Employee demand for skills: evidence and policy review : UK Commission for Employment and Skills Research Report no. 3

This report presents the results of a detailed review of evidence and policy relating to the factors that influence the engagement of the individual in skills development. It incorporates a broad range of formal and informal learning activities, delivered in a range of institutional settings and through different media, including work-based, classroombased, distance learning and community based learning. The review is deliberately broad in its focus, drawing on evidence and policy relating to people in different positions within the labour market - in or out of work, new entrants into employment, younger and older workers, people with and without qualifications and/or with higher and lower skills. However, a key focus for the research was the barriers and factors affecting access to skills development opportunities among lower skilled and lower qualified people. The review was undertaken by WM Enterprise and the Employment Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UK Commission)

PACE – Towards a Future Delivery Model

The Employment Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University was commissioned by the Scottish Government to help develop a future delivery model for the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE). The Scottish Government established the PACE Partnership on 23 June 2009 to bring together agencies with an interest in PACE. This report forms part of the work assigned to the PACE Delivery Workstream, which was charged with undertaking a review of the current mechanism for delivery of PACE support and highlighting areas for improvement. This report sets out some of the issues related to developing the operational delivery of PACE. The focus is on the broad service delivery model at the local level, so relatively little is said about the core, national PACE operation. It is based upon a review of the PACE Work Stream event and other material and interviews with selected PACE chairs. PACE is not ‘broken' and generally appears to offer an appropriate service. There are a number of challenges and strengths in the current system and there is scope for improvement

The SWELLS Survey. VI. hierarchical inference of the initial mass functions of bulges and discs

The long-standing assumption that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is universal has recently been challenged by a number of observations. Several studies have shown that a "heavy" IMF (e.g., with a Salpeter-like abundance of low mass stars and thus normalisation) is preferred for massive early-type galaxies, while this IMF is inconsistent with the properties of less massive, later-type galaxies. These discoveries motivate the hypothesis that the IMF may vary (possibly very slightly) across galaxies and across components of individual galaxies (e.g. bulges vs discs). In this paper we use a sample of 19 late-type strong gravitational lenses from the SWELLS survey to investigate the IMFs of the bulges and discs in late-type galaxies. We perform a joint analysis of the galaxies' total masses (constrained by strong gravitational lensing) and stellar masses (constrained by optical and near-infrared colours in the context of a stellar population synthesis [SPS] model, up to an IMF normalisation parameter). Using minimal assumptions apart from the physical constraint that the total stellar mass within any aperture must be less than the total mass within the aperture, we find that the bulges of the galaxies cannot have IMFs heavier (i.e. implying high mass per unit luminosity) than Salpeter, while the disc IMFs are not well constrained by this data set. We also discuss the necessity for hierarchical modelling when combining incomplete information about multiple astronomical objects. This modelling approach allows us to place upper limits on the size of any departures from universality. More data, including spatially resolved kinematics (as in paper V) and stellar population diagnostics over a range of bulge and disc masses, are needed to robustly quantify how the IMF varies within galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 15 pages, 8 figures. Code available at https://github.com/eggplantbren/SWELLS_Hierarchica

Does Place of Residence or Time of Year Affect the Risk of Stroke Hospitalization and Death? A Descriptive Spatial and Temporal Epidemiologic Study

Background: Identifying geographic areas with significantly high risks of stroke is important for informing public health prevention and control efforts. The objective of this study was to investigate geographic and temporal patterns of stroke hospitalization and mortality risks so as to identify areas and seasons with significantly high burden of the disease in Florida. The information obtained will be useful for resource allocation for disease prevention and control. Methods: Stroke hospitalization and mortality data from 1992 to 2012 were obtained from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. Age-adjusted stroke hospitalization and mortality risks for time periods 1992–94, 1995–97, 1998–2000, 2001–03, 2004–06, 2007–09 and 2010–12 were computed at the county spatial scale. Global Moran’s I statistics were computed for each of the time periods to test for evidence of global spatial clustering. Local Moran indicators of spatial association (LISA) were also computed to identify local areas with significantly high risks. Results: There were approximately 1.5 million stroke hospitalizations and over 196,000 stroke deaths during the study period. Based on global Moran’s I tests, there was evidence of significant (p\u3c0.05) global spatial clustering of stroke mortality risks but no evidence (p\u3e0.05) of significant global clustering of stroke hospitalization risks. However, LISA showed evidence of local spatial clusters of both hospitalization and mortality risks with significantly high risks being observed in the north while the south had significantly low risks of stroke deaths. There were decreasing temporal trends and seasonal patterns of both hospitalization and mortality risks with peaks in the winter. Conclusions: Although stroke hospitalization and mortality risks have declined in the past two decades, disparities continue to exist across Florida and it is evident from the results of this study that north Florida may, in fact, be part of the stroke belt despite not being in any of the traditional stroke belt states. These findings are useful for guiding public health efforts to reduce/eliminate inequities in stroke outcomes and inform policy decisions. There is need to continually identify populations with significantly high risks of stroke to better guide the targeting of limited resources to the highest risk populations

An examination of early colorectal cancer screening guidelines for African Americans: Hints from the HINTS data

Background: Despite the overall gains in reducing colorectal cancer (CRC) deaths due to the increase in screening, minority racial/ethnic groups who have disparately higher rates of death compared to Whites, also have disproportionately lower screening rates. Patient-provider communication about screening has a strong influence on the uptake of screening. In much the same way that gradual impact was made after the 1996 implementation of guidelines recommending screening starting at age 50 for those at average risk, it may be expected that the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) guidelines suggesting screening start at 45 for Blacks combined with a recent trend toward increasing incidence of cancer in persons below the age of 50 might influence practitioners to offer screening with greater frequency to those younger minority groups. Methods: This study examines HINTS Cycle 4 data to examine the nationally representative rates at which providers offer patients the option to be screened for CRC, with emphasis on Blacks ages 45-49. We looked for a trend in these rates over time, compared the pooled proportion estimates across racial/ethnic groups aged 45-49, and compared the proportion of Black individuals in this age group to those between ages 50 and 75 who had been told they could choose to have a CRC screening. Results: Approximately 27.14% of Black individuals aged 45-49 had been offered the option of CRC screening by a healthcare provider compared to 32.57% of White individuals of the same age group and 43.53% of Black individuals age 50-75. Discussion: There is not yet any evidence of an increase in adherence to the ACG guidelines for the Black population aged 45-49 and there remains a significant racial disparity in discussion of the CRC screening option. Earlier information regarding the option to be screened may have the potential to reduce disparities CRC screening and mortality, as well as potentially halt a disturbing trend toward early cancers

Magnetically-controlled velocity selection in a cold atom sample using stimulated Raman transitions

We observe velocity-selective two-photon resonances in a cold atom cloud in the presence of a magnetic field. We use these resonances to demonstrate a simple magnetometer with sub-mG resolution. The technique is particularly useful for zeroing the magnetic field and does not require any additional laser frequencies than are already used for standard magneto-optical traps. We verify the effects using Faraday rotation spectroscopy.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Third sector independence: relations with the state in an age of austerity

Third sector organisations deliver a range of public services for government. They are valued and trusted by commissioners, clients and wider society because of their independence. However, the extent to which the third sector is independent is questioned. Drawing on qualitative longitudinal research with third sector organisations in Scotland, this article explores how third sector organisations delivering public services manage the demands of changing funding structures and relationships with government, and the implications for their independence. It explores how organisations understand and negotiate the tension between their independence and mission-driven social action, and delivering commissioned and contracted public services. In doing so, it highlights the challenges to independence in a dynamically changing political, policy and financial climate, as well as opportunities for organisations to emphasise their distinctive contribution to public service delivery

UK Academic – Hong Kong Industry Collaboration

This report presents findings from research on science and engineering partnerships between UK universities and Hong Kong based industry. The research was conducted by the Employment Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University in partnership with Red Links Limited, a Hong Kong based business

Overcoming barriers to equality and diversity on boards in Scotland.

The Employment Research Institute (ERI) was commissioned by the Scottish Government to identify ways in which equalities groups can be better represented at board level in the public, private and third sectors. The purpose of the research was to identify how barriers to equality can be overcome and to identify the potential costs and benefits of each approach

Overcoming barriers to equality and diversity on boards in Scotland.

The Employment Research Institute (ERI) was commissioned by the Scottish Government to identify ways in which equalities groups can be better represented at board level in the public, private and third sectors. The purpose of the research was to identify how barriers to equality can be overcome and to identify the potential costs and benefits of each approach