Age discrimination in the workplace

Age discrimination is often cited as a barrier to participation in work by older people, and the workplace provides the most common grounds for complaints of this nature. Age discrimination predominantly affects older rather than younger groups (although the latter are not exempt), and is often based on myths and stereotyped attitudes about older people and older workers which can be easily refuted. Age discrimination as an issue in the workplace is not new. Age discrimination pervades the entire employment relationship and can take a variety of forms. It occurs in relation to promotion, job allocation, salary differentials, access to training and staff benefits (for example, cut-off ages for life assurance cover and long service leave). General attitudes, as well as inter-staff action such as bullying and exclusion from social activities, can also disadvantage older workers . • Judith Davey is a Senior Associate of the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies and was formerly Director of the New Zealand Institute for Research on Ageing. Her main research focus is the policy implications of population ageing

The flipped classroom: motivating student nurses to learn independently

The flipped classroom has become an internationally recognised teaching strategy in higher education institutions including those which deliver nurse education and training. In 2014, the author "flipped" a first year module of the undergraduate nurse training programme at a University in the United Kingdom. Through the creation of on-line lectures and self-paced, independent e-learning activities students steered their own direction, pace and depth of learning. Class time was then dedicated to engaging students through discussions, debates and active learning exercises. The aim of this research was to explore, using self-report questionnaires, the extent to which the flipped classroom stimulates student’s motivation to engage with e-learning activities. The research concluded that the flipped classroom delivery model motivates students to learn independently. The primary motivational stimuli included a heightened student enjoyment of e-learning that provided intrinsic motivation and peer group work as an extrinsic motivator

Parabolic theory as a high-dimensional limit of elliptic theory

The aim of this article is to show how certain parabolic theorems follow from their elliptic counterparts. This technique is demonstrated through new proofs of five important theorems in parabolic unique continuation and the regularity theory of parabolic equations and geometric flows. Specifically, we give new proofs of an $L^2$ Carleman estimate for the heat operator, and the monotonicity formulas for the frequency function associated to the heat operator, the two-phase free boundary problem, the flow of harmonic maps, and the mean curvature flow. The proofs rely only on the underlying elliptic theorems and limiting procedures belonging essentially to probability theory. In particular, each parabolic theorem is proved by taking a high-dimensional limit of the related elliptic result.Comment: To appear in Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysi

BSM Higgs boson searches at LHC and the Tevatron

A review of the current experimental results on searches for Higgs bosons in models beyond the Standard Model is presented. Searches from ATLAS, CMS and LHCb use datasets from Run 1 of the LHC, including 7 and 8 TeV proton-proton collisions. Searches from CDF and D0 use the full or partial 1.96 TeV proton-anti-proton collision datasets from the Tevatron.Comment: Proceedings for LHCP 2014; 7 pages, 5 figure

Interaction with text : a study of teachers' mediation of materials in mainstream and ESOL secondary school classrooms : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Second Language Teaching at Massey University

The increasingly multi-cultural nature of New Zealand society is accompanied by burgeoning school enrolments of students whose first language is not English (called ESOL students in this study). Immigration, refugee movements, and the recruitment of international students for largely economic purposes, all contribute to this. Whilst many of these students are competent English speakers when they enrol at our schools, large numbers are not. In secondary schools, regardless of English language competence, most ESOL students are placed in mainstream classes for the majority of their timetable, with the addition of a relatively small amount of specialist English language tuition. How do both these mainstream and ESOL teachers address the language learning needs of these students? Because texts remain central to classroom teaching and learning, this study considers how teachers mediate texts with students. It has a particular focus on how this mediation contributes to the language learning environment for ESOL students in both mainstream and ESOL classes, using classroom observation as its primary source of data. This study reveals both predictable and unexpected results. It is not surprising that it finds extensive use of questioning by teachers in their mediation of texts. However, the value of copious recall or display questions for senior secondary school students is challenged by this study, and the importance is asserted of referential questioning to develop critical thinking skills in relation to text. The preponderance of teacher-dominated classrooms and classroom language is a disappointing finding of this study, especially because the study reveals that students say very little in such an environment. More collaborative and interactive teaching methods would help ESOL students use, and therefore learn, English more effectively. Thus the study finds a lot of class time invested in the use of texts, but comparatively little effective mediation to help both native-speaking and ESOL students comprehend the language of the texts. The study reveals the need for teachers to acknowledge their role as teachers of language, and especially to mediate texts with students by teaching reading strategies

McGovern, International Trade Regulation

International Trade Regulation is a work with many strengths and few weaknesses. One could nitpick about certain aspects of its organization, but basically the organization is sufficiently logical overall that the book could be read cover to cover and be a coherent introduction to the subject of international trade regulation for a novice in the field. At the same time, within each section, the exposition of the basic international rules, followed by a discussion of the related United States and EEC rules, works well