increase in rib fat. Marbling score increased 30 units (200 = slight 00) for each 1-mm increase in fat. To determine the effect of rate of winter gain on carcass quality, 372 calves over 5 yr were wintered at .23 or .61 kg/d gain. When adjusted to equal rib fat after summer grazing and finishing, there was no difference in quality grade. To test the effect of summer gain on carcass quality, 418 calves over 7 yr were followed through the feedlot after gaining .57 or .84 kg/d on grass. When compared at equal rib fat, there was no difference in quality grade. Shear force values and consumer taste panels were used to evaluate steaks from 90 cattle from calf-fed and yearling production systems. Calf-feds were 14 mo of age at slaughter and yearlings were 19 or 21 mo. Each group was serially slaughtered. There was no effect of an additional .39 cm of rib fat on shear force, juiciness, tenderness, flavor, or overall palatability. Calf-feds were significantly more tender than yearlings, but the risk of an undesirable steak from yearlings was \u3c .2% based on shear force and \u3c 2.8% based on the consumer taste panel. If cattle are fed to a common rib fat end point, and within the range of rates of winter and summer gains reported herein, we conclude that the backgrounding program has little or no effect on marbling or carcass quality grade

Back Pay in Employment Discrimination Cases

This Special Project examines the back pay decisions and analyzes the problems that have confronted the courts dealing with this remedy for employment discrimination in the context of Title VII and section 1981. Because of the enormity of the issues that have arisen in Stage I of the proceedings, however, and the extensive coverage given those problems by the courts and commentators, the Special Project will deal only with the recovery stage, or Stage II, of the litigation. Consequently, the reader should assume that liability for employment discrimination has already been established in each of the cases discussed below. Before reaching the various procedural and substantive issues surrounding back pay awards, however, the Project, in part II, presents an over-view of the statutory authority for back pay including the legislative history of Title VII and section 1981. Part II also discusses the development of the appropriate standard for the exercise of judicial discretion in awarding back pay. Part III examines the parties liable for the payment of back pay. In part IV the Project explores presumptive eligibility for back pay and in part V considers possible grounds on which a defendant may seek to rebut the presumption. Parts VI and VII discuss the proof-of-claim procedure that must be followed by discriminatees claiming back pay and the procedure for determining individual awards. Part VIII then identifies and analyzes the various problems facing courts in allocating the burdens of proof that plaintiffs and defendants must meet before the court can determine individual awards. Following the discussion of the order and allocation of the burdens of proof, part IX outlines the various methods used by the courts to compute individual back pay awards and also discusses other issues such as the elements includable and deductible, the mitigation requirement,and the limitation periods for back pay. In part X the Special Project examines the problems that may arise when the parties agree to a settlement of back pay claims

Multilingual gendered identities: female undergraduate students in London talk about heritage languages

In this paper I explore how a group of female university students, mostly British Asian and in their late teens and early twenties, perform femininities in talk about heritage languages. I argue that analysis of this talk reveals ways in which the participants enact ‘culturally intelligible’ gendered subject positions. This frequently involves negotiating the norms of ‘heteronormativity’, constituting femininity in terms of marriage, motherhood and maintenance of heritage culture and language, and ‘girl power’, constituting femininity in terms of youth, sassiness, glamour and individualism. For these young women, I ask whether higher education can become a site in which they have the opportunities to explore these identifications and examine other ways of imagining the self and what their stories suggest about ‘doing being’ a young British Asian woman in London

Requirement for PBAF in transcriptional repression and repair at DNA breaks in actively transcribed regions of chromatin

Actively transcribed regions of the genome are vulnerable to genomic instability. Recently, it was discovered that transcription is repressed in response to neighboring DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). It is not known whether a failure to silence transcription flanking DSBs has any impact on DNA repair efficiency or whether chromatin remodelers contribute to the process. Here, we show that the PBAF remodeling complex is important for DSB-induced transcriptional silencing and promotes repair of a subset of DNA DSBs at early time points, which can be rescued by inhibiting transcription globally. An ATM phosphorylation site on BAF180, a PBAF subunit, is required for both processes. Furthermore, we find that subunits of the PRC1 and PRC2 polycomb group complexes are similarly required for DSB-induced silencing and promoting repair. Cancer-associated BAF180 mutants are unable to restore these functions, suggesting PBAF's role in repressing transcription near DSBs may contribute to its tumor suppressor activity

Exploratory investigation of drivers of attainment in ethnic minority adult learners

There is evidence that ethnic minority learners in further education in England either under-achieve or are under-represented because they face various inhibitors connected to their ethnicity. Motivators may be in place, however, which increase attainment specifically for some ethnic groups. This exploratory study intends to examine what works and what does not among South Asian (Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage) females and black male adult learners in FE. A mixed-method study was carried out using questionnaires and focus groups with 68 ethnic minority students in three further education colleges in England. The combination of the results showed that being a member of a minority culture and/or religion may increase feelings of isolation in academic settings; teaching staff who are knowledgeable about the student’s culture increase feelings of inclusion; and role models are crucially important. Results are discussed in light of British data of school experiences of ethnic minority learners

The endogenous caspase-8 inhibitor c-FLIPL regulates ER morphology and crosstalk with mitochondria

Components of the death receptors-mediated pathways like caspase-8 have been identified in complexes at intracellular membranes to spatially restrict the processing of local targets. In this study, we report that the long isoform of the cellular FLICE-inhibitory protein (c-FLIPL), a well- known inhibitor of the extrinsic cell death initiator caspase-8, localizes at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria-associated membranes (MAMs). ER morphology was disrupted and ER Ca2+-release as well as ER-mitochondria tethering were decreased in c-FLIP-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). Mechanistically, c-FLIP ablation resulted in enhanced basal caspase-8 activation and in caspase-mediated processing of the ER-shaping protein reticulon-4 (RTN4) that was corrected by re-introduction of c-FLIPL and caspase inhibition, resulting in the recovery of a normal ER morphology and ER-mitochondria juxtaposition. Thus, the caspase-8 inhibitor c-FLIPL emerges as a component of the MAMs signaling platforms, where caspases appear to regulate ER morphology and ER-mitochondria crosstalk by impinging on ER-shaping proteins like the RTN4

The Muslim problematic: Muslims, state schools and security

Muslims are folk-devils that mark the ubiquitous moral panic. For some, the idea of the Muslim problematic signifies a long and worrying trend of creeping ‘Islamification’ of state schools. For others, the discourse of the Muslim problematic reflects the ongoing racial patholigisation of Britain’s minoritised communities. One thing is for certain, the current debate marks a significant moment in the nature and function of the neoliberal state as it reframes race relation policy in Britain in the light of the security agenda. The Trojan Horse affair, surrounding claims of infiltration of radical Islam in state-run schools, marks a significant moment in the embedding of the security agenda in Britain’s inner city schools through the medium of the Prevent agenda. It argues that one of the best ways of understanding the security agenda is by locating it within a broader sociological and historical context of the functioning of the racial state