Based on analysis of an administrative dataset, which includes granular detail on 800,000 English students over a 10‐year period, this article identifies an urban ‘escalator’ effect in entry to elite ...universities, with disadvantaged youth in the urban centres of England having higher rates of entry than similarly disadvantaged youth located rurally. Using multilevel modelling, as well as Geographic Information System (GIS) methods, the analyses show that while place in itself is not a major contributory factor in entry to elite universities overall, there is a distinct urban–rural patterning to progression. When raw progression rates by area alone are observed, rural areas typically have higher progression rates to elite universities. However, when the full range of individual differences are accounted for, including attainment, socio‐economic status, ethnicity and accessibility to elite universities, the converse is true—localities within and surrounding major urban centres are those with the highest progression rates. A ‘vortex of influences’ is likely to favour urban disadvantaged youth, including the geography of social class and ethnic identities, a legacy of concerted policy interventions within urban areas, as well as the proliferation of widening participation activity in urban centres.
Recently, there has been increasing interest in comparing educational leadership measures, such as principal school leadership, using International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) data. However, ...there are doubts about the uniformity of measurement across countries participating in the ILSAs. There are concerns that the robustness and psychometric characteristics of measures are adversely affected by socio-cultural, economic, political, and linguistic diversity across countries. The current study examines the uniformity of cross-cultural model data for the "principal instructional leadership scale" using the framework and data supplied by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)'s Teaching and Learning International Surveyis employed to estimate the conceptual measurement model and test measurement invariance across forty-eight countries. Countries are then divided countries into more homogenous groups, based on their socio-demographic characteristics, to test measurement invariance within these sub-groups. The results of this study reveal that, when testing for the fourty-eight countries together, the scale measuring principals' school leadership is invariant across all countries only at an intermediate level (i.e. metric). This means the factor structures and the factor loadings are equivalent across countries, but the item intercepts are not. However, when testing within sub-groups, improvements in cross-cultural comparability are found. This paper concludes by making suggestions on scale improvement, discussing the implications of this study for policymaking and making recommendations for future research.
We analyze the transformation of a very broad class of metrics that can be expressed in terms of static coordinates. Starting from a general ansatz, we obtain a relation for the parameters in which ...one can impose further symmetries or restrictions. One of the simplest restrictions leads to FLRW cases, while transforming from the initial static to other static-type coordinates can lead to near horizon coordinates, Wheeler–Regge, and isotropic coordinates, among others. As less restrictive cases, we show an indirect route for obtaining Kruskal–Szekeres within this approach, as well as Lemaître coordinates. We use Schwarzschild spacetime as a prototype for testing the procedure in individual cases. However, application to other spacetimes, such as de-Sitter, Reissner–Nordström, and Schwarzschild de Sitter, can be readily generalized.
A novel, lignicolous agaric from Nothofagus forests of southern Chile is described as a new genus and species, Gymnopanella nothofagi. This taxon falls within the family Omphalotaceae as a sister ...group to Gymnopus in phylogenetic analyses based on sequences spanning the internal transcribed spacer region and D1/D2 region of nuclear 28S rDNA. Morphologically it is characterized by convex to flabellate basidiomata with distinctly gelatinized trama, pileipellis in the form of a cutis with erect fascicles of cylindrical, spirally incrusted hyphae and nonamyloid, broadly ellipsoid basidiospores. This combination of features, in particular the lack of a rameales structure, serve to distinguish Gymnopanella from Gymnopus, Marasmiellus and other similar genera of the Omphalotaceae or Marasmiaceae. The new taxon is known only from Chilean Nothofagus forests at approximately 45-46° south latitude, but concerted searching in similar habitats in surrounding areas or in New Zealand may extend the known range considerably.
Distributed leadership (DL) is defined as the degree of contact and involvement of various people in making choices or carrying out responsibilities, and is an increasingly used concept among ...researchers, policymakers, and educationalists worldwide. However, few studies have investigated the cross-cultural comparability of the distributed leadership scale for school principals, and few have ranked countries according to their levels of distributed leadership. This study employs an innovative alignment optimisation approach to compare the latent means of distributed leadership, as perceived by school principals, across 40 countries, using data from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS, 2018). We found that South Korea, Colombia, Shanghai (China), and Lithuania had the highest levels of distributed leadership in school decisions, from the perspective of school principals. In contrast, the Netherlands, Belgium, Argentina, and Japan had the lowest levels. Our findings may serve as guidance for education stakeholders over which nations they could learn from in order to enhance school principal distributed leadership.
One of the long-term lessons from the school closures due to the global pandemic COVID 19, is that technology and parental engagement are the best levers to access education so as to bridge the ...achievement gap between socially disadvantaged children and their peers. However, using technology is not as simple as bringing equipment into the school and home and initiating its usage; these are just the first steps into a more complex and ambitious achievement of using technology as a catalyst for a shift toward new learning models in remote and hybrid settings. A theoretical framework based on the theory of acceptance and use of technology and social cognitive learning theory was used to analyse data from a survey completed by 4,600 parents from 19 countries during the national lockdowns in 2020. Regression models and thematic analysis of open-ended responses were employed to identify factors that contribute to parental acceptance and use of technology in support of their children’s learning. Our results show that parents are more engaged in children’s learning when well-structured technological tools are provided or suggested by schools, and when parents are socially influenced by the opinions of other parents, teachers, children, the general public, relatives, etc. Conversely, they are less engaged when they perceive the technological tools to be challenging and beyond their knowledge or skills. The study’s findings have practical implications for governments and school leaders, who need to be aware of the factors likely to determine the use of technology at home and take action to meet parents’ needs when using technology to support learning.
Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae), populations exhibit varying levels of resistance to several insecticide classes, including pyrethroids. Artificial laboratory ...selection was conducted to investigate mechanisms underlying fenpropathrin resistance. After ten generations of selection, the LC
50
for fenpropathrin increased from 0.18 to 11.60 ng/μL, and the associated resistance ratio increased by 96.67-fold. The realized heritability of resistance (h
2
) to fenpropathrin changed from 0.17 to 0.44 during the first and second round of selection, respectively. We did not find high cross-resistance to imidacloprid (RR = 3.58) or dimethoate (RR = 1.77) in the fenpropathrin-selected strain, but found cross-resistance to bifenthrin (RR = 28.21). RT-qPCR analysis showed that expression of CYP6A2-1 was significantly increased in the selected population relative to the laboratory susceptible population. Our data indicate that D. citri has the capacity to develop a high level of fenpropathrin resistance following persistent selection and that cytochrome P450 (CYP) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) metabolic detoxification may be contributing mechanisms. Rotation programs that include neonicotinoids and organophosphates should manage resistance to fenpropathrin for D. citri.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The relative importance of educational qualifications and cognitive skills forms an enduring debate in research on education and the labour market. While early work in human capital theory ...essentially equated qualifications and skills, signalling and screening theories provided a more nuanced distinction between the two, highlighting the importance of qualifications as a way of reducing uncertainty in hiring. Recent literature argues that most formal education is largely signalling that provides minimal productivity gains. This paper seeks to inform the debate on human capital and signalling theories by examining cross-national variation in how the qualifications and cognitive skills relate to earnings. Using data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), we analyse variation in how cognitive skills (literacy, numeracy and problem-solving) and qualifications (secondary and higher education completion) relate to earnings. Although the contributions of qualifications tend to outweigh cognitive skills, the relative contributions of each factor vary considerably across countries. This variation suggests that high levels of signalling are not inevitable and may be explained by contextual differences in education systems and labour markets. Countries with more higher education attainment have lower levels of signalling and place higher premiums on cognitive skills.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The peritrophic matrix (PM) is an acellular structure that lines the gut of most insects. It is an attractive target for pest management strategies because of its close involvement in digestive ...processes and role as a barrier against pathogens and toxins. The purpose of this study was to identify and characterize the genes that translate for principal components of the Reticulitermes flavipes PM. Genes encoding a gut chitin synthase (CHS), two proteins with peritrophin‐A domains, and a chitin deacetylase were identified from an R. flavipes symbiont‐free gut cDNA library, a pyrosequencing study of termite lignocellulose digestion, and a metatranscriptomic analysis of R. flavipes fed on agricultural biomass. Quantitative expression analysis of the identified genes, in the termite digestive tract, revealed that the transcripts coding for a CHS (RfCHSB) and the proteins with peritrophin‐A domains (RfPPAD1 and RfPPAD2) were predominantly expressed in the midgut, suggesting an association with the PM. The peritrophin identity of the RfPPAD2 gene was confirmed by immunodetection of its translated peptide in the midgut and PM. The discovery and characterization of PM components of R. flavipes provides a basis for further investigation of the viability of this structure as a target for candidate termiticides.
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