2,261 research outputs found
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
Ultrafast time-resolved photoluminescence from novel metal–dendrimer nanocomposites
We report the first results of ultra-fast enhanced light emission from gold– and silver–dendrimer nanocomposites. There is a fast (70 fs) fluorescence decay component associated with the metal nanocomposites. Anisotropy measurements show that this fast component is depolarized. The enhanced emission is suggestively due to local field enhancement in the elongated metal–dendrimer nanoparticles. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71043/2/JCPSA6-114-5-1962-1.pd
Electrical and Thermal Transport in Metallic Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes on Insulating Substrates
We analyze transport in metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on
insulating substrates over the bias range up to electrical breakdown in air. To
account for Joule self-heating, a temperature-dependent Landauer model for
electrical transport is coupled with the heat conduction equation along the
nanotube. The electrical breakdown voltage of SWNTs in air is found to scale
linearly with their length, approximately as 5 V/um; we use this to deduce a
thermal conductance between SWNT and substrate g ~ 0.17 +/- 0.03 W/K/m per tube
length, which appears limited by the SWNT-substrate interface rather than the
thermal properties of the substrate itself. We examine the phonon scattering
mechanisms limiting electron transport, and find the strong temperature
dependence of the optical phonon absorption rate to have a remarkable influence
on the electrical resistance of micron-length nanotubes. Further analysis
reveals that unlike in typical metals, electrons are responsible for less than
15% of the total thermal conductivity of metallic nanotubes around room
temperature, and this contribution decreases at high bias or higher
temperatures. For interconnect applications of metallic SWNTs, significant
self-heating may be avoided if power densities are limited below 5 uW/um, or if
the SWNT-surrounding thermal interface is optimized.Comment: accepted for publication in J. Appl. Phys. (2007
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Turning points: the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become middle managers
In the current higher education climate, there is a growing perception that the pressures associated with being an academic middle manager outweigh the perceived rewards of the position. This article investigates the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become middle managers by drawing on data from life history interviews undertaken with 17 male and female department heads from a range of disciplines, in a post-1992 UK university. The data suggests that experiencing conflict between personal and professional identities, manifested through different socialization experiences over time, can lead to a ‘turning point’ and a decision that affects a person’s career trajectory. Although the results of this study cannot be generalized, the findings may help other individuals and institutions move towards a firmer understanding of the academic who becomes head of department—in relation to theory, practice and research
Graduate Students as Academic Writers: Writing Anxiety, Self-Efficacy, and Emotional Intelligence
Researchers interested in psychological factors affecting writers in higher-education institutions, or academic writers, are concerned with internal variables affecting writing productivity; however few empirical studies explore these factors with samples of students who are in the process of earning master’s or doctoral degrees (i.e., graduate students). In this study, we examined writing anxiety, self-efficacy, and emotional intelligence in a sample of graduate students at a large, research-intensive university in the United States. Using a survey, we collected measures on these variables in addition to demographic information from the participants. We then used the measures to descriptively compare groups of students with similar characteristics and to run three regression models to identify which variables best predicted writing anxiety. Our findings indicate self-efficacy is a statistically significant and large predictor of writing anxiety while emotional intelligence (EI) is not, though descriptive data showed moderate effects between EI and first language (i.e., whether or not a student reported English as a first language). In the presence of self-efficacy, gender remained a significant predictor of writing anxiety, while first language did not. We discuss implications for future research and practice focused on helping graduate student academic writers succeed
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
Turbulent protostellar discs
Aspects of turbulence in protostellar accretion discs are being reviewed. The
emergence of dead zones due to poor ionization and alternatives to the
magneto-rotational instability are discussed. The coupling between dust and gas
in protostellar accretion discs is explained and turbulent drag is compared
with laminar drag in the Stokes and Epstein regimes. Finally, the significance
of magnetic field generation in turbulent discs is emphasized in connection
with driving outflows and with star-disc coupling.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, proceedings of Nobel Symposium 135: Physics of
Planetary System
School self-evaluation and its impact on teachers’ work in England
This study, based on in-depth interview data from a sample of schools in the midlands of England, offers an analysis of UK teachers’ perceptions and understandings of school self evaluation at a point when national accountability procedures have required that all schools complete and constantly update a web-based self evaluation schedule, which is then used as the basis for high stakes external inspection. School systems and cultures of self evaluation were found to be diverse, complex and school-specific. Three broad cultural categories are proposed as a heuristic to illuminate: issues of compliance and resistance, teacher motivation and behaviours, understandings of professionalism and leadership, school ethos, job satisfaction, and the use and interpretation of school level data in relation to school self evaluation
High orders of the perturbation theory for hydrogen atom in magnetic field
The states of hydrogen atom with principal quantum number and zero
magnetic quantum number in constant homogeneous magnetic field are
considered. The coefficients of energy eigenvalues expansion up to 75th order
in powers of are obtained for these states. The series for energy
eigenvalues and wave functions are summed up to 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
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