'I just want a job' : what do we really know about young people in jobs without training?

Over recent years, a central concern of policy has been to drive up post-16 participation rates in full-time education and address the needs of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). As a result, young people who enter work which is classified as 'without training' at 16/17 have largely been ignored. However, the decision to Raise the Participation Age (RPA) for continuing in learning for all 17-year olds from 2013 and for all 18-year olds from 2015 in England, together with a growing unease about the impact of the current recession on youth unemployment rates, have revived interest in the 'jobs without training' (JWT) group. This paper draws on the findings from two studies: first, a qualitative study in two contrasting local labour markets, of young people in JWT, together with their employers and parents; and second, an evaluation of the Learning Agreement Pilots (LAP), which was the first policy initiative in England targeted at the JWT group. Both studies reveal a dearth of understanding about early labour market entrants and a lack of policy intervention and infrastructure to support the needs of the JWT group throughout the UK. From this, it is concluded that questionable assumptions have been made about the composition and the aspirations of young people in JWT, and their employers, on the basis of little or no evidence. As a consequence, a policy 'quick fix' to satisfy the RPA agenda will not easily be achieved. If the decision to raise the participation age is adopted also by the Welsh and Scottish parliaments, similar challenges may have to be faced

What would Stradivari have to have done to receive a DProf by Public Works?

Extended Abstract prepared for the 4th International Conference on Professional Doctorates, Millennium Centre, Cardiff, April 2014 to be developed into a full paper to be published in a refereed journal

The impact and penetration of location-based services

Since the invention of digital technology, its development has followed an entrenched path ofminiaturisation and decentralisation with increasing focus on individual and niche applications. Computerhardware has moved from remote centres to desktop and hand held devices whilst being embedded invarious material infrastructures. Software has followed the same course. The entire process has convergedon a path where various analogue devices have become digital and are increasingly being embedded inmachines at the smallest scale. In a parallel but essential development, there has been a convergence ofcomputers with communications ensuring that the delivery and interaction mechanisms for computersoftware is now focused on networks of individuals, not simply through the desktop, but in mobilecontexts. Various inert media such as fixed television is becoming more flexible as computers and visualmedia are becoming one.With such massive convergence and miniaturisation, new software and new applications define the cuttingedge. As computers are being increasingly tailored to individual niches, then new digital services areemerging, many of which represent applications which hitherto did not exist or at best were rarely focusedon a mass market. Location based services form one such application and in this paper, we will bothspeculate on and make some initial predictions of the geographical extent to which such services willpenetrate different markets. We define such services in detail below but suffice it to say at this stage thatsuch functions involve the delivery of traditional services using digital media and telecommunications.High profile applications are now being focused on hand held devices, typically involving information onproduct location and entertainment but wider applications involve fixed installations on the desktop whereservices are delivered through traditional fixed infrastructure. Both wire and wireless applications definethis domain. The market for such services is inevitably volatile and unpredictable at this early stage but wewill attempt here to provide some rudimentary estimates of what might happen in the next five to tenyears.The ?network society? which has developed through this convergence, is, according to Castells (1989,2000) changing and re-structuring the material basis of society such that information has come todominate wealth creation in a way that information is both a raw material of production and an outcome ofproduction as a tradable commodity. This has been fuelled by the way technology has expanded followingMoore?s Law and by fundamental changes in the way telecommunications, finance, insurance, utilitiesand so on is being regulated. Location based services are becoming an integral part of this fabric and thesereflect yet another convergence between geographic information systems, global positioning systems, andsatellite remote sensing. The first geographical information system, CGIS, was developed as part of theCanada Land Inventory in 1965 and the acronym ?GIS? was introduced in 1970. 1971 saw the firstcommercial satellite, LANDSAT-1. The 1970s also saw prototypes of ISDN and mobile telephone and theintroduction of TCP/IP as the dominant network protocol. The 1980s saw the IBM XT (1982) and thebeginning of de-regulation in the US, Europe and Japan of key sectors within the economy. Finally in the 1990s, we saw the introduction of the World Wide Web and the ubiquitous pervasion of business andrecreation of networked PC?s, the Internet, mobile communications and the growing use of GPS forlocational positioning and GIS for the organisation and visualisation of spatial data. By the end of the 20thcentury, the number of mobile telephone users had reached 700 million worldwide. The increasingmobility of individuals, the anticipated availability of broadband communications for mobile devices andthe growing volumes of location specific information available in databases will inevitably lead to thedemand for services that will deliver location related information to individuals on the move. Suchlocation based services (LBS) although in a very early stage of development, are likely to play anincreasingly important part in the development of social structures and business in the coming decades.In this paper we begin by defining location based services within the context we have just sketched. Wethen develop a simple model of the market for location-based services developing the standard non-linearsaturation model of market penetration. We illustrate this for mobile devices, namely mobile phones in thefollowing sections and then we develop an analysis of different geographical regimes which arecharacterised by different growth rates and income levels worldwide. This leads us to speculate on theextent to which location based services are beginning to take off and penetrate the market. We concludewith scenarios for future growth through the analogy of GIS and mobile penetration

Taming tosyl azide: the development of a scalable continuous diazo transfer process

Heat and shock sensitive tosyl azide was generated and used on demand in a telescoped diazo transfer process. Small quantities of tosyl azide were accessed in a one pot batch procedure using shelf stable, readily available reagents. For large scale diazo transfer reactions tosyl azide was generated and used in a telescoped flow process, to mitigate the risks associated with handling potentially explosive reagents on scale. The in situ formed tosyl azide was used to rapidly perform diazo transfer to a range of acceptors, including β-ketoesters, β-ketoamides, malonate esters and β-ketosulfones. An effective in-line quench of sulfonyl azides was also developed, whereby a sacrificial acceptor molecule ensured complete consumption of any residual hazardous diazo transfer reagent. The telescoped diazo transfer process with in-line quenching was used to safely prepare over 21 g of an α-diazocarbonyl in >98% purity without any column chromatography

An exploratory study to determine students' perceptions of the value of interaction in an Australian classroom context and the perceived impact on learning outcomes

Interaction has long been a defining and critical component of the educational process, whatever the classroom context (Anderson 2003). This paper presents findings of a study to explore the attitudes of students at an Australian university towards various types interactivity in the classroom. The study also investigates students perceptions of how interactivity in the classroom impacts on cognitive, affective and behavioural learning outcomes. In a recent review of the literature Muirhead & Juwah (2003) argue that interactivity is critical in underpinning the learning process in face-to-face, campus based and distance and online education. They say that interactions serve a diverse range of functions in the educational process, which include learner to learner, learner to content, learner to tutor, learner to technology, tutor to content, tutor to technology, content to content. These functions promote and enhance the quality of active, participative learning in a learning environment. However, literature indicates that attitudes towards active learning involving greater interactivity varies across students and between students and lecturers (Billings, Connors, & Skiba 2001). Investigation into student attitudes of the value and effectiveness of interaction is of particular interest for educators who are adapting the learning of a diverse range of students, including oncampus, distance, international, under and postgradute students. Much of the existing research into classroom interaction was grounded in the behaviourist and cognitive sciences approach to learning and teaching, where traditional classroom interaction placed the teacher at the centre of all activities as transmitter of knowledge and co-coordinator of student interaction (McLoughlin 2002). Those studies predate the recent application of constructivism (Bonk and Cunningham 1998) and social learning theory (Bandura (1977), and the emphasis on building life long learning skills. This research will contribute to current discussion about the role of interaction in learning, based on a constructivist approach to developing life long learning skills. This paper will present the findings of an exploratory study of students’ attitudes to various types of interaction in a classroom context. The first step of this exploratory study will employ a focus group approach to gather data from on campus students to identify the key issues that emerge from this data. These findings will be used to design a survey instrument to implement a follow-up research project

Tonic inhibition of accumbal spiny neurons by extrasynaptic 4 GABAA receptors modulates the actions of psychostimulants

Within the nucleus accumbens (NAc), synaptic GABAA receptors (GABAARs) mediate phasic inhibition of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) and influence behavioral responses to cocaine. We demonstrate that both dopamine D1- and D2-receptor-expressing MSNs (D-MSNs) additionally harbor extrasynaptic GABAARs incorporating α4, β, and δ subunits that mediate tonic inhibition, thereby influencing neuronal excitability. Both the selective δ-GABAAR agonist THIP and DS2, a selective positive allosteric modulator, greatly increased the tonic current of all MSNs from wild-type (WT), but not from δ−/− or α4−/− mice. Coupling dopamine and tonic inhibition, the acute activation of D1 receptors (by a selective agonist or indirectly by amphetamine) greatly enhanced tonic inhibition in D1-MSNs but not D2-MSNs. In contrast, prolonged D2 receptor activation modestly reduced the tonic conductance of D2-MSNs. Behaviorally, WT and constitutive α4−/− mice did not differ in their expression of cocaine-conditioned place preference (CPP). Importantly, however, mice with the α4 deletion specific to D1-expressing neurons (α4D1−/−) showed increased CPP. Furthermore, THIP administered systemically or directly into the NAc of WT, but not α4−/− or α4D1−/− mice, blocked cocaine enhancement of CPP. In comparison, α4D2−/− mice exhibited normal CPP, but no cocaine enhancement. In conclusion, dopamine modulation of GABAergic tonic inhibition of D1- and D2-MSNs provides an intrinsic mechanism to differentially affect their excitability in response to psychostimulants and thereby influence their ability to potentiate conditioned reward. Therefore, α4βδ GABAARs may represent a viable target for the development of novel therapeutics to better understand and influence addictive behaviors

A study of the social and physical environment in catering kitchens and the role of the chef in promoting positive health and safety behaviour

This is the account of a mixed method study of chefs and their kitchens in order to identify the nature of their workplace and how this affects their ability to manage health and safety in the kitchen. It included extended periods of observation, monitoring of physical parameters, analysis of records of reported accidents, and a series of reflexive interviews. The findings were integrated and then fed back in a smaller number of second interviews in order to test whether the findings fitted in with the chefs' understanding of their world. Major factors identified included survival in a market environment, the status of the chef (and the kitchen) within organisations, marked autocracy of chefs, and an increasing tempo building up to service time with commensurate heat, noise, and activity. In particular during the crescendo, a threshold shift in risk tolerance was identified. The factors, their interplay, and their implications for health and safety in the catering kitchen are discussed