The perceived impact of CPD on early career science teaching

According to STEM Learning UK (2018) a skills shortage in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) is costing the economy £1.5bn a year, and while the number of students attending secondary schools increases, students opting to take science-based A levels is only showing only a small increase according to Ofqual (2018). It is important that teachers are constantly improving their knowledge and skills to make desirable changes (Roth et al., 2019) to provide good quality education as ultimately, as Hattie (2012) suggests, teachers are best placed to enact changes in students. It is therefore imperative that CPD (Continuing Professional Development) is of good quality and creates an impact on students (Enser and Enser, 2021), otherwise there is “little point” (p. 107). This small scale (n=15), online survey was completed by science teachers after a CPD session. The data was then analysed using the SPSS 25 package and the Chi square test used to identify statistical analysis. The aim was to identify the impact of CPD on Early Career science Teachers (ECTs) compared to non-ECTs and it was generally found that there was no statistical significance between the two groups, so CPD is having an equal effect on ECTs when compared to non-ECTs. Non-ECTs tend to read around their subject more than ECTs and so this should be encouraged in order to close the gap between the two groups. In addition, ECTs tended to increase their range of activities used to teach science after CPD more than non-ECTs and ECTs had a greater level of perceived need with subject knowledge than non-ECTs, but it was found that both groups attended subject knowledge CPD equally

A heterogeneous computer vision architecture: implementation issues

The prototype of a heterogeneous architecture is currently being built. The architecture is aimed at video-rate computing and is based on a message passing MIMD topology at the top level-transputer based-and on VLSI associative processor arrays (APA, SIMD structure) for low level image processing tasks. The APA structure is implemented through a set of 4 VLSI chips (GLiTCH) containing 64 1-bit processing elements each. This communication addresses some issues concerning the implementation of the first prototype, namely those related to: • the design and integration of the APA controller unit, which provides the required interface between the APA, the MIMD topology and the video image interface: • the evaluation of the GLiTCH chip through an emulator based on transputers and fast programmable devices; the emulator was designed to be flexible enough to evaluate later modifications to the GLiTCH design; • the design of an integrated set of software development tools containing a structured editor-syntax oriented, with a visual interface/programming interface-and a cross compiler and debugger

A review on buildings energy consumption information

The rapidly growing world energy use has already raised concerns over supply difficulties, exhaustion of energy resources and heavy environmental impacts (ozone layer depletion, global warming, climate change, etc.). The global contribution from buildings towards energy consumption, both residential and commercial, has steadily increased reaching figures between 20% and 40% in developed countries, and has exceeded the other major sectors: industrial and transportation. Growth in population, increasing demand for building services and comfort levels, together with the rise in time spent inside buildings, assure the upward trend in energy demand will continue in the future. For this reason, energy efficiency in buildings is today a prime objective for energy policy at regional, national and international levels. Among building services, the growth in HVAC systems energy use is particularly significant (50% of building consumption and 20% of total consumption in the USA). This paper analyses available information concerning energy consumption in buildings, and particularly related to HVAC systems. Many questions arise: Is the necessary information available? Which are the main building types? What end uses should be considered in the breakdown? Comparisons between different countries are presented specially for commercial buildings. The case of offices is analysed in deeper detail

The challenge of policy coordination for sustainable sociotechnical transitions: the case of the zero-carbon homes agenda in England

Emerging in recent research on sociotechnical transitions towards a low-carbon economy is the question of the extent to which such transitions require centralised, intentional coordination by government. Drawing from Hayek's conceptualisation of coordination, I evaluate the effectiveness of policy for low-carbon and zero-carbon homes in England. A detailed analysis is presented of how policy makers address complex choices and trade-offs as well as significant uncertainty. Particular attention is given to those policy decisions which are widely agreed by stakeholders to cause distortive effects. The focus here on the impacts of policy definition and delivery in terms of multiple evaluative criteria can complement and enrich the more process-orientated cross-sector and multilevel analyses that predominate in existing research on policy coordination. Furthermore, the coordination problems identified yield further insights into the actual and potential effectiveness of policy processes in shaping complex sociotechnical transitions

Acid-Base Properties Of Glass Substrate And SiO[2]-Bi[2]O[3]Thin-Film Systems Obtained On It

The article describes an experimental research as a result of which SiO[2]–Bi[2]O[3] films have been synthesized of film-forming solutions based on tetraethoxysilane and bismuth nitrate (III). Acid-base properties of a glass substrate and SiO[2]–Bi[2]O[3] films obtained on it have been studied. The dependency of physical and chemical properties of SiO[2]–Bi[2]O[3] composites on their percentage composition have been revealed

Architecture and roles of periplasmic adaptor proteins in tripartite efflux assemblies.

Recent years have seen major advances in the structural understanding of the different components of tripartite efflux assemblies, which encompass the multidrug efflux (MDR) pumps and type I secretion systems. The majority of these investigations have focused on the role played by the inner membrane transporters and the outer membrane factor (OMF), leaving the third component of the system - the Periplasmic Adaptor Proteins (PAPs) - relatively understudied. Here we review the current state of knowledge of these versatile proteins which, far from being passive linkers between the OMF and the transporter, emerge as active architects of tripartite assemblies, and play diverse roles in the transport process. Recognition between the PAPs and OMFs is essential for pump assembly and function, and targeting this interaction may provide a novel avenue for combating multidrug resistance. With the recent advances elucidating the drug efflux and energetics of the tripartite assemblies, the understanding of the interaction between the OMFs and PAPs is the last piece remaining in the complete structure of the tripartite pump assembly puzzle

Sustainable services, electronic education and the rebound effect

This paper challenges the belief that improving the efficiency of resource use will necessarily lead to lower consumption. Findings are presented of a study by the UK Open University of the environmental impacts of three higher education (HE) delivery systems. Initial analysis indicates that the distance-taught courses involve 90% less energy and CO2 emissions than the campus courses. Electronic delivery does not result in a reduction in energy or CO2 emissions compared to print-based distance learning, due to rebound effects, e.g. in use of computers and home heating. The paper concludes that to limit consumption, we need to deal with rebound effects and practice ‘sustainable consumption’

Statistical analysis of the sampling design: FishPi case study on the biological sampling of the European hake fishery

FishPi is a pilot project financed through an European grant (MARE/2014/19) aiming to strengthen regional coordination in the area of fisheries data collection. This project includes four case studies, one of which aims at analyzing alternative sampling plans for fisheries operating on Northern & Southern hake stocks. The case study analyzes a variety of sampling design scenarios, from Simple Random Sampling to combinations of stratified sampling designs (by country, by port, by quarter…), using anonymised landings data from logbooks and sales notes (2013-2014). The results were compared regarding bias and precision to evaluate the best approach. The most precise estimates of total catch were obtained in scenarios stratified by port and, secondly, by port and country and by port and quarter. The general conclusion was that regional sampling designs stratified by port provided improved precision in this fishery. Apart from statistical considerations, this conclusion was also discussed under other points of view to give a feasibility perspective showing that coverage by country, and also by domain (stock), would be compromised if regional design is simply based on statistical analyses. Efficiency and precision of sampling were found to be highly sensitive to the sampling assumptions and in general countries with smaller contributions to overall landings of hake would see their sampling plans reduced, compromising other requirements for advice such as those related to other stocks or local management measures established by National governments. Hence further analyses are being considered that integrate biometrics, cost-benefit aspects, and concurrent or single-stock sampling strategies