Managing ambiguity: between markets and managerialism - a case study of 'middle' managers in further education

Advocates of devolved and market oriented Education reform, point to the benefits from self determination which enhance both teacher and managerial autonomy. Critics refer, on the other hand, to the ways in which running education institutions on business and accounting principles have introduced a new managerialism (Clarke et al, 1994; Pollitt, 1990; Clarke and Newman, 1997), which has driven a wedge between lecturers and senior manager interests. In Further Education, according to Elliott (1996a), this finds expression in conflict between lecturers in defence of professional and pedagogic values, and senior managers promoting the managerial bottom line (Randle and Brady, 1994). The danger in polarising such interests in this way is that it presents a plausible, if not oversimplified, analysis of organisational behaviour as market forces permeate FE. If this paper concurs with many critics on the effects of the new managerialism, it departs company from a prevailing determinism which assumes an over controlled view of the FE workplace (Seddon and Brown, 1997). Despite evidence of widespread casualisation and depro-fessionalisation in FE, this paper examines changing managerial cultures in the FE workplace, in this case among academic ‘middle’ managers, which suggests that managerialism is not as complete or uncontested as is often portrayed. The paper draws on an ESRC research project conducted by the authors (ESRC no. R000236713), looking at Changing Teaching and Managerial Cultures in FE, at a time when the sector is emerging from a series of funding crises associated with redundancies, industrial action, mismanagement and low morale at college level

Flatness of tracer density profile produced by a point source in turbulence

The average concentration of tracers advected from a point source by a multivariate normal velocity field is shown to deviate from a Gaussian profile. The flatness (kurtosis) is calculated using an asymptotic series expansion valid for velocity fields with short correlation times or weak space dependence. An explicit formula for the excess flatness at first order demonstrates maximum deviation from a Gaussian profile at time t of the order of five times the velocity correlation time, with a t–1 decay to the Gaussian value at large times. Monotonically decaying forms of the velocity time correlation function are shown to yield negative values for the first order excess flatness, but positive values can result when the correlation function has an oscillatory tail

Joint angle affects volitional and magnetically-evoked neuromuscular performance differentially

This study examined the volitional and magnetically-evoked neuromuscular performance of the quadriceps femoris at functional knee joint angles adjacent to full extension. Indices of volitional and magnetically-evoked neuromuscular performance (N= 15 healthy males; 23.5 ± 2.9 years; 71.5 ± 5.4 kg; 176.5 ± 5.5 cm) were obtained at 25°; 35° and 45° of knee flexion. Results showed that volitional and magnetically-evoked peak force (PFV; PTFE, respectively) and electromechanical delay (EMDV; EMDE, respectively) were enhanced by increased knee flexion. However, greater relative improvements in volitional compared to evoked indices of neuromuscular performance were observed with increasing flexion from 25° to 45° (e.g. EMDV; EMDE: 36% vs. 11% improvement, respectively; F[2,14] = 6.8; p < 0.05). There were no significant correlations between EMDV and EMDE or PFV and PTFE, respectively at analogous joint positions. These findings suggest that the extent of the relative differential between volitional and evoked neuromuscular performance capabilities is joint angle-specific and not correlated with performance capabilities at adjacent angles, but tends to be smaller with increased flexion. As such, effective prediction of volitional from evoked performance capabilities at both analogous and adjacent knee joint positions would lack robustness

Repeated exercise stress impairs volitional but not magnetically evoked electromechanical delay of the knee flexors

The effects of serial episodes of fatigue and recovery on volitional and magnetically evoked neuromuscular performance of the knee flexors were assessed in twenty female soccer players during: (i) an intervention comprising 4x35s maximal static exercise; (ii) a control condition. Volitional peak force (PFV) was impaired progressively (-16 % vs. baseline: 235.3±54.7 to 198.1±38.5 N) by the fatiguing exercise and recovered to within -97 % of baseline values following six-minutes of rest. Evoked peak twitch force (PTFE) was diminished subsequent to the fourth episode of exercise (23.3 %: 21.4±13.8 vs. 16.4±14.6 N) and remained impaired at this level throughout the recovery. Impairment of volitional electromechanical delay performance (EMDV) following the first episode of exercise (25.5 % :55.3±11.9 vs. 69.5±24.5 ms) contrasted with concurrent improvement (10.0 %: 24.5±4.7 vs. 22.1±5.0 ms) in evoked electromechanical delay (EMDE) (p <0.05) and this increased disparity between EMDE and EMDV remained during subsequent periods of intervention and recovery. The fatiguing exercise provoked substantial impairments to volitional strength and EMDV that showed differential patterns of recovery. However, improved EMDE performance might identify a dormant capability for optimal muscle responses during acute stressful exercise and an improved capacity to maintain dynamic joint stabilty during critical episodes of loading

Influence of surgery and rehabilitation conditioning on psychophysiological fitness

The purpose of this study was to assess changes in psychophysiological fitness following reconstructive knee surgery and early phase (2.5 months) physical rehabilitation. Nine patients (7 male, 2 female; mean age, 29.9 years) electing to undergo anterior cruciate ligament reconstructive surgery (central third, bone-patella tendon-bone graft) were assessed on four separate assessment occasions post-surgery. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed significant condition (injured/non-injured leg) by test occasion (2 weeks pre-surgery and 6, 8 and 10 weeks post-surgery) interactions for knee ligamentous compliance (anterior tibiofemoral displacement), peak force and electromechanical delay associated with the knee flexors of the injured and noninjured legs (F3,24 = 4.7 to 6.6; p < 0.01), together with individualized emotional profile disturbance scores that were significantly less at 10 weeks post-surgery compared to pre-surgery, 6 weeks and 8 weeks post-surgery (F3,24 = 7.6; p < 0.01). Spearman rank correlation coefficients identified significant relationships between musculoskeletal fitness and emotional profile scores at pre-surgery (r = 0.69–0.72; p < 0.05) and at 8 weeks post-surgery (r = 0.70–0.73; p < 0.05). The 6 Bi-POMS subscales and the 12 ERAIQ responses found inconsistent patterns of response and relationships across the assessment occasions. Overall, the patterning of changes and associations amongst emotional performance profile discrepancy scores in conjunction with those scores from indices of musculoskeletal fitness performance capability offered important support for the efficacy of an approach which integrates self-perceptive and objective measurements of fitness capability during rehabilitation following surgery to a synovial joint

Toward Programmed Complex Stress-Induced Mechanical Deformations of Liquid Crystal Elastomers

We prepare a liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) with a spatially patterned liquid crystal director field from an all-acrylate LCE. Mechanical deformations of this material lead to a complex and spatially varying deformation with localised body rotations, shears and extensions. Together, these dictate the evolved shape of the deformed film. Using polarising microscopy, we map the local rotation of the liquid crystal director in Eulerian and Lagrangian frames and use these to determine rules for programming complex, stress-induced mechanical shape deformations of LCEs. Moreover, by applying a recently developed empirical model for the mechanical behaviour of our LCE, we predict the non-uniform stress distributions in our material. These results show the promise of empirical approaches to modelling the anisotropic and nonlinear mechanical responses of LCEs which will be important as the community moves toward realising real-world, LCE-based devices

Mechanical deformations of a liquid crystal elastomer at director angles between 0° and 90°: Deducing an empirical model encompassing anisotropic nonlinearity

Despite the wealth of studies reporting mechanical properties of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), no theory can currently describe their complete mechanical anisotropy and nonlinearity. Here, we present the first comprehensive study of mechanical anisotropy in an all‐acrylate LCE via tensile tests that simultaneously track liquid crystal (LC) director rotation. We then use an empirical approach to gain a deeper insight into the LCE's mechanical responses at values of strain, up to 1.5, for initial director orientations between 0° and 90°. Using a method analogous to time–temperature superposition, we create master curves for the LCE's mechanical response and use these to deduce a model that accurately predicts the load curve of the LCE for stresses applied at angles between 15° and 70° relative to the initial LC director. This LCE has been shown to exhibit auxetic behavior for deformations perpendicular to the director. Interestingly, our empirical model predicts that the LCE will further demonstrate auxetic behavior when stressed at angles between 54° and 90° to the director. Our approach could be extended to any LCE; so it represents a significant step forward toward models that would aid the further development of LCE theory and the design and modeling of LCE‐based technologies. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019, 57, 1367–137

Knee joint neuromuscular activation performance during muscle damage and superimposed fatigue

This study examined the concurrent effects of exercise-induced muscle damage and superimposed acute fatigue on the neuromuscular activation performance of the knee flexors of nine males (age: 26.7 ± 6.1yrs; height 1.81 ± 0.05m; body mass 81.2 ± 11.7kg [mean ± SD]). Measures were obtained during three experimental conditions: (i) FAT-EEVID, involving acute fatiguing exercise performed on each assessment occasion plus a single episode of eccentric exercise performed on the first occasion and after the fatigue trial; (ii) FAT, involving the fatiguing exercise only and; (iii) CON consisting of no exercise. Assessments were performed prior to (pre) and at lh, 24h, 48h, 72h, and 168h relative to the eccentric exercise. Repeated-measures ANOVAs showed that muscle damage within the FAT-EEVID condition elicited reductions of up to 38%, 24%) and 65%> in volitional peak force, electromechanical delay and rate of force development compared to baseline and controls, respectively (F[io, 80] = 2.3 to 4.6; p to 30.7%>) following acute fatigue (Fp; i6] = 4.3 to 9.1; p ; Fp, iq = 3.9; p <0.05). The safeguarding of evoked muscle activation capability despite compromised volitional performance might reveal aspects of capabilities for emergency and protective responses during episodes of fatigue and antecedent muscle damaging exercise

Expanding Local to Global through ESRI Story Maps

For decades, the “expanding communities” model has dominated the elementary classroom, sustained by notions that young children need to first understand their local communities before they can understand the broader world. As proponents of this approach value how it supports young learners developmentally, critics fault its narrow scope. How will children become global thinkers if they fail to explore the world beyond their home? Instead of separating local and global perspectives and topics, we set out to integrate them, to teach children about the world through their local communities. We created Community Story Maps as an inquiry-driven project where students learn about local history through the lenses of history, civics, economics, and geography and compare their surroundings to geographically different places and regions. The Community Story Maps project illustrates how an online resource—Esri Story Maps—can be used to deepen historical and geospatial thinking and make connections between the local and global

Preparing Preservice Secondary Social Studies Teachers for Common Core

For history and social studies educators, the Common Core standards present a new challenge, asking teachers explicitly to integrate literacy skills into their instruction. As K-12 and higher education institutions think about how to support teachers to meet this charge (Gewertz, 2012b; Sawchuk, 2012), this study uses the work of preservice teachers to examine how they address and fail to address Common Core standards. Our findings are based on qualitative analysis of unit plans (105 lessons) from preservice secondary history teachers. Analysis was completed on individual lessons and then on each unit holistically. Finally the units were analyzed collectively in order to draw more generalized findings. This study identifies specific aspects of the standards where educators are more likely to struggle with implementation of the Common Core ELA standards and provides suggestions on how teacher educators can better prepare preservice secondary history teachers to attend to the framework