The Power, Structure, and Practice of Gratitude in Education: A Demonstration of Epistemology and Empirical Research Working Together

A growing body of philosophical, psychological, and educational research shows that gratitude has positive effects on mood, relationships, and learning. This paper explores the power of gratitude, investigates how the ontological (inward), teleological (forward), and metaphysical (upward) structure of gratitude can enhance learning, and then highlights a research study revealing teachers’ perspectives on the impact of practicing gratitude in the classroom environment. Four themes emerged from the empirical study that support the gratitude structure: two themes relate to the impact on teachers (enhanced well-being and calm amidst stress), and two themes relate to the impact on students (enhanced classroom environment and strengthened learning). Together, the epistemological framework and the empirical evidence demonstrate that using the structure and the practice of gratitude together in the context of the classroom environment bolsters educational pursuits

Human Minds

Articl

Health and safety in the United Kingdom higher education libraries: a review of the literature

The focus of this article is to review the literature relating to health and safety in UK Higher Education libraries. This will include an overview of the literature on accident theories and also the human element. Various key findings emerge from this analysis. Personal safety is achieved through self-responsibility, following guidelines and having a working knowledge of reporting procedures. A safety culture in the work environment is developed through a proactive approach on the part of management, the provision of information, training, and carrying out safety inspections. These inspections are aimed at preventing the environment from creating a situation where an accident could occur. There can never be a work environment in which no accidents will occur and best practice can only minimize the risk of accidents

The Work-Hamiltonian Connection and the Usefulness of the Jarzynski Equality for Free Energy Calculations

The connection between work and changes in the Hamiltonian for a system with a time-dependent Hamiltonian has recently been called into question, casting doubt on the usefulness of the Jarzynski equality for calculating free energy changes. In this paper, we discuss the relationship between two possible definitions of free energy and show how some recent disagreements regarding the applicability of the Jarzynski equality are the result of different authors using different definitions of free energy. Finally, in light of the recently raised doubts, we explicitly demonstrate that it is indeed possible to obtain physically relevant free energy profiles from molecular pulling experiments by using the Jarzynski equality and the results of Hummer and Szabo.Comment: 3 page

Awkward gestures

A consideration of how irreverent approaches to fashion illustration can open a space for more critical approaches to the form - challenging idealised representations of the body, bringing a sense of 'humanness' to fashion or by reflecting on what our preoccupation with fashion says about human nature in the 21st Century. The article focussed on the work of Helen Bullock, Florence Shaw and Damien Florebert Cuypers and included interviews with all three in reference to the article topic. This article was commissioned by Varoom! for their politics themed issue

The Externalist’s Demon

In this paper, I defend externalist accounts of justified belief from Cohen's new evil demon objection. While I think that Cohen might be right that the person is justified in believing what she does, I argue that this is because we can defend the person from criticism and that defending a person is a very different thing from defending a person's attitudes or actions. To defend a person's attitudes or actions, we need to show that they met standards or did not violate norms. Intuitions about whether we can defend a person from criticism are a poor guide when it comes to determining whether norms were violated or standards were met. It turns out that even radical forms of externalism about justification are compatible with the intuitions that Cohen's example elicits. Properly understood, those intuitions show that the believer should be excused from criticism (and excused for failing to believe with adequate justification)