The challenges and issues of undergraduate student retention and attainment in UK veterinary medical education

Student retention and attainment has recently been identified as a key area for development in veterinary medical education enquiry. Woodfield's research on retention and attainment across the UK disciplines has yielded some unique information about the challenges and issues of students who study veterinary medicine and related subjects. The present literature review aims to expand on Woodfield's findings and explain important issues about retention and attainment across veterinary medicine. Overall, the subject of retention and attainment in undergraduate veterinary medical education needs a great deal more empirical attention, such as data on the retention and attainment of mature and widening access students, and the effects of students being placed at remote locations during their studies. Our findings also cover some unsurprising issues: the dominance of women in a profession that is principally lead by men, the underrepresentation of black and minority ethnic (BME) students in veterinary medicine, and the effects of content overload in the veterinary medical curriculum. Based on data gathered by Woodfield and our investigation of the scholarly and gray literatures, we offer an overview of gaps in current knowledge and recommendations for further research

Heralded magnetism in non-Hermitian atomic systems

Quantum phase transitions are usually studied in terms of Hermitian Hamiltonians. However, cold-atom experiments are intrinsically non-Hermitian due to spontaneous decay. Here, we show that non-Hermitian systems exhibit quantum phase transitions that are beyond the paradigm of Hermitian physics. We consider the non-Hermitian XY model, which can be implemented using three-level atoms with spontaneous decay. We exactly solve the model in one dimension and show that there is a quantum phase transition from short-range order to quasi-long-range order despite the absence of a continuous symmetry in the Hamiltonian. The ordered phase has a frustrated spin pattern. The critical exponent $\nu$ can be 1 or 1/2. Our results can be seen experimentally with trapped ions, cavity QED, and atoms in optical lattices.Comment: 7 pages + appendi

Structures and proton-pumping strategies of mitochondrial respiratory enzymes

Enzymes of the mitochondrial respiratory chain serve as proton pumps, using the energy made available from electron transfer reactions to transport protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane and create an electrochemical gradient used for the production of ATP. The ATP synthase enzyme is reversible and can also serve as a proton pump by coupling ATP hydrolysis to proton translocation. Each of the respiratory enzymes uses a different strategy for performing proton pumping. In this work, the strategies are described and the structural bases for the action of these proteins are discussed in light of recent crystal structures of several respiratory enzymes. The mechanisms and efficiency of proton translocation are also analyzed in terms of the thermodynamics of the substrate transformations catalyzed by these enzymes