To Act and Learn: A Bakhtinian Exploration of Action Learning

This paper considers the work of the Russian social philosopher and cultural theorist, Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin as a source of understanding for those involved in action learning. Drawing upon data gathered over two years during the evaluation of 20 action learning sets in the north of England, we will seek to work with the ideas of Bakhtin to consider their value for those involved in action learning. We consider key Bakhtin features such as Making Meaning, Participative Thinking, Theoreticism and Presence, Others and Outsideness, Voices and Carnival to highlight how Bakhtin's can enhance our understanding of the nature of action and learning

What can managers learn online? Investigating possibilities for active understanding in the online MBA classroom

Online MBAs have become integral to business schools’ portfolios and the number of MBA students opting for an online version looks set to grow. In the wake of well documented critiques of traditional MBA formats, this expansion prompted us to examine the potential for critically reflexive learning ideals in asynchronous MBA learning environments. Building the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model we elaborate elements of Bakhtin and Shotter’s dialogism to develop the notion of ‘active understanding’ as a means to study an online MBA classroom. We present two illustrative episodes to show how aspects of active understanding may unfold and we point to the role of infrastructure, curriculum and instructor interventions in developing more genuine dialogical exchanges. Our findings suggest that online MBA course designers can learn from CoI approaches to which we add that critically reflexive learning is situationally sensitive; requiring the capacity to create and recognize nuance and difference in the written communication; making the other the focus of learning. We conclude with implications for pedagogy and technology infrastructure

Dynamic optical lattices: two-dimensional rotating and accordion lattices for ultracold atoms

We demonstrate a novel experimental arrangement which rotates a 2D optical lattice at frequencies up to several kilohertz. Ultracold atoms in such a rotating lattice can be used for the direct quantum simulation of strongly correlated systems under large effective magnetic fields, allowing investigation of phenomena such as the fractional quantum Hall effect. Our arrangement also allows the periodicity of a 2D optical lattice to be varied dynamically, producing a 2D accordion lattice.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, final versio

Jockeying for position: the construction of masculine identities

In this paper we examine the construction of masculine identities within a real-life social situation. Using data from an extensive series of interviews with small groups of sixth-form (17-18-year-old) students attending a UK-based, single-sex independent school, the analysis looks at the action orientation of different constructions of identity. More specifically, it focuses upon how the identity talk of one particular group of students were oriented towards managing their subordinate status within the school. In a number of instances the identity of the `new man' was adopted as a strategy of resistance. However, it was found that the more common strategy involved buying back into values embodied within a more traditional definition of masculinity

Long range absorption in the scattering of 6He on 208Pb and 197Au at 27 MeV

Quasi-elastic scattering of 6He at E_lab=27 MeV from 197Au has been measured in the angular range of 6-72 degrees in the laboratory system employing LEDA and LAMP detection systems. These data, along with previously analysed data of 6He + 208Pb at the same energy, are analyzed using Optical Model calculations. The role of Coulomb dipole polarizability has been investigated. Large imaginary diffuseness parameters are required to fit the data. This result is an evidence for long range absorption mechanisms in 6He induced reactions.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, minor corrections. To appear in Nucl. Phys.

'I-I' and 'I-me' : Transposing Buber's interpersonal attitudes to the intrapersonal plane

Hermans' polyphonic model of the self proposes that dialogical relationships can be established between multiple I-positions1 (e.g., Hermans, 2001a). There have been few attempts, however, to explicitly characterize the forms that these intrapersonal relationships may take. Drawing on Buber's (1958) distinction between the 'I-Thou' and 'I-It' attitude, it is proposed that intrapersonal relationships can take one of two forms: an 'I-I' form, in which one I-position encounters and confirms another I-position in its uniqueness and wholeness; and an 'I-Me' form, in which one I-position experiences another I-position in a detached and objectifying way. This article argues that this I-Me form of intrapersonal relating is associated with psychological distress, and that this is so for a number of reasons: Most notably, because an individual who objectifies and subjugates certain I-position cannot reconnect with more central I-positions when dominance reversal (Hermans, 2001a) takes place. On this basis, it is suggested that a key role of the therapeutic process is to help clients become more able to experience moments of I-I intrapersonal encounter, and it is argued that this requires the therapist to confirm the client both as a whole and in terms of each of his or her different voices

Breakup and n -transfer effects on the fusion reactions Li 6,7 + Sn 120,119 around the Coulomb barrier

This paper presents values of complete fusion cross sections deduced from activation measurements for the reactions Li6+Sn120 and Li7+Sn119, and for a projectile energy range from 17.5 to 28 MeV in the center-of-mass system. A new deconvolution analysis technique is used to link the basic activation data to the actual fusion excitation function. The complete fusion cross sections above the barrier are suppressed by about 70% and 85% with respect to the universal fusion function, used as a standard reference, in the Li6 and Li7 induced reactions, respectively. From a comparison of the excitation functions of the two systems at energies below the barrier, no significant differences can be observed, despite the two systems have different n-transfer Q values. This observation is supported by the results of coupled reaction channels (CRC) calculations

Tensor analyzing powers for Li7 breakup

Differential cross sections and T20 and 20TT analyzing powers have been measured for 70 MeV Li7 breakup into the particle plus triton channel, on a Sn120 target. Measurements were made for both continuum breakup and sequential breakup via the 4.63 MeV state in Li7. The T20 data for the continuum breakup do not agree with a semiclassical Coulomb model, indicating that the breakup at small angles does not proceed solely via a Coulomb force. The data generally show a somewhat better agreement with continuum discretized coupled channels calculations, indicating the importance of the nuclear force and channel coupling in the reaction mechanism. © 1995 The American Physical Society

Measurement of two-halo neutron transfer reaction p(11^{11}Li,9^{9}Li)t at 3AA MeV

The p(\nuc{11}{Li},\nuc{9}{Li})t reaction has been studied for the first time at an incident energy of 3$A$ MeV delivered by the new ISAC-2 facility at TRIUMF. An active target detector MAYA, build at GANIL, was used for the measurement. The differential cross sectionshave been determined for transitions to the \nuc{9}{Li} ground andthe first excited states in a wide range of scattering angles. Multistep transfer calculations using different \nuc{11}{Li} model wave functions, shows that wave functions with strong correlations between the halo neutrons are the most successful in reproducing the observation.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter