Silver Surfers : Social Inclusion or Exclusion in a Digital World

Funded and commissioned by Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Programme, with contributions from Citizens Online and UH. This report was the output from the project.When one considers the population profile of a country, no longer is the emphasis upon mortality rates of younger people. As the years progress, enhancements to the quality of life have led to an increasingly ageing society. The emphasis globally has changed to provision for all age groups as a result. In this report, we determine how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are being introduced through programmes by a variety of agencies into the lives of one particular population group – the silver surfer. The context of this report is the United KingdomFinal Published versio

PISA, the Media and the Governance of Education Policy in England and Sweden

Since its introduction, the OECD’s PISA programme has been portrayed as central to both the emergence of a regime of global governance and a convergence of educational policies towards a western model. Whilst there is an extensive literature describing both the impact of the OECD as an international organisation on national education policies, and the selective interpretation of the PISA results by policymakers, there is a relative paucity of analysis of how PISA data is presented to the public within nations by three main sources; namely the OECD itself, politicians and the media. This study focuses on the operations of the media in two countries: England and Sweden, after the publication of the PISA 2012 results. Using tools of semiotic and linguistic analysis against a theoretical framework based on media logic, it explores the ways in which PISA data is transformed and used by different actors to further established domestic agendas, as well as helping to define ‘what matters’ in education in media and policy spaces. The study argues that PISA data is subject to a ‘Rashomon effect’, whereby different actors portray the same body of data differently, creating multiple prisms through which the global messages of the OECD are filtered and transformed as they enter public space via the media. While transformations take place within the OECD Education Directorate itself, and at the initial media launch of PISA results, it is at local media level that policy messages from the OECD are most liable to reduction and transformation. The norms and practices of 'media logic' drive the operations of those whose role includes scrutinising the powerful and holding their actions to account on behalf of the governed. It is argued that the media in the two countries studied treated the PISA results as local political news stories, seeking to further debates on domestic reform agendas and arguments while largely ignoring the underlying remit of the OECD and its educational activities. This thesis demonstrates that the media in the democracies studied do not function as a neutral means of conveying information about PISA to their audiences, and that reporting focuses on local concerns of crisis, blame and proposed salvation, while the power of the OECD to increase its reach into education spaces is taken for granted, tacitly legitimised and uncontested. This results in a form of 'mediatised global governance', whereby the media help to shape and alter the ways in which PISA acts on global education policy

Evaluating the Digital Divide: The Silver Surfer\u27s Perspective

The aim of this paper is to explore and ascertain using an information systems perspective evaluation framework, the factors that are encouraging the adoption and usage of online products and services, namely, in this case, broadband, within one particular population group – the silver surfer. Data were collected through e-mail, interviews and an online survey within OECD and non-OECD countries. The findings of this study illustrate that technical factors were not of primary importance. Non-technical factors were considered to be fundamental and clearly need to be taken into consideration when encouraging silver surfers to be come online interactive. What was also discovered is that interest, whether in technological or non-technological factors as well as communication are very pertinent in adopting and using technology. This research should offer a substantial contribution to various stakeholders including government agencies, management consulting firms, Internet Service Providers and IT organizations that may want to identify what drives the online interactions of silver surfers. This will also assist government agencies to understand the problem of low adoption and formulate a strategy to promote awareness and diffusion. The contribution to theory that this research offers is the development of an evaluative framework that has a household perspective and emphasises the silver surfers. Further, the framework should be applicable to both OECD and non- OECD countries provided the administered survey instrument is in the indigenous language and there is immense awareness to the questionnaire

Cytomegalovirus MicroRNA Expression Is Tissue Specific and Is Associated with Persistence

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs involved in posttranscriptional regulation. miRNAs are utilized in organisms ranging from plants to higher mammals, and data have shown that DNA viruses also use this method for host and viral gene regulation. Here, we report the sequencing of the small RNAs in rat cytomegalovirus (RCMV)-infected fibroblasts and persistently infected salivary glands. We identified 24 unique miRNAs that mapped to hairpin structures found within the viral genome. While most miRNAs were detected in both samples, four were detected exclusively in the infected fibroblasts and two were specific for the infected salivary glands. The RCMV miRNAs are distributed across the viral genome on both the positive and negative strands, with clusters of miRNAs at a number of locations, including near viral genes r1 and r111. The RCMV miRNAs have a genomic positional orientation similar to that of the miRNAs described for mouse cytomegalovirus, but they do not share any substantial sequence conservation. Similar to other reported miRNAs, the RCMV miRNAs had considerable variation at their 3′ and 5′ ends. Interestingly, we found a number of specific examples of differential isoform usage between the fibroblast and salivary gland samples. We determined by real-time PCR that expression of the RCMV miRNA miR-r111.1-2 is highly expressed in the salivary glands and that miR-R87-1 is expressed in most tissues during the acute infection phase. Our study identified the miRNAs expressed by RCMV in vitro and in vivo and demonstrated that expression is tissue specific and associated with a stage of viral infection

Feasibility of parent-to-parent support in recently diagnosed childhood diabetes: the PLUS study

The purpose of this study was to develop and test the feasibility of a parent-to-parent support intervention for parents whose child has recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the United Kingdom

Combined stable isotope and gut contents analysis of food webs in plant-dominated, shallow lakes

1. To determine feeding links between primary producers, invertebrates and fish, stable isotope analyses and gut content analyses of fish were conducted on the components of four shallow, eutrophic to hypertrophic, plant-dominated lakes. 2. Although separation of basal resources was possible, the diets of both fish and invertebrates were broad, comprising food from different compartments (planktonic, epiphytic/benthic), as well as from different trophic levels. 3. Mixing models were used to determine the extent to which periphyton production supported higher trophic levels. Only one species of invertebrate relied upon periphyton production exclusively. 4. Fish density affected the diets of invertebrates. The response was different for planktonic and epiphytic/benthic invertebrates. The proportion of periphyton production in the diets of zooplankton appeared to increase with fish density, whilst it decreased for other invertebrates. 5. As all zooplankton samples were collected in the open water at dusk, these results are further evidence for the diurnal horizontal migration of zooplankton. Although not conclusive, they are consistent with a behavioural response by invertebrates and zooplankton in the presence of fish

Functional strength training versus movement performance therapy for upper limb motor recovery early after stroke: a RCT

Background: Not all stroke survivors respond to the same form of physical therapy in the same way early after stroke. The response is variable and a detailed understanding of the interaction between specific physical therapies and neural structure and function is needed. Objectives: To determine if upper limb recovery is enhanced more by functional strength training (FST) than by movement performance therapy (MPT), to identify the differences in the neural correlates of response to (1) FST and (2) MPT and to determine whether or not pretreatment neural characteristics can predict recovery in response to (1) FST and (2) MPT. Design: Randomised, controlled, observer-blind, multicentre trial with embedded explanatory investigations. An independent facility used computer-generated randomisation for participants’ group allocation. Setting: In-patient rehabilitation, participants’ homes, university movement analysis facilities and NHS or university neuroimaging departments in the UK. Participants: People who were between 2 and 60 days after stroke in the territory of the anterior cerebral circulation, with some voluntary muscle contraction in the more affected upper limb but not full function. Interventions: Routine rehabilitation [conventional physical therapy (CPT)] plus either MPT or FST in equal doses during a 6-week intervention phase. FST was progressive resistive exercise provided during training of functional tasks. MPT was therapist ‘hands-on’ sensory input and guidance for production of smooth and accurate movement. Main outcomes: Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) score for clinical efficacy. Neural measures were made of corticocortical [fractional anisotropy (FA) from corpus callosum midline], corticospinal connectivity (asymmetry of corticospinal tracts FA) and resting motor threshold of paretic biceps brachii (pBB) and extensor carpi radialis muscles (derived from transcranial magnetic stimulation). Analysis: Change in ARAT scores were analysed using analysis of covariance models adjusted for baseline variables and randomisation strata. Correlation coefficients were calculated between change in neural measures and change in ARAT score per group and for the whole sample. An interaction term was calculated for each baseline neural measure and ARAT score change from baseline to outcome. Results: A total of 288 participants were randomised [mean age 72.2 (standard deviation 12.5) years; mean ARAT score of 25.5 (18.2); n = 283]. For the 240 participants with ARAT measurements at baseline and outcome, the mean change scores were FST + CPT = 9.70 (11.72) and MPT + CPT = 7.90 (9.18). The group difference did not reach statistical significance (least squares mean difference 1.35, 95% confidence interval –1.20 to 3.90; p = 0.298). Correlations between ARAT change scores and baseline neural values ranged from –0.147 (p = 0.385) for whole-sample corticospinal connectivity (n = 37) to 0.199 (p = 0.320) for MPT + CPT resting motor threshold pBB (n = 27). No statistically significant interaction effects were found between baseline neural variables and change in ARAT score. There were no differences between groups in adverse events. Limitations: The number of participants in the embedded explanatory investigation was lower than expected. Conclusions: The small difference in upper limb improvement in response to FST and MPT did not reach statistical significance. Baseline neural measures neither correlated with upper limb recovery nor predicted therapy response. Future work: Needs to continue investigation of the variability of response to specific physical therapies in people early after stroke. Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN19090862 and National Research Ethics Service reference number 11/EE/0524. Funding: This project was funded by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme, a Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research partnership

A New Self-Report Measure of Self-Management of Type 1 Diabetes for Adolescents

The development of instruments to measure self-management in youth with type 1 diabetes has not kept up with current understanding of the concept