The educational scorecard: The Start of our Journey

Against a backdrop of public sector cuts, increasing university fees and high youth unemployment, we are facing challenges in Higher Education to demonstrate the value of our courses. Assessing the value of learning, however, is not straight forward. This paper reports on a study of evaluation processes on a post-graduate, professionally accredited diploma delivered at a selection of post 1992 universities. The driver for the study was a concern that current evaluation processes do not fully demonstrate the value of the course nor take into account the needs of multiple stakeholders. The project included benchmarking University evaluation processes and conducting a dialogue with stakeholders. The study adopted a qualitative management research approach, involving: a review of current practice, comparison with a sample of equivalent courses, and consultation (in the form of focus groups and semi-structured interviews) with a sample of students and employers. The paper discusses findings and proposes recommendations for future evaluation procedures in the design of an ‘educational scorecard’ for the course. Kaplan and Norton’s ‘balanced scorecard (1996) concept was adapted to provide a mechanism to represent and balance the needs of different stakeholder groups in the education process. We argue that we cannot truly assess accountability and comparability without engaging a range of stakeholders, not only in soliciting their views on the outcome of the learning but also in the design and implementation of evaluation processes. The ‘educational scorecard’ presented in this paper is developed specifically for the post-graduate diploma in Human Resource Management (PDHRM) at Leeds Metropolitan University and the report concludes with some initial reflections on the benefits of adopting the scorecard methodology The proposed model is flexible and may be adapted for other HE institutions and courses

Probing the Phase-Dependent Conductance and Nonequilibrium Properties of Josephson Junctions by Means of Flux Entry into Weakly Closed Loops

Numerical simulations have shown that the relative number of flux quanta which penetrate a weakly closed superconducting loop depends upon the magnitude and sign of the phase-dependent conductance. We examine the possible use of this dependence as an experimental probe of the cosy term and nonequilibrium properties of Josephson junctions

Counting Additive Decompositions of Quadratic Residues in Finite Fields

We say that a set $S$ is additively decomposed into two sets $A$ and $B$ if $S = \{a+b : a\in A, \ b \in B\}$. A. S\'ark\"ozy has recently conjectured that the set $Q$ of quadratic residues modulo a prime $p$ does not have nontrivial decompositions. Although various partial results towards this conjecture have been obtained, it is still open. Here we obtain a nontrivial upper bound on the number of such decompositions

Moving across Differences

Grounded in ethnography and teacher research, Moving across Differences examines how an LGBTQ+-themed literature course enabled high school students to negotiate their differences and engage in ethical encounters. Drawing on the work of queer theorists, Mollie V. Blackburn conceptualizes these encounters as forms of movement across differences of not only gender and sexuality but also identity and ideology more broadly. As we follow Blackburn's thoughtful rendering of students' sometimes fraught exchanges, we are encouraged to follow their lead and move when confronted with differences. We might move closer to those like us, so we can be in community to recover and heal. But we might also move closer to others, so we can discover and learn. The book argues, though, that we must move ethically and, moreover, that literature and the work of reading, writing, and talking can foster this movement. Modeling care in both teaching and research, Moving across Differences contributes to the study and practice of English Language Arts curriculum and pedagogy, qualitative methods, and queer theory.This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)—a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries—and the generous support of The Ohio State University Libraries. Learn more at the TOME website, available at: https://www.openmonographs.org/. It can also be found in the SUNY Open Access Repository at https://soar.suny.edu/handle/20.500.12648/752

Moving across Differences

Grounded in ethnography and teacher research, Moving across Differences examines how an LGBTQ+-themed literature course enabled high school students to negotiate their differences and engage in ethical encounters. Drawing on the work of queer theorists, Mollie V. Blackburn conceptualizes these encounters as forms of movement across differences of not only gender and sexuality but also identity and ideology more broadly. As we follow Blackburn's thoughtful rendering of students' sometimes fraught exchanges, we are encouraged to follow their lead and move when confronted with differences. We might move closer to those like us, so we can be in community to recover and heal. But we might also move closer to others, so we can discover and learn. The book argues, though, that we must move ethically and, moreover, that literature and the work of reading, writing, and talking can foster this movement. Modeling care in both teaching and research, Moving across Differences contributes to the study and practice of English Language Arts curriculum and pedagogy, qualitative methods, and queer theory.This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)—a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries—and the generous support of The Ohio State University Libraries. Learn more at the TOME website, available at: https://www.openmonographs.org/. It can also be found in the SUNY Open Access Repository at https://soar.suny.edu/handle/20.500.12648/7524</a

Sex allocation theory reveals a hidden cost of neonicotinoid exposure in a parasitoid wasp

P.R.W. was funded by the University of Stirling, C.V.B. and S.M.G. were funded by Nuffield Research Placements and N.C., J.G. and D.M.S. were funded by NERC (NE/J024481/1).Sex allocation theory has proved to be one the most successful theories in evolutionary ecology. However, its role in more applied aspects of ecology has been limited. Here we show how sex allocation theory helps uncover an otherwise hidden cost of neonicotinoid exposure in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis. Female N. vitripennis allocate the sex of their offspring in line with Local Mate Competition (LMC) theory. Neonicotinoids are an economically important class of insecticides, but their deployment remains controversial, with evidence linking them to the decline of beneficial species. We demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge, that neonicotinoids disrupt the crucial reproductive behaviour of facultative sex allocation at sub-lethal, field-relevant doses in N. vitripennis. The quantitative predictions we can make from LMC theory show that females exposed to neonicotinoids are less able to allocate sex optimally and that this failure imposes a significant fitness cost. Our work highlights that understanding the ecological consequences of neonicotinoid deployment requires not just measures of mortality or even fecundity reduction among non-target species, but also measures that capture broader fitness costs, in this case offspring sex allocation. Our work also highlights new avenues for exploring how females obtain information when allocating sex under LMC.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Raman study of the Verwey transition in Magnetite at high-pressure and low-temperature; effect of Al doping

We report high-pressure low-temperature Raman studies of the Verwey transition in pure and Al-doped magnetite (Fe_3O_4). The low temperature phase of magnetite displays a number of additional Raman modes that serve as transition markers. These transition markers allow one to investigate the effect of hydrostatic pressure on the Verwey transition temperature. Al-doped magnetite Fe_2.8Al_0.2O_4 (TV=116.5K) displays a nearly linear decrease of the transition temperature with an increase of pressure yielding dP/dT_V = -0.096 GPa/K. In contrast pure magnetite displays a significantly steeper slope of the PT equilibrium line with dP/dT_V = -0.18 GPa/K. The slope of the PT equilibrium lines is related to the changes of the molar entropy and molar volume at the transition. We compare our spectroscopic data with that obtained from the ambient pressure specific heat measurements and find a good agreement in the optimally doped magnetite. Our data indicates that Al doping leads to a smaller entropy change and larger volume expansion at the transition. Our data displays the trends that are consistent with the mean field model of the transition that assumes charge ordering in magnetite.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

Parameter estimation for compact binaries with ground-based gravitational-wave observations using the LALInference software library

The Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave (GW) detectors will begin operation in the coming years, with compact binary coalescence events a likely source for the first detections. The gravitational waveforms emitted directly encode information about the sources, including the masses and spins of the compact objects. Recovering the physical parameters of the sources from the GW observations is a key analysis task. This work describes the LALInference software library for Bayesian parameter estimation of compact binary signals, which builds on several previous methods to provide a well-tested toolkit which has already been used for several studies. We show that our implementation is able to correctly recover the parameters of compact binary signals from simulated data from the advanced GW detectors. We demonstrate this with a detailed comparison on three compact binary systems: a binary neutron star, a neutron star–black hole binary and a binary black hole, where we show a cross comparison of results obtained using three independent sampling algorithms. These systems were analyzed with nonspinning, aligned spin and generic spin configurations respectively, showing that consistent results can be obtained even with the full 15-dimensional parameter space of the generic spin configurations. We also demonstrate statistically that the Bayesian credible intervals we recover correspond to frequentist confidence intervals under correct prior assumptions by analyzing a set of 100 signals drawn from the prior. We discuss the computational cost of these algorithms, and describe the general and problem-specific sampling techniques we have used to improve the efficiency of sampling the compact binary coalescence parameter space

The importance of moisture distribution for the growth and energetics of mid-latitude systems

A primitive equation model is used to study the sensitivity of baroclinic wave life cycles to the initial latitude-height distribution of humidity. Diabatic heating is parametrized only as a consequence of condensation in regions of large-scale ascent. Experiments are performed in which the initial relative humidity is a simple function of model level, and in some cases latitude bands are specified which are initially relatively dry. It is found that the presence of moisture can either increase or decrease the peak eddy kinetic energy of the developing wave, depending on the initial moisture distribution. A relative abundance of moisture at mid-latitudes tends to weaken the wave, while a relative abundance at low latitudes tends to strengthen it. This sensitivity exists because competing processes are at work. These processes are described in terms of energy box diagnostics. The most realistic case lies on the cusp of this sensitivity. Further physical parametrizations are then added, including surface fluxes and upright moist convection. These have the effect of increasing wave amplitude, but the sensitivity to initial conditions of relative humidity remains. Finally, 'control' and 'doubled CO2' life cycles are performed, with initial conditions taken from the time-mean zonal-mean output of equilibrium GCM experiments. The attenuation of the wave resulting from reduced baroclinicity is more pronounced than any effect due to changes in initial moisture