Some insights into Citizenship teacher training in France

As part of an EU-funded Interreg III project, teacher trainers at IUFM de L'académie de Rouen and Canterbury Christ Church University shared insights and experiences in training teachers in relation to environmental issues, European languages, literacy and European Citizenship. Four cross-national groups have worked together to find common ground as well as to learn from our different approaches. The differences in relation to Citizenship were considerable, not least due to curricular history the nature and focus of each country’s national curriculum, and to the structure of teacher training and are outlined here

Analysis of β-globin chromatin micro-environment using a novel 3C variant, 4Cv

Copyright: © 2010 Pink et al.Higher order chromatin folding is critical to a number of developmental processes, including the regulation of gene expression. Recently developed biochemical techniques such as RNA TRAP and chromosome conformation capture (3C) have provided us with the tools to probe chromosomal structures. These techniques have been applied to the β-globin locus, revealing a complex pattern of interactions with regions along the chromosome that the gene resides on. However, biochemical and microscopy data on the nature of β-globin interactions with other chromosomes is contradictory. Therefore we developed a novel 4C variant, Complete-genome 3C by vectorette amplification (4Cv), which allows an unbiased and quantitative method to examine chromosomal structure. We have used 4Cv to study the microenvironment of the β-globin locus in mice and show that a significant proportion of the interactions of β-globin are inter-chromosomal. Furthermore, our data show that in the liver, where the gene is active, β-globin is more likely to interact with other chromosomes, compared to the brain where the gene is silent and is more likely to interact with other regions along the same chromosome. Our data suggest that transcriptional activation of the β-globin locus leads to a change in nuclear position relative to the chromosome territory.Ryan Pink is supported by a grant from Action Medical Research; Daniel Caley is supported by a grant from The Dunhill Medical Trust; David Carter is supported by a grant from the British Society for Haematology

Features and neural net recognition strategies for hand printed digits

The thesis goal is to develop a computer system for hand printed digit recognition based on an investigation into various feature extractors and neural network strategies. Features such as subwindow pixel summation, moments, and orientation vectors will be among those investigated. Morphological thinning of characters prior to feature extraction will be used to assess the impact on network training and testing. Different strategies for implementing a multilayer perceptron neural network will be investigated. A high-level language called MatLab will be used for neural network algorithm development and quick prototyping. The feature extractors will be developed to operate on small (less than or equal to 256 bits) binary hand printed digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

The scaling infrared DSE solution as a critical end-point for the family of decoupling ones

Both regular (the zero-momentum ghost dressing function not diverging), also named decoupling, and critical (diverging), also named scaling, Yang-Mills propagators solutions can be obtained by analyzing the low-momentum behaviour of the ghost propagator Dyson-Schwinger equation (DSE) in Landau gauge. The asymptotic expression obtained for the regular or decoupling ghost dressing function up to the order ${\cal O}(q^2)$ fits pretty well the low-momentum ghost propagator obtained through the numerical integration of the coupled gluon and ghost DSE in the PT-BFM scheme. Furthermore, when the size of the coupling renormalized at some scale approaches some critical value, the PT-BFM results seems to tend to the the scaling solution as a limiting case.Comment: Presented in QCSHS09; Madrid (Spain), 30 Aug. 201

On two theorems for flat, affine group schemes over a discrete valuation ring

We include short and elementary proofs of two theorems characterizing reductive group schemes over a discrete valuation ring, in a slightly more general context.Comment: 10 pages. To appear in C. E. J.

Looking and learning: using participatory video to improve health and safety in the construction industry

Construction health and safety (H&S)is usually managed using a top-down approach of regulating workers' behaviour through the implementation and enforcement of prescriptive rules and procedures. This management approach privileges technical knowledge over knowledge based on workers' tacit and informal ways of knowing about H&S. The aim is to investigate the potential for participatory video to: (1) identify areas in which formal policies and procedures do not reflect as practised by workers; (2) encourage creative thinking and elicit workers' ideas for H&S improvements; and (3) provide an effective mechanism for capturing and sharing tacit H&S knowledge in construction organizations. Interviews were conducted in two case study organizations (CSOs) in the Australian construction industry. The results suggest reflexive participatory video enabled workers and managers to view their work practices from a different perspective. Workers identified new hazards, reflected about the practical difficulties in performing work in accordance with documented procedures and reframed their work practices and developed safer ways of working. Workers described how the participatory video capturing the way they work enabled them to have more meaningful input into H&S decision-making than they had previously experienced. Workers also expressed a strong preference for receiving H&S information in a visual format and commented that video was better suited to communicating H&S 'know how' than written documents. The research is significant in providing initial evidence that participatory video has the potential to improve H&S in construction

Pure Anderson Motives and Abelian \tau-Sheaves

Pure t-motives were introduced by G. Anderson as higher dimensional generalizations of Drinfeld modules, and as the appropriate analogs of abelian varieties in the arithmetic of function fields. In order to construct moduli spaces for pure t-motives the second author has previously introduced the concept of abelian \tau-sheaf. In this article we clarify the relation between pure t-motives and abelian \tau-sheaves. We obtain an equivalence of the respective quasi-isogeny categories. Furthermore, we develop the elementary theory of both structures regarding morphisms, isogenies, Tate modules, and local shtukas. The later are the analogs of p-divisible groups.Comment: final version as it appears in Mathematische Zeitschrif

Organising responses to organised environmental crimes: collaborative approaches and building capacity

The aim of this paper is to discuss the ways in which collaboration and a coordinated approach to dealing with criminal groups involved in environmental crime can be established and bolstered. The paper begins by examining the challenges associated with organised criminal networks and transnational crimes for environmental law enforcement agencies. Such analyses continually highlight several factors: the importance of collaboration in combatting organised criminal networks; flexibility in dealing with fluid on-the-ground situations; the importance of up-skilling in order to move laterally across different institutional and national contexts; and the lynchpin across all of these areas, capacity building for sustainable practice (that is, putting into place practices and procedures that will ensure continuity over time). Various forms of collaboration are outlined as well as the importance of trust and relationships in maintaining cooperative arrangements. Case studies are used to illustrate contemporary developments that are bolstering the possibilities of enhanced collaboration in regards to environmental law enforcement