The international movement of ideas and practices in education and social policy

This thesis comprises eight publications produced between 2000 and 2009 in addition to a critical review of that work. The review considers the contribution made by the author to the perspectives on policy making offered by the framework of policy transfer and its subsequent applications within global social policy and related sub disciplines. It develops to explore the author's use of critical policy sociology and methodological work in social policy, education and political science in order to enhance existing perspectives on policy transfer. In contrast to rational linear models of decision making, alternative recursive deliberate approaches are suggested throughout this work. The review also considers aspects of the author's work on integrated working or trans-professionalism in the public services. Those aspects of his work on policy theory which illuminate professional learning are critically assessed

Ecophysiological traits of grasses: resolving the effects of photosynthetic pathway and phylogeny

C4 photosynthesis is an important example of convergent evolution in plants, having arisen in eudicots, monocots and diatoms. Comparisons between such diverse groups are confounded by phylogenetic and ecological differences, so that only broad generalisations can be made about the role of C4 photosynthesis in
determining ecophysiological traits. However, 60% of C4 species occur in the grasses (Poaceae) and molecular phylogenetic techniques confirm that there are between 8 and 17 independent origins of C4 photosynthesis in the Poaceae. In a screening experiment, we compared leaf physiology and growth traits across several major
independent C3 & C4 groups within the Poaceae, asking 1) which traits differ consistently between photosynthetic
types and 2) which traits differ consistently between clades within each photosynthetic type

Variation in attack by Sitka spruce weevil, Pissodes strohi (Peck), within a resistant provenance of Sitka spruce

Variation in tree height and numbers of attacks by the Sitka spruce weevil (= white pine weevil), Pissodes strohi (Peck), were studied among families of a resistant provenance of Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr. at two Vancouver Island sites. At Sayward, after 14 years, the number of trees attacked varied by family from 0 to 80%. A significant association was found between the percentage of trees attacked in a family and the mean height of the family. Tall families were generally attacked more. At Fair Harbour (a clonal test), only 12% of the trees from the resistant provenance have been attacked after seven years, with all but one of the attacks concentrated on one of the two families tested. A multigenic or multicomponent basis for resistance is proposed and discussed

Review of early hospitalisation after percutaneous coronary intervention

Background: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the most common modality of revascularization in patients with coronary artery disease. Understanding the readmission rates and reasons for readmission after PCI is important because readmissions are a quality of care indicator, in addition to being a burden to patients and healthcare services. Methods: A literature review was performed. Relevant studies are described by narrative synthesis with the use of tables to summarize study results. Results: Data suggests that 30-day readmissions are not uncommon. The rate of readmission after PCI is highly influenced by the cohort and the healthcare system studied, with 30-day readmission rates reported to be between 4.7‐% and 15.6%. Studies consistently report that a majority of readmissions within 30 days are due to a cardiac-related disorders or complication-related disorders. Female sex, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes mellitus, renal failure and non-elective PCI are predictive of readmission. Studies also suggest that there is greater risk of mortality among patients who are readmitted compared to those who are not readmitted. Conclusion: Readmission after PCI is common and its rate is highly influenced by the type of cohort studied. There is clear evidence that majority of readmissions within 30 days are cardiac related. While there are many predictors of readmission following PCI, it is not known whether targeting patients with modifiable predictors could prevent or reduce the rates of readmission

Further evidence of tetragonality in bainitic ferrite

There is growing evidence that bainitic ferrite which retains a substantial amount of carbon in solid solution does not have cubic symmetry. We provide additional data on a different nanostructured bainitic steel to support this evidence, based on synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments. The data are consistent only with a displacive transformation mechanism for bainite.We would like to thank Rolls-Royce plc and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for their support during this project.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Maney Publishing via http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/1743284714Y.000000069

New professionalism in austere times: the employment experiences of early career teachers in Scotland

International concern to raise educational standards and improve teacher quality has directed attention to the need to sustain career-long professional learning. Teacher induction and early professional learning (during years 2–6) have been associated with patterns of attrition and improved pupil outcomes. As the economic crisis impacts on public sector employment, the rhetoric of professionalism stands in contrast to the employment experiences of many recently qualified teachers. This article draws on interviews with 20 early career teachers in Scotland who achieved full registration from 2006. Work histories drawn from this small-scale study challenge the implicit assumptions of staged models of teacher development and draw attention to the increasing fragmentation and casualisation of experience in the teacher labour market

Tablet PCs in schools: Case study report: A report for Becta by the Open University

The publication provides an analysis of twelve case studies involving schools in England that were using Tablet PCs. The analysis is complemented by brief individual reports describing aspects of how each of these schools was using Tablet PCs

Evaluating Accomplished Teaching: Report of a Pilot Study into Means of Investigating the Impact of Accomplished Teaching on Pupils’ Learning in the Context of the Chartered Teacher Initiative in Scotland

No abstract available

Partitioning the components of Relative Growth Rate: how important is plant size variation?

Plant growth plays a key role in the functioning of the terrestrial biosphere, and there have been substantial efforts to understand why growth varies among species. To this end, a large number of experimental analyses have been undertaken; however, the emergent patterns between growth rate and its components are often contradictory. We believe that these conflicting results are a consequence of the way growth is measured. Growth is typically characterized by relative growth rate (RGR); however, RGR often declines as organisms get larger, making it difficult to compare species of different sizes. To overcome this problem, we advocate using nonlinear mixed-effects models so that RGR can be calculated at a standard size, and we present easily implemented methods for doing this. We then present new methods for analyzing the traditional components of RGR that explicitly allow for the fact that log (RGR) is the sum of its components. These methods provide an exact decomposition of the variance in log (RGR). Finally, we use simple analytical and simulation approaches to explore the effect of size variation on growth and its components and show that the relative importance of the components of RGR is influenced by the extent to which analyses standardize for plant size