Penal policymaking: a collaborative symposium. Summary report

The event ‘Penal Policymaking: A collaborative symposium’ was held on 14 April 2016, at the Institute for Government. It was attended by a range of policy participants and academics. It was held under the Chatham House rule. This report provides summaries of the discussion in each session, along with the briefing papers distributed in advance. The sessions were as follows:1. Developing Sentencing and Penal Policymaking2. Practitioners, Policymakers and Penal Policy3. Localism, Markets and Criminal Justice Policy<br/

Calcium dependent activation of the NF-AT transcription factor by p59fyn

AbstractA reporter gene under the control of a T-cell antigen receptor response element was activated in Jurkat cells by antigen receptor triggering or by a combination of phorbol myristate acetate, which activates protein kinase C, and a calcium ionophore. Both these signals were necessary for expression of the reporter gene. When co-transfected with a construct capable of overexpressing the tyrosine kinase p59fyn, the reporter gene was activated by PMA alone. Thus p59fyn could replace the calcium ionophore but not activation of protein kinase C. The activation by p59fyn plus PMA was blocked by EGTA and by the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporin A

Meanings, values, and life course: a study of participants’ experiences at a Scottish outdoor education centre

Residential outdoor education has had a significant formal and informal presence within the education system of the United Kingdom since the 1950s. However, there is little empirical research into the experiences of participants, particularly from a long-term perspective. The present study investigates the meanings, values, and impacts that participants attribute to a five-day residential experience at Ardentinny Outdoor Education Centre, near Dunoon, Scotland. Participants attended the Centre as school pupils between 13 and 16 years of age. Ardentinny Outdoor Education Centre operated as an educational facility under the auspices of the local authority between 1973 and 1996. Participants were contacted between 2007 and 2008, hence a minimum of 11 years after the Centre closed. Semi-structured questionnaires (n = 110) and interviews (n = 14) were used to generate data regarding participants’ experiences. These were analysed using a hermeneutic approach. Supplementary data were generated from archival documents and interviews (n = 29) with various stakeholders in Ardentinny Outdoor Education Centre, ranging from local authority education officers to Centre managers and instructional staff. These supplementary data contribute towards a nuanced interpretive account of participants’ experiences that has both breadth and depth. The data suggest that participants’ experiences at Ardentinny Outdoor Education Centre represented highly significant events in their school career. Principal findings relate to themes of achievement, independence and responsibility, and the development of more adult relationships. Seventy-two percent of questionnaire respondents claimed that their experience at Ardentinny Outdoor Education Centre continued to influence their adult lives. This influence was manifested in a variety of ways ranging from a love of the outdoor environment, to choices regarding use of leisure time, to employment choices. Bourdieu’s (1977, 1990b) theory of social practice, particularly the concepts of field and habitus, provides a framework to interpret participants’ expressions of the nature of their experiences and the impact those experiences did or did not have on their lives. From this perspective Ardentinny Outdoor Education Centre presented participants with a safe and authentic experience that differed sufficiently from their previous life experiences to allow for the opportunity to develop new understandings of self and the social world. These new understandings were expressed in different ways and at different times over participants’ subsequent life course

Phenomenological study of the relationship between a 10-day residential outdoor education experience and patterns of physical activity in adult life

This dissertation investigates the meanings and values that a group of adults aged between 30 and 31 years attribute to a 10-day residential outdoor education experience that took place 17 years ago. The dissertation specifically investigates whether the participants consider that the experience has had any influence on their current patterns of physical activity. Research shows that levels of sedentarism and inactivity amongst the population of the United Kingdom are rising. This is causing concern in Government regarding the impact of this lack of physical activity on the health of individuals, the cost to the National Health Service, and the maintaining of a healthy working population. A review of the literature relating to the role of outdoor education as a means of encouraging physical activity reveals a strong historical connection between outdoor education and physical health in the UK. However, the literature is primarily rhetorical and theoretical in nature and illustrates an absence of complementary empirical work. A phenomenological methodology informed both data collection and analysis. Data were gathered using semi-structured interviews. The results demonstrate that the residential outdoor experience was a very positive experience for the interviewees. The experience was most significant in terms of personal and social development. In terms of the impact of the experience on physical activity patterns in adult life the results demonstrate a relationship which is limited but worthy of further investigation

Toward Resonant, Imaginative Experiences in Ecological and Democratic Education. A Response to Imagination and Experience: An Integrative Framework

In this response to Fettes\u27s Imagination and Experience, the authors further consider the varieties of educational experience that inspire ecological flourishing and a living democracy. The essential interconnectedness of encounter-driven and language-driven ways of knowing are explored with particular reference to the authors\u27 involvement in a research project at an innovative elementary school in British Columbia, Canada

Helicobacter pylori toxin VacA is transferred to host cells via a novel contact-dependent mechanism.

Summary Helicobacter pylori is the causative agent of peptic ulcer disease. A major virulence factor of H. pylori is VacA, a toxin that causes massive vacuolization of epithelial cell lines in vitro and gastric epithelial erosion in vivo. Although VacA is exported over the outer membrane and is released from the bacteria, a portion of the toxin remains associated with the bacterial surface. We have found surface-associated toxin to be biologically active and spatially organized into distinct toxin-rich domains on the bacterial surface. Upon bacterial contact with host cells, toxin clusters are transferred directly from the bacterial surface to the host cell surface at the bacteria–cell interface, followed by uptake and intoxication. This contact-dependent transfer of VacA represents a cost-efficient route for delivery of VacA and potentially other bacterial effector molecules to target cells