The Structure and Dynamics of Schools and Business: Do They Face Similar Issues?

The main aims of the report are to: (1) gain a better understanding of key economic forces shaping choices available to schools; (2) build up our practical knowledge of how other organisations deal with the kinds of issues facing schools; and (3) bridge the gap between the view that economics has nothing useful to say about how to organise education and the view that education is just another business and should be treated as such. The report draws on analogies from the business world to highlight parallels between the operating environment facing schools and businesses. It also identifies some important features of schooling which do not have a strong parallel in the business world, which suggests care needs to be taken not to draw too much from any individual example.

Review of \u3ci\u3eBird Cloud: A Memoir\u3c/i\u3e by Annie Proulx

Annie Proulx\u27s latest is nonfiction, recounting her attempt to inhabit a section of land in south-central Wyoming. While tough winters and unmaintained roads make year-round residence too difficult, Proulx glories in the wild isolation of a place that inspires her to research and write as well as to build fence and monitor eagles. Bird Cloud is a book that Proulx\u27s regulars will find both enjoyable and revealing; however, its self-indulgence and lack of polish leave us with a feeling akin to Proulx\u27s own house high in the mountain valley-it remains raw and isolated. This is not entirely a negative. Proulx\u27s 2002 Southern Plains classic That Old Ace in the Hole is a wonderful book due to its structural imperfection, its sense of something fastened together out of historical research and fictional narrative, excess material pounding in the wind

The Structure of a BamA-BamD Fusion Illuminates the Architecture of the β-Barrel Assembly Machine Core

SummaryThe β-barrel assembly machine (BAM) mediates folding and insertion of integral β-barrel outer membrane proteins (OMPs) in Gram-negative bacteria. Of the five BAM subunits, only BamA and BamD are essential for cell viability. Here we present the crystal structure of a fusion between BamA POTRA4-5 and BamD from Rhodothermus marinus. The POTRA5 domain binds BamD between its tetratricopeptide repeats 3 and 4. The interface structural elements are conserved in the Escherichia coli proteins, which allowed structure validation by mutagenesis and disulfide crosslinking in E. coli. Furthermore, the interface is consistent with previously reported mutations that impair BamA-BamD binding. The structure serves as a linchpin to generate a BAM model where POTRA domains and BamD form an elongated periplasmic ring adjacent to the membrane with a central cavity approximately 30 × 60 Å wide. We propose that nascent OMPs bind this periplasmic ring prior to insertion and folding by BAM

A problem with inclusion in learning disability research.

People with severe learning disability are particularly difficult to include in the research process. As a result, researchers may be tempted to focus on those with learning disability who can be included. The problem is exacerbated in this field as the political agenda of inclusion and involvement is driven by those people with learning disability who are the higher functioning. To overcome this we should first detach the notion of consent from ideas about autonomy and think instead of it as a way to avoid wronging others; this fits the original historical use of consent in research. This allows us to think in terms of including participants to the best of their abilities rather than in terms of a threshold of autonomy. Researchers could then use imaginative ways to include the least able and to ensure they are not wronged in research or by exclusion from it

Troubling ideas for widening participation: how higher education institutions in England engage with research in their access agreements.

This article explores how higher education institutions in England engage with research in their access agreements. Through an analysis of access agreements from 2014-15 to 2016-17, a picture of how research is understood, undertaken and documented emerges. A lexical analysis of the texts was used to establish the different ways research is being referred to or funded as part of the access agreement process. The analysis shows a productive relationship between national policy and institutional activity. But there appears to be a lack of infrastructure at an institutional and sector level to join up sustained and rigorous research with widening participation activity and policy. This means that, even after ten years of access agreements, widening participation is not fully embedded into the academic practice of higher education. We argue that research undertaken as part of the access agreement process can provide much needed evidence of impact and situate activity within an institution-wide context. However, we also suggest that widening participation research has the potential to offer productive troubling ideas to dominant rhetoric and, in so doing, shape new ways of thinking about, and doing, widening participation within institutions and across the sector

The Effectiveness of Aid to Kenya: A Case Study

SUMMARY This article reviews the effectiveness of official aid to Kenya. Major features include an increase in non?project aid in response to Kenya's economic difficulties of the early 1980s, and an associated intensification of policy?related conditions. Sector reviews (agriculture, transport, rural water, energy and population) show mixed results, with an overall decrease in aid effectiveness over the past decade. The article highlights the need for better aid coordination and for a continuing learning process. SOMMAIRE L'efficacité de l'aide au Kenya: un cas d'étude Cet article examine l'efficacité de l'aide officielle au Kenya, Parmi les facteurs déterminants on discerne une hausse de l'aide non?liée aux projets (au début des années 80s, lié aux difficultés économiques du Kenya), et une intensification associée des conditions de politique. Des examens sectoriels (de l'agriculture, du transport, de l'eau rurale, de l'énergie et de la population) produisent des résultats mixtes, avec une baisse générale de l'efficacité de l'aide au cours de la dernière décennie. L'article souligne le besoin d'une meilleure coordination de l'aide, et un processus continuel d'apprentissage. RESUMEN La efectividad de la ayuda a Kenya: un estudio de caso Este artículo examina la efectividad de la ayuda oficial a Kenya. Las principales características incluyen un aumento en la ayuda no asociada a proyectos en respuesta a las dificultades económicas del país a principios de la década de 1980, así como una intensificación de las condiciones políticamente relacionadas. El análisis sectorial (agricultura, transporte, agua rural, energía y población) evidencia resultados mixtos con una constante declinación de la efectividad de la ayuda en la década pasada. El artículo destaca la necesidad de una mejor coordinación en la ayuda y de un continuo proceso de aprendizaje

Retrospective Analysis of Emergency Department Ultrasound for Acute Appendicitis

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether emergency physicians (EPs) who have skills in the other applications of ultrasound can apply these in appendicitis diagnosis. METHODS: EPs did not have focused training in bedside ultrasound for appendicitis. We identified patients receiving an ED bedside ultrasound evaluation for appendicitis from our ultrasound log. Criterion reference was radiology ultrasound (RUS), CT scan, or pathology report. RESULTS: We performed 155 ED ultrasounds for appendicitis. There were 27/155 cases where the ED ultrasound was true positive and agreed with pathology (sensitivity = 39%, 95% CI 28 – 52%). In 42/155 (27%) the ED ultrasound was non-diagnostic (false negative) with pathology positive. In 77 cases the ED ultrasound was true negative with non-visualization of the appendix in concert with non-visualization by RUS or CT scan (specificity = 90%, 95% CI 81-95%). In nine cases (6%), ED ultrasound was falsely positive, compared to CT scan with surgical consult. CONCLUSION: ED ultrasound by EPs prior to focused appendicitis ultrasound training is insufficiently accurate

The power of co-ordinate transformations in dynamical interpretations of Galactic structure

$Gaia$ DR2 has provided an unprecedented wealth of information about the positions and motions of stars in our Galaxy, and has highlighted the degree of disequilibria in the disc. As we collect data over a wider area of the disc it becomes increasingly appealing to start analysing stellar actions and angles, which specifically label orbit space, instead of their current phase space location. Conceptually, while $\bar{x}$ and $\bar{v}$ tell us about the potential and local interactions, grouping in action puts together stars that have similar frequencies and hence similar responses to dynamical effects occurring over several orbits. Grouping in actions and angles refines this further to isolate stars which are travelling together through space and hence have shared histories. Mixing these coordinate systems can confuse the interpretation. For example, it has been suggested that by moving stars to their guiding radius, the Milky Way spiral structure is visible as ridge-like overdensities in the $Gaia$ data \citep{Khoperskov+19b}. However, in this work, we show that these features are in fact the known kinematic moving groups, both in the $L_z-\phi$ and the $v_{\mathrm{R}}-v_{\phi}$ planes. Using simulations we show how this distinction will become even more important as we move to a global view of the Milky Way. As an example, we show that the radial velocity wave seen in the Galactic disc in $Gaia$ and APOGEE should become stronger in the action-angle frame, and that it can be reproduced by transient spiral structure.Comment: 12 pages, 10 Figure