China's absorptive State: research, innovation and the prospects for China-UK collaboration

China's innovation system is advancing so rapidly in multiple directions that the UK needs to develop a more ambitious and tailored strategy, able to maximise opportunities and minimise risks across the diversity of its innovation links to China. For the UK, the choice is not whether to engage more deeply with the Chinese system, but how. This report analyses the policies, prospects and dilemmas for Chinese research and innovation over the next decade. It is designed to inform a more strategic approach to supporting China-UK collaboration

‘Lugger Language: isolation and collaboration’

Lugger Language celebrates the multicultural and multilingual nature of Broome’s pearling industry. Crews of the pearl luggers were of many ethnic groups: Japanese, Malay, Koepangers, Ambonese, Manilamen, Chinese, Aboriginal and more, who spoke a variety of languages. In this environment Broome Pearling Lugger pidgin developed. The isolation that men experienced on the luggers, and the tyranny of distance experienced by those on land back in port, brought people from all these backgrounds together in a variety of ways

Decision-Making Styles: An Exploration of Preferences of On- and Off-Campus Faculty

Collaboration between off-campus agents and on-campus specialists is often strained. We hypothesized that the strain relates to the groups having different styles of decision making. We administered a variation of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to on-campus specialists and off-campus agents in Utah. Although the groups share many MBTI preferences, there was a highly significant different on preference in the judging function, with 72% of the specialists indicating a Thinking preference and 60% of agents indicating a Feeling preference. This suggests major communication challenges when working together. We offer that the solution is in understanding the differences and using them as an asset

Decision-Making Styles: A Comparison of Extension Faculty and the Public

We hypothesized that Extension faculty, both on-campus specialists and off-campus agents, have different decision-making preferences than the public. We drew upon data from a previous study and from a national sample to compare the faculty groups and the public. We found agents to be much more like the public in the judging function. We also found both groups of faculty to have a very strong orientation to the S and J preferences. This suggests faculty may be so engaged in data gathering and management that they are unaware of public interests in intuitions, feelings, and action. We posit that faculty should be sufficiently fluent with the MBTI to recognize and work with people having different preferences

Banishing barberry:The history of Berberis vulgaris prevalence and wheat stem rust incidence across Britain

Wheat stem rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), is a notoriously damaging disease of wheat and barley. Pgt requires two hosts to complete its lifecycle; undergoing asexual reproduction on cereal crops and completing sexual reproduction on Berberis spp. The latter stage of its lifecycle is of particular importance in temperate regions such as western Europe, where asexual urediniospores are unable to survive cold winter weather. In the past, the crucial role of Berberis in the lifecycle of stem rust led to intensive eradication campaigns, initially carried out by farmers in the face of hostile scientific opinion. In the United Kingdom, common barberry (Berberis vulgaris) is today a relatively rare plant. Stem rust is, however, currently experiencing a resurgence; at the same time, there has been a general increase in the prevalence of barberry and an upsurge in its planting which, in the United Kingdom, is associated with attempts to encourage the endangered barberry carpet moth (Pareulype berberata). This article situates current developments within a broader chronological framework, examining changing attitudes towards barberry and rust in England in the past and the history of the plant's use and cultivation. It assesses how widespread B. vulgaris really was in the environment historically, and thus the scale of its eradication. We suggest that Berberis was never widely established as an archaeophyte in the United Kingdom. Current attempts to re-establish it are based on a misunderstanding of the plant's historical status and could potentially pose a serious threat to food security

Predictors of subgroups based on maximum drinks per occasion over six years for 833 adolescents and young adults in COGA.

ObjectiveA person's pattern of heavier drinking often changes over time, especially during the early drinking years, and reflects complex relationships among a wide range of characteristics. Optimal understanding of the predictors of drinking during times of change might come from studies of trajectories of alcohol intake rather than cross-sectional evaluations.MethodThe patterns of maximum drinks per occasion were evaluated every 2 years between the average ages of 18 and 24 years for 833 subjects from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism. Latent class growth analysis identified latent classes for the trajectories of maximum drinks, and then logistic regression analyses highlighted variables that best predicted class membership.ResultsFour latent classes were found, including Class 1 (69%), with about 5 maximum drinks per occasion across time; Class 2 (15%), with about 9 drinks at baseline that increased to 18 across time; Class 3 (10%), who began with a maximum of 18 drinks per occasion but decreased to 9 over time; and Class 4 (6%), with a maximum of about 22 drinks across time. The most consistent predictors of higher drinking classes were female sex, a low baseline level of response to alcohol, externalizing characteristics, prior alcohol and tobacco use, and heavier drinking peers.ConclusionsFour trajectory classes were observed and were best predicted by a combination of items that reflected demography, substance use, level of response and externalizing phenotypes, and baseline environment and attitudes