From research to practice: The case of mathematical reasoning

Mathematical proficiency is a key goal of the Australian Mathematics curriculum. However, international assessments of mathematical literacy suggest that mathematical reasoning and problem solving are areas of difficulty for Australian students. Given the efficacy of teaching informed by quality assessment data, a recent study focused on the development of evidence-based Learning Progressions for Algebraic, Spatial and Statistical Reasoning that can be used to identify where students are in their learning and where they need to go to next. Importantly, they can also be used to generate targeted teaching advice and activities to help teachers progress student learning. This paper explores the processes involved in taking the research to practice

Structural and diffusion MRI in dementia with Lewy bodies : a comparison with Alzheimer's disease and normal ageing

Purpose: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a common form of dementia, yet its clinical features remain poorly understood. We investigated in vivo structural and micro-structural changes in DLB compared to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and normal ageing using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques and their relationship to clinical features. Methods: Study subjects (35 DLB, 36 AD, 35 Controls) completed clinical and cognitive assessments and structural and diffusion tensor MRI scans. Voxel based morphometry (VBM) techniques were used to investigate patterns of regional grey matter atrophy. To investigate white matter tract change, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) indices, fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were measured across the entire white matter skeleton using the tract based spatial statistics (TBSS) analysis. Results: Groups were well matched for demographic and clinical factors, although, as expected, the DLB group also had more neuropsychiatric features, greater parkinsonism and more functional impairment than the AD group. VBM analysis indicated a less diffuse pattern of grey matter atrophy in DLB than observed in AD, with areas of loss including the posterior and subcortical regions without significant frontal atrophy. DLB had greater preservation of the medial temporal lobe structures when compared to AD, which was associated with less impaired memory function. The pattern of FA change in DLB compared to controls involved the parieto-occipital white matter tracts; in AD, the FA change was more diffuse. In DLB, an association was found between reduced FA and the phonemic fluency tasks in the white-matter tracts of the precentral gyrus, anterior cingulate and precuneus in DLB. Abstract ii Conclusions: Despite a similar level of dementia severity, the patterns of structural and diffusion tensor MRI changes in AD and DLB differ significantly. DLB was associated with less grey matter volume loss and less white matter tract change than AD along with differing regional patterns of change.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Explaining student achievement: the influence of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in statistics

Statistics is an increasingly important component of the mathematics curriculum. StatSmart was a project intended to influence middle-years students’ learning outcomes in statistics through the provision of appropriate professional learning opportunities and technology to teachers. Participating students in grade 5/6 to grade 9 undertook three tests, a pre-test, a post-test and a longitudinal retention test over a period of 2 years. Their teachers completed a survey that included items measuring pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching statistics. Despite the development of valid instruments to measure both student and teacher content knowledge and teachers’ PCK, linking teachers’ knowledge directly to students’ learning outcomes has proved elusive. Multilevel modelling of results from 789 students for whom there were 3 completed tests and measures from their teachers indicated that students’ outcomes were influenced positively by their initial teacher’s PCK. Extended participation of teachers in the project also appeared to reduce negative effects of changing teachers

h-indices: an update on the performance of professors in nursing in the UK

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Policies for capacity development

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Managing Contemporary UK Universities – Manager-academics and New Managerialism

A multi-disciplinary project entitled ‘New Managerialism and the Management of UK Universities’ was conducted by a team of researchers based at Lancaster University between October 1998 and November 2000. The study was funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (grant no R000237661). The project was designed to examine the extent to which ‘New Managerialism’, a set of reforms of the management of publicly-funded services popular with many western governments, was perceived to have permeated the management of UK universities. The study also explored the roles, practices, selection, learning and support of manager-academics. The first phase of the study comprised focus group discussions with learned societies from several disciplines where respondents considered what was currently happening to the management of universities. The second phase involved interviews with 135 manager-academics (from Head of Department to Vice Chancellor) and 29 senior administrators in 12 pre-1992 and post-1992 universities. The interviews explored the backgrounds, current management practices and perceptions of respondents. In phase 3, case studies of the cultures and management of four universities enabled comparison of the views of manager-academics with those of academics and support staff

Scenarios for the development of smart grids in the UK: synthesis report

‘Smart grid’ is a catch-all term for the smart options that could transform the ways society produces, delivers and consumes energy, and potentially the way we conceive of these services. Delivering energy more intelligently will be fundamental to decarbonising the UK electricity system at least possible cost, while maintaining security and reliability of supply. Smarter energy delivery is expected to allow the integration of more low carbon technologies and to be much more cost effective than traditional methods, as well as contributing to economic growth by opening up new business and innovation opportunities. Innovating new options for energy system management could lead to cost savings of up to £10bn, even if low carbon technologies do not emerge. This saving will be much higher if UK renewable energy targets are achieved. Building on extensive expert feedback and input, this report describes four smart grid scenarios which consider how the UK’s electricity system might develop to 2050. The scenarios outline how political decisions, as well as those made in regulation, finance, technology, consumer and social behaviour, market design or response, might affect the decisions of other actors and limit or allow the availability of future options. The project aims to explore the degree of uncertainty around the current direction of the electricity system and the complex interactions of a whole host of factors that may lead to any one of a wide range of outcomes. Our addition to this discussion will help decision makers to understand the implications of possible actions and better plan for the future, whilst recognising that it may take any one of a number of forms

Development and psychometric testing of an instrument to measure safety climate perceptions in community pharmacy

A positive and strong safety culture underpins effective learning from patient safety incidents in health care, including the community pharmacy (CP) setting. To build this culture, perceptions of safety climate must be measured with context-specific and reliable instruments. No pre-existing instruments were specifically designed or suitable for CP within Scotland. We therefore aimed to develop a psychometrically sound instrument to measure perceptions of safety climate within Scottish CPs.  The first stage, development of a preliminary instrument, comprised three steps: (i) a literature review; (ii) focus group feedback; and (iii) content validation. The second stage, psychometric testing, consisted of three further steps: (iv) a pilot survey; (v) a survey of all CP staff within a single health board in NHS Scotland; and (vi) application of statistical methods, including principal components analysis and calculation of Cronbach's reliability coefficients, to derive the final instrument.  The preliminary questionnaire was developed through a process of literature review and feedback. This questionnaire was completed by staff in 50 CPs from the 131 (38%) sampled. 250 completed questionnaires were suitable for analysis. Psychometric evaluation resulted in a 30-item instrument with five positively correlated safety climate factors: leadership, teamwork, safety systems, communication and working conditions. Reliability coefficients were satisfactory for the safety climate factors (α > 0.7) and overall (α = 0.93).  The robust nature of the technical design and testing process has resulted in the development of an instrument with sufficient psychometric properties, which can be implemented in the community pharmacy setting in NHS Scotland

Engineering a plant community to deliver multiple ecosystem services

The sustainable delivery of multiple ecosystem services requires the management of functionally diverse biological communities. In an agricultural context, an emphasis on food production has often led to a loss of biodiversity to the detriment of other ecosystem services such as the maintenance of soil health and pest regulation. In scenarios where multiple species can be grown together, it may be possible to better balance environmental and agronomic services through the targeted selection of companion species. We used the case study of legume-based cover crops to engineer a plant community that delivered the optimal balance of six ecosystem services: early productivity, regrowth following mowing, weed suppression, support of invertebrates, soil fertility building (measured as yield of following crop), and conservation of nutrients in the soil. An experimental species pool of 12 cultivated legume species was screened for a range of functional traits and ecosystem services at five sites across a geographical gradient in the United Kingdom. All possible species combinations were then analyzed, using a process-based model of plant competition, to identify the community that delivered the best balance of services at each site. In our system, low to intermediate levels of species richness (one to four species) that exploited functional contrasts in growth habit and phenology were identified as being optimal. The optimal solution was determined largely by the number of species and functional diversity represented by the starting species pool, emphasizing the importance of the initial selection of species for the screening experiments. The approach of using relationships between functional traits and ecosystem services to design multifunctional biological communities has the potential to inform the design of agricultural systems that better balance agronomic and environmental services and meet the current objective of European agricultural policy to maintain viable food production in the context of the sustainable management of natural resources