Evaluation of the learning and skills measure

In April 2009, the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills commissioned York Consulting, in association with Old Bell 3, to undertake research to inform the implementation of the Learning and Skills Measure. The broad aims of the research were to focus on the likely impacts of the Measure on the 14-19 Learning Pathways nationally and to assess the degree to which wider choice is secured as a result of policy implementation

COMPLACENT OR COMPETITIVE? BRITISH EXPORTERS AND THE DRIFT TO EMPIRE

The belief that Britain’s empire markets were soft is well entrenched in the literature. It is, however, a belief that has been largely untested. Indeed, the literature does not even offer an explicit definition of softness. This paper attempts to fill this gap by discussing the meaning of the term and, then, posing the question whether between 1870 and 1914 Britain’s fastest growing markets – Australasia and Canada – can in fact be reasonably labelled soft, as has often been assumed. The paper concludes that the demand for British imports in these markets were driven more by income and price considerations than by colonial sentiment or preference.Empire markets, soft markets, British exports, imperial sentiments

Howells, Dickinson, Lewis: An exercise in reading the interracial canon

Howells, Dickinson, Lewis: An Exercise in Reading the Interracial Canon has two purposes. First, it offers detailed readings of three American novels: An Imperative Duty by William Dean Howells (1891), What Answer? by Anna Dickinson (1868), and Kingsblood Royal by Sinclair Lewis (1947). These readings are accomplished within the context of the interracial canon , a set of writings dealing with the expression of various aspects of interracial relationships. The interracial canon, as well as its specialized vocabulary and unique theoretical outlook, is roughly sketched in an introduction and several appendices

The Modernized Keyboard: Improving the Musician’s Experience Through User-Centered Design

In 2016, a major part of being a gigging musician is traveling with your instrument. For musicians with smaller instruments, such as the harmonica, traveling is no problem. Simply place it in your pocket and you are good to go anywhere with musical creation at your fingertips. Medium-sized instruments, like the guitar, are somewhat of a hassle to travel with due to their size, but are also typically lightweight, so the traveling still somewhat tolerable. But for musicians with large and heavy instruments, such as drums or a digital keyboard, traveling can be a nightmare. My thesis explores the full experience of the modern-day keyboardist and provides a more convenient solution for traveling with their full-size instrument, while considering important aspects of the keyboard such as the number of keys, size of the keys, and resistance (or feel) of the keys when played

A murine model of variant late infantile ceroid lipofuscinosis recapitulates behavioral and pathological phenotypes of human disease.

Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs; also known collectively as Batten Disease) are a family of autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disorders. Mutations in as many as 13 genes give rise to ∼10 variants of NCL, all with overlapping clinical symptomatology including visual impairment, motor and cognitive dysfunction, seizures, and premature death. Mutations in CLN6 result in both a variant late infantile onset neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (vLINCL) as well as an adult-onset form of the disease called Type A Kufs. CLN6 is a non-glycosylated membrane protein of unknown function localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In this study, we perform a detailed characterization of a naturally occurring Cln6 mutant (Cln6(nclf)) mouse line to validate its utility for translational research. We demonstrate that this Cln6(nclf) mutation leads to deficits in motor coordination, vision, memory, and learning. Pathologically, we demonstrate loss of neurons within specific subregions and lamina of the cortex that correlate to behavioral phenotypes. As in other NCL models, this model displays selective loss of GABAergic interneuron sub-populations in the cortex and the hippocampus with profound, early-onset glial activation. Finally, we demonstrate a novel deficit in memory and learning, including a dramatic reduction in dendritic spine density in the cerebral cortex, which suggests a reduction in synaptic strength following disruption in CLN6. Together, these findings highlight the behavioral and pathological similarities between the Cln6(nclf) mouse model and human NCL patients, validating this model as a reliable format for screening potential therapeutics

How Trustworthy Is Your Tree? Bayesian Phylogenetic Effective Sample Size Through the Lens of Monte Carlo Error.

Bayesian inference is a popular and widely-used approach to infer phylogenies (evolutionary trees). However, despite decades of widespread application, it remains difficult to judge how well a given Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) run explores the space of phylogenetic trees. In this paper, we investigate the Monte Carlo error of phylogenies, focusing on high-dimensional summaries of the posterior distribution, including variability in estimated edge/branch (known in phylogenetics as split) probabilities and tree probabilities, and variability in the estimated summary tree. Specifically, we ask if there is any measure of effective sample size (ESS) applicable to phylogenetic trees which is capable of capturing the Monte Carlo error of these three summary measures. We find that there are some ESS measures capable of capturing the error inherent in using MCMC samples to approximate the posterior distributions on phylogenies. We term these tree ESS measures, and identify a set of three which are useful in practice for assessing the Monte Carlo error. Lastly, we present visualization tools that can improve comparisons between multiple independent MCMC runs by accounting for the Monte Carlo error present in each chain. Our results indicate that common post-MCMC workflows are insufficient to capture the inherent Monte Carlo error of the tree, and highlight the need for both within-chain mixing and between-chain convergence assessments

Measuring older patients’ attitudes to general practice registrars: Exploratory factor analysis of a survey instrument

Introduction: Training general practice registrars (GPRs) to meet the challenges of an ageing population is hampered by their relatively reduced contact with older patients and a paucity of suitable research to inform training models. This paper describes an exploratory factor analysis of a survey instrument assessing the attitudes of older patients to GPRs, as part of a project to address these concerns. Methods: The instrument was developed on the basis of a qualitative study and a literature review and distributed to 500 patients aged 60 years and over from 10 training practices in regional Australia. Responses to 22 of the survey’s Likert scale items were examined, including inter-item correlations and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha). Exploratory factor analysis was performed to identify domains of patients’ attitudes. Results: The response rate was 39.2% (n=196). None of the items were redundant and the scale had appropriate levels of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.76). The exploratory factor analysis identified three factors. Factor one, labelled ‘interpersonal trust’, explained 26.2% of the variance. Factor two accounted for 11.4% of the variance and was labelled ‘system trust’. Factor three, labelled ‘interpersonal continuity’, explained 7.5% of the variance. Conclusion: The instrument demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties and three distinct factors reflecting older patients’ attitudes toward GPRs, with trust appearing to be particularly important. The instrument appears effective in obtaining valid data, which should assist in developing improved training models. These findings warrant confirmation with a larger sample and exploration of adaptations of the instrument to be used in other contexts. Keywords: general practice registrar; post-graduate training; patient attitude