Academics job satisfaction and job stress across countries in the changing academic environments

This study examined job satisfaction and job stress across 19 higher education systems. We classified the 19 countries according to their job satisfaction and job stress and applied regression analysis to test whether new public management has impacts on either or both job satisfaction and job stress. According to this study, strong market driven countries are in the high stress group and European countries are in the high satisfaction group. The classification implies that market oriented managerial reforms are the main source of academic stress while the high social reputation of academics in their society and academic autonomy are the source of job satisfaction. Our regression analysis also shows that the new public management which is measured by the performance-based management in this study is the main source of academic job stress. In addition, this study highlighted the higher education systems that are classified as the high satisfaction and high stress group. These countries represent the conflicting nature of current academic society-on the one hand they are satisfied, but on the other they are highly stressful. © The Author(s) 2013.published_or_final_versio

Average values of L-series for real characters in function fields

ArticleThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via the DOI in this record.We establish asymptotic formulae for the first and second moments of quadratic Dirichlet L–functions, at the centre of the critical strip, associated to the real quadratic function field k( √ P) and inert imaginary quadratic function field k( √ γP) with P being a monic irreducible polynomial over a fixed finite field Fq of odd cardinality q and γ a generator of F × q . We also study mean values for the class number and for the cardinality of the second K-group of maximal order of the associated fields for ramified imaginary, real, and inert imaginary quadratic function fields over Fq. One of the main novelties of this paper is that we compute the second moment of quadratic Dirichlet L-functions associated to monic irreducible polynomials. It is worth noting that the similar second moment over number fields is unknown. The second innovation of this paper comes from the fact that, if the cardinality of the ground field is even then the task of average L-functions in function fields is much harder and, in this paper, we are able to handle this strenuous case and establish several mean values results of L-functions over function fields.The first author was supported by an EPSRC-IHES William Hodge ´ Fellowship and by the EPSRC grant EP/K021132X/1. The second and third authors were supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIP)(No. 2014001824)

Research Productivity of Returnees from Study Abroad in Korea, Malaysia, and Hong Kong

This study analyzes whether academics with advanced degrees from foreign universities are more research productive than their domestic counterparts in the three selected East Asian higher education systems – Korea, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. The three systems have relatively large proportions of foreign degree holders among their professoriates. The data for this study is drawn from the Changing Academic Profession survey. In our negative binominal regression analysis, we found that foreign degree holders are not more research productive than their colleagues with domestic degrees, and even slightly less productive than domestic degree holders in soft disciplines (arts, humanities, and social sciences) in Korea unless they have further foreign post-doc experience after their PhD. Furthermore, foreign degree holders are less productive in hard disciplines (natural sciences, engineering, and bio-medical sciences) in Malaysia. Finally, we discuss the findings and attribute them to contextual differences between the three localities.postprin

Digital image correlation in dental materials and related research: A review

OBJECTIVE: Digital image correlation (DIC) is a non-contact image processing technique for full-field strain measurement. Although DIC has been widely used in engineering and biomechanical fields, it is in the spotlight only recently in dental materials. Therefore, the purpose of this review paper is introducing the working principle of the DIC technique with some modifications and providing further potential applications in various dental materials and related fields. METHODS: The accuracy of the algorithm depending on the environmental characteristics of the DIC technique, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of strain measurement using optical measurements, have been elaborated in dental materials and related fields. Applications to those researches have been classified into the following categories: shrinkage behavior of light-cured resin composite, resin-tooth interface, mechanical properties of tooth structure, crack extension and elastic properties of dental materials, and deformation of dental restoration and prosthesis. This classification and discussion were performed using literature survey and review based on numerous papers in the international journals published over the past 20 years. The future directions for predicting the precise deformation of dental materials under various environments, as well as limitations of the DIC technique, was presented in this review. RESULTS: The DIC technique was demonstrated as a more effective tool to measure full-field polymerization shrinkage of composite resin, even in a simulated clinical condition over the existing methods. Moreover, the DIC combined with other technologies can be useful to evaluate the mechanical behavior of material-tooth interface, dentine structure and restorative and prosthetic materials with high accuracy. Three-dimensional DIC using two cameras extended the measurement range in-plane to out-of-plane, enabling measure of the strain directly on the surface of dental restorations or prosthesis. SIGNIFICANCE: DIC technique is a potential tool for measuring and predicting the full-field deformation/strain of dental materials and actual prostheses in diverse clinical conditions. The versatility of DIC can replace the existing complex sensor devices in those studies

Test-enhanced learning of clinical reasoning: a crossover randomised trial

CONTEXT: Clinical reasoning is an essential skill, the foundations of which should be acquired during undergraduate medical education. Student performance in clinical reasoning can be assessed using key feature examinations. However, within a paradigm of test-enhanced learning, such examinations may also be used to enhance long-term retention of procedural knowledge relevant to clinical reasoning. OBJECTIVES: This study tested the hypothesis that repeated testing with key feature questions is more effective than repeated case-based learning in fostering clinical reasoning. METHODS: In this randomised crossover trial, Year 4 medical students attended 10 weekly computer-based seminars during which patient case histories covering general medical conditions were displayed. The presentation format was switched between groups every week. In the control condition, students studied long case narratives. The intervention condition used the same content but augmented case presentation with a sequence of key feature questions. Using a within-subjects design, student performance on intervention and control items was assessed at 13 weeks (exit examination) and 9 months (retention test) after the first day of term. RESULTS: A total of 87 of 124 eligible students provided complete data for the longitudinal analysis (response rate: 70.2%). In the retention test, mean ± standard deviation student scores on intervention items were significantly higher than those on control items (56.0 ± 25.8% versus 48.8 ± 24.7%; p < 0.001). The results remained unchanged after accounting for exposure time in a linear regression analysis that also adjusted for sex and general student performance levels. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to demonstrate an effect of test-enhanced learning on clinical reasoning as assessed with key feature questions. In this randomised trial, repeated testing was more effective than repeated case-based learning alone. Curricular implementation of longitudinal key feature testing may considerably enhance student learning outcomes in relevant aspects of clinical medicine

Mean values of derivatives of L-functions in function fields: IV

This is the final version. Available on open access from the Korean Mathematical Society via the DOI in this recordIn this series, we investigate the calculation of mean values of derivatives of Dirichlet L-functions in function fields using the analogue of the approximate functional equation and the Riemann Hypothesis for curves over finite fields. The present paper generalizes the results obtained in the first paper. For µ ≥ 1 an integer, we compute the mean value of the µ-th derivative of quadratic Dirichlet L-functions over the rational function field. We obtain the full polynomial in the asymptotic formulae for these mean values where we can see the arithmetic dependence of the lower order terms that appears in the asymptotic expansion.Leverhulme TrustNational Research Foundation of Korea (NRF

The integral moments and ratios of quadratic Dirichlet L-functions over monic irreducible polynomials in Fq[T]

This is the final version. Available on open access from Springer via the DOI in this record.In this paper, we extend to the function field setting the heuristics formerly developed by Conrey, Farmer, Keating, Rubinstein and Snaith, for the integral moments of L-functions. We also adapt to the function field setting the heuristics first developed by Conrey, Farmer and Zirnbauer to the study of mean values of ratios of L-functions. Specifically, the focus of this paper is on the family of quadratic Dirichlet L-functions L(s, χP ) where the character χ is defined by the Legendre symbol for polynomials in Fq[T] with Fq a finite field of odd cardinality and the averages are taken over all monic and irreducible polynomials P of a given odd degree. As an application, we also compute the formula for the one-level density for the zeros of these L-functions.Leverhulme TrustNational Research Foundation of KoreaGovernment of Kuwai

Current-controlled nanomagnetic writing for reconfigurable magnonic crystals

Strongly-interacting nanomagnetic arrays are crucial across an ever-growing suite of technologies. Spanning neuromorphic computing, control over superconducting vortices and reconfigurable magnonics, the utility and appeal of these arrays lies in their vast range of distinct, stable magnetization states. Different states exhibit different functional behaviours, making precise, reconfigurable state control an essential cornerstone of such systems. However, few existing methodologies may reverse an arbitrary array element, and even fewer may do so under electrical control, vital for device integration. We demonstrate selective, reconfigurable magnetic reversal of ferromagnetic nanoislands via current-driven motion of a transverse domain wall in an adjacent nanowire. The reversal technique operates under all-electrical control with no reliance on external magnetic fields, rendering it highly suitable for device integration across a host of magnonic, spintronic and neuromorphic logic architectures. Here, the reversal technique is leveraged to realize two fully solid-state reconfigurable magnonic crystals, offering magnonic gating, filtering, transistor-like switching and peak-shifting without reliance on global magnetic fields

The Jacobian Conjecture 2n implies the Dixmier Problem n

The aim of the paper is to describe some ideas, approaches, comments, etc. regarding the Dixmier Conjecture, its generalizations and analogues