A ‘quiet revolution’? The impact of Training Schools on initial teacher training partnerships

This paper discusses the impact on initial teacher training of a new policy initiative in England: the introduction of Training Schools. First, the Training School project is set in context by exploring the evolution of a partnership approach to initial teacher training in England. Ways in which Training Schools represent a break with established practice are considered together with their implications for the dominant mode of partnership led by higher education institutions (HEIs). The capacity of Training Schools to achieve their own policy objectives is examined, especially their efficacy as a strategy for managing innovation and the dissemination of innovation. The paper ends by focusing on a particular Training School project which has adopted an unusual approach to its work and enquires whether this alternative approach could offer a more profitable way forward. During the course of the paper, five different models of partnership are considered: collaborative, complementary, HEI-led, school-led and partnership within a partnership

Terminal NK cell maturation is controlled by concerted actions of T-bet and Zeb2 and is essential for melanoma rejection

Natural killer (NK) cell maturation is a tightly controlled process that endows NK cells with functional competence and the capacity to recognize target cells. Here, we found that the transcription factor (TF) Zeb2 was the most highly induced TF during NK cell maturation. Zeb2 is known to control epithelial to mesenchymal transition, but its role in immune cells is mostly undefined. Targeted deletion of Zeb2 resulted in impaired NK cell maturation, survival, and exit from the bone marrow. NK cell function was preserved, but mice lacking Zeb2 in NK cells were more susceptible to B16 melanoma lung metastases. Reciprocally, ectopic expression of Zeb2 resulted in a higher frequency of mature NK cells in all organs. Moreover, the immature phenotype of Zeb2(-/-) NK cells closely resembled that of Tbx21(-/-) NK cells. This was caused by both a dependence of Zeb2 expression on T-bet and a probable cooperation of these factors in gene regulation. Transgenic expression of Zeb2 in Tbx21(-/-) NK cells partially restored a normal maturation, establishing that timely induction of Zeb2 by T-bet is an essential event during NK cell differentiation. Finally, this novel transcriptional cascade could also operate in human as T-bet and Zeb2 are similarly regulated in mouse and human NK cells

From green technology development to green innovation: inducing regulatory adoption of pathogen detection technology for sustainable forestry

Technological entrepreneurship has been widely acknowledged as a key driver of modern industrial economies, and more recently, a panacea for environmental and social problems. However, our current understanding of how green-technology ventures emerge and diffuse more sustainable innovations remains limited. We advance theory on green entrepreneurship by drawing on institutional work to refine and extend our understanding of how entrepreneurs may influence government policies and practices in their attempts to diffuse green technology. We develop a theoretical framework that combines institutional work with a search tool, the technological, commercial, organizational, and societal (TCOS) framework of innovative uncertainties, which identifies key opportunities, hurdles, and potential unintended consequences at early stages of technology development. We present a detailed case study of a potential university-based green-tech venture developing pathogen detection technology for forestry protection. Foreign pathogens spread by international trade can have major detrimental impacts on forests and the industries that rely on them. Our analysis found that green technology demonstrating technological feasibility is necessary but not sufficient; green-tech ventures must also engage in institutional work, in this case, articulating the technology’s benefits to regulators to establish legitimacy and avoid misuse that can hinder its adoption. We thus add to previous studies by emphasizing that institutional work could be a main activity for a green-tech venture, a core entrepreneurial strategy rather than an afterthought

Crowds in or crowds out? The effect of foreign direct investment on domestic investment in Chinese cities

This study investigates the empirical relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic investment (DI) in China using a comprehensive city-level panel over the period from 2003 to 2011. System-generalized method-of-moment estimation reveals mixed results. At the national level, FDI neither crowds in nor crowds out DI, indicating a neutral FDI–DI nexus. However, when the full sample is segmented by geographical topology, a positive and significant FDI–DI nexus can be found in eastern and, to a lesser extent, central cities. A negative, although insignificant, association is reported among western cities. Further, the empirical nexus is conditional on several local absorptive capacities including human capital, financial development, and institutional quality. These findings suggest that a region-based FDI strategy in general and local governments should strengthen their absorptive capacities to fully internalize FDI spillovers

High-pressure, high-temperature deformation of dunite, eclogite, clinopyroxenite and garnetite using in situ X-ray diffraction

International audienceThe rheology of eclogite, garnetite and clinopyroxenite in the peridotitic upper mantle was experimentally investigated in a large volume press combined with in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction techniques to study the impact on mantle convection resulting from the subduction of oceanic lithosphere. Experiments were carried out over a range of constant strain rates (–), pressures (4.3 to 6.7 GPa) and temperatures (1050 to 1470 K). Results show substantial strength variations among eclogitic garnet and clinopyroxene and peridotitic olivine. At low temperatures (1400 K) eclogite is weaker than dunite by 0.2 GPa or more. Garnetite and clinopyroxenite exhibit higher strength than dunite at approximately 1200 K. However, at higher temperature (1370 K), clinopyroxenite is significantly weaker than garnetite (and dunite) by more than a factor of five. We explain these observations by transitions in deformation mechanisms among the mineral phases. In clinopyroxene, high temperature dislocation creep resulting in a strength reduction replaces low temperature twinning. Whereas garnet remains very rigid at all experimental conditions when nominally anhydrous (‘dry’). Microstructural observations show phase segregation of clinopyroxene and garnet, development of a crystallographic and shape preferred orientation in the former but not in the latter, suggesting an overall weak seismic anisotropy. Detection of eclogite bodies in the peridotite-dominated mantle may only be possible via observation of high ratios. A comparable or weaker rheology of eclogite to dunite suggests effective stirring and mixing of eclogite in the convecting mantl