Developing an inter-university partnership: The importance of relationally-connected leaders

We have been involved in an inter-university partnership that supports, contributes to, and influences our own and others’ thinking and actions. As we have collaborated on teaching, learning, and research in the field of educational leadership, we recognise that we have developed our own leadership practice and created opportunities for others to do so. The partnership in which academics and students from the University of Central Oklahoma and the University of Waikato have been participating has evolved as a flexible and innovative endeavor over an eighteen month period. In this relatively brief time, we have discovered there are considerable possibilities for the partnership to be developed in a number of ways that will benefit academics, students, and our respective institutions. In this paper, we examine and discuss the findings generated by our initial inquiry as we seek to make sense of our inter university partnership in order to sustain and progress it. Our leadership during the initial phases of the partnership appears to have been a key element in its success. We have found that the presence of a relational connectedness has influenced and enhanced our own leadership practice and subsequently the quality of the partnership. It has enabled us to facilitate the growth of a community of practice and generate academic collaboration

Stark Echo Modulation for Quantum Memories

Quantum memories for optical and microwave photons provide key functionalities in quantum processing and communications. Here we propose a protocol well adapted to solid state ensemble based memories coupled to cavities. It is called Stark Echo Modulation Memory (SEMM), and allows large storage bandwidths and low noise. This is achieved in a echo like sequence combined with phase shifts induced by small electric fields through the linear Stark effect. We investigated the protocol for rare earth nuclear spins and found a high suppression of unwanted collective emissions that is compatible with single photon level operation. Broadband storage together with high fidelity for the Stark retrieval process is also demonstrated. SEMM could be used to store optical or microwave photons in ions and/or spins. This includes NV centers in diamond and rare earth doped crystals, which are among the most promising solid-state quantum memories

The Workplace Simulation Project

Undergraduate students often seek voluntary placements in diagnostic laboratories in order to gain work experience to enhance their employment prospects. A combination of resource and legislation requirements limits the number of employers able to support such voluntary placements in the current climate. The Workplace Simulation Project is a summer course for second and final year undergraduates, which assists in the development of employment skills of those participating. The course is designed to include core elements of employment within the science and healthcare sectors, with generic aspects being common to all forms of employment. The laboratory where the course is based possesses small workload clinical chemistry and haematology analysers. Those attending will follow the requirements of the workplace, such as attendance, punctuality and professional behaviour. They will gain skills in the maintenance and quality checks of equipment, running of equipment, laboratory health and safety, internal quality control and external quality assessment, results reporting and dealing with unexpected or problematic situations. In addition there will be an introduction to external accreditation services as a small service run by the laboratory is currently being assessed by UKAS and a document management system operates. Learning will be facilitated through instruction, performance, competency assessment and regular verbal feedback. On successful completion of the course students receive a final report and a certificate. Likert-scale analysis of the student experience has shown a favourable response to the course

Student Numeracy Support Using Bespoke Reusable Learning Objects

The variation in entrance numeracy qualifications and skills for undergraduate students embarking on Life Sciences programmes can be addressed by a variety of support options in their first year of study. Appropriate numeracy teaching and practice is embedded into course modules and offered within academic tutorials. There is also a wealth of external e-books, mathematics websites and reusable learning objects that students can be directed towards for self-study. Despite these initiatives many students continue to lack confidence in their ability to apply the relevant mathematics to solve problems and in some cases this can affect their overall performance throughout the degree. A recent small study found a highly positive response from students to the provision of worked calculations and explanations to a selection of numeracy problems, which they were able to access via the virtual learning environment throughout the duration of a module. Most reported to using this in preparation for a summative data handling test and in subsequent student questionnaires most felt that its provision had improved their test performance. A project was undertaken to provide University of Westminster Life Sciences students with a bespoke local numeracy resource to support their studies. To ensure that this resource would contain an appropriate range and selection of examples, all staff members and research students were asked for voluntary contributions to the project. The request was for a single numeracy problem relating to one of their teaching or research areas, the worked calculation for the problem, the correct answer and a summary of the application(s). All contributions were collated and used for the production of a web-based interactive numeracy resource and a text-based version to encompass different student learning preferences. These resources will be made available to all students from September 2011 via the virtual learning environment and as a hard copy booklet. The usefulness of this new resource will be monitored by a combination of student and staff feedback and the analysis of the end of year student performance

Habit Effects and Producer Welfare in the Fresh Vegetable Trade

trade, vegetable, free trade agreement, tariff, habits, NAFTA, Andean Trade Preference Act, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade,

Against the iterative conception of set

According to the iterative conception of set, each set is a collection of sets formed prior to it. The notion of priority here plays an essential role in explanations of why contradiction-inducing sets, such as the Russell set, do not exist. Consequently, these explanations are successful only to the extent that a satisfactory priority relation is made out. I argue that attempts to do this have fallen short: understanding priority in a straightforwardly constructivist sense threatens the coherence of the empty set and raises serious epistemological concerns; but the leading realist interpretations---ontological and modal interpretations of priority---are deeply problematic as well. I conclude that the purported explanatory virtues of the iterative conception are, at present, unfounded

Faithful Solid State Optical Memory with Dynamically Decoupled Spin Wave Storage

We report an optical memory in a rare earth doped crystal with long storage times, up to 20 ms, together with an optical bandwidth of 1.5 MHz. This is obtained by transferring optical coherences to nuclear spin coherences, which were then protected against environmental noise by dynamical decoupling. With this approach, we achieved a 33 fold increase in spin wave storage time over the intrinsic spin coherence lifetime. Comparison between different decoupling sequences indicates that sequences insensitive to initial spin coherence increase retrieval efficiency. Finally, an interference experiment shows that relative phases of input pulses are preserved through the whole storage process with a visibility close to 1, demonstrating the usefulness of dynamical decoupling for extending the storage time of quantum memories.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure