Immersed in the Transitioning Higher Education Sector: The Impact of Transitions in the Higher Education Sector in England on Staff and Students.

The increasing marketisation of the UK higher education sector in recent years has resulted in multiple transitions for universities. Student evaluations of teaching and university league tables have placed greater importance on both the quality of teaching and student experience. Arguably, these have become regulatory mechanisms for holding lecturers and university managers to account. More recently, new metrics introduced by the Office for Students have resulted in continuation, completion and graduate employment rates being adopted as a proxy for the quality of teaching. These metrics regulate the sector and have resulted in changes to course availability, recruitment practices, course design, assessment practices and student placements. The UK higher education system operates within a discourse of performativity. The university experience, which was once a space for critical thinking and debate, has been transformed into preparing workers of the future who can enter the neoliberal market as oven-ready graduates who can make a contribution to the global economy. Universities have had to adapt to take their place within a neoliberal marketised society. However, these transitions have also resulted in transitions for university students who have been re-positioned as consumers and future workers. This paper draws on Multiple and Multi-dimensional transitions theory (Jindal-Snape, 2016) to explore the implications of these transitions

Effects of low temperature annealing on the adhesion of electroless plated copper thin films in TiN deposited silicon integrated circuit substrates

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 37-38).The semiconductor manufacturing industry is increasingly using copper to design and fabricate faster and smaller integrated circuits. Despite copper's electrical advantages, few ways exist to deposit it uniformly into the steep vias and trenches present on modern IC substrates. Electroless deposition, which plates a seed layer of copper onto a substrate in a liquid bath without the use of a power source, is a reliable method of depositing copper. Effects of low temperature annealing on the adhesion of copper thin films deposited using electroless plating were investigated: electroless copper deposition was performed on silicon substrates onto which a thin barrier and adhesion layer of titanium nitride (TiN) had been previously deposited. The resulting samples were then annealed at a low temperature, and the adhesion of the copper film to the substrate was evaluated using a tape test. Results indicate that low temperature annealing improves the adhesion of the electroless plated copper thin film to the substrate. Since good adhesion is a fundamental requirement of an effective metallization method, this work paves the way for future integration of electroless copper deposition into modern semiconductor manufacturing facilities

Including LGBTQ+ Early Career Higher Education Staff: Learning from the Policy and Practice for Supporting LGBTQ+ Students

This discursive paper addresses the lack of recent robust research on the experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer or Questioning (LGBTQ+) Higher Education (HE) staff, particularly Early Career Academics in the UK. While efforts have focused on supporting LGBTQ+ students, scant attention has been given to the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ staff. Existing studies highlight issues such as harassment, avoidance, and job insecurity for LGBTQ+ HE staff in the United States. Notably, the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK) has made significant effort in relation to LGBTQ+ student support, yet broader inclusivity efforts for staff seems to remain limited. Arguably, LGBTQ+ HE staff navigate a delicate balance between openness and potential repercussions, impacting their professional relationships with colleagues and students, career progression, performance ratings, and overall wellbeing. The paper underscores the need for more research, recommendations, and inclusive policies to foster a more supportive environment for LGBTQ+ Early Career Academics in UK HE

Salesforce.com

Innovation! One of the most innovative companies, and also one of the best companies to work for, is losing money. This case traces the meteoric rise of the number one customer relationship management service provider against huge rivals such as Microsoft and Oracle. Detail regarding their highly innovative Scrum system is provided, along with detail regarding their marketing approach. How can Salesforce.com regain profitability while continuing to grow in a highly competitive industry

Can Farmers and Bats Co-exist? Farmer Attitudes, Knowledge, and Experiences with Bats in Belize

Bats (Chiroptera) are often viewed negatively by the public. Negative public perceptions of bats may hinder efforts to conserve declining populations. In Belize, the presence of vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus and Diphylla ecaudata) exacerbates the potential for conflicts with humans because of the increased rabies transmission risks. To mitigate these risks, the Belize government provides farmers with assistance to trap and remove vampire bats. In June 2018, we surveyed farmers (n = 44) in and adjacent to the Vaca Forest Reserve in Belize to learn more about their attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with bats. This information may provide new insights and approaches to address farmers’ concerns and enhance bat conservation efforts in Belize. Farmers held negative attitudes toward bats, exhibited low knowledge of their ecosystem services, and supported the trapping and use of toxicants to control bat populations to reduce the risk of rabies transmission between vampire bats and livestock. Farmers with livestock had more negative attitudes toward bats than farmers without livestock. Despite farmers reporting depredation incidences with fruit-eating and vampire bats, farmers expressed more negative attitudes toward vampire bats. We recommend that conservation education efforts target all stakeholders in the reserve to increase awareness about the importance of bats to ecosystems and highlight the dangers of indiscriminate trapping. Cumulatively, this may lead to positive attitude changes toward bats and their conservation

Direct and Indirect Effects of Parent Stress on Child Obesity Risk and Added Sugar Intake in a Sample of Southern California Adolescents

Objective Research indicates that children are at higher risk for obesity if their parents have been exposed to a larger number of stressors, yet little is known about effects of parents’ subjective, perceived experience of stress on children’s eating behaviours and adiposity and whether weight-related parenting practices (i.e. parent rules and positive family meal practices) mediate this relationship. The present study evaluated the direct and mediated relationship between parent perceived stress and child waist circumference and parent stress and child consumption of added sugars one year later. Design Longitudinal panel data. Setting Eleven communities in Southern California, USA. Subjects Data were collected over two waves from parent–child dyads (n 599). Most parents were female (81 %) and Hispanic (51 %); children were 11 years old on average (sd 1·53; range 7–15 years) and 31 % received free school lunch. Results Perceived parent stress was not significantly associated with child waist circumference or consumption of added sugars one year later, and mediating pathways through parenting practices were not significant. However, parent rules were significantly associated with lower child consumption of added sugars (β=−0·14, P\u3c0·001). Conclusions Results suggest that parent rules about the types of foods children can eat, clearly explained to children, may decrease child consumption of added sugars but not necessarily lead to changes in obesity risk. Parent- and family-based interventions that support development of healthy rules about child eating have the potential to improve child dietary nutrient intake

Adolescent, caregiver, and friend preferences for integrating social support and communication features into an asthma self-management app

This study examines: 1) adolescent preferences for using asthma self-management mobile applications (apps) to interact with their friends, caregivers, medical providers, and other adolescents with asthma and 2) how caregivers and friends would use mobile apps to communicate with the adolescent and serve as sources of support for asthma management

Causal Connections between Water Quality and Land Use in a Rural Tropical Island Watershed: Rural Tropical Island Watershed Analysis

We examined associations between riparian canopy cover, presence or absence of cattle, rainfall, solar radiation, month of year, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, salinity, and Enterococcus concentrations in riparian surface soils with Enterococcus geometric mean in-stream water concentrations at Waipā watershed on the north side of the Hawaiian island Kaua’i. Each 1% decrease in riparian canopy cover was associated with a 4.6 most probable number (MPN)/100 ml increase of the geometric mean of Enterococcus in stream water (P < 0.05). Each unit decrease in salinity (ppt) was associated with an increase of Enterococcus by 68.2 MPN/100 ml in-stream water geometric mean concentrations (P < 0.05). Month of year was also associated with increases in stream water Enterococcus geometric mean concentrations (P < 0.05). Reducing riparian canopy cover is associated with Enterococcus increases in stream water, suggesting that decreasing riparian vegetation density could increase fecal bacteria surface runoff

Composite Overview and Composite Aerocover Overview

Materials Science Division within the Engineering Directorate tasked by the Ares Launch Vehicle Division (LX-V) and the Fluids Testing and Technology Development Branch (NE-F6) to design, fabricate and test an aerodynamic composite shield for potential Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle infusion and a composite strut that will serve as a pathfinder in evaluating calorimeter data for the CRYOSTAT (cryogenic on orbit storage and transfer) Project. ATP project is to carry the design and development of the aerodynamic composite cover or "bracket" from cradle to grave including materials research, purchasing, design, fabrication, testing, analysis and presentation of the final product. Effort consisted of support from the Materials Testing & Corrosion Control Branch (NE-L2) for mechanical testing, the Prototype Development Branch (NE-L3) for CAD drawing, design/analysis, and fabrication, Materials & Processes Engineering Branch (NE-L4) for project management and materials selection; the Applied Physics Branch (NE-LS) for NDE/NDI support; and the Chemical Analysis Branch (NE-L6) for developmental systems evaluation. Funded by the Ares Launch Vehicle Division and the Fluids Testing and Technology Development Branch will provide OD