Bayesian factor models in characterizing molecular adaptation

Assessing the selective influence of amino acid properties is important in understanding evolution at the molecular level. A collection of methods and models has been developed in recent years to determine if amino acid sites in a given DNA sequence alignment display substitutions that are altering or conserving a prespecified set of amino acid properties. Residues showing an elevated number of substitutions that favorably alter a physicochemical property are considered targets of positive natural selection. Such approaches usually perform independent analyses for each amino acid property under consideration, without taking into account the fact that some of the properties may be highly correlated. We propose a Bayesian hierarchical regression model with latent factor structure that allows us to determine which sites display substitutions that conserve or radically change a set of amino acid properties, while accounting for the correlation structure that may be present across such properties. We illustrate our approach by analyzing simulated data sets and an alignment of lysin sperm DNA.     

Adoption and permanence planning in Scotland: Impact of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 on key processes and timescales

Adoption and permanence planning has been a key feature of Scotland's policy in relation to children and young people who are “looked after.” Although policy and law has significantly developed in recent years, there has been comparatively little research on permanence processes in Scotland. This paper outlines key findings from the first comprehensive study of permanence planning in Scotland. It examines the process for two cohorts of children where adoption or other types of permanence orders were made. The children were selected under the long standing Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978 and the more recent Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007. In total, 300 cases were examined, analysing data from the children's first contact with services through to the order made by the Scottish Courts. This paper pays particular attention to the timescales found at key stages under the two sets of legislation and asks what difference the change in legislation has made.     

Overcoming barriers: engaging younger students in an online intercultural exchange

This paper reports on a small-scale project involving an online school exchange between two classes of 12-/13-year olds located in the North of England and the Ruhr area of Germany. The overarching aim of the project was to develop intercultural understanding in foreign language learning through communication in an online environment. Analysing data from website posts, lesson observations, student questionnaires and interviews, the paper investigates the extent to which the project realised this goal, and examines emerging practical and pedagogical issues. Comparing the processes and outcomes of this project in secondary education to similar projects in Higher Education (HE), the research found that the young people learnt more than older students about cultural similarities than differences. They were thus less likely to be party to cultural misunderstandings, developing friendly relationships and openness towards a people of a different culture. However, their failure to notice differences may have been due to a lack of in-depth discussion and absence of more demanding student tasks. The paper concludes that in order to develop more sophisticated intercultural learning, expertise derived from telecollaboration in HE needs to be adapted to the lower secondary school context, drawing particularly on auto-ethnography and ethnographic interviewing.     

Lone Parents in Northern Ireland: The Effectiveness of Work Incentives

In recent years social policy in relation to lone parents has placed heavy emphasis on increasing the participation of this group in the labour market. If anything, the newly elected Labour government appears to be more committed to this objective than its predecessor. This paper details some of the findings from a focus-groups exercise with lone mothers in Belfast conducted in 1995. The data underline the limitations of many aspects of the measures taken to encourage lone parents to work and raise questions about the appropriateness of current policy.     

Putting the Children Act Independent Person Procedure under the Spotlight

The Children Act 1989 required local authorities to appoint independent people to participate in their complaints procedures. The Department of Health has concentrated largely on monitoring these newly established procedures. In contrast, very little guidance has been given about the role of independent people. Nor has there been much published research in this area. This paper is based on a study of the response of two neighbouring local authorities. The aims were to discover how these authorities had interpreted the imprecise guidance from the Department of Health, and thereby to analyse the application of principles of independence within complaints procedures. The findings showed how a "pool" of independent people had been selected, trained and employed to participate in Children Act complaints procedures. Analysis of this system raises fundamental questions about the potential of this system to provide the kind of objective representation intended to be helpful to complainants. It also contributes to the debate about the most effective ways of safeguarding the welfare of children and young people by providing them with an accessible complaints procedure. The study identifies areas for future research, including the nature of complaints and the "practice wisdom" being acquired by independent people.     

Reading Desire: Commentary on Papers by Danielle Knafo,Victoria Pitts-Taylor,and Nikki Sullivan

All 3 papers on body modification share a particular approach to their topic as they are substantially located in discourse analysis and a deconstructive approach to their material, and all are concerned with binaries. All 3 papers also grapple with the matter of interiority. Having explored how these issues play themselves out in the particularity of the practices of tattooing and cosmetic surgery and in the work of Orlan, the author invites further dialogue between Foucauldian analyses and psychoanalytic ones with special reference to the notions of desire and unreason.     

Research Note: The LIVITY study: research challenges and strategies for engaging with the black caribbean community in a study of HIV infection

There is an increasing incidence of new HIV‐1 diagnoses among black Caribbeans in the UK, but there has been limited research in this area. The LIVITY study is the first in‐depth epidemiological and behavioural study to examine the impact of HIV among black Caribbeans in the UK. The UK black Caribbean community has traditionally been regarded as less likely to participate in clinical research and surveys. We identified three major challenges to recruitment to the LIVITY study: general distrust of the research process; the considerable stigma surrounding HIV in the black Caribbean community and the sensitivity of obtaining detailed sexual histories. The strategies devised to help overcome these barriers to optimise recruitment included: the establishment of a black Caribbean Community Advisory Group to facilitate communication between the community and the researchers and assist in questionnaire design to improve acceptability to the participants; use of healthcare practitioners as gatekeepers; extensive piloting and modification of the questionnaire among black Caribbean patients; reassurances of confidentiality during recruitment; and ethnic matching between interviewer and study participants. Another challenge was the high rate of loss to follow‐up among eligible patients, potentially compromising the study’s generalisability. Nevertheless, use of the above strategies resulted in a satisfactory enrolment rate of 57%, who were representative of all eligible patients.