How healthy is your ‘community of practice’?

This article explores cultural change and situated approaches to learning as a basis for understanding developments in the daily life of the probation organization. These are highlighted in the concept of ‘communities of practice’ that describes learning in the everyday activities of practitioners’ work. It is argued that the future can be changed by greater attention to context specific knowledge-in-use through practitioner research.</p

Coercion and social exclusion: the case of motivating change in drug-using offenders

Drug-using offenders have come to be a special focus for policy concerns within community justice. A more punitive penal climate and narrow conception of social exclusion may have created a policy environment that undermines the growth of treatment opportunities now available. The emphasis upon coercion in community justice treatment responses is questioned as it may inadvertently aggravate broader pressures towards custody within the sentencing climate. Since such penal environments aggravate factors associated with social exclusion it is argued that this may undermine rather than enhance individual motivation for change. Research evidence on drug treatment is examined and a case study from probation practice described. The complexities of both suggest that the current policy direction may need to do more to provide treatment when needed and enhance social networks rather than coerce change. This would complement rather than undermine approaches to practice that build on factors related to desistance and the existing resilience found in drug users’ lives.</p

Solid-state time-to-pulse-height converter developed

Solid-state circuit produces an output pulse with an amplitude directly proportional to the time interval between two input pulses. It uses selected circuit options to achieve variable mode operation and a tunnel diode controls the charging time of a capacitor in proportion to the time interval being measured

MuLan: Towards a 1ppm muon lifetime measurement

The MuLan experiment will measure the lifetime of the positive muon to 1ppm. Within the Standard Model framework, this will permit a determination of the Fermi Constant to 0.5ppm. I present an update on our progress and achievements to date.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, contribution to the proceedings of CIPANP 2006 (May 30-June 3, 2006), Rio Grande, Puerto Ric

Composite scalars at CERN LEP: Constraining technicolor theories

LEPI and LEPII data can be used to constrain technicolor models with light, neutral pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons, Pa. We use published limits on branching ratios and cross sections for final states with photons, large missing energy, jet pairs, and b bbar pairs to constrain the anomalous Pa Z0 Z0, Pa Z0 photon, and Pa photon photon couplings. From these results, we derive bounds on the size of the technicolor gauge group and the number of technifermion doublets in models such as Low-scale Technicolor

Searching for Millisecond Pulsars: Surveys, Techniques and Prospects

Searches for millisecond pulsars (which we here loosely define as those with periods $<$ 20 ms) in the Galactic field have undergone a renaissance in the past five years. New or recently refurbished radio telescopes utilizing cooled receivers and state-of-the art digital data acquisition systems are carrying out surveys of the entire sky at a variety of radio frequencies. Targeted searches for millisecond pulsars in point sources identified by the {\it Fermi} Gamma-ray Space Telescope have proved phenomenally successful, with over 50 discoveries in the past five years. The current sample of millisecond pulsars now numbers almost 200 and, for the first time in 25 years, now outnumbers their counterparts in Galactic globular clusters. While many of these searches are motivated to find pulsars which form part of pulsar timing arrays, a wide variety of interesting systems are now being found. Following a brief overview of the millisecond pulsar phenomenon, we describe these searches and present some of the highlights of the new discoveries in the past decade. We conclude with predictions and prospects for ongoing and future surveys.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum gravit

Context dependent learning: its value and impact for workplace education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how a management development programme based on situated learning theory resulted in change for individuals, organisational culture and performance. The case study illustrates how new understandings about learning in the workplace and in higher education points towards the need to take account of the context in which learners utilise their knowledge and skills. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative and qualitative strategies were used to provide an evaluation of the impact of a management development programme in a group of companies. A questionnaire, focus groups and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data on three cohorts of supervisors and middle managers at different stages of the programme. A triangulated approach was adopted towards data analysis that illuminated a broad and deep change process. Findings – Positive cultural change was a significant benefit to the host organisation from the training programme. It was apparent that training can move beyond individual development to bring about organisational gains. Research limitations/implications – Future research might adopt a longitudinal design and facilitate a co-researcher approach using students’ learning logs of workplace experiences. Practical implications – Situated approaches to learning in higher education and the workplace need to be developed further to enhance workplace performance. A proposal is made for “learning consultants” to move between the two environments and facilitate knowledge exchange and improve understanding of the variety of learning contexts in business and educational settings.</p