A Longitudinal Follow-up Study of the Doodle Den After-school Programme Childhood Development Initiative

More than a quarter of children in Ireland are living in, or are at risk of, poverty. Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to leave school early and without having attained the fundamental literacy skills. Literacy is widely acknowledged as the foundation for academic attainment across the curriculum. Children who fall behind in literacy at an early stage are likely to remain behind (Brooks, 2007; Francis et al, 1996; Juel, 1988), with consequences for later academic achievement and access to employment.The importance placed on the development of children's literacy has resulted in the design of numerous interventions for children in the form of programmes, products, practices and policies. Whilst many of these initiatives take place within normal school hours, after-school programmes are increasingly being adapted from their traditional role, which focused on childcare and recreational activities, to one focused on academic achievement. Some interventions have been shown to improve literacy outcomes in the short term; however, questions remain about whether these improvements are sustained over the longer term. With this in mind, the current report outlines the results of a follow-up to a randomised controlled trial evaluation of an after-school literacy programme (Doodle Den)

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Childhood Development Initiative's Mate-Tricks Pro-Social Behaviour After-School Programme

Mate-Tricks is an after-school programme designed to promote pro-social behaviour in Tallaght West (Dublin). Tallaght West has been designated as an area of particular social and economic disadvantage with high levels of unemployment. Mate-Tricks is a bespoke intervention that combines elements of two pro-social behaviour programmes: the Strengthening Families Program (SFP) and Coping Power Program (CPP). The programme is a one-year multi-session after-school programme comprising 59 children-only sessions, 6 parent-only sessions and 3 family sessions, with each session lasting 1½ hours.The intended outcomes of this programme are stated as follows in the Mate-Tricks manual: enhance children's pro-social development; reduce children's anti-social behaviour; develop children's confidence and self-esteem; improve children's problem-solving skills; improve child-peer interactions; develop reasoning and empathy skills; improve parenting skills; improve parent/child interaction. This evaluation reports on the pilot of this programme. Of the 21 outcomes investigated, 19 showed no significant differences between the children who attended Mate-Tricks and the control group. However, there were 2 statistically significant effects of the Mate-Tricks programme and 3 other effects that approached significance. The lack of effects and the few negative effects found in this study replicates findings in several recent studies of after-school behaviour programmes

The Production of Monoclonal Antibodies to Human TSH and Their Use in the Design of Immunometric Assays for Serum and Neonatal Blood Spot TSH

The potential for the application of antibodies as analytical and preparative reagents was greatly expanded by the development of techniques for the production of monoclonal antibodies (Kohler and Milstein, 1975, 1976). The properties of monoclonal antibodies are particularly suited to application in immunometric assays and indeed overcome all the major problems associated with conventional antisera. Antibodies of only moderate affinity may be used in sensitive immunometric assays with detection limits up to two orders of magnitude greater than can be achieved in competitive immunoassays with the same antibody (Buchegger et al, 1981). The work of this thesis was concerned with the production of monoclonal antibodies to human TSH and their use in the design of immunometric assays for serum and neonatal blood spot TSH. Chapter 3 deals with the production of a variety of monoclonal antibodies to TSH. These antibodies were characterised in terms of affinity, specificity and isotype. The results indicated that 5H8 and 2G2 may be of extreme practical value in the development of a two-site immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) for TSH. A number of such assays for the measurement of TSH in serum and in neonatal blood spots were then developed using both monoclonal and polyclonal antisera. Chapter 4 seeks to illustrate the clinical role and suitability of the monoclonal-polyclonal serum TSH assay developed in this project. The assay successfully distinguished all cases of untreated primary hypothyroidism as having an elevated serum TSH and all cases of untreated hyperthyroidism as having an undetectable serum TSH (<0.2 mU/1). On the basis of this information, together with the performance data described in Chapter 3, the assay was introduced in 1984 as the 'routine" serum TSH assay for the laboratory at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, processing some 20,000 serum specimens per annum. Regarding the Scottish Screening Programme for congenital hypothyroidism, at the end of 1983 the monoclonal - polyclonal IRMA replaced the two-polyclonal IRMA of Sutherland et al (1981). Cumulative statistics and predictive values of the data obtained from The National Screening Programme with the two In-house IRMA TSH assays are recorded in Chapter 5 and they reveal that the monoclonal - polyclonal IRMA has continued to maintain the excellent clinical data obtained from the Scottish Screening Programme. Alternative high specific activity labels and the implications of these developments for the serum TSH assay service in Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Scottish Screening Programme for congenital hypothyroidism are discussed in Chapter 6. It is almost certain that the clinical value of a serum TSH assay will be enhanced by improving the detection limit from 0.2 mU/1 to 0.02 mU/1. Such an improvement is not possible with the existing monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies and an 125I-label. The most straightforward way to achieve this improvement is to move to a non-isotopic label that is compatible with the available antibodies. The work presented in Chapter 4 of this thesis (Sections V and VI) has shown that many patients receiving thyroxine replacement therapy have undetectable serum TSH levels, both in the in-house IRMA and using the Delfia assay. The interpretation of these results is discussed in Chapter 6. However, the role of sensitive TSH assays in monitoring patients receiving thyroxine replacement has still to be fully evaluated

Market Structure and Energy Efficiency: The Case of New Commercial Buildings

This is a report on why commercial office buildings aren’t more energy efficient. Several decades of energy efficiency programs have resulted in some gains, but overall increases in the energy efficiency of buildings have fallen far short of the 30 to 50 percent improvement that many efficiency advocates believe is possible. The purpose of this study is to consider the “why” question by empirically examining the dynamics of new commercial building markets. To do so, the authors used multiple research techniques, including qualitative field observation and interview methods that allow for a more in-depth understanding of complicated market processes. Their research focused primarily on new office buildings and centered in four regional markets: Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland. The authors identify key dynamics of commercial office building markets, describe how change and innovation occurs in commercial development, discuss the implications for energy efficiency, and suggest next steps