3,788 research outputs found
An economic evaluation of the early impact of Aimhigher: excellence challenge on pre-16 outcomes: update to previous analysis
The Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge intervention seeks to encourage more young people to articipate in tertiary education. This paper updates previous estimates of the impact of the programme on the GCSE marks and reported expected school leaving ages, among year 11 pupils. Information from 3 different cohorts is used (whereas the previous analysis had data on the first 2 cohorts). In some schools the second and third cohorts have been exposed to the policy, whereas in others only the third cohort was exposed to the policy. This distinction is used to model the impact of the policy using linear regression analysis. However the lack of a comparison group in Spring 2004 means that the impact of the policy can only be estimated under relatively strong assumptions about the evolution of the impact of the policy across time.
Under the assumption that the policy had the same impact in the original treatment (EiC Phase 1 & 2 areas) in Spring 2004 as in Spring 2003, we find evidence that being part of the Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge programme in the new areas (EiC Phase 3) has led to a 5.2 percentage point increase in the year 11 pupils expecting to leave education at age 20 or over. Although slightly larger, this estimate is not statistically significantly different from the increase of 3.7 percentage points found in the original (EiC Phase 1 & 2) areas. Across both types of area (EiC Phase 1& 2 and EiC Phase 3) we estimate that the average impact of the policy is to increase the percentage of year 11 pupils reporting that they will leave education at age 20 or above by 4.6 percentage points. We also find some evidence of a similar positive impact on GCSE English results, although the impact across other GCSEs is less clear.
While the assumptions made in producing these new estimates are relatively strong it is clear that the analysis of the new data does not contradict the previous estimates (which were reliant on less strong assumptions)
Temperature Fluctuations driven by Magnetorotational Instability in Protoplanetary Disks
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) drives magnetized turbulence in
sufficiently ionized regions of protoplanetary disks, leading to mass
accretion. The dissipation of the potential energy associated with this
accretion determines the thermal structure of accreting regions. Until
recently, the heating from the turbulence has only been treated in an
azimuthally averaged sense, neglecting local fluctuations. However, magnetized
turbulence dissipates its energy intermittently in current sheet structures. We
study this intermittent energy dissipation using high resolution numerical
models including a treatment of radiative thermal diffusion in an optically
thick regime. Our models predict that these turbulent current sheets drive
order unity temperature variations even where the MRI is damped strongly by
Ohmic resistivity. This implies that the current sheet structures where energy
dissipation occurs must be well resolved to correctly capture the flow
structure in numerical models. Higher resolutions are required to resolve
energy dissipation than to resolve the magnetic field strength or accretion
stresses. The temperature variations are large enough to have major
consequences for mineral formation in disks, including melting chondrules,
remelting calcium-aluminum rich inclusions, and annealing silicates; and may
drive hysteresis: current sheets in MRI active regions could be significantly
more conductive than the remainder of the disk.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, ApJ In Press, updated to match proof
Draft genome sequence of a meningitic isolate of Cronobacter sakazakii clonal complex 4, strain 8399
The Cronobacter sakazakii clonal lineage defined as clonal complex 4 (CC4), composed of nine sequence types, is associated with severe cases of neonatal meningitis. To date, only closely related C. sakazakii sequence type 4 (ST4) strains have been sequenced. C. sakazakii strain 8399, isolated from a case of neonatal meningitis, was sequenced as the first non-ST4 C. sakazakii strain
Exploring New Product Portfolio Management decisions: The role of managers' dispositional traits
Cataloged from PDF version of article.Product strategy links to new product development (NPD) through new product portfolio management (NPPM). This dynamic decision process
addresses the strategy implementation questions of identifying which new product ideas to pursue and their relative priorities. Despite the
importance of NPPM in implementing product strategy, firms exhibit substantial performance-affecting differences. We investigate one potential
source for such differences by examining the impact of managers' dispositional factors as a possible explanation. Using a case study research
method, we examine differences in NPPM strategies and managers' revealed dispositional traits across three divisions of a single conglomerate
firm operating in different business-to-business markets. Based on our analysis, we offer propositions relating managers' dispositions to NPPM
strategy: analytic cognitive style is associated with balance, ambiguity tolerance is associated with strategic fit, and leadership style is associated
with the relative weights applied to each dimension.
© 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Stoichiometry control of sputtered CuCl thin films: Influence on ultraviolet emission properties
We demonstrate that the chemical composition of the sputtered CuCl thin films could be finely controlled by adjusting the bias to the substrate. The films deposited without any intentional bias were Cl rich (CuCl1+x), a bias of â22 V yielded stoichiometric CuCl, and a further increase in the negative bias resulted in Cl deficient films (CuCl1âx). The crystalline and optical properties were found to be associated with the chemical composition. Cl rich films showed a deep level green emission at around 515 nm in addition to ultraviolet (UV) excitonic emission. The stoichiometric films have higher optical quality, exhibiting a sharp UV emission at around 385 nm at room temperature, compared to nonstoichiometric samples. Visible luminescence related to deep level defects was not observed in the stoichiometric films. Changes in energy of the flux from the target and the subsequent ion bombardment on the substrate surface are correlated with the variations in chemical composition and their impact on the film microstructure and UV emission
Communicating Hunger and Satiation in the First Two Years of Life: A Systematic Review
Responsive feeding has been identified as important in preventing overconsumption by infants. However, this is predicated on an assumption that parents recognise and respond to infant feeding cues. Despite this, relatively little is understood about how infants engage parental feeding responses. Therefore the aim of this systematic review was to identify what is known about infant communication of hunger and satiation and what issues impact on the expression and perception of these states. A search of Medline, CINAHL, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Science Direct and Maternal and Infant care produced 27 papers. Eligibility criteria included: peer reviewed qualitative and/or quantitative publications on feeding behaviours, hunger, satiation/satiety cues of typically developing children in the first two years of life. Papers published between 1966 and 2013 were included in the review. The review revealed that feeding cues and behaviours are shaped by numerous issues, such as infantsâ physical attributes, individual psychological factors and environmental factors. Meanwhile, infant characteristics, external cues and mothersâ own characteristics affect how feeding cues are perceived. The existing literature provides insights into many aspects of hunger and satiation in infancy; however, there are significant gaps in our knowledge. There is a lack of validated tools for measuring hunger and satiation, a need to understand how different infant characteristics impact on feeding behaviour and a need to extricate the respective contributions of infant and maternal characteristics to perceptions of hunger and satiation. Further research is also recommended to differentiate between feeding driven by liking and that driven by hunger
The Delivery of Stop Smoking Support to People with Mental Health Conditions: A Survey of NHS Stop Smoking Services
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