The co-operative university: Labour, property and pedagogy

I begin this article by discussing the recent work of academics and activists to identify the advantages and issues relating to co-operative forms of higher education, and then focus on the ‘worker co-operative’ organisational form and its applicability and suitability to the governance of and practices within higher educational institutions. Finally, I align the values and principles of worker co-ops with the critical pedagogic framework of ‘Student as Producer’. Throughout I employ the work of Karl Marx to theorise the role of labour and property in a ‘co-operative university’, drawing particularly on later Marxist writers who argue that Marx’s labour theory of value should be understood as a critique of labour under capitalism, rather than one developed from the standpoint of labour

The audience effect in adolescence depends on who's looking over your shoulder

Adolescents have been shown to be particularly sensitive to peer influence. However, the data supporting these findings have been mostly limited to the impact of peers on risk-taking behaviours. Here, we investigated the influence of peers on performance of a high-level cognitive task (relational reasoning) during adolescence. We further assessed whether this effect on performance was dependent on the identity of the audience, either a friend (peer) or the experimenter (non-peer). We tested 24 younger adolescent (10.6–14.2 years), 20 older adolescent (14.9–17.8 years) and 20 adult (21.8–34.9 years) female participants. The presence of an audience affected adolescent, but not adult, relational reasoning performance. This audience effect on adolescent performance was influenced by the participants' age, task difficulty and the identity of the audience. These findings may have implications for education, where adolescents often do classwork or homework in the presence of others

Jockey Falls, Injuries, and Fatalities Associated With Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse Racing in California, 2007-2011

BACKGROUND: Despite the popularity of the horse racing industry in the United States and the wide recognition that horse racing is one of the most hazardous occupations, little focused research into the prevention of falls by and injuries to jockeys has been conducted. PURPOSE: To describe the incidence rates and characteristics of falls and injuries to Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing jockeys in the state of California. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive epidemiology study. METHODS: Data on race-day falls and injuries were extracted from jockey accident reports submitted to the California Horse Racing Board from January 2007 to December 2011. Denominator data, number of jockey race rides, were obtained from commercial and industry databases. Jockey fall, injury, and fatality incidence rates and ratios in Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse flat races were estimated using Poisson regression. Characteristics of falls and injuries are described and compared. RESULTS: In Thoroughbred races, 184 jockey injuries occurred from 360 reported jockey falls, 180,646 race rides, 23,500 races, and 3350 race meetings. In Quarter Horse races, 85 jockey injuries occurred from 145 jockey falls, 46,106 race rides, 6320 races, and 1053 race meetings. Jockey falls occurred at a rate of 1.99 falls per 1000 rides in Thoroughbred races, with 51% of falls resulting in jockey injury, and 3.14 falls per 1000 rides in Quarter Horse races, with 59% of falls resulting in jockey injury. The majority of falls occurred during a race, with catastrophic injury or sudden death of the horse reported as the most common cause in both Thoroughbred (29%) and Quarter Horse (44%) races. During the period studied, 1 jockey fatality resulted from a fall. Jockey fall rates were lower but injury rates were comparable to those reported internationally. CONCLUSION: On average, a licensed jockey in California can expect to have a fall every 502 rides in Thoroughbred races and every 318 rides in Quarter Horse races. While jockey fall rates were lower, injury rates were similar to those in other racing jurisdictions. The high proportion of jockey falls caused by horse fatalities should be further investigated