Strategic review of health inequalities in England post 2010 (Marmot review consultation paper)

In November 2008, Professor Sir Michael Marmot was asked to advise the Secretary of State for Health on the future development of a health inequalities strategy in England post-2010. The consultation relates to the first phase of the review and is based on submissions from nine task groups, who considered the evidence base across the social determinants of health. This document discusses issues raised during this first phase of the review and identifies key questions for respondents. The consultation document is set out in the following sections: Section 1 The Review Consultation: Aims and consultation questions Section 2 The Strategic Review of Health inequalities: The Background to the Review, the remit, structure, context and the social determinants approach to health inequalities. Section 3 Key Strategic Themes: A summary of a thematic analysis of proposals made by the Review task groups. Each task group was asked to assess national and international evidence about interventions and policies from within their policy area, which would likely lead to reductions in health inequalities. Section 4 Cross-Cutting Challenges for the Review: A summary of challenges currently under consideration by the Review.

Amalgamation of Qualifications and Quality Assurance Bodies - Consultation Paper on Implementation (May 2009)

Amalgamation of Qualifications and Quality Assurance Bodies - Consultation Paper on Implementation (May 2009). Provided by the Department of Education and Skills, Ireland.

Apprenticeship Review - Background Issues Paper

The Government’s Action Plan for Jobs contained the following commitment regarding a review of apprenticeship: “Initiate a review of the apprenticeship training model, including costs, duration and demand with a view to providing an updated model of training that delivers the necessary skilled workforce to service the needs of a rapidly changing economy and ensures appropriate balance between supply and demand.” The first stage of the review process involves the preparation of this background issues paper which, inter alia, provides a factual description of the current system of apprenticeship, including the governance arrangements, trends and forecasts in relation to recruitment and identified strengths and weaknesses of the model and proposes a range of possible options for change.

Charting Our Education Future White Paper On Education (Launch Copy 1995)

Education makes a fundamentally important contribution to the quality and well-being of our society. This White Paper addresses itself to the policy framework that can best embrace the diverse and multiple requirements for educational action in the future. The need for and importance of such a framework are widely accepted. In setting out a framework, it is important to provide a philosophical rationale which, far from being merely a theoretical or ceremonial exercise, systematically informs policy formulation and educational practice.

Education for a Changing World - Green Paper

Education for a Changing World - Green Paper. Provided by the Department of Education and Skills, Ireland.

Phlebotomines (Diptera: Psychodidae) in forested areas of the Serra da Bodoquena, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Investigation was undertaken on the behaviour of the phlebotomine fauna in caves, forests, and anthropic environments of the Serra da Bodoquena, between January 1998 and January 2000. This paper reports on the phlebotomines captured in forested areas with automatic light traps (ALT), Shannon traps (ST), aspiration (AN), at natural resting sites and by human attractiveness (HA) during 24 h. The diversity and abundance of the species were investigated with ALT installed at 16 points (ground level) and 6 in the canopy. Natural infection by flagellates was investigated in females captured with ST, AN, and HA. The sand fly fauna was represented by 23 species. Twenty-two of these were captured with ALT, 15 of them on the western side, and 20 on the eastern. Lutzomyia longipalpis and Nyssomyia whitmani were the most abundant on the former and this species together with Lutzomyia almerioi on the latter side. On the eastern side the ecotopes located close to caves rendered a significantly greater number (P < 0.01) of specimens than did more distant sites. On this side Lu. almerioi contributed with 56% of the total number of specimens. Lu. almerioi females were predominantly attracted by humans (96.4%) and by ST (93.2%) and three of the 2173 dissected (0.138%) presented natural infection by flagellates. The attraction of Lu. almerioi to humans occurred during all seasons, predominantly in the summer, and in nocturnal and diurnal periods. Thus it is bothersome to inhabitants of and visitors to the Bodoquena ridge and a potential vector of flagellates.

Review of Ireland's International Education Strategy 2013 - consultation Paper

Investing in Global Relationships: Ireland’s International Education Strategy 2010 – 2015 was published in September 2010. Significant progress has been made in implementing this strategy, to complement and support the work undertaken at institutional level: - A strong national brand is now in place: Education in Ireland, managed by Enterprise Ireland. - There is much closer alignment between education and immigration policies. - A new Government of Ireland Scholarship has been established, managed by the Higher Education Authority. - An International Education Marketing Fund has been developed which allows institutions to collaborate in Enterprise Ireland- led national marketing initiatives. - Promotional efforts are taking place in the priority markets of the USA, Brazil, China, India, SE Asia and the Gulf. Ministers have visited each of the priority markets in the last two years. - Ireland is participating at national level in major international scholarship schemes such as Science Without Borders (Brazil) and the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme (Saudi Arabia). - Statutory provision is now in place for an international education mark and code of practice, which will be rolled out in 2014 by Qualifications and Quality Assurance Ireland (QQI). - International student numbers have risen in priority sectors: 14% growth in the English language sector and 9% growth in higher education since 2010. - Ireland’s international education offering has also diversified, including with increasingly significant levels of cross- border provision. However, global demand for education continues to change rapidly. There continues to be a massive expansion in demand for education around the world, particularly in emerging markets with growing middle classes.

Ready to Learn White Paper on Early Childhood Education

The purpose of this White Paper is to set out Government policy on all issues relating to early childhood education. An essential starting point is to define what we mean by early childhood education. The Department of Education and Science�s mission is to support the development of a high quality education system which will enable individuals to develop to their full potential as persons and to participate fully as citizens in Ireland�s social and economic development. For many years, it was considered that education began when children went to school and ended when students left the formal education system at the end of first, second or third level. There is growing recognition of the importance of lifelong learning and the idea that children learn from the earliest moment and continue to learn throughout their lives. Education is concerned with all the phases of life, including the very early childhood phase.

White Paper on Adult Education Learning for Life

This is Ireland’s first White Paper on Adult Education and marks the adoption of lifelong learning as the governing principle of educational policy. The Paper reflects on the role of adult education in society, builds on the consultation process following publication of the Green Paper, and sets out the Government’s policies and priorities for the future development of the sector. It does not aim to provide a policy blueprint for the training sector given that this work is being advanced through the National Employment Action Plans and previous publications, and the work of the Task Force on Lifelong Learning recently established by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Rather, it seeks to ensure that there is a fit and complementarity between education and training provision, so as to ensure that learners can move progressively and incrementally within an over-arching co-ordinated and learner-centred framework.

Overlapping, additive and counterregulatory effects of type II and I interferons on myeloid dendritic cell functions.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are central player in immunity by bridging the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system (IS). Interferons (IFNs) are one of the most important factors that regulate both innate and adaptive immunity too. Thus, the understanding of how type II and I IFNs modulate the immune-regulatory properties of DCs is a central issue in immunology. In this paper, we will address this point in the light of the most recent literature, also highlighting the controversial data reported in the field. According to the wide literature available, type II as well as type I IFNs appear, at the same time, to collaborate, to induce additive effects or overlapping functions, as well as to counterregulate each one's effects on DC biology and, in general, the immune response. The knowledge of these effects has important therapeutic implications in the treatment of infectious/autoimmune diseases and cancer and indicates strategies for using IFNs as vaccine adjuvants and in DC-based immune therapeutic approaches.

Statistical evaluation of the reproducibility and the influence of paper on the analysis of black gel pen ink using laser desorption ionisation mass spectrometry

Laser desorption ionisation mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) has demonstrated to be an excellent analytical method for the forensic analysis of inks on a questioned document. The ink can be analysed directly on its substrate (paper) and hence offers a fast method of analysis as sample preparation is kept to a minimum and more importantly, damage to the document is minimised. LDI-MS has also previously been reported to provide a high power of discrimination in the statistical comparison of ink samples and has the potential to be introduced as part of routine ink analysis. This paper looks into the methodology further and evaluates statistically the reproducibility and the influence of paper on black gel pen ink LDI-MS spectra; by comparing spectra of three different black gel pen inks on three different paper substrates. Although generally minimal, the influences of sample homogeneity and paper type were found to be sample dependent. This should be taken into account to avoid the risk of false differentiation of black gel pen ink samples. Other statistical approaches such as principal component analysis (PCA) proved to be a good alternative to correlation coefficients for the comparison of whole mass spectra.

Elaboració d'un protocol basat en XML per a una xarxa de sensors

La progressiva reducció de dimensió i cost en els dispositius electrònics, la dràstica retallada de consum elèctric i la independència de què això els dota han fet créixer en els últims temps l'interès de les comunitats científiques i tecnològiques per les xarxes sense fils de petits dispositius. Per altra banda, l'XML (eXtensible Markup Language) és un metallenguatge extensible que ha esdevingut un estàndard per a l'intercanvi d'informació estructurada entre diferents plataformes. L'objectiu d'aquest treball és explorar les possibilitats que pot oferir la introducció de l'XML en les xarxes de sensors amb l'elaboració d'un protocol de comunicació basat en aquest llenguatge i demostrar la transparència en el canvi de plataforma. Per fer-ho, es disposa de dos dispositius amb capacitat de comunicació sense fils equipats amb detectors de temperatura, lluminositat, efecte Hall i nivell de càrrega de la bateria. El projecte constarà de dues parts: una, més extensa, dedicada al desenvolupament del programari per a aquests dispositius, encarregat de obtenir les lectures dels diferents sensors i emetre-les per la xarxa utilitzant el llenguatge XML, i una altra, per recollir aquesta informació present a la xarxa, interpretar-la, salvar-la en una base de dades i exposar-la al món en una plana web. El programari dels dispositius sensors s'escriurà en llenguatge nesC dins el sistema tinyOS que és el sistema operatiu que equipen. La part d'explotació de les dades es desenvoluparà sota la plataforma .NET de Microsoft.

Paleogenetic and taphonomic analysis of human bones from Moa, Beirada, and Zé Espinho Sambaquis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The present paper discusses mtDNA and taphonomy of human remains from Moa, Beirada, and Zé Espinho sambaquis of Saquarema, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. New human bone dating by 14C-AMS for Moa archeological site (3810+50 BP - GX-31826-AMS) is included. Preservation of microscopic lamellae and DNA is not related to the macroscopic integrity of the bones. Results here suggest that the preservation of amplifiable DNA fragments may have relation to the preservation of the lamellar arrangement as indicated by optical microscopic examination (polarized light). In 13 human bone fragments from Moa, Beirada, and Zé Espinho it was possible to sequence mtDNA from the 3 individuals of Moa, and from 1 of 4 individuals of Beirada, whose bones also show extensive areas with preserved lamellar structures. The 6 human bone fragments of Zé Espinho and 3 of the 4 fragments of Beirada showed extensive destruction of cortical microstructure represented by cavities, intrusive minerals, and agglomerated microscopic bodies of fungi and bacteria; it was not possible to extract mtDNA from these samples. The results support the hypothesis that the preservation of the microscopic osteon organization is a good predictor for DNA preservation. It was also confirmed the C haplogroup antiquity in Brazil.