From Non-Traditional to Individual: looking beyond the stereotypes by developing a systematic approach to first year retention and progression

In the current climate of increasingly competitive, marketised higher education, many institutions have placed retention and progression high on their agenda. Student withdrawal is not only financially costly for all involved, but also adversely affects admissions targets and causes students undue stress and anxiety. Many authors have identified higher than average drop-out rates amongst so-called ‘non-traditional’ students who now often represent the majority in those mainly post-1992 institutions that focus strongly in this area. In an attempt to understand and cope with this issue researchers have attempted to classify both the students and the reasons that may cause them to leave higher education (HE). The picture is one of extreme diversity and complexity, with a range of views about the main cause of withdrawal and therefore about potential solutions for overcoming it, many suggesting that we must somehow help the student to adapt to the unfamiliar university environment. Given the current context of increased national student participation levels and widening participation this approach alone is perhaps insufficient. Universities that are serious about addressing retention and progression must become more customer-focused; instead of trying to adapt students to fit HE, it is they that must adapt to fit the needs all including the new, majority, ‘non-traditional’ students. This paper presents a case study of a new university with high levels of non-traditional students and on-going retention and progression issues. We provide an example of how realigning key processes in relation to teaching, learning and student support with identified student needs can improve retention and progression. We specifically address the need for sensitivity to individual requirements, managed through flexibility and the integration of information systems with a customer-focused mind-set. For the future, a holistic approach is recommended which focuses on changing the university environment – both structurally and culturally – to meet the needs of all our students and to help them thrive, whatever their circumstances

Parity effect and single-electron injection for Josephson-junction chains deep in the insulating state

We have made a systematic investigation of charge transport in 1D chains of Josephson junctions where the characteristic Josephson energy is much less than the single-island Cooper-pair charging energy, $E_\mathrm{J}\ll E_{CP}$. Such chains are deep in the insulating state, where superconducting phase coherence across the chain is absent, and a voltage threshold for conduction is observed at the lowest temperatures. We find that Cooper-pair tunneling in such chains is completely suppressed. Instead, charge transport is dominated by tunneling of single electrons, which is very sensitive to the presence of BCS quasiparticles on the superconducting islands of the chain. Consequently we observe a strong parity effect, where the threshold voltage vanishes sharply at a characteristic parity temperature $T^*$, which is significantly lower than the the critical temperature, $T_c$. A measurable and thermally-activated zero-bias conductance appears above $T^*$, with an activation energy equal to the superconducting gap, confirming the role of thermally-excited quasiparticles. Conduction below $T^*$ and above the voltage threshold occurs via injection of single electrons/holes into the Cooper-pair insulator, forming a non-equilibrium steady state with a significantly enhanced effective temperature. Our results explicitly show that single-electron transport dominates deep in the insulating state of Josephson-junction arrays. This conduction process has mostly been ignored in previous studies of both superconducting junction arrays and granular superconducting films below the superconductor-insulator quantum phase transition.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Ten tips to help students become more employable

One of the main reasons given by students for going to university is to get a good job afterwards, but with around 500,000 people graduating each year the job market is extremely competitive. A university course will help you develop some of the skills that employers are looking for, but you need more than a degree certificate to get a graduate-level job

Students' experience of Working in Diverse Engineered Groups: Panacea or Pandora's Box?

Group work has been widely adopted in business schools and is lauded for having various pedagogic merits. Yet there is considerable debate as to how to best form groups to achieve benefits while mitigating difficulties. Within this paper we examine the use of an engineered group allocation method for student groups undertaking a yearlong group project within a second year undergraduate research methods module. We address two primary research questions: 1. What were students’ experiences of the engineered group experience? 2. What impact did the group allocation method have on students’ learning? We undertook in-depth semi-structured interviews (n=22) lasting between 15 to 47 minutes. All students who undertook the module were invited to participate in the research. The interviews were transcribed and a thematic analysis was performed. While prior work has highlighted the problems of free-riding we provide an analysis of phenomenon we have termed forced-riding. Forced-riding captures the phenomenon in which students are excluded from contributing, or force others not to contribute. We argue that this is rational behaviour, and can be in part attributed to the heterogeneity resulting from the engineered allocation method. The central value of this paper is that it gives priority to student voice, highlighting the manner in which students’ perceive their group working experiences. We conclude the paper with the presentation of a matrix of variable contribution. To our best knowledge, this is the first presentation of such a matrix, and we contend that it has value for a range of stakeholders

Observation of quantum capacitance in the Cooper-pair transistor

We have fabricated a Cooper-pair transistor (CPT) with parameters such that for appropriate voltage biases, the sub-gap charge transport takes place via slow tunneling of quasiparticles that link two Josephson-coupled charge manifolds. In between the quasiparticle tunneling events, the CPT behaves essentially like a single Cooper-pair box (SCB). The effective capacitance of a SCB can be defined as the derivative of the induced charge with respect to gate voltage. This capacitance has two parts, the geometric capacitance, C_geom, and the quantum capacitance C_Q. The latter is due to the level anti-crossing caused by the Josephson coupling. It depends parametrically on the gate voltage and is dual to the Josephson inductance. Furthermore, it's magnitude may be substantially larger than C_geom. We have been able to detect C_Q in our CPT, by measuring the in-phase and quadrature rf-signal reflected from a resonant circuit in which the CPT is embedded. C_Q can be used as the basis of a charge qubit readout by placing a Cooper-pair box in such a resonant circuit.Comment: 3 figure

Crossover from time-correlated single-electron tunneling to that of Cooper pairs

We have studied charge transport in a one-dimensional chain of small Josephson junctions using a single-electron transistor. We observe a crossover from time-correlated tunneling of single electrons to that of Cooper pairs as a function of both magnetic field and current. At relatively high magnetic field, single-electron transport dominates and the tunneling frequency is given by f=I/e, where I is the current through the chain and e is the electron's charge. As the magnetic field is lowered, the frequency gradually shifts to f=I/2e for I>200 fA, indicating Cooper-pair transport. For the parameters of the measured sample, we expect the Cooper-pair transport to be incoherent.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; v2: minor changes, clarifications, addition

Direct Observation of Josephson Capacitance

The effective capacitance has been measured in the split Cooper pair box (CPB) over its phase-gate bias plane. Our low-frequency reactive measurement scheme allows to probe purely the capacitive susceptibility due to the CPB band structure. The data are quantitatively explained using parameters determined independently by spectroscopic means. In addition, we show in practice that the method offers an efficient way to do non-demolition readout of the CPB quantum state.Comment: 4 page

DETC2008-50149 DEVELOPMENT OF REVERSE DYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION METHODOLOGY FOR OPTIMAL POWERTRAIN INTEGRATION AND CONTROL DESIGN

ABSTRACT A reverse tractive road load demand model, dynamic optimization methodology, and Matlab®/Simulink® based tool are developed to address the challenge of matching the powertrain hardware and control strategy to specific vehicle attributes and driver applications for improved overall vehicle system efficiency. The reverse dynamic optimization methodology can be used to assess and develop transmission shift and lock-up control strategies, evaluate alternative powertrain hardware configurations, and establish design criteria. The advantages of the reverse dynamic optimization approach are demonstrated and key system integration concepts are revealed by performing vehicle attribute, engine, transmission, and axle sensitivity analyses. MOTIVATION Optimal powertrain integration and control design is essential to developing more fuel efficient vehicles. Vehicle systems are becoming increasingly complex as are drivers expectations for both fuel economy and performance. Shorter product development times result in less time available to evaluate alternative powertrain configurations and control strategies. Often the interrelationship between hardware and control design and their dependence on driver application is overlooked. A reverse tractive road load demand model, dynamic optimization methodology, and Matlab®/Simulink® based tool are proposed to address the challenge of matching the powertrain hardware and control strategy to specific vehicle attributes and driver applications

Multi-photon transitions between energy levels in a current-biased Josephson tunnel junction

The escape of a small current-biased Josephson tunnel junction from the zero voltage state in the presence of weak microwave radiation is investigated experimentally at low temperatures. The measurements of the junction switching current distribution indicate the macroscopic quantum tunneling of the phase below a cross-over temperature of $T^{\star} \approx 280 \rm{mK}$. At temperatures below $T^{\star}$ we observe both single-photon and \emph{multi-photon} transitions between the junction energy levels by applying microwave radiation in the frequency range between $10 \rm{GHz}$ and $38 \rm{GHz}$ to the junction. These observations reflect the anharmonicity of the junction potential containing only a small number of levels.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure