Conazoles are a class of azole based fungicides used in agriculture and as pharmaceutical products. They have a common mode of antifungal action through inhibition of ergosterol biosynthesis. Some members of this class have been shown to be hepatotoxic and will induce mouse hepatocellular tumors and/or rat thyroid follicular cell tumors. The particular mode of toxic and tumorigenic action for these compounds is not known, however it has been proposed that triadimefon-induced rat thyroid tumors arise through the specific mechanism of increased TSH. The present study was designed to identify commonalities of effects across the different conazoles and to determine unique features of the tissue responses that suggest a toxicity pathway and a mode of action for the observed thyroid response for triadimefon. Male Wistar/Han rats were treated with triadimefon (100, 500, 1800 ppm), propiconazole (100, 500, 2500 ppm), or myclobutanil (100, 500, 2000 ppm) in feed for 4, 30, or 90 days. The rats were evaluated for clinical signs, body and liver weight, histopathology of thyroid and liver, hepatic metabolizing enzyme activity, and serum T3, T4, TSH, and cholesterol levels. There was a dose-dependent increase in liver weight but not body weight for all treatments. The indication of cytochrome induction, pentoxyresorufin O-dealkylation (PROD) activity, had a dose-related increase at all time points for all conazoles. Uridine diphopho-glucuronosyl transferase (UDPGT), the T4 metabolizing enzyme measured as glucuronidation of 1-naphthol, was induced to the same extent after 30 and 90 days for all three conazoles. Livers from all high dose treated rats had centrilobular hepatocyte hypertrophy after 4 days, while only triadimefon and propiconazole treated rats had hepatocyte hypertrophy after 30 days, and only triadimefon treated rats had hepatocyte hypertrophy after 90 days. Thyroid follicular cell hypertrophy, increased follicular cell proliferation, and colloid depletion were present only after 30 days in rats treated with the high dose of triadimefon. A dose-dependent decrease in T4 was present after 4 days with all 3 compounds but only the high doses of propiconazole and triadimefon produced decreased T4 after 30 days. T3 was decreased after high-dose triadimefon after 4 days and in a dose-dependent manner for all compounds after 30 days. Thyroid hormone levels did not differ from control values after 90 days and TSH was not increased in any exposure group. A unique pattern of toxic responses was not identified for each conazole and the hypothesized mode of action for triadimefon-induced thyroid gland tumors was not supported by the data.

Since September 1999, all Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) in England who wish to teach in the maintained sector have to complete an induction period. In the light of the introduction of this statutory policy, this paper critically examines the key role of the school based induction tutor in managing the process. It draws upon an analysis of the government's induction circulars (DfEE/S 1999; and uses empirical data from a large, national DfES-funded project which evaluated the implementation of the policy. We argue that, for the majority of schools the work of the induction tutor within the whole school context, including management by the headteacher, is the major factor in the success of the policy. Further, we argue that there remain some tensions in the policy between the professional development and the assessment agenda.This paper addresses an aspect of school management of induction, namely the role of the induction tutor. The induction tutor's role was one area of investigation in a wider, national research project carried out at the Institute of Education between October 2000 and December 2001. There were four overarching aims of the project. These were to assess:1. The effectiveness of mechanisms for carrying out the induction of NQTs, including the cost effectiveness of its various different components. The effectiveness of dissemination of information by DfES, TTA and AppropriateBodies about the statutory arrangements. 3. The impact on the effectiveness of NQTs as a result of undergoing the induction year. 4. The impact on recruitment and retention of NQTs.The four research aims were broken down into 40 research objectives. Case studies comprising semi-structured interviews, fieldnotes and school-produced documents and questionnaire surveys were carried out. An NQT, an induction tutor and the headteacher in 24 state-maintained primary and secondary schools were interviewed twice -near the beginning and end of an induction period -to gain some insight into changes in practice and perspective over time. Appropriate Bodies in which the school case studies were to be located were initially selected by geographical diversity, i.e. urban/rural and by region. Telephone interviews with representatives from 18 Appropriate Bodies, (17 LEAs and the Independent Schools Council Teacher Induction Panel -ISCTIP) were conducted. The LEAs were chosen to represent a wide range of size and type of local authorities nationally, avoiding those undergoing inspection. Nine were then identified for the case studies, of which one subsequently dropped out. The eight Appropriate Bodies were asked to identify one school which they deemed to offer 'best practice' in induction provision. The researchers selected a further two case study schools, ensuring that at least one primary and one secondary school were seen within each Appropriate Body, and that the sample contained a range of characteristics overall, e.g. small, foundation, single sex etc. This data was complimented by a survey of 568 NQTs from the 1999-2000 and 2000-200...

The processes underpinning child protection decision-making have been less frequently studied than the consequences of decision outcomes. This paper reports the findings of three investigations into the dynamics and processes involved in reaching decisions about the registration of children as at risk. The three studies reflect an approach which is to triangulate onto the core of decision processes by focusing on different aspects of those processes. Study One reports the findings of a linguistic and discursive analysis of transcripts of child protection conferences which has provided a framework for the second and third studies. Study Two reports on the views of child protection chairpersons about the level of satisfaction felt with process and outcomes of child protection conferences. Study Three describes the outcomes of a trial to support the conference process through the use of a group support system. The findings of the research support those of earlier studies. In addition, a number of process-related issues are identified. The paper concludes that a suitably designed form of online group support has the potential to alleviate the effects of the difficulties in communication which have been identified by this and other studies.

The paper is an exploration of how a group of tutors involved in a major e-learning project reacted to developing and teaching in this environment for this first time. All were experienced face-to-face teachers but had different levels of experience in using technology. Our aim was to capture their individual views on working in an online environment. The import of this cannot be under-estimated, as different views on learning influence the role and potential of technology in an e-learning environment.As the research is an exploration in understanding the impact that e-learning can have on the role of the teacher, it seemed appropriate to frame the work in a grounded theory approach and to deal with themes as they emerged. The data for the paper are the product of focus groups, questionnaires and observation. The sample for data collection was the total population of tutors in seven institutions involved in the delivery of the course. The questionnaire captured tutors' profiles (experience of information technology, e-moderating, e-learning, gender, college, module taught), their personal online tutoring style, their opinions on pedagogy and the student learning experience, training and development issues and general reflections on being an online tutor. The initial findings reveal varied reasons for becoming involved with online learning and a wide variety of styles for interacting online with students. All respondents were keen to keep an element of face-to-face teaching in their modules and felt it was difficult to gauge depth of learning without 'normal face-to-face interactions at some point'. A number of staff felt that e-delivery is much more difficult than they envisaged and challenged them in ways that face-to-face teaching did not. Materials and approaches that work well in a classroom environment are not always effective online. Tutors faced challenges in both design and delivery.