334 research outputs found
Challenging the orthodoxy: union learning representatives as organic intellectuals
Teacher education and continuing professional development have become a key areas of controversy in England since the period of school sector restructuring following the 1988 Education Reform Act. More recently teacher training and professional development have often been used to promote and reinforce a narrow focus on the governmentâs âstandards agendaâ. However, the emerging discourse of ânew professionalismâ has raised the profile of professional development in schools, and together with union learning representatives, there are opportunities to secure real improvements in teachersâ access to continuing professional development. This paper argues however that union learning representatives must go beyond advocating for better access to professional development and should raise more fundamental questions about the nature of professional development and the education system it serves. Drawing on Gramsciâs notion of the âorganic intellectualâ, the paper argues that union learning representatives have a key role as organisers of ideas â creating spaces in which the ideological dominance of current policy orthodoxy might be challenged
Developing music teacher identities: an international multi-site study
This study investigates pre-service music teacherâs (PSMT) perceptions of their professional identities. University-level education students in the United States America (USA), Spain and Australia were all asked interview questions based on general themes relevant to teacher identity development, and their responses were subjected to content analysis. Similarities were found in their perceptions of the role of âmusic teacherâ and their pre-university experiences/influences. Across the sites it seems that there was a dynamic and shifting relationship between PSMTsâ understandings of themselves as âmusiciansâ or as âteachersâ during their university years. This study confirms previous research in the area and contributes to the field in its discovery that these themes are found across three international sites. Implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations made for future research and practice
Ni-Cr textured substrates with reduced ferromagnetism for coated conductor applications
A series of biaxially textured Ni(1-x)Cr(x) materials, with compositions x =
0, 7, 9, 11, and 13 at % Cr, have been studied for use as substrate materials
in coated conductor applications with high temperature superconductors. The
magnetic properties were investigated, including the hysteretic loss in a Ni-7
at % Cr sample that was controllably deformed; for comparison, the loss was
also measured in a similarly deformed pure Ni substrate. Complementary X-ray
diffraction studies show that thermo-mechanical processing produces nearly
complete {100} cube texturing, as desired for applications.Comment: PDF only; 19 pp., incl 10 figure
Teacher unionism in changing times: is this the real ânew unionismâ?
This article provides a case study of union change in an environment in which radical school restructuring is taking place, and active strategies to weaken and marginalize organized teachers are being pursued by the state. The case study union is the National Union of Teachers in England. The article explores a number of different strategies open to teacher unions, utilizing a framework provided by Turner (2004). Drawing on data collected at a national level, and in three local authority areas, I argue that the National Union of Teachersâ response to the erosion of collective bargaining is best presented as an amalgam of strategies focused on workplace organizing, political campaigning, and coalition building. The data demonstrate considerable congruence between national and local strategies, although local data reveal considerable challenges in implementation and consequently considerable unevenness in local experiences
Long-range nonlocal flow of vortices in narrow superconducting channels
We report a new nonlocal effect in vortex matter, where an electric current
confined to a small region of a long and sufficiently narrow superconducting
wire causes vortex flow at distances hundreds of inter-vortex separations away.
The observed remote traffic of vortices is attributed to a very efficient
transfer of a local strain through the one-dimensional vortex lattice, even in
the presence of disorder. We also observe mesoscopic fluctuations in the
nonlocal vortex flow, which arise due to "traffic jams" when vortex
arrangements do not match a local geometry of a superconducting channel.Comment: a slightly longer version of a tentatively accepted PR
Substantia Nigra Volume Dissociates Bradykinesia and Rigidity from Tremor in Parkinsonâs Disease: A 7 Tesla Imaging Study
Background: In postmortem analysis of late stage Parkinsonâs disease (PD) neuronal loss in the substantial nigra (SN) correlates with the antemortem severity of bradykinesia and rigidity, but not tremor.
Objective: To investigate the relationship between midbrain nuclei volume as an in vivo biomarker for surviving neurons in mild-to-moderate patients using 7.0 Tesla MRI.
Methods: We performed ultra-high resolution quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) on the midbrain in 32 PD participants with less than 10 years duration and 8 healthy controls. Following blinded manual segmentation, the individual volumes of the SN, subthalamic nucleus, and red nucleus were measured. We then determined the associations between the midbrain nuclei and clinical metrics (age, disease duration, MDS-UPDRS motor score, and subscores for bradykinesia/rigidity, tremor, and postural instability/gait difficulty).
Results: We found that smaller SN correlated with longer disease duration (râ=ââ0.49, pâ=â0.004), more severe MDS-UPDRS motor score (râ=ââ0.42, pâ=â0.016), and more severe bradykinesia-rigidity subscore (râ=ââ0.47, pâ=â0.007), but not tremor or postural instability/gait difficulty subscores. In a hemi-body analysis, bradykinesia-rigidity severity only correlated with SN contralateral to the less-affected hemi-body, and not contralateral to the more-affected hemi-body, possibly reflecting the greatest change in dopamine neuron loss early in disease. Multivariate generalized estimating equation model confirmed that bradykinesia-rigidity severity, age, and disease duration, but not tremor severity, predicted SN volume
Substantia Nigra Volume Dissociates Bradykinesia and Rigidity from Tremor in Parkinsonâs Disease: A 7 Tesla Imaging Study
Background: In postmortem analysis of late stage Parkinsonâs disease (PD) neuronal loss in the substantial nigra (SN) correlates with the antemortem severity of bradykinesia and rigidity, but not tremor.
Objective: To investigate the relationship between midbrain nuclei volume as an in vivo biomarker for surviving neurons in mild-to-moderate patients using 7.0 Tesla MRI.
Methods: We performed ultra-high resolution quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) on the midbrain in 32 PD participants with less than 10 years duration and 8 healthy controls. Following blinded manual segmentation, the individual volumes of the SN, subthalamic nucleus, and red nucleus were measured. We then determined the associations between the midbrain nuclei and clinical metrics (age, disease duration, MDS-UPDRS motor score, and subscores for bradykinesia/rigidity, tremor, and postural instability/gait difficulty).
Results: We found that smaller SN correlated with longer disease duration (râ=ââ0.49, pâ=â0.004), more severe MDS-UPDRS motor score (râ=ââ0.42, pâ=â0.016), and more severe bradykinesia-rigidity subscore (râ=ââ0.47, pâ=â0.007), but not tremor or postural instability/gait difficulty subscores. In a hemi-body analysis, bradykinesia-rigidity severity only correlated with SN contralateral to the less-affected hemi-body, and not contralateral to the more-affected hemi-body, possibly reflecting the greatest change in dopamine neuron loss early in disease. Multivariate generalized estimating equation model confirmed that bradykinesia-rigidity severity, age, and disease duration, but not tremor severity, predicted SN volume
Triple sign reversal of Hall effect in HgBa_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{6} thin films after heavy-ion irradiations
Triple sign reversal in the mixed-state Hall effect has been observed for the
first time in ion-irradiated HgBa_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{6} thin films. The negative dip
at the third sign reversal is more pronounced for higher fields, which is
opposite to the case of the first sign reversal near T_c in most high-T_c
superconductors. These observations can be explained by a recent prediction in
which the third sign reversal is attributed to the energy derivative of the
density of states and to a temperature-dependent function related to the
superconducting energy gap. These contributions prominently appear in cases
where the mean free path is significantly decreased, such as our case of
ion-irradiated thin films.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figures, submitted Phys. Rev. Let
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