Optimising Elite Athlete Stress Regulation via Systematic Reflections of Stressor Events

The overarching goals of this research were to develop, implement, and evaluate a self-reflection intervention for elite-level athletes to build resilient capacities. These goals where accomplished over four phases via two systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the literature as well as two pilot randomised controlled trials

Murdoch and the End of Ideology

Iris Murdoch had a lifelong interest in politics and she reflected upon the nature of ideology throughout her career. What she had to say on the subject developed during her career and relates to general academic discussions on the nature of ideology. At the outset of her career she was a committed socialist. She recognised that political ideology was in retreat after the Second World War but sought to contribute to socialist ideology. Later in her career she became sceptical of radical utopian ideologies, including socialism and developed a theory of politics that prioritised safeguarding individual liberty and security. However, she imagined that political thought would continue to develop and offer new possibilities and so she did not call for the end of ideology but continued to value political ideas

Medical Student Perceptions of Feedback and Feedback Behaviors Within the Context of the “Educational Alliance”

Purpose: Using the "educational alliance" as a conceptual framework, the authors explored medical students' beliefs about feedback and how their feedback behaviors reflect their perceptions. Method: Five focus groups (four to six medical students each) at one UK medical school in 2015 were used to capture and elucidate learners' feedback perceptions and behaviors within the context of the learner-educator relationship. A map of key feedback opportunities across the program was used as a tool for exploring student engagement with the feedback process. Qualitative data were analyzed using an approach based on grounded theory principles. Results: Three learner feedback behaviors emerged: recognizing, using, and seeking feedback. Five core themes influencing these behaviors were generated: learner beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions; relationships; teacher attributes; mode of feedback; and learning culture. Conceptual models illustrating the relationships between the themes and each behavior were developed. Learning culture influenced all three behaviors with a wide context of influences. Conclusions: Ensuring that feedback leads to improved performance requires more than training educators in best practices. The conceptual models support the educational alliance framework and illustrate the context and complexity of learning culture surrounding the educational relationship, learner, and feedback exchange. The educational alliance approach is underpinned by a mutual understanding of purpose and responsibility. Enhancing learners' feedback literacy skills seems to be the key aspect of the educational alliance in need of attention. Empowering learners to recognize, seek, and use feedback received within diverse learning cultures is essential

Nonlinear optics of fibre event horizons

The nonlinear interaction of light in an optical fibre can mimic the physics at an event horizon. This analogue arises when a weak probe wave is unable to pass through an intense soliton, despite propagating at a different velocity. To date, these dynamics have been described in the time domain in terms of a soliton-induced refractive index barrier that modifies the velocity of the probe. Here, we complete the physical description of fibre-optic event horizons by presenting a full frequency-domain description in terms of cascaded four-wave mixing between discrete single-frequency fields, and experimentally demonstrate signature frequency shifts using continuous wave lasers. Our description is confirmed by the remarkable agreement with experiments performed in the continuum limit, reached using ultrafast lasers. We anticipate that clarifying the description of fibre event horizons will significantly impact on the description of horizon dynamics and soliton interactions in photonics and other systems.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Construction management contracts: law and practice

The context of construction management (CM) reveals that this method of procurement is as much a management philosophy as a contract structure. It is important to consider legal and contractual issues in this context. The interplay between management and law is complex and often misunderstood. Before considering specific issues, the use of contractual remedies in business agreements is discussed. In addition, the extent to which standardising a form of contract detracts or contributes to the success of projects is also considered. The dearth of judicial decisions, and the lack of a standard form, render it difficult to be specific about legal issues. Therefore, the main discussion of legal issues is centred around a recently completed research project which involved eliciting the views of a cross-section of experienced construction management clients, consultants and trade contractors. These interviews are used as the basis for highlighting some of the most important legal points to consider when setting up CM projects. The interviews revealed that the advantage of CM is the proximity of the client to the trade contractors and the disadvantage is that it depends on a high degree of professionalism and experience; qualities which are unfortunately difficult to find in the UK construction industry