Reliability of Longitudinal Social Surveys of Access to Higher Education: The Case of Next Steps in England

Longitudinal social surveys are widely used to understand which factors enable or constrain access to higher education. One such data resource is the Next Steps survey comprising an initial sample of 16,122 pupils aged 13–14 attending English state and private schools in 2004, with follow up annually to age 19–20 and a further survey at age 25. The Next Steps data is a potentially rich resource for studying inequalities of access to higher education. It contains a wealth of information about pupils’ social background characteristics—including household income, parental education, parental social class, housing tenure and family composition—as well as longitudinal data on aspirations, choices and outcomes in relation to education. However, as with many longitudinal social surveys, Next Steps suffers from a substantial amount of missing data due to item non-response and sample attrition which may seriously compromise the reliability of research findings. Helpfully, Next Steps data has been linked with more robust administrative data from the National Pupil Database (NPD), which contains a more limited range of social background variables, but has comparatively little in the way of missing data due to item non-response or attrition. We analyse these linked datasets to assess the implications of missing data for the reliability of Next Steps. We show that item non-response in Next Steps biases the apparent socioeconomic composition of the Next Steps sample upwards, and that this bias is exacerbated by sample attrition since Next Steps participants from less advantaged social backgrounds are more likely to drop out of the study. Moreover, by the time it is possible to measure access to higher education, the socioeconomic background variables in Next Steps are shown to have very little explanatory power after controlling for the social background and educational attainment variables contained in the NPD. Given these findings, we argue that longitudinal social surveys with much missing data are only reliable sources of data on access to higher education if they can be linked effectively with more robust administrative data sources. This then raises the question—why not just use the more robust datasets

Separation of Beach Sand Minerals

India has a vast resource of beach sand minerals along the Eastern and the Western coastal lines. The Beach Sand Minerals are usually heavier due to higher specific gravity and because of this property these are also known as Heavy Minerals. The Heavy Minerals are themselves a mixture of a variety of minerals like monazite, ilntenite, rutile , zircon. silimanite, garner etc. These minerals are available in nature in the range of 75 to 500 Microns and can always be classified in the fines category. Prel-iminary extraction of these minerals is done by dredging of the raw sand along a pre determined dredge-path. The dredged minerals are processed in a floating Concentration poant where these minerals are subjected to gravity sep-aration technique in spiral concentrators. The enriched concentrate ppgradation plant located near Mineral Sep-aration plant to increase the concentration up to about 95-96 % HM so that it will ready for processing in the Mineral Separation Plant for individual separation

Note on flat foliations of spherically symmetric spacetimes

It is known that spherically symmetric spacetimes admit flat spacelike foliations. We point out a simple method of seeing this result via the Hamiltonian constraints of general relativity. The method yields explicit formulas for the extrinsic curvatures of the slicings.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in PRD, reference added, typos correcte

Which are the most suitable contextual indicators for use in widening participation to HE?

Universities are increasingly making decisions about undergraduate admissions with reference to contextual indicators to identify whether an applicant comes from a disadvantaged family, neighbourhood or school environment. However, the indicators used are often chosen because they are readily available, without consideration of the quality of possible alternatives. A review of existing research literature to assess potential contextual indicators yielded around 120,000 reports, and 28 categories of indicators. Each indicator was assessed on the basis of existing evidence concerning its relevance, reach, availability, accuracy, reliability and completeness. Many possible indicators are not readily available, or accurate enough for use in practice. Indicators concerning individual circumstances are generally safer than area-based or school characteristics. There are some indicators for very small categories that can be used relatively un-problematically as long as the data can be made available at time of candidate selection. None of these is a solution to the more general issue of contextualised admissions. Having a disability or special educational need is clearly linked to lower attainment and participation but not for all categories. The most suitable general indicator is eligibility for free school meals (FSM), based on the number of years an applicant has been known to be FSM-eligible

Protein complex directs hemoglobin-to-hemozoin formation in Plasmodium falciparum

Malaria parasites use hemoglobin (Hb) as a major nutrient source in the intraerythrocytic stage, during which heme is converted to hemozoin (Hz). The formation of Hz is essential for parasite survival, but to date, the underlying mechanisms of Hb degradation and Hz formation are poorly understood. We report the presence of a ∼200-kDa protein complex in the food vacuole that is required for Hb degradation and Hz formation. This complex contains several parasite proteins, including falcipain 2/2', plasmepsin II, plasmepsin IV, histo aspartic protease, and heme detoxification protein. The association of these proteins is evident from coimmunoprecipitation followed by mass spectrometry, coelution from a gel filtration column, cosedimentation on a glycerol gradient, and in vitro protein interaction analyses. To functionally characterize this complex, we developed an in vitro assay using two of the proteins present in the complex. Our results show that falcipain 2 and heme detoxification protein associate with each other to efficiently convert Hb to Hz. We also used this in vitro assay to elucidate the modes of action of chloroquine and artemisinin. Our results reveal that both chloroquine and artemisinin act during the heme polymerization step, and chloroquine also acts at the Hb degradation step. These results may have important implications in the development of previously undefined antimalarials

Antibiotic resistance pattern of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from pus samples at tertiary care cancer hospital

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most frequent opportunistic microorganisms causing infections in cancer patients. The aim of the study was to determine the antibiotic susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates in cancer patients. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted from January 2022 to December 2022 at Government Cancer Hospital, Aurangabad. A total of 143 pus samples were collected from both IPD and OPD patients. Pus samples were collected as per standard procedure and were inoculated on blood and MacConkey agar. The isolates were identified by standard protocols using biochemical tests. The antibiotic susceptibility pattern of each isolate was checked as per Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines 2022 using Kirby-Bauer's disc diffusion method and VITEK 2 Automation. Data analysis was done by statical method with statistical software SPSS version 22. Results: Out of 143 clinical samples 33 samples (23%) were positive for Pseudomonas aeruginosa growth. mean age of patients was 50 years old out of 33 isolates 12 (36%) isolates were multidrug-resistant, 11 (33%) isolates were extensively drug-resistant and 1 (3%) were pan-drug-resistant. The majority of isolates were responsive to polymyxin B 32 (96%) and colistin 32 (96%); However, the resistance to gentamycin, ceftazidime, and amikacin was higher, at 66%, 60%, and 57%, respectively.   Conclusions: This hospital-based retrospective study will help to implement better infection control strategies and improve the knowledge of antibiotic resistance patterns among clinicians. Thus, there is a need for an antibiotic stewardship program to monitor the resistant pattern in a tertiary care   cancer hospital

Synthesis, Electrical Conductivity, and Dielectric Behavior of Polyaniline/V 2

Conducting polymer composites of polyaniline/vanadium pentaoxide PANI/V2O5 (with different initial weight percentage of V2O5) has been synthesized by in situ polymerization method. DC conductivity of compressed pellets has been analyzed in the temperature range 300–550 K and was found to increase with V2O5 doping. This increase in conductivity is mainly due to band conduction. It has also been observed that the dielectric constant and dielectric loss increase with the level of doping of V2O5 but remain independent of the frequency (50 KHz–1 MHz). X-ray diffraction pattern shows some order of crystallinity of composites due to interaction of polyaniline with V2O5. UV-visible spectroscopy shows an increase in the optical band gap with doping

On Quantum Effects Near a Black Hole Singularity

It is pointed out that the claim made by Joshi and Joshi [1], has not been rigorously demonstrated by them. A simpler and more correct proof is provided.Comment: Perprint of the AS-ICT