Riding the waves of policy? The case of basic skills in adult and community learning in England

This paper draws on data from secondary sources and in-depth interviews to explore the question: What is the impact of policy on teaching, learning, assessment and inclusion in Adult and Community Learning (ACL) Skills for Life (SfL) provision? In particular, it focuses on the government’s use of five policy steering mechanisms - funding, inspection, planning, targets and policy initiatives (in this case SfL). The design of the study1 allows us to use evidence from four sets of interviews with teachers, learners and managers of ACL in eight sites of learning (four in London and four in the North East) over a period of twenty-six months of considerable policy turbulence. We argue first, that there is a symbiotic relationship between ACL and SfL provision and second, that while the combined effects of targets and funding have the most powerful effects on tutor and manager actions, inspection, planning and tutors’ and managers’ own professional values also have an important role in shaping the teaching of literacy and numeracy in ACL sites. We conclude by suggesting that professionals at the local level should be allowed to play a greater role in SfL policy-making to ensure effective policy and practice

Soil moisture studies

Citation: Hodgson, Edward Howard. Soil moisture studies. Senior thesis, Kansas State Agricultural College, 1903.Morse Department of Special CollectionsIntroduction: The importance of the subject of soil moisture has been abundantly shown in many parts of the United States, but is of the greatest importance in the central west where there is such a scarcity and unequal distribution of rainfall, that it becomes necessary to resort to the most practical and scientific methods in order to make agriculture pay on much of the arable land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. In much of this comparatively arable territory there is sufficient rain during the year to raise fair crops of many of the cereals, but the unequal distribution of the moisture causes the crop to grow very rank for a time but later it is often impaired by drouth, or entirely dried up before the grain is matured. Many a farmer after putting in his crop and working hard to keep down the weeds has come thoroughly disheartened when the hot, dry months of July and August came; and his corn was withered before the scorching winds leaving him nothing, not even feed for his hungry stock. Perhaps he becomes discouraged and quits farming or he travels on seeking a more favorable farming locality. But here he finds many others before him and many disadvantages. The population is rapidly increasing, the country is fast filling with settlers, the better farming lands have all long since been taken. Some of us must till these less desirable lands, and we find that to raise crops we must practice new methods of farming. These methods in the main are conditions lessening the damage by summer drouths

A New Learning and Skills Landscape? The central role of the Learning and Skills Council

This is the first paper from a project which is part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Programme of research into “Teaching and Learning”. The project, entitled “The Impact of Policy on Learning and Inclusion in the New Learning and Skills Sector”, explores what impact the efforts to create a single learning and skills system (LSS) are having on teaching, learning, assessment and inclusion for three marginalised groups of post-16 learners. Drawing primarily on policy documents and 62 in-depth interviews with national, regional and local policymakers in England, the paper points to a complex, confusing and constantly changing landscape; in particular, it deals with the formation, early years and recent reorganisation of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), its roles, relations with Government, its rather limited power, its partnerships and likely futures. While the formation of a more unified LSS is broadly seen as a necessary step in overcoming the fragmentation and inequalities of the previous post-16 sector, interviewees also highlighted problems, some of which may not simply abate with the passing of time. Political expectations of change are high, but the LSC and its partners are expected to carry through ‘transformational’ strategies without the necessary ‘tools for the job’. In addition, some features of the LSS policy landscape still remain unreformed or need to be reorganised. The LSC and its partners are at the receiving end of a series of policy drivers (eg planning, funding, targets, inspection and initiatives) that may have partial or even perverse effects on the groups of marginalised learners we are studying

Learners in the English Learning and Skills Sector: the implications of half-right policy assumptions

The English Learning and Skills Sector (LSS) contains a highly diverse range of learners and covers all aspects of post-16 learning with the exception of higher education. In the research on which this paper is based we are concerned with the effects of policy on three types of learners – unemployed adults attempting to improve their basic skills in community learning settings, younger learners on Level 1 and 2 courses in further education colleges and employees in basic skills provision in the workplace. What is distinctive about all three groups is that they have historically failed in, or been failed by, compulsory education. What is interesting is that they are constructed as 'problem learners' in learning and skills sector policy documents. We use data from 194 learner interviews, conducted during 2004/5, in 24 learning sites in London and the North East of England, to argue that government policy assumptions about these learners may only be 'half right'. We argue that such assumptions might be leading to half-right policy based on incomplete understandings or surface views of learner needs that are more politically constructed than real. We suggest that policy makers should focus more on systemic problems in the learning and skills sector and less on problematising groups of learners

‘Modernisation’ and the role of policy levers in the Learning and Skills Sector

This paper examines the changing use of policy levers in the English post-compulsory education and training system, often referred to as the Learning and Skills Sector. Policy steering by governments has increased significantly in recent years, bringing with it the development of new forms of arms-length regulation. In the English context these changes were expressed during the 1980s and 1990s through neo-liberal New Public Management and, since 1997, have been extended through the New Labour government’s project to further ‘modernise’ public services. We look here at the changing use of policy levers (focussing in particular on the role of targets, funding, inspection, planning and initiatives) over three historical phases, paying particular attention to developments since the formation of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 2001. We conclude by considering the range of responses adopted by education professionals in this era of ‘modernisation’

Maturing Pump Technology for EVA Applications in a Collaborative Environment

The transition from low earth orbit Extravehicular Activity (EVA) for construction and maintenance activities to planetary surface EVA on asteroids, moons, and, ultimately, Mars demands a new spacesuit system. NASA's development of that system has resulted in dramatically different pumping requirements from those in the current spacesuit system. Hamilton Sundstrand, Cascon, and NASA are collaborating to develop and mature a pump that will reliably meet those new requirements in space environments and within the design constraints imposed by spacesuit system integration. That collaboration, which began in the NASA purchase of a pump prototype for test evaluation, is now entering a new phase of development. A second generation pump reflecting the lessons learned in NASA's testing of the original prototype will be developed under Hamilton Sundstrand internal research funding and ultimately tested in an integrated Advanced Portable Life Support System (APLSS) in NASA laboratories at the Johnson Space Center. This partnership is providing benefit to both industry and NASA by supplying a custom component for EVA integrated testing at no cost to the government while providing test data for industry that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to duplicate in industry laboratories. This paper discusses the evolving collaborative process, component requirements and design development based on early NASA test experience, component stand alone test results, and near term plans for integrated testing at JSCs

Structure of 4-Cyclohexyl-3,4-dihydro-2-hydroxy-2-methyl-2\u3ci\u3eH\u3c/i\u3e,5\u3ci\u3eH\u3c/i\u3e-pyrano[ 3,2-\u3ci\u3ec\u3c/i\u3e][1]benzopyran-5-one

C19H22O4, monoclinic, P21/c, a = 2·515 (2), b = 17·472 (3), c = 7·489 (1) Å, β = 00·40 (1)°. The structure was solved by direct methods. The cyclohexyl group is pseudo-equatorial and trans to the axial hydroxyl; the dihydropyran ring is a half-chair distorted towards the d,e-diplanar conformation. Hydrogen bonding between the coumarin carbonyl and the hydroxyl groups at an O···O distance of 2·834 (4) Å is found. In CDC13 solution, this compound exists predominantly in the open-chain keto form

Wetland Loss in Northeastern Italy Documented by Historical Maps

Abstract. Historical landscape and habitat reconstruction can be an important mitigation tool for regional habitat loss, conservation and restoration (NRC 1992; Swetnam et al. 1999; Steiner 2000). Among landscapes and habitats, wetlands play an important role in providing ecosystem services. Any loss of wetland areas may cause serious and sometimes irreparable environmental and habitat damages (Soule, 1991). Wetlands have a paramount importance for ecosystems and are protected by the Ramsar Convention and regulated and valorized, in different ways, by local and/or regional protection agency and laws.Analysing trends of wetlands loss on a regional scale can now be performed using geo-historical approaches and remote sensing and GIS technologies. Many notable examples of wetlands loss studies using a combined geohistorical and GIS approach may be find in the literature. Much of the previous research on wetlands loss has focused on the United States where wetlands are more legally protected and regulated. Little research has focused on wetlands in southern Europe. The focus of this research is on wetland loss in the Southern Venetian-Po Plain (Northeastern Italy) through a comparison of contemporary and historical data with the analysis of remote sensing and historical maps. In particular, this work focuses on the province of Padova, well known for their abundance of inland wetlands in the past although greatly disrupted through drainage and agricultural expansion in the last century.The Southern Venetian Po-Plain is an alluvial plain located between the Lagoon of Venice, the Po river and the Veneto pre-Alps piedmont region. This region is currently characterized by an apparent scarcity of wetlands in comparison to what is represented in many historical maps and described in historical documents. Some studies on wetlands in parts of the Venetian region have been conducted using different approaches. Typical research focused on single portions of larger wetlands or single ponds for the study of current biochemical conditions and ecosystems in the environment (e.g. Serandrei-Barbero et al., 2011; Pappalardo et al., 2016). Research on more extensive wetlands, land reclamations and humans-rivers relationships mostly focus on the analysis of the socio-economical conditions in the Po Delta and the Lagoon of Venice (e.g. Bertoncin, 2002; Novello, 2009). Despite numerous works on singular ponds or studies on larger water bodies in the Venetian area, there is still a poor knowledge of the amount, the extension and the type of wetlands in the Southern Venetian Po-Plain. A comprehensive survey of wetlands for the Venetian area has never been conducted, and the 'official' data are notably incomplete.The objectives of this work were: 1) to perform a survey (Figure 1) of both historic and present-day wetlands in the province of Padova (northeastern Italy) using historical cartography (1882 map of the province of Padova by O. Morelli) and recent aerial orthophotos (2015), 2) to provide a first estimation of the extraordinary loss of wetlands in this province due mostly to land reclamation processes of the last century, and 3) to discuss the prospects for further historical wetlands analysis based on additional historic maps (1776, 1801, 1862, 1882, 1980) for a key area called Bassa Padovana (Padova's lowland). All quantitative analyses were performed through the use of a GIS. This research contributes to the discussion of small isolated wetlands (Figure 2) that have been created in the last century and their unique role in the ecosystems.</p

What cell wall components are the best indicators for Miscanthus digestibility and conversion to ethanol following variable pretreatments?

Background: Energy crops including Miscanthus provide a storable, portable energy source which can be used to complement a wide range of products and energy generation systems. Miscanthus is predominantly used in Europe as a combustion material for electricity generation but also has the potential for biochemical conversion due to its high yield and low-nutrient requirements. The ratio of holocellulose (hemicellulose and cellulose combined) to acid detergent lignin (H:L) within the senesced material has previously been shown to indicate the relative suitability of Miscanthus accessions for thermochemical conversion. In this study, the ratio was assessed to examine its use as a selection aid for biochemical conversion. 20 highly-characterised Miscanthus accessions were saccharified using an enzyme mix to determine optimum sugar release. Nine of these accessions spanning high, medium and low H:L ratios were then autoclaved with dilute acid, alkali or water, and enzymically hydrolysed and fermented to produce ethanol. Samples taken throughout the process allowed assessments of released sugars. Results: Enzymic degradation of the biomass showed a relationship between H:L ratio and glucose release, with high glucose release for high H:L ratio accessions and vice versa. Xylose release showed no such relationship. This relationship was maintained following pretreatments and enzyme saccharification, where compound analysis showed that following all pretreatments, accessions with high H:L ratios repeatedly had the highest releases of glucose, xylose and arabinose, and produced more ethanol. Release of all measured compounds increased with the pretreatment severity and ethanol yields from each pretreatment correlated with the respective glucose yield, providing assurance that any inhibitory compounds generated were tolerated by the fermentation yeast. Strong correlations were also seen between glucose release, ethanol and cell wall components, with cellulose showing the highest correlations with ethanol yields for some treatments and H:L ratio with others. Conclusions: The H:L ratio is a good predictor of ethanol yields and sugar release from Miscanthus in this study but individual components lignin and cellulose also correlate well, especially for hot water and mild acid pretreatments. In conclusion, use of the H:L ratio does not provide any advantages over the concentration of individual cell wall components for predicting sugar release and ethanol yields.publishersversionPeer reviewe

TTX, cations and spider venom modify avian muscle tone in vitro

Agents that reduce skeletal muscle tone may have a number of useful clinical applications, e.g., for muscle spasticity and other muscle disorders. Recently, we reported that the venoms of two species of Australian theraphosid (Araneae, Theraphosidae) spiders (Coremiocnemis tropix and Selenotholus foelschei) reduced the baseline tension of chick biventer cervicis nerve-muscle preparation. The purpose of this study was to determine the underlying physiology mediating the change in muscle tension, which was addressed by conducting isometric tension experiments. We found that MgCl2 (20mM), CaCl2 (20mM), tetrodotoxin (1μM) or C. tropix venom (2μl/ml) produced a similar decrease in baseline tension, whereas d-tubocurarine (100μM), gadolinium (1mM), verapamil (10mM), an increase in osmotic pressure by the addition of glucose (40mM), or the presence/absence of electrical stimulation did not produce a significant change in baseline tension. We suggest that mechanosensitive or muscle TTX-sensitive sodium channels are activated during muscle stretch. This may have implications for the treatment of stretch induced muscle damage