The forgotten fifth: examining the early education trajectories of teenagers who fall below the expected standards in GCSE English language and maths examinations at age 16

Successive Governments have failed to address an issue that continues to plague the British education system: many teenagers leave secondary school without the ‘expected standard’ of a grade 4 pass in GCSE English language and maths. We use the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to assess the antecedents and academic trajectories of the 1 in 5 (18%) of teenagers in England who did not achieve these two thresholds, despite benefitting from many education reforms. We find that identification of falling below expected standards in pre-school assessment of ‘school readiness’ (age 3) and in teacher assessment of literacy and number skills at school entrance (age 5) are both highly predictive of failure to attain a grade 4 or higher in GCSE English language and maths at age 16, even after controlling for family background and individual characteristics. One in 4 children below expected levels at age 5 fail to achieve a grade 4 pass or above in their English language and maths GCSE at age 16 compared with 1 in 10 children above expected levels at age 5. Half of pupils who fail at age 16 were judged to be behind at age 5. We conclude that future attempts to improve standards in English and maths will likely only succeed if high quality support is provided during the pre-school years, support is provided to improve the home learning environment, and teachers are able to identify, diagnose and respond appropriately to children falling behind at early education stages

How virulent should a parasite be to its vector?

Journal ArticleVector-borne parasites are commonly predicted to be less virulent to the vector than to the definitive host as the parasite gains little by harming its main route of transmission. Here we assess the empirical evidence from systems in which insects are vectors for vertebrate, plant, and invertebrate parasites

Special Education Needs across the pre-school period

The Early Years Transitions and Special Educational Needs (EYTSEN) project builds on the work of the Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project, a major longitudinal study of a national sample of young children’s progress and development through pre-school and into primary school until the end of Key Stage 1 (age 3+ to 7 years) (Sylva et al., 1999).1 Both the EPPE and EYTSEN research studies are funded by the DfES. The EYTSEN study explores evidence of possible special educational needs (SEN) amongst pre-school children. It uses a range of information to identify children who may be ‘at risk’ in terms of either cognitive or social behavioural development and investigates links with a variety of child, parent and family characteristics. It also describes variations in the policies and provision offered by different pre-school centres designed to support children with special needs. Information for over 2800 children attending 141 pre-school centres selected from five regions across England has been analysed. Centres have been drawn from a range of types of providers (local authority day nursery, combined centres, playgroups, private day nurseries, nursery schools and nursery classes). The research was designed to study the six main types of institutional provision, not other forms of pre-school care such as relatives, childminders or nannies. One-to-one assessments of different aspects of young children’s cognitive development were conducted by trained researchers at entry to the study (age 3+) and later at entry to primary school. In addition, ratings of individual children’s social and behavioural development have been collected from pre-school workers at entry to pre-school, and from teachers when children enter primary school. We thus have several sources of information that can be used to explore young children’s cognitive attainment and progress and their social behavioural development. In addition to child assessments, parental interviews conducted when children entered the study have been used to collect detailed information about childcare history and health, and characteristics of children, their families and home environments. Interviews with centre managers of the pre-school settings attended by children have been used to provide details about pre-school settings including provision for SEN. Observations concerning aspects of centre ‘quality’, and measures of the environment experienced by children were made by trained researchers. The distribution of children in the sample identified as \u27at risk\u27 of SEN between different types of pre-school settings has been examined. In addition, the extent of variation in provision made for SEN between different centres and type of pre-school setting has been investigated. The EYTSEN study analysed these different sources of information and the linkages amongst them with a view to informing policy and practice related to the characteristics of young children ‘at risk’ of SEN and pre-school centre practices associated with changes in risk status

High-throughput screening of encapsulated islets using wide-field lens-free on-chip imaging

Islet microencapsulation is a promising solution to diabetes treatment, but its quality control based on manual microscopic inspection is extremely low-throughput, highly variable and laborious. This study presents a high-throughput islet-encapsulation quality screening system based on lens-free on-chip imaging with a wide field-of-view of 18.15 cm^2, which is more than 100 times larger than that of a lens-based optical microscope, enabling it to image and analyze ~8,000 microcapsules in a single frame. Custom-written image reconstruction and processing software provides the user with clinically important information, such as microcapsule count, size, intactness, and information on whether each capsule contains an islet. This high-throughput and cost-effective platform can be useful for researchers to develop better encapsulation protocols as well as perform quality control prior to transplantation

Challenging dyke ascent models using novel laboratory experiments: Implications for reinterpreting evidence of magma ascent and volcanism

Volcanic eruptions are fed by plumbing systems that transport magma from its source to the surface, mostly fed by dykes. Here we present laboratory experiments that model dyke ascent to eruption using a tank filled with a crust analogue (gelatine, which is transparent and elastic) that is injected from below by a magma analogue (dyed water). This novel experimental setup allows, for the first time, the simultaneous measurement of fluid flow, sub-surface and surface deformation during dyke ascent. During injection, a penny-shaped fluid-filled crack is formed, intrudes, and traverses the gelatine slab vertically to then erupt at the surface. Polarised light shows the internal stress evolution as the dyke ascends, and an overhead laser scanner measures the surface elevation change in the lead-up to dyke eruption. Fluorescent passive-tracer particles that are illuminated by a laser sheet are monitored, and the intruding fluid's flow dynamics and gelatine's sub-surface strain evolution is measured using particle image velocimetry and digital image correlation, respectively. We identify 4 previously undescribed stages of dyke ascent. Stage 1, early dyke growth: the initial dyke grows from the source, and two fluid jets circulate as the penny-shaped crack is formed. Stage 2, pseudo-steady dyke growth: characterised by the development of a rapidly uprising, central, single pseudo-steady fluid jet, as the dyke grows equally in length and width, and the fluid down-wells at the dyke margin. Sub-surface host strain is localised at the head region and the tail of the dyke is largely static. Stage 3, pre-eruption unsteady dyke growth: an instability in the fluid flow appears as the central fluid jet meanders, the dyke tip accelerates towards the surface and the tail thins. Surface deformation is only detected in the immediate lead-up to eruption and is characterised by an overall topographic increase, with axis-symmetric topographic highs developed above the dyke tip. Stage 4 is the onset of eruption, when fluid flow is projected outwards and focused towards the erupting fissure as the dyke closes. A simultaneous and abrupt decrease in sub-surface strain occurs as the fluid pressure is released. Our results provide a comprehensive physical framework upon which to interpret evidence of dyke ascent in nature, and suggest dyke ascent models need to be re-evaluated to account for coupled intrusive and extrusive processes and improve the recognition of monitoring signals that lead to volcanic eruptions in nature

Sports anaemia and anthropometric evaluation of footballers at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)

Introduction: Sports anaemia is a physiological activity that occurs amongst footballers and may be due to poor diet, over-training, as well as an increase in plasma volume in endurance training activities. High plasma volume leads to changes in haematological parameters that may impact on endurance of footballers. The objective of the study was to determine the correlation between haematological and an-thropometric indices and their role in sports anaemia in a tropical setting. Methods: Venous blood was taken into EDTA for 12 soccer players of KNUST soccer team before training and after training for the first (W1) and fifth (W5) weeks of training sessions. Complete blood count analysis was done for each blood sample and anthropometric parameters such as height, weight, body mass index, body fat percent and lean body mass were also measured. Cross-tabulations with mean and standard deviation or median and range were computed. Paired t-test & and Mann-Whitney test for parametric and non-parametric data computations were carried out and a p-value ≤ 0.05 was taken to rep-resent significant difference between data groups. Results: There was significant reduction in haemoglobin (p =0.003), haematocrit (p =0.002), mean cell volume (MCV) (p =0.034) and red blood cell (RBC) count (p=0.011) as a result of a significant expansion of plasma volume (p= 0.006). Neutrophil, lymphocyte and eosinophil counts were reduced significantly (p= 0.043, 0.001 and 0.007, respectively) after the training at W5. Lean body mass (LBM) inversely correlated with haemoglobin (r= -0.787, p= 0.002) and haematocrit (r= -0.588, p= 0.044). Body fat percentage (BFP) also negatively correlated with lymphocyte count (r= -0.700, p= 0.011). Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between body mass index (BMI) and plasma volume change after the training programme (r=0.689, p= 0.013). Conclusion: The results suggest that sports anaemia was induced by an increase in plasma volume that resulted in changes in haematological parameters.Pan African Medical Journal 2016; 2

Blockchain and the World of Data

This is a video recording of a Workshop presented during the AIS 2022 Student Chapter Leadership Conference (SCLC) Blockchain and the World of Dat

The Grizzly, September 27, 1985

Weight Room Draws a Crowd • Why Alter the Campus Now? • C.A.B Owns a New Name • Letter: Allocate Athletic Funds • CPP and Carla Rinde Can Show the Way • Prof. Profile: Chambliss Keeps a Difficult Balance •Jeff Page: A Friendly Face in the Crowd • Staiger\u27s Home Away From Home • What\u27s Your Opinion? • Search of Success • Field Hockey Shoots to Top Ten Ranking • Bears Split Two • Cross Country Teams on Fire • Barnes: Guarding is His Game • Computer Lab Launchedhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1145/thumbnail.jp

The Grizzly, February 14, 1986

Eckman Speaks on Corporate Takeovers • Students to Lose Booze? • Alcohol Restrictions Plague Neighboring Campuses • Campus Memo: Get and Stay Involved • Proposal Raises Serious Questions • Students Speak Out On Alcohol • Profile: Dr. Fago • Editorial: Drug Use Could Fill Vacuum • Letters: UC. Should Get Out of the Business; Alpha Chi Sigma Needs Support; Sauna Controversy Heats up; Fire Alarms are not Toys!; False Alarm Jeopardized Safety • Nursing Homes Part III: MCGRC\u27s Sordid Past • Bears Face Widener in the Big Game • Racich Praises Grapplers • Lady Swimmers Top Susquehanna • Women\u27s B-ball Finale • Confident \u27Mers\u27 Win Again • Track Records Set at Delaware • Heather Camp: Swimming\u27s Leading Lady • Forum: Human Rights in Latin America • Wenhold Awarded for Service • Ursinus in California • U.S. Trade Policy • A Peek at U.C.\u27s Favorite TVhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1157/thumbnail.jp