The concept of the Poverty Datum Line

A book chapter discussing the history of the Poverty Datum Line (PDL) both in the then Rhodesia and elsewhere. The book's preface and introduction are also included.The purpose of this study has been to outline and to cost the minimum consumption needs of urban African families. Research was conducted in Salisbury and Bulawayo, these being the main urban work areas, and Fort Victoria which represents a small Rhodesian town with no one major industry. After the preliminary research and discussion of the concept of the PDL, costing exercises were carried out in Salisbury in January and in Bulawayo and Fort Victoria in February this year. Chapter I discusses in some detail the history of the PDL both in this country and elsewhere and explains the assumptions and implications of the concept for the rest of the report. In Chapter II the method of costing is explained and the Salisbury PDL is calculated. Chapters III and IV discuss the PDL for Bulawayo and Fort Victoria respectively. The chapter on the Salisbury PDL is considerably longer than the chapters on Bulawayo and Fort Victoria. This is because much of the methodology used for the Salisbury analysis applies to the studies carried out in the other two towns. Only where significant differences appear is a detailed discussion of method given. Chapter VI summarizes data from chapters II, III and IV, and chapter V makes some final reflections on the project. As will become clear in the report, this is a need orientated study which attempts to calculate the minimum income required to satisfy the minimum consumption needs of various families. Because of this orientation we have not surveyed the actual living conditions of people. An investigation into actual income and expenditure patterns would be the subject of further research

More rapid reversal learning following overtraining in the rat is evidence that behavioural and cognitive flexibility are dissociable

The research was undertaken by SSD, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of a PhD degree under the joint supervision of VJB and DST and supported by The University of St Andrews (QR Block Grant).Cognitive flexibility is a term used to describe the brain processes underlying the phenomenon of adaptive change in behaviour in response to changed contingencies in the internal or external environment. Cognitive flexibility is often assessed in complex tasks measuring perceptual attentional shifting or response or task switching, but, arguably, reversal learning is a simple assay of cognitive flexibility. Reversal learning requires the detection of a changed outcome, the cessation of a previously-rewarded response and the selection of an alternative, previously-unrewarded, response. This study addressed the issue of the relationship between reversal learning and cognitive flexibility. In a single testing session, rats completed a series of 2-alternative forced-choice discriminations between digging bowls. The bowls differed according to both the medium within the bowl and the odor of the bowl. Having learned which cue (one of the odors or one of the digging media) indicated the food-baited bowl, half the rats were given additional trials of “over-training”. To test reversal learning, the meaning of the cues predictive of reward/non-reward was then switched. There was a robust effect of over-training, with over-trained rats performing reversal learning in fewer trials than rats trained to criterion only. The pattern of errors supported the hypothesis that more rapid reversing results from the formation of an attentional set. This is the same attentional mechanism that results in less rapid shifting or switching. We conclude that the behavioural flexibility demonstrated in reversal learning does not provide a scale on which cognitive flexibility can be measured.PostprintPeer reviewe

Dilemma In Development, Education And Employment: An Analysis Of Zimbabwe, Tanzania And Kenya

A Zambezia journal article.1979 was a year of impending change — change that was without form or concept. Speculation was rife while planners anxiously awaited policy direction. At that time we felt the need to point out certain realities in Zimbabwe’s education and employment potentiality, and to distinguish facts from the fantasies. In this paper we have identified four major premises which underlie existing educational and employment strategies. We call these ‘conventional wisdoms’; and in them we have tried to pin down the implicit assumptions which too often are taken as ‘givens’. These conventional wisdoms can be summarized as follows: 1. Resources to satisfy the demand for education will be available when the war stops and aid flows in. 2. Education will generate the required wealth and development. 3. People are unemployed because they do not have enough education or training. 4. In the fields of education and employment all that we need to solve our development problems is more of the same

An Exploration of Activity, Fatigue and Mood in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Research Portfolio

Previous studies of activity, fatigue and mood in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have used diverse methodologies, often implementing retrospective, subjective measurements. Recent literature has suggested that such methods may not yield accurate representations of the experience of CFS. This study, therefore, attempts to apply scientific method to this complex and subjective field by making use of an objective measure of activity in conjunction with concurrent, hourly self-ratings of fatigue and mood states. The results indicate that the CFS subjects (n = 10) are significantly different from the healthy matched control group with regard to activity, fatigue and mood variables. Investigations of diurnal patterns and interrelationships of the measured variables, show that the CFS group possess a different pattern of daily activity and different variable interrelationships to those found in the matched controls. These findings, and their implications for future research, are discussed

Effects of lesions of the subthalamic nucleus/zona incerta area and dorsomedial striatum on attentional set-shifting in the rat

This work was supported by The Wellcome Trust (project Grant 051945/z/97). Andrew Blackwell was in receipt of a BBSRC Studentship.Patients with Parkinson’s disease show cognitive impairments, including difficulty in shifting attention between perceptual dimensions of complex stimuli. Inactivation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has been shown to be effective in ameliorating the motor abnormalities associated with striatal dopamine depletion, but it is possible that STN inactivation might result in additional, perhaps attentional, deficits. This study examined the effects of: dopamine depletion from the dorsomedial striatum (DMS); lesions of the STN area; and the effects of the two lesions together, on the ability to shift attentional set in the rat. In a single session, rats performed the intradimensional/extradimensional (ID/ED) test of attentional set-shifting. This comprises a series of seven, two-choice discriminations, including acquisitions of novel discriminations in which the relevant stimulus is either in the currently-attended dimension (ID) or the currently-unattended dimension (ED shift) and reversals following each acquisition stage. Bilateral lesions were made by injection of 6-hydroxydopamine into the DMS, resulting in a selective impairment in reversal learning. Large bilateral ibotenic acid lesions centred on the STN resulted in an increase in trials to criterion in the initial stages, but learning rate improved within the session. There was no evidence of a ‘cost’ of set-shifting – the ED stage was completed in fewer trials than the ID stage – and neither was there a cost of reversal learning. Strikingly, combined lesions of both regions did not resemble the effects of either lesion alone and resulted in no apparent deficits.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Nitrogen recycling in coastal waters of southeastern U.S. during summer 1986

Summer-time pelagic nitrogen recycling using an 15NH4+ tracer technique was studied for important biological pathways, sinks, and residence times in the microbial food web of coastal Georgia, U.S.A. Results showed that estimated rates of NH4+ regeneration by a variety of microheterotrophs and microzooplankton balanced rates of NH4+ assimilation by the microbial community, i.e., phytoplankton, bacteria and other microheterotrophs, in surface waters. In bottom water below the 1% light level, NH4+ regeneration exceeded community NH4+ assimilation by 3.5 times. However, over a period of 2 weeks, high NH4+ concentrations rarely occurred in bottom waters, and this was attributed to rapid mixing of the water column by winds and tides. Estimated mixing times from time-dependent numerical models were on the order of NH4+ turnover times of 5 to 10 hours. Overall, rates of community NH4+ assimilation exceeded rate estimates of phytoplankton N demand by 1.8 to 2.7 fold, which were made from rates of 14CO2 incorporation into proteins. In bottom samples where phytoplankton were light limited, rates of NH4+ assimilation exceeded the phytoplankton N demand by 3.6 to 11.1 fold. Calculations concerning the role of dissolved organic nitrogen in N cycling suggest that only 10% is recycled to NH4+ daily. This N could support 12 to 29% of the estimated phytoplankton N demand. Residence times of particulate nitrogen pools, based on rates of NH4+ regeneration, were on the order of 3–10 days. During summer-time hydrographic conditions and despite other losses, particulate nitrogen could recycle as often as 100 times before autumn removal processes occur off southeastern U.S

Quality Early Childhood Education and Care in a Time of COVID-19

Contextual approaches to high quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) seek to capture the complexity of children’s lives, developing pedagogical approaches that are responsive to children’s needs and interests. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic provided a complex layer to the question of what constitutes quality ECEC. A mixed methods appreciative inquiry of educators’ and parents’ views of quality in one ECEC setting in England, became an unexpected ethnographic exploration of quality ECEC in the time of a global pandemic. The findings indicate how features of quality, such as offering a range of learning environments and structuring the pedagogic environment to offer free-flowing play, had to be adapted to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The focus on quality shifted, prioritising the health and safety of families and staff, over the quality and variety of the curriculum. Greater emphasis was also placed on children’s social and emotional well-being to support their ability to understand and manage the changes to routines in response to the pandemic. The findings demonstrate that the early years workforce remains central to understanding and supporting quality, concluding that quality ECEC is shaped by adaptability – adapting to the needs of children, families, staff, and the unprecedented context of COVID-19. The focus on adaptability seeks to highlight how educators frequently respond to unique contexts in juggling concepts of quality ECEC. Consequently, a recommendation is made for future educator training to consider the importance of adaptability, in providing a useful framework for reimaging quality ECEC post COVID-19. </jats:p

Expectations and Experiences: Service User and Carer perspectives on the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act

Mae’r ddogfen yma hefyd ar gael yn Gymraeg. This document is also available in Welsh. © Crown Copyright Digital ISBN 978-1-80391-736-8The report provides findings from 170 people living in Wales who receive care and support or who are carers and is part of a wider evaluation of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act., known as the IMPACT study.Welsh Governmen