From Great Expectations to Bleak House

The fortunes of higher education from the 1960s - not a linear descent but a complex picture. How closely does the declining reputation of higher education at least in central government circles - correlate with declining economic and technological performance, and how much has it been a product of other factors - for example, binary policy or student radicalism? The article addresses these questions and other features of the loss of higher education's esteem across the two decades from the Robbins report to Sir Keith Joseph's Green Paper.     

Shrouding the endless frontier—Scientific communication and national security: Considerations for a policy balance sheet

Various normal and essential scientific communication activities, including unclassified research dissemination, publication, and exchanges in the open classroom and among scholars, have been limited recently by the Federal government through more vigorous enforcement and stringent application of existing national security controls. These actions are prompted by a growing anxiety about the acquisition of American science and technology by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. Such controls, however, may have a restrictive effect not only on scientific communication, but also on scientific achievement and advancement in the United States. Recognizing this danger, certain countervailing ideas are recounted and discussed here as points of balance both to justifications for these recent limitations and to arguments favoring even broader government authority to constrain scientific communication for reasons of national security.     

Evaluating the sustainability of SPARK physical education: a case study of translating research into practice

Dissemination and sustainability of evidence-based physical education programs (PE) has been studied rarely. The sustainability of a health-related PE program (SPARK) was independently evaluated in 111 elementary schools in 7 states. Surveys were mailed to schools that had received SPARK curriculum books, training and follow-up (response rate = 47%). Up to 80% of schools that adopted SPARK PE reported sustained use up to 4 years later. Schools using SPARK had more frequent PE classes. Sustained use was related to support from the principal, not previously having a standard PE program, having adequate equipment, and teachers being physically active. Program sustainability was similar in advantaged and disadvantaged schools. Evidence-based PE programs can be sustained up to 4 years.     

Analysis of a laminar-flow diffusional mixer for directed self-assembly of liposomes

The present work describes the operation and simulation of a microfluidic laminar-flow mixer. Diffusive mixing takes place between a core solution containing lipids in ethanol and a sheath solution containing aqueous buffer, leading to self assembly of liposomes. Present device architecture hydrodynamically focuses the lipid solution into a cylindrical core positioned at the center of a microfluidic channel of 125 × 125-μm² cross-section. Use of the device produces liposomes in the size range of 100–300 nm, with larger liposomes forming at greater ionic strength in the sheath solution and at lower lipid concentration in the core solution. Finite element simulations compute the concentration distributions of solutes at axial distances of greater than 100 channel widths. These simulations reduce computation time and enable computation at long axial distances by utilizing long hexahedral elements in the axial flow region and fine tetrahedral elements in the hydrodynamic focusing region. Present meshing technique is generally useful for simulation of long microfluidic channels and is fully implementable using comsol Multiphysics. Confocal microscopy provides experimental validation of the simulations using fluorescent solutions containing fluorescein or enhanced green fluorescent protein.