Becoming a Performance Analyst : Autoethnographic Reflections on Agency, and Facilitated Transformational Growth

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Reflective Practice, on 3 September 2014, available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2014.900014.This paper features an autoethnographic approach in presenting and reflecting upon the story of one higher education student’s rapid vocational and academic transformation. Initially an inconspicuous undergraduate student, Andrew experienced an accelerated development that catapulted him to working in elite sport performance analysis (PA) environments, within a year. PA is a sub-discipline of sports coaching that involves using the latest technological advances to influence sporting performance, through the objective analysis of performance data. This autoethnographic piece is partly Andrew’s personal reflection upon that journey towards his newfound profession, which initially grew out of his experience of a generic sports degree at a university. Through stepping out of his comfort zone, and analysing sports previously unknown to him, extraordinary progress was made, and various vocational and academic opportunities arose. The initial catalyst for this developmental journey was facilitated by coaching lecturer David, who reflects upon how Andrew’s story links to his own educational philosophies. Andrew and David explore what these stories might mean to them personally, including potential links to the metaphor of learning as becoming, and notions around the concepts of learner agency, and educational facilitation. The paper ends by exploring the theoretical frameworks that guided this paper’s structure and focusPeer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Participatory analysis for adaptation to climate change in Mediterranean agricultural systems: possible choices in process design (versão Pre Print)

There is an increasing call for local measures to adapt to climate change, based on foresight analyses in collaboration with actors. However, such analyses involve many challenges, particularly because the actors concerned may not consider climate change to be an urgent concern. This paper examines the methodological choices made by three research teams in the design and implementation of participatory foresight analyses to explore agricultural and water management options for adaptation to climate change. Case studies were conducted in coastal areas of France, Morocco, and Portugal where the groundwater is intensively used for irrigation, the aquifers are at risk or are currently overexploited, and a serious agricultural crisis is underway. When designing the participatory processes, the researchers had to address four main issues: whether to avoid or prepare dialogue between actors whose relations may be limited or tense; how to select participants and get them involved; how to facilitate discussion of issues that the actors may not initially consider to be of great concern; and finally, how to design and use scenarios. In each case, most of the invited actors responded and met to discuss and evaluate a series of scenarios. Strategies were discussed at different levels, from farming practices to aquifer management. It was shown that such participatory analyses can be implemented in situations which may initially appear to be unfavourable. This was made possible by the flexibility in the methodological choices, in particular the possibility of framing the climate change issue in a broader agenda for discussion with the actors

Management and resistance in the digital newsroom

What happens when there is conflict between the profit motivations of a news outlet and the professional values of its journalists? Questions of managerial influence and journalistic autonomy have interested media scholars from the seminal work of Warren Breed onwards. However, there have only been a handful of studies since the introduction of audience metrics which, this research suggests, allow managers to more efficiently monitor and discipline their journalists. This article presents an ethnographic case study of a Reuters newswire bureau during a time of conflict between the management and journalists. The article outlines the strategies that management used to incentivize their journalists to change their reporting priorities. These included the strategic dissemination of audience metrics and praise, and the hiring and promotion of ‘appropriate’ journalists to positions of influence. These interventions changed who was considered a ‘good journalist’ at the newswire, disrupting existing hierarchies, and eventually changing the culture of the newsroom. The article draws on the insights of Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory to help explain how managerial power operates, and the role that individual journalists play producing and reinforcing newsroom norms

A Picture of the Research Field of Doctoral Education from the Students’ Perspectives : Studies Using Questionnaires and Scales

Peer reviewe

Targeted Disruption of the PME-1 Gene Causes Loss of Demethylated PP2A and Perinatal Lethality in Mice

Phosphoprotein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), a major serine-threonine protein phosphatase in eukaryotes, is an oligomeric protein comprised of structural (A) and catalytic (C) subunits to which a variable regulatory subunit (B) can associate. The C subunit contains a methyl ester post-translational modification on its C-terminal leucine residue, which is removed by a specific methylesterase (PME-1). Methylesterification is thought to control the binding of different B subunits to AC dimers, but little is known about its physiological significance in vivo.Here, we show that targeted disruption of the PME-1 gene causes perinatal lethality in mice, a phenotype that correlates with a virtually complete loss of the demethylated form of PP2A in the nervous system and peripheral tissues. Interestingly, PP2A catalytic activity over a peptide substrate was dramatically reduced in PME-1(-/-) tissues, which also displayed alterations in phosphoproteome content.These findings suggest a role for the demethylated form of PP2A in maintenance of enzyme function and phosphorylation networks in vivo

Green Pathways for the Enzymatic Synthesis of Furan-Based Polyesters and Polyamides

The attention towards the utilization of sustainable feedstocks for polymer synthesis has grown exponentially in recent years. One of the spotlighted monomers derived from renewable resources is 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), one of the most promising bio-based monomers, due to its resemblance to petroleum-based terephthalic acid. Very interesting synthetic routes using this monomer have been reported in the last two decades. Combining the use of bio-based monomers and non-toxic chemicals via enzymatic polymerizations can lead to a robust and favorable approach towards a greener technology of bio-based polymer production. In this chapter, a brief introduction to FDCA-based monomers and enzymatic polymerizations is given, particularly focusing on furan-based polymers and their polymerization. In addition, an outline of the recent developments in the field of enzymatic polymerizations is discussed. </p

The cellular geography of Aurora kinases

Aurora is the name given to a family of highly conserved protein kinases with essential roles in many aspects of cell division. Yeasts have a single Aurora kinase, whereas mammals have three: Aurora A, B and C. During mitosis, Aurora kinases regulate the structure and function of the cytoskeleton and chromosomes and the interactions between these two at the kinetochore. They also regulate signalling by the spindle-assembly checkpoint pathway and cytokinesis. Perturbation of Aurora kinase expression or function might lead to cancer