Rocks and Hard Places: Exploring Educational Psychologists’ Perspectives on “Off-Rolling” or Illegal Exclusionary Practices in Mainstream Secondary Schools in England

Research being undertaken by the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth is exploring educational psychologists’ knowledge of, and perspectives on, exclusionary practices in schools in England, particularly illegal practices referred to as “off-rolling”. Preliminary findings from the survey element of a mixed methods research project are reported here. The role of business models in the provision of educational psychology services to schools is considered through the conceptual lens of Giroux, Agamben and Ball to highlight ambiguities around the client relationship and to recast individualised ethical dilemmas as systemic features that inhibit direct challenges to school practices relating to inclusion. It is suggested that traded and privatised services risk implicating educational psychologists in schools’ management of the (in)visibility of “off-rolling” and the manufactured legitimacy of varied exclusionary practices

Stage-specific action of matrix metalloproteinases influences progressive hereditary kidney disease.

BackgroundGlomerular basement membrane (GBM), a key component of the blood-filtration apparatus in the in the kidney, is formed through assembly of type IV collagen with laminins, nidogen, and sulfated proteoglycans. Mutations or deletions involving alpha3(IV), alpha4(IV), or alpha5(IV) chains of type IV collagen in the GBM have been identified as the cause for Alport syndrome in humans, a progressive hereditary kidney disease associated with deafness. The pathological mechanisms by which such mutations lead to eventual kidney failure are not completely understood.Methods and findingsWe showed that increased susceptibility of defective human Alport GBM to proteolytic degradation is mediated by three different matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)--MMP-2, MMP-3, and MMP-9--which influence the progression of renal dysfunction in alpha3(IV)-/- mice, a model for human Alport syndrome. Genetic ablation of either MMP-2 or MMP-9, or both MMP-2 and MMP-9, led to compensatory up-regulation of other MMPs in the kidney glomerulus. Pharmacological ablation of enzymatic activity associated with multiple GBM-degrading MMPs, before the onset of proteinuria or GBM structural defects in the alpha3(IV)-/- mice, led to significant attenuation in disease progression associated with delayed proteinuria and marked extension in survival. In contrast, inhibition of MMPs after induction of proteinuria led to acceleration of disease associated with extensive interstitial fibrosis and early death of alpha3(IV)-/- mice.ConclusionsThese results suggest that preserving GBM/extracellular matrix integrity before the onset of proteinuria leads to significant disease protection, but if this window of opportunity is lost, MMP-inhibition at the later stages of Alport disease leads to accelerated glomerular and interstitial fibrosis. Our findings identify a crucial dual role for MMPs in the progression of Alport disease in alpha3(IV)-/- mice, with an early pathogenic function and a later protective action. Hence, we propose possible use of MMP-inhibitors as disease-preventive drugs for patients with Alport syndrome with identified genetic defects, before the onset of proteinuria

Spontaneous Chelation-Driven Reduction of the Neptunyl Cation in Aqueous Solution.

Octadentate hydroxypyridinone (HOPO) and catecholamide (CAM) siderophore analogues are known to be efficacious chelators of the actinide cations, and these ligands are also capable of facilitating both activation and reduction of actinyl species. Utilizing X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopies, as well as cyclic voltammetry measurements, herein, we elucidate chelation-based mechanisms for driving reactivity and initiating redox processes in a family of neptunyl-HOPO and CAM complexes. Based on the selected chelator, the ability to control the oxidation state of neptunium and the speed of reduction and concurrent oxo group activation was demonstrated. Most notably, reduction kinetics for the NpV O2 +/ /NpIV redox couple upon chelation by the ligands 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) and 3,4,3-LI(CAM)2 (1,2-HOPO)2 was observed to be faster than ever reported, and in fact quicker than we could measure using either X-ray absorption spectroscopy or electrochemical techniques

How well does Miscanthus ensile for use in an anaerobic digestion plant?

This study examined the ability for early-harvested Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus and Miscanthus sacchariflorus) to be stored in silage for later use in anaerobic digestion. Two silage additives favouring a homo and hetero-fermentation pathway were examined. The results show that silage additives are necessary to effectively ensile Miscanthus, otherwise untreated Miscanthus grasses incurred dry matter losses of 4% during three months' storage. The silage additives improved the lactic and acetic acid production in the Miscanthus silages however did not have any effect on the biogas yield. On a ‘per tonne volatile solids’-basis, Miscanthus produces half the biogas yield of maize. The outlook for the use of Miscanthus AD therefore depends on the yield when harvested in autumn. A minimum yield of 19–26.5 t DM/ha is needed for Miscanthus to match the biogas production from a similar area of maize yielding 10–14 t DM/ha

Large refrigerant capacity in superparamagnetic iron nanoparticles embedded in a thin film matrix

A magnetocaloric effect (MCE) with sizable isothermal entropy change (ΔS) maintained over a broad range of temperatures above the blocking temperature is reported for a rare earth-free superparamagnetic nanoparticle system comprising of Fe–TiN heterostructure. Superparamagnetic iron (Fe) particles were embedded in a titanium nitride (TiN) thin film matrix in a TiN/Fe/TiN multilayered pattern using a pulsed laser deposition method. High angle annular dark-field images in conjunction with dispersive energy analysis, recorded using scanning transmission electron microscopy, show a clear presence of alternating layers of Fe and TiN with a distinct atomic number contrast between Fe particles and TiN. Quantitative information about the isothermal entropy change (ΔS) and the magnetocaloric effect in the multilayer Fe–TiN system has been obtained by applying Maxwell relation to the magnetization vs temperature data at various fields. With the absence of a dynamic magnetic hysteresis above the blocking temperature, the negative ΔS as high as 4.18 × 103 J/Km3 (normal or forward MCE) is obtained at 3 T at 300 K

Effect of Strain on Ferroelectric Field Effect in Strongly Correlated Oxide Sm0.5Nd0.5NiO3

We report the effect of epitaxial strain on the magnitude and retention of the ferroelectric field effect in high quality PbZr0.3Ti0.7O3 (PZT)/3.8-4.3 nm Sm0.5Nd0.5NiO3 (SNNO) heterostructures grown on (001) LaAlO3 (LAO) and SrTiO3 (STO) substrates. For SNNO on LAO, which exhibits a first-order metal-insulator transition (MIT), switching the polarization of PZT induces a 10 K shift in the transition temperature TMI, with a maximum resistance change between the on and off states of Δ/on ~75%. In sharp contrast, only up to 5% resistance change has been induced in SNNO on STO, where the MIT is second-order, with the modulation of TMI negligibly small. We also observe thermally activated retention of the off state resistance Roff in both systems, with the activation energy of 22 meV (28 meV) for devices on LAO (STO). The time dynamics and thermal response of the field effect instability points to phonon-assisted interfacial trapping of charged mobile defects, which are attributed to strain induced oxygen vacancies. At room temperature, Roff stabilizes at ~55% and ~19% of the initial switching levels for SNNO on LAO and STO, respectively, reflecting the significantly different oxygen vacancy densities in these two systems. Our results reveal the critical role of strain in engineering and modeling the complex oxide composite structures for nanoelectronic and spintronic applications