The early impact of Brighton and Hove's school admission reforms

We analyse the initial impact of a major school admission reform in Brighton and Hove. The new system incorporated a lottery for oversubscribed places and new catchment areas. We examine the post-reform changes in school composition. We locate the major winners and losers in terms of the quality of school attended. We match similar cities and conduct a difference-in-difference analysis of the policy change. We see no significant change in student sorting: if anything, the point estimates suggest a rise in socio-economic segregation. We do see a significant weakening of the dependence of school attended on student’s prior attainment.school lottery, segregation, school admissions reforms

The application of engineering measurement and three-dimensional (3D) computer aided engineering techniques to the study of medieval period European swords

This thesis details the programme of research undertaken by the author to investigate the use of engineering measurement and computer-aided engineering techniques for the modelling and analysis of medieval period ‘knightly’ swords. The sword has an iconic cultural status that transcends its primary purpose as a tool of war, featuring frequently and extensively in art and literature from early human mythology through to contemporary film and digital media. In Europe, the sword was arguably at its most influential, both practically and culturally, during the mid-late medieval period, and yet there has been limited understanding and a misinformed mythology around the iconic knightly sword that proliferated during this period. A resurgent interest, and associated research, in historical European martial arts has started to address this gap in understanding, and the use of engineering measurement and analysis techniques to inform historical research has been growing more generally in recent years. There is a clear benefit that such techniques can bring to create a more complete picture of historical artefacts in terms of their design, construction, and performance, and that was the focus of this research programme. Of course, surviving medieval swords are, relatively speaking, rare, valuable, and often fragile, and these factors presented some specific challenges when trying to access and study them. The original contribution of this work has been to overcome these challenges to develop and demonstrate a robust methodology for creating and analysing 3-dimensional models that accurately recreate the geometry and mass properties of historical artefacts. During the programme, consideration has been given to accuracy, repeatability, ease of acquisition and the constraints associated with this type of artefact, such that the methodology might be used beyond this specific programme of work. Having created these digital models, specific features have been analysed and simulated, and this approach has been applied to eight original medieval swords, providing new and interesting insights into their features, design, and original performance characteristics

Use of a student response system in Primary Schools — an empirical study

This paper reports a pilot study for a student response system (SRS) used in an English school. The technology used is the “Wireless Response System” – WRS developed at Huddersfield University, and the learning activities were conducted in Mathematics and English classes. The main concepts – activity based, problem based and opinion based learning – are adopted into the study. A case study was the method used in the investigation. The results show that the system is suitable for different sizes groups of users, who may choose their preferred question types. The school claims the use of WRS was successful, evidenced by the data collected, and the children and teachers were interested in using it. We conclude that the SRS can assist teachers in classroom teaching at primary school level, especially in the observations of engagement and effectiveness of students’ learning

Examining predictors of retention with implications for TESTA@Greenwich

Student attrition is a pressing issue that universities across the world are attempting to solve. More recently, there has been a focus on retaining students from so-called ‘hard to reach’ groups. This paper proposes a methodology that investigates potential predictors of retention within the context of a particular institution, with the aim of defining who our ‘hard to reach’ students might be. It includes TESTA, a feedback and assessment enhancement process, as an independent variable to determine whether this particular enhancement initiative had any positive effects on retention. The authors use a statistical technique that permits a comparison of retention within the same programmes, pre- versus post-TESTA, relative to background changes in retention in programmes without TESTA over the same timescale. The results of our analysis revealed that of the 10 predictors selected, the following were statistically significant: age group; gender; ethnicity; highest qualification on entry; academic session. These form the basis of our definition of who are ‘hard to reach’ students at our university. Whilst TESTA had no statistically significant impact on retention, several important implications for making specific interventions through TESTA in relation to assessment design and delivery to increase retention are discussed

Safety and efficacy of vismodegib in patients aged ≥65 years with advanced basal cell carcinoma.

Because many patients with unresectable basal cell carcinoma (BCC) are aged ≥65 years, this study explores the efficacy and safety of vismodegib in these patients with locally advanced (la) or metastatic (m) basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in the ERIVANCE BCC trial and the expanded access study (EAS).We compared patients aged ≥65 years to patients aged <65 years taking vismodegib 150 mg/day, using descriptive statistics for response and safety. Patients aged ≥65 years (laBCC/mBCC) were enrolled in ERIVANCE BCC (33/14) and EAS (27/26). Investigator-assessed best overall response rate in patients ≥65 and <65 years was 46.7%/35.7% and 72.7%/52.6% (laBCC/mBCC), respectively, in ERIVANCE BCC and 45.8%/33.3% and 46.9%/28.6%, respectively, in EAS. These differences were not clinically meaningful. Safety was similar in both groups, although those aged ≥65 years had a higher percentage of grade 3-5 adverse events than those aged <65 years. Vismodegib demonstrated similar clinical activity and adverse events regardless of age

Long-term impact of living with an obturator following a maxillectomy:A qualitative study

Objectives:To explore the long-term impact for patients living with an obturator prosthesis, following a max-illectomy for a head and neck neoplasm. Methods: A qualitative approach was employed, using semi-structured interviews. A purposive sample of eight men and four women, living with an obturator prosthesis for at least five years, were recruited. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed. Using thematic analysis, two researchers analysed the data. Results: The data were categorised into four themes: 1. Preparedness for living with an obturator, 2. Impact of living with an obturator–what changes to expect, 3. Stability and retention of the obturator, and 4. Coping strategies to aid adjustment. Long-term effects of living with an obturator spanned many aspects of life to include: chewing and eating, speaking, dealing with nasal leakage and altered body image, employment and intimacy issues, along with embarrassment during social encounters. Optimal retention and stability of the obturator, as perceived by the patient, lead to improved social confidence and engagement. The emotional impact varied greatly on peoples’ lives. Conclusions: Patients experiencing the greatest long-term challenges had larger defects, were of employment age and had not returned to work. Gaining an improved understanding of the psychology of coping overtime is clearly important, as this can inform interventions to facilitate adjustment for those who are emotionally struggling. Furthermore, the findings of this study could inform the design of a communication tool to facilitate shared-decision making and aid preparedness for living with an obturator following a maxillectomy. Clinical significance: The multidisciplinary head and neck team should provide patients with detailed pre-op-erative information, including potential effects on social, work and personal relationships. The restorative dentistry team has a pivotal role in the long-term management of these patients, as obturators have a finite lifespan with ongoing maintenance necessary to promote optimal retention and stabilit

Ecosystem service responses to rewilding - first-order estimates from 27 years of rewilding in the Scottish Highlands

<p>Rewilding as a conservation strategy is gaining increasing scientific, political and public attention, yet empirical evaluations of its impacts remain scarce, especially with regards to ecosystem services. We provide evidence of the change in three ecosystem services (timber [provisioning], pollination [regulating], and aesthetics [cultural]) from up to 27 years of a moorland rewilding strategy in the Scottish Highlands using a chronosequence of rewilded plots and adjacent controls. These services were assessed in the field and using online surveys. We found that rewilding increased aboveground woody biomass and restored natural tree recruitment processes, although the latter only emerged after at least 15 years of rewilding. Rewilding caused a linear increase in perceived aesthetic quality over the first 27 years, but had no effect on pollination visitation rates. Thus, we conclude that rewilding can be used for ecosystem service recovery in moorland landscapes, but that results vary depending on the preferred service.</p><p><b>EDITED BY</b> John Haslett</p><p></p> <p><b>EDITED BY</b> John Haslett</p