Cash or kudos:Addressing the effort-reward imbalance for academic employees

This paper reports the findings of a study into the factors influencing psychological well-being of academic staff working in a U.K. Higher Education Institution. The study utilized the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model as a framework to examine the balance between the effort academic staff commit to their work and the reward they receive in relation to the model's three reward systems: remuneration, career progression, and self-esteem. This study utilized qualitative methodology to investigate the experiences of academic staff engaged in predominantly teaching activities (n = 39). In particular, the focus groups considered the factors affecting the effort they commit to their work and the characteristics of work that help them feel rewarded. This allowed consideration of the ERI model's reward systems and exploration of a wider range of reward systems within an academic context. The findings reinforce the use of the ERI model for evaluating factors that influence the well-being of academic staff, providing insight into the extrinsic effort that academic staff commit to work, as well as recently evolved demands from student expectations and learning capability. Informal reward mechanisms, relating to student interaction and pedagogical impact, were found to have a prominent effect in helping academic staff feel rewarded for their work. This provides a possible explanation for academic staff overcommitment to their work in order to maintain informal sources of reward, in the absence of more formal institutional mechanisms. The limitations and implications for future research and practice, including possible interventions to restore effort-reward imbalance for academic staff, are discussed

Weak Poisson structures on infinite dimensional manifolds and hamiltonian actions

We introduce a notion of a weak Poisson structure on a manifold $M$ modeled on a locally convex space. This is done by specifying a Poisson bracket on a subalgebra \cA \subeq C^\infty(M) which has to satisfy a non-degeneracy condition (the differentials of elements of \cA separate tangent vectors) and we postulate the existence of smooth Hamiltonian vector fields. Motivated by applications to Hamiltonian actions, we focus on affine Poisson spaces which include in particular the linear and affine Poisson structures on duals of locally convex Lie algebras. As an interesting byproduct of our approach, we can associate to an invariant symmetric bilinear form $\kappa$ on a Lie algebra \g and a $\kappa$-skew-symmetric derivation $D$ a weak affine Poisson structure on \g itself. This leads naturally to a concept of a Hamiltonian $G$-action on a weak Poisson manifold with a \g-valued momentum map and hence to a generalization of quasi-hamiltonian group actions

The development of a theory informed behaviour change intervention to improve adherence to dietary and physical activity treatment guidelines in individuals with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH)

This study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre (Nutrition theme) at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and The University of Bristol.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Specific heat study of single crystalline Pr0.63_{0.63} Ca0.37_{0.37} MnO3_{3} in presence of a magnetic field

We present the results of a study of specific heat on a single crystal of Pr$_{0.63}$Ca$_{0.37}$MnO$_3$ performed over a temperature range 3K-300K in presence of 0 and 8T magnetic fields. An estimate of the entropy and latent heat in a magnetic field at the first order charge ordering (CO) transition is presented. The total entropy change at the CO transition which is $\approx$ 1.8 J/mol K at 0T, decreases to $\sim$ 1.5 J/mol K in presence of 8T magnetic field. Our measurements enable us to estimate the latent heat $L_{CO}$ $\approx$ 235 J/mol involved in the CO transition. Since the entropy of the ferromagnetic metallic (FMM) state is comparable to that of the charge-ordered insulating (COI) state, a subtle change in entropy stabilises either of these two states. Our low temperature specific heat measurements reveal that the linear term is absent in 0T and surprisingly not seen even in the metallic FMM state.Comment: 8 pages (in RevTEX format), 12 figures (in postscript format) Submitted to Phys. Rev.

A new approach to develop palladium-modified Ti-based alloys for biomedical applications

A new powder mixing/coating technique combined with selective laser melting (SLM) or hot isostatic pressing has been used to modify Ti-6Al-4V (Ti64) with Pd with the aim of further improving its corrosion resistance. The modified alloy samples were characterised in terms of porosity, surface structure, microstructure and composition using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and electron microprobe analysis (EPMA). Their corrosion properties were evaluated via electrochemical tests and the mechanical properties measured via tensile tests. Using a new physical powder mixing technique, Pd was homogeneously distributed among the base Ti alloy powder particles without damaging their sphericity. After HIPing Pd is mainly located at grain boundaries while during SLM Pd has dissolved into the matrix. The porosity in the as-SLMed samples and surface roughness both increase continuously with increased laser scanning speed. Pd did not cause significant improvement in tensile properties but did enhance corrosion resistance in 2 M HCl by shifting the corrosion potential into the passive region of Ti64. The current work suggested that the new approach is a feasible route of synthesising modified alloys with both chemical and microstructural homogeneity as well as improved performance for biomedical application

Specific heat and magnetic measurements in Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3, Nd0.5Ca0.5MnO3 and Ho0.5Ca0.5MnO3 samples

We studied the magnetization as a function of temperature and magnetic field in the compounds Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3, Nd0.5Ca0.5MnO3 and Ho0.5Ca0.5MnO3. It allowed us to identify the ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic and charge ordering phases in each case. The intrinsic magnetic moments of Nd3+ and Ho3+ ions experienced a short range order at low temperatures. We also did specific heat measurements with applied magnetic fields between 0 and 9 T and temperatures between 2 and 300 K in all three samples. Close to the charge ordering and ferromagnetic transition temperatures the specific heat curves showed peaks superposed to the characteristic response of the lattice oscillations. Below 10 K the specific heat measurements evidenced a Schottky-like anomaly for all samples. However, we could not successfully fit the curves to either a two level nor a distribution of two-level Schottky anomaly. Our results indicated that the peak temperature of the Schottky anomaly was higher in the compounds with narrower conduction band.Comment: submitted to PR

Fronto-temporoparietal connectivity and self-awareness in 18-month-olds: a resting state fNIRS study

How and when a concept of the 'self' emerges has been the topic of much interest in developmental psychology. Self-awareness has been proposed to emerge at around 18 months, when toddlers start to show evidence of physical self-recognition. However, to what extent physical self-recognition is a valid indicator of being able to think about oneself, is debated. Research in adult cognitive neuroscience has suggested that a common network of brain regions called Default Mode Network (DMN), including the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), is recruited when we are reflecting on the self. We hypothesized that if mirror self-recognition involves self-awareness, toddlers who exhibit mirror self-recognition might show increased functional connectivity between frontal and temporoparietal regions of the brain, relative to those toddlers who do not yet show mirror self-recognition. Using fNIRS, we collected resting-state data from 18 Recognizers and 22 Non-Recognizers at 18 months of age. We found significantly stronger fronto-temporoparietal connectivity in Recognizers compared to Non-Recognizers, a finding which might support the hypothesized relationship between mirror-self recognition and self-awareness in infancy. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Local structure of the set of steady-state solutions to the 2D incompressible Euler equations

It is well known that the incompressible Euler equations can be formulated in a very geometric language. The geometric structures provide very valuable insights into the properties of the solutions. Analogies with the finite-dimensional model of geodesics on a Lie group with left-invariant metric can be very instructive, but it is often difficult to prove analogues of finite-dimensional results in the infinite-dimensional setting of Euler's equations. In this paper we establish a result in this direction in the simple case of steady-state solutions in two dimensions, under some non-degeneracy assumptions. In particular, we establish, in a non-degenerate situation, a local one-to-one correspondence between steady-states and co-adjoint orbits.Comment: 81 page

Solar Wind Turbulence and the Role of Ion Instabilities

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