Perceptions of placement experiences of Early Childhood Studies students: the fluency of knowledge and skills

This paper discusses how academic support prepares undergraduate students for their workplace experience, involving cohorts of students from two universities in England, who offer an undergraduate level, three-year, Early Childhood Studies (ECS) degree. By adopting an interpretive approach, questionnaires were administered to the students concerned (n = 65), to seek their views and opinions on the placement experience. These were administered prior to them attending their first placement and then again on their return. The study found that students were more prepared than they originally perceived themselves to be when undertaking placement, and that a lack of confidence derived from fearing the unknown. The findings indicated that tutor and peer support were most valued as preparation tools and it is suggested that this support is a major factor in the confidence levels of students. This paper argues that the explicit knowledge gained from studying a degree course, and the tacit knowledge and skills that are gained through placement should be viewed as a combined approach rather than two separate entities which should, in turn, aid in confidence building. This is of significance both nationally and internationally for those who may be considering including a workplace experience within their programme

Understanding the diverse sexual repertoires of men who have sex with men, trans and gender-diverse groups is important for sexually transmitted infection prevention

The sexual repertoires of men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender (trans) and gender-diverse groups are poorly understood despite their disproportionate rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The interrelated landscapes and syndemics of the social and sexual behaviour of MSM, trans and gender-diverse groups, and transmission of STIs have changed beyond recognition over the past 20 years.1–3 We are only beginning to understand the complex and evolving sexual behaviours of MSM in mainly urbanised Western populations such as described in the article by Kilner et al.4 The majority of our understanding of sexual behaviour in the trans population comes from studies of trans women, with much less being understood about trans men and almost nothing about non-binary or other gender-diverse people.5 Little is also known about the sexual behaviours of sexual orientations such as pansexual or individuals who mainly have sex with trans or non-binary people, for whom we still lack clear terminology. It is time we included all sexual and gender minorities in behavioural and epidemiological research of this kind

Efficient low-threshold lasers based on an erbium-doped holey fiber

We report experimental results on the continuous-wave lasers based on a small core erbium-doped holey fiber. In a simple Fabry-Perot-type cavity with high output coupling, we demonstrate low-threshold (0.55 mW) high slope-efficiency (57.3%) operation confirming both the quality and exceptionally high gain efficiency of the fiber. In an all-fiber ring cavity where the cavity loss is reduced, we show that it is possible to achieve a low-threshold laser with extremely wide tunability (>100 nm around 1550 nm). Our results illustrate some of the unique opportunities provided by active small core holey fibers

Millimetre and submillimetre molecular line observations of the reflection nebula NGC 2023

Observations in the CO J = 2 - 1, CO J = 3 - 2 and HCO+ J = 4 - 3 transitions of the molecular cloud associated with NGC 2023 are presented. The observations reveal the complex structure of the gas in the surrounding cloud, and show the presence of several hot-spots which may represent separate bodies of gas. A search has been made for the source of excitation of two nearby groups of Herbig-Haro objects recently discovered by Malin et al. (1987). No such objects can be clearly identified from the data. CO J = 3 - 2 spectra taken at positions lying on the CO J = 1 - 0 shell observed by Gatley et al. (1987) show marked enhancements in peak line strength relative to coincident CO J = 2 - 1 data. By contrast, no such enhancements are observed away from the shell. Observations of the submillimeter wavelength HCO+ J = 4 - 3 transition show that the line strength is greatest in the vicinity of the shell structure. Simple large velocity gradient modeling of the excitation conditions of the shell material suggests that the gas may be hot (Tkin ~ 140 K), dense, and optically thin

Community Structure in Time-Dependent, Multiscale, and Multiplex Networks

Network science is an interdisciplinary endeavor, with methods and applications drawn from across the natural, social, and information sciences. A prominent problem in network science is the algorithmic detection of tightly-connected groups of nodes known as communities. We developed a generalized framework of network quality functions that allowed us to study the community structure of arbitrary multislice networks, which are combinations of individual networks coupled through links that connect each node in one network slice to itself in other slices. This framework allows one to study community structure in a very general setting encompassing networks that evolve over time, have multiple types of links (multiplexity), and have multiple scales.Comment: 31 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Includes main text and supporting material. This is the accepted version of the manuscript (the definitive version appeared in Science), with typographical corrections included her

A submillimetre wavelength spectral line search of the Orion molecular cloud core

A submillimetre wavelength molecular line search of the Orion molecular cloud has been made covering a total of about 5 percent of the frequency range 342.8 - 358.6 GHz. This search, coupled with the authors' previous observations of submillimetre transitions in this cloud, has led to the detection of 22 transitions of 14 molecular species, of which 16 are reported here for the first time. No unidentified lines have been detected in the present search. Mapping observations have been obtained for several of the lines and, in the case of H2CO the authors have been able to compare the present data with that obtained from other telescopes, to estimate the density and abundance in the emitting region

Return to Driving and a Clinical Measure of Reaction Time

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147100/1/pmr2156.pd

Using Stories in Coach Education

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how storied representations of research can be used as an effective pedagogical tool in coach education. During a series of continuing professional development seminars for professional golf coaches, we presented our research in the form of stories and poems which were created in an effort to evoke and communicate the lived experiences of elite professional golfers. Following these presentations, we obtained written responses to the stories from 53 experienced coaches who attended the seminars. Analysis of this data revealed three ways in which coaches responded to the stories: (i) questioning; (ii) summarising; and (iii) incorporating. We conclude that these responses illustrate the potential of storied forms of representation to enhance professional development through stimulating reflective practice and increasing understanding of holistic, person-centred approaches to coaching athletes in high-performance sport

Dispersion Relations for Thermally Excited Waves in Plasma Crystals

Thermally excited waves in a Plasma crystal were numerically simulated using a Box_Tree code. The code is a Barnes_Hut tree code proven effective in modeling systems composed of large numbers of particles. Interaction between individual particles was assumed to conform to a Yukawa potential. Particle charge, mass, density, Debye length and output data intervals are all adjustable parameters in the code. Employing a Fourier transform on the output data, dispersion relations for both longitudinal and transverse wave modes were determined. These were compared with the dispersion relations obtained from experiment as well as a theory based on a harmonic approximation to the potential. They were found to agree over a range of 0.9<k<5, where k is the shielding parameter, defined by the ratio between interparticle distance a and dust Debye length lD. This is an improvement over experimental data as current experiments can only verify the theory up to k = 1.5.Comment: 8 pages, Presented at COSPAR '0