The relationship between andragogical and pedagogical orientation and the implications for adult learning

Current literature suggests that the relationship between andragogy and pedagogy is based on a continuum. This study found that the relationship of andragogical and pedagogical orientations, measured by the Students' Orientation Questionnaire, is more correctly represented as being orthogonal or at right angles to each other. Such an orthogonal relationship reflects the complexities involved in adult learning. This paper discusses the implications for both the learning process and for future research

Implicit Bias in the UK: Updating the Implicit Association Test

Background. Implicit biases are responses that are influenced by automatic or unconscious attitudes, prejudices and stereotypes. They have been implicated in discriminatory thoughts, feelings and behaviours towards other groups of people, which can differ from the individual's endorsed beliefs. Trainee Clinical Psychologists (TCPs) work with diverse populations and are increasingly encouraged to demonstrate leadership on service level issues. It should therefore be considered whether biases outside of their awareness may impact their therapeutic work and other professional decisions. Methods. A cross-sectional quantitative design was employed to compare the performance of 28 TCPs on the Implicit Association Test (IAT; a measure of implicit bias), to that of 171 members of the general population. New stimuli were created to address identified limitations in skin-tone, age, weight and sexuality categories, and a new category measuring transgender bias was developed. Results. TCPs showed less bias overall than the general population, but these differences diminished once age and gender were accounted for. The highest level of bias in both groups was preference for light skin (D = -.42). Trainees self-reported less bias against marginalised groups, resulting in a greater discrepancy between self-reported and implicit bias amongst TCPs. Initial findings supported the validity of the Gender Identity IAT (η² = .137, p < .005). Conclusions. This study highlights the importance of rigorous IAT design and suggests ways in which measures can be improved and updated, as exemplified by the Gender Identity IAT. The discrepancy between trainees’ self-reported bias and IAT scores have implications for clinical training, should they be replicated with a larger sample. Although further research is needed to establish how implicit bias scores translate to observable real-world behaviour, trainees should be encouraged to reflect on the potential impact of their biases on therapeutic work and service provision

Transnational reflections on transnational research projects on men, boys and gender relations

This article reflects on the research project, ‘Engaging South African and Finnish youth towards new traditions of non-violence, equality and social well-being’, funded by the Finnish and South African national research councils, in the context of wider debates on research, projects and transnational processes. The project is located within a broader analysis of research projects and projectization (the reduction of research to separate projects), and the increasing tendencies for research to be framed within and as projects, with their own specific temporal and organizational characteristics. This approach is developed further in terms of different understandings of research across borders: international, comparative, multinational and transnational. Special attention is given to differences between research projects that are in the Europe and the EU, and projects that are between the global North and the global South. The theoretical, political and practical challenges of the North-South research project are discussed

Progressive Star Bursts and High Velocities in the Infrared Luminous, Colliding Galaxy Arp 118

In this paper we demonstrate for the first time the connection between the spatial and temporal progression of star formation and the changing locations of the very dense regions in the gas of a massive disk galaxy (NGC 1144) in the aftermath of its collision with a massive elliptical (NGC 1143). These two galaxies form the combined object Arp 118, a collisional ring galaxy system. The results of 3D, time-dependent, numerical simulations of the behavior of the gas, stars, and dark matter of a disk galaxy and the stars and dark matter in an elliptical during a collision are compared with multiwavelength observations of Arp 118. The collision that took place approximately 22 Myr ago generated a strong, non-linear density wave in the stars and gas in the disk of NGC 1144, causing the gas to became clumped on a large scale. This wave produced a series of superstarclusters along arcs and rings that emanate from the central point of impact in the disk. The locations of these star forming regions match those of the regions of increased gas density predicted the time sequence of models. The models also predict the large velocity gradients observed across the disk of NGC 1144. These are due to the rapid radial outflow of gas coupled to large azimuthal velocities in the expanding ring, caused by the impact of the massive intruder.Comment: 12 pages in document, and 8 figures (figures are separate from the document's file); Submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letter

Radiative corrections to real and virtual muon Compton scattering revisited

We calculate in closed analytical form the one-photon loop radiative corrections to muon Compton scattering $\mu^- \gamma \to \mu^- \gamma$. Ultraviolet and infrared divergencies are both treated in dimensional regularization. Infrared finiteness of the (virtual) radiative corrections is achieved (in the standard way) by including soft photon radiation below an energy cut-off $\lambda$. We find that the anomalous magnetic moment $\alpha/2\pi$ provides only a very small portion of the full radiative corrections. Furthermore, we extend our calculation of radiative corrections to the muon-nucleus bremsstrahlung process (or virtual muon Compton scattering $\mu^-\gamma_0^* \to \mu^- \gamma$). These results are particularly relevant for analyzing the COMPASS experiment at CERN in which muon-nucleus bremsstrahlung serves to calibrate the Primakoff scattering of high-energy pions off a heavy nucleus with the aim of measuring the pion electric and magnetic polarizabilities. We find agreement with an earlier calculation of these radiative corrections based on a different method.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure, to be published in Nuclear Physics

Identification of transcription-factor genes expressed in the Arabidopsis female gametophyte

Dongfang Wang, Changqing Zhang, David J. Hearn, Il-HO Kang, megan I. Skaggs, Karen S. Schumaker, and Ramin Yadegari are with the School of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0036, USA -- Il-Ho Kang, Jayson A. Punwani, and Gary N. Drews are with the Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0840, USA -- Changqing Zhang is with The Section of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-0159, USA -- David J. Hearn is with the Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, Towson, Maryland 21252-0001, USA -- Il-Ho Kang is with the Department of Horticulture, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011-1100, USA --Jayson A. Punwani is with the Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280, USABackground In flowering plants, the female gametophyte is typically a seven-celled structure with four cell types: the egg cell, the central cell, the synergid cells, and the antipodal cells. These cells perform essential functions required for double fertilization and early seed development. Differentiation of these distinct cell types likely involves coordinated changes in gene expression regulated by transcription factors. Therefore, understanding female gametophyte cell differentiation and function will require dissection of the gene regulatory networks operating in each of the cell types. These efforts have been hampered because few transcription factor genes expressed in the female gametophyte have been identified. To identify such genes, we undertook a large-scale differential expression screen followed by promoter-fusion analysis to detect transcription-factor genes transcribed in the Arabidopsis female gametophyte. Results Using quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR, we analyzed 1,482 Arabidopsis transcription-factor genes and identified 26 genes exhibiting reduced mRNA levels in determinate infertile 1 mutant ovaries, which lack female gametophytes, relative to ovaries containing female gametophytes. Spatial patterns of gene transcription within the mature female gametophyte were identified for 17 transcription-factor genes using promoter-fusion analysis. Of these, ten genes were predominantly expressed in a single cell type of the female gametophyte including the egg cell, central cell and the antipodal cells whereas the remaining seven genes were expressed in two or more cell types. After fertilization, 12 genes were transcriptionally active in the developing embryo and/or endosperm. Conclusions We have shown that our quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR differential-expression screen is sufficiently sensitive to detect transcription-factor genes transcribed in the female gametophyte. Most of the genes identified in this study have not been reported previously as being expressed in the female gametophyte. Therefore, they might represent novel regulators and provide entry points for reverse genetic and molecular approaches to uncover the gene regulatory networks underlying female gametophyte development.Cellular and Molecular [email protected]

Fixed-Parameter Tractability of Token Jumping on Planar Graphs

Suppose that we are given two independent sets $I_0$ and $I_r$ of a graph such that $|I_0| = |I_r|$, and imagine that a token is placed on each vertex in $I_0$. The token jumping problem is to determine whether there exists a sequence of independent sets which transforms $I_0$ into $I_r$ so that each independent set in the sequence results from the previous one by moving exactly one token to another vertex. This problem is known to be PSPACE-complete even for planar graphs of maximum degree three, and W[1]-hard for general graphs when parameterized by the number of tokens. In this paper, we present a fixed-parameter algorithm for the token jumping problem on planar graphs, where the parameter is only the number of tokens. Furthermore, the algorithm can be modified so that it finds a shortest sequence for a yes-instance. The same scheme of the algorithms can be applied to a wider class of graphs, $K_{3,t}$-free graphs for any fixed integer $t \ge 3$, and it yields fixed-parameter algorithms

Masculinity at work: The experiences of men in female dominated occupations

This paper presents the findings of a research project on the implications of men's non-traditional career choices for their experiences within the organization and for gender identity. The research is based on 40 in-depth interviews with male workers from four occupational groups: librarian-ship, cabin crew, nurses and primary school teachers. Results suggest a typology of male workers in female dominated occupations: seekers (who actively seek the career), finders (who find the occupation in the process of making general career decisions) and settlers (who settle into the career after periods of time in mainly male dominated occupations). Men benefit from their minority status through assumptions of enhanced leadership (the assumed authority effect), by being given differential treatment (the special consideration effect) and being associated with a more careerist attitude to work (the career effect). At the same time, they feel comfortable working with women (the zone of comfort effect). Despite this comfort, men adopt a variety of strategies to re-establish a masculinity that has been undermined by the 'feminine' nature of their work. These include re-labeling, status enhancement and distancing from the feminine. The dynamics of maintaining and reproducing masculinities within the non-traditional work setting are discussed in the light of recent theorising around gender, masculinity and work

Jekyll and Hyde: men's constructions of feminism and feminists

Research and commentary on men's responses to feminism has demonstrated the range of ways in which men have mobilised both against and for feminist principles. This paper argues that further analyses of men's responses require a sophisticated theory of discourse acknowledging the fragmented and contradictory nature of representation. A corpus of men's talk on feminism and feminists was studied to identify the pervasive patterns in men's accounting and regularities in rhetorical organisation. Material from two samples of men was included: a sample of white middle-class 17-18 year old school students and a sample of 60 interviews with a more diverse sample of older men aged 20 to 64. Two interpretative repertoires of feminism and feminists were identified. These set up a 'Jekyll and Hyde' binary and positioned feminism along with feminists very differently as reasonable versus extreme and monstrous. Both repertoires tended to be deployed together and the paper explores the ideological and interactional consequences of typical deployments along with the identity work accomplished by the men as they positioned themselves in relation to these