Teacher induction: personal intelligence and the mentoring relationship

This article is aimed at probationer teachers in Scotland, their induction supporters, and all those with a responsibility for their support and professional development. It argues that the induction process is not merely a mechanistic one, supported only by systems in schools, local authorities and the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), but a more complex process where the relationship between the new teacher and the supporter is central to its success. In particular, the characteristics and skills of the induction supporter in relation to giving feedback are influential. This applies to feedback in all its forms – formative and summative, formal and informal. The ability of the probationer to handle that feedback and to be proactive in the process is also important

Neutrino Mass from R-parity Violation in Split Supersymmetry

We investigate how the observed neutrino data can be accommodated by R-parity violation in Split Supersymmetry. The atmospheric neutrino mass and mixing are explained by the bilinear parameters $\xi_i$ inducing the neutrino-neutralino mixing as in the usual low-energy supersymmetry. Among various one-loop corrections, only the quark-squark exchanging diagrams involving the order-one trilinear couplings $\lambda'_{i23,i32}$ can generate the solar neutrino mass and mixing if the scalar mass $m_S$ is not larger than $10^9$ GeV. This scheme requires an unpleasant hierarchical structure of the couplings, e.g., $\lambda_{i23,i32}\sim 1$, $\lambda'_{i33} \lesssim 10^{-4}$ and $\xi_i \lesssim 10^{-6}$. On the other hand, the model has a distinct collider signature of the lightest neutralino which can decay only to the final states, $l_i W^{(*)}$ and $\nu Z^{(*)}$, arising from the bilinear mixing. Thus, the measurement of the ratio; $\Gamma(e W^{(*)}) : \Gamma(\mu W^{(*)}) : \Gamma(\tau W^{(*)})$ would provide a clean probe of the small reactor and large atmospheric neutrino mixing angles as far as the neutralino mass is larger than 62 GeV.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, version submitted to JHE

Table 1. Quick reference data Symbol Parameter Conditions Min Typ Max Unit

Intermediate level gate drive N-channel enhancement mode Field-Effect Transistor (FET) in a plastic package using advanced TrenchMOS technology. This product has been designed and qualified to the appropriate AEC Q101 standard for use in high performance automotive applications. 1.2 Features and benefits � AEC Q101 compliant � Suitable for standard and logic level gate drive sources � Suitable for thermally demanding environments due to 175 °C rating 1.3 Applications � 12 V Automotive systems � Electric and electro-hydraulic power steering � Motors, lamps and solenoid control � Start-Stop micro-hybrid applications � Transmission control � Ultra high performance power switching 1.4 Quick reference dat

Declining free healthcare and rising treatment costs in India: an analysis of national sample surveys 1986-2004

The article focuses on trends in health-seeking behaviour of people and choosing between government and private sources, reasons for not accessing health care and the cost of treatment by examining three rounds of NSS data on health care use and morbidity pattern during 1986–87, 1995–96 and 2004. With variation across states, treatment-seeking from public providers has declined and preference for private providers has increased over the period. Although overall health-seeking behaviour has improved for both males and females, a significant percentage of people, more in rural than urban areas, do not seek treatment due to lack of accessibility and consider that the illness is not serious enough to require treatment. The financial reason for not seeking treatment was also an important issue in rural areas. There has also been change in the cost of health care over time. While the health care cost has increased, the gap between the public and the private has reduced, owing to perhaps increased cost of treatment in public health facilities following the levying of user-fees and curtailing distribution of free medicine. Practically all states reported decline in availability of free both out-patient and in-patient care. The article concludes with supporting the adaptation of innovative public-private partnership in health sector for various services realizing the limitations of the state provision of health, particularly in rural and remote areas, and the growing preference of consumers for private health providers. As effectiveness of public spending also depends on the choice of health interventions, target population and technical efficiency partnering with private health providers could work towards reducing the health inequalities in the country

Semiclassical collapse of a sphere of dust

The semiclassical collapse of a homogeneous sphere of dust is studied. After identifying the independent dynamical variables, the system is canonically quantised and coupled equations describing matter (dust) and gravitation are obtained. The conditions for the validity of the adiabatic (Born--Oppenheimer) and semiclassical approximations are derived. Further on neglecting back--reaction effects, it is shown that in the vicinity of the horizon and inside the dust the Wightman function for a conformal scalar field coupled to a monopole emitter is thermal at the characteristic Hawking temperature.Comment: LaTeX, 25 pages, no figures, final version accepted for publication in Class. and Quantum Gra

GPAQ-R: development and psychometric properties of a version of the general practice assessment questionnaire for use for revalidation by general practitioners in the UK.

BACKGROUND: The General Practice Assessment Questionnaire (GPAQ) has been widely used to assess patient experience in general practice in the UK since 2004. In 2013, new regulations were introduced by the General Medical Council (GMC) requiring UK doctors to undertake periodic revalidation, which includes assessment of patient experience for individual doctors. We describe the development of a new version of GPAQ - GPAQ-R which addresses the GMC's requirements for revalidation as well as additional NHS requirements for surveys that GPs may need to carry out in their own practices. METHODS: Questionnaires were given out by doctors or practice staff after routine consultations in line with the guidance given by the General Medical Council for surveys to be used for revalidation. Data analysis and practice reports were provided independently. RESULTS: Data were analysed for questionnaires from 7258 patients relating to 164 GPs in 29 general practices. Levels of missing data were generally low (typically 4.5-6%). The number of returned questionnaires required to achieve reliability of 0.7 were around 35 for individual doctor communication items and 29 for a composite score based on doctor communication items. This suggests that the responses to GPAQ-R had similar reliability to the GMC's own questionnaire and we recommend 30 completed GPAQ-R questionnaires are sufficient for revalidation purposes. However, where an initial screen raises concern, the survey might be repeated with 50 completed questionnaires in order to increase reliability. CONCLUSIONS: GPAQ-R is a development of a well-established patient experience questionnaire used in general practice in the UK since 2004. This new version can be recommended for use in order to meet the UK General Medical Council's requirements for surveys to be used in revalidation of doctors. It also meets the needs of GPs to ask about patient experience relating to aspects of practice care that are not specific to individual general practitioners (e.g. receptionists, telephone access) which meet other survey requirements of the National Health Service in England. Use of GPAQ-R has the potential to reduce the number of surveys that GPs need to carry out in their practices to meet the various regulatory requirements which they face

Prevalence of Oral Pain and Barriers to use of Emergency Oral Care Facilities Among Adult Tanzanians.

Oral pain has been the major cause of the attendances in the dental clinics in Tanzania. Some patients postpone seeing the dentist for as long as two to five days. This study determines the prevalence of oral pain and barriers to use of emergency oral care in Tanzania. Questionnaire data were collected from 1,759 adult respondents aged 18 years and above. The study area covered six urban and eight rural study clusters, which had been selected using the WHO Pathfinder methodology. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were performed to identify associations.\ud Forty two percent of the respondents had utilized the oral health care facilities sometimes in their lifetime. About 59% of the respondents revealed that they had suffered from oral pain and/or discomfort within the twelve months that preceded the study, but only 26.5% of these had sought treatment from oral health care facilities. The reasons for not seeking emergency care were: lack of money to pay for treatment (27.9%); self medication (17.6%); respondents thinking that pain would disappear with time (15.7%); and lack of money to pay for transport to the dental clinic (15.0%). Older adults were more likely to report that they had experienced oral pain during the last 12 months than the younger adults (OR = 1.57, CI 1.07-1.57, P < 0.001). Respondents from rural areas were more likely report dental clinics far from home (OR = 5.31, CI = 2.09-13.54, P < 0.001); self medication at home (OR = 3.65, CI = 2.25-5.94, P < 0.001); and being treated by traditional healer (OR = 5.31, CI = 2.25-12.49, P < 0.001) as reasons for not seeking emergency care from the oral health care facilities than their counterparts from urban areas. Oral pain and discomfort were prevalent among adult Tanzanians. Only a quarter of those who experienced oral pain or discomfort sought emergency oral care from oral health care facilities. Self medication was used as an alternative to using oral care facilities mainly by rural residents. Establishing oral care facilities in rural areas is recommended

A survey of statistics in three UK general practice journal

Background Many medical specialities have reviewed the statistical content of their journals. To our knowledge this has not been done in general practice. Given the main role of a general practitioner as a diagnostician we thought it would be of interest to see whether the statistical methods reported reflect the diagnostic process. Methods Hand search of three UK journals of general practice namely the British Medical Journal (general practice section), British Journal of General Practice and Family Practice over a one-year period (1 January to 31 December 2000). Results A wide variety of statistical techniques were used. The most common methods included t-tests and Chi-squared tests. There were few articles reporting likelihood ratios and other useful diagnostic methods. There was evidence that the journals with the more thorough statistical review process reported a more complex and wider variety of statistical techniques. Conclusions The BMJ had a wider range and greater diversity of statistical methods than the other two journals. However, in all three journals there was a dearth of papers reflecting the diagnostic process. Across all three journals there were relatively few papers describing randomised controlled trials thus recognising the difficulty of implementing this design in general practice

The association between green space and cause-specific mortality in urban New Zealand: an ecological analysis of green space utility

&lt;b&gt;Background:&lt;/b&gt; There is mounting international evidence that exposure to green environments is associated with health benefits, including lower mortality rates. Consequently, it has been suggested that the uneven distribution of such environments may contribute to health inequalities. Possible causative mechanisms behind the green space and health relationship include the provision of physical activity opportunities, facilitation of social contact and the restorative effects of nature. In the New Zealand context we investigated whether there was a socioeconomic gradient in green space exposure and whether green space exposure was associated with cause-specific mortality (cardiovascular disease and lung cancer). We subsequently asked what is the mechanism(s) by which green space availability may influence mortality outcomes, by contrasting health associations for different types of green space. &lt;b&gt;Methods:&lt;/b&gt; This was an observational study on a population of 1,546,405 living in 1009 small urban areas in New Zealand. A neighbourhood-level classification was developed to distinguish between usable (i.e., visitable) and non-usable green space (i.e., visible but not visitable) in the urban areas. Negative binomial regression models were fitted to examine the association between quartiles of area-level green space availability and risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease (n = 9,484; 1996 - 2005) and from lung cancer (n = 2,603; 1996 - 2005), after control for age, sex, socio-economic deprivation, smoking, air pollution and population density. &lt;b&gt;Results:&lt;/b&gt; Deprived neighbourhoods were relatively disadvantaged in total green space availability (11% less total green space for a one standard deviation increase in NZDep2001 deprivation score, p &#60; 0.001), but had marginally more usable green space (2% more for a one standard deviation increase in deprivation score, p = 0.002). No significant associations between usable or total green space and mortality were observed after adjustment for confounders. &lt;b&gt;Conclusion&lt;/b&gt; Contrary to expectations we found no evidence that green space influenced cardiovascular disease mortality in New Zealand, suggesting that green space and health relationships may vary according to national, societal or environmental context. Hence we were unable to infer the mechanism in the relationship. Our inability to adjust for individual-level factors with a significant influence on cardiovascular disease and lung cancer mortality risk (e.g., diet and alcohol consumption) will have limited the ability of the analyses to detect green space effects, if present. Additionally, green space variation may have lesser relevance for health in New Zealand because green space is generally more abundant and there is less social and spatial variation in its availability than found in other contexts

Is metal theft committed by organized crime groups, and why does it matter?

Using the example of metal theft in the United Kingdom, this study used mixed methods to evaluate the accuracy of police estimates of the involvement of organised crime groups (OCGs) in crime. Police estimate that 20-30% of metal theft is committed by OCGs, but this study found that only 0.5% of metal thieves had previous convictions for offences related to OCGs, that only 1.3% were linked to OCGs by intelligence information, that metal thieves typically offended close to their homes and that almost no metal thefts involved sophisticated offence methods. It appears that police may over-estimate the involvement of OCGs in some types of crime. The reasons for and consequences of this over-estimation are discussed