Diversity, Dilemmas and Transformation in Post-Compulsory Education: an Introduction to the Special Issue on Work Based Research

As governments recognize the central place of post-compulsory education in regenerating and modernizing the economic and social fabric of society (BIS 2008), it is appropriate for us as educational researchers to question whether this recognition beckons a different role for research in post-compulsory education. Much of this research is work based, using a broad interpretation of this term, and the majority of articles received by this journal (though the proportion published is a lower one) reflect this balance. Work based research in education poses particular challenges for the researcher and the practitioner, whether the focus is practitioner research, in which case the dilemmas can centre on potential role conflict between practitioner and researcher roles, or whether the work based research is observational – analyzing others’ professional practice, in which case the dilemmas can centre on power relations between researcher and researched, the politics of research, and ethical questions around care for participants and the degree of their involvement or non-involvement in the total research enterprise. This article reviews the prospects for work based research in post-compulsory education and introduces the articles in this special issue

Sending femtosecond pulses in circles: highly non-paraxial accelerating beams

We use caustic beam shaping on 100 fs pulses to experimentally generate non-paraxial accelerating beams along a 60 degree circular arc, moving laterally by 14 \mum over a 28 \mum propagation length. This is the highest degree of transverse acceleration reported to our knowledge. Using diffraction integral theory and numerical beam propagation simulations, we show that circular acceleration trajectories represent a unique class of non-paraxial diffraction-free beam profile which also preserves the femtosecond temporal structure in the vicinity of the caustic

Visual art inspired by the collective feeding behavior of sand-bubbler crabs

Sand--bubblers are crabs of the genera Dotilla and Scopimera which are known to produce remarkable patterns and structures at tropical beaches. From these pattern-making abilities, we may draw inspiration for digital visual art. A simple mathematical model is proposed and an algorithm is designed that may create such sand-bubbler patterns artificially. In addition, design parameters to modify the patterns are identified and analyzed by computational aesthetic measures. Finally, an extension of the algorithm is discussed that may enable controlling and guiding generative evolution of the art-making process

Creativity and Autonomy in Swarm Intelligence Systems

This work introduces two swarm intelligence algorithms -- one mimicking the behaviour of one species of ants (\emph{Leptothorax acervorum}) foraging (a `Stochastic Diffusion Search', SDS) and the other algorithm mimicking the behaviour of birds flocking (a `Particle Swarm Optimiser', PSO) -- and outlines a novel integration strategy exploiting the local search properties of the PSO with global SDS behaviour. The resulting hybrid algorithm is used to sketch novel drawings of an input image, exploliting an artistic tension between the local behaviour of the `birds flocking' - as they seek to follow the input sketch - and the global behaviour of the `ants foraging' - as they seek to encourage the flock to explore novel regions of the canvas. The paper concludes by exploring the putative `creativity' of this hybrid swarm system in the philosophical light of the `rhizome' and Deleuze's well known `Orchid and Wasp' metaphor

A four-year, systems-wide intervention promoting interprofessional collaboration

Background: A four-year action research study was conducted across the Australian Capital Territory health system to strengthen interprofessional collaboration (IPC) through multiple intervention activities. Methods: We developed 272 substantial IPC intervention activities involving 2,407 face-to-face encounters with health system personnel. Staff attitudes toward IPC were surveyed yearly using Heinemann et al’s Attitudes toward Health Care Teams and Parsell and Bligh’s Readiness for Interprofessional Learning scales (RIPLS). At study’s end staff assessed whether project goals were achieved. Results: Of the improvement projects, 76 exhibited progress, and 57 made considerable gains in IPC. Educational workshops and feedback sessions were well received and stimulated interprofessional activities. Over time staff scores on Heinemann’s Quality of Interprofessional Care subscale did not change significantly and scores on the Doctor Centrality subscale increased, contrary to predictions. Scores on the RIPLS subscales of Teamwork & Collaboration and Professional Identity did not alter. On average for the assessment items 33% of staff agreed that goals had been achieved, 10% disagreed, and 57% checked ‘neutral’. There was most agreement that the study had resulted in increased sharing of knowledge between professions and improved quality of patient care, and least agreement that between-professional rivalries had lessened and communication and trust between professions improved. Conclusions: Our longitudinal interventional study of IPC involving multiple activities supporting increased IPC achieved many project-specific goals, but improvements in attitudes over time were not demonstrated and neutral assessments predominated, highlighting the difficulties faced by studies targeting change at the systems level and over extended periods

Imaging of Four Planetary Nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds Using the Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Camera

Using the Faint Object Camera on-board the Hubble Space Telescope, we have obtained images of four planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Magellanic Clouds, namely N2 and N5 in the SMC and N66 and N201 in the LMC. Each nebula was imaged through two narrow-band filters isolating [O III] λ5007 and Hβ, for a nominal exposure time of 1000 s in each filter. Significant detail is evident on the raw images and, after deconvolution using the Richardson-Lucy algorithm, structures as small as 0.06" are easily discernible. In [O III], SMC N5 shows a circular ring structure, with a peak-to-peak diameter of 0.26" and a FWHM of 0.35", while SMC N2 shows an elliptical ring structure with a peak-to-peak diameter of 0.26" x 0.21" (FWHM 0.40" x 0.35"). The expansion ages corresponding to the observed structures in SMC N2 and N5 are of the order of 3000 yr. Such low ages appear more easy to reconcile with helium-burning rather than hydrogen-burning central star evolutionary tracks. LMC N201 is very compact, with a FWHM of 0.21" in Hβ. The Type I PN LMC N66 is a multipolar nebula, with the brightest part having an extent of about 2" and with fainter structures extending over 4". The [O III] image reveals structures unprecedented for a planetary nebula, with several bright knots and faint loops visible outside the two main bright lobes

Sigma-phase in Fe-Cr and Fe-V alloy systems and its physical properties

A review is presented on physical properties of the sigma-phase in Fe-Cr and Fe-V alloy systems as revealed both with experimental -- mostly with the Mossbauer spectroscopy -- and theoretical methods. In particular, the following questions relevant to the issue have been addressed: identification of sigma and determination of its structural properties, kinetics of alpha-to-sigma and sigma-to-alpha phase transformations, Debye temperature and Fe-partial phonon density of states, Curie temperature and magnetization, hyperfine fields, isomer shifts and electric field gradients.Comment: 26 pages, 23 figures and 83 reference

Linearization of Cohomology-free Vector Fields

We study the cohomological equation for a smooth vector field on a compact manifold. We show that if the vector field is cohomology free, then it can be embedded continuously in a linear flow on an Abelian group