Accessing HE for non-traditional students: 'Outside of my position'

Widening participation within higher education and increasing social mobility have been high on the agendas of former and current governments. This paper examines the admissions procedure of a Foundation degree in Early Years programme using Bourdieu's concept of capital as a vehicle for analysis. During the process of an admissions interview, the interviewer is required to make decisions regarding a student's suitability to fit into the existing field of the programme as they often feel it is outside of their position. The stories of three non-traditional students are explored to highlight existing capital and dispositions that they bring to the programme. Research findings showed that there are many variables that impact on a student's ability to gain entry and be successful on an HE programme, including accumulation of capital, emotional drivers and potential to acquire capital throughout the programme. © 2014 Further Education Research Association

Measurement of the e^(+)e^(-)→ bb(macron) cross section between √s = 10.54 and 11.20 GeV

We report e^(+)e^(-)→ bb(macron) cross section measurements by the BABAR experiment performed during an energy scan in the range of 10.54 to 11.20 GeV at the SLAC PEP-II e^(+)e^(-) collider. A total relative error of about 5% is reached in more than 300 center-of-mass energy steps, separated by about 5 MeV. These measurements can be used to derive precise information on the parameters of the Y (10860) and Y (11020) resonances. In particular we show that their widths may be smaller than previously measured

Study of multi-muon events produced in p\bar{p} interactions at \sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV

68 pages, 46 figures, 11 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. D. Removed typos from the authors' listWe report the results of a study of multi-muon events produced at the Fermilab Tevatron collider and acquired with the CDF II detector using a dedicated dimuon trigger. The production cross section and kinematics of events in which both muon candidates are produced inside the beam pipe of radius 1.5 cm are successfully modeled by known processes which include heavy flavor production. In contrast, we are presently unable to fully account for the number and properties of the remaining events, in which at least one muon candidate is produced outside of the beam pipe, in terms of the same understanding of the CDF II detector, trigger, and event reconstruction.Peer reviewe

The Physics of the B Factories

This work is on the Physics of the B Factories. Part A of this book contains a brief description of the SLAC and KEK B Factories as well as their detectors, BaBar and Belle, and data taking related issues. Part B discusses tools and methods used by the experiments in order to obtain results. The results themselves can be found in Part C

Elimination of Chromosomal Island SpyCIM1 from Streptococcus pyogenes Strain SF370 Reverses the Mutator Phenotype and Alters Global Transcription

This work was made possible by an Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) grant HR11-133 and by NIH Grant Number R15A1072718 to WMM and NIH Grant AI11822 to VAF.Streptococcus pyogenes chromosomal island M1 (SpyCIM1) integrates by site-specific recombination into the 5’ end of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) gene mutL in strain SF370SmR, blocking transcription of it and the downstream operon genes. During exponential growth, SpyCIM1 excises from the chromosome and replicates as an episome, restoring mutL transcription. This process is reversed in stationary phase with SpyCIM1 re-integrating into mutL, returning the cells to a mutator phenotype. Here we show that elimination of SpyCIM1 relieves this mutator phenotype. The downstream MMR operon genes, multidrug efflux pump lmrP, Holliday junction resolution helicase ruvA, and DNA base excision repair glycosylase tag, are also restored to constitutive expression by elimination of SpyCIM1. The presence of SpyCIM1 alters global transcription patterns in SF370SmR. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) demonstrated that loss of SpyCIM1 in the SpyCIM1 deletion mutant, CEM1Δ4, impacted the expression of over 100 genes involved in virulence and metabolism both in early exponential phase, when the SpyCIM1 is episomal, as well as at the onset of stationary phase, when SpyCIM1 has reintegrated into mutL. Among these changes, the up-regulation of the genes for the antiphagocytic M protein (emm1), streptolysin O (slo), capsule operon (hasABC), and streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin (speB), are particularly notable. The expression pattern of the MMR operon confirmed our earlier observations that these genes are transcribed in early exponential phase but silenced as stationary phase is approached. Thus, the direct role of SpyCIM1 in causing the mutator phenotype is confirmed, and further, its influence upon the biology of S. pyogenes was found to impact multiple genes in addition to the MMR operon, which is a novel function for a mobile genetic element. We suggest that such chromosomal islands are a remarkable evolutionary adaptation to promote the survival of its S. pyogenes host cell in changing environments.Yeshttp://www.plosone.org/static/editorial#pee