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Objective: To determine the mortality and cancer incidence of aluminum smelter workers. Method: The experience of 17,089 workers between 1950 and 2004 was studied. Results: There were 25 deaths/47 female incident cancers and 6350 deaths/3984 male incident cancers. Mortality was significantly elevated for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Alzheimer disease (likely influenced by regional factors), all cancers, stomach, bladder, and lung cancers. Incidence was significantly elevated for bladder, lung, and laryngeal cancers. Digestive, lung, and bladder cancer mortality and lung, bladder, and buccal cancer incidence increased significantly with benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) exposure. Over time lung cancer risk has diminished but bladder cancer risk has not. Conclusions: Bladder cancer incidence was not increased at B(a)P exposures below 40 ttg/m3 -yr. Occupational origins for other cancers occurring above expected rates but probably unrelated to B(a)P exposure cannot be excluded. In the prebake plant, nonsignificant increases of lung cancer were observed between 2000 and 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review examines epidemiological evidence relating to cancers in the primary aluminum industry where most of what is known relates to Söderberg operations or to mixed Söderberg/prebake operations.Increased lung and bladder cancer risks have been reported in Söderberg workers from several countries, but not in all. After adjustment for smoking, these cancer risks still increase with cumulative exposure to benzo(a)pyrene, used as an index of coal tar pitch volatiles exposure. Limited evidence has been gathered in several cohorts for an increased risk of tumors at other sites, including stomach, pancreas, rectum/rectosigmoid junction, larynx, buccal cavity/pharynx, kidney, brain/nervous system, prostate, and lymphatic/hematopoietic tissues (in particular non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Hodgkin disease, and leukemia). Nevertheless, for most of these tumor sites, the relationship with specific exposures has not been demonstrated clearly and further follow-up of workers is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational development has changed in many ways over the last 40 years and the International Consortium for Educational Development has highlighted the sheer variety of practices by bringing together educational developers from countries where activities differ markedly. These reflections identify the wide range of foci of attention that are visible – what it is that developers are trying to develop – and the different change mechanisms that they adopt. It also highlights changes that can be seen over time, as educational development within a university, or within a country, matures and expands. Observations are made about the value and desirability of some of these changes. It is hoped that outlining the changes in educational development helps educational developers to recognise their own activities in a different light and to prompt reflections on what else they might do and what direction they might move in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flow cytometry has had an impact upon all areas of clinical pathology and now, in the 21st century, it is truly coming of age. This study reviews the application of flow cytometry within clinical pathology with an emphasis upon haematology and immunology. The basic principles of flow cytometry are discussed, including the principles and considerations of the flow-cell and hydrodynamic focusing, detector layout and function, use of fluorochromes and multicolour flow cytometry (spectral overlap and colour compensation), alongside the strategies available for sample preparation, data acquisition and analysis, reporting of results, internal quality control, external quality assessment and flow sorting. The practice of flow cytometry is discussed, including the principles and pitfalls associated with leukocyte immunophenotyping for leukaemia and lymphoma diagnosis, immune deficiency, predicting and monitoring response to monoclonal antibody therapy, rare event detection and screening for genetic disease. Each section is illustrated with a case study. Future directions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is considerable variation between male and female Bachelor degree performance at Oxford and Cambridge (Oxbridge) where male students attain more First and Third Class degrees and female students attain more Second Class degrees. Various hypotheses have been put forward to explain this phenomenon including the possibility that the distinctive Oxbridge assessment environment, very different from those at both pre- and post-92 universities, might account for the difference. Data from the Assessment Experience Questionnaire (AEQ; Oxbridge, pre- and post-92 universities, one science, one humanities and one applied social science subject from each) were analysed to determine gendered perceptions of the assessment environment. Significant gender differences were found on five AEQ scales (Quantity of effort, Coverage of syllabus, Quantity and quality of feedback, Use of feedback and Appropriate assessment) but there was no significant interaction between gender and university. Consequently, there were few clues in students' responses to confirm that the Oxbridge assessment environment explains gendered differences in degree performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the influence of the National Student Survey (NSS) in ranking all universities and colleges in England on how education is being perceived by their students. It mentions that the NSS is very helpful in knowing the strengths and limitations of the open and distance learning (ODL). It states that the ranking is determined by feedback ratings regardless of the differences in the school's resources, quality of libraries, and quality of teaching. It notes on the Formative Assessment in Science Teaching (FAST) national teaching development project, where in it differentiates, Open University in Great Britain and conventional universities on how their students respond to assessment.

This article outlines a methodology for characterising features of programme-level assessment environments so that the relationship between features of the assessment environment and students' learning response can be studied. The methodology was developed through the detailed case study of nine undergraduate degree programmes: one in each of three contrasting discipline areas in each of three contrasting universities. Each case study involved examination of course documentation, interviews with academics and interviews with students, following which each degree programme was coded in relation to a range of features of the assessment environment, such as the proportion of marks derived from examinations and the volume and timeliness of feedback on assignments. Programmes were found to differ profoundly in terms of variables that are known to have implications for student-learning processes. They also differed widely in the extent to which they illustrated the application of conventional wisdom about curriculum design, embodied in national quality assurance guidelines and the Bologna Agreement. Programmes were found to have either a high volume of summative assessment or a high volume of formative-only assessment, but never both at the same time. Programmes also differed in the mechanisms used to make goals and standards clear, having either highly explicit curriculum design or high volumes of written and oral feedback, but never both at the same time. The findings suggest that there are distinctive programme-level assessment environments that operate in quite different ways despite all programmes studied being subject to the same quality assurance code of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pseudobasophilia is an analyzer phenomenon whereby abnormal cells in the peripheral blood are counted as basophils. Previously described on the Technicon H-series hematology analyzers, pseudobasophilia is also a technical consideration on the Advia 120. Sometimes seen as a hindrance to inexperienced users, an understanding of the basophil (baso) method and baso cytogram produced by the Advia 120 can be utilized to alert the laboratory scientist and clinician to the possible presence of an abnormal cell population in the peripheral blood. Cytogram analysis should form part of routine laboratory practice and the present annotation aims to offer some assistance to users of the Advia 120 and Advia 2120. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors comment on Y. Taylor's discussion about analysing data while working on the Victoria Climbié Data Corpus Project. It cites the reasons why the authors were both pleased and somewhat perturbed to read Taylor's discussion. They claim that Taylor's reference to work using the VCDC is dated or missing. In their view, it is a gross misrepresentation of the process of qualitative analysis to see interpretative coding as the only valid way to approach data analysis.

This paper reports aspects of an international study of leadership of teaching in 19 departments with outstanding teaching records in 11 research-intensive universities. Leadership was found to take different forms in different discipline areas, in different organisational cultures, and in response to major problems affecting the department. While most of the heads conceived of leadership of teaching in similarly sophisticated ways, and there were other common themes across contexts, how these conceptions were evident in action to support and develop teaching was highly context-dependent. To illustrate this point, two departments are contrasted in terms of leadership activities found most frequently across all 19 departments. It is clear from this comparison that teaching excellence was achieved in entirely different ways involving widely contrasting leadership behaviour. The paper argues that advice and guidance for heads of department on their leadership of teaching should pay careful attention to the context rather than make assumptions about the general applicability of leadership theory or advice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes Quebec aluminum smelter workers' cancer experience. A comparison and examination of cancer incidence with that of the Quebec general population in relation to benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) and smoking exposure indices is done. It is suggested that there is a statistically significant increased incidence of stomach, pancreatic, laryngeal, lung, and bladder cancers. It is also shown in the article that pancreatic and stomach cancer risks do not relate significantly to cumulative B[a]P exposure.

This article presents a study reharding the mortality and cancer experience of Quebec aluminum reduction plant workers after January 1, 1950. The results of the study shows that respiratory cancer mortality and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were statistically in excess. In the combined cohorts, standardized mortality ratios exceeded 110 for cancers of rectum, esophagus, larynx, pancreas, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, lung, cerebrovascular disease, and asthma. There was a significant downward trend in mortality from all causes, bladder and lung cancer.

The article discusses the study about mortality and cancer experience of Quebec aluminum reduction plant workers. In this study, the mortality of 5977 men hired at three plants on or before January 1, 1951 was compared with that of Quebec men and the relationships to benzo[a]pyrene, benzene-soluble material, and smoking were examined. The study has showed that significant causes of death were lung cancer, bladder cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease, cancers of the stomach, digestive system unspecified, rectum and rectosigmoid, pancreas, larynx, Alzheimer's disease, and cerebrovascular disease.

In the last twenty-five years there has been a significant alteration in the student experience in the UK. In the early 1980s it was rare for students either to fail to take exams or produce assignments on time or for them to fail to complete the degree they had begun. Now a significant proportion of students who start a programme of study withdraw before completion and this ‘attrition’ has become a particular problem for some universities and for the higher education funding bodies. This article reports the results of a project that conducted qualitative, depth interviews not focussed so much on finding reasons for having left, but rather on the experience and biography of those facing problems and thus likely to consider leaving or being forced to leave. A particular focus of this approach was to investigate a different dimension of the issue: student motivation for studying.European Political Science (2007) 6, 79–93. doi:10.1057/palgrave.eps.2210108 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy and practice in child welfare and protection has been significantly influenced by public inquiries or commissions which follow highly publicised child tragedies. Whilst there has been considerable comment on the final reports, there has been little research on the evidence gathered for such inquiries. Large amounts of testimony are collected which are increasingly available on inquiry websites. Such evidence offers new forms of readily available data about professional practice across a wide range of topics. Suggestions are made about research methods and search functions, and links to some sites provided. However, the data must be understood in the context in which it was produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial. Discusses a symposium on student retention in open and distance learning (ODL) in Cambridge, England. Similarities between student retention in ODL and conventional contexts; Theories of student retention; Key dropout points in ODL courses; Actions to improve retention.

During the Spring of 1993, at the request of the US President, the Space Station partners, under the leadership of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), undertook a fundamental redesign of the Space Station and the manner by which NASA would manage the program. Coincident with the 1993 redesign, NASA initiated discussions with the Russian Federation with the view to Russia becoming a partner in the Space Station Program. This resulted in the partners (the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan) issuing, on December 6, 1993, an invitation to Russia to enter into negotiations to become a partner in the International Space Station Program.Originally, the negotiations were intended to center exclusively around the changes required to the government and agency-level Space Station Agreements to bring Russia into the partnership, and to reflect the changes resulting from the 1993 redesign. After the commencement of the negotiations it became necessary to also reflect changes due to restructuring of the European and Canadian partners’ programs, and various desires of the partners to confirm in the legal framework new provisions for dealing with cost control and common operations activities.This paper provides a summary of the complex legal and programmatic multinational negotiations that took place between 1993 and 1997 on a multilateral Intergovernmental Agreement and four bilateral space agency-level Memoranda of Understanding.This paper puts these most recent negotiations in the context of the first set of agreements which were signed in September 1988, explains the process the original partners put in place for the 1993–1997 Round of negotiations, and the substantive issues that resulted together with the solutions agreed. The paper captures in one document the most relevant aspects of these important international negotiations, and complements those papers previously presented by the authors at the 45th and 47th Congresses of the International Astronautical Federation.11“Expanding the International Space Station Program Partnership—An International Partner''s Perspective” by Graham Gibbs, Canadian Space Agency, IAA-94-IAA.3.2.638.22“International Negotiations: The International Space Station Agreements” by Lynn F.H. Cline, U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, IAA-96-IAA.3.1.03. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Editorial. Explores the use of assessment to improve student learning in Great Britain. Quantity, quality and distribution of student effort; Student feedback; Assessment strategy.

Over the past decade the International Activities Committee (IAC) of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has organized a series of six workshops on international space cooperation. The major findings and recommendations that have emerged from these workshops are summarized, clustered by topic, with a reference to the report on the particular workshop at which they were made. The authors comment on the relevance of certain of the findings in today''s environment and the status of implementation of associated recommendations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This research note reports an attempt to develop a measure of higher education teachers' repertoire of teaching methods. It summarises: • the rationale for wanting such a measure; • the stages of development of the inventory; • data from the use of the inventory with 141 teachers; • relationships between TMI scale scores and scale scores on two other instruments: the ATI and SEEQ; • problems with the inventory and proposals for the development of an alternative way of measuring repertoire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Student Evaluation of Educational Quality Questionnaire (SEEQ) is one of the most thoroughly developed and widely used student feedback questionnaires in the USA with a robust factor structure, excellent reliability and reasonable validity. Student feedback questionnaires used in the UK rarely have these desirable characteristics. This paper reports on the use of the SEEQ with 1297 students in nine institutions in the UK. Factor analysis largely confirms the factor structure. The SEEQ is recommended for use in the UK where reliability and comparability are important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1998 the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) commissioned a survey of the extent to which institutional learning and teaching strategies were being used in English higher education. The survey was seen by HEFCE as a necessary precursor to the enactment of its policy decision to allocate a component of institutional funding on the basis of the possession of (and subsequent activation of) an institutional learning and teaching strategy. Responses from 116 institutions showed considerable variation in the extent to which they had developed a strategic approach to learning and teaching. Over the coming years there is likely to be a marked increase in the level and sophistication of strategic planning to develop learning and teaching across whole institutions. The article concludes by drawing upon the organisational development literature to suggest some ways in which this shift might be facilitated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of recent articles in this journal, and two responses in the form of 'Points for Debate', have considered whether academics need training to support their teaching roles. This debate has been undertaken largely in the absence of evidence of the impact of training. This paper reports findings from the first stage of a study of the impact of initial training of university teachers in universities in the UK. Data from 72 teachers showed significant improvements in scores on three of the six scales of the Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) questionnaire after one semester of two- and three-semester long training programmes. Interpretation of this positive finding is complicated by problems with the self-selection of teachers, poor response rates and the difficulty of distinguishing the effects of training from the effects of experience of teaching. Improvements in the research design, implemented in a subsequent study, are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanisms which underlie quality in research have exact parallels which show us how to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. These mechanisms operate in two main ways-within institutions, and across institutions through disciplines. Geography should exploit Funding Council initiatives to build a scholarly community of teachers which matches its community of researchers. This paper suggests a possible focus of attention for attempts to improve assessment through emphasising assessment functions other than those concerned with standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correlates class size and student performance in Great Britain from 1984-94. Evidence of negative relationship between the two; Relation between subject areas and the strength of the correlation; Research in the United States concerning performance in large classes.

Explores the problems faced by institutions of higher education in its pursuit to elevate the status of teaching in Great Britain. Lack of criterion for excellence in teaching; Failure to distinguish competence from excellence; Inadequacy of means for balancing claims for excellence; Need to increase the sophistication of teachers; Promotion of excellent teaching; Treatment of promotion as a separate issue.

Evaluates the consistency of a previously reported epidemiologic relationship between biliary tract and liver cancer and occupational exposure to methylene chloride. Findings of excess biliary tract and liver cancer in 1990; Evaluation of the Hoechst Celanase plant case.

The purpose of this study of 3211 cellulose-fiber production workers was to evaluate earlier findings of excess biliary tract and liver cancer in a similarly exposed cohort reported in 1990. Mortality from biliary tract and liver cancer was not increased in this study population, and there was no excess mortality from pancreatic cancer. Mortality was not elevated for cancers of the lung or liver, sites at which tumors were induced in experimental animals exposed to methylene chloride. Men with 20 or more years of employment exhibited increased mortality from prostate cancer, whereas women who also had 20 or more years of employment experienced higher-than-expected mortality from cervical cancer. Although these apparent increases in mortality are difficult to interpret biologically and are not consistent with previous studies, they require further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the relationship between module enrolment and student performance in geography modules at Oxford Brookes University in England over a period of 10 years. Changes in the pattern of teaching and assessment; Shift from large lecture-based courses to small workshop-based discussion seminar.

The author discusses the use of various statistical methods in sociological research, in response to the third conference on text mining organized by Professor Martin Bauer at the London School of Economics (LSE) in England from July 9-10, 2012. He cites the use of a matrix search in NViVo to extract data by social scientists who attended the event. He reminds them that qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) are useful in undertaking mixed-methods research.

The first article in this issue raises some fascinating issues that relate to my own background in research into student learning and experience of courses in conventional higher education. Richardson, Long and Woodley have administered the Academic Engagement Form', used widely in colleges in the USA, and the 'Course Experience Questionnaire', used widely in universities in Australia, to distance learning students. John Richardson and various colleagues have previously shown that these questionnaires, separately, work as well in distance learning contexts as they do in conventional contexts: that is, they identify the same factors as components of students' experience, and the same factors relating to overall perceptions of quality of experience, as in conventional contexts. Of the many findings reported in the study reported in this issue of Open Learning , two stand out for me. First, academic engagement is shown to play a key role in students' perceptions of academic quality: engaged students perceive their course to be of higher quality. This does not tell us if students who are happy with their courses become more engaged or if those who are engaged become happier with their courses, however, merely that they are related. 'Engagement' here encompasses both social and academic engagement as defined in Tinto's model of student retention. Second, students' overall perceptions of academic quality are mediated by their perceptions of their tutors. The authors conclude: '... the attitudes and behaviours of tutors are crucial to students' perceptions of the academic quality of courses in distance education'. In conventional contexts the item on the Course Experience Questionnaire that relates most closely to student performance concerns the quality of teacher feedback, not teaching, and this is easy to understand in a distance context. The methodology of this paper (relying on factor analysis of questionnaires and multivariate analysis of the relationship between questionnaire scale scores and background variables such as age, gender, educational qualifications, workload and hearing status) may be relatively unfamiliar to readers of Open Learning . What is perhaps more familiar is that such an analysis adds to similar conclusions about the centrality of the tutorial role in ODL students' learning from very different kinds of study (such as of the relationship between tutorial attendance and student performance). There is a growing body of evidence that the same variables are involved in student perceptions of courses and of academic quality in distance learning contexts as in conventional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a case study related to cristobalite contents of airborne respirable dust in the diatomaceous earth industry in California. Occupational health diseases caused by presence of cristobalite contents of airborne respirable dust; Factors on which setting occupational exposure limits depends.

Editorial. Discusses the articles on distance education, published in the June 2002 issue of the periodical 'Open Learning.' Components of distance learning systems; Concept of transactional presence in distance education; Operation of a staff development program; Developmental support for distance learning tutors; Comparison of distance learning models.

Editorial. Previews the articles published in the February 2002 issue of the journal of 'Open Learning.' Topics discussed in the articles; Authors who contributed to the issue.

Editorial. Focuses on the significance of online discussion in distance education. Levels of involvement of different students in different levels of online discussion; Analysis of the support provided by media learning to students.

Intimate partner violence causes significant, long-lasting harm to almost one-third (27%) of the world's population of women. Even when women leave abusive relationships, some men continue to exercise control over their ex-partners through psychological control, threats, violence, stalking, and other forms of harassment. In this qualitative study, 52 purposively sampled women who self-identified as victims or survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) from male partners were interviewed. Data were analyzed with a theoretically informed thematic analysis, supported by Nvivo® software. We found that leaving a violent relationship was a long-term process fraught with difficulty and ongoing risks of psychological harm. The concept of Continuous Traumatic Stress (CTS), first developed to understand the impact of state-sponsored violence and war, was found to be a particularly useful tool for the analysis of the impact of post-separation abuse. Additionally, CTS encourages researchers and practitioners to think anew about resilience-centered approaches to improving protection and access to justice for female victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a study related to the automated detection of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) using an ADVIA 2120i. It mentions that APL is a medical and hematological emergency and studies have shown that early death rates still remain high despite treatment with all‐trans retinoic acid .