WWW.raising achievement: internet research resources on raising achievement in post-compulsory education; the agency comments

This report is designed to help practitioners and researchers find and use internet-based resources that deal with raising achievement. It contains a guide to useful research sources and organisations accessible via the internet; an introductory synthesis of research findings drawn from the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) and suggestions for applying American research findings to raising achievement in the UK

The impact of FE / HE mergers : interim findings

"This paper outlines the results of an analysis of the curriculum offer and student numbers at former further education colleges who have transferred to the higher education sector following mergers with higher education institutions. It also includes some brief background information on the situation with regard to the FE asset base in the new institutions" -- [page 2]

Regulation of Expression of Genes Encoding the Small Subunit of Ribulose 1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase in Phaseolus vulgaris L

The expression of the three known rbcS genes of Phaseolus vulgaris L. was examined under different growth conditions in the primary leaves using gene-specific oligonucleotide probes. These experiments demonstrated that the three rbcS genes had different quantitative levels of expression but very similar patterns of expression under the majority of conditions examined. The one exception to this was when plants that had been light-adapted were returned to darkness. Under these conditions, mRNA levels of one of the genes (rbcS2 ) increased after prolonged (4 days) dark adaptation. Whether this observation represents a real difference in the pattern of expression of the rbcS2 gene relative to the other two genes is discussed. The expression of the gene family was also examined using non-discriminating oligonucleotide and cDNA probes. These studies showed that there is an underlying ontogenetic control of rbcS expression in the primary leaves of dark-grown Phaseolus vulgaris plants. This pattern of expression is modified by the presence of light, and the extent of the 'modification' is dependent on the fluence rate of light with which the plant is illuminated. The control of rbcS mRNA levels in the light-grown plant in response to an increased fluence rate of light was also examined. It was found that exposure of 16 day old plants grown under a low (15 ?mol/m2/s) fluence rate of white light to an increased fluence rate (150 mumol/m2/s) of white light for 2 days resulted in a substantial increase in the rbcS mRNA level. Similar experiments using increased fluence rates of different light qualities (blue-enriched and red) indicated that a blue light photoreceptor was involved in mediating the increase in rbcS mRNA levels. Measurements of oxygen evolution and stomatal resistance s howed that the different qualities of light did not result in differential rates of photos ynthesis and stomatal opening under the different light qualities, supporting the idea, that it was a blue light photoreceptor that was mediating the increase in rbcS expression. An increase in rbcS expression in response to an increased fluence rate of blue-enriched light, which was not apparent with an identical fluence rate of red light, was found to occur in primary leaves of different ages, showing that the response was not limited to one developmental stage of the primary leaf. The photoregulation of transcription of the rbcS genes was examined. Plants were grown in a similar manner to those used for experiments to measure the steady state mRNA level, and moved to an increased fluence rate of blue-enriched light. Leaves were harvested over a timecourse and nuclei extracted from them for use in run- on transcription assays. These experiments showed that the blue light treatment resulted in an increase in the transcription rate of the rbcS genes that peaked at around 12 hours and fell by 24 hours. The effect of other light qualities on the transcription of rbcS genes was also examined after a 12 hour treatment. These experiments indicated that, when equal fluence rates of light were used, an increased fluence rate of blue-enriched light was the most effective in increasing the transcription of rbcS genes. These results indicated that the increase in steady-state rbcS mRNA seen after treatment with an increased fluence rate of blue-enriched light occurred as a result of a blue photoreceptor mediating an increase in rbcS transcription. As expected from the steady-state mRNA data, an equal fluence rate of white light gave a smaller increase in rbcS transcription than the blue-enriched light, but, some what unexpectedly, an increased fluence rate of red light also gave a small increase in transcription of the rbcS genes, a response that was not evident when steady-state rbcS mRNA levels were studied. Possible reasons for this are discussed. A method to determine the relative levels of the mRNA of the three rbcS genes in a single reaction was developed. This was done because such information could not be obtained from SI-nuclease analysis with a single probe due to the similarity between the sequences of the three genes. The method involved using the polymerase chain reaction with three gene-specific 3' primers, and a single non-discriminating 5' primer, following a reverse transcriptase reaction carried out with the three gene-specific 3' primers and total RNA. These primers should theoretically have allowed the amplification of three PCR products of different sizes. This was demonstrated to be the case, and the method was shown to produce similar measurements of rbcS mRNA levels to hybridisation of probes to a northern blot. The results demonstrated that the method could prove useful with some further refinement which, unfortunately, time did not allow. One problem with the method is that the estimates of the three genes' relative mRNA levels differ from those found both through the use of northern analysis with gene-specific oligonucleotide probes and examination of the frequency of the corresponding cDNAs in a cDNA library. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed

Developments in magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging acquisition and analysis

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI), a functional MR imaging technique, has proven via the identification of metabolite biomarkers to be useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of numerous diseases, for example brain tumours. However, a number of factors impede its routine clinical use: i) long acquisition times mean its use is limited to low resolution 2-dimensional slabs, ii) large quantity of data produced means its interpretation can be time consuming and iii) data quality can be variable and therefore interpretation can be difficult for a non-expert. Further developments in MRSI are designed to reduce the impact of these issues. The focus of this work is to address some of the above issues; developing acquisition protocols and optimising analysis methods in order to increase the clinical feasibility of MRSI. Within this study a fast-MRSI protocol has been developed for absolute metabolite quantitation and has demonstrated its feasibility for clinical use, accurately reproducing data in a shorter clinically feasible acquisition time. An experimentally derived fitting model has been developed which increases metabolite measurement accuracy. Finally, a 3D MRSI protocol has been successfully optimized allowing robust metabolite information to be mapped throughout the brain

What did he say that for? Some contextual effects on the process of understanding a sentence

Though it seems intuitively very probable that processing of sentences is likely to be affected by the environment - both linguistic and non- linguistic - in which the sentence is encountered, remarkably little work has been carried out to investigate the parameters of the process. While some work in recent years (for example that of Bransford and his co-workers) has amply demonstrated that what is remembered from a sentence is strongly influenced by other sentences which have to be remembered, few people have carried out investigations like those of Huttenlocher and her co-workers into how the situation can affect comprehension of a sentence. Psycholinguistic work has for the most part been directed towards the process of understanding single sentences shorn, so far as possible, of any ties with either other sentences or the real world. This unfortunate occurrence seems to have been largely due to the overwhelming influence of transformational grammar, which encourages one to believe that processing of sentences constituting part of a text is much the same as processing of single sentences. At any rate the core processes would appear to be the same on this account. In the present work an alternative theory of grammar is utilised. This theory, called systemic grammar, places great emphasis on the information structure of a sentence and hence, implicitly, on the relation between sentences and the context in which the sentence is encountered. The present work concentrates pre-eminently on the influence of other sentences on the processing of a particular sentence - rather than on the influence of the accompanying situation. However, much is said on the subject of Huttenlocher's work. The work starts with a highly selective review, heavily reliant on Clark (1974), of relevant literature. The review concludes that the bulk of the work reported in the literature lacks a coherent theory within which to conceptualise contextual influences on sentence processing. It is also suggested that a number of effects reported in the literature may be heavily dependent on contextual influences. Systemic grammar is put forward as a theory which might enable us to conceptualise some of the factors relevant to understanding sentences in context. A brief outline of systemic theory is given. Following this, nine experiments are reported on a variety of traditional effects, but in all cases manipulating whether the target sentences occur as part of a text or not. In addition variation of such cohesive devices as the use of pronouns and the definite article also occurs. The first experiment involves the systematic manipulation of definiteness marking, syntax, relational term and presence of text. A verification task is used in which the sentence precedes the picture with separate measures of comprehension (how long subjects choose to have the target sentence exposed) and verification (how long it takes them to respond when they see the picture). Interesting results occur in both sets of data but the main findings are : firstly, that the traditional lexical marking effect only occurs with single sentence presentation - when embedded in a longer text there is no difference between reaction times to the marked and unmarked words; secondly, although the marked syntactic form (in this case with the locative phrase before rather than after the copula) tends to be harder to understand this effect almost entirely disappears when the sentence is in a context and the topic of the paragraph is the theme (first noun) of the sentence - with unmarked syntax reactions are quicker if the topic is the second noun, but neither of these effects occur, of course, in the no text case where there is no topic; thirdly the marked lexical form was responded to faster if the two nominals were marked differently for definiteness, whereas the unmarked form tended to be responded to more rapidly if both nominals were similarly marked. The first and last results were explained as due to a "good reason" interpretation of marking in which marking is considered subordinate to topicalisation choices and the marked form does not convey additional information if it can be seen to have been chosen for that reason. The second result received a related explanation, though with a fuller analysis of the role of this marked syntactic form. Experiments 2 and 3 investigate precisely the same phenomena as Experiment 1. The first of these requires subjects to write down a series of sentences of the same sort as those presented to subjects in Experiment 1, to describe a series of pictures presented to them. Various constraints are built into the task in order to encourage them to produce a wide variety of responses. The frequency of different forms is similar to what one might expect from Experiment 1 given the assumption that reaction times and production frequencies are inversely related. Similar effects were observed to those in Experiment 1 with the exception that definiteness marking was seen to be of much greater importance in this experiment. This last result was also replicated in Experiment 3 - a much less constrained study in which subjects described pictures orally. Classifying responses on the basis of a large number of criteria this study demonstrated that very few of the possible responses occurred. However many more occurred with unmarked than with marked syntax - supporting the interpretation of the marked option as not in itself more complex, but rather with more complex entry conditions (selected in a narrower set of circumstances). This study also demonstrated some interesting differences in the patterns of use of pronouns and the definite article. The next two experiments follow up this last point by investigating differences between pronouns and other means of cross-referring in terms of reaction times. It is clear from these two experiments that pronouns do not simply speed up comprehension relative to other methods. The effect seems to depend upon several factors including the information structure of the sentence. The fifth experiment used the three term series problem to examine the use of pronouns, lexical marking and Huttenlocher's result that the second premise is easier to understand if the new item is first in that premise. Reaction times to the first premise, the second premise and the question were measured separately. Huttenlocher's effect was greatly enhanced by the use of a pronoun in the second premise to cross refer to the first premise. This was interpreted as being due to pronouns making clear the new and old information parts of the sentence and so enabling subjects to take advantage of the fact that their primary focus of interest when reading the second premise - namely the third object - is referred to by the more prominent theme, something which is more usually reserved for old information. A second factor influencing processing of sentences with pronouns in them is whether the pronoun in the second premise refers to the same object as the subject or object of the first premise. Subjects respond more rapidly if it is co-referential with the subject. Experiment 3 demonstrated that this is also the more common occurrence in free descriptions. Other results in this experiment provided more support for the interpretation of lexical marking in terms of a good reason principle: there being a strong effect of marking of the first premise (where it is hard to see any topicalisation reason for choosing it) but no straightforward effect of marking of the second premise. Furthermore marked questions do not take longer to process than unmarked - in fact, thanks probably to an interaction, they actually take significantly less time. The next three experiments again involve verification but here the presentation of sentences was experimenter controlled and oral. Reaction times were again used but the measure taken was a complex comprehension/verification one. This measure was supplemented by a measure of the number of fixations subjects made in scanning the picture. This set of data was analysed in much the same way as the reaction time results. Experiments 6 and 7 involved successive presentation of sentence and picture (in that order), while Experiment 8 Involved simultaneous presentation. On the whole the latter was more successful but this may have been because more complex pictures were used. The fixation data, though producing a number of apparently reliable results, did not produce results which bore any clear relationship to the reaction time data and evidence to the contrary reported by Hall (1975) is therefore called into question. However the reaction time data as a whole are not very clear in these three experiments. Only in Experiment 8 in which passives are shown to be easier to understand when the theme is previously mentioned, and actives when the theme is not previously mentioned (this is true, of course, only for the context condition) are there any very clear results. In Experiments 6 and 7 on the other hand, it does seem that passives are only harder to understand than actives if they are false, but Experiment 8 only shows a simple effect of truth value. Effects of context in Experiments 6 and 7 are not large - possibly this is due to the delay between presentation of the sentence and the taking of any measure. The final experiment again used the text manipulation and like Experiment 8 presented sentence and picture simultaneously, but the sentence was a question which had to be answered rather than a statement to be verified. Questions differed in whether the noun preceded or succeeded the main verb, in voice, and in whether the noun was previously mentioned or not. On the whole results approximated quite closely to what one might expect from corresponding declaratives and a functional interpretation of the systemic options involved. A feature of both this experiment and the previous one is the use of two sets of reaction time data: data from the onset of the question to the onset of the answer and data from the offset of the question to the onset of the answer. On the first analysis passives take consistently longer to process, but on the second they are, if anything, processed faster. A final chapter summarises some of the major results and compares both the experimental methods and the measures used in the various experiments. On the whole the conclusion is that sentence by sentence presentation for subject-controlled durations is the most satisfactory method. The gross measure of number of fixations is not seen as a useful one, though it is suggested that with simultaneous presentation of sentence and picture a moment by moment comparison of the sentence with what the subject Is fixating may be of interest. The main substantive contributions of the present work are seen as: (1) further evidence that the canonical form view of sentence processing is unhelpful, (2) a good deal of support for the "good reason" approach to both lexical and grammatical marking which explains the greater difficulty of marked forms as due, not to the fact that they are themselves more complex, but to the fact that the reasons for selecting them (entry conditions) are more complex, (3) some preliminary evidence of the effects on RT of a handful of cohesive devices among them the use of definiteness marking, pronouns, lexical marking, the passive voice and certain other marked syntactic configurations

Analysing poor nursing care in hospitals in England: The policy challenge

There have been several high profile reports of poor nursing care in hospitals in England of late. Criticism of nursing has also featured prominently in the popular media. This paper examines the complex mix of contributory factors that have created this situation, and identifies the issues that need to be addressed if policy making in this area is to improve the situation. Action is required in a number of areas, including: strengthening ward leadership, introducing measures such as “intentional rounding”, and acknowledging the “emotional labour” of caring, however many recommendations have centred on the education of nurses and seemingly overlooked these other crucial issues.Le travail infirmier en Angleterre a fait l’objet de nombreuses critiques qui font état d’un déclin de la qualité du soin comme care (Francis Inquiry 2013; The Health Service Ombudsman’s report [Abraham 2011), Care Quality Commission 2011). Les commentaires proposés - notamment dans les médias populaires - tendent à faire porter la responsabilité de ces dysfonctionnements sur les infirmières. Cet article remet en question cette explication en analysant l’ensemble des facteurs qui engendrent un déficit de qualité des soins.Plusieurs publications officielles dans la première décennie des années deux mille ont relevé des pratiques défaillantes de soins infirmiers engendrant des douleurs chez les patients, des négligences de soin lors des repas, des toilettes. D’une manière plus générale, la personne malade n’apparaît ni respectée, ni bien soignée (Abrahams 2011; CQC 2011). Ces rapports ont été amplement médiatisés. En première analyse, les raisons invoquées soulignent que le niveau de formation des infirmières serait inversement proportionnel à leur capacité à prendre soin des personnes malades (Marrin 2009).L’article met ces questions en perspective en les replaçant dans leur contexte politique. L’approche présentée s’appuie sur une analyse de la littérature sur le soin infirmier et le travail de l’infirmière praticienne. Les auteures relèvent six axes principaux qui affectent la qualité des soins ; l’organisation spatiale des services, le rôle de la responsable du service, la définition d’objectifs non uniquement quantitatifs, la culture organisationnelle, l’attention envers les équipes soignantes, la formation des soignants et la prise en compte du travail émotionnel du soignant. L’article montre que le déficit en soin relève de la combinaison de ces facteurs. L’amélioration des soins délivrés requiert qu’ils soient donc considérés conjointement. Ils sont successivement présentés ci-dessous.L’organisation spatiale des services isole désormais les patients et les soignants contrairement aux services Nightingale où les infirmières pouvaient voir l’ensemble des patients et être vues par eux. Pour préserver la confidentialité et réduire les infections, tout en limitant le risque d’isolement des personnes, des rondes systématiques ont eu un effet positif aux États-Unis et ont été développées aussi au Royaume-Uni.Le rôle de la responsable du service comporte trois aspects (experte en nursing et gestionnaire de l’équipe soignante, formatrice des infirmières et des autres soignants, éducatrice vis-à-vis des patients). Cependant les rôles d’expert clinique et de manager d’équipes peuvent entrer en tension et engendrer un moindre investissement des soignantes dans le cas de relations tendues et de désaccord avec le chef de service sur les finalités de l’activité du service. En Angleterre, les cadres infirmiers ont de nombreuses perspectives d’emploi. Ils évitent les services dans lesquels ils estiment que la qualité des relations interprofessionnelles ou la rémunération ne correspondent pas à leurs attentes et aux responsabilités exigées.Un autre facteur qui nuit aux soins est la multiplication des objectifs et des évaluations essentiellement quantitatives qui ont été définies et imposées, parfois en contradiction avec le sens et la valeur que les soignants donnent à leur travail. La culture organisationnelle a aussi un impact important sur l’efficacité et la qualité des soins délivrés. Le lien entre bien-être des personnes malades et celui des équipes est avéré.De nombreux débats ont eu lieu dans la presse médicale et populaire sur la formation des infirmières, qui ont généralement condamné la réforme des années quatre-vingt, au motif qu’elle ne produisait pas des infirmières capables d’une attitude compassionnelle. Le programme « Project 2000 » a introduit des changements importants dans la formation infirmière. Il avait pour objectif de former des infirmières d’un niveau universitaire et de développer leur esprit critique. Le recours aux stagiaires comme force de travail sur les terrains de stage était par ailleurs limité. Aucune preuve n’a été donnée que ce système engendrait une qualité des soins dégradée. Un autre point en discussion porte sur le caractère invisible et non organisé du travail émotionnel des infirmières, qui peut conduire celles-ci au burn-out et déboucher sur des soins de mauvaise qualité.Selon cette analyse de la littérature, les faiblesses relevées dans les soins délivrés aux personnes malades apparaissent donc imputables aux modèles d’organisations soignantes et non à la catégorie de personnel stigmatisé que sont désormais les infirmières

Organisational support for nurses in acute care settings: a rapid evidence review.

Background: It is recognised that if high standards of patient care are to be provided, nursing staff need to be supported in managing the emotional component of their work. Objective: The purpose of the review reported here was to examine the relevant literature to determine which approaches to staff support are effective in enabling nurses to manage the emotional content of their work. Design: A Rapid Evidence Assessment was conducted. Methods: Rapid Evidence Assessment methods were used to identify and evaluate the relevant literature. Data sources: Peer reviewed journal papers retrieved as a result of a systematic literature search. Results: A total of 1,869 papers were identified following two searches of electronic databases and 25 papers were included in the review. Thematic analysis identified three main themes in the papers: The importance of leadership-particularly emotionally intelligent leadership; the impact of aspects of the emotional content of nurses ’ work on their practice; and approaches to supporting staff. Conclusions: The results confirmed the recognition of staff support as being crucial to patient care, and the role of leadership and a number of specific interventions including mindfulness, reflection and supervision were reported. However although there are many approaches to the provision of emotional support for nurses, there is little evidence to demonstrate their widespread implementation. It is accepted that emotion is central to nursing, yet how best to manage this in an organisational context is less clear

Revision workshops in elementary mathematics enhance student performance in routine laboratory calculations

The ability to understand and implement calculations required for molarity and dilution computations that are routinely undertaken in the laboratory are essential skills that should be possessed by all students entering an undergraduate Life Sciences degree. However, it is increasingly recognized that the majority of these students are ill equipped to reliably carry out such calculations. There are several factors that conspire against students' understanding of this topic, with the alien concept of the mole in relation to the mass of compounds and the engineering notation required when expressing the relatively small quantities typically involved being two key examples. In this report, we highlight teaching methods delivered via revision workshops to undergraduate Life Sciences students at the University of Nottingham. Workshops were designed to 1) expose student deficiencies in basic numeracy skills and remedy these deficiencies, 2) introduce molarity and dilution calculations and illustrate their workings in a step-by-step manner, and 3) allow students to appreciate the magnitude of numbers. Preworkshop to postworkshop comparisons demonstrated a considerable improvement in students' performance, which attenuated with time. The findings of our study suggest that an ability to carry out laboratory calculations cannot be assumed in students entering Life Sciences degrees in the United Kingdom but that explicit instruction in the form of workshops improves proficiency to a level of competence that allows students to prosper in the laboratory environment