Multi-agency training and the artist (Sharing our experience, Practitioner-led research 2008-2009; PLR0809/032)

The Multi-Agency Team Project approached issues of multi-agency training indirectly by using an artist as a catalyst in a group exercise examining movement and sound in relation to early childhood. The aim of the research was to run an experiential non-traditional training programme based on using an artist as a catalyst to promote inter-agency dialogue in one setting, Woodlands Park Nursery and Children’s Centre, and to analyse the findings. Eleven participants used this common experiential focus to frame collective research both as a focus group and as individual fieldworkers. The research demonstrated shared professional discourse but also collected judgements relevant to policy issues based on collaborative professional reflection triggered by the exercise. The findings are presented theoretically in terms of critical discourse analysis using the interpretation-supporting software ATLASti. We next take a further look at the role play exercise in which the group constituted itself as a ‘House of Commons Select Committee’ before summarizing what theoretical insights might be brought to bear and attempting to draw some provisional conclusions. Some evidence is presented suggesting there is a degree of tension and ambiguity between alterative models of multi-agency working

Mechanical dissection in an introductory engineering design module

The introductory design module for first year students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde uses mechanical dissection as a focus for learning activities that seek to integrate engineering science with the prior knowledge of the students. First year groups select and remove components from a scrap motor car, and produce a technical description of the system including consideration of function, mechanics, materials and manufacturing processes. Personal and professions skills and interpersonal skills are developed through enquiry based learning. This encourages the students to identify problems and engage in analysis requiring estimation and uncertainty; sourcing information in a critical manner to integrate in their description of the chosen component. Group and communication skills are developed through peer discussion and the presentation of their research in the form of a poster and formal seminar. Student feedback indicates a high level of enjoyment of, and engagement in many of the learning activities. However, focus group interviews and questionnaire responses indicate that the key area of metallurgy has proved to be difficult for many students, probably due to a lack of relevant background knowledge. Further development of the learning activities in metallurgy is planned, including pre-reading and peer instruction to prepare the students for the staff-led materials examination sessions. Continuing evaluation of the learning experiences of the students will be undertaken to assess the effectiveness of these developments

Low-Energy Effective Field Theory below the Electroweak Scale: Operators and Matching

The gauge-invariant operators up to dimension six in the low-energy effective field theory below the electroweak scale are classified. There are 70 Hermitian dimension-five and 3631 Hermitian dimension-six operators that conserve baryon and lepton number, as well as $\Delta B= \pm \Delta L = \pm 1$, $\Delta L=\pm 2$, and $\Delta L=\pm 4$ operators. The matching onto these operators from the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) up to order $1/\Lambda^2$ is computed at tree level. SMEFT imposes constraints on the coefficients of the low-energy effective theory, which can be checked experimentally to determine whether the electroweak gauge symmetry is broken by a single fundamental scalar doublet as in SMEFT. Our results, when combined with the one-loop anomalous dimensions of the low-energy theory and the one-loop anomalous dimensions of SMEFT, allow one to compute the low-energy implications of new physics to leading-log accuracy, and combine them consistently with high-energy LHC constraints.Comment: 44 pages, 22 tables; version published in JHE

Book Review - Should it Have Been Called Republic.Com 1.5? : Reviewing Cass Sunstein\u27s \u27Republic.com 2.0\u27 (2007)

Sunstein\u27s argument in the original 2001 Republic.com and in this new 2007 version is that democracy requires a range of common experiences (social glue) and unanticipated exposure to diverse points of view, but that the Internet fails society on both counts. Sunstein believes that the Internet tends to create social fragmentation by encouraging individuals to sort themselves into deliberative enclaves of like-minded people and assisting them to filter out unwanted, opposing opinions. Republic.com 2.0 is much less than it could have been had the author cited opposing points of view more frequently, not been so US-centric, and considered recent uses of the Internet to enhance democracy, such as voter mobilization and politician voting record sites. The book would also have benefited considerably from a discussion of virtual worlds, such as Second Life. Sunstein should be given credit, however, for withdrawing the misguided policy proposal presented in the original 2001 Republic.com for legislation requiring cross-links between web sites of opposing viewpoints