A different kind of family: Retrospective accounts of growing up at Centrepoint and implications for adulthood

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A characterisation of weakly locally projective amalgams related to A16A_{16} and the sporadic simple groups M24M_{24} and HeHe

A simple undirected graph is weakly $G$-locally projective, for a group of automorphisms $G$, if for each vertex $x$, the stabiliser $G(x)$ induces on the set of vertices adjacent to $x$ a doubly transitive action with socle the projective group $L_{n_x}(q_x)$ for an integer $n_x$ and a prime power $q_x$. It is $G$-locally projective if in addition $G$ is vertex transitive. A theorem of Trofimov reduces the classification of the $G$-locally projective graphs to the case where the distance factors are as in one of the known examples. Although an analogue of Trofimov's result is not yet available for weakly locally projective graphs, we would like to begin a program of characterising some of the remarkable examples. We show that if a graph is weakly locally projective with each $q_x =2$ and $n_x = 2$ or $3$, and if the distance factors are as in the examples arising from the rank 3 tilde geometries of the groups $M_{24}$ and $He$, then up to isomorphism there are exactly two possible amalgams. Moreover, we consider an infinite family of amalgams of type $\mathcal{U}_n$ (where each $q_x=2$ and $n=n_x+1\geq 4$) and prove that if $n\geq 5$ there is a unique amalgam of type $\mathcal{U}_n$ and it is unfaithful, whereas if $n=4$ then there are exactly four amalgams of type $\mathcal{U}_4$, precisely two of which are faithful, namely the ones related to $M_{24}$ and $He$, and one other which has faithful completion $A_{16}$

Technological and Engineering Design Based Learning: Promoting Upper Elementary Graphical Device Comprehension

The research presented is an investigation into the use of technological and engineering design based learning (T/E DBL) as an instructional strategy to facilitate student comprehension of nonfiction/informational text inclusive of graphical devices. The research design followed a mixed method exploratory embedded case study. Six 5th grade participants were examined as both a whole group and as reading level dyads (below, on, and above grade level) as they progressed through three T/E DBL challenges designed to intentionally support graphical device comprehension (GDC) instruction. Data were collected from a variety of instruments used to assess participant prior knowledge, comprehension of graphical devices, and resultant reading comprehension of both familiar and unfamiliar texts. Analysis of data generated detailed descriptions of the reading comprehension levels for each participant throughout the study. Findings indicate that T/E DBL increased text interactions and graphical device usage across all participants, promoted their development of general GDC for diagrams and tables, improved their comprehension of unfamiliar science texts, and proved to be of particular benefit to below grade level readers. These results demonstrate the viability of T/E DBL as a valuable component of elementary level reading instruction for improving student use and comprehension of graphical devices, and for improving their overall comprehension of unfamiliar science and engineering texts where embedded graphical devices present new content in a visual information genre

Kaliedescope of Opinions: Varying Perceptions of Public School Experience

Grounded theory and Phenomenological data analyses of information collected through interviews with administrators, teachers and students are used to understand how leadership responsibilities were distributed among school staff, how services to students with identified disabilities were delivered through response to intervention and inclusive practices, and how middle school students perceived themselves as consumers of education

Operationalizing Embeddedness for Sustainability in Local and Regional Food Systems

Agricultural systems are deeply embedded in social processes and the institutions that govern them. Measuring these processes and understanding the extent of that embeddedness is critical to crafting policy for sustainable agricultural systems. The bulk of measurement in sustainability research, however, focuses on economic and environmental indicators such as farm profitability and water quality. Since policy is most often aimed at what is measured, it tends to focus on issues like price, production, and market access. And while those are important, policies aimed at social issues such as community reciprocity are often outside the scope of policy design. The gap between social measurement and policy is not for lack of care; the importance of social dynamics is well known. Yet due to the difficulty of measuring complex social systems— How does one measure values?—more straightforward economic and environmental measures dominate research and policy. When social systems are measured, as, for example, with the social capital or sustainable livelihoods frameworks, they often do so using economic methodologies and indicators. Such economic-based social indicators are important but focus heavily on outcomes such as poverty or profitability. Accordingly, the complex social processes that lead to such outcomes such as culture, heritage, tradition or generational dynamics are often overlooked. These policy and methodological difficulties present a problem: measurements import the theoretical framing of their intellectual development. Economic methodologies are largely rooted in an atomistic theory of human behavior in which individuals are selfishly motivated by economic gains. While individuals do seek economic success, they are also motivated by social connection, reciprocity, values, and culture. The institutions governing these social processes and the degree to which individuals and businesses are embedded in society are incredibly important, yet poorly understood and measured. This paper outlines a theoretical framing for understanding these complex social processes and develops a methodology for measuring social embeddedness in local and regional agricultural systems. Coined by sociologist Karl Polanyi, embeddedness is the extent to which economic systems like markets are governed by non-economic systems such as culture and social cohesion. While markets and their price and output components are well understood and widely measured, the non-economic institutions like culture and values that support and govern markets have tended to be seen as non-measurable. This has important policy implications for rural agriculture. Accordingly, this paper develops a tool for measuring the social embeddedness of producers and consumers in ten agricultural sectors in Vermont that can be replicated across New England. The tool uses a Likert scale survey designed to understand the degree to which producers and consumers are motivated by self-interest—what we call Instrumentalism—and the extent to which they are market-oriented—what we call Marketness. Survey responses are analyzed using a Factor Analysis to generate Instrumentalism and Marketness scores for each survey respondent on a scale of -1 to 1. The Embeddedness Type Matrix consists of a vertical Instrumentalism axis and a horizontal Marketness axis that together create four quadrants that represent different types of embeddedness: embedded, underembedded, disembedded, and overembedded. Individual consumers and producers are plotted on the matrix based upon their respective Instrumentalism and Marketness scores and yield an embeddedness type given their quadrant. Plotting all producers and consumers of a particular industry on the Embeddedness Type Matrix provides an understanding of the motivations, values, actions, and interactions of the individuals in that industry. This paper provides researchers and policy makers in Vermont and New England with a tool to understand and measure the social aspect of agricultural sustainability in multiple industries. This approach allows for the design of policy aimed at aspects of the food system outside of price, production, and market access alone

The built environment predicts observed physical activity

Background: In order to improve our understanding of the relationship between the built environment and physical activity, it is important to identify associations between specific geographic characteristics and physical activity behaviors. Purpose: Examine relationships between observed physical activity behavior and measures of the built environment collected on 291 street segments in Indianapolis and St. Louis. Methods: Street segments were selected using a stratified geographic sampling design to ensure representation of neighborhoods with different land use and socioeconomic characteristics. Characteristics of the built environment on-street segments were audited using two methods: in-person field audits and audits based on interpretation of Google Street View imagery with each method blinded to results from the other. Segments were dichotomized as having a particular characteristic (e.g., sidewalk present or not) based on the two auditing methods separately. Counts of individuals engaged in different forms of physical activity on each segment were assessed using direct observation. Non-parametric statistics were used to compare counts of physically active individuals on each segment with built environment characteristic. Results: Counts of individuals engaged in physical activity were significantly higher on segments with mixed land use or all non-residential land use, and on segments with pedestrian infrastructure (e.g., crosswalks and sidewalks) and public transit. Conclusion: Several micro-level built environment characteristics were associated with physical activity. These data provide support for theories that suggest changing the built environment and related policies may encourage more physical activity

Within-day variability in microbial concentrations at a UK designated bathing water:Implications for regulatory monitoring and the application of predictive modelling based on historical compliance data

Prediction of bathing water quality is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Union (EU) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and is an established element in bathing water management designed to protect public health. Most commonly, historical regulatory compliance data are used for model calibration and provide the dependent variable for modelling. Independent (or predictor) variables (e.g. rainfall, river flow and received irradiance) measured over some antecedent period are used to deliver prediction of the faecal indicator concentration measured on the day of the regulatory sample collection. The implied linked assumptions of this approach are, therefore, that; (i) the independent variables accurately predict the bathing-day water quality; which is (ii) accurately characterized by the single regulatory sample. Assumption (ii) will not be the case where significant within-day variability in water quality is evident. This study built a detailed record of water quality change through 60 days at a UK coastal bathing water in 2011 using half-hourly samples each subjected to triplicate filtration designed to enhance enumeration precision. On average, the mean daily variation in FIO concentrations exceeded 1 log10 order, with the largest daily variations exceeding 2 log10 orders. Significant diurnality was observed at this bathing water, which would determine its EU Directive compliance category if the regulatory samples were collected at the same time each day. A sampling programme of this intensity has not been reported elsewhere to date and, if this pattern is proven to be characteristic of other bathing waters world-wide, it has significance for: (a) the design of regulatory sampling programmes; (b) the use of historical data to assess compliance, which often comprises a single sample taken at the compliance point on a regular, often weekly, basis; and (c) the use of regulatory compliance data to build predictive models of water quality. Keywords: Bathing water variability faecal indicator