A critical inquiry concerning the justification of programmes of Work Based Learning in the Chester College of Higher Education curriculum.

The case study, which is the subject of this report, was undertaken in the field of Work Based Learning Studies in Higher Education, with the principal empirical research data collected and analysed between June, 2001 and January, 2003. The key issues for investigation related to: • philosophical and educational underpinning for Work Based Learning • empirical research into the Student experience of Work Based Learning The setting for the project was the Centre for Work Related Studies at Chester College of Higher Education. The context of the research was that of the place of Work Based Learning in the Chester College of Higher Education curriculum. The principal method of research was the case study, with sub research methods: • literature search • questionnaire to 312 WBL students (June, 2002) • semi-structured interviews with 31 WBL students (June to December, 2002) Publications resulting from the research : • The Place and Status of Knowledge in Work Based Learning ; November, 2002 ; in Knowledge, Work and Learning ; Conference Proceedings of the Work Based Learning Network of the Universities Association for Continual Education ; p. 162-170 • A More Holistic Form of Higher Education : the Real Potential of Work Based Learning ; December, 2002 ; article in Widening Participation and Life long Learning : The Journal of the Institute for Access Studies and The European Access Network ; Staffordshire University , Vol.4, No.3 ; ISSN 1466-6529 • Learning About Learning through Work Based Learning (provisional title); proposed 2004 ; chapter in Learning About Learning (provisional title) , Kogan Page (for Institute of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education) In addition, the following article is under consideration for publication : • Towards a philosophical underpinning for Work Based Learning : the Ontological Perspective In addition to this Report for the University, a Report setting out recommendations in respect of Work Based Learning provision has been produced for Chester College. Main findings : • That there is evidence to suggest that WBL has the capacity to engage learners in more holistic ways of being and knowing • That there is every justification for HE to recognise the workplace as a bona-fide site of learning • That the central role of critical reflection in WBL is recognised by learners, though much work needs to be done in terms of its facilitation • That WBL may be considered to have a sound philosophical base in both epistemological and ontological terms • That WBL offers a distinctive pedagogy worthy of HE

Account of the Journey of Hieronimo di Santo Stefano, a Genovese (1495-1496) edited by R. H. Major, re-edited and introduced by Michael W. Charney

This translation of Hieronimo di Santo Stefano’s journey to Pegu in 1495-1496 was originally published in India in the Fifteenth Century Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India, edited by R. H. Major, in 1857. The account was written in the form of a letter to Messer Giovan Jacobo Mainer. Only those portions related to Burma have been included in the version below

Orthodontic Bracket Manufacturing Tolerances and Dimensional Differences between Select Self-Ligating Brackets

In all manufacturing processes there are tolerances; however, orthodontic bracket manufacturers seldom state the slot dimensional tolerances. This experiment develops a novel method of analyzing slot profile dimensions using photographs of the slot. Five points are selected along each wall, and lines are fitted to define a trapezoidal slot shape. This investigation measures slot height at the slot's top and bottom, angles between walls, slot taper, and the linearity of each wall. Slot dimensions for 30 upper right central incisor self-ligating stainless steel brackets from three manufacturers were evaluated. Speed brackets have a slot height 2% smaller than the nominal 0.559 mm size and have a slightly convergent taper. In-Ovation brackets have a divergent taper at an average angle of 1.47 degrees. In-Ovation is closest to the nominal value of slot height at the slot base and has the smallest manufacturing tolerances. Damon Q brackets are the most rectangular in shape, with nearly 90-degree corners between the slot bottom and walls. Damon slot height is on average 3% oversized

Mechanical and Chemical Control of Smooth Cordgrass in Waillapa Bay, Washington

We evaluated four methods to control smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora Loisel), hereafter spartina, in Willapa Bay, Washington: mowing, mowing plus herbicide combination, herbicide only for clones, and aerial application of herbicide for meadows. (PDF has 7 pages.

Non-target Impacts to Eelgrass from Treatments to Control Spartina in Willapa Bay, Washington

Four methods to control the smooth cordgrass Spartina (Spartina alterniflora) and the footwear worn by treatment personnelat several sites in Willapa Bay, Washington were evaluatedto determine the non-target impacts to eelgrass (Zostera japonica). Clone-sized infestations of Spartina were treated bymowing or a single hand-spray application of Rodeo® formulatedat 480 g L-1acid equivalence (ae) of the isopropylaminesalt of glyphosate (Monsanto Agricultural Co., St. Louis, MO;currently Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, IN) with the nonionic surfactant LI 700® (2% v/v) or a combination of mowing and hand spraying. An aerial application of Rodeo® with X-77 Spreader® (0.13% v/v) to a 2-ha meadow was also investigated. Monitoring consisted of measuring eelgrass shoot densities and percent cover pre-treatment and 1-yr post-treatment. Impacts to eelgrass adjacent to treated clones were determined 1 m from the clones and compared to a control 5-m away. Impacts from footwear were assessed at 5 equidistant intervals along a 10-m transect on mudflat and an untreated control transect at each of the three clone treatment sites. Impacts from the aerial application were determined by comparing shoot densities and percent cover 1, 3 and 10 m from the edge of the treated Spartina meadow to that at comparable distances from an untreated meadow. Methods utilized to control Spartina clones did not impact surrounding eelgrass at two of three sites. Decreases in shoot densities observed at the third site were consistent across treatments. Most impacts to eelgrass from the footwear worn by treatment personnel were negligible and those that were significant were limited to soft mud substrate. The aerial application of the herbicide was associated with reductions in eelgrass (shoot density and percent cover) at two of the three sampling distances, but reductions on the control plot were greater. We conclude that the unchecked spread of Spartina is a far greater threat to the survival and health of eelgrass than that from any of the control measures we studied. The basis for evaluating control measures for Spartina should be efficacy and logistical constraints and not impacts to eelgrass. PDF is 7 pages

From informal practices to formal conduct: Which ethical practices and issues for French lobbying consulting?

In France, lobbying consulting is at the same time a recent and not well received activity, conversely to the United States. The influence of public decision making is certainly a particularly sensitive occupation, at both managerial and societal levels. This is why ethics as applied to business can play a central role in its establishment. This paper examines the practices and issues of ethics in lobbying consulting. The chosen field in this exploratory study is France. The case of a lobbying consultancy firm is more specifically developed. A three month participant observation research is complemented by secondary data on the profession in France and in the United States, as well as on French, European, American and Quebec institutions. The results of this research are developed along two lines: 1. The practice of lobbying ethics differs according to age and degree of institutionalization of the profession in the country. In France ethics is informal and based primarily on exemplary, with a particularly low regulatory potential. 2. The stakes of ethics are both internal to the lobbying consulting profession, in its structuring from an emerging to an established profession, as well as external in the clarifying of its relationship with its stakeholders including customers, government and the civil society

Evidence of sympathetic cooling of Na+ ions by a Na MOT in a hybrid trap

A hybrid ion-neutral trap provides an ideal system to study collisional dynamics between ions and neutrals. This system provides a general cooling method that can be applied to optically inaccessible species and can also potentially cool internal degrees of freedom. The long range polarization potentials ($V\propto-\alpha/r^4$) between ions and neutrals result in large scattering cross sections at cold temperatures, making the hybrid trap a favorable system for efficient sympathetic cooling of ions by collisions with neutral atoms. We present experimental evidence of sympathetic cooling in a hybrid trap of \ce{Na+} ions, which are closed shell and therefore do not have a laser induced atomic transition, by equal mass cold Na atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT).Comment: 7 figure