The evaluation of Education Maintenance Allowance Pilots: three years' evidence: a quantitative evaluation

This is the third report of the longitudinal quantitative evaluation of Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) pilots and the first since the government announced that EMA is to be rolled out nationally from 2004. The evaluation was commissioned in 1999, by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) from a consortium of research organisations, led by the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) and including the National Centre for Social Research, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the National Institute for Careers Education and Counselling (NICEC). The statistical evaluation design is a longitudinal cohort study involving large random sample surveys of young people (and their parents) in 10 EMA pilot areas and eleven control areas. Two cohorts of young people were selected from Child Benefit records. The first cohort of young people left compulsory schooling in the summer of 1999 and they, and their parents, were interviewed between October 1999 and April 2000 (Year 12 interview). A second interview was carried out with these young people between October 2000 and April 2001 (Year 13 interview). The second cohort left compulsory education the following summer of 2000 and young people, and their parents, were first interviewed between October 2000 and April 2001. The report uses both propensity score matching (PSM) and descriptive techniques, each of which brings their own particular strengths to the analysis

Pharmaceuticals in soils of lower income countries: Physico-chemical fate and risks from wastewater irrigation.

Population growth, increasing affluence, and greater access to medicines have led to an increase in active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) entering sewerage networks. In areas with high wastewater reuse, residual quantities of APIs may enter soils via irrigation with treated, partially treated, or untreated wastewater and sludge. Wastewater used for irrigation is currently not included in chemical environmental risk assessments and requires further consideration in areas with high water reuse. This study critically assesses the contemporary understanding of the occurrence and fate of APIs in soils of low and lower-middle income countries (LLMIC) in order to contribute to the development of risk assessments for APIs in LLMIC. The physico-chemical properties of APIs and soils vary greatly globally, impacting on API fate, bioaccumulation and toxicity. The impact of pH, clay and organic matter on the fate of organic ionisable compounds is discussed in detail. This study highlights the occurrence and the partitioning and degradation coefficients for APIs in soil:porewater systems, API usage data in LLMICS and removal rates (where used) within sewage treatment plants as key areas where data are required in order to inform robust environmental risk assessment methodologies

Viability of laser cleaning of papyrus: Conservation and scientific assessment

There has been a growing interest in laser cleaning applications for a variety of organic materials such as paper, parchment, textiles, and leather during the last decade. However, archaeological organic materials, notably papyrus, have rarely been investigated. This contribution examines whether removal of burial encrustation can be justified in view of its short-term and long-term effects on the substrate. To examine this, tests using mock objects have been performed. Using artificially soiled and archaeological papyrus samples, optimization of laser cleaning parameters using a picosecond laser (1064 nm, various operating conditions) was attempted. Optimization was based on colorimetry, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and cellulose degree of polymerization data, both before and after accelerated degradation. In papyrus, there is no clear damage threshold, and substrate degradation can always be observed and is comparable in treated (cleaned) and untreated (soiled) objects. Therefore, the decision on whether to clean papyrus using lasers is predominantly based on aesthetic and treatability (e.g. need for consolidation) criteria

Construction of an optical test-bed for eLISA

In the planned eLISA mission a key part of the system is the optical bench that holds the interferometers for reading out the inter-spacecraft distance and the test mass position. We report on ongoing technology development for the eLISA optical system like the back-link between the optical benches and the science interferometer where the local beam is interfered with the received beam from the distant spacecraft. The focus will be on a setup to investigate the tilt-to-pathlength coupling in the science interferometer. To test the science interferometer in the lab a second bench providing a laser beam and a reference interferometer is needed. We present a setup with two ultra-stable low expansion glass benches and bonded optics. To suppress the tilt-to-pathlength coupling to the required level (few μm/rad) imaging optics are placed in front of the interferometer photo diodes

Rhesus Macaques Form Preferences for Brand Logos Through Sex and Social Status Based Advertising

Like humans, monkeys value information about sex and status, inviting the hypothesis that our susceptibility to these factors in advertising arises from shared, ancestral biological mechanisms that prioritize social information. To test this idea, we asked whether rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) show choice behavior that is similar to humans in response to sex and social status in advertising. Our results show that monkeys form preferences for brand logos repeatedly paired with images of macaque genitals and high status monkeys. Moreover, monkeys sustain preferences for these brand logos even though choosing them provided no tangible rewards, a finding that cannot be explained by a decision mechanism operating solely on material outcomes. Together, our results endorse the hypothesis that the power of sex and status in advertising emerges from the spontaneous engagement of shared, ancestral neural circuits that prioritize information useful for navigating the social environment. Finally, our results show that simple associative conditioning is sufficient to explain the formation of preferences for brand logos paired with sexual or status-based images

Feasibility of ultrafast picosecond laser cleaning of soiling on historical leather buckles

The aim of the research is to present a system recently developed and used for automated cleaning of artworks and to examine the suitability of using this ultrafast and precise computed-scanning picosecond laser (1064 nm) with a repetition rate of 10 kHz and a temporal pulse length of 10 ps for the removal of soiling from leather buckles without damaging the leather substrate. Preliminary tests will be performed with the model artificially aged vegetable tanned samples to determine the leather damage threshold fluence and the soiling ablation threshold fluence before using a laser for the removal of the soiling from a historical leather buckle. As laser cleaning requires a physical parameterization for optimization of cleaning accompanied with an assessment of the morphological and chemical changes of leather, an investigations were performed to determine the leather damage and ablation threshold fluences of artificially aged and historical vegetable tanned leather using a number of analytical techniques including differential scanning calorimetry, optical microscopy, scanning electronic microscope with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, colorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy have been used. Following optimization trials of the picosecond laser cleaning parameters on model leather samples, satisfactory removal of the soiling over the historical leather surface is achieved

Hospital care of children with a cleft in England.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse hospital admissions in the first 2 years of life among children with cleft lip and/or palate in England. DESIGN: Analysis of national administrative data of hospital admissions. SETTING: National Health Service hospitals. PATIENTS: Patients born alive between 1997 and 2008 who underwent surgical cleft repair. OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of admissions, including the birth episode, and days spent in hospital were examined. Children were analysed according to cleft type and whether or not they had additional congenital anomalies. RESULTS: 10 892 children were included. In their first 2 years, children without additional anomalies (n=8482) had on average 3.2 admissions and 13.2 days in hospital, which varied from 2.6 admissions and 9.2 days with cleft lip to 4.7 admissions and 19.7 days with bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP). Children with additional anomalies (n=2410) had on average 6.7 admissions and 51.4 days in hospital, which varied from 6.4 admissions and 48.5 days with cleft palate to 8.8 admissions and 67.5 days with BCLP. The mean number and duration of cleft-related admissions was similar in children without (1.6 admissions and 6.4 days) and in those with additional anomalies (1.5 admissions and 8.5 days). 35.2% of children without additional anomalies had at least one emergency admission, whereas the corresponding figure was 67.3% with additional anomalies. CONCLUSIONS: The burden of hospital care in the first 2 years of life varied according to cleft type and presence of additional anomalies. However, cleft-specific hospital care did not differ between children with and without additional anomalies