How Can It Be? Nietzsche, the Radical Water Practice of a Looked After Child, and the Established Order of the School

The death of God, announced by Nietzsche in Beyond Good and Evil (1886), and in his earlier works, has been hailed as a revolutionary turning point, at least in philosophical terms. More importantly, the same philosophical principle, announced in 1886, symbolically, culturally, politically and intellectually has come to represent an incision that fundamentally cuts out any metaphysical justification that ‘the order of things’, including, say, the economic and social order, is necessarily so, that is to say has been metaphysically given, as if ordained by God; and exposes in its place a complex, but at bottom, naked will to power; and also, therefore, that any such order of being is a fabrication of vested interests (Deleuze, 2006). The revolutionary significance of this finding, however, is not one of simply abstract and theoretical moment. Nietzsche’s critique of metaphysics tears apart, for example, as lived experiences, assumptions that divide the very corporeality of our individual and social being from the systems of knowledge and expectations, and of how and where we live from the construction and meaning of our individual and collective identities (Woodward, 2013). And yet there are circumstances, and perhaps this is mostly so when living outside an established order from which you derive your meaning, that render your status, your future, your security profoundly disturbing, with no point of remittance. In such circumstances – and these are the circumstances today most obviously of the refugee, the dispossessed, and the poor – the future is only tenable by being able to belong to whatever established order is necessary. Having the requisite skills, appearance, and basically mode of being to secure a job and somewhere to live are not very mysterious but necessary indications that being part of any such order has been effected. This paper explores these points in relation to an ethnographic study of looked after children over the course of around a year, focussing on one child in her reception year, at her local mainstream primary school. More generally, this serves as an illustration of how schools necessarily do the work of the symbolic order

Developing the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network to derive indicators around the sustainable use of nitrogen and phosphorus at farm level.

peer-reviewedThis study uses a national farm survey which is part of the European Union (EU) Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) to develop environmental sustainability indicators in the use of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) across a range of farm systems in the Republic of Ireland. Farm level micro data were used to calculate all inputs and outputs of N and P that cross the farm gate and to derive balances (kg ha-1) and overall use efficiencies across 827 farms in 2012. The sample is populated weighted to represents 71,480 farms nationally. Results indicated an average N balance of 71.0 kg ha-1 and use efficiency of 36.7% across the nationally representative sample. Nitrogen balances were between two and four times higher across specialist dairy farms compared to livestock rearing and specialist tillage systems. Nitrogen use efficiency was generally lowest across milk producing systems compared to livestock rearing and tillage systems. Phosphorus balance and use efficiency averaged 4.7 kg ha-1 and 79.6% respectively across the sample. Specialist tillage and dairying farms had higher average P balances compared to other livestock based systems. The approach developed in this analysis will form the benchmark for temporal analysis across these indicators for future nutrient balance and efficiency trends and could assist other members of the EU FADN to develop similar nationally representative indicators.Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marin

Scaling of an Optically Pumped Mid-Infrared Rubidium Laser

An optically pumped mid-infrared rubidium (Rb) pulsed laser has been demonstrated in a heat pipe along the 62P3/2 - 62S1/2 transition at 2.730 µm and the 62P1/2 - 62S1/2 transition at 2.790 µm. The bleached limit, slope efficiency, and maximum laser output energy of the mid-IR Rb laser have been shown to scale linearly with increasing Rb density, contrary to prior laser demonstrations. A maximum output energy of 5 nJ per pulse had previously been observed before a rollover occurred in the scaling of output energy with Rb concentration. In this experiment, the maximum laser output energy observed was 100 nJ, with linear scaling to a Rb concentration of 7 x 1015 cm-3. A maximum slope efficiency of 1.7 x 104 was observed. Evidence that only a small percentage (2%) of the available pump photons were absorbed at a concentration of 2 x 1015 cm-3 and a pump energy of 10 µJ. This indicated that there were ~20,000 pump photons per Rb atom at a pump energy of 10 mJ, and that the effective laser efficiency was 0.65% or higher. The hyperfine structure and absorption spectral profile of the 52S1/2 - 62P1/2 and 52S1/2 - 62P3/2 (blue) pump transitions were studied using a continuous wave (cw) pump source

Evaluation of a university peer exercise and community activity placement (PECAP) model.

Gilligan (2014) indicates the most memorable learning occurs on placement, where students integrate and apply knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to real situations, facilitating re-scaffolding of knowledge and deep learning. Challenges in providing adequate, practice-based learning (PrBL) experiences were reported already prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has worsened the situation. This has led to the development of a university "Peer Exercise and Community Activity Placement" (PECAP) model, which has been supported by Scottish Government Funding. The aims of this research were: 1) To evaluate the effects of the PECAP model on student confidence; 2) To investigate student experiences of the PECAP model; 3) To explore alternative PrBL placement models. The PECAP model was designed to include community outreach, specialist projects (NHS Walking Programme) and student-led exercise groups, exposing students to core areas of practice while additionally developing clinical resources and attending "master classes", including simulation. Students were supervised by university PrBL lecturers. Students rated their confidence in core clinical competencies at the start and end of the placement, using a self-developed questionnaire with Likert scales. A separate survey about their experience was completed at the end of the placement. Between September 2021 and November 2022, 8 placements ran with a total of 63 students, usually 1:6 ratio for supervision, indicating this model is a cost-effective method for delivering high-quality placement learning experiences. Analysis of self-reported confidence indicates a 15% improvement across all domains. Students reported development of professional skills and a better understanding of managing a variety of projects, and benefiting from expert clinicians' feedback. PECAP increases confidence in physiotherapy students in core clinical competencies. This provides a model for developing and enabling physiotherapy students to attain clinical competence, confidence and transferable skills in a non-traditional setting. This initiative provides opportunity for the development of the wider skills required of clinicians and could be adapted across other healthcare professions

Materials chemistry under high pressures - Some recent aspects

Among the thermodynamic parameters governing the preparation of novel materials, temperature (T) and pressure (p) play an important role. In Materials Chemistry, the synthesis of materials needs energy in order to enhance the diffusion of atoms to the equilibrium positions required by the specific structure and to induce the formation of chemical bonds..

Expense turns to investment: How the welfare state supports EU migrants’ economic achievements

Welfare support for European Union migrants to the UK has often been presented as a “burden”. However, evidence that migrants are strongly work-focussed suggests greater attention should be given to the welfare state’s social investment role. This briefing investigates the degree to which the UK’s welfare state helps EU migrants enhance their economic activity. How have policy changes post-2014 affected this situation? What would happen if the UK left the EU