1,368 research outputs found
The illusion of competency versus the desirability of expertise: Seeking a common standard for support professions in sport
In this paper we examine and challenge the competency-based models which currently dominate accreditation and development systems in sport support disciplines, largely the sciences and coaching. Through consideration of exemplar shortcomings, the limitations of competency-based systems are presented as failing to cater for the complexity of decision making and the need for proactive experimentation essential to effective practice. To provide a better fit with the challenges of the various disciplines in their work with performers, an alternative approach is presented which focuses on the promotion, evaluation and elaboration of expertise. Such an approach resonates with important characteristics of professions, whilst also providing for the essential ‘shades of grey’ inherent in work with human participants. Key differences between the approaches are considered through exemplars of evaluation processes. The expertise-focused method, although inherently more complex, is seen as offering a less ambiguous and more positive route, both through more accurate representation of essential professional competence and through facilitation of future growth in proficiency and evolution of expertise in practice. Examples from the literature are also presented, offering further support for the practicalities of this approach
Magnetic field independence of the spin gap in YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-delta}
We report, for magnetic fields of 0, 8.8, and 14.8 Tesla, measurements of the
temperature dependent ^{63}Cu NMR spin lattice relaxation rate for near
optimally doped YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-delta}, near and above T_c. In sharp contrast
with previous work we find no magnetic field dependence. We discuss
experimental issues arising in measurements of this required precision, and
implications of the experiment regarding issues including the spin or pseudo
gap.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, as accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
Blaming Bill Gates AGAIN! Misuse, overuse and misunderstanding of performance data in sport
Recently in Sport, Education and Society, Williams and Manley (2014) argued against the heavy reliance on technology in professional Rugby Union and elite sport in general. In summary, technology is presented as an elitist, ‘gold standard’ villain that management and coaches use to exert control and by which players lose autonomy, identity, motivation, social interactions and expertise. In this article we suggest that the sociological interpretations and implications offered by Williams and Manley may be somewhat limited when viewed in isolation. In doing so, we identify some core methodological issues in Williams and Manley’s study and critically consider important arguments for utilising technology; notably, to inform coach decision making and generate player empowerment. Secondly, we present a different, yet perhaps equally concerning, practice-oriented interpretation of the same results but from alternative coaching and expertise literature. Accordingly, we suggest that Williams and Manley have perhaps raised their alarm prematurely, inappropriately and on somewhat shaky foundations. We also hope to stimulate others to consider contrary positions, or at least to think about this topic in greater detail. More specifically, we encourage coaches and academics to think carefully about what technology is employed, how and why, and then the means by which these decisions are discussed with and, preferably, sold to players. Certainly, technology can significantly enhance coach decision making and practice, while also helping players to optimise their focus, empowerment and independence in knowing how to achieve their personal and collective goals
Statistical Model of Superconductivity in a 2D Binary Boson-Fermion Mixture
A two-dimensional (2D) assembly of noninteracting, temperature-dependent,
composite-boson Cooper pairs (CPs) in chemical and thermal equilibrium with
unpaired fermions is examined in a binary boson-fermion statistical model as
the superconducting singularity temperature is approached from above. The model
is derived from {\it first principles} for the BCS model interfermion
interaction from three extrema of the system Helmholtz free energy (subject to
constant pairable-fermion number) with respect to: a) the pairable-fermion
distribution function; b) the number of excited (bosonic) CPs, i.e., with
nonzero total momenta--usually ignored in BCS theory--and with the appropriate
(linear, as opposed to quadratic) dispersion relation that arises from the
Fermi sea; and c) the number of CPs with zero total momenta. Compared with the
BCS theory condensate, higher singularity temperatures for the Bose-Einstein
condensate are obtained in the binary boson-fermion mixture model which are in
rough agreement with empirical critical temperatures for quasi-2D
superconductorsComment: 16 pages and 4 figures. This is a improved versio
Electronic states on a twin boundary of a d-wave superconductor
We show that an induced -wave harmonic in the superconducting gap of an
orthorhombic superconductor strongly affects the excitation
spectrum near a twinning plane. In particular, it yields bound states of zero
energy with areal density proportional to the relative weight of the -wave
component. An unusual scattering process responsible for the thermal
conductivity across the twin boundary at low temperatures is also identified.Comment: 4 pages, ReVTEX, 2 PS-figure
Clinical and service implications of a cognitive analytic therapy model of psychosis
Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) is an integrative, interpersonal model of therapy predicated on a radically social concept of self, developed over recent years in the UK by Anthony Ryle. A CAT-based model of psychotic disorder has been developed much more recently based on encouraging early experience in this area. The model describes and accounts for many psychotic experiences and symptoms in terms of distorted, amplified or muddled enactments of normal or ‘neurotic’ reciprocal role procedures (RRPs) and of damage at a meta-procedural level to the structures of the self.
Reciprocal role procedures are understood in CAT to represent the outcome of the process of internalization of early, sign-mediated, interpersonal experience and to constitute the basis for all mental activity, normal or otherwise. Enactments of maladaptive RRPs generated by early interpersonal stress are seen in this model to constitute a form of ‘internal expressed emotion’. Joint description of these RRPs and their enactments (both internally and externally) and their subsequent revision is central to the practice of CAT during which they are mapped out through written and diagrammatic reformulations.
This model may usefully complement and extend existing approaches, notably recent CBT-based interventions, particularly with ‘difficult’ patients, and generate meaningful and helpful understandings of these disorders for both patients and their treating teams. We suggest that use of a coherent and robust model such as CAT could have important clinical and service implications in terms of developing and researching models of these disorders as well as for the training of multidisciplinary teams in their effective treatment
Fermi-Liquid Interactions in d-Wave Superconductor
This article develops a quantitative quasiparticle model of the
low-temperature properties of d-wave superconductors which incorporates both
Fermi-liquid effects and band-structure effects. The Fermi-liquid interaction
effects are found to be classifiable into strong and negligible renormalizaton
effects, for symmetric and antisymmetric combinations of the energies of
and quasiparticles, respectively. A particularly
important conclusion is that the leading clean-limit temperature-dependent
correction to the superfluid density is not renormalized by Fermi-liquid
interactions, but is subject to a Fermi velocity (or mass) renormalization
effect. This leads to difficulties in accounting for the penetration depth
measurements with physically acceptable parameters, and hence reopens the
question of the quantitative validity of the quasiparticle picture.Comment: 4 page
Incommensurate Charge and Spin Fluctuations in d-wave Superconductors
We show analytic results for the irreducible charge and spin
susceptibilities, , where is the momentum
transfer between the nodes in d-wave superconductors. Using the BCS theory and
a circular Fermi surface, we find that the singular behavior of the irreducible
charge susceptibility leads to the dynamic incommensurate charge collective
modes. The peaks in the charge structure factor occur at a set of wave vectors
which form an ellipse around and in
momentum space with momentum dependent spectral weight. It is also found that,
due to the non-singular irreducible spin susceptibility, an extremely strong
interaction via random phase approximation is required to support the magnetic
peaks near . Under certain conditions, the peaks in the magnetic
structure factor occur near and .Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
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