A case study examination of the BBC News School Report project in Initial Teacher Education across three sites for the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) 2011

Executive summary - This is the third year in which ITTE have reported on ITT trainee involvement in the BBC News School Report project (BBC NSRP) and on its impact on their training. - The previous two reports have been an evaluation based on data collected at TDA-hosted meetings. This report takes a case study approach with questionnaire interviews conducted in schools. - The case study approach provided access to staff who would not otherwise have attended evaluation days and, hence, gave a more rounded picture of the impact on training. - Involvement in the project developed trainees’ understandings of their own subject knowledge, of cross-curricular ways of working, of project working and of working in non-timetabled informal sessions with pupils. - The project allows for trainees to develop different, and more rounded, relationships with pupils. This has a positive impact on their teaching, particularly in respect of behaviour management. - The project enhances trainees’ professional identity in their own eyes, in the eyes of the department in which they are working and, in some cases, in the eyes of the wider school staff and leadership. - There are a number of different models for involvement ranging from trainees assisting other staff to trainees leading the project autonomously. The assistant model had not been one that had been seen in previous evaluations. - Project involvement, or leadership, continues to contribute directly to evidence of meeting QTS Standards, especially those around Professional Attributes. - Project involvement, or leadership, also continues to be seen as important in career development and applications for NQT posts. - The project provides authentic learning contexts both in-school and with the wider community

Legacies in Black and White: The Racial Composition of the Legacy Pool

Selective universities regularly employ policies that favor children of alumni (known as legacies') in undergraduate admissions. Since alumni from selective colleges and universities have, historically, been disproportionately white, admissions policies that favor legacies have disproportionately benefited white students. For this reason, legacy policies lead to additional costs in terms of reductions in racial diversity. As larger numbers of minority students graduate from colleges and universities and have children, however, the potential pool of legacy applicants will change markedly in racial composition. This analysis begins with a review of the history and objectives of the preference for children of alumni in undergraduate admissions. We then consider the specific case of the University of Virginia and employ demographic techniques to predict the racial composition of the pool of potential legacy applicants to the University. Significant changes in the racial composition of classes that graduated from the University of Virginia from the late 1960s through the 1970s foreshadow similar changes in the characteristics of alumni children maturing through the next two decades.

Electromagnetic Imaging with Atomic Magnetometers: A Novel Approach to Security and Surveillance

We describe our research programme on the use of atomic magnetometers to detect conductive objects via electromagnetic induction. The extreme sensitivity of atomic magnetometers at low frequencies, up to seven orders of magnitude higher than a coil-based system, permits deep penetration through different media and barriers, and in various operative environments. This eliminates the limitations usually associated with electromagnetic detection.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Electromagnetic induction imaging with a radio-frequency atomic magnetometer

We report on a compact, tunable, and scalable to large arrays imaging device, based on a radio-frequency optically pumped atomic magnetometer operating in magnetic induction tomography modality. Imaging of conductive objects is performed at room temperature, in an unshielded environment and without background subtraction. Conductivity maps of target objects exhibit not only excellent performance in terms of shape reconstruction but also demonstrate detection of sub-millimetric cracks and penetration of conductive barriers. The results presented here demonstrate the potential of a future generation of imaging instruments, which combine magnetic induction tomography and the unmatched performance of atomic magnetometers.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Alien Registration- Cameron, Sarah (Bath, Sagadahoc County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/9573/thumbnail.jp

Needs-led assessment in health and social care : a community-based comparative study

The assessment of need underpins the delivery of community-based care. Following the NHS and Community Care Act (1990), the principle of needs-led assessment was reinforced as it applied to the assessment and care management process. Translation of needs-led assessment into practice in Scotland has been further influenced by policy-based organisational change including the introduction of Single Shared Assessment and Community Health Partnerships. This study seeks to describe the political and practice landscape within which needs-led assessment exists, identify and explore factors which influence needs-led assessment, and consider the practice implications of the policy driver for community-based practitioners across the main disciplines of health and social care. Following a short pilot, the main study was undertaken using sequences vignettes within a semi-structured interview involving 105 social workers, health and housing staff. Key findings indicated a cloak of consensus around definitions of need and assessment with perceptions based upon a medical or social model of care or a professionally or personality-driven assessment of need. A preoccupation with the outcome of assessments caused many respondents to describe needs with reference to the interventions or resources required to address them. The practice of needs-led assessment, according to study results, was hampered by an awareness of resource availability, concerns over client compliance and risk and, an underlying alignment to the values and principles upheld by the employing discipline

Toward a Comprehensive Model of Snow Crystal Growth: 4. Measurements of Diffusion-limited Growth at -15 C

We present measurements of the diffusion-limited growth of ice crystals from water vapor at different supersaturation levels in air at a temperature of -15 C. Starting with thin, c-axis ice needle crystals, the subsequent growth morphologies ranged from blocky structures on the needle tips (at low supersaturation) to thin faceted plates on the needle tips (at high supersaturation). We successfully modeled the experimental data, reproducing both growth rates and growth morphologies, using a cellular-automata method that yields faceted crystalline structures in diffusion-limited growth. From this quantitative analysis of well-controlled experimental measurements, we were able to extract information about the attachment coefficients governing ice growth under different circumstances. The results strongly support previous work indicating that the attachment coefficient on the prism surface is a function of the width of the prism facet. Including this behavior, we created a comprehensive model at -15 C that explains all the experimental data. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a kinetic model that reproduces a range of diffusion-limited ice growth behaviors as a function of supersaturation