Furthering alternative cultures of valuation in higher education research

The value of higher education is often implicit or assumed in educational research. The underlying and antecedent premises that shape and influence debates about value remain unchallenged which perpetuates the dominant, but limiting, terms of the debate and fosters reductionism. I proceed on the premise that analyses of value are not self–supporting or self-referential but are embedded within prevailing cultures of valuation. I contend that challenging, and providing alternatives to, dominant narratives of higher education requires an appreciation of those cultures. I therefore highlight some of the existing cultures of valuation and their influence. I then propose Sayer’s concept of lay normativity as a culture of valuation and discuss how it translates into the practices of research into higher education, specifically the practice of analysis. I animate the discussion by detecting the presence of lay normativity in the evaluative space of the capability approach

Academic training in oral and maxillofacial surgery - when and how to enter the pathway

Entering into surgical academia can seem a daunting prospect for an oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) trainee. However, the streamlining of academic training by the NIHR to create the integrated academic training (IAT) pathway has simplified academic training and more clearly defined academic positions and entry points for trainees. In this article we review the current NIHR IAT pathway and the various grades and entry points available to OMF surgeons, both pre- and post-doctoral. We highlight the unique challenges facing OMF trainees and provide advice and insight from both junior and senior OMFS academics. Finally, we focus on the planning and application for a doctoral research fellowship - discussing funding streams available to OMF surgeons

Magnetohydrodynamic jets from different magnetic field configurations

Using axisymmetric MHD simulations we investigate how the overall jet formation is affected by a variation in the disk magnetic flux profile and/or the existence of a central stellar magnetosphere. Our simulations evolve from an initial, hydrostatic equilibrium state in a force-free magnetic field configuration. We find a unique relation between the collimation degree and the disk wind magnetization power law exponent. The collimation degree decreases for steeper disk magnetic field profiles. Highly collimated outflows resulting from a flat profile tend to be unsteady. We further consider a magnetic field superposed of a stellar dipole and a disk field in parallel or anti-parallel alignment. Both stellar and disk wind may evolve in a pair of outflows, however, a reasonably strong disk wind component is essential for jet collimation. Strong flares may lead to a sudden change in mass flux by a factor two. We hypothesize that such flares may eventually trigger jet knots.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; proceedings from conference: Protostellar Jets in Context, held in Rhodes, July 7-12, 200

Investigating student teachers’ presentations of literacy and literacy pedagogy in a complex context

The field of literacy and primary literacy education is patterned by multiple discourses and this raises challenges for those educating the next generation of primary literacy teachers. In England, the last 15 years have seen considerable levels of prescription in the primary literacy curriculum and compliance by the school and teacher education sectors has been enforced through demanding accountability regimes. In this paper, the authors draw on findings of a small-scale interview study to consider how understandings of literacies associated with different contexts may or may not inflect student teachers’ orientations towards literacy provision in school. The authors explore how five student teachers presented their experiences of literacy within and beyond the classroom and how they seemed to position themselves in relation to literacy pedagogy. The authors focus particularly on continuities and discontinuities between literacies in the student teachers’ personal and professional lives, and on tensions they identified between the teachers they felt they wanted to, and were expected to, become. Reflecting on this work, the authors consider how they can best equip pre-service primary and early years teachers to develop as critical reflective literacy practitioners in the current context

The Mid-Infrared Instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope, VIII: The MIRI Focal Plane System

We describe the layout and unique features of the focal plane system for MIRI. We begin with the detector array and its readout integrated circuit (combining the amplifier unit cells and the multiplexer), the electronics, and the steps by which the data collection is controlled and the output signals are digitized and delivered to the JWST spacecraft electronics system. We then discuss the operation of this MIRI data system, including detector readout patterns, operation of subarrays, and data formats. Finally, we summarize the performance of the system, including remaining anomalies that need to be corrected in the data pipeline

Multilevel analysis of clinical parameters in chronic periodontitis after root planing/scaling, surgery, and systemic and local antibiotics: 2-year results

Aim: Find the periodontal treatment that best maintained clinical results over time evaluated by changes in pocket depth (PD) and clinical attachment level (CAL). Methods: 229 patients with chronic periodontitis from USA (n=134) and Sweden (n=95) were randomly assigned to eight groups receiving 1 scaling+root planing (SRP) alone or combined with 2 surgery (SURG)+systemic amoxicillin (AMOX)+systemic metronidazole (MET); 3 SURG+local tetracycline (TET); 4 SURG; 5 AMOX+MET+TET; 6 AMOX+MET; 7 TET; and 8 SURG+AMOX+MET+TET. Antibiotics were given immediately after SRP. Plaque, gingival redness, bleeding on probing, suppuration, PD, and CAL were recorded at baseline and after 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Treatment effects were evaluated by linear multilevel regression and logistic multilevel regression models. We considered only data from sites with a baseline PD of at least 5 mm of 187 patients completing the study. Results: Surgically treated patients experienced most CAL loss. Adjunctive therapy including SURG was most effective in reducing PD. Combining SURG with AMOX, MET, and TET gave significant clinical benefits. Past and current smoking habits were significant predictors of deeper PD. Only current smoking was a significant predictor of CAL loss. Bleeding, accumulation of plaque, gingival redness, and suppuration were significant predictors of further CAL loss and deeper PD. Conclusions: Both surgical and non-surgical therapies can be used to arrest chronic periodontitis. SURG+AMOX+MET+TET gave best maintenance of clinical results

High orders of the perturbation theory for hydrogen atom in magnetic field

The states of hydrogen atom with principal quantum number $n\le3$ and zero magnetic quantum number in constant homogeneous magnetic field ${\cal H}$ are considered. The coefficients of energy eigenvalues expansion up to 75th order in powers of ${\cal H}^2$ are obtained for these states. The series for energy eigenvalues and wave functions are summed up to ${\cal H}$ values of the order of atomic magnetic field. The calculations are based on generalization of the moment method, which may be used in other cases of the hydrogen atom perturbation by a polynomial in coordinates potential.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 6 figures (ps, eps

Recognising Desire: A psychosocial approach to understanding education policy implementation and effect

It is argued that in order to understand the ways in which teachers experience their work - including the idiosyncratic ways in which they respond to and implement mandated education policy - it is necessary to take account both of sociological and of psychological issues. The paper draws on original research with practising and beginning teachers, and on theories of social and psychic induction, to illustrate the potential benefits of this bipartisan approach for both teachers and researchers. Recognising the significance of (but somewhat arbitrary distinction between) structure and agency in teachers’ practical and ideological positionings, it is suggested that teachers’ responses to local and central policy changes are governed by a mix of pragmatism, social determinism and often hidden desires. It is the often underacknowledged strength of desire that may tip teachers into accepting and implementing policies with which they are not ideologically comfortable

"From ‘What the hell is going on?’ to the ‘Mushy middle ground’ to ‘getting used to a new normal’: Young people’s biographical narratives around navigating parental dementia"

The number of young people who have a parent with dementia is rising as a result of improvements in diagnosis of young onset variants and demographic shifts. There has, however, been very little research focusing on this group. Accounts elicited as part of the Perceptions and Experiences of Young People With a Parent With Dementia described the period, usually some years, leading up to a diagnosis of a dementia and then the progress of the condition post diagnosis. These narratives were characterised by confusion, uncertainty, trauma and distress as the young people struggled to make sense of the significant and often extreme, behavioural and attitudinal changes that were symptoms of the illness. This paper describes and discusses how the young people experienced and navigated the temporal messiness and consequent biographical disruption arising from parental dementia