'Lad culture' in higher education: agency in the sexualisation debates

This paper reports on research funded by the National Union of Students, which explored women students’ experiences of ‘lad culture’ through focus groups and interviews. We found that although laddism is only one of various potential masculinities, for our participants it dominated social and sexual spheres of university life in problematic ways. However, their objections to laddish behaviours did not support contemporary models of ‘sexual panic’, even while oppugning the more simplistic celebrations of young women’s empowerment which have been observed in debates about sexualisation. We argue that in their ability to reject ‘lad culture’, our respondents expressed a form of agency which is often invisibilised in sexualisation discussions and which could be harnessed to tackle some of the issues we uncovered

Quantum Clock Synchronization Based on Shared Prior Entanglement

We demonstrate that two spatially separated parties (Alice and Bob) can utilize shared prior quantum entanglement, and classical communications, to establish a synchronized pair of atomic clocks. In contrast to classical synchronization schemes, the accuracy of our protocol is independent of Alice or Bob's knowledge of their relative locations or of the properties of the intervening medium.Comment: 4 page

Spin decay and quantum parallelism

We study the time evolution of a single spin coupled inhomogeneously to a spin environment. Such a system is realized by a single electron spin bound in a semiconductor nanostructure and interacting with surrounding nuclear spins. We find striking dependencies on the type of the initial state of the nuclear spin system. Simple product states show a profoundly different behavior than randomly correlated states whose time evolution provides an illustrative example of quantum parallelism and entanglement in a decoherence phenomenon.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures included, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Quantum Information Processing with Ferroelectrically Coupled Quantum Dots

I describe a proposal to construct a quantum information processor using ferroelectrically coupled Ge/Si quantum dots. The spin of single electrons form the fundamental qubits. Small (<10 nm diameter) Ge quantum dots are optically excited to create spin polarized electrons in Si. The static polarization of an epitaxial ferroelectric thin film confines electrons laterally in the semiconductor; spin interactions between nearest neighbor electrons are mediated by the nonlinear process of optical rectification. Single qubit operations are achieved through "g-factor engineering" in the Ge/Si structures; spin-spin interactions occur through Heisenberg exchange, controlled by ferroelectric gates. A method for reading out the final state, while required for quantum computing, is not described; electronic approaches involving single electron transistors may prove fruitful in satisfying this requirement.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Quantum computing with antiferromagnetic spin clusters

We show that a wide range of spin clusters with antiferromagnetic intracluster exchange interaction allows one to define a qubit. For these spin cluster qubits, initialization, quantum gate operation, and readout are possible using the same techniques as for single spins. Quantum gate operation for the spin cluster qubit does not require control over the intracluster exchange interaction. Electric and magnetic fields necessary to effect quantum gates need only be controlled on the length scale of the spin cluster rather than the scale for a single spin. Here, we calculate the energy gap separating the logical qubit states from the next excited state and the matrix elements which determine quantum gate operation times. We discuss spin cluster qubits formed by one- and two-dimensional arrays of s=1/2 spins as well as clusters formed by spins s>1/2. We illustrate the advantages of spin cluster qubits for various suggested implementations of spin qubits and analyze the scaling of decoherence time with spin cluster size.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures; minor change

Spin swap gate in the presence of qubit inhomogeneity in a double quantum dot

We study theoretically the effects of qubit inhomogeneity on the quantum logic gate of qubit swap, which is an integral part of the operations of a quantum computer. Our focus here is to construct a robust pulse sequence for swap operation in the simultaneous presence of Zeeman inhomogeneity for quantum dot trapped electron spins and the finite-time ramp-up of exchange coupling in a double dot. We first present a geometric explanation of spin swap operation, mapping the two-qubit operation onto a single-qubit rotation. We then show that in this geometric picture a square-pulse-sequence can be easily designed to perform swap in the presence of Zeeman inhomogeneity. Finally, we investigate how finite ramp-up times for the exchange coupling $J$ negatively affect the performance of the swap gate sequence, and show how to correct the problems numerically.Comment: published versio

Neoliberalisation and 'lad cultures' in higher education

This paper links HE neoliberalisation and ‘lad cultures’, drawing on interviews and focus groups with women students. We argue that retro-sexist ‘laddish’ forms of masculine competitiveness and misogyny have been reshaped by neoliberal rationalities to become modes of consumerist sexualised audit. We also suggest that neoliberal frameworks scaffold an individualistic and adversarial culture among young people that interacts with perceived threats to men’s privilege and intensifies attempts to put women in their place through misogyny and sexual harassment. Furthermore, ‘lad cultures’, sexism and sexual harassment in higher education may be invisibilised by institutions to preserve marketability in a neoliberal context. In response, we ask if we might foster dialogue and partnership between feminist and anti-marketisation politics

Mental health academics in rural and remote Australia

Context: The significant impact of mental ill health in rural and remote Australia has been well documented. Included among innovative approaches undertaken to address this issue has been the Mental Health Academic (MHA) project, established in 2007. Funded by the Australian Government (Department of Health), this project was established as a component of the University Departments of Rural Health (UDRH) program. All 11 UDRHs appointed an MHA. Although widely geographically dispersed, the MHAs have collaborated in various ways. The MHA project encompasses a range of activities addressing four key performance indicators. These activities, undertaken in rural and remote Australia, aimed to increase access to mental health services, promote awareness of mental health issues, support students undertaking mental health training and improve health professionals' capacity to recognise and address mental health issues. MHAs were strategically placed within the UDRHs across the country, ensuring an established academic base for the MHAs' work was available immediately. Close association with each local rural community was recognised as important. For most MHAs this was facilitated by having an established clinical role in their local community and actively engaging with the community in which they worked. In common with other rural health initiatives, some difficulties were experienced in the recruitment of suitable MHAs, especially in more remote locations. The genesis of this article was a national meeting of the MHAs in 2014, to identify and map the different types of activities MHAs had undertaken in their regions. These activities were analysed and categorised by the MHAs. These categories have been used as a guiding framework for this article. Issues: The challenge to increase community access to mental health services was addressed by (i) initiatives to address specific access barriers, (ii) supporting recruitment and retention of rural mental health staff, (iii) developing the skills of the existing workforce and (iv) developing innovative approaches to student placements. Strategies to promote awareness of mental health issues included workshops in rural and remote communities, specific suicide prevention initiatives and targeted initiatives to support the mental health needs of Indigenous Australians. The need for collaboration between the widely dispersed MHAs was identified as important to bridge the rural divide, to promote project cohesiveness and ensure new ideas in an emerging setting are readily shared and to provide professional support for one another as mental health academics are often isolated from academic colleagues with similar mental health interests. Lessons learned: The MHA project suggests that an integrated approach can be taken to address the common difficulties of community awareness raising of mental health issues, increasing access to mental health services, workforce recruitment and retention (access), and skill development of existing health professionals (access and awareness). To address the specific needs and circumstances of their community, MHAs have customised their activities. As in other rural initiatives, one size was found not to fit all. The triad of flexibility, diversity and connectedness (both to local community and other MHAs) describes the response identified as appropriate by the MHAs. The breadth of the MHA role to provide university sponsored educational activities outside traditional student teaching meant that the broader health workforce benefited from access to mental health training that would not otherwise have occurred. Provision of these additional educational opportunities addressed not only the need for increased education regarding mental health but also reduced the barriers commonly faced by rural health professionals in accessing quality professional development

Study protocol: evaluation of a parenting and stress management programme: a randomised controlled trial of Triple P discussion groups and stress control

&lt;br&gt;Background: Children displaying psychosocial problems are at an increased risk of negative developmental outcomes. Parenting practices are closely linked with child development and behaviour, and parenting programmes have been recommended in the treatment of child psychosocial problems. However, parental mental health also needs to be addressed when delivering parenting programmes as it is linked with parenting practices, child outcomes, and treatment outcomes of parenting programmes. This paper describes the protocol of a study examining the effects of a combined intervention of a parenting programme and a cognitive behavioural intervention for mental health problems.&lt;/br&gt; &lt;br&gt;Methods: The effects of a combined intervention of Triple P Discussion Groups and Stress Control will be examined using a randomised controlled trial design. Parents with a child aged 3?8?years will be recruited to take part in the study. After obtaining informed consent and pre-intervention measures, participants will be randomly assigned to either an intervention or a waitlist condition. The two primary outcomes for this study are change in dysfunctional/ineffective parenting practices and change in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Secondary outcomes are child behaviour problems, parenting experiences, parental self-efficacy, family relationships, and positive parental mental health. Demographic information, participant satisfaction with the intervention, and treatment fidelity data will also be collected. Data will be collected at pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up.&lt;/br&gt; &lt;br&gt;Discussion: The aim of this paper is to describe the study protocol of a randomised controlled trial evaluating the effects of a combined intervention of Triple P Discussion Groups and Stress Control in comparison to a waitlist condition. This study is important because it will provide evidence about the effects of this combined intervention for parents with 3?8?year old children. The results of the study could be used to inform policy about parenting support and support for parents with mental health problems. Trial registration ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT01777724, UTN: U1111-1137-1053.&lt;/br&gt