Fostering college and career readiness: how career development activities in schools impact on graduation rates and students' life success

This paper sets out the recent evidence around career development. This evidence is examined within the context of the college and career readiness agenda. The argument is made that in order for young people to be genuinely “ready” for both college and career they need to have attended to their academic achievement, their aspirations and plans for the future, their ability to make transitions and their ability to direct their own careers. It is argued that career development offers schools a body of practice that has been shown to have a positive impact on young people’s readiness for college and career. The report acknowledges that the provision of career development has been in decline in many North American schools despite evidence of its effectiveness. Given the current instability of the labor market, the increasing complexity of the education system and the need to grow the skills base of the workforce in a competitive global market, failing to attend to young people’s careers seems shortsighted. As this paper shows, there is a strong body of evidence which demonstrates that career development activity in schools can help young people to experience academic achievement, successfully transition to the labor market and live happier and more productive lives. It is hoped that setting out the evidence in this area of research will provide policy makers and school leaders with the resources required to make informed decisions and to support the development of the future generations of talent. The paper explores the impacts of career development in relation to four main questions: • Does career development engage young people in their schooling and help keep them attending school? • Does career development positively impact on young people’s academic achievement? • Does career development assist young people in making successful transitions to college or the labor market? • Does career development have a positive effect on people’s career and life success?Career Cruisin

Fear and Loathing in Ashington: Investigating the impact of deindustrialisation on social capital and its social and political consequences

This research explores the effects of deindustrialisation on the levels of social capital and social trust in Ashington, a former mining town in South east Northumberland, and its social and political consequences. It contributes to the growing literature that attempts to explain contemporary political trends through declining levels of social capital and social trust, as well as adding to the existing body of literature on the more general effects of deindustrialisation on community and belonging in post-industrial landscapes. It also feeds into ongoing debates regarding a decline in social capital across western countries more widely. The research uses data from sixteen semi-structured interviews from a range of participants living in Ashington to gain a deeper qualitative understanding of the effects of deindustrialisation on social capital and social trust and how this can be linked to emerging political trends we have seen in deindustrialised communities in recent decades. The study finds a direct link between deindustrialisation and a decline in social capital which has made political organising highly challenging. Reduced social trust and increased levels of crime have in turn contributed to the growing disillusion amongst these communities with our current political system and fed into a rise in right-wing political populism

A Study In Physical Education Trends From 1914 to 1939 In Four Selected Schools of Higher Learning

A study of physical education trends for the last twenty-five years is a subject that offers varied possibilities. There are many aspects of the problem, any one of which furnishes a wealth of material. Many reports and articles have been written to show the sociological and physiological benefits of a well-rounded physical education program. Histories on the rise and growth of physical education throughout the nation are studied in many schools of higher learning. The particular problem of this thesis is, “A Study in Physical Education Trends from 1914 to 1939 in Four Selected Schools of Higher Learning

The intracellular control of cholesterol metabolism

The liver has a major role in the metabolism of cholesterol, being the main site of lipoprotein assembly and degradation and the only tissue where the metabolism of cholesterol to bile acids occurs. This provides the major pathway for the removal of cholesterol from the body.The results described in this thesis concern the use of specific enzyme inhibitors (58-035, Azacholesterol, Mevinolin) to determine the intracellular use of different sources of cholesterol in monolayers of rat hepatocytes. In particular, the fates of newly synthesized cholesterol from mevalonic acid and cholesterol derived from HDL2 were investigated.Incubation of hepatocyte monolayers with 58-035 resulted in the inhibition of esterification. In the presence of mevalonic acid as a cholesterol source, 58-035 stimulated bile acid synthesis. Azacholesterol inhibited bile acid synthesis, had no effect on cholesterol synthesis, and in the presence of mevalonic acid, stimulated secretion of cholesterol by the hepatocytes; it had no effect on cholesterol esterification. Mevinolin inhibited cholesterol synthesis and as a result inhibited esterification. HDL2, in the presence of mevinolin, was used as a cholesterol source. It stimulated bile acid synthesis and cholesterol esterification. Addition of 58-035 to the system resulted in the inhibition of both esterification and bile acid synthesis. Overall, the results indicated that different intracllular pools of free cholesterol exist and that the inter-relationships of these pools give a complex pattern of flux of intracellular cholesterol between various pathways in the rat hepatocyte

Optimising the cost-effectiveness of risk-based screening for diabetic retinopathy

Publicly provided health screening programmes tend to offer standardised screening for a fixed eligible population. Recently, the development of risk calculation engines has introduced the potential for the stratification of screening based on individuals' risks of disease onset. This possibility raises practical, methodological, and ethical challenges. To date, no such programme has been the subject of an economic evaluation. In this thesis we present reason and basis for the allocation of screening based on individual risk. The research is conducted in the context of screening for diabetic eye disease in the UK. Diabetic retinopathy is a common complication of diabetes that can lead to blindness, substantial detriments to quality of life, and significant health care resource use. Our study is linked to a programme of research that includes a cohort study and randomised controlled trial in the city of Liverpool. We review and further develop the evidence base to inform the evaluation of a risk-based screening programme for diabetic eye disease. Specifically, we generate new evidence on the costs and health outcomes associated with the screening and treatment of diabetic retinopathy. We report on a cross-sectional study of health-related quality of life for people attending screening for diabetic retinopathy and find that people with pre-symptomatic disease tend to report poorer quality of life than people with no disease, with EQ-5D-5L index values of 0.733 on average compared with 0.787 for people with no disease. A meta-analysis of published health state utility values for diabetic eye disease shows a negative impact on health-related quality of life before progression to blindness. Our meta-regression found a utility index decrement of 0.024 for people with proliferative retinopathy. The costs of screening are low at the individual level, estimated to be £32.03 in our costing study. But the overall budget impact of changes in the frequency of screening can be significant. We analyse a large data set of hospital and community screening activity to identify key treatment pathways for diabetic eye disease. We find that these have changed in recent years, with the introduction of more expensive interventions. The evidence generated by our work is used to inform the development of a decision analytic model. The model is designed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of risk-based screening for diabetic eye disease, compared with current practice. We find that risk-based screening is likely to be more cost-effective than standardised screening programmes. Evaluating a programme that allocates screening according to individuals' levels of risk raises theoretical and ethical challenges. To this end, we develop a simple framework for individualised cost-effectiveness analysis that can be used to inform the design of a risk-based screening programme. We also explore the ethics of risk-based screening, developing the notion of screening need as distinct from treatment need. Risk-based screening is likely to be cost-effective in the context of diabetic eye disease. The evidence presented in this thesis can be used to support the evaluation of new programmes, which can be designed in order to optimise cost-effectiveness using the methods that we describe. Such an approach is consistent with equitable policy objectives

Understanding tissue morphology: model repurposing using the CoSMoS process

We present CoSMoS as a way of structuring thinking on how to reuse parts of an existing model and simulation in a new model and its implementation. CoSMoS provides a lens through which to consider, post-implementation, the assumptions made during the design and implementation of a software simulation of physical interactions in the formation of vascular structures from endothelial cells. We show how the abstract physical model and its software implementation can be adapted for a different problem: the growth of cancer cells under varying environmental perturbations. We identify the changes that must be made to adapt the model to its new context, along with the gaps in our knowledge of the domain that must be filled by wet-lab experimentation when recalibrating the model. Through parameter exploration, we identify the parameters that are critical to the dynamic physical structure of the modelled tissue, and we calibrate these parameters using a series of in vitro experiments. Drawing inspiration from the CoSMoS project structure, we maintain confidence in the repurposed model, and achieve a satisfactory degree of model reuse within our in silico experimental system

Protecting workers through supply chains: lessons from two construction case studies

Two case studies of the successful use of supply chains to support the effective management of health and safety on constructions sites are analysed to identify the factors supporting this success. The analysis reveals that a combination of external regulatory pressures and an industry structure facilitative of the establishment and implementation of ‘good practice’ played a crucial role in the outcomes achieved. It is concluded therefore that while the findings lend weight to policy initiatives to utilise the power dynamics in supply chains to protect working conditions, they also suggest that surrounding institutional and industrial contexts exert a potentially crucial influence over their effectiveness. Consequently, it is further argued that such initiatives need to be responsively shaped to them

Regulating the employment dynamics of domestic supply chains

This paper sheds light on the role that the regulation of primarily domestic, rather than global, supply chains could play in protecting and enhancing standards of workplace health and safety, as well as employment standards more generally. The analysis presented confirms the potential relevance of such regulation in these regards. However, it also reinforces existing evidence pointing to the fact that only very rarely will market-related considerations on their own prompt purchasers to seek to directly influence the employment practices of their suppliers. The paper ends therefore by highlighting a number of key issues relating to the design of regulatory initiatives aimed at protecting and enhancing employment conditions within supply chains

An introduction to economic evaluation in occupational therapy: cost-effectiveness of pre-discharge home visits after stroke (HOVIS)

Introduction: Occupational therapy interventions, such as home visits, have been identified as being resource-intensive, but cost-effectiveness analyses are rarely, if ever, carried out. We sought to estimate the cost-effectiveness of occupational therapy home visits after stroke, as part of a feasibility study, and to demonstrate the value and methods of economic evaluation. Method: We completed a cost-effectiveness analysis of pre-discharge occupational therapy home visits after stroke compared with a hospital-based interview, carried out alongside a feasibility randomized controlled trial. Our primary outcome was quality-adjusted life years. Full cost and outcome data were available for 65 trial participants. Results: We found that the mean total cost of a home visit was £183, compared with £75 for a hospital interview. Home visits are shown to be slightly more effective, resulting in a cost per quality-adjusted life year of just over £20,000. Conclusion: Our analysis is the only economic evaluation of this intervention to date. Home visits are shown to be more expensive and more effective than a hospital-based interview, but our results are subject to a high level of uncertainty and should be treated as such. Further economic evaluations in this field are encouraged