Professional Doctorates and Emerging Online Pedagogies

The development and implementation of networked learning within postgraduate programmes is increasing, but there is emerging evidence that the use of networked technology within these programmes is creating specific challenges that reflect the cultural, professional and educational expectations of students as they develop expertise in research, particularly in the case of the professional doctorate. The implications of using networked technology for the development of communities of practice of researchers have not yet been fully identified nor understood nor have its benefits been explored. In this paper, we address these issues by presenting a case study of the development of interactive online research narratives as the basis for the teaching of research methods in professional doctorate programmes.New technology and networked learning has had to date a surprisingly limited impact on teaching and learning practice within professional doctorate programmes. Learning technology has been identified by a number of researchers as having potential to bring more flexibility into the learning and teaching of research methods. Despite the existence of considerable distance learning provision supporting remote location students, however, there is not much evidence that this is happening. We argue that networked learning has the potential to change the pedagogic practice of professional doctorates, not only through flexible learning in relation to time, place, topics and use of resources, but also for the development of higher order knowledge and metacognition where we can involve students in rich interactions with peers and more experienced researchers and engagement with authentic examples and insights about practice We will present outcomes from the V-ResORT Project (Virtual Resources for Online Research Project to address these issues. This work has been funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) over a three year period from 2004-7. The V-ResORT Project has developed innovative online learning materials that provide video narratives of researchers exploring key questions connected with their work. These narratives are displayed using the MS Producer video streaming software as a series of short 3-5 minute clips in higher resolution alongside PowerPoint slides and a transcript that enable the user to easily navigate through a complete narrative and provides them with support for the often complex language used within research methodology.We will give a demonstration of some clips of video narratives that capture effective practice as case studies of use. We will briefly discuss the theoretical framework for the context of use in professional doctorate programmes and for developing the video narratives. We will draw on empirical data to present evidence of how we achieved this, particularly in attempting to embed capabilities within the online materials of reusability and personalisation, the relationship between these and student feedback. Our strategies for reusability have resulted in new scenarios of use, for example the development of a Virtual Graduate School

Enhancing the bandwidth of piezoelectric composite transducers for air-coupled non-destructive evaluation

This paper details the development of a novel method for increasing the operational bandwidth of piezocomposites without the need for lossy backing material, the aim being to increase fractional bandwith by geometrical design. Removing the need for lossy backing materials, should in turn increase the transmit efficiency in the desired direction of propagation. Finite element analysis has been employed to determine the mode of operation of the new piezocomposite devices and shows good correlation with that derived experimentally. Through a series of practical and analytical methods it has been shown that additional thickness mode resonances can be introduced into the structure by a simple machining process. The shaped composites described in this paper offer increased operational bandwidth. A simple example of a two step thickness design is described to validate and illustrate the principle. A more complex conical design is presented that illustrates a possible tenfold increase in bandwidth from 30kHz to 300kHz, operating in air without backing. An illustration of the applicability of this type of transducer technology for frequency agile guided mode non-destructive evaluation is then presented

Two Dimensional Anti-de Sitter Space and Discrete Light Cone Quantization

We realize the two dimensional anti-de Sitter ($AdS_2$) space as a Kaluza-Klein reduction of the $AdS_3$ space in the framework of the discrete light cone quantization (DLCQ). Introducing DLCQ coordinates which interpolate the original (unboosted) coordinates and the light cone coordinates, we discuss that $AdS_2/CFT$ correspondence can be deduced from the $AdS_3/CFT$. In particular, we elaborate on the deformation of WZW model to obtain the boundary theory for the $AdS_2$ black hole. This enables us to derive the entropy of the $AdS_2$ black hole from that of the $AdS_3$ black hole.Comment: RevTeX, 11 pages, shorter version to appear in PL

Cognitive BPM as an Equalizer: Improving Access and Efficiency for Employees with (and without) Cognitive Disabilities

We examine ProcessGPT, an AI model designed to automate, augment, and improve business processes, to study the challenges of managing business processes within the cognitive limitations of the human workforce, particularly individuals with cognitive disabilities. ProcessGPT provides a blueprint for designing efficient business processes that take into account human cognitive limitations. By viewing this through the lens of cognitive disabilities, we show that ProcessGPT improves process usability for individuals with and without cognitive disabilities. We also demonstrate that organizations implementing ProcessGPT-like capabilities will realize increased productivity, morale, and inclusion.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Ageing, income and living standards: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

ABSTRACTIn Britain, older people have lower average incomes and a higher risk of income poverty than the general population. Older pensioners are more likely to be in poverty than younger ones. Yet certain indicators of their living standards suggest that older people experience less hardship than expected, given their incomes. A possible explanation is that older people convert income into basic living standards at a higher rate than younger people, implying that as people age they need less income to achieve a given standard of living. Much existing evidence has been based on cross-sectional data and therefore may not be a good guide to the consequences of ageing. We use longitudinal data on people aged at least 50 years from the British Household Panel Survey to investigate the effects of ageing on the relationship between standard of living, as measured by various deprivation indices, and income. We find that for most indices, ageing increases deprivation when controlling for income and other factors. The exception is a subjective index of , which appears to fall as people age. We also find evidence of cohort effects. At any given age and income, more-recently-born older people in general experience more deprivation than those born longer ago. To some extent these ageing and cohort effects balance out, which suggests that pensions do not need to change with age

An Approach to the Cosmological Constant Problem(s)

We propose an approach to explaining why naive large quantum fluctuations are not the right estimate for the cosmological constant. We argue that the universe is in a superposition of many vacua, in such a way that the resulting fluctuations are suppressed by level repulsion to a very small value. The approach combines several aspects of string theory and the early history of the universe, and is only valid if several assumptions hold true. The approach may also explain why the effective cosmological constant reamins small as the universe evolves though several phase transitions. It provides a non-anthropic mechansim leading to a small, non-zero cosmological constant.Comment: Talk given at Rencontres de Moriond, 2004 by G.L. Kan

Three Dimensional Gauge Theories and Monopoles

The coulomb branch of $N=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills gauge theories in $d=2+1$ is studied. A direct connection between gauge theories and monopole moduli spaces is presented. It is proposed that the hyper-K\"ahler metric of supersymmetric $N=4$ $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory is given by the charge $N$ centered moduli space of BPS monopoles in $SU(2)$. The theory is compared to $N=2$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions through compactification on a circle of the latter. It is found that rational maps are appropriate to this comparison. A BPS mass formula is also written for particles in three dimensions and strings in four dimensions.Comment: 25 page