The McDonaldization of higher education

2017 saw the publication of 'Beyond McDonaldization: Visions of Higher Education' (Routledge), the first chapter of which, 'Beyond the McDonaldization of Higher Education', develops and updates the ideas in this paper, which is an edited and revised version of the 'Introduction' to Dennis Hayes and Robin Wynyard’s book 'The McDonaldization of Higher Education' (Bergin and Garvey 2002). This well-received book introduced, and presented some criticisms of, the concept of 'McDonaldization' and examined the consequences of the process of McDonaldization to the university. A notable idea in the 2002 book was the concept of the 'therapeutic university' which, in part, explained the acquiescence of academics and students to the bureaucratising aspects of McDonaldization. The term is now widely used to describe a cultural climate in universities that sees today’s students as emotionally vulnerable and incapable of coping with challenging ideas.N/

Universal binding-energy relation for crystals that accounts for surface relaxation

We present a universal relation for crack surface cohesion including surface relaxation. Specifically, we analyze how N atomic planes respond to an opening displacement at its boundary, producing structurally relaxed surfaces. Via density-functional theory, we verify universality for metals (Al), ceramics (α−Al_2O_3), and semiconductors (Si). When the energy and opening displacement are scaled appropriately with respect to N, the uniaxial elastic constant, the relaxed surface energy, and the equilibrium interlayer spacing, all energy-displacement curves collapse onto a single universal curve

Density-functional-theory-based local quasicontinuum method: Prediction of dislocation nucleation

We introduce the density functional theory (DFT) local quasicontinuum method: a first principles multiscale material model that embeds DFT unit cells at the subgrid level of a finite element computation. The method can predict the onset of dislocation nucleation in both single crystals and those with inclusions, although extension to lattice defects awaits new methods. We show that the use of DFT versus embedded-atom method empirical potentials results in different predictions of dislocation nucleation in nanoindented face-centered-cubic aluminum

Lessons Learned from IEP Meeting Experiences of Parents and School Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams to hold virtual IEP meetings for students with disabilities instead of conducting them in person. Prior to the pandemic, research explored school professionals’ and parents’ perceptions of the IEP meeting experience in the context of in-person meetings. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how IEP meeting experiences changed for parents and school professionals as a result of the transition to virtual meeting collaboration due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten school professionals and nine parents from two public school districts in the United States participated in semi-structured interviews about their perceptions of the IEP meeting experience before and after this transition. Six themes emerged from the analysis: (a) prioritizing preparedness, (b) conquering technology, (c) negotiating new communication norms, (d) building rapport, (e) adapting to a new kind of collaboration, and (f) harnessing flexibility. Findings identified challenges faced while preparing for and conducting virtual IEP meetings as well as opportunities to leverage virtual collaboration to improve the IEP meeting experience for school professionals and families of students with disabilities

Stochastic modelling of African swine fever in wild boar and domestic pigs: epidemic forecasting and comparison of disease management strategies

African swine fever (ASF), caused by the African swine fever virus (ASFV), is highly virulent in domestic pigs and wild boar (Sus scrofa), causing up to 100% mortality. The recent epidemic of ASF in Europe has had a serious economic impact and poses a threat to global food security. Unfortunately, there is no effective treatment or vaccine against ASFV, limiting the available disease management strategies. Mathematical models allow us to further our understanding of infectious disease dynamics and evaluate the efficacy of disease management strategies. The ASF Challenge, organised by the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment, aimed to expand the development of ASF transmission models to inform policy makers in a timely manner. Here, we present the model and associated projections produced by our team during the challenge. We developed a stochastic model combining transmission between wild boar and domestic pigs, which was calibrated to synthetic data corresponding to different phases describing the epidemic progression. The model was then used to produce forward projections describing the likely temporal evolution of the epidemic under various disease management scenarios. Despite the interventions implemented, long-term projections forecasted persistence of ASFV in wild boar, and hence repeated outbreaks in domestic pigs. A key finding was that it is important to consider the timescale over which different measures are evaluated: interventions that have only limited effectiveness in the short term may yield substantial long-term benefits. Our model has several limitations, partly because it was developed in real-time. Nonetheless, it can inform understanding of the likely development of ASF epidemics and the efficacy of disease management strategies, should the virus continue its spread in Europe

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All coffee types decrease the risk of adverse clinical outcomes in chronic liver disease: A UK Biobank study

Abstract Background Chronic liver disease (CLD) is a growing cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly in low to middle-income countries with high disease burden and limited treatment availability. Coffee consumption has been linked with lower rates of CLD, but little is known about the effects of different coffee types, which vary in chemical composition. This study aimed to investigate associations of coffee consumption, including decaffeinated, instant and ground coffee, with chronic liver disease outcomes. Methods A total of 494,585 UK Biobank participants with known coffee consumption and electronic linkage to hospital, death and cancer records were included in this study. Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) of incident CLD, incident CLD or steatosis, incident hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and death from CLD according to coffee consumption of any type as well as for decaffeinated, instant and ground coffee individually. Results Among 384,818 coffee drinkers and 109,767 non-coffee drinkers, there were 3600 cases of CLD, 5439 cases of CLD or steatosis, 184 cases of HCC and 301 deaths from CLD during a median follow-up of 10.7 years. Compared to non-coffee drinkers, coffee drinkers had lower adjusted HRs of CLD (HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.72–0.86), CLD or steatosis (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.75–0.86), death from CLD (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.39–0.67) and HCC (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.54–1.19). The associations for decaffeinated, instant and ground coffee individually were similar to all types combined. Conclusion The finding that all types of coffee are protective against CLD is significant given the increasing incidence of CLD worldwide and the potential of coffee as an intervention to prevent CLD onset or progression

The Lyman Alpha Reference Sample. VIII. Characterizing Lyman-Alpha Scattering in Nearby Galaxies

We examine the dust geometry and Ly{\alpha} scattering in the galaxies of the Lyman Alpha Reference Sample (LARS), a set of 14 nearby (0.02 < $z$ < 0.2) Ly{\alpha} emitting and starbursting systems with Hubble Space Telescope Ly{\alpha}, H{\alpha}, and H{\beta} imaging. We find that the global dust properties determined by line ratios are consistent with other studies, with some of the LARS galaxies exhibiting clumpy dust media while others of them show significantly lower Ly{\alpha} emission compared to their Balmer decrement. With the LARS imaging, we present Ly{\alpha}/H{\alpha} and H{\alpha}/H{\beta} maps with spatial resolutions as low as $\sim$ 40 pc, and use these data to show that in most galaxies, the dust geometry is best modeled by three distinct regions: a central core where dust acts as a screen, an annulus where dust is distributed in clumps, and an outer envelope where Ly{\alpha} photons only scatter. We show that the dust that affects the escape of Ly{\alpha} is more restricted to the galaxies' central regions, while the larger Ly{\alpha} halos are generated by scattering at large radii. We present an empirical modeling technique to quantify how much Ly{\alpha} scatters in the halo, and find that this "characteristic" scattering distance correlates with the measured size of the Ly{\alpha} halo. We note that there exists a slight anti-correlation between the scattering distance of Ly{\alpha} and global dust properties.Comment: 32 pages, 51 figures, accepted to Ap

Universal binding-energy relation for crystals that accounts for surface relaxation

We present a universal relation for crack surface cohesion including surface relaxation. Specifically, we analyze how N atomic planes respond to an opening displacement at its boundary, producing structurally relaxed surfaces. Via density-functional theory, we verify universality for metals (Al), ceramics (α−Al_2O_3), and semiconductors (Si). When the energy and opening displacement are scaled appropriately with respect to N, the uniaxial elastic constant, the relaxed surface energy, and the equilibrium interlayer spacing, all energy-displacement curves collapse onto a single universal curve