Looking into the ‘black box’: an exploration of the dynamics behind the success and failure of job training for unemployed youth

In order to tackle the problem of youth unemployment, many governments spend a considerable budget on active labour market policies (ALMPs} for young people. However, the evidence on the effectiveness of those interventions is mixed and paints a rather pessimistic picture. So far, the reasons and mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of ALMPs for youths are hardly understood in the evaluation literature. Despite the importance of analysing the role of non-cognitive skills, attitudes and beliefs for the development of vocational trajectories is increasingly recognised, in particular within the field of labour economics, very few studies assess the role of those psychological factors in the context of ALMP evaluation. This mixed-methods research addresses this gap. Two qualitative studies (n=44 in both cases} and one longitudinal quantitative study (n=434) were carried out - leading to two qualitative and two quantitative empirical chapters. The aim was to understand the determinants of training dropout, job search behaviour and labour market outcomes for unemployed young people in a German urban context, as well as their processes of personal change during training participation, and institutional selections mechanisms affecting ALMP effectiveness for youth. The findings showed that young people drop out of job training if they do not experience autonomy, relatedness and competence in the training context. Further findings stress the association of individual characteristics such as fear of failure and grit with training participation, job search behaviour and job outcomes. Grit emerged as a potentially important resilience resource to persist through fear and mental health issues. The findings furthermore suggest important gender-related differences, such as a self-sabotaging effect of fear of failure (only} for males. A seven-phase theory of change for vocational activation is proposed, including a range of drivers that can trigger young people's change process from an initial state of inactivity to ultimate job success. Finally, institutional arrangements that act counterproductively to an effective ALMP implementation were identified and discussed in their implications for further research, policy and practice

The use of electronic voting systems to engage students in outreach activities

This paper discusses the use of electronic voting systems specifically in a range of outreach contexts. The Department of Chemistry at the University of Reading and the School of Chemistry at the University of Southampton are actively involved in delivering outreach activities at primary and secondary school level with a view to inspiring a new generation of budding chemists. Voting systems are successful in engaging students across all age groups as demonstrated by our experiences with youngsters aged 4 to 18. They are especially effective at breaking down the barriers of non communication thrown up by students when faced with a difficult question and encouraging the participation of even the most reticent teenager

Postoperative endophthalmitis.

Endophthalmitis may have devastating consequences for a patient’s vision and therefore should be treated as an emergency. The time from diagnosis to treatment is critical for favourable outcomes. In order to achieve a rapid response, it is important to have an accessible protocol and an endophthalmitis kit at hand for all eye surgeons who see postoperative patients. We have produced a simple protocol of recommended practice collated from a range of sources

Endophthalmitis: controlling infection before and after cataract surgery

Endophthalmitis is a rare, but serious, postoperative complication of cataract surgery. It can have a devastating consequence on a patient’s vision: some patients may lose all light perception.The incidence of endophthalmitis has been reported to be between 0.13% and 0.7%.1 The primary source of this intraocular infection is considered to be bacteria from the patient’s ocular surface (cornea, conjunctiva) or adnexa (lacrimal glands, eyelids, and extraocular muscles). The bacteria most frequently isolated are gram-positive coagulase-negative cocci (mainly Staphylococcus epidermidis) which account for 70% of culture-positive cases. Staphylococcus aureus is isolated in 10% of culture-positive cases, Streptococcus species in 9%, Enterococcus species in 2%, and other gram-positive species in 3% of cases. Gram-negative bacteria account for just 6% of culture-positive cases; however, an infection with these bacteria, particularly with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, can lead to a devastating visual outcome

Emergency management: acute endophthalmitis

Endophthalmitis can have devastating consequences for a patient’s eye and vision. Prompt recognition and urgent treatment are vital

Chiral auxiliaries and substrate-directable reactions in asymmetric synthesis

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

What gets them going? The effects of activation policies on personal change processes of unemployed youth.

Activation policies are widely adopted to encourage labour market participation of unemployed youth, and yet they are poorly understood and monitored with regard to the causal mechanisms unfolding through their implementation. Activation schemes are often based on the carrot-and-stick logic informed by microeconomic job search theory, but activation occurs through processes which are far more complex and comprises elements of career identity and capability development, among others. This paper is the first to provide an in-depth exploration of the processes of attitudinal and behavioural change experienced by unemployed youth over the course of their participation in different activation programmes. Seven phases of change emerged from the analysis, namely vocational availability, self-testing, self-knowledge, self-confidence, goal-orientation, vocational activity and perseverance. For each of these phases, we identify drivers of change from both within and outside the intervention sphere, and discuss them in their implications for research and practice

Hydrostatic pressure does not cause detectable changes to survival of human retinal ganglion

Purpose: Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is a major risk factor for glaucoma. One consequence of raised IOP is that ocular tissues are subjected to increased hydrostatic pressure (HP). The effect of raised HP on stress pathway signaling and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) survival in the human retina was investigated. Methods: A chamber was designed to expose cells to increased HP (constant and fluctuating). Accurate pressure control (10-100mmHg) was achieved using mass flow controllers. Human organotypic retinal cultures (HORCs) from donor eyes (<24h post mortem) were cultured in serum-free DMEM/HamF12. Increased HP was compared to simulated ischemia (oxygen glucose deprivation, OGD). Cell death and apoptosis were measured by LDH and TUNEL assays, RGC marker expression by qRT-PCR (THY-1) and RGC number by immunohistochemistry (NeuN). Activated p38 and JNK were detected by Western blot. Results: Exposure of HORCs to constant (60mmHg) or fluctuating (10-100mmHg; 1 cycle/min) pressure for 24 or 48h caused no loss of structural integrity, LDH release, decrease in RGC marker expression (THY-1) or loss of RGCs compared with controls. In addition, there was no increase in TUNEL-positive NeuN-labelled cells at either time-point indicating no increase in apoptosis of RGCs. OGD increased apoptosis, reduced RGC marker expression and RGC number and caused elevated LDH release at 24h. p38 and JNK phosphorylation remained unchanged in HORCs exposed to fluctuating pressure (10-100mmHg; 1 cycle/min) for 15, 30, 60 and 90min durations, whereas OGD (3h) increased activation of p38 and JNK, remaining elevated for 90min post-OGD. Conclusions: Directly applied HP had no detectable impact on RGC survival and stress-signalling in HORCs. Simulated ischemia, however, activated stress pathways and caused RGC death. These results show that direct HP does not cause degeneration of RGCs in the ex vivo human retina

Human organotypic retinal cultures (HORCs) as a chronic experimental model for investigation of retinal ganglion cell degeneration

There is a growing need for models of human diseases that utilise native, donated human tissue in order to model disease processes and develop novel therapeutic strategies. In this paper we assessed the suitability of adult human retinal explants as a potential model of chronic retinal ganglion cell (RGC) degeneration. Our results confirmed that RGC markers commonly used in rodent studies (NeuN, bIII Tubulin and Thy-1) were appropriate for labelling human RGCs and followed the expected differential expression patterns across, as well as throughout, the macular and para-macular regions of the retina. Furthermore, we showed that neither donor age nor post-mortem time (within 24 h) significantly affected the initial expression levels of RGC markers. In addition, the feasibility of using human post mortem donor tissue as a long-term model of RGC degeneration was determined with RGC protein being detectable up to 4 weeks in culture with an associated decline in RGC mRNA and significant, progressive, apoptotic labelling of NeuNþ cells. Differences in RGC apoptosis might have been influenced by medium compositions indicating that media constituents could play a role in supporting axotomised RGCs. We propose that using ex vivo human explants may prove to be a useful model for testing the effectiveness of neuroprotective strategies

The ethics of elective psychopharmacology

Pharmacological cognitive enhancers (PCEs) are used to improve cognitive functions, such as attention, learning, memory and planning in patients with impairments in cognition resulting from traumatic brain injury (TBI) or from neuropsychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Moreover, PCEs have been shown to improve cognition in healthy volunteers with no psychiatric disorders. This article describes the rationale behind the need for their use in neuropsychiatric patients and illustrates how PCEs can ameliorate cognitive impairments, improve quality of life and wellbeing, and therefore reduce the economic burden associated with these disorders. We also describe evidence that PCEs are being used as cognitive enhancers by healthy people. Crucially, as the lifestyle use of these drugs becomes very popular in the healthy population, a final aim is to present an overview of the current and future neuroethical considerations of enhancing the healthy brain. As information regarding their actual use, benefits and harms in various healthy populations is currently lacking, we propose research that aims to obtain relevant empirical data, monitor the short- and long-term effectiveness and side-effects, and initiate accurate surveys to determine current patterns and quantity of usage of PCE drugs by healthy people. Furthermore, in order to instigate a dialogue between neuroethics and neuropsychopharmacology, we urge scientists to explore and communicate the social and ethical implications of their research to the public. Finally, we discuss and highlight other means of enhancing cognition in both patients and healthy adults, including education and physical exercise