Evaluating the impact of the rural dimension of specialism

Commissioned by the Specialist Schools and Academies TrustThe rural dimension is intended to offer the opportunity to schools to enhance and extend the curriculum. Its focus is the understanding of environmental issues and the countryside, and it is seen as relevant to all schools, including those in urban areas. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) wishes to evaluate the extent to which the rural dimension is effective in raising standards. The aim of this study, commissioned by the SSAT, was to ascertain the extent to which the work schools undertake as part of their rural dimension has a demonstrable impact on achievement and attainment - in particular concerning: 1) attainment (pupil performance and school standards); 2) behaviour and attendance (on the part of pupils); 3) engagement (pupil interest and motivation, and raising aspirations among pupils and their families). The approach taken in the study is chiefly an interpretative and illuminative one with the aim of throwing light on how the rural dimension acts as an influence within the school context. Rather than looking for linear cause-and-effect, methodologically it was seen as more helpful to view organisations as complex processes of continual interaction in which any one initiative is the catalyst to multiple interpretations and reactions which generate further initiatives. Qualitative data are particularly helpful in throwing light on these processes. An exploratory case study approach was used, generating both qualitative and quantitative data in order to reflect the complexity of practice and experience in the rural dimension. Six case study schools were selected from rural dimension schools which expressed a wish to participate in the study. Criteria were used to maximise the variation in the sample used, although those with relatively large farms are over-represented. Each of the six case study schools was visited by one or more of the research team. Visits involved interviews, observation and perusal and collection of documentary data (including schools’ websites). This report also includes a selective literature review, highlighting some of the issues concerning research into specialisms and the value of education for sustainable development

Design and optimization of K-Ras protein inhibitors as anticancer agents using deltarasin as a case study

K-Ras serves as an important component of signalling pathways involved in cell cycle control. Proper functioning K-Ras is regulated by phosphodiesterase δ (PDEδ). Deltarasin binds to this prenyl-binding protein thus inhibiting its interaction with K-Ras and hence disrupting Ras signalling. The objective of this study is to use Deltarasin as a template for further iteration of the design of novel drugs with potential clinical use in the management of malignancies. Deltarasin was constructed using SYBYL-X ® V1.2, followed by analysis of the critical interactions with the amino acids lining the Ligand Binding Pocket (LBP). Seeds were modelled based on the Deltarasin scaffold and Virtual Screening (VS) was used to identify ‘hits’, using the same molecule as a template. SYBYL-X ®, X-SCORE® , LigBuilder® , Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD), Accelrys® Draw, Accelrys® Discovery Studio v3.5, Protein Data Bank and ZINCPharmer® were all used to generate results. The main outcome measures of this research project are to discover and optimise in silico high binding affinity of PDEδ inhibitory drug molecules, as well as molecule display, Ligand Binding Affinity (LBA) and Ligand Binding Energy (LBE) calculations, seed generation and ultimately de novo design. Based on reviewed SAR studies, nine seeds were generated using SYBYL-X ® V1.2. The POCKET and GROW algorithm of LigBuilder® V1.2 were used to generate in silico molecules for each seed. Surflexdocking in SYBYL-X ® V1.2 resulted in five molecules with a total docking score of six or greater. De novo molecules created and optimized, present viable leads for high-throughput screening, leading to identification of novel PDEδ inhibitors for use as anti-cancer agents.peer-reviewe

Perceptions and Anticipation of Academic Literacy: ‘Finding Your Own Voice’

Based on data gathered via survey questionnaire and follow up in-class discussion, the paper explores the ways undergraduate students think of themselves as writers and readers. Data drawn from a pilot survey in 2007 and a second in 2009 provides the impetus for discussion of issues of literacy and identity in a digital world. Of interest is 1) what first-year students anticipate they need to do and know, and 2) how final-year students reflect on what they have learnt in terms of academic literacies and related skills. A key issue is the way students bring a particular identity as readers and writers to university, and how this is transformed and re-inscribed through their studies. The importance of teaching for the development of rhetorical dexterity in a digital environment is highlighted because students’ digital literacy is a core element in their literacy identity. The paper also asks ‘how far should educators go in working into the space of digital literacies?

The Environment in New York State

This article explores the environmental policy in New York State. Science is significant as a driver of environmental policy, but public opinion is even more important. The story of the New York State\u27s water supply is dominated by the historic quest to supply water to New York City. The State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) has been the most fertile source of environmental litigation in New York State courts. New York\u27s solid waste expenditures have soared as it has had to pay commercial landfills and incinerators to take waste that had previously been cheaply dumped at Fresh Kills. New York began the modern era as a vigorous and innovative leader in environmental protection measures, but since the early 1990s, the paralyzing partisanship in the legislature and inconsistent leadership in the governor\u27s office have moved the state considerably further back in the national pack on many environmental issues

Written expression

We are in the midst of not one, but two, revolutions in education. The first exemplified by the present OECD project, concerns the impact of New Information Technologies on teaching and on our understanding of the learning process. The second, one which seems at first to be far removed from the realm of NIT, is a radical reconception of the role of writing [by which we mean "written expression", not handwriting] in education and of how it should be taught. This report, one of four on NIT and Education, focuses on the confluence of these two revolutions. Despite initial impressions to the contrary, we suspect that NIT may have a great, if not their greatest, impact in the area of writing.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Setting research priorities in Global Health : appraising the value of evidence generation activities to support decision-making in health care

The allocation of scarce resources among competing health care priorities is a key objective in all jurisdictions, whether in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) or high-income countries. This involves allocating resources to ensure access to health care programmes, which can deliver improvements in health, but also to managing innovation in the development of new technologies, and investing in evidence generation activities to improve health for future generations. The allocation of health care resources among competing priorities requires an assessment of the expected health effects and costs of investing resources in the different activities and the opportunity costs of these expenditures, as well as an assessment of the uncertainty in health effects and costs. Uncertainty can lead to unintended adverse health consequences, e.g., when expected benefits of an activity are not realised when implemented in practice, or resources committed by an activity are transferred away from other health improving activities. The consequences of uncertainty can be reduced by investing in evidence generation activities that improve the information available to support future resource allocation decisions. An analytic framework is developed to assess the value of evidence generation activities to support international research funders, who have the responsibility for allocating funds among competing research priorities in Global Health. Within the framework, the costs and health benefits of evidence generation activities are assessed using the same principles as those employed when evaluating the cost-effectiveness of investments in service provision. Metrics of value, founded on an understanding of the health opportunity costs imposed by research expenditure, are used to quantify the scale of the potential global net health impact across all beneficiary populations (in net disability-adjusted life years averted), or the equivalent health care system resources required to deliver this net health impact, and research costs and their potential health opportunity costs. The framework can be applied to answer key questions such as: whether investment in research activities is worthwhile; which research activities should be prioritised; what type of research activity is necessary and what is the most appropriate design of the research; what are the opportunity costs associated with evidence generation; what is the optimal timing of research; and whether evidence generation activities should be prioritised over investments in service provision or new technology development. An illustrative example is used to demonstrate the application of the framework for informing research priorities in Global Health

Exploring systems that support good clinical care in Indigenous primary health-care services: a retrospective analysis of longitudinal systems assessment tool data from high-improving services

Background: Continuous quality improvement is a process for raising the quality of primary health care across Indigenous PHC services. In addition to clinical auditing using plan, do, study, act cycles, engaging staff in a process of reflecting on systems to support quality care is vital. The One21seventy Systems Assessment Tool (SAT) supports staff to assess systems performance in terms of five key components. This study examines quantitative and qualitative SAT data from five high-improving Indigenous primary health care services in northern Australia to understand the systems used to support quality care. Methods: High improving services selected for the study were determined by calculating quality of care indices for Indigenous health services participating in the ABCD National Research Partnership. Services that reported continuing high improvement in quality of care delivered across two or more audit tools in three or more audits were selected for the study. Pre-collected SAT data (from annual team SAT meetings) is presented longitudinally using radar plots for quantitative scores for each component and content analysis is used to describe strengths and weaknesses of performance in each systems component. Results: High improving services were able to demonstrate strong processes for assessing system performance and consistent improvement in systems to support quality care across components. Key strengths in the quality support systems included adequate and orientated workforce, appropriate health system supports and engagement with other organisations and community while the weaknesses included lack of service infrastructure, recruitment, retention and support for staff and additional costs. Qualitative data revealed clear voices from health service staff expressing concerns with performance and subsequent SAT data provided evidence of changes made to address concerns. Conclusion: Learning from the processes and strengths of high-improving services may be useful as we work with services striving to improve the quality of care provided in other areas

“We’re happy as we are”: the experience of living with possible undiagnosed dementia.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Cambridge University Press via the DOI in this record. It is estimated that a third of people in the United Kingdom with signs of dementia are living without a formal diagnosis. In Wales, the proportion is nearly half. Some explanations for the gap between prevalence of dementia and number of diagnoses include living with a long-term partner/spouse and systemic barriers to diagnosis. This study recruited participants from the Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies-Wales (CFAS-Wales) cohort, randomly selected from people aged over 65 living in two areas of Wales, who met study criteria for a diagnosis of dementia and did not have a record of a formal diagnosis in general practice records. We aimed to understand more about the contexts and circumstances of people who live with and cope with cognitive difficulties without having a formal diagnosis of dementia. We conducted qualitative interviews with six participants and their spouses, and additionally with four family members of three invited people who were unable to take part. Themes were generated using thematic analysis. We present the argument that there is an adaptive response to low service levels and a complex interaction between the expectations of levels of service, perceptions of the legitimacy of cognitive problems and the right to make demands on services. This paper concludes that more could be done to address barriers to diagnosis and treatment services for those living with symptoms of dementia, but that the value placed on diagnosis by some individuals might be lower than anticipated by government policy.Alzheimer's SocietyEconomic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Practical metrics for establishing the health benefits of research to support research prioritisation

Introduction : We present practical metrics for estimating the expected health benefits of specific research proposals. These can be used by research funders, researchers, and health-care decision makers within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to support evidence-based research prioritisation. Methods : The methods require three key assessments: (1) the current level of uncertainty around the endpoints the proposed study will measure; (2) how uncertainty impacts on the health benefits and costs of health-care programmes; and (3) the health opportunity costs imposed by programme costs. Research is valuable because it can improve health by informing the choice of which programmes should be implemented. We provide a Microsoft Excel tool to allow readers to generate estimates of the health benefits of research studies based on these three assessments. The tool can be populated using clinical studies, existing cost-effectiveness models and expert opinion. Where such evidence is not available, the tool can quantify the value of research under different assumptions. Estimates of the health benefits of research can be considered alongside research costs, and the consequences of delaying implementation until research reports, to determine whether research is worthwhile. We illustrate the method using a case study of research on HIV self-testing programmes in Malawi. This analysis combines data from the literature with outputs from the HIV synthesis model. Results : For this case study we found a costing study that could be completed and inform decision making within one year offered the highest health benefits (67,000 DALYs averted). Research on outcomes improved population health to a lesser extent (12,000 DALYs averted) and only if carried out alongside programme implementation. Conclusion : Our work provides a method for estimating the health benefits of research in a practical and timely fashion. This can be used to support accountable use of research funds

Lifestyle Matters for maintenance of health and wellbeing in people aged 65 years and over: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background Healthy, active ageing is strongly associated with good mental wellbeing which in turn helps to prevent mental illness. However, more investment has been made into research into interventions to prevent mental illness than into those designed to improve mental wellbeing. This applied research programme will provide high quality evidence for an intervention designed to improve and sustain mental wellbeing in older adults. Methods/Design This study was a multi-centre, pragmatic, two-arm, parallel group, individually randomised controlled trial to determine the population benefit of an occupational therapy based intervention for community living people aged 65 years or older. Participants (n = 268) will be identified in one city in the North of England and in North Wales through GP mail-outs, signposting by local authority, primary care staff and voluntary sector organisations and through community engagement. Participants will be randomised to one of two treatment arms: an intervention (Lifestyle Matters programme); or control (routine access to health and social care). All participants will be assessed at baseline, 6 and 24 months post-randomisation. The primary outcome, which is a person reported outcome, is the SF-36 Mental Health dimension at six months post randomisation. Secondary outcome measures have been selected to measure psychosocial, physical and mental health outcomes. They include other dimensions of the SF36, EQ-5D-3L, Brief Resilience Scale, General Perceived Self Efficacy Scale, PHQ-9, de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, Health and Social Care Resource Use and the wellbeing question of the Integrated Household Survey 2011. A cost effectiveness analysis will investigate the incremental cost per Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) of the Lifestyle Matters intervention compared with treatment as usual. Discussion The questions being posed through this research are important given the increasing numbers of older people, pressure on the public purse and the associated need to support good health in the extended lifespan. The proposed trial will determine the clinical and cost effectiveness of the intervention delivered in a UK context. The results will support commissioners and providers with decisions about implementation.</p