Challenges of developing pedagogy through diversity and equity within the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum

A commitment to diversity and equity principles through social justice lies at the heart of many Early Years' practitioners working practices. However, the term social justice is complex, and this complexity manifests itself through its multiple meanings, in different cultural contexts. This paper investigates how diversity and equity are linked through an understanding of social justice within the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum. It also explores how diversity and equity is promoted through the Early Years curriculum and what remain the potential challenges practitioners. Interviews in multi-cultural and mono-cultural primary schools with Early Years age phases were conducted. The findings showed that the principles of social justice through diversity and equity was interpreted differently in each Early Years setting, which is unsurprising given the complicated nature of its meaning. The multi-cultural schools appear to use a greater variety of activities to embed social justice principles that involved their diverse communities more to enrich the curriculum in contrast to the mono-cultural schools. In mono-cultural schools however, practitioners had to be more creative in promoting diversity and equity given the smaller proportion of their diverse pupil and staff population

An ultrathin polarization insensitive frequency selective surface for wide stop band RF applications

In this paper, a compact, polarization insensitive, wide stop band frequency selective surface (FSS) has been proposed to serve C, X and Ku band applications. The unit cell of the proposed FSS consists of the combination of square loop and Jerusalem cross dipole elements to achieve wide stop band with a -10 dB bandwidth of 15.96 GHz from 5.45 GHz to 21.41 GHz. The periodicity and overall thickness of the structure are 0.32 λ0 and 0.04 λ0, respectively. The proposed design is polarization insensitive and provides a wide stop band response for large angles of incident wave with TE or TM polarization. Equivalent circuit analysis has also been performed to verify the simulated results. A prototype of proposed structure has been fabricated and experimentally tested. The measured results have been observed in agreement with the simulated results

Evaluating the Anti-cancer Efficacy of a Synthetic Curcumin Analog on Human Melanoma Cells and Its Interaction with Standard Chemotherapeutics

Melanoma is the leading cause of skin-cancer related deaths in North America. Metastatic melanoma is difficult to treat and chemotherapies have limited success. Furthermore, chemotherapies lead to toxic side effects due to nonselective targeting of normal cells. Curcumin is a natural product of Curcuma longa (turmeric) and has been shown to possess anti-cancer activity. However, due to its poor bioavailability and stability, natural curcumin is not an effective cancer treatment. We tested synthetic analogs of curcumin that are more stable. One of these derivatives, Compound A, has shown significant anti-cancer efficacy in colon, leukemia, and triple-negative inflammatory breast cancer cells. However, the effects of Compound A against melanoma cells have not been studied before. In this study, for the first time, we demonstrated the efficacy of Compound A for the selective induction of apoptosis in melanoma cells and its interaction with tamoxifen, taxol, and cisplatin. We found that Compound A induced apoptosis selectively in human melanoma cells by increasing oxidative stress. The anti-cancer activity of Compound A was enhanced when combined with tamoxifen and the combination treatment did not result in significant toxicity to noncancerous cells. Additionally, Compound A did not interact negatively with the anti-cancer activity of taxol and cisplatin. These results indicate that Compound A could be developed as a selective and effective melanoma treatment either alone or in combination with other non-toxic agents like tamoxifen

Comparative genomic analysis reveals habitat-specific genes and regulatory hubs within the genus Novosphingobium

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in mSystems 2 (2017): e00020-17, doi:10.1128/mSystems.00020-17.Species belonging to the genus Novosphingobium are found in many different habitats and have been identified as metabolically versatile. Through comparative genomic analysis, we identified habitat-specific genes and regulatory hubs that could determine habitat selection for Novosphingobium spp. Genomes from 27 Novosphingobium strains isolated from diverse habitats such as rhizosphere soil, plant surfaces, heavily contaminated soils, and marine and freshwater environments were analyzed. Genome size and coding potential were widely variable, differing significantly between habitats. Phylogenetic relationships between strains were less likely to describe functional genotype similarity than the habitat from which they were isolated. In this study, strains (19 out of 27) with a recorded habitat of isolation, and at least 3 representative strains per habitat, comprised four ecological groups—rhizosphere, contaminated soil, marine, and freshwater. Sulfur acquisition and metabolism were the only core genomic traits to differ significantly in proportion between these ecological groups; for example, alkane sulfonate (ssuABCD) assimilation was found exclusively in all of the rhizospheric isolates. When we examined osmolytic regulation in Novosphingobium spp. through ectoine biosynthesis, which was assumed to be marine habitat specific, we found that it was also present in isolates from contaminated soil, suggesting its relevance beyond the marine system. Novosphingobium strains were also found to harbor a wide variety of mono- and dioxygenases, responsible for the metabolism of several aromatic compounds, suggesting their potential to act as degraders of a variety of xenobiotic compounds. Protein-protein interaction analysis revealed β-barrel outer membrane proteins as habitat-specific hubs in each of the four habitats—freshwater (Saro_1868), marine water (PP1Y_AT17644), rhizosphere (PMI02_00367), and soil (V474_17210). These outer membrane proteins could play a key role in habitat demarcation and extend our understanding of the metabolic versatility of the Novosphingobium species.This work was supported by grants from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), R.K., S.H., K.P., A.B., and U.S. gratefully acknowledge the National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms (NBAIM), Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), N-PDF (PDF/2015/000062), (PDF/2015, 000319), University Grant Commission (UGC) for the Dr. D. S. Kothari Postdoctoral Fellowship and UGC for providing fellowships, respectively

Challenges of Early Years leadership preparation: a comparison between early and experienced Early Years practitioners in England

Leadership has been under-researched in the Early Years (EY) sector of primary schools in England, especially in leading change for professional development. The aim of this paper is to theorise what the leadership culture for EY practitioners looks like, and how Initial Teacher Training providers and schools are preparing practitioners for leadership. Using case studies of EY practitioners in different stages of their career in primary schools, we offer an insight into their preparedness for leadership in EY, the implication being that leadership training requires an understanding and embedding of the EY culture and context. Interviews with both sample groups allowed for deeper insight into the lived world. Interviews were also conducted with the head teachers to gain an overview of the leadership preparation they provided. The main findings suggest that newer EY practitioners are better prepared for leadership from their university training in comparison to more experienced EY practitioners

Permeating the social justice ideals of equality and equity within the context of Early Years: challenges for leadership in multi-cultural and mono-cultural primary schools

The ideology and commitment of social justice principles is central to Early Years practice, however, the term social justice in education is complex and remains contested. This paper explores the ideology of social justice through links between equality and equity and how it is embedded within Early Years, and what remain the potential challenges for leadership. Interviews in English multi-cultural and mono-cultural primary schools were conducted. Findings showed that the ideology of social justice, equality and equity was interpreted differently. Multi-cultural schools appear to use a greater variety of activities to embed social justice principles that involved their diverse communities more to enrich the curriculum. In mono-cultural schools leadership had to be more creative in promoting equality and equity given the smaller proportion of their diverse pupil and staff population. Tentative conclusions suggest that the vision for permeating equality and equity in Early Years, at best, is at early stages

How can the skills of Early Years leaders support other leaders in a primary school setting?

This study investigated the leadership skills Early Years leaders demonstrated through their daily practice of teaching, assessing and teamwork within their setting. It explored how revealing the potential of Early Years leaders could have a positive impact on the leadership practice of other leaders in the same setting to improve pupil outcomes. A qualitative approach using interviews with Early Years leaders in 20 primary settings from the East Midlands and Bedfordshire areas was undertaken by two academics from two different UK based universities. Ethical guidelines ensuring anonymity and trustworthiness were followed. Using verbatim comments, data were analysed in themes against contemporary Early Years literature. Findings showed the skills of Early Years leaders could support pedagogy and practice but some of these skills were not utilized beyond this age phase. Our conclusion suggested that Early Years leaders had a range of leadership skills which were deemed specialist as they were unique to the success of the age phase, but needed to be exposed beyond Early Years for wider success and impact

Recommendations for Addressing Priority Io Science in the Next Decade

Io is a priority destination for solar system exploration. The scope and importance of science questions at Io necessitates a broad portfolio of research and analysis, telescopic observations, and planetary missions - including a dedicated New Frontiers class Io mission

The Science Case for Io Exploration

Io is a priority destination for solar system exploration, as it is the best natural laboratory to study the intertwined processes of tidal heating, extreme volcanism, and atmosphere-magnetosphere interactions. Io exploration is relevant to understanding terrestrial worlds (including the early Earth), ocean worlds, and exoplanets across the cosmos

Marketing and initial teacher training in higher education : bridging the gap

This thesis assesses the link between marketing and Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in two higher education institutions. The study comprises a survey and case studies of all the ITT staff in the two universities. The case studies were carried out by semi-structured interviews with key members in the faculty of education and the marketing department of each of the HEIs. The link between marketing and ITT is examined through the application of strategic marketing theory and a theoretical framework for the link is presented. The study showed that the link between marketing and education is dependent upon the stage of development of each institution in terms of marketing. There was no one simple model of marketing but it was found that both universities were well orientated in linking marketing strategy to ITT. The responsiveness of both HEIs to customer needs was found to be appropriate to their organisational structure and their existing culture. The study showed that there were several conflicting pressures faced by senior managers, many of which are similar to those experienced by other university faculties. The main tensions and conflicts faced by managers were to do with managing resources in a difficult economic climate ensuring high quality student recruitment and retention enhancing institutional image addressing issues of competition and developing partnerships. The need for the faculty of education to work closely with the marketing department was considered to be important. The main difficulty which the ITT staff and the marketing staff experience is the lack of communication between them generated by work overload. This presents a challenge by all parties to consider the priority given to the link between marketing and education. A number of initiatives for linking marketing and ITT are identified. These include fostering partnerships with schools and business partners developing closer links with the marketing department and being more proactive in involving students in the development and organisation of ITT provision