English medium instruction: Comparing teacher beliefs in secondary and tertiary education

Learning content through the medium of a second language is a form of education which is growing rapidly in both secondary and tertiary educational phases. Yet, although considerable research now exists on these phases of education viewed separately, virtually no comparisons have been made between the two phases. This study compared beliefs about English medium instruction (EMI) held by 167 secondary and tertiary EMI teachers from 27 countries. Teachers’ beliefs were elicited in four key areas: EMI teachers’ goals, EMI policy, benefits and drawbacks to students, and challenges to teachers. The findings indicate that secondary teachers felt more strongly that EMI provides students with a high quality education. More secondary than tertiary teachers reported an institutional policy on the English proficiency level required of teachers to teach through EMI, yet in neither phase was there evidence of adequate support to reach a required proficiency level. Teachers deemed EMI beneficial to advancing students’ English but felt that EMI would affect academic content, with no clear difference between the phases. Our conclusions indicate that EMI is being introduced without thorough institutional stakeholder discussion and therefore without clear policies on levels of teacher expertise. Neither is there evidence of a dialogue between phases regarding the challenges faced by EMI teachers and students

Sex and gender differences in developmental programming of metabolism.

BACKGROUND: The early life environment experienced by an individual in utero and during the neonatal period is a major factor in shaping later life disease risk-including susceptibility to develop obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The incidence of metabolic disease is different between males and females. How the early life environment may underlie these sex differences is an area of active investigation. SCOPE OF REVIEW: The purpose of this review is to summarize our current understanding of how the early life environment influences metabolic disease risk in a sex specific manner. We also discuss the possible mechanisms responsible for mediating these sexually dimorphic effects and highlight the results of recent intervention studies in animal models. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to states of both under- and over-nutrition during early life predisposes both sexes to develop metabolic disease. Females seem particularly susceptible to develop increased adiposity and disrupted glucose homeostasis as a result of exposure to in utero undernutrition or high sugar environments, respectively. The male placenta is particularly vulnerable to damage by adverse nutritional states and this may underlie some of the metabolic phenotypes observed in adulthood. More studies investigating both sexes are needed to understand how changes to the early life environment impact differently on the long-term health of male and female individuals.Wellcome Trust, MRC, NIH, Foundation for Prader-Willi Research, The Saban Research Institut

Young adult carers: the impact of caring on health and education

Research has shown that young people who care for parents and relatives (young carers and young adult carers) are at greater risk of mental and emotional difficulties and are more likely to do badly at school or college. To explore the difficulties faced by young adult carers (aged 14 to 25) in the UK, an online survey was conducted. Almost half (45%) of the 295 respondents reported having a mental health problem. The relationship between the extent of caring and perceived mental health problems, and the impact of caring responsibilities on work and education were investigated

Ultrafast laser parallel microdrilling using multiple annular beams generated by a spatial light modulator

Ultrafast laser parallel microdrilling using diffractive multiple annular beam patterns is demonstrated in this paper. The annular beam was generated by diffractive axicon computer generated holograms (CGHs) using a spatial light modulator. The diameter of the annular beam can be easily adjusted by varying the radius of the smallest ring in the axicon. Multiple annular beams with arbitrary arrangement and multiple annular beam arrays were generated by superimposing an axicon CGH onto a grating and lenses algorithm calculated multi-beam CGH and a binary Dammann grating CGH, respectively. Microholes were drilled through a 0.03 mm thick stainless steel foil using the multiple annular beams. By avoiding huge laser output attenuation and mechanical annular scanning, the processing is ~200 times faster than the normal single beam processing

Germ cell specification and ovary structure in the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The segregation of the germline from somatic tissues is an essential process in the development of all animals. Specification of the primordial germ cells (PGCs) takes place via different strategies across animal phyla; either specified early in embryogenesis by the inheritance of maternal determinants in the cytoplasm of the oocyte ('preformation') or selected later in embryonic development from undifferentiated precursors by a localized inductive signal ('epigenesis'). Here we investigate the specification and development of the germ cells in the rotifer <it>Brachionus plicatilis</it>, a member of the poorly-characterized superphyla Lophotrochozoa, by isolating the <it>Brachionus </it>homologues of the conserved germ cell markers <it>vasa </it>and <it>nanos</it>, and examining their expression using <it>in situ </it>hybridization.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>Bpvasa </it>and <it>Bpnos </it>RNA expression have very similar distributions in the <it>Brachionus </it>ovary, showing ubiquitous expression in the vitellarium, with higher levels in the putative germ cell cluster. <it>Bpvas </it>RNA expression is present in freshly laid eggs, remaining ubiquitous in embryos until at least the 96 cell stage after which expression narrows to a small cluster of cells at the putative posterior of the embryo, consistent with the developing ovary. <it>Bpnos </it>RNA expression is also present in just-laid eggs but expression is much reduced by the four-cell stage and absent by the 16-cell stage. Shortly before hatching of the juvenile rotifer from the egg, <it>Bpnos </it>RNA expression is re-activated, located in a subset of posterior cells similar to those expressing <it>Bpvas </it>at the same stage.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The observed expression of <it>vasa </it>and <it>nanos </it>in the developing <it>B. plicatilis </it>embryo implies an epigenetic origin of primordial germ cells in Rotifer.</p

National evaluation of the neighbourhood nurseries: integrated report

Report description: The NNI was launched in 2001 to provide high quality childcare in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods of England, to help parents into employment, reduce child poverty and boost children’s development. By 2005 45,000 new childcare places had been created in approximately 1,400 neighbourhood nurseries. This report brings together the findings of the four individual strands of the National Evaluation of Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative as shown above and makes a number of recommendations. The report shows the rationale for the government’s strategy in targeting disadvantaged neighbourhoods and in focusing on high quality childcare to provide the link between raising parental employment and income and improving children’s life chances

Advances in Ultra Short Pulse Laser based Parallel Processing using a Spatial Light Modulator

AbstractPresented here are latest advances in ultra short pulse laser based parallel processing using a spatial light modulator (SLM), which has the potential for use in high throughput precision patterning of photovoltaic and other device layers. Ultra short laser pulses allow selective material removal with minimal energy density, while here a computer- generated hologram driven reflective SLM is used to transform a single beam into multiple beamlets for increased process throughput. Based on this technique, the precision patterning of silicon, titanium, thin film ITO and metal on flexible and glass substrates is demonstrated and the benefits and current limitations discussed