Understanding student satisfaction and dissatisfaction : an interpretive study in the UK higher education context

This article represents a cross-sectional study of undergraduate students across two north-west university business schools in the UK. A purposefully designed questionnaire was collected from 350 students. The student experience was described in the form of hand-written narratives by first and final year students and had been identified by the respondents themselves as being satisfying or dissatisfying with the areas of teaching and learning and the supporting service environment. The study also assessed whether their experiences were likely to influence their loyalty behaviours with respect to remaining on their chosen course of study; recommending the university; and continuing at a higher level of study. The data were captured and analysed using the qualitative critical incident technique to capture the voice of the student and identified the critical determinants of quality within higher education, i.e. those areas that would influence loyalty behaviour, as being Access; Attentiveness; Availability; and Communication. A number of new determinants of quality have been identified out of the research by three independent judges, namely motivation, reward, social inclusion, usefulness, value for money and fellow student behaviour

Has climate change taken prominence over biodiversity conservation?

The growing prominence of climate change has led to concerns that other important environmental issues, such as biodiversity loss, are being overshadowed. We investigate this assertion by examining trends in biodiversity and climate change coverage within the scientific and newspaper press, as well as the relative distribution of funding through the World Bank and the National Science Foundation, since the late 1980s. Our indicators substantiate some of these fears. To prevent biodiversity from becoming a declining priority, conservationists need to analyze the discourse surrounding climate change and determine how it has become the predominant environmental topic. In addition, given the common drivers of biodiversity loss and climate change, we argue that win–win solutions must be sought wherever possible. Conservationists need to be proactive and take this opportunity to use the mounting interest in climate change as a flagship to leverage more support and action to prevent further biodiversity loss

Understanding student satisfaction and dissatisfaction: An interpretive study in the UK Higher Education Context

This article represents a cross-sectional study of undergraduate students across two North West University Business Schools in the UK. A purposefully designed questionnaire was collected from 350 students. The student experience was described in the form of hand written narratives by first and final year students and had been identified by the respondents themselves as being satisfying or dissatisfying with the areas of teaching and learning and the supporting service environment. The study also assessed whether their experiences were likely to influence their loyalty behaviours with respect to remaining on their chosen course of study; recommending the university; and continuing at a higher level of study. The data was captured and analysed using the qualitative critical incident technique to capture the voice of the student and identified the critical determinants of quality within Higher Education, i.e. those areas that would influence loyalty behaviour, as being Access; Attentiveness; Availability; and Communication. A number of new determinants of quality have been identified out of the research by three independent judges, namely motivation, reward, social inclusion, usefulness, value for money and fellow student behaviour

Hydrogen contamination in Ge-doped SiO[sub 2] thin films prepared by helicon activated reactive evaporation

Germanium-doped silicon oxidethin films were deposited at low temperature by using an improved helicon plasma assisted reactive evaporation technique. The origins of hydrogen contamination in the film were investigated, and were found to be H incorporation during deposition and postdeposition water absorption. The H incorporation during deposition was avoided by using an effective method to eliminate the residual hydrogen present in the depositionsystem. The microstructure, chemical bonds, chemical etch rate, and optical index of the films were studied as a function of the deposition conditions. Granular microstructures were observed in low-density films, and were found to be the cause of postdeposition water absorption. The granular microstructure was eliminated and the film was densified by increasing the helicon plasma power and substrate bias during deposition. A high-density film was shown to have no postdeposition water absorption and no OH detected by using a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer

Classical and nonclassical randomness in quantum measurements

The space of positive operator-valued measures on the Borel sets of a compact (or even locally compact) Hausdorff space with values in the algebra of linear operators acting on a d-dimensional Hilbert space is studied from the perspectives of classical and non-classical convexity through a transform $\Gamma$ that associates any positive operator-valued measure with a certain completely positive linear map of the homogeneous C*-algebra $C(X)\otimes B(H)$ into $B(H)$. This association is achieved by using an operator-valued integral in which non-classical random variables (that is, operator-valued functions) are integrated with respect to positive operator-valued measures and which has the feature that the integral of a random quantum effect is itself a quantum effect. A left inverse $\Omega$ for $\Gamma$ yields an integral representation, along the lines of the classical Riesz Representation Theorem for certain linear functionals on $C(X)$, of certain (but not all) unital completely positive linear maps $\phi:C(X)\otimes B(H) \rightarrow B(H)$. The extremal and C*-extremal points of the space of POVMS are determined.Comment: to appear in Journal of Mathematical Physic

Estilo de vida, estilo de muerte y arenas religiosas

In this paper I want to extend the debate to embrace the theme of death as a theme lying at the centre of most of the great world religious traditions and their local presence in funerary rites. Approaching death in this way provides a significant medium of expressing the core values of a society and, therefore, of expressing similarities and differences between societies. This paper does no more than raise some possible areas of future discussion on the global‐local comparisons of types of death as arenas of cultural expression of human existence. As argued at the end of this paper, cultural wisdom is, perhaps, a concept that can serve well in our ongoing discussions of the interface between the global and local dynamics of lifestyle and death‐style, where death offers us a window upon our great and little worlds.En este trabajo deseo extender el debate para abarcar el tema de la muerte como tópico que yace en el centro de la mayoría de las grandes tradiciones religiosas del mundo y su presencia local en ritos fúnebres. Acercarnos a la muerte de esta manera proporciona un medio para expresar los valores centrales de una sociedad y, por ello, expresar también similitudes y diferencias entre sociedades. El presente trabajo no hace más que elevar algunas posibles áreas para futuras discusiones sobre las comparaciones de los tipos de muertes en lo global‐local como arenas de expresión cultural de la existencia humana. Como se sostiene al final de este trabajo, la sabiduría cultural es, tal vez, un concepto que puede servir en nuestras discusiones en marcha sobre las interfaces entre las dinámicas globales y locales de estilos de vida y estilos de muerte, donde la muerte nos ofrece una ventana ante nuestros grandiosos y pequeños mundos

The Crystal Structure of Human Tyrosyl-DNA Phosphodiesterase, Tdp1

AbstractTyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase (Tdp1) catalyzes the hydrolysis of a phosphodiester bond between a tyrosine residue and a DNA 3′ phosphate. The enzyme appears to be responsible for repairing the unique protein-DNA linkage that occurs when eukaryotic topoisomerase I becomes stalled on the DNA in the cell. The 1.69 Å crystal structure reveals that human Tdp1 is a monomer composed of two similar domains that are related by a pseudo-2-fold axis of symmetry. Each domain contributes conserved histidine, lysine, and asparagine residues to form a single active site. The structure of Tdp1 confirms that the protein has many similarities to the members of the phospholipase D (PLD) superfamily and indicates a similar catalytic mechanism. The structure also suggests how the unusual protein-DNA substrate binds and provides insights about the nature of the substrate in vivo

The influence of academic culture on quality management system ISO 9001 maintenance within Malaysian universities

This study investigates the influence of the elements of academic culture on quality management system ISO 9001 maintenance within Malaysian universities. There is a dearth of empirical studies on maintaining ISO 9001, particularly in the higher education context. From the literature review, academic culture was classified according to four elements – academic freedom, individualism, professionalism and collegiality. Two case studies were conducted within Malaysian universities that had been ISO 9001-certified for 5 years. At the time of this research, these two were the only universities that had certification for their entire organisation. (Most organisations gain certification for specific departments). The findings showed that academic freedom, individualism and collegiality had worked against ISO 9001 maintenance, while professionalism had influenced ISO 9001 maintenance both positively and negatively. The opposites of individualism (teamwork) and collegiality (managerialism) had supported ISO 9001 maintenance in one of the cases. © 2017, Routledge. All rights reserved