Final Year Induction - Re-engagement and Re-motivation

This paper considers design education in practice and reports on a new experience undertaken at ?? University (?U) with final year BA/BSc Product Design students. Increasingly, students returning to the final year of the programme have struggled in recent years to both develop credible final year project proposals and also re-engage with academic life and meet the expectations held of them at Honours level. Therefore, the final year project team took the decision to implement a new strategy for the start of the final year in September 2011. The students returned to University a week early and undertook an intensive, week long, programme that was specifically designed to: a) Engage them fully with a return to academic life and set expectations of final year b) Expose them to a wide range of opportunities to seek meaningful problems that would benefit from a product based solution. This paper expands upon the structure of the week and the activities that were undertaken by students and also provides feedback on the experience from the perspective of both academic staff and students. The paper concludes with a detailed evaluation of the experience and what has been learnt. However, the experience has been deemed to be a success by both staff and students and planning for a similar experience next year has already begun, along with a plan to roll out the principles to all design courses within the Framework

The impact of fire on the Late Paleozoic Earth system

Analyses of bulk petrographic data indicate that during the Late Paleozoic wildfires were more prevalent than at present. We propose that the development of fire systems through this interval was controlled predominantly by the elevated atmospheric oxygen concentration (p(O2)) that mass balance models predict prevailed. At higher levels of p(O2), increased fire activity would have rendered vegetation with high moisture contents more susceptible to ignition and would have facilitated continued combustion. We argue that coal petrographic data indicate that p(O2) rather than global temperatures or climate, resulted in the increased levels of wildfire activity observed during the Late Paleozoic and can therefore be used to predict it. These findings are based upon analyses of charcoal volumes in multiple coals distributed across the globe and deposited during this time period, and that were then compared with similarly diverse modern peats and Cenozoic lignites and coals. Herein, we examine the environmental and ecological factors that would have impacted fire activity and we conclude that of these factors p(O2) played the largest role in promoting fires in Late Paleozoic peat-forming environments and, by inference, ecosystems generally, when compared with their prevalence in the modern world

Coalification in Carboniferous sediments from the Lötschberg base tunnel

Vitrinite reflectance (Rr), proximate analysis and carbon isotope composition (δ13C) have been used to characterise coal samples from two zones of Late Carboniferous sediments (Gastern and Ferden) in the Aar massif where they are penetrated by the Lötschberg base tunnel (constructed between 1999 and 2005). Samples are characterised by variable ash yields (21.7-93.9%; dry basis); those with ash yields of less than ~50% and with volatile matter content (V;dry ash-free basis) within the limits 2 < V% ≤ 8 are anthracite. Values of Rr range from 3.89% to 5.17% and indicate coalification to the rank of anthracite and meta-anthracite in both Gastern and Ferden Carboniferous zones. Samples of anthracite and shale from the Gastern Carboniferous exhibit a relatively small range in δ13C values (-24.52‰ to -23.38‰; mean: -23.86‰) and are lighter than anthracite samples from the Ferden Carboniferous (mean: -22.20‰). The degree of coalification in the Gastern and Ferden Carboniferous zones primarily depends on the maximum rock temperature (T) attained as a result of burial heating. Vitrinite reflectance based estimates of T range from ~290° -360°C. For a proposed palaeogeothemal gradient of 25° C/km at the time of maximum coalification the required overburden is attributable to relatively thin autochtonous Mesozoic/Cenozoic sedimentary cover of the Aar massif and Gastern granite and deep tectonic burial beneath advancing Helvetic, Ultrahelvetic and Prealpine (Penninic) nappes in Early Oligocene to Miocen

Giant Alcohol: A Worthy Opponent for the Children of the Band of Hope

From its foundation in 1847, the temperance organisation the Band of Hope addressed its young members as consumers, victims, and agents. In the first two roles they encountered the effects of drink of necessity, but in the third role they were encouraged to seek it out, attempting to influence individuals and wider society against 'Giant Alcohol'. With an estimated membership of half the school-age population by the early twentieth century, well over three million, the Band of Hope also acted more directly to influence policy, and encouraged young people to consider issues of policy and politics. With its wide range of activities and material to educate, entertain and empower millions of children, and its radical view of the place of the child, the Band of Hope not only mobilised its child members to lobby for legal change, including prohibition, but took an active part in pointing out the cost of alcohol to society, particularly during the 14-18 war. The organisation began to decline post 1918, and this paper focuses on the address made to children by the Band of Hope in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, at a time when its innovative view of children as able to understand and influence policy decisions reflected developments in the construction of childhood. This article draws on the archive of the British National Temperance League, over 50,000 items located in the Livesey Collection, University of Central Lancashire

The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p57(Kip2) is epigenetically regulated in carboplatin resistance and results in collateral sensitivity to the CDK inhibitor seliciclib in ovarian cancer

Carboplatin remains a first-line agent in the management of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Unfortunately, platinum-resistant disease ultimately occurs in most patients. Using a novel EOC cell line with acquired resistance to carboplatin: PEO1CarbR, genome-wide micro-array profiling identified the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p57(Kip2) as specifically downregulated in carboplatin resistance. Presently, we describe confirmation of these preliminary data with a variety of approaches

Initiating Your Successful Transition to School Principal

The role and responsibilities of the principal and assistant principal have developed and been redeveloped to meet demands and legislative impact on the American public education system. With these additional demands, principals are required to lead students and faculties to greater educational outcomes and achievement. As the role of building level leadership evolves and more principals become instructional leaders first and a managers second, opportunities for changing roles could correct assistant principal pigeon-holing. Some researchers and practitioners do not agree the assistant principal position is an appropriate training ground for the Principalship. Even some principals and researchers believe the training ground is inadequate. Educational leadership students seeking principal certification and university professors both agree that a gap in formalized instruction between the practical and theoretical exists (Hart, 1993). It is also argued that experience more than educational training influence succession success. Prior training only affords assistants the opportunity to become a principal in title alone. Educational researchers believe a new leadership style is necessary to advance school systems into the accountability era (Elmore, 2000; Fullan, 2003; Sergiovanni, 1996; Ubben, 2001). The demands and pressures of the job may cause principals to revert back to the practice of administration and school management rather than focusing on instruction as their preservice education insists (Anderson, 1963; Hart, 1993; Porter, 1996). This new accountability era includes a blend of management and leadership skills as the previously cited researchers identified as a common strain of leader characteristics and skill sets: specifically a proactive vision of the future, communication amongst constituents, strong ties toward instructional practices, and an importance placed upon interpersonal relationships