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National Grid has a statutory obligation to manage the frequency between pre-defined limits. If there isn't effective frequency response available then the likelihood of a frequency excursion outside of statutory limits will increase. To this end, National Grid are going to trial enhanced frequency response as a mechanism to assist with frequency control in the light of reducing system inertia. This paper models rapid response as a function of system inertia and proposes that either primary response needs to ramp up more quickly in order to remain effective at low system inertia levels or a faster response time is needed. It has been determined that both these methods are more effective than just increasing the generation held in reserve for frequency response. The outcome of this research supports the growing body of evidence in literature for the procurement of rapid response subject to further research and testing on the UK grid.

The workforce in English schools has changed over recent years; there are more categories of staff to be found in English schools and the relative sizes of the categories have altered. Alongside these changes, the Every Child Matters reform programme implies the need to pay attention to the importance of all categories of staff to the welfare of children. However, there has not hitherto been an adequate characterisation of the nature of the practice of workers other than teachers . This paper attempts to characterise the position of school workers other than teachers to better understand the distinctive nature of their practice. We focus on Teaching Assistants, Caretakers and Lunchtime Supervisors as three groups which are sufficiently different to enable us to develop a richer theoretical account of identity in the school workforce than has hitherto been available. We have argued elsewhere (Coldron and Smith, 1999) that a teacher’s practice and his or her development of that practice can best be understood as a process of active social location. In this paper, we apply the same theoretical understanding of practice to the work identities of these three groups of school staff. By better understanding the identities that their different positions and associated resources make available, we aim to provide a richer picture and a way of thinking of the work identities of staff in school who are not teachers, one that is not colonised by the ways of thinking about the higher status teacher group.

This paper reports on the findings from the evaluation of two projects directed at improving the vocational provision in a Northern Local Authority in England during 2006. The two projects are: Pathways to Success - partly funded by the European Social Fund and Rotherham Ready - with the evaluation funded by the Regional Development Agency, Yorkshire Forward. The evaluation of the two projects had different but overlapping intentions that reflect each project's contribution to the development of the vocational curriculum 14-16 in the local authority. Rotherham Ready has been characterised as a Learning-oriented evaluation whereas Pathways to Success has followed a more traditional evaluation model with more attention given to outputs and the achievements of pupils. However ultimately both investigate the change in culture within schools as they promote a more vocational curriculum for 14-16 year old students

In this paper we discuss our use of innovative methods - at least in the context of regeneration evaluation - to help evaluate an enterprise project in northern England, paying particular attention to the involvement of trainee teachers. We discuss the methods used and critically appraise the methods and methodology, present some emerging findings from the trainee teachers strand and conclude by discussing the place of what might be termed 'learning-orientated evaluation' in relation to the currently dominant output-focussed evaluation paradigm.

The quality and impartiality of careers advice has been in question for as long as it has been provided, with numerous studies (see Morris, 2004 for a summary of NfER research in this area) pointing to the efficacy of impartial guidance, but also pointing to gaps in provision for particular groups. It is possible to distinguish three areas of educational policy - although this is not exhaustive - which have had a clear effect on young people's experience of advice and guidance over recent years. The first area is in provision of careers advice itself. The second area is the 14-19 learning environment. Linked to this shift in the 14-19 environment is the third area, the impact of market-driven reforms starting with the Education Reform Act in 1988.

The evaluative research upon which the paper is based focuses on the first three years of a six-year project “Pathways to Success” (PW) currently taking place in South Yorkshire and funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) as part of the Objective 1 programme from 2001-2007. Matched funding has been provided by schools, colleges and LEAs. The PW project is concerned with developing innovative curricula to raise achievement and improve youngsters' employability skills. The project is set in the context of regional regeneration in an area where unemployment is higher than the European (and national) average, due to the decline of traditional steel and coal industries and where the gross domestic product is less than 75% of the European average. South Yorkshire is also an area where overall achievement in schools at all stages is lower than the national average and participation in post-16 education and higher education is persistently below national figures. Although employment is slowly rising due to reorientation from manufacturing towards a service and knowledge-based economy, pockets of severe unemployment and deprivation remain and are among the ten worst in the country.

This paper reports on two aspects of a large-scale curriculum project currently taking place in four LEAs in South Yorkshire. The first of these is concerned with the positive and negative influences on effective curriculum innovation and is addressed from the perspective of the LEA project managers who are managing the delivery of the project in the region's schools. The second aspect considers what the pupils (Year 10, age 14-15) think about the new learning opportunities. The project is set in the context of regional regeneration. The paper concludes that the extremely positive responses from the sample of pupils in all three strands of the programme indicate that the greater emphasis on vocational work and work experience in schools is having a strong motivational effect on pupils who are responding with improved attendance, behaviour and achievement.

The evaluative research upon which this paper is based is focussed on the implementation of a three-year programme “Pathways to Success” (usually shortened to “Pathways”) in South Yorkshire, England. It is part of a much larger regional regeneration project funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) from 2001-2004. The Pathways programme is concerned with developing innovative curricula for the 14-19 age range in four Local Education Authorities (LEAs)1 and is taking place in 76 secondary (high) schools. A team from Sheffield Hallam University was responsible for evaluating the success of the Pathways programme and our findings reported here refer to the first year of implementation.

There has been a longstanding concern in England and Wales with the year on year progress made by pupils, but particularly at times of change, such as transfer from primary to secondary school at age 11. In Coalton, a former mining town in the North of England, a five year UK government funded initiative known as Charter for Transition has been put in place to try to overcome some of these difficulties and improve the learning opportunities for pupils aged 5-16. The programme takes place over a 5-year period in various stages, but in this paper we make use of data from the first two years. The research team examines the viewpoints of teachers from schools that were receiving additional support in their efforts to raise achievement in phase one and the pilot phase of the project about what they saw as the main benefits of this work. We present the beginnings of our exploration of teachers’ judgements of this work, and what they saw as the difficulties with associating the project with pupil attainment.

In this paper, we discuss views of pupils, parents and teachers in a deprived area, Coalton, in the North of England. Funding to regenerate the area was used to improve educational attainment, and as part of the work to assess its success a large scale, longitudinal survey was conducted. In this paper, views of 12 year olds on transfer to secondary schools and views of 16 year olds on leaving school, as well views of their parents and teachers, are presented. In addition, we examine differences in attitudes to school between the 12 year olds and 16 year olds. We conclude that pupil attitudes appear to deteriorate throughout the years of secondary education, and that projects aiming to tackle this problem should be supported. We briefly report on one such project in Coalition.

1. The modulatory effects of the allosteric effectors methylisobutylamiloride (MIA), benzamil and amiloride have been examined at human D(1), D(2), D(3) and D(4) dopamine receptors. The subtype selectivity and the mechanism of action of this allosteric regulation was examined. 2. In radioligand dissociation experiments each modulator accelerated dissociation from all four receptor subtypes indicating allosteric regulation. MIA displayed selectivity for the D(3) subtype for acceleration of radioligand dissociation. 3. In equilibrium binding (pseudo-competition) experiments the three compounds inhibited radioligand binding at the four receptor subtypes. Inhibition curves for D(1), D(2(short)), D(2(long)) and D(3) receptors were described by Hill coefficients exceeding unity and data were fitted best by a model that assumes binding of modulator to both the primary and allosteric binding sites of the receptor (the allosteric/competitive model). 4. At the D(4) subtype, Hill coefficients of unity described the binding data for amiloride and benzamil, consistent with competitive inhibition. The Hill coefficient for MIA at the D(4) subtype was less than unity and data could be fitted well by the allosteric/competitive model, but it was not possible to define unambiguously the modulatory mechanism. For this effect a better definition of the mechanism could be obtained by simultaneous analysis of data obtained in the presence of a range of concentrations of a purely competitive ligand. 5. MIA reduced the potency with which dopamine stimulated [(35)S]-GTPgammaS binding at the D(2) receptor. The effects of MIA could be described by the allosteric/competitive model with effects of MIA to inhibit the binding of dopamine but not its ability to induce a response.

This study characterized pharmacologically the functional responses to agonists at human dopamine D2(long) (hD2), D3 (hD3) and D4.4 (hD4) receptors separately expressed in cloned cells using the cytosensor microphysiometer. Dopaminergic receptor agonists caused increases in extracellular acidification rate in adherent Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) clones expressing hD2, hD3 or hD4 receptors. Acidification rate responses to agonists in other cell lines expressing these receptors were smaller than those in adherent CHO cells. The time courses and maximum increases in acidification rate of the agonist responses in adherent CHO cells were different between the three dopamine receptor clones. Responses were blocked by pretreatment of cells with pertussis toxin or amiloride analogues. Most agonists had full intrinsic activity at each of the dopamine receptor subtypes, as compared to quinpirole, however both enantiomers of UH-232 and (-)3-PPP were partial agonists in this assay system. The functional potency of full agonists at each of the three receptors expressed in CHO cells was either higher than, or similar to, the apparent inhibition constants (Ki) determined in [125I]-iodosulpride competition binding studies. Functional selectivities of the agonists were less than radioligand binding selectivities. The rank orders of agonist potencies and selectivities were similar, but not identical, to the rank orders of radioligand binding affinities and selectivities. The dopamine receptor antagonists, iodosulpride and clozapine, had no effect on basal acidification rates but inhibited acidification responses in CHO cells to quinpirole in an apparently competitive manner. Antagonist potencies closely matched their radioligand binding affinities in these cells.

Xanomeline [3(3-hexyloxy-1,2,5-thiadiazol-4-yl)-1,2,5,6-tetrahydro-1-me thylpyridine] has been reported to act as a functionally selective muscarinic partial agonist with potential use in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. This study examined the functional activity of xanomeline at 5-HT1 and 5-HT2 receptors in native tissue and/or human cloned receptors. Xanomeline had affinity for muscarinic receptors in rat cortical membranes where the ratio of the displacement affinity of [3H]-Quinuclidinyl benzilate vs that of [3H]-Oxotremorine-M was 16, indicative of partial agonist activity. Radioligand binding studies on human cloned receptors confirmed that xanomeline had substantial affinity for M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 receptors and also for 5-HT1 and 5-HT2 receptor subtypes. Carbachol and xanomeline stimulated basal [35S]-GTPgammaS binding in rat cortical membranes with micromolar affinity. The response to carbachol was attenuated by himbacine and pirenzepine with pA2 of 8.2, 6.9 respectively consistent with the response being mediated, predominantly, via M2 and M4 receptors. Xanomeline-induced stimulation of [35S]-GTPgammaS binding was inhibited by himbacine with an apparent pKb of 6.3, was not attenuated by pirenzepine up to 3 microM and was inhibited by the selective 5-HT1A antagonist WAY100635 with an apparent pKb of 9.4. These data suggest the agonist effect of xanomeline in this tissue is, in part, via 5-HT1A receptors. Similar studies on human cloned receptors confirmed that xanomeline is an agonist at human cloned 5-HT1A and 5-HT1B receptors. In studies using the fluorescent cytoplasmic Ca2+ indicator FLUO-3AM, xanomeline induced an increase in cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration in SH-SY5Y cells expressing recombinant human 5-HT2C receptors. Atropine antagonized this response, consistent with mediation via endogenously-expressed muscarinic receptors. In the presence of atropine, xanomeline antagonized 5-HT-induced cytoplasmic changes in Ca2+ concentration in cells expressing h5-HT2A, h5-HT2B and h5-HT2c receptors with potencies similar to its affinity at these receptors. These studies indicate that xanomeline is a potent agonist at 5-HT1A and 5-HT1B receptors and an antagonist at 5-HT2 receptor subtypes.