4,016 research outputs found
Digital archives, e-books and narrative space
In this paper we are concerned with the capacity of digital media to enable publics to tell their own environmental stories using digital broadcast archives (DBAs). We consider how digital media afford different ways of telling stories in relation to digital media archives. Central to this discussion is our experience of writing eâbooks as part of the AHRCâfunded project âEarth in Vision: BBC coverage of environmental change 1960â2010â. The eâbook format has been adopted in order to explore some of the possibilities for writing environmental history and politics using DBAs
Fear of the unknown: a pre-departure qualitative study of Turkish international students
This paper presents findings from eleven in-depth interviews with Turkish undergraduate students, who were, by the time of data collection, about to spend a semester at a European university under the Erasmus exchange scheme. The students all agreed to be interviewed about their feelings about studying in a foreign culture, and were found to be anxious prior to departure about the quality of accommodation in the new destination, their language ability and the opportunity to form friendships. Fears were expressed about possible misconceptions over Turkey as a Muslim and a developing country. Suggestions are made for HEI interventions to allay student travellersâ concerns
International education: a force for peace and cross-cultural understanding?
This paper discusses the notion that the international sojourn has the potential to transform sojourners into cultural mediators who carry the power to improve global relations. A year-long ethnographic study of the adjustment experiences of international postgraduate students in England revealed a universal early enthusiasm for cross-cultural contact that was matched by a widespread adoption of segregated patterns of interacting. The most common friendship networks were described by bonds with conationals, and yet all students attested to an increase in their cultural learning and mindfulness by the end of the sojourn. Nevertheless, intercultural competence was maximised only in those few students who pursued a multicultural strategy of interaction, leading the researcher to call on Higher Education Institutions to instigate policies to encourage lasting cross-cultural contact
Quantum walk on distinguishable non-interacting many-particles and indistinguishable two-particle
We present an investigation of many-particle quantum walks in systems of
non-interacting distinguishable particles. Along with a redistribution of the
many-particle density profile we show that the collective evolution of the
many-particle system resembles the single-particle quantum walk evolution when
the number of steps is greater than the number of particles in the system. For
non-uniform initial states we show that the quantum walks can be effectively
used to separate the basis states of the particle in position space and
grouping like state together. We also discuss a two-particle quantum walk on a
two- dimensional lattice and demonstrate an evolution leading to the
localization of both particles at the center of the lattice. Finally we discuss
the outcome of a quantum walk of two indistinguishable particles interacting at
some point during the evolution.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, To appear in special issue: "quantum walks" to be
published in Quantum Information Processin
Formation of a simple cubic antiferromagnet through charge ordering in a double Dirac material
The appearance of spontaneous charge order in chemical systems is often
associated with the emergence of novel, and useful, properties. Here we show
through single crystal diffraction that the Eu ions in the mixed valent metal
EuPdS undergo long-range charge ordering at resulting in simple cubic lattices of Eu () and
Eu () ions. As only one of the two sublattices has a non-magnetic
ground state, the charge order results in the emergence of remarkably simple
G-type antiferromagnetic order at ,
observed in magnetization, specific heat, and neutron diffraction. Application
of a field is sufficient to induce a spin flop transition to
a magnetically polarized, but still charge ordered, state. Density functional
theory calculations show that this charge order also modifies the electronic
degeneracies present in the material: without charge order, EuPdS is an
example of a double Dirac material containing 8-fold degenerate electronic
states, greater than the maximum degeneracy of six possible in molecular
systems. The symmetry reduction from charge order transmutes 8-fold double
Dirac states into 4-fold Dirac states, a degeneracy that can be preserved even
in the presence of the magnetic order. Our results show not only how charge
order can be used to produce interesting magnetic lattices, but also how it can
be used to engineer controlled degeneracies in electronic states.Comment: 33 pages, 23 figure
Language and anxiety: an ethnographic study of international postgraduate students
This paper presents some findings from an ethnographic study of international postgraduate students at a university in the South of England, which involved interviews and participant observation over a twelve-month academic year. One of the major themes that emerged from this research was studentsâ anxiety over their level of English language. Although all students entered their course with a minimum level of IELTS 6, the majority felt disadvantaged by particularly poor spoken English, and suffered feelings of anxiety, shame and inferiority. Low self-confidence meant that they felt ill-equipped to engage in class discussion and in social interaction which used English as the medium of communication. A common reaction to stress caused by language problems was to retreat into monoethnic communication with students from the same country, further inhibiting progress in language. Whilst some linguistic progress was made by nearly all students during the academic sojourn, the anxiety suffered by students in the initial stage must not be underestimated, and appropriate support systems must be put in place to alleviate their distress
Emergent Semiclassical Time in Quantum Gravity. I. Mechanical Models
Strategies intended to resolve the problem of time in quantum gravity by
means of emergent or hidden timefunctions are considered in the arena of
relational particle toy models. In situations with `heavy' and `light' degrees
of freedom, two notions of emergent semiclassical WKB time emerge; these are
furthermore equivalent to two notions of emergent classical
`Leibniz--Mach--Barbour' time. I futhermore study the semiclassical approach,
in a geometric phase formalism, extended to include linear constraints, and
with particular care to make explicit those approximations and assumptions
used. I propose a new iterative scheme for this in the cosmologically-motivated
case with one heavy degree of freedom. I find that the usual semiclassical
quantum cosmology emergence of time comes hand in hand with the emergence of
other qualitatively significant terms, including back-reactions on the heavy
subsystem and second time derivatives. I illustrate my analysis by taking it
further for relational particle models with linearly-coupled harmonic
oscillator potentials. As these examples are exactly soluble by means outside
the semiclassical approach, they are additionally useful for testing the
justifiability of some of the approximations and assumptions habitually made in
the semiclassical approach to quantum cosmology. Finally, I contrast the
emergent semiclassical timefunction with its hidden dilational Euler time
counterpart.Comment: References Update
Shaping our future: animal health in a global trading environment
Ireland is currently experiencing both the positive and negative effects of global trade in agricultural products. With increasing global competition, there is little doubt that Irish agricultural product must increasingly compete on the basis of quality, rather than price
Diasporic virginities: social representations of virginity and identity formation amongst British arab muslim women
This study compares how practising and non-practising British Arab Muslim women position themselves in relation to representations of virginity. Overall, in our qualitative study, we found that representations of culture and religion influenced social practices and social beliefs in different ways: non-practising Muslim women felt bound by culture to remain virgins, while practising Muslim women saw it as a religious obligation but were still governed by culture regarding the consequences of engaging in premarital sex. Interestingly, some practising Muslim participants used Mutâa (a form of temporary âmarriageâ) to justify premarital sex. This, however, did not diminish the importance of virginity in their understanding and identification as Arab women. In fact, this study found that virginity, for the British Arabs interviewed, embodied a sense of âArabnessâ in British society. Positioning themselves as virgins went beyond simply honour; it was a significant cultural symbol that secured their sense of cultural identity. In fact this cultural identity was often so powerful that it overrode their Islamic identities, prescribing their behaviour even if religion was seen as more âforgivingâ
- âŠ