How did we come to this? Review of the funding crisis affecting further education college development in England

A review of progress on the Further Education building programme, identifying the main focus of the college developments in relation to regeneration and planning and the conditions that may have contributed to the funding crisis. A thorough literature review was undertaken, and a database compiled, containing information on college developments. Four themes were identified as most relevant to the Built Environment: funding of new college buildings; consolidation on one site and anchoring of regeneration projects; project procurement and delivery, and environmentally sustainable buildings. Four case study examples of colleges have been selected: Middlesbrough, Gateshead, Luton and Sussex Coast College Hastings, all examples of large college projects with a national spread

Resource Mediated Competition of two South Texas Natives: _Acacia berlandieri_ and _Trichloris pluriflora_

*Background/Question/Methods* 
_Acacia berlandieri_, an early-successional C~3~ woody shrub legume, and _Trichloris pluriflora_, a late-successional/climax C~4~ mid-tall grass, reside in similar habitats and have both been documented in Texas for over 150 years. This study examines the resource mediated above and below ground competition within and between these species, which may illuminate some of the dynamics involved in the encroachment of woody shrub species into the former grasslands. These species, started from seed, were grown outdoors (5 replicates/treatment) using sandy clay loam soil in plastic lined 15×15 cm pots for 155 days and watered daily. Half of these pots received 12.5% Hoagland’s solution as a nutrient source. Growth measurements were taken 3 times, after a 72 day establishment period and prior to harvest. The plants were then harvested intact, dried at 60°C, and above and below ground dry mass for each individual plant was separated. The roots were ashed at 650°C and measurements were taken for the above and below ground biomass. 

*Results/Conclusions* 
The growth parameters of _Acacia berlandieri_, basal diameter, height, and number of leaves increased with density (P = 0.0024, P < 0.0001, and P < 0.0001), when grown in competition with _Trichloris pluriflora_, using the densities of 1/3, 2/2. 3/1, and 4/0 _Acacia/Trichloris_ plants/pot. None of these growth parameters for _A. berlandieri_ had an effect on the variables of density, nutrients or and their interaction (P > 0.0500), when grown alone with densities of 1, 2, and 4 plants/pot. The growth parameters of _T. pluriflora_, culms and height decreased with density (P = 0.0077 and P = 0.0006), when grown in competition with _A. berlandieri_, using densities of 1/3, 2/2. 3/1, and 4/0 _Trichloris/Acacia_ plants/pot. The culms, tillers, and height of _T. pluriflora_, when grown alone with densities of 1, 2, 4, and 8 plants/pot, decreased with density (P < 0.0001, P = 0.0312, and P < 0.0001). The measurement parameters of harvested _A. berlandieri_, above ground biomass and ash-free root biomass increased with density (P = 0.0463 and P = 0.0389), when grown in competition with _T. pluriflora_. The root biomass of harvested _A. berlandieri_, grown alone, decreased with the interaction of density and nutrients (P = 0.0068). The total plant dry mass, above ground biomass, root dry mass, and root dry mass of harvested _T. pluriflora_, grown in competition with _A. berlandieri_, decreased with density (P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001, P = 0.0235, and P = 0.0145). These same measurement parameters of harvested _T. pluriflora_, grown alone, increased with density (P < 0.0001 for all four). The addition of nutrients had no effect on the growth or harvest of _A. berlandieri_ and _T. pluriflora_ for either intra- or interspecific competition. Instead, density appeared to be the driving force for the competition between and among these two species for both growth and harvest. Although woody shrub and grassland interactions should be mediated by resource availability, that was not the case in this study. Clearly, density is an important variable involved in the disappearance of the grasslands

The impact of SPARC on age-related cardiac dysfunction and fibrosis in Drosophila

Tissue fibrosis, an accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins such as collagen, accompanies cardiac ageing in humans and this is linked to an increased risk of cardiac failure. The mechanisms driving age-related tissue fibrosis and cardiac dysfunction are unclear, yet clinically important. Drosophila is amenable to the study of cardiac ageing as well as collagen deposition; however it is unclear whether collagen accumulates in the ageing Drosophila heart. This work examined collagen deposition and cardiac function in ageing Drosophila, in the context of reduced expression of collagen-interacting protein SPARC (Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteine) an evolutionarily conserved protein linked with fibrosis. Heart function was measured using high frame rate videomicroscopy. Collagen deposition was monitored using a fluorescently-tagged collagen IV reporter (encoded by the Viking gene) and staining of the cardiac collagen, Pericardin. The Drosophila heart accumulated collagen IV and Pericardin as flies aged. Associated with this was a decline in cardiac function. SPARC heterozygous flies lived longer than controls and showed little to no age-related cardiac dysfunction. As flies of both genotypes aged, cardiac levels of collagen IV (Viking) and Pericardin increased similarly. Over-expression of SPARC caused cardiomyopathy and increased Pericardin deposition. The findings demonstrate that, like humans, the Drosophila heart develops a fibrosis-like phenotype as it ages. Although having no gross impact on collagen accumulation, reduced SPARC expression extended Drosophila lifespan and cardiac health span. It is proposed that cardiac fibrosis in humans may develop due to the activation of conserved mechanisms and that SPARC may mediate cardiac ageing by mechanisms more subtle than gross accumulation of collagen

Learning Algebraic Varieties from Samples

We seek to determine a real algebraic variety from a fixed finite subset of points. Existing methods are studied and new methods are developed. Our focus lies on aspects of topology and algebraic geometry, such as dimension and defining polynomials. All algorithms are tested on a range of datasets and made available in a Julia package

Investigation of the chirality of enantiomers through information theory

In this work [1] we probed the Kullback-Leibler information entropy as a chirality measure, as an extension of previous studies on molecular quantum similarity evaluated for different enantiomers (enantiomers possessing two asymmetric centra in [2], with a single asymmetric carbon atom in [3] and with a chiral axis in [4]). The entropy was calculated using the shape functions of the R and S enantiomers considering one as reference for the other, resulting in an information theory based expression useful for quantifying chirality. It was evaluated for 5 chiral halomethanes possessing one asymmetric carbon atom with H, F, Cl, Br and I as substituents. To demonstrate the general applicability, a study of two halogen-substituted ethanes possessing two asymmetric carbon atoms has been included as well. Avnir’s Continuous Chirality Measure (CCM) [5] has been computed and confronted with the information deficiency. By these means we quantified the dissimilarity of enantiomers and illustrated Mezey’s Holographic Electron Density Theorem in chiral systems [6]. A comparison is made with the optical rotation and with the Carbó similarity index. As an alternative chirality index, we recently also calculated the information deficiency in a way which is consistent with experiments as VCD spectroscopy and optical rotation measurements. The entropy calculates the difference in information between the shape function of one enantiomer and a normalized shape function of the racemate. Comparing the latter index with the optical rotation reveals a similar trend. [1] S. Janssens, A. Borgoo, C. Van Alsenoy, P. Geerlings, J. Phys. Chem. A, 112, 10560 (2008). [2] S. Janssens, C. Van Alsenoy, P. Geerlings, J. Phys. Chem. A, 111, 3143 (2007). [3] G. Boon, C. Van Alsenoy, F. De Proft, P. Bultinck, P. Geerlings, J. Phys. Chem. A, 110, 5114 (2006). [4] S. Janssens, G. Boon, P. Geerlings, J. Phys. Chem. A, 110, 9267 (2006). [5] H. Zabrodsky, D. Avnir, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 117, 462 (1995). [6] P.G. Mezey, Mol. Phys., 96, 169 (1999)