Sokemen and freemen in late Anglo-Saxon East Anglia in comparative context

The dissertation is an investigation into sokemen and freemen, a group of higher status peasants, in tenth- and eleventh-century East Anglia (hereafter and throughout the dissertation referred to as less dependent tenants). The study considers four themes. The first concerns the socio-economic condition of less dependent tenants. Previous commentators have focused on, for example, light or non-existent labour services and a connection with royal service and public obligations, but the reality may have been more complex. The second theme considers the distribution of the group across East Anglia. The third and fourth themes consider, respectively, the reliability of the Domesday evidence for less dependent tenants and how far the eastern counties differed from the rest of England. It has been argued that the significant number of less dependent tenants recorded in the eastern counties in Domesday Book indicates that region’s unique social structure. This view increasingly has been questioned. The dissertation uses a partially retrogressive approach, combining pre-Conquest sources with Domesday Book and manorial sources from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It argues that less dependent tenants formed a varied group, including both smallholders (probably constituting the greater part of the group) and prosperous landholders defined by high-status service. These individuals were not always clearly distinguished from those immediately above and below them in the hierarchy. There was no intrinsic connection between less dependent tenants and royal service. Less dependent tenants experienced upward and downward social mobility in the tenth and eleventh centuries, affected by the land market and the influence of lordship. The group’s local distribution, and, by implication, the extent of manorialisation, could vary widely and was influenced primarily by the strength of lordship. There were longstanding and important differences between East Anglia and counties elsewhere in England. But these differences also were exaggerated by the Domesday evidence.This work was supported by a University of Cambridge Domestic Research Studentshi

Navigating education data governance in the UK state schools: a continued conversation

The Digital Futures Commission report on education data governance set out a child rights-based analysis of the use of EdTech in UK state schools. The report revealed a highly complex governance landscape with education governance devolved to the different UK nations, and data governance is overseen centrally primarily by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) whose expertise is not in education. There is no government body that oversees both education and data governance together, and partly as a consequence of this, the law and policy applicable to EdTech is fragmented with unclear lines of accountability. Our report sets out key recommendations for bringing better clarity, accountability, and child rights protections to the EdTech space in the UK

The education data governance vacuum: why it matters and what to do about it

What are the necessary steps required to secure the future of children’s data-driven learning? Baroness Beeban Kidron OBE and Professor Sonia Livingstone OBE chaired a panel to discuss answers to this question with Jacob Ohrvik-Stott, acting head of domestic regulatory strategy at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Bill Thompson, principal research engineer for BBC Research and Design and myself – Emma Day, the author of Governance of data for children’s learning in the UK state schools report

Governance of data for children’s learning in UK state schools

When I first introduced the Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC) into the Data Protection Bill in 2018, I had no idea that it may not apply to education settings. Now, a few years on, there is still some confusion. What happens if schools are working remotely: does the AADC suddenly apply? Or if a teacher uses an app or service in the classroom that they downloaded directly from the internet: does the AADC no longer apply? Why is there a difference between state and private schools, when surely all pupils need their data protected? Why is the burden disproportionately put on teachers and schools to understand the complex data processing terms set out in the terms and conditions of services that are hungry for data? And, perhaps most crucially of all, why are schools sharing intimate pupil data (wittingly and not) with commercial companies at all? This report, authored by Emma Day, starts the work of unravelling some of these questions, and in doing so identifies gaps in provision, gaps in clarity, gaps in understanding. As such, it is the first step to working out what good might look like when the education sector and schools are brought into an effective data protection regime

Relaxed selection when you least expect it: why declining bird populations might fail to respond to phenological mismatches

Ongoing climate change threatens to cause mismatches between the phenology of many organisms and their resources. Populations of migratory birds may need to undergo ‘evolutionary rescue’ if resource availability moves to earlier dates in the year, as shifted arrival dates at the breeding grounds may be required for persistence under new environmental schedules. Here we show a counterintuitive process that can reduce the strength of selection for early arrival when the resource peaks earlier. This happens when two processes combine to determine selection for early arrival: breeding success is higher if a bird does not miss the resource peak, but this occurs together with a ‘zero‐sum game’ where birds acquire good territories ahead of their competitors if they arrive early. The latter process can relax if the population has experienced a recent decline. Therefore, climate change can have two opposing effects: its direct effect on breeding success strengthens selection for early arrival, but this combines with an indirect effect of relaxed selection due to population declines, if territoriality is a significant determinant of population dynamics and fitness. We show that the latter process can predominate, and this can cause a failure for a population to adapt to a new schedule under changing environmental conditions

Influential Article Review - Factors that Affect SME Financing In Mozambique

This paper examines finance. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: SMEs play an important role in the economic development of Mozambique. Access to finance is important for the growth of SMEs. Thus, the purpose of the study was to establish the factors that influence access to finance by SMEs. The factors that were addressed included structure of financial sector, awareness of funding opportunities, collateral requirements, and small business support services. The target population was 2725 which comprised of 2075 staff of three Banks, namely BIM Bank, BCI Bank, and Standard Bank and 650 SMEs in Maputo Central Business District. The research focused on a sample size of 242 SMEs and 324 staff of the named Banks. Descriptive and inferential research design was used. Structured questionnaires were used to collect the primary data. The findings from the study were that there is a relationship between the structure of the financial sector and access to finance by SMEs; there is a relationship between awareness of funding and access to finance by SMEs; there is a relationship between collateral requirements and access to finance by SMEs; and there is a relationship between small business support and access to finance by SMEs. The study findings are significant since they would enable the government to come up with appropriate regulation, funding programs, and schemes toward improvement of access to finance by SMEs. This study concludes that small business support services should be provided to SMEs to improve access to finance and that there is a need for more funding programs and financial schemes to assist SMEs. It is further concluded that since information is concerned with funding opportunities by SMEs, then relevant information should be available and known to all players in the financial market. For our overseas readers, we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German

Who controls children’s education data? A socio-legal analysis of the UK governance regimes for schools and EdTech

A socio-legal analysis of the UK governance regime for data collected from children at school for teaching and learning contrasts the government-mandated data collection by schools to inform educational policy and planning with data processed and shared with third parties by commercial EdTech providers. We find the former is effectively governed by the government’s ‘Five Safes Framework’ with some problematic exceptions. By contrast, EdTech providers process a growing volume of personal data under the DPA 2018/UK GDPR with a looser enforcement regime. While schools have few mechanisms and insufficient expertise or resources to hold EdTech providers accountable for processing children’s data, EdTech providers have considerable latitude in interpreting the law. Consequently, and paradoxically, regulations governing (mostly) deidentified data used for public purposes are more systematically enforced than those governing personal (identifiable) data used for public and commercial purposes. We conclude with recommendations so that education data can serve children’s best interests

Reflections

This publication explores the journey of the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa since its inception.Founded in 2005, the initiative plays an active role in encouraging open, informed dialogue about issues of public importance through innovative and collaborative processes. It supports individuals and groups to participate in matters that affect them in order to demand fair treatment, delivery of services, and accountability from their leaders and institutions. The Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa awards grants, develops its own programs, and promotes debate on issues of public importance

Physical activity is prospectively associated with adolescent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to assess whether objectively measured physical activity at mean ages 12 and 14 years are prospectively associated with ultrasound scan liver fat and stiffness (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase [AST], and [gamma]-glutamyl transferase [GGT]) assessed at mean age 17.8 years. Methods: Participants were from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Total physical activity (counts per minute) and minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were measured using ActiGraph accelerometers at mean ages 12 and 14 years. Results: Greater total physical activity and MVPA at ages 12 and 14 years were associated with lower odds of liver fat and lower GGT levels at mean age 17.8 years, such as per 15-minute increase in daily MVPA at age 12 years, the confounder adjusted odds ratio of liver fat was 0.47 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.27–0.84). Associations attenuated after additional adjustment for fat mass as a potential confounder (eg, per 15-minute increase in daily MVPA at age 12 years, the odds ratio of liver fat attenuated to 0.65 [95% CI 0.35–1.21]) or a potential mediator (eg, per 15-minute increase in daily MVPA at age 12 years the odds ratio of liver fat attenuated to 0.59 [95% CI 0.32–1.09]). Results did not further attenuate after additional adjustment for insulin resistance. There was some evidence that greater total physical activity and MVPA at age 12 years were associated with the higher AST levels. Conclusions: Adolescents who were more active in childhood have lower odds of fatty liver and lower GGT levels. These findings are likely to be, at least in part, explained by adiposity