The holy blood and the holy grail: Myths of scientific racism and the pursuit of excellence in sport

Despite the continuing publication of research that suggests there is no scientific basis to 'race' as a biological category, theories of racial difference continue to be invoked within sport to explain the perceived dominance of black athletes. In the case of John Entine's controversial 'Taboo: why black athletes dominate sports and why we are afraid to talk about it' or undergraduate textbooks that suggest 'racial differences' in physique may significantly affect athletic performance, scientific racism is normalised in sport. In this article, the relationship between scientific racism and sport will be examined. Qualitative research with current sport scientists is used to investigate the socio-ethical tensions within the subject field of sport science between professionalism, scientism and the demand from external interests to produce results that help people in sport win medals. It will be shown that these tensions, combined with the history of race as a category in sport science, combine to create the discourse of scientific knowledge that reflects, rather than challenges, folk genetics of black athletic physicality

Medical education and the pursuit of excellence : the quest for the Holy Grail?

Medical education in Europe is currently facing enormous challenges brought about by the number and the diversity of medical schools that are now within the fold. This diversity is amplified by different educational systems, cultural and socioeconomic issues, health care delivery systems and the ever increasing burden of communicable and non-communicable disease. There is also a movement away from traditional taught curricula to curricula that emphasise self-directed learning and thererby promote lifelong learning. The ultimate goal of undergraduate medical curricula should be to produce a medical doctor with certain core competances and the right basis for further specialisation and adaptability to different roles in health care. Furthermore, increasing professional mobility has highlighted the need for the establishment and maintenance of standards for quality assurance common to all EU countries.peer-reviewe

In Pursuit of the ‘Holy Grail’: Staff Perceptions of Creativity and Innovation

Context and ObjectivesDebate about conceptual understandings and practical applications of creativity and innovation into learning and teaching practice is long standing. Our empirical research aimed to explore how these concepts were understood by staff working in UK higher education (HE) settings and the implications for informing quality improvements. Our goal was to enhance knowledge, skills and understandings within our own context, alongside offering suggestions for HE institutions elsewhere.MethodsWe conducted thematic analysis of qualitative data collected via audio-recordings of workshop break-out groups at two learning and teaching conferences, and positioned our findings within the broader international literature on creativity and innovation.ResultsWe identified four interconnected themes: (i) how creativity and innovation are understood, (ii) problems with claiming work as creative or innovative, (iii) a practical skills deficit, and (iv) a nuanced relationship between their meanings and uses in different disciplinary contexts.Discussion and ConclusionsWe have shown that creativity and innovation have been defined as both products and processes. These particular findings concur with the broader research on these topics across different international settings and disciplines. Activities must be implemented that facilitate discussion about the meaning of these concepts and the emotional impact of value judgements while building awareness, confidence and understandings of how and when students are being creative and innovative. Staff working in other HE institutions around the world may like to reflect on whether these recommendations have relevance in their own contexts, perhaps exploring more rigorously using our proposed methodology

In Pursuit of the ‘Holy Grail’: Staff Perceptions of Creativity and Innovation

Context and Objectives Debate about conceptual understandings and practical applications of creativity and innovation into learning and teaching practice is long standing. Our empirical research aimed to explore how these concepts were understood by staff working in UK higher education (HE) settings and the implications for informing quality improvements. Our goal was to enhance knowledge, skills and understandings within our own context, alongside offering suggestions for HE institutions elsewhere. Methods We conducted thematic analysis of qualitative data collected via audio-recordings of workshop break-out groups at two learning and teaching conferences, and positioned our findings within the broader international literature on creativity and innovation. Results We identified four interconnected themes: (i) how creativity and innovation are understood, (ii) problems with claiming work as creative or innovative, (iii) a practical skills deficit, and (iv) a nuanced relationship between their meanings and uses in different disciplinary contexts. Discussion and Conclusions We have shown that creativity and innovation have been defined as both products and processes. These particular findings concur with the broader research on these topics across different international settings and disciplines. Activities must be implemented that facilitate discussion about the meaning of these concepts and the emotional impact of value judgements while building awareness, confidence and understandings of how and when students are being creative and innovative. Staff working in other HE institutions around the world may like to reflect on whether these recommendations have relevance in their own contexts, perhaps exploring more rigorously using our proposed methodology

The Search Continues: Modernizing the Quest for the Holy Grail in Film

I focus here on The Natural (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and The Fisher King (1991). These three are clearly Grail-oriented stories that have different definitions of what the Grail truly is and means, but all have characters with internalized quests to find both greatness and peace within themselves. I used a literary approach to analyzing the films’ plots, themes, and motifs. Being a narrative analysis, the study focuses on the plot, characters, and content. Certain visual aspects of the films are also important to these narrative components, but the visual will be discussed insofar as it supports each film’s narrative dimensions. By analyzing the Grail in these ways in these films, the pervasiveness and the adaptability of the legend become apparent. The films’ source materials were not included in the analysis for two reasons. First, whatever source the original writer’s vision or inspiration came from never makes it through the filmmaking process entirely intact. The collaborative nature of the filmmaking process makes it virtually impossible to pinpoint one or two definitive sources of inspiration. Second, when the Grail legend is being retold, it is usually a conflation of several sources rather than a faithful representation of one source

Inflation Targeting - the Holy Grail of Monetary Policy?

Inflation targeting is a statement about the objective of central bank policy and not about operating procedures. Its success depends not only on the actions of the central bank, but requires a broad consensus concerning the proper role of monetary policy in the economy. It also requires the backing of a sound fiscal policy. As countries differ both in economic structure and monetary transmission mechanism, the implementation of inflation targeting must be country specific. Instability over time in the transmission mechanism also implies that inflation targeting strategies must evolve over time to avoid the fate of previous monetary policy targeting practices.International Economics; Monetary Policy; Inflation targeting; Monetary transmission mechanism

Explaining ourselves: human-aware constraint reasoning

Human-aware AI is increasingly important as AI becomes more powerful and ubiquitous. A good foundation for human-awareness should enable ourselves and our “AIs” to “explain ourselves” naturally to each other. Constraint reasoning offers particular opportunities and challenges in this regard. This paper takes note of the history of work in this area and encourages increased attention, laying out a rough research agenda