A historical Southern Ocean climate dataset from whaling ships’ logbooks

Historical ship logbooks provide vital historic meteorological observations in the Southern Ocean, one of the largest climate-data deficient regions on the Earth. Christian Salvesen Whaling Company logbooks from whaling ships operating in the Southern Ocean, starting from the 1930s through the 1950s, are examined. Meteorological information contained in these logbooks has been extracted to produce a historical climate dataset. We discuss various instructions recommended by the British Admiralty to observe and record weather conditions on board whaling ships. Statistical tests were used to flag erroneous values and corrections were made using neighbouring values. Meteorological parameters such as air pressure, air and sea temperature and wind force on the Beaufort scale were standardised, converting imperial to metric units. The data were structured according to the internationally accepted International Maritime Meteorological Archive (IMMA) format, which includes the most commonly reported meteorological variables, including the time, location, and ship-related meta-data. Hence, a readily accessible, error-corrected and standardised historical climate dataset of the Weddell Sea sector of the Southern Ocean is presented

Evaluating the impact of the new National Award for SENCos: Transforming landscapes or gardening in a gale?

This study, authored by Dominic Griffiths and Rachel Dubsky, both of Manchester Metropolitan University, considers the impact of the new National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordinators (NASENCo) in one English local authority. Data on the impacts upon both SENCos' personal professional development and upon their schools are drawn from semi-structured interviews with six SENCOs, their headteachers and one colleague from each of their schools. Factors that appear to have enhanced or modified the impact of the training are identified. The article discussed, firstly, the emerging theme of SENCos' own perceptions of their role, and then the implications of the study's findings for future NASENCo course design

Teachers' and pupils' definitions of bullying.

BACKGROUND: Comparison of teachers' and pupils' definitions of bullying is important for considering the implications for reports of its incidence in schools, for the study of developmental trends in children's and adolescents' perceptions of the phenomenon and for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions designed to combat bullying. AIMS: To investigate the effects of gender, teacher/pupil status and, for pupils, bullied/non-bullied (target/non-target) status and age on the definition of bullying. SAMPLES: Teachers (N=225: 158 women, 67 men) and pupils (N=1,820: 466 boys, 460 girls were 11-12 years old, year 7, and 415 boys, 479 girls were 13-14 years, year 9) in 51 UK secondary schools participated in a questionnaire survey. A total of 557 of the pupils (117 girls and 117 boys aged 11-12 years, and 197 girls and 126 boys aged 13-14 years) reported that they had been bullied at some time in their present school. METHODS: Written questionnaire responses to the question, 'Say what you think bullying is' have been content analysed to derive two sets of categories, one of bullying behaviour and the other of effects of bullying on the target. RESULTS: Regarding both bullying behaviour and the effects of bullying on the target, teachers - by comparison with pupils - have been found to express more comprehensive ideas in their definitions. Specifically, pupils compared with teachers are more likely to restrict their definitions to direct bullying (verbal and/or physical abuse) and are less likely to refer to social exclusion, a power imbalance in the bully's favour and the bully's intention to cause the target hurt or harm and to feel threatened. Analysis of definitions on the bases of sex, pupil age and target/non-target status show that: targets are more likely than non-targets are to refer to the bully's physically and verbally abusive behaviour, and for Year 7 compared with Year 9 pupils, to suggest that bullies socially exclude targets; girls are more likely than boys are to mention verbal abuse and the effects on the target of 'Feels hurt/harm', but boys are more likely than girls are to construe bullying as involving repetition; older pupils are more likely than younger ones are to refer to a power imbalance in the bully's favour but, for bully targets, younger ones compared with older ones are more likely to invoke the idea of social exclusion in their definitions. CONCLUSIONS: The most important implication of the findings of this study that there are important differences between teachers' and pupils' definitions of bullying is that teachers need to listen carefully to what pupils have to say about bullying and work with and help them to develop their conceptions of the phenomenon. Some teachers, too, need to develop their conceptions of bullying

Creating an information-rich learning environment to enhance design student learning: challenges and approaches

The use of technology with engineering design students is well established, with shared workspaces being particularly supportive of the collaborative design process. This paper reports on a study where a design knowledge framework involving three learning loops was used to analyse the effectiveness of shared workspaces and digital repositories in supporting design education. The issues discussed include the relationship between knowledge and information structures, the importance of integrating information literacy support, and the need for different systems within the learning environment to support formal and informal storage of resources. These issues are explored within the context of experiences of working in a multidisciplinary team with different approaches, research methodologies, and discourses

Does prescribing for opiate addiction change after national guidelines? : methadone and buprenorphine prescribing to opiate addicts by general practitioners and hospital doctors in England, 1995-2005

Aim: To assess changes in opiate prescribing (1995-2005) following a decade of national guidelines to address substandard opiate substitution prescribing for heroin addiction. Design: A repeat national survey (1995 and 2005) using random one-in-four samples of all community pharmacies in England, achieving response rates of 75% (1847/2475) in 1995 and 95% (2349/2473) in 2005. Data were obtained on 3732 (1995 data) and 9620 (2005 data) prescriptions dispensed in the preceding month from the 936 and 1463 pharmacies who were currently dispensing. Measurements: We have measured impact on practice for seven specific recommended changes. Findings: Between 1995 and 2005 the number of substitute opiate prescriptions doubled (x2.03). By 2005, methadone still dominated (down from 97% to 83%), buprenorphine increased (from 1% to 16%) and other opiate medications virtually disappeared. Changes in the direction of national guidelines included: increased daily dose of methadone (from 47.3 mg to 56.3 mg), more frequent dispensing (from 38% to 60% as daily instalments), more supervised consumption (from 0% to 36%) and fewer methadone tablets (from 10.9% to 1.8%). Nevertheless, despite the increased mean daily dose, only 41.0% of prescriptions for methadone were for daily doses in the recommended 60-120 mg dose range. Only one change was not in the direction of the national guidelines - the proportion of prescriptions from GPs fell from 41% to 30%, although this still represented an approximate 50% increase in the extent of GP prescribing. Conclusion: Doubling in provision of opiate substitute treatment has occurred, alongside significant improvements in the nature of this treatment. These positive changes have occurred in the direction of six out of seven of the UK national guidelines.</p