Valuable assets : a general formal investigation into the role and status of classroom assistants in Scotland's primary school

Based on the earlier pilot research conducted by SCER, the EOC instigated a General Formal Investigation (GFI) of the role and status of classroom assistants in Scotland's primary schools. As part of the GFI, SCER was commissioned to conduct a national survey of classroom assistants, teachers and head teachers. Primary data was generated from a Scotland-wide, large scale survey sent to over 1000 primary schools. Interviews were also conducted with Directors of Education and the Scottish Executive Education Department

Valuable assets: phase 2 of a general formal investigation into the role and status of classroom assistants in Scotland's secondary and special schools

The aim of this research is to extend existing data by considering classroom assistants in secondary and special schools in Scotland. The research examines the work and employment of classroom assistants and in particular explores the reasons for any role stretch amongst this group

On Entangled Multi-particle Systems in Bohmian Theory

Arguments are presented to show that in the case of entangled systems there are certain difficulties in implementing the usual Bohmian interpretation of the wave function in a straightforward manner. Specific examples are given.Comment: 7 page

An appreciation of the prescience of Don Gilbert (1930‐2011): master of the theory and experimental unraveling of biochemical and cellular oscillatory dynamics

We review Don Gilbert's pioneering seminal contributions that both detailed the mathematical principles and the experimental demonstration of several of the key dynamic characteristics of life. Long before it became evident to the wider biochemical community, Gilbert proposed that cellular growth and replication necessitate autodynamic occurrence of cycles of oscillations that initiate, coordinate, and terminate the processes of growth, during which all components are duplicated and become spatially re‐organized in the progeny. Initiation and suppression of replication exhibit switch‐like characteristics: i.e., bifurcations in the values of parameters that separate static and autodynamic behavior. His limit cycle solutions present models developed in a series of papers reported between 1974 and 1984, and these showed that most or even all of the major facets of the cell division cycle could be accommodated. That the cell division cycle may be timed by a multiple of shorter period (ultradian) rhythms, gave further credence to the central importance of oscillatory phenomena and homeodynamics as evident on multiple time scales (seconds to hours). Further application of the concepts inherent in limit cycle operation as hypothesized by Gilbert more than 50 years ago are now validated as being applicable to oscillatory transcript, metabolite and enzyme levels, cellular differentiation, senescence, cancerous states, and cell death. Now, we reiterate especially for students and young colleagues, that these early achievements were even more exceptional, as his own lifetime's work on modeling was continued with experimental work in parallel with his predictions of the major current enterprises of biological research

Docu-Commencement

New print, photographic, sculptural, video, and installation works based on intensive artist residencies held during Bryn Mawr College’s 2012 Commencement weekend. Exhibition held at Bryn Mawr College Class of 1912 Rare Book Room, Canaday Library, from October 25 to December 14, 2012.https://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmc_books/1017/thumbnail.jp

Can Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment be delivered without the need for geriatricians? A formative evaluation in two perioperative surgical settings

Introduction The aim of this study was to design an approach to improving care for frail older patients in hospital services where Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) was not part of the clinical tradition. Methods The intervention was based on the principles of CGA, using quality improvement methodology to embed care processes. Qualitative methods and coproduction were used to inform development of the intervention, which was directed towards the health care professionals involved in peri-operative/surgical cancer care pathways in two large UK teaching hospitals. A formative, qualitative evaluation was undertaken; data collection and analysis were guided by Normalisation Process Theory. Results The clinicians involved agreed to use the toolkit, identifying potential benefits including improved surgical decision making and delivery of interventions pre-operatively. However, sites concluded that pre-operative assessment was not the best place for CGA, and at the end of the 12-month trial, implementation was still nascent. Efforts competed against the dominance of national time-limited targets, and concerns relating to patients’ immediate treatment and recovery. Some participants involved in the peri-operative pathway felt that CGA required ongoing specialist input from geriatricians, but it was not clear that this was sustainable. Conclusions Clinical toolkits designed to empower non-geriatric teams to deliver CGA were received with initial enthusiasm, but did not fully achieve their stated aims due to the need for an extended period of service development with geriatrician support, competing priorities, and divergent views about appropriate professional domains.NIH

Color terms and color concepts

In their lead articles, both Kowalski and Zimiles, 2006 and O’Hanlon and Roberson, 2006 declare a general relation between color term knowledge and the ability to conceptually represent color. Kowalski and Zimiles, in particular, argue for a priority for the conceptual representation in color term acquisition. The complexities of the interaction are taken up in the current commentary, especially with regard to the neuropsychological evidence. Data from aphasic patients also argue for a priority for abstract thought, but nevertheless it may still be that the use of color terms is the only way in which to form color categories even if both linguistic and attentional factors play an important role

A Multispecies Hierarchical Model to Integrate Count and Distance-Sampling Data

Integrated community models—an emerging framework in which multiple data sources for multiple species are analyzed simultaneously—offer opportunities to expand inferences beyond the single-species and single-data-source approaches common in ecology. We developed a novel integrated community model that combines distance sampling and single-visit count data; within the model, information is shared among data sources (via a joint likelihood) and species (via a random-effects structure) to estimate abundance patterns across a community. Parameters relating to abundance are shared between data sources, and the model can specify either shared or separate observation processes for each data source. Simulations demonstrated that the model provided unbiased estimates of abundance and detection parameters even when detection probabilities varied between the data types. The integrated community model also provided more accurate and more precise parameter estimates than alternative single-species and single-data-source models in many instances. We applied the model to a community of 11 herbivore species in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, and found considerable interspecific variation in response to local wildlife management practices: Five species showed higher abundances in a region with passive conservation enforcement (median across species: 4.5× higher), three species showed higher abundances in a region with active conservation enforcement (median: 3.9× higher), and the remaining three species showed no abundance differences between the two regions. Furthermore, the community average of abundance was slightly higher in the region with active conservation enforcement but not definitively so (posterior mean: higher by 0.20 animals; 95% credible interval: 1.43 fewer animals, 1.86 more animals). Our integrated community modeling framework has the potential to expand the scope of inference over space, time, and levels of biological organization, but practitioners should carefully evaluate whether model assumptions are met in their systems and whether data integration is valuable for their applications

Design and conduct of Xtreme Everest 2: an observational cohort study of Sherpa and lowlander responses to graduated hypobaric hypoxia

Objective: oxygen availability falls with ascent to altitude and also as a consequence of critical illness. Because cellular sequelae and adaptive processes may be shared in both circumstances, high altitude exposure (‘physiological hypoxia’) assists in the exploration of the response to pathological hypoxia. We therefore studied the response of healthy participants to progressive hypobaric hypoxia at altitude. The primary objective of the study was to identify differences between high altitude inhabitants (Sherpas) and lowland comparators.Methods: we performed an observational cohort study of human responses to progressive hypobaric hypoxia (during ascent) and subsequent normoxia (following descent) comparing Sherpas with lowlanders. Studies were conducted in London (35m), Kathmandu (1300m), Namche Bazaar (3500m) and Everest Base Camp (5300m). Of 180 healthy volunteers departing from Kathmandu, 64 were Sherpas and 116 were lowlanders. Physiological, biochemical, genetic and epigenetic data were collected. Core studies focused on nitric oxide metabolism, microcirculatory blood flow and exercise performance. Additional studies performed in nested subgroups examined mitochondrial and metabolic function, and ventilatory and cardiac variables. Of the 180 healthy participants who left Kathmandu, 178 (99%) completed the planned trek. Overall, more than 90% of planned testing was completed. Forty-four study protocols were successfully completed at altitudes up to and including 5300m. A subgroup of identical twins (all lowlanders) was also studied in detail.Conclusion: this programme of study (Xtreme Everest 2) will provide a rich dataset relating to human adaptation to hypoxia, and the responses seen on re-exposure to normoxia. It is the largest comprehensive high altitude study of Sherpas yet performed. Translational data generated from this study will be of relevance to diseases in which oxygenation is a major facto