Teaching assistants and support for literacy and language development

Through an examination of writing done by teaching assistants for an Open University course, this paper examines assistants’ perceptions of their role in children’s learning within the context of the Literacy Hour. There is an analysis of three themes arising from the data i.e. assistants’ practice aimed at increasing children’s participation; assistants’ pedagogic and subject knowledge; and the nature of assistants’ team working with teachers. The data suggests that teaching assistants are very involved in working with the most vulnerable and ‘difficult to teach’ children and that they use a range of intermediary techniques and pedagogic strategies to enable these children to participate in the Literacy Hour. The data lends support to the official view of the role of teaching assistants i.e. that, guided by teachers, they ‘enable the teacher to teach’ and ‘support children’s learning’. However, the data also suggests that teaching assistants teach too, sometimes with a degree of independence. Indeed, the variety (and in some cases sophistication) of ways in which teaching points are developed by them with children appears to signify a clear pedagogic role in terms of extending children’s knowledge of literacy

Collective turnover : an expanded meta-analytic exploration and comparison

As evidenced by the publication of three meta-analyses in 2013, the importance of collective turnover is garnering increasing attention. Although each of these meta-analyses delivers a unique and significant impact to the HR literature, there remain opportunities to expand and build upon their contributions. In a comparison of the three extant meta-analyses, we found over 90 unique papers that were included in only one of each of the three studies, and > 10 new studies published since 2013. We combined and expanded the existing meta-analyses, offering a comparison of results, as well as contributing to a greater understanding of the role of collective turnover. In the most comprehensive analysis to date, analyzing 2149 effect sizes from 159 studies across 150 articles, we find both support for and divergence from several previously examined relationships, as well as evidence of a curvilinear turnover-performance relationship and of the contagious influence of turnover

Large-scale Star Formation Triggering in the Low-mass Arp 82 System: A Nearby Example of Galaxy Downsizing Based on UV/Optical/Mid-IR Imaging

As part of our Spitzer Spirals, Bridges, and Tails project to help understand the effects of galaxy interactions on star formation, we analyze GALEX ultraviolet, SARA optical, and Spitzer infrared images of the interacting galaxy pair Arp 82 (NGC 2535/6) and compare to a numerical simulation of the interaction. We investigate the multiwavelength properties of several individual star forming complexes (clumps). Using optical and UV colors, EW(Halpha), and population synthesis models we constrain the ages of the clumps and find that the median clump age is about 12 Myr. The clumps have masses ranging from a few times 10^6 to 10^9 solar masses. In general, the clumps in the tidal features have similar ages to those in the spiral region, but are less massive. The 8 micron and 24 micron luminosities are used to estimate the far-infrared luminosities and the star formation rates of the clumps. The total clump star formation rate is 2.0+/-0.8 solar masses per year, while the entire Arp 82 system is forming stars at a rate of 4.9+/-2.0 solar masses per year. We find, for the first time, stars in the HI arc to the southeast of the NGC 2535 disk. Population synthesis models indicate that all of the observed populations have young to intermediate ages. We conclude that although the gas disks and some old stars may have formed early-on, the progenitors are late-type or low surface brightness and the evolution of these galaxies was halted until the recent encounter.Comment: Accepted for publication in the AJ, 22 Figures, 5 Table

Controlling pulse propagation in optical fibers through nonlinearity and dispersion management

In case of the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with designed group velocity dispersion, variable nonlinearity and gain/loss; we analytically demonstrate the phenomenon of chirp reversal crucial for pulse reproduction. Two different scenarios are exhibited, where the pulses experience identical dispersion profiles, but show entirely different propagation behavior. Exact expressions for dynamical quasi-solitons and soliton bound-states relevant for fiber communication are also exhibited.Comment: 4 pages, 5 eps figure

Na2IrO3 as a spin-orbit-assisted antiferromagnetic insulator with a 340 meV gap

We study Na2IrO3 by ARPES, optics, and band structure calculations in the local-density approximation (LDA). The weak dispersion of the Ir 5d-t2g manifold highlights the importance of structural distortions and spin-orbit coupling (SO) in driving the system closer to a Mott transition. We detect an insulating gap {\Delta}_gap = 340 meV which, at variance with a Slater-type description, is already open at 300 K and does not show significant temperature dependence even across T_N ~ 15 K. An LDA analysis with the inclusion of SO and Coulomb repulsion U reveals that, while the prodromes of an underlying insulating state are already found in LDA+SO, the correct gap magnitude can only be reproduced by LDA+SO+U, with U = 3 eV. This establishes Na2IrO3 as a novel type of Mott-like correlated insulator in which Coulomb and relativistic effects have to be treated on an equal footing.Comment: Accepted in Physical Review Letters. Auxiliary and related material can be found at: http://www.phas.ubc.ca/~quantmat/ARPES/PUBLICATIONS/articles.htm

Variation in ambulance call rates for care homes in Torbay, UK

Emergency ambulance calls represent one of the routes of emergency hospital admissions from care homes. We aimed to describe the pattern of ambulance call rates from care homes and identify factors predicting those homes calling for an ambulance most frequently. We obtained data from South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust on 3138 ambulance calls relating to people aged 65 and over from care homes in the Torbay region between 1/4/12 and 31/7/13. We supplemented this with data from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website on home characteristics and outcomes of CQC inspections. We used descriptive statistics to identify variation in ambulance call rates for residential and nursing homes and fitted negative binomial regression models to determine if call rates were predicted by home type (nursing versus residential), the five standards in the CQC reports, dementia care status or travel time to hospital. One hundred and forty-six homes (119 residential and 27 nursing) were included in the analysis. The number of calls made ranged from 1 to 99. The median number (IQR; range) of calls per resident per year was 0.51 (0.21 to 0.89; 0.03 to 2.45). Nursing homes had a lower call rate than residential homes (adjusted rate ratio (ARR) 0.29; 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.40 ; p<0.001); care homes failing the quality and suitability of management standard had a lower call rate compared to those who passed (ARR 0.67; 95% CI: 0.50 to 0.90; p=0.006); and homes specialising in dementia had a higher call rate compared to those not specialising (ARR 1.56; 95% CI: 1.23 to 1.96; p<0.001). These findings require replication in other regions to establish their generalisability and further investigation is required to determine the extent to which callrate variability reflects the different needs of resident populations or differences in care home policies and practice

Effects of lactulose on growth, carcass characteristics, faecal microbiota, and blood constituents in broilers

Citation: Mohammadi Gheisar, M., Nyachoti, C. M., Hancock, J. D., & Kim, I. H. (2016). Effects of lactulose on growth, carcass characteristics, faecal microbiota, and blood constituents in broilers. Veterinarni Medicina, 61(2), 90-96. doi:10.17221/8722-VETMEDThis study was conducted to determine the effect of supplementing diets with lactulose on growth performance, carcass characteristics, faecal microbiota, and blood constituents. A total of 324 one-day-old Ross 308 mixed-sex broiler chicks with an average initial body weight of 38 g were used in a 35-day growth assay. There were 18 birds/pen and six pens/treatment with food and water available ad libitum. Treatments consisted of a corn-soybean-meal-based diet with 0, 0.25 and 0.5% of lactulose. The results indicated that body weight gain (BWG) was improved (linear effect, P < 0.05) by increasing the concentration of lactulose in the diet from zero to 0.5% while the feed conversion ratio (FCR) decreased (linear effect, P < 0.05) for Days 8 to 21, 21 to 35, and overall (Day 0 to 35). Chickens fed the diet supplemented with 0.5% lactulose showed a higher relative weight of breast meat compared to other groups. Inclusion of lactulose decreased the count of Salmonella and E. coli in excreta of chickens fed diets containing 0.25 or 0.5% lactulose (P < 0.05), but the count of Lactobacillus was not affected. Drip loss percentage was decreased (P < 0.05) on Day 1 by addition of 0.5% lactulose, but there was no effect on meat colour. Blood characteristics were not influenced. Thus, it was concluded that inclusion of lactulose improves growth performance and alters excreta microbial populations with no adverse effect on broilers

Longitudinal painting schemes for H- charge exchange injection into the PS2

Minimization of direct space charge tune shift at injection into the PS2 is important for the reduction of beam losses. A determining parameter for the tune shift is the bunching factor, defined as mean current over peak current for one RF period. Various longitudinal painting schemes for PS2 injection, all based on synchrotron motion, have been studied with respect to the resulting bunching factors

Who is to blame? The relationship between ingroup identification and relative deprivation is moderated by ingroup attributions

Contradictory evidence can be found in the literature about whether ingroup identification and perceived relative deprivation are positively or negatively related. Indeed, theoretical arguments can be made for both effects. It was proposed that the contradictory findings can be explained by considering a hitherto unstudied moderator: The extent to which deprivation is attributed to the ingroup. It was hypothesised that identification would only have a negative impact on deprivation, and that deprivation would only have a negative impact on identification, if ingroup attributions are high. To test this, attributions to the ingroup were experimentally manipulated among British student participants (N = 189) who were asked about their perceived deprivation vis-à-vis German students, yield ing support for the hypotheses