How to co-lead a team

We don’t lead alone. We lead with others. The days of the ‘Great Man’ theory of Leadership – where one sole leader rules over the masses from their ivory tower, are long gone

Finite Element Modelling of Snowboard Wrist Protectors

Snowboarding has a higher injury risk than alpine skiing, with the upper extremities being the most common site for injuries. Wrist protectors are recommended to reduce injury risk by limiting wrist hyperextension and impact forces. There are different wrist protector designs but there is currently no recognised standardisation, with little consensus as to which are most effective. While experimental protocols are useful for analysing current products, they are limited when assessing the effect of design changes and predicting the performance of future protector concepts. The aim of this project was to develop finite element models to assess the impact performance of snowboard wrist protectors, whilst fitted to a surrogate. Two wrist protectors were chosen for modelling, both with palmar and dorsal splints and padding in the palmar region, with one classified as short and the other a long protector (based on splint length). The component materials within the protectors were characterised and impact tested. Using the measured material properties, finite element models replicating these impact tests were developed and compared to the experiment for validation. These models were developed into full protectors fitted to a wrist surrogate under impact. To validate the full protector models, experimental testing was conducted using a modified version of the pendulum impact rig developed by Adams (2018) across a range of energies (10 to 50 J). The validated models were then used to explore the effect of changing components (e.g. splint length, material) on impact performance, in order to enhance the understanding of wrist protector design. The research highlighted clear differences in the properties of wrist protector components from the same size/brand, re-iterating the need for standardisation. The palmar splint was found to have the largest influence on impact force and the dorsal splint on wrist angle, in agreement with the literature. Model outputs showed peak force and maximum wrist angle to decrease as splint length or stiffness (thickness or material) increased. Future work could develop the model into a tool for improving wrist protectors as well as to predict whether new designs would meet the requirements of the new ISO standard (once published)

Pre-Service STEM Majors Understanding of Slope According to Common Core Mathematics Standards: An Exploratory Study

Common Core Mathematics Standards CCMS is a major effort at revamping the U S K-12 mathematics education in order to improve American students mathematical performance and international competitiveness To ensure the successful implementation of CCMS there have been calls for both recruiting from those with the strongest quantitative backgrounds e g STEM majors and offering rigorous mathematics training in teacher preparation Missing from the literature are questions of whether STEM majors who arguably represent the strongest candidates for the teaching force have the depth of content understanding in order to teach mathematical topics at the rigorous level that CCMS expects and whether future mathematics teachers need the opportunities to learn rigorously the K-12 mathematical topics they are expected to teach down the road Our paper addresses the knowledge gap in these two areas through investigating the understanding of the concept of slope among a group STEM majors who were enrolled in an undergraduate experimental teacher preparation program We found that even among these students there are holes in their conceptual understanding of slope and of the connection between linear equation and its graph These weaknesses could pose challenges for their preparedness to teach the slope concept consistent with the rigor that CCMS calls for Taking courses that specifically address the K-12 math topics is helpful We discuss implications of these findings for the content preparation of mathematics teacher

Northumbria University Institutional Case Study: Meaningful Student Engagement Programme, Higher Education Academy

“Student engagement is concerned with the interaction between the time, effort and other relevant resources invested by both students and their institutions intended to optimise the student experience and enhance the learning outcomes and development of students and the performance, and reputation of the institution”.1 The Higher Education Academy’s Meaningful Student Engagement Programme aims to help universities enhance the engagement of disabled students in the design and delivery of learning and teaching. Northumbria University was one of ten institutions selected to participate in this programme. The focus at Northumbria was on inclusive assessment and this was achieved through the SEA (Student Engagement with Assessment) Project. Commencing in January 2011, the overall aim of the project was to create a roadmap for the university to move towards more alternative and inclusive assessment methods and practice. Working in partnership with students, current and inclusive assessment practices have been explored. This has led to a number of pilots with staff, students and the students union looking at different aspects of inclusive assessment. This case study reports on the main findings from this project

Looking from the inside out: reflecting on teacher agency within a performative context

Since the introduction of 1988 Education Act, the education system has seen major changes which continued to focus on policy and create a prescriptive performative culture among teachers. It was at this point that control within the classroom was perceived as ebbing away from the class teacher and moving more towards government and the rigours of policy There has been a drive for transparency which has meant an increase in the amount of data schools and teachers must produce about their pupils and this data is used to judge both the worth of the teacher and the school. Pupil achievement forms part of performance management meetings and now determines pay scales for teachers in the state education system. Critics of the education system have noted a rise in teachers leaving the profession and allude to a sense of teachers having to conform to policy in order to be deemed ‘good’ at their job. In recent years, stress and the mental health of teachers has been a widely discussed topic in the media, and it has been reported that the pressures of performativity are widely to blame. This thesis explores the impact of policy on teacher agency through interviews with four teachers at different stages in their professional careers, and also through my own experiences and reflective writing, in the context of a performative culture. It focuses on their narratives and my own, through the lens of Peshkin and his work relating to subjectivity and ‘Situational Identity’. It questions how and where teachers experience professional agency and the affect policy has on the assertion of agency and the development of their pedagogy. The analysis suggests that although policy causes tensions and contradictions with teachers’ values and preferred pedagogy, values still lie at the heart of what teachers do and they are not lost amongst the plethora of policy and paperwork. There may be times when their practice is not carried out in the way they had intended, but times of great tension can also elicit a stronger assertion of agency; difficult decisions can be made that focus on what is right for their pupils, and complicit conformation is not the only option. Agency lies within the tensions and contradictions certain contexts create and it is in the management of these tensions that agency becomes apparent

Collaborate across teams, silos, and even companies

Collaborative leadership can achieve meaningful change in large organisations, argues Dr. Rebecca Newto

Constraining Nuclear Symmetry Energy with Multi-messenger Resonant Shattering Flares

Much effort is devoted to measuring the nuclear symmetry energy through neutron star (NS) and nuclear observables. Since matter in the NS core may be non-hadronic, observables like radii and tidal deformability may not provide reliable constraints on properties of nucleonic matter. We demonstrate that coincident timing of a resonant shattering flare (RSF) and gravitational wave signal during binary NS inspiral probes the crust-core transition region and provides constraints on the symmetry energy comparable to terrestrial nuclear experiments. We show that nuclear masses, RSFs and measurements of NS radii and tidal deformabilities constrain different density ranges of the EOS, providing complementary probes.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures submitted to PR

A concept mapping study evaluating the UK's first NHS generic fatigue clinic.

Importance - Fatigue is a significant and debilitating symptom affecting 25% of the population. It occurs in those with a range of chronic diseases, can be idiopathic and in 0.2-0.4% of the UK population occurs in combination with other symptoms that together constitute chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Until recently, NHS clinical services only focussed upon CFS and excluded the majority of fatigued patients who did not meet the CFS diagnostic criteria. The CRESTA Fatigue interdisciplinary clinic was established in 2013 in response to this unmet need. Objective - To identify the service needs of the heterogeneous group of patients accessing the CRESTA Fatigue Clinic, to prioritize these needs, to determine whether each is being met and to plan targeted service enhancements. Design - Using a group concept mapping approach, we objectively identified the shared understanding of service users accessing this novel clinic. Setting - NHS Clinics for Research & Service in Themed Assessment (CRESTA) Fatigue Clinic, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. Participants - Patients (n = 30) and referrers (n = 10) to the CRESTA Fatigue Clinic contributed towards a statement generation exercise to identify ways the clinic could support service users to improve their quality of life. Patients (n = 46) participated in the sorting and rating task where resulting statements were sorted into groups similar in meaning and rated for 'importance' and 'current success'. Main outcome and measure - We mapped the needs of patients attending the CRESTA Fatigue Clinic and identified which high-priority needs were being successfully met and which were not. Results - Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis depicted the following eight themed clusters from the data which related to various service-user requirements: 'clinic ethos', 'communication', 'support to self-manage', 'peer support', 'allied health services', 'telemedicine', 'written information' and 'service operation'. Service improvement targets were identified within value bivariate plots of the statements. Conclusion and relevance - Service development concepts were grouped into thematic clusters and prioritized for both importance and current success. The resulting concept maps depict where the CRESTA Fatigue Clinic successfully addresses issues which matter to patients and highlights areas for service enhancement. Unmet needs of patients have been identified in a rigorous service evaluation, and these are currently being addressed in collaboration with a service-user group