The Legacy of ERA, Privatization and the Policy Ratchet

This article explores the ways in which the neo-liberal impetus toward the privatization of state schooling signalled in the Education Reform Act 1988 (ERA) has become embedded in the English school system. Four main points are made. First, that ERA itself was of huge strategic rather than substantive importance as far as privatization is concerned. Second, by tracing the lineage of privatization from ERA onwards a 'ratchet' effect of small and incremental policy moves can be identified, which have disseminated, embedded and naturalized privatization within public sector provision. Third, that while privatization has been taken up and taken much further by New Labour than it had been by the Conservatives there are differences between the two sets of governments in the role of privatization in education policy and the role of the state. Fourth, the participation of private providers in the planning and delivery of state services has put the private sector at the very heart of policy. At points the article draws upon interviews conducted with private sector providers. © 2008 Sage Publications

Data mining of gene arrays for biomarkers of survival in ovarian cancer

The expected five-year survival rate from a stage III ovarian cancer diagnosis is a mere 22%; this applies to the 7000 new cases diagnosed yearly in the UK. Stratification of patients with this heterogeneous disease, based on active molecular pathways, would aid a targeted treatment improving the prognosis for many cases. While hundreds of genes have been associated with ovarian cancer, few have yet been verified by peer research for clinical significance. Here, a meta-analysis approach was applied to two care fully selected gene expression microarray datasets. Artificial neural networks, Cox univariate survival analyses and T-tests identified genes whose expression was consistently and significantly associated with patient survival. The rigor of this experimental design increases confidence in the genes found to be of interest. A list of 56 genes were distilled from a potential 37,000 to be significantly related to survival in both datasets with a FDR of 1.39859 × 10−11, the identities of which both verify genes already implicated with this disease and provide novel genes and pathways to pursue. Further investigation and validation of these may lead to clinical insights and have potential to predict a patient’s response to treatment or be used as a novel target for therapy

Heat capacity mapping mission project HCM-051

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Is it really possible to grow isotropic on-lattice diffusion-limited aggregates?

In a recent paper (Bogoyavlenskiy V A 2002 \JPA \textbf{35} 2533), an algorithm aiming to generate isotropic clusters of the on-lattice diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) model was proposed. The procedure consists of aggregation probabilities proportional to the squared number of occupied sites ($k^2$). In the present work, we analyzed this algorithm using the noise reduced version of the DLA model and large scale simulations. In the noiseless limit, instead of isotropic patterns, a $45^\circ$ ($30^\circ$) rotation in the anisotropy directions of the clusters grown on square (triangular) lattices was observed. A generalized algorithm, in which the aggregation probability is proportional to $k^\nu$, was proposed. The exponent $\nu$ has a nonuniversal critical value $\nu_c$, for which the patterns generated in the noiseless limit exhibit the original (axial) anisotropy for $\nu<\nu_c$ and the rotated one (diagonal) for $\nu>\nu_c$. The values $\nu_c = 1.395\pm0.005$ and $\nu_c = 0.82\pm 0.01$ were found for square and triangular lattices, respectively. Moreover, large scale simulations show that there are a nontrivial relation between noise reduction and anisotropy direction. The case $\nu=2$ (\bogo's rule) is an example where the patterns exhibit the axial anisotropy for small and the diagonal one for large noise reduction.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

mHealth: providing a mindfulness app for women with chronic pelvic pain in gynaecology outpatient clinics: qualitative data analysis of user experience and lessons learnt

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether a pre-existing smartphone app to teach mindfulness meditation is acceptable to women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP) and can be integrated into clinical practice within the National Health Service (NHS) CPP pathways, and to inform the design of a potential randomised clinical trial. DESIGN: A prestudy patient and public involvement (PPI) group to collect feedback on the acceptability of the existing app and study design was followed by a three-arm randomised feasibility trial. In addition, we undertook interviews and focus groups with patients and staff to explore app usability and acceptability. We also obtained participant comments on the research process, such as acceptability of the study questionnaires. SETTING: Two gynaecology clinics within Barts Health NHS, London, UK. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with CPP lasting ≥6 months with access to smartphone or personal computer and understanding of basic English. INTERVENTION: The intervention was mindfulness meditation content plus additional pain module delivered by a smartphone app. Active controls received muscle relaxation content from the same app. Passive (waiting list) controls received usual care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Themes on user feedback, app usability and integration, and reasons for using/not using the app. RESULTS: The use of the app was low in both active groups. Patients in the prestudy PPI group, all volunteers, were enthusiastic about the app (convenience, content, portability, flexibility, ease of use). Women contributing to the interview or focus group data (n=14), from a 'real world' clinic (some not regular app users), were less positive, citing as barriers lack of opportunities/motivation to use the app and lack of familiarity and capabilities with technology. Staff (n=7) were concerned about the potential need for extra support for them and for the patients, and considered the app needed organisational backing and peer acceptance. CONCLUSION: The opinions of prestudy PPI volunteers meeting in their private time may not represent those of patients recruited at a routine clinic appointment. It may be more successful to codesign/codevelop an app with typical users than to adapt existing apps for use in real-world clinical populations. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN10925965

The social geography of childcare: 'making up' the middle class child

Childcare is a condensate of disparate social forces and social processes. It is gendered and classed. It is subject to an excess of policy and political discourse. It is increasingly a focus for commercial exploitation. This is a paper reporting on work in progress in an ESRC funded research project (R000239232) on the choice and provision of pre-school childcare by middle class (service class) families in two contrasting London locations. Drawing on recent work in class analysis the paper examines the relationships between childcare choice, middle class fractions and locality. It suggests that on the evidence of the findings to date, there is some evidence of systematic differences between fractions in terms of values, perspectives and preferences for childcare, but a more powerful case for intra-class similarities, particularly when it comes to putting preferences into practice in the 'making up of a middle class child' through care and education

Experimental quantum verification in the presence of temporally correlated noise

Growth in the complexity and capabilities of quantum information hardware mandates access to practical techniques for performance verification that function under realistic laboratory conditions. Here we experimentally characterise the impact of common temporally correlated noise processes on both randomised benchmarking (RB) and gate-set tomography (GST). We study these using an analytic toolkit based on a formalism mapping noise to errors for arbitrary sequences of unitary operations. This analysis highlights the role of sequence structure in enhancing or suppressing the sensitivity of quantum verification protocols to either slowly or rapidly varying noise, which we treat in the limiting cases of quasi-DC miscalibration and white noise power spectra. We perform experiments with a single trapped $^{171}$Yb$^{+}$ ion as a qubit and inject engineered noise ($\propto \sigma^z$) to probe protocol performance. Experiments on RB validate predictions that the distribution of measured fidelities over sequences is described by a gamma distribution varying between approximately Gaussian for rapidly varying noise, and a broad, highly skewed distribution for the slowly varying case. Similarly we find a strong gate set dependence of GST in the presence of correlated errors, leading to significant deviations between estimated and calculated diamond distances in the presence of correlated $\sigma^z$ errors. Numerical simulations demonstrate that expansion of the gate set to include negative rotations can suppress these discrepancies and increase reported diamond distances by orders of magnitude for the same error processes. Similar effects do not occur for correlated $\sigma^x$ or $\sigma^y$ errors or rapidly varying noise processes, highlighting the critical interplay of selected gate set and the gauge optimisation process on the meaning of the reported diamond norm in correlated noise environments.Comment: Expanded and updated analysis of GST, including detailed examination of the role of gauge optimization in GST. Full GST data sets and supplementary information available on request from the authors. Related results available from http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~mbiercuk/Publications.htm

Heat Capacity Mapping Mission

The Tasman Front was delineated by airborne expendable bathythermograph survey; and an Heat Capacity Mapping Mission (HCMM) IR image on the same day shows the same principal features as determined from ground-truth. It is clear that digital enhancement of HCMM images is necessary to map ocean surface temperatures and when done, the Tasman Front and other oceanographic features can be mapped by this method, even through considerable scattered cloud cover

Harnessing Marine Renewable Energy from Poole Harbour: Case Study

Global warming and its impact on our environment, society, economies and security is one of the fundamental concerns of our time. In response, the United Kingdom government has put in place a legally binding target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on 1990 levels by 2050. The United Kingdom will need to achieve a tenfold expansion of energy supply from renewable sources by 2020 to meet its share of the European Union renewable energy target. The marine and coastal environment’s renewable energy potential in Britain is high. It is estimated that it has 50% of the tidal energy, 35% of wave and 40% of wind resources in the European Union. Use of geothermal resources using heat pump technology is the least evolved sector, but in 2010 contributed to 0.7 TWh of energy and it is believed that non domestic heat pumps could contribute up to 22 TWh by 2020. In the Southwest of England, Poole Harbour has been recognised as a potential, highly predictable source of tidal and heat energy. Local groups are embarking on a feasibility study for harnessing this energy for the benefit of the community. The purpose of this article is to examine the potential conflict of interest between the laudable aims of promoting the use of renewable energy and of safeguarding ecosystems and their biodiversity. Using Poole Harbour as a case study, it will consider the environmental and economic costs and benefits of a Community Renewable Energy project (the Poole Tidal Energy Partnership) in the context of an area subject to a number of statutory and non-statutory designations to protect nationally and internationally important habitats and species. The paper identifies key environmental legislation, including spatial planning law and policy, which will facilitate exploring whether there is potential for reconciling what may be perceived as competing objectives for sustainable development