1,640 research outputs found
Browne, employability and the rhetoric of choice: student as producer and the sustainability of HE
This paper presents a critical reflection of the rhetoric of choice offered in the current system of HE. The theoretical foundation of the discussion draws on the work of Bauman (2007) as a support for a critical stance on the implementation of the recent reviews of HE, for instance by Browne (2010) and Dearing (1997). The concept and agenda of the student as âproducerâ, versus the student as consumer or even student as commodity, are further evaluated in the context of the âfreeâ market and the apparent 'industrialisationâ of HE, which has arguably brought graduate âemployabilityâ to centre stage. The work goes on to discuss how student choice of course appears to go beyond judgments about potential job prospects. Along with this, it is argued that the values espoused by consumerism may well have a detrimental effect on the way that students develop
the types of skills that employers say they want. Counteracting this, the student as producer is investigated as a means by which students become active producers of themselves as enterprising citizens, which also has
benefit in respect of their future employability
Criminology in the professions: turning academic benchmarks into employability skills
This report reflects on a case study example of teaching a dedicated employability module in an undergraduate criminology curriculum. The report uses various sets of data collected from students, criminology alumni, a sample of employers and university academic and support staff, to reflect on pertinent issues relating to graduate employability. Findings suggest that understanding the links between critical academic theory, technical knowledge and generic skills, are empowering both for staff and students, and such a framework represents a creative way of addressing the QAA criminology employability benchmarks. Whilst staff are unable to change the national context relating to graduate employability, understanding the pertinent issues and contradictions within the area helps in counteracting potential âbad newsâ and also enables students to be more aware of what they need, beyond their degree, to be successful in gaining appropriate employment. Apart from the research detailed below, outcomes include a DVD entitled âLife after Criminologyâ which features contributions from criminology alumni, academic and careers staff and students, and also a Mahara portfolio including materials used for a criminology information day held in July 2010
The Welcome Project Web Page Draft 2009
This post contains The Welcome Project Web Page Draft of 2009. The Welcome Project Web Page Draft 2009; Welcome Project Mission The Welcome Project seeks to examine and address the climate for LGBTIQQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, and Questioning) people and diversity issues on URI campuses and beyond. Overall, the Welcome Project and its members strive to promote a safe, comfortable, and inclusive environment through dialogue, activism, and other strategies designed to promote a tradition of respect and acceptance for all.; Welcome Project History The Welcome Project at URI began as a Center project involving students, faculty, and staff in response to issues and needs of URI\u27s LGBTIQQ community. In conjunction with programs and activities sponsored by the URI GLBT Center, the Welcome Project has played a significant role in advancing URI to recognition in The Advocate\u27s Comprehensive Guide to Colleges and Universities with the Best Programs, Services, and Student Organizations for LGBT Students. While substantial progress has been made at URI, the Welcome Project continues to address contemporary concerns of the LGBTIQQ community as part of the broader array of important diversity and multicultural needs.; The Welcome Project Sticker is an active symbol of support for the LGBTIQQ community, people, families and friends. Posting this sticker publicly demonstrates oneâs dedication to the Welcome Project and the LGBTIQQ community. Interested parties can obtain Welcome Project stickers in the following ways: 1) Attend a Welcome Wednesday or any other Welcome Project event. 2) Arrange a discussion with a Welcome Project or GLBT Center Representative.; Welcome Wednesday Schedule for Fall 2009 Welcome Wednesday meetings will be brown bag discussions held from 12pm-1pm in the GLBT Center in Adams Hall. All Welcome Project meetings and programs are open to everyone; all ideas and recommendations are strongly encouraged!; September 30: âAlways Thinking Bigger, We Do!â LGBT concerns and issues have been long-standing at URI and the Welcome Project aims to improve this climate. This meeting will be an open discussion as to how the Welcome Project will help progress URI to acceptance. Topics for future meetings will also be determined based on participant interest and/or need.; Joe Santiago and URI; Joseph A Santiago AND UR
PCV25 Characterising Patients with A First-Time Admission for atrial Fibrillation in the United Kingdom
Genetic Diversity and Population Parameters of Sea Otters, \u3cem\u3eEnhydra lutris\u3c/em\u3e, before Fur Trade Extirpation from 1741â1911
All existing sea otter, Enhydra lutris, populations have suffered at least one historic population bottleneck stemming from the fur trade extirpations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We examined genetic variation, gene flow, and population structure at five microsatellite loci in samples from five pre-fur trade populations throughout the sea otterâs historical range: California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Russia. We then compared those values to genetic diversity and population structure found within five modern sea otter populations throughout their current range: California, Prince William Sound, Amchitka Island, Southeast Alaska and Washington. We found twice the genetic diversity in the pre-fur trade populations when compared to modern sea otters, a level of diversity that was similar to levels that are found in other mammal populations that have not experienced population bottlenecks. Even with the significant loss in genetic diversity modern sea otters have retained historical structure. There was greater gene flow before extirpation than that found among modern sea otter populations but the difference was not statistically significant. The most dramatic effect of pre fur trade population extirpation was the loss of genetic diversity. For long term conservation of these populations increasing gene flow and the maintenance of remnant genetic diversity should be encouraged
Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs in Praesepe
Presented are the results of a large and deep optical-near-infrared
multi-epoch survey of the Praesepe open star cluster using data from the UKIDSS
Galactic Clusters Survey. Multiple colour magnitude diagrams were used to
select potential members and proper motions were used to assign levels of
membership probability. From our sample, 145 objects were designated as high
probability members (p >= 0.6) with most of these having been found by previous
surveys although 14 new cluster members are also identified. Our membership
assignment is restricted to the bright sample of objects (Z < 18). From the
fainter sample, 39 candidates were found from an examination of multiple colour
magnitude plots. Of these, 2 have small but significant membership
probabilities. Finally, using theoretical models, cluster luminosity and mass
functions were plotted with the later being fitted with a power law of alpha =
1.11 +/- 0.37 for the mass range 0.6 to 0.125 Msun and an assumed cluster age
of 500 Myrs in the UKIDSS Z photometric band. Likewise taking an assumed
cluster age of 1 Gyr we find alpha = 1.10 +/- 0.37. Similar values were also
found for the J and K bands. These results compare favourably with the result
of Kraus & Hillenbrand (2007) (alpha = 1.4 +/- 0.2) but are significantly lower
than that of the more recent study conducted by Boudreault et al. (2009) (alpha
= 1.8 +/- 0.1).Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables and 4 appendices. Accepted for
publication in MNRAS, corrected a missing referenc
A wide deep infrared look at the Pleiades with UKIDSS: new constraints on the substellar binary fraction and the low mass IMF
We present the results of a deep wide-field near-infrared survey of 12 square
degrees of the Pleiades conducted as part of the UKIDSS Deep Infrared Sky
Survey (UKIDSS) Galactic Cluster Survey (GCS). We have extracted over 340 high
probability proper motion members down to 0.03 solar masses using a combination
of UKIDSS photometry and proper motion measurements obtained by
cross-correlating the GCS with data from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS),
the Isaac Newton (INT) and the Canada-France-Hawai'i (CFHT) telescopes.
Additionally, we have unearthed 73 new candidate brown dwarf members on the
basis of five band UKIDSS photometry alone. We have identified 23 substellar
multiple system candidates out of 63 candidate brown dwarfs from the (Y-K,Y)
and (J-K,J) colour-magnitude diagrams, yielding a binary frequency of 28-44% in
the 0.075-0.030 Msun mass range. Our estimate is three times larger than the
binary fractions reported from high-resolution imaging surveys of field
ultracool dwarfs and Pleiades brown dwarfs. However, it is marginally
consistent with our earlier ``peculiar'' photometric binary fraction of
50+/-10% presented in Pinfield et al. (2003), in good agreement with the 32-45%
binary fraction derived from the recent Monte-Carlo simulations of Maxted &
Jeffries (2005) and compatible with the 26+/-10% frequency recently estimated
by Basri & Reiners (2006). A tentative estimate of the mass ratios from
photometry alone seems to support the hypothesis that binary brown dwarfs tend
to reside in near equal-mass ratio systems. (abridged)Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables, 1 electronic table, 6 appendices with
tables, accepted to MNRA
Proper motion L and T dwarf candidate members of the Pleiades
We present the results of a deep optical-near-infrared multi-epoch survey
covering 2.5 square degrees of the Pleiades open star cluster to search for new
very-low-mass brown dwarf members. A significant (~ 5 year) epoch difference
exists between the optical (CFH12k I-, Z-band) and near infrared (UKIRT WFCAM
J-band) observations. We construct I,I-Z and Z,Z-J colour magnitude diagrams to
select candidate cluster members. Proper motions are computed for all candidate
members and compared to the background field objects to further refine the
sample. We recover all known cluster members within the area of our survey. In
addition, we have discovered 9 new candidate brown dwarf cluster members. The 7
faintest candidates have red Z-J colours and show blue near-infrared colours.
These are consistent with being L and T-type Pleiads. Theoretical models
predict their masses to be around 11 Jupiter masses.
There is 1 errata for this paperComment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS
Errata: 1 tabl
The Substellar Mass Function in sigma Orionis
We combine results from imaging searches for substellar objects in the sigma
Orionis cluster and follow-up photometric and spectroscopic observations to
derive a census of the brown dwarf population in a region of 847 arcmin^2. We
identify 64 very low-mass cluster member candidates in this region. We have
available three color (IZJ) photometry for all of them, spectra for 9 objects,
and K photometry for 27% of our sample. These data provide a well defined
sequence in the I vs I-J, I-K color magnitude diagrams, and indicate that the
cluster is affected by little reddening despite its young age (~5 Myr). Using
state-of-the-art evolutionary models, we derive a mass function from the
low-mass stars (0.2 Msol) across the complete brown dwarf domain (0.075 Msol to
0.013 Msol), and into the realm of free-floating planetary-mass objects (<0.013
Msol). We find that the mass spectrum (dN/dm ~ m^{-alpha}) increases toward
lower masses with an exponent alpha = 0.8+/-0.4. Our results suggest that
planetary-mass isolated objects could be as common as brown dwarfs; both kinds
of objects together would be as numerous as stars in the cluster. If the
distribution of stellar and substellar masses in sigma Orionis is
representative of the Galactic disk, older and much lower luminosity
free-floating planetary-mass objects with masses down to about 0.005 Msol
should be abundant in the solar vicinity, with a density similar to M-type
stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 19 pages, 3 figures include
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