Theorizing the relationship between UK schools and migrant parents of Eastern European origin: the parents’ perspective

Schools may be particularly challenged in the building of relationships with immigrant families because of a potentially heightened mutual lack of knowledge or understanding about the other party’s cultural norms (e.g. Crozier & Davis, 2007). In the context of increased immigration from Eastern and Central European states, this study seeks to initiate the development of model of multi-cultural family-school interaction drawing on existing frameworks drawn from the fields of education, psychology and sociology. With the intention of establishing the nature of migrant parents’ constructions of their relationships with their children’s schools, we carried out in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 10 parents of school age children who had migrated to the UK from Eastern and Central Europe within the past 10 years. The key themes from the interviews indicated that the parents’ expectations of their children’s schooling appear to clash with those of the UK school system and that this is amplified by perceptions of poor communication, inadequate school-parent cooperation & marginalisation. Through the use of existing theoretical frameworks it was established that there is potential for improved practice though development of a model though this must take account of the full contextual complexity of the relationships

Magnetic structure of the field-induced multiferroic GdFe3(BO3)4

We report a magnetic x-ray scattering study of the field-induced multiferroic GdFe3(BO3)4. Resonant x-ray magnetic scattering at the Gd LII,III edges indicates that the Gd moments order at TN ~ 37 K. The magnetic structure is incommensurate below TN, with the incommensurability decreasing monotonically with decreasing temperature until a transition to a commensurate magnetic phase is observed at T ~ 10 K. Both the Gd and Fe moments undergo a spin reorientation transition at TSR ~ 9 K such that the moments are oriented along the crystallographic c axis at low temperatures. With magnetic field applied along the a axis, our measurements suggest that the field-induced polarization phase has a commensurate magnetic structure with Gd moments rotated ~45 degrees toward the basal plane, which is similar to the magnetic structure of the Gd subsystem observed in zero field between 9 and 10 K, and the Fe subsystem has a ferromagnetic component in the basal plane.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

REPRESENTING THE DISPERSION OF EMISSIONS FROM AIRCRAFT ON RUNWAYS

Aircraft in their takeoff ground run constitute an unavoidable strong source of emissions subject to a highly variable motion. The intermittent nature of release makes it difficult to measure the emissions and establish their impact on mean concentrations in the vicinity of airports. Practically, it is also difficult to perform experimental studies near taxiways and runways. Remote observations have nevertheless recently been obtained by a rapidly-swept UV Lidar, and analysis of these has necessitated and informed a parallel modelling effort. Aircraft exhausts disperse in a complex manner, as they are subject not only to transport processes of the ambient atmosphere, but also to those associated with the aircraft itself (with diffusion in ambient turbulence to be expected once turbulence resulting from the aircraft falls to ambient levels). They have a downstream Lagrangian momentum associated with the engine thrust, and steadily acquire a vertical momentum as a result of their buoyancy. Exhaust streams merge and interact strongly with the ground to form a common emission plume within about a wingspan downstream of engines’ exits. Before the aircraft reaches a threshold speed, is rotated upward and lifts off, the downstream (thrust) forcing and upstream source acceleration are approximately constant, and a first-order nonlinear partial differential equation may be expressed capturing the turbulent diffusion of the plume in the reference frame of the source. The downstream forcing exceeds the buoyant forcing, so the plume remains in contact with the ground, but is heightened and narrowed by buoyant rise. During rotation and liftoff, the net downstream forcing declines as a significant airframe drag arises, and the source acceleration plummets. More importantly, lift on the airframe and the associated shed circulation cause exhausts to move downward and, in proximity to ground, outward, so their dynamics decouple from those of exhausts released earlier, with re-coupling unlikely before the aircraft has turned in its flight path. Once rotation is initiated, this argues for a simplifying (and partly analytic) treatment of the exhaust plume generated earlier, such that the turbulent diffusion of a given elemental plume segment is taken to match that of an infinitely long flow tube (with the latter ascribed the same buoyancy density and downstream Lagrangian momentum density – or mass flux – throughout)

Rapid virological surveillance of community influenza infection in general practice

No abstract available

Modelling the atomic structure of very high-density amorphous ice

The structure of very high-density amorphous (VHDA) ice has been modelled by positionally disordering three crystalline phases, namely ice IV, VI and XII. These phases were chosen because only they are stable or metastable in the region of the ice phase diagram where VHDA ice is formed, and their densities are comparable to that of VHDA ice. An excellent fit to the medium range of the experimentally observed pair-correlation function g(r) of VHDA ice was obtained by introducing disorder into the positions of the H2O molecules, as well as small amounts of molecular rotational disorder, disorder in the O--H bond lengths and disorder in the H--O--H bond angles. The low-k behaviour of the experimental structure factor, S(k), is also very well reproduced by this disordered-crystal model. The fraction of each phase present in the best-fit disordered model is very close to that observed in the probable crystallization products of VHDA ice. In particular, only negligible amounts of ice IV are predicted, in accordance with experimental observation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, v2: changes made in response to referees' comments, the justification for using certain ice phases is improved, and ice IV is now disordered as wel

The pyloric neural circuit of the herbivorous crab Pugettia producta shows limited sensitivity to several neuromodulators that elicit robust effects in more opportunistically feeding decapods

Modulation of neural circuits in the crustacean stomatogastric nervous system (STNS) allows flexibility in the movements of the foregut musculature. The extensive repertoire of such resulting motor patterns in dietary generalists is hypothesized to permit these animals to process varied foods. The foregut and STNS of Pugettia producta are similar to those of other decapods, but its diet is more uniform, consisting primarily of kelp. We investigated the distribution of highly conserved neuromodulators in the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) and neuroendocrine organs of Pugettia, and documented their effects on its pyloric rhythm. Using immunohistochemistry, we found that the distributions of Cancer borealis tachykinin-related peptide I (CabTRP I), crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP), proctolin, red pigment concentrating hormone (RPCH) and tyrosine hydroxylase (dopamine) were similar to those of other decapods. For all peptides except proctolin, the isoforms responsible for the immunoreactivity were confirmed by mass spectrometry to be the authentic peptides. Only two modulators had physiological effects on the pyloric circuit similar to those seen in other species. In non-rhythmic preparations, proctolin and the muscarinic acetylcholine agonist oxotremorine consistently initiated a full pyloric rhythm. Dopamine usually activated a pyloric rhythm, but this pattern was highly variable. In only about 25% of preparations, RPCH activated a pyloric rhythm similar to that seen in other species. CCAP and CabTRP I had no effect on the pyloric rhythm. Thus, whereas Pugettia possesses all the neuromodulators investigated, its pyloric rhythm, when compared with other decapods, appears less sensitive to many of them, perhaps because of its limited diet

Universal screening for meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus : interim results from the NHS Scotland pathfinder project

Following recommendations from a Health Technology Assessment (HTA), a prospective cohort study of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening of all admissions (N = 29 690) to six acute hospitals in three regions in Scotland indicated that 7.5% of patientswere colonised on admission to hospital. Factors associated with colonisation included re-admission, specialty of admission (highest in nephrology, care of the elderly, dermatology and vascular surgery), increasing age, and the source of admission (care home or other hospital). Three percent of all those who were identified as colonised developed hospital-associated MRSA infection, compared with only 0.1% of those not colonised. Specialtieswith a high rate of colonisation on admission also had higher rates of MRSA infection. Very few patients refused screening (11 patients, 0.03%) or had treatment deferred (14 patients, 0.05%). Several organisational issues were identified, including difficulties in achieving complete uptake of screening (88%) or decolonisation (41%); the latter was largely due to short duration of stay and turnaround time for test results. Patient movement resulted in a decision to decontaminate all positive patients rather than just those in high risk specialties as proposed by the HTA. Issues also included a lack of isolation facilities to manage patients with MRSA. The study raises significant concerns about the contribution of decolonisation to reducing risks in hospital due to short duration of stay, and reinforces the central role of infection control precautions. Further study is required before the HTA model can be re-run and conclusions redrawn on the cost and clinical effectiveness of universal MRSA screening