An economic evaluation of the early impact of Aimhigher: excellence challenge on pre-16 outcomes: update to previous analysis

The Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge intervention seeks to encourage more young people to articipate in tertiary education. This paper updates previous estimates of the impact of the programme on the GCSE marks and reported expected school leaving ages, among year 11 pupils. Information from 3 different cohorts is used (whereas the previous analysis had data on the first 2 cohorts). In some schools the second and third cohorts have been exposed to the policy, whereas in others only the third cohort was exposed to the policy. This distinction is used to model the impact of the policy using linear regression analysis. However the lack of a comparison group in Spring 2004 means that the impact of the policy can only be estimated under relatively strong assumptions about the evolution of the impact of the policy across time. Under the assumption that the policy had the same impact in the original treatment (EiC Phase 1 & 2 areas) in Spring 2004 as in Spring 2003, we find evidence that being part of the Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge programme in the new areas (EiC Phase 3) has led to a 5.2 percentage point increase in the year 11 pupils expecting to leave education at age 20 or over. Although slightly larger, this estimate is not statistically significantly different from the increase of 3.7 percentage points found in the original (EiC Phase 1 & 2) areas. Across both types of area (EiC Phase 1& 2 and EiC Phase 3) we estimate that the average impact of the policy is to increase the percentage of year 11 pupils reporting that they will leave education at age 20 or above by 4.6 percentage points. We also find some evidence of a similar positive impact on GCSE English results, although the impact across other GCSEs is less clear. While the assumptions made in producing these new estimates are relatively strong it is clear that the analysis of the new data does not contradict the previous estimates (which were reliant on less strong assumptions)

Temperature Fluctuations driven by Magnetorotational Instability in Protoplanetary Disks

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) drives magnetized turbulence in sufficiently ionized regions of protoplanetary disks, leading to mass accretion. The dissipation of the potential energy associated with this accretion determines the thermal structure of accreting regions. Until recently, the heating from the turbulence has only been treated in an azimuthally averaged sense, neglecting local fluctuations. However, magnetized turbulence dissipates its energy intermittently in current sheet structures. We study this intermittent energy dissipation using high resolution numerical models including a treatment of radiative thermal diffusion in an optically thick regime. Our models predict that these turbulent current sheets drive order unity temperature variations even where the MRI is damped strongly by Ohmic resistivity. This implies that the current sheet structures where energy dissipation occurs must be well resolved to correctly capture the flow structure in numerical models. Higher resolutions are required to resolve energy dissipation than to resolve the magnetic field strength or accretion stresses. The temperature variations are large enough to have major consequences for mineral formation in disks, including melting chondrules, remelting calcium-aluminum rich inclusions, and annealing silicates; and may drive hysteresis: current sheets in MRI active regions could be significantly more conductive than the remainder of the disk.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, ApJ In Press, updated to match proof

Variable rupture mode of the subduction zone along the Ecuador-Colombia coast

Three large earthquakes occurred within the rupture zone of the 1906 Colombia-Ecuador earthquake (M_W = 8.8): in 1942 (M_S = 7.9); 1958 (MS = 7.8); and 1979 (M_S = 7.7). We compared the size and mechanism of these earthquakes by using long-period surface waves, tsunami data, and macroseismic data. The 1979 event is a thrust event with a seismic moment of 2.9 × 10^(28) dyne-cm, and represents subduction of the Nazca plate beneath South America. The rupture length and direction are 230 km and N40°E, respectively. Examination of old seismograms indicates that the 1906 event is also a thrust event which ruptured in the northeast direction. The seismic moment estimated from the tsunami data and the size of the rupture zone is 2 × 10^(29) dyne-cm. The 1942 and 1958 events are much smaller (about 1/5 to 1/10 of the 1979 event in the seismic moment) than the 1979 event. We conclude that the sum of the seismic moments of the 1942, 1958, and 1979 events is only Formula of that of the 1906 event despite the fact that the sequence of the 1942, 1958, and 1979 events ruptured approximately the same segment as the 1906 event. This difference could be explained by an asperity model in which the fault zone is held by a discrete distribution of asperities with weak zones in between. The weak zone normally behaves aseismically, but slips abruptly only when it is driven by failure of the asperities. A small earthquake represents failure of one asperity, and the rupture zone is pinned at both ends by adjacent asperities so that the effective width and the amount of slip are relatively small. A great earthquake represents failure of more than one asperity, and consequently involves much larger width and slip

Velocity contrast across the San Andreas fault in central California: Small-scale variations from P-wave nodal plane distortion

Systematic variations in P-wave radiation patterns, evident in a data set of 400 central California earthquakes, have been analyzed for variations in velocity contrast across the San Andreas fault zone. Vertical strike-slip faulting characterizes the region, with radiation patterns well constrained by the dense local seismographic station network. A discontinuity in crustal velocity occurs across the San Andreas fault. The distribution of systematically inconsistent first motions indicates that first arrivals observed along the fault plane within the northeastern block have followed refracted paths through the higher velocity crustal rocks to the southwest, retaining P-wave polarities characteristic of the quadrant of origin, and thus appearing reversed. A simple geometrical interpretation, with P waves refracted at the fault plane near the focus, yields the velocity contrast across the fault zone; the distribution of hypocenters allows its mapping in time and space. The velocity contrast so determined ranges up to 15 per cent, for a depth range of 1 to 10 km. The observed pattern of contrast values is coherent, with the greatest contrast related apparently in space, and possibly in time, to the larger earthquakes occurring on the fault. We suggest the phenomenon reflects changes in stress state at the fault and, by virtue of its ease of measurement, offers a new and valuable technique in earthquake studies

Draft genome sequence of a meningitic isolate of Cronobacter sakazakii clonal complex 4, strain 8399

The Cronobacter sakazakii clonal lineage defined as clonal complex 4 (CC4), composed of nine sequence types, is associated with severe cases of neonatal meningitis. To date, only closely related C. sakazakii sequence type 4 (ST4) strains have been sequenced. C. sakazakii strain 8399, isolated from a case of neonatal meningitis, was sequenced as the first non-ST4 C. sakazakii strain

Boundary work during COVID-19: The transformation of research review and set-up

Background and aims: The rapid setting up of research during the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in ways of working within research organisations. The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of staff involved in the research review and set-up system at a large NHS and university partnership in the UK through the lens of boundary theory. / Methods: We carried out a rapid qualitative appraisal based on telephone interviews (n=25) to explore how staff experienced the research review and set-up system during the pandemic. / Results: In light of the pressures created by the pandemic, the boundaries established to set up distinct groups and responsibilities were modified to allow for different ways of working. Some of the new structures and processes were seen positively and brought groups that previously worked at a distance closer together. / Conclusions: The reconceptualisation of relations within the research system during the pandemic added more fluidity to ways of working within the research office and contributed to closer working interactions and an expanded team ethos