The role of the Initial Teacher Training Coordinator in the school based element of partnership: to what extent does the Co-ordinator undertake supervision of aspects of quality assurance?

Over the last 14 years, Universities and colleges have organised school placements and award qualifications whilst teachers, acting as mentors take the lead in guiding, supervising and assessing students on lengthy teaching placements. Partnership developed quickly in response to legislation and Sheffield Hallam University was among the first of the Universities to 'sign up' to the new partnership model in 1992. The Partnership Survey 2006 reported on in this paper has focussed on the Senior Liaison Tutor with a view to finding out their views on their role, and perceived contributions to the quality assurance of the partnership. The survey focussed on some of the key issues identified in previous studies and meetings of the Partnership Management Board.</p

The role of the initial teacher training co-ordinator: secondary headteachers' and ITT co-ordinators' perspectives

The roles of ITT co-ordinator (ITTC) and CPD co-ordinator have become well established in secondary schools in England. However there is usually a separation of responsibilities for these areas within schools. The introduction of a new Standards Framework and other government policies such as the remodelling of the workforce in schools (DfES, 2003, TDA, 2007a) provide schools with opportunity to revisit these roles. A consequence of remodelling has been a rapid expansion of support staff in schools to assist teachers and one aspect of this contractual change is that support staff are taking on administrative tasks, formerly done by teachers. A further aspect is that CPD Coordinators now have responsibility for staff development cross the wider workforce. During 2007, Schools have used remodelling as an opportunity to review their management structures throughout the school including the organisation of staff development and how the school is contributing to the training of new teachers. In this paper we consider how the role of the ITTC is changing using data from interviews with Head Teachers and ITTCs from a sample of secondary schools that are in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University. Data collection took place in April and May 2007.</p

Mass spawning of Acropora in the coral sea

The annual synchronous spawning of numerous species of scleractinian corals is one of the most spectacular of natural phenomena. Comparisons available suggest that mass spawning is restricted to regions with large variations in environmental cycles with a progressive breakdown in seasonality and synchrony of reproduction towards the equator. To test this hypothesis we compared the spawning patterns of Acropora at 4 locations in the Coral Sea with contrasting environmental cycles. In the Solomon Islands (8° 06 S) mature eggs were found in 28 of the 41 Acropora species Sampled. Overall 36 % of colonies (n=403) had mature eggs, 6 % had immature eggs and no eggs were visible in the remaining colonies. At Lizard Island (14 ° 39 S) 15 of 26 species had mature eggs or 62 % of the colonies sampled, while 10% contained immature eggs. On Orpheus Island (18° 40 S) 19 of21 species had mature eggs or 72% of the colonies sampled, and less than 2 % of colonies had immature eggs. In the few widespread species abundant at each of location the proportion of the population fecund declined from Lady Elliot (23 ° 45) towards the equator, suggesting that degree of synchrony may be less and the reproductive season longer. However, the high proportion of colonies without eggs even in locations where the reproductive season is restricted to the mass spawning period suggests that not all colonies spawn every year. Furthermore, the proportion of fecund colonies in some morphologies is consistently low (e.g. arborescent = 35 %), suggesting that many Acropora have more a complicated life history than implied by the paradigm of the mass spawn

How was it for you? Experiences of participatory design in the UK health service

Improving co-design methods implies that we need to understand those methods, paying attention to not only the effect of method choices on design outcomes, but also how methods affect the people involved in co-design. In this article, we explore participants' experiences from a year-long participatory health service design project to develop ‘Better Outpatient Services for Older People’. The project followed a defined method called experience-based design (EBD), which represented the state of the art in participatory service design within the UK National Health Service. A sample of participants in the project took part in semi-structured interviews reflecting on their involvement in and their feelings about the project. Our findings suggest that the EBD method that we employed was successful in establishing positive working relationships among the different groups of stakeholders (staff, patients, carers, advocates and design researchers), although conflicts remained throughout the project. Participants' experiences highlighted issues of wider relevance in such participatory design: cost versus benefit, sense of project momentum, locus of control, and assumptions about how change takes place in a complex environment. We propose tactics for dealing with these issues that inform the future development of techniques in user-centred healthcare design

Collateral damage: Anticoagulant rodenticides pose threats to California condors

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are widespread environmental contaminants that pose risks to scavenging birds because they routinely occur within their prey and can cause secondary poisoning. However, little is known about AR exposure in one of the rarest avian scavengers in the world, the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus). We assessed AR exposure in California condors and surrogate turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) to gauge potential hazard to a proposed future condor flock by determining how application rate and environmental factors influence exposure. Additionally, we examined whether ARs might be correlated with prolonged blood clotting time and potential mortality in condors. Only second-generation ARs (SGARs) were detected, and exposure was detected in all condor flocks. Liver AR residues were detected in 42% of the condors (27 of 65) and 93% of the turkey vultures (66 of 71). Although concentrations were generally low (\u3c10 ng/g ww), 48% of the California condors and 64% of the turkey vultures exposed to ARs exceeded the 5% probability of exhibiting signs of toxicosis (\u3e20 ng/g ww), and 10% and 13% exceeded the 20% probability of exhibiting signs toxicosis (\u3e80 ng/g ww). There was evidence of prolonged blood clotting time in 16% of the free-flying condors. For condors, there was a relationship between the interaction of AR exposure index (legal use across regions where condors existed) and precipitation, and the probability of detecting ARs in liver. Exposure to ARs may complicate recovery efforts of condor populations within their current range and in the soon to be established northern California experimental population. Continued monitoring of AR exposure using plasma blood clotting assays and residue analysis would allow for an improved understanding of their hazard to condors, particularly if paired with recent movement data that could elucidate exposure sources on the landscape occupied by this endangered species

Unilateral ureteral obstruction impairs renal antioxidant enzyme activation during sodium depletion

Unilateral ureteral obstruction impairs renal antioxidant enzyme activation during sodium depletion.BackgroundObstructive nephropathy leads to progressive renal tubular atrophy and interstitial fibrosis and is associated with sodium wasting and sodium depletion. Renal damage resulting from unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) may be aggravated by reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are produced by a variety of processes. Ideally, deleterious effects of ROS are attenuated by antioxidant enzymes, including the superoxide dismutases, glutathione peroxidases, catalase, and glutathione-S-transferases. The general paradigm is that tissue damage occurs when ROS production is greater than the protective capacity of the antioxidant enzymes.MethodsThis study was designed to investigate the response of renal antioxidant enzymes to UUO and sodium depletion. Adult, male Sprague-Dawley rats received normal-sodium or sodium-depleted diets and were subjected to UUO or sham operation. Obstructed (UUO), intact opposite, or sham-operated kidneys were harvested after 14days, and antioxidant enzyme activities were measured in kidney homogenates. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances were measured in these homogenates at 3 and 14days after UUO or sham operation as an index of ROS production.ResultsRenal interstitial area, a measure of fibrosis, was increased by UUO and was doubled in sodium-depleted animals. Sodium depletion increased manganese superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidases, and glutathione-S-transferase activities in sham-operated kidneys but not in UUO kidneys. Relative to intact opposite kidneys, UUO kidneys had reduced activities of catalase, manganese superoxide dismutase, and glutathione-S-transferase in normal-sodium animals and all antioxidant enzymes tested in sodium-depleted animals. Renal thiobarbituric acid reactive substances were increased by three days of UUO and were increased further by 14days of sodium depletion.ConclusionIn summary, sodium depletion increased several renal antioxidant enzymes, consistent with a stress response to increased ROS production. Further, UUO not only reduced antioxidant enzyme activities but also inhibited increases seen with sodium depletion. We conclude that suppression of renal antioxidant enzyme activities by UUO contributes to the progression of renal injury in obstructive nephropathy, a process exacerbated by sodium depletion

Evaluation of molecular makers for species phylogeny of genus Acropora (Cnidaria; Scleractinia; Acroporidae)

Acropora is the most speciose genus in coral reef with 113 species currently described. Diversified morphology and potential of cross-species hybridization have drawn our attention in defining the species boundary, constructing species-level phylogeny, and inferring mechanism of speciation for this genus. Although endeavours have been taking in developing molecular markers in the last decade, several unique features such as slow evolution of mitochondrial genome and abundant ribosomal pseudogenes of Acropora neither provide little resolution for phylogenetic inference, nor equivocal conclusions in contrast to phylogenies based on fossil records and morphological characters. In this study, we evaluated 4 molecular markers, including mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (Cytb), mitochondrial intergenic spacer spanning between Cytb and ND gene (mtigs), mini-collagen intron 2 (mci2), and nuclear histone 2a and 2b gene (H2ab), for constructing species phylogeny of genus Acropora. All the 4 loci supported the two subgenera, lsopora and Acropora, as two distinct evolutionary lineages, and relocated Acropora togianensis as the fifth species in the• subgenus lsopora. However, Cytb, mtigs, and mci2 suffering from either low variability or sharing unsorted polymorphisms between the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific species provided no further resolution in resolving phylogeny in subgenus Acropora. In contrast, phylogeny constructed based on h2ab gene using Bayesian approach supported, in part, to Wallace (1999), that A. humilis group and A. austera form the basal clades of morphological phylogeny. The utility of nuclear coding genes in. resolving. species phylogeny of Acropora is highlighted

Being Warm Being Happy: fuel poverty and adults with intellectual disabilities

Self-determination has been acknowledged as a criticalconstruct for people with intellectual disability (ID), given the benefits itspromotion entails towards an enhanced quality of life..