Sociological Knowledge and Transformation at ‘Diversity University’, UK

This chapter is based on a case study of one UK university sociology department and shows how sociology knowledge can transform the lives of ‘non-traditional’ students. The research from which the case is drawn focused on four departments teaching sociology-related subjects in universities positioned differently in UK league tables. It explored the question of the relationship between university reputation, pedagogic quality and curriculum knowledge, challenging taken-for-granted judgements about ‘quality’ and in conceptualising ‘just’ university pedagogy by taking Basil Bernstein’s ideas about how ‘powerful’ knowledge is distributed in society to illuminate pedagogy and curriculum. The project took the view that ‘power’ lies in the acquisition of specific (inter)disciplinary knowledges which allows the formation of disciplinary identities by way of developing the means to think about and act in the world in specific ways. We chose to focus on sociology because (1) university sociology is taken up by all socio-economic classes in the UK and is increasingly taught in courses in which the discipline is applied to practice; (2) it is a discipline that historically pursues social and moral ambition which assists exploration of the contribution of pedagogic quality to individuals and society beyond economic goals; (3) the researchers teach and research sociology or sociology of education - an understanding of the subjects under discussion is essential to make judgements about quality. ‘Diversity’ was one of four case study universities. It ranks low in university league tables; is located in a large, multi-cultural English inner city; and, its students are likely to come from lower socio-economic and/or ethnic minority groups, as well as being the first in their families to attend university. To make a case for transformative teaching at Diversity, the chapter draws on longitudinal interviews with students, interviews with tutors, curriculum documents, recordings of teaching, examples of student work, and a survey. It establishes what we can learn from the case of sociology at Diversity, arguing that equality, quality and transformation for individuals and society are served by a university curriculum which is research led and challenging combined with pedagogical practices which give access to difficult-to-acquire and powerful knowledge

Epitaxial Thin Films of the Giant-Dielectric-Constant Material CaCu_3Ti_4O_{12} Grown by Pulsed-laser Deposition

Pulsed-laser deposition has been used to grow epitaxial thin films of the giant-dielectric-constant material CaCu_3Ti_4O_{12} on LaAlO_3 and SrTiO_3 substrates with or without various conducting buffer layers. The latter include YBa_2Cu_3O_7, La_{1.85}Sr_{0.15}CuO_{4+\delta} and LaNiO_3. Above 100K - 150K the thin films have a temperature independent dielectric constant as do single crystals. The value of the dielectric constant is of the order of 1500 over a wide temperature region, potentially making it a good candidate for many applications. The frequency dependence of its dielectric properties below 100K - 150K indicates an activated relaxation process.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

From ‘other’ to involved: User involvement in research: An emerging paradigm

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ 2013 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article. Non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way, is permitted. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.This article explores the issue of ‘othering’ service users and the role that involving them, particularly in social policy and social work research may play in reducing this. It takes, as its starting point, the concept of ‘social exclusion’, which has developed in Europe and the marginal role that those who have been included in this construct have played in its development and the damaging effects this may have. The article explores service user involvement in research and is itself written from a service user perspective. It pays particular attention to the ideological, practical, theoretical, ethical and methodological issues that such user involvement may raise for research. It examines problems that both research and user involvement may give rise to and also considers developments internationally to involve service users/subjects of research, highlighting some of the possible implications and gains of engaging service user knowledge in research and the need for this to be evaluated

KH15D: a star eclipsed by a large scale dusty vortex?

We propose that the large photometric variations of KH15D are due to an eclipsing swarm of solid particles trapped in giant gaseous vortex rotating at \~0.2 AU from the star. The efficiency of the capture-in-vortex mechanism easily explains the observed large optical depth. The weaker opacity at mid-eclipse is consistent with a size segregation of the particles toward the center of the vortex. This dusty structure must extend over ~1/3 of an orbit to account for the long eclipse duration. The estimated size of the trapped particles is found to range from 1 to 10cm, consistent with the gray extinction of the star. The observations of KH15D support the idea that giant vortices can grow in circumstellar disks and play a central role in planet formation.Comment: Accepted in ApJ Letters - 4 pages - 2 figure

Distances to six Cepheids in the LMC cluster NGC1866 from the near-IR surface-brightness method

We derive individual distances to six Cepheids in the young populous star cluster NGC1866 in the Large Magellanic Cloud employing the near-IR surface brightness technique. With six stars available at the exact same distance we can directly measure the intrinsic uncertainty of the method. We find a standard deviation of 0.11 mag, two to three times larger than the error estimates and more in line with the estimates from Bayesian statistical analysis by Barnes et al. (2005). Using all six distance estimates we determine an unweighted mean cluster distance of 18.30+-0.05. The observations indicate that NGC1866 is close to be at the same distance as the main body of the LMC. If we use the stronger dependence of the p-factor on the period as suggested by Gieren et al. (2005) we find a distance of 18.50+-0.05 (internal error) and the PL relations for Galactic and MC Cepheids are in very good agreement.Comment: Presented at the conference "Stellar Pulsation and Evolution" in Monte Porzio Catone, June 2005. To appear in Mem. Soc. Ast. It. 76/