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Tools In Practice. Genealogy To Tackle Academic Inequalities
No full textThis paper introduces the method of genealogy to analyse the government of disability in Italian higher education contexts. Looking at how power and discourses construct disability within the academic setting, I problematize the truths that, throughout the last century, brought disabled subjects to be part of the mainstreamed education. Ethnographic work within a specific university milieu situated my research in the present of disabled students. That provides me with the access to tactics and power relations in specific and local settings, problematising the use of standardised criteria and classificatory systems. In depth-interviews with disabled students allow me to look for those technologies of power that work on the bodies and in the souls of disabled subjects, enabling me to delve into disabled students’ subjectivities.
Seeing disability as a complex social function (Foucault, 1978; Peter and Fendler, 2003), the study shows how relations of power within precise historical, political and economic factors fashion the ways we are governed and we govern ourselves
Exploring The Role Of Ofsted In Development Of Creativity Skills On Vocational Business Studies Courses In Further Education Colleges
No full textWhat is the role of Ofsted, as a major stakeholder and gatekeeper for maintaining standards of quality in education, in promoting the development of creativity skills in vocational business studies courses for young learners aged 16 to 19 in Further Education Colleges?
Using an exploratory, illustrative case study design (Thomas, 2011) with a systems thinking conceptual framework (Capra and Luisi, 2014), I am using qualitative data from interviews, published Ofsted reports, the Ofsted Common Inspection Framework (2012), and Times Educational Supplement articles, to build my case study. I am also using feedback from my public engagement activities on social media and at conferences to inform my ideas within a broad, systems view of education where we consider the whole rather than drawing conclusions from an analysis of its parts.
This paper explains the importance of a clear and shared definition of creativity, focusing on the ‘creative person’ within a multi-faceted concept of creativity which includes various other essential elements such as process, product, place, pressures, permanence and persuasion
IGNTP Guidelines for the Transcription of Manuscripts using the Online Transcription Editor
Get PDFVersion 1.2: 4.5.2016
Instructions for IGNTP transcribers to create XML transcriptions using the Online Transcription Editor at http://www.itsee.birmingham.ac.uk/ote
Creative Tourisms: Aestheticizing Poverty and Violence in Trench Town, Jamaica
No full textTourism entails producing spaces as sites for consumption and crafting narratives that entice people into visiting a given area. As such, references to Kingston’s downtown violent ‘ghetto life’ have infused Jamaican visual and musical culture, in part drawing curious tourists to Trench Town, the birthplace of reggae. Within this neighbourhood, the core of informal and sporadic tourism activities can be found in Bob Marley’s former home, renewed as the ‘Culture Yard’ and run by a grassroots community organization. However, numerous other projects are envisaged to tap into the area’s rich cultural heritage, involving stakeholders from both within and outside the community. Restoring musical landmarks, highlighting famous reggae artist’s homes, creating a music village and a wax museum are but a few examples of fantasized tourism enterprises. Some of these projects have been talked about for over a decade, however none have yet been implemented, maintaining the impression that Trench Town is perpetually on the cusp of developing a full blown tourism industry. Drawing on fieldwork carried out in Kingston I discuss how community organisations continue to design possible Trench Town based tourism activities, whilst outsiders continue to dream up ‘ghetto’ narratives. I analyse how the different aspirations to create a tourism economy in Trench Town are tied to - and interact with – tourist reveries of ghetto poverty and violence, thereby creating an entanglement of imaginations around (in)security
Asymmetrical Sovereignty, European Integration, and the Grey Zone of European Union Politics
No full textThis study highlights both the significance and impact of the developing changes in the last decades around Europe, the notion-related adjustments that remain to be carried and in parallel to provide a more general explanation concerning the institution of sovereignty in relation to the process of European integration. The main questions that this article seeks to answer are the following: Who governs who within the EU? How does the European nexus of institutions and governance affect sovereignty? Which are the main consequences of the Maastricht’s framework in relation to sovereignty? In order to provide an answer to the above questions, we intend to analyze the relationship of the institution of sovereignty and the ability of exercising independent economic policy within the EMU as well as reexamine the development of this relationship in close regard to the process of European integration. The major contribution of this research is that offers a complementary study in order to understand better the relationship between European integration and state sovereignty. This research integrates sovereignty in the current debates, and provides an exegesis not only for the main factors that affect the transformation of the EMU but also for the limits of the European integration
Finite element parametric study of reinforced concrete beams shear-strengthened with embedded FRP bars (dataset)
No full textThe deep embedment (DE) of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) bars is a promising shear-strengthening scheme for existing concrete structures. In the current study, a three-dimensional nonlinear finite element (FE) model for DE-strengthened reinforced concrete beams was developed and validated. The FE and Concrete Society TR55 predictions were compared with published experimental results. The FE-predicted/experimental shear strength enhancement ratio is 1.08 with a standard deviation of 0.25, whereas the TR55-predicted/experimental shear strength enhancement ratio is 1.57 with a standard deviation of 0.54. A numerical parametric study was carried out. The results showed that the predicted shear strength enhancement was positively influenced by the use of inclined DE FRP bars and the increase in concrete compressive strength but decreased with the increase in shear span-to-effective depth ratio and internal steel stirrup-to-DE FRP bar ratio. The predicted percentage of shear strength enhancement was not significantly influenced by size effect
Suppression of left temporal cortical activity mediates improvements in golf putting: A neural signature of expertise in precision sports?
Get PDFBackground and Purpose. The study of electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in precision sports has revealed that oscillatory activity within the upper-alpha frequency (10-12 Hz) recorded in the last seconds preceding skill execution can distinguish experts from novices. The power of these oscillations provides an index of neuronal suppression by a thalamic mechanism that gates resources to task-related and away from task-unrelated cortical areas. Our study employed a test-retest training paradigm to examine changes in cortical alpha activity and performance.
Method. Twelve right-handed experienced golfers (age: M = 21) underwent three 1-hour putting training sessions, sandwiched between a test and retest session, during which they putted 50 balls to a standard hole at a distance of 2.4 m. Outcome (number of holed putts) and performance (radial, angle, and length errors) measures were recorded in both sessions. EEG upper-alpha power was measured from 32 scalp electrodes before (-3 s) and after (+1 s) initiation of the backswing.
Results. The change in outcome and performance measures indicated that participants improved across sessions (e.g., holed putts: 12.17 during test, 16.25 during retest, P = .05). Among the performance measures, angle error was the best correlate of putting outcome during both test (r = -0.92, P < .001) and retest (r = -0.89, P < .001). The improvement in performance across sessions was fully mediated by the reduction of angle (P = .008) and radial (P = .06), but not length error. A topographical analysis of the EEG revealed that upper-alpha power was lowest in central areas and highest in temporal-occipital areas (P < .001). The improvements in putting outcome (P = .02) and angle error (P = .03) across sessions were partially mediated by higher power in the left temporal area in the last second preceding backswing initiation.
Conclusion. The present findings confirm that improvements in putting outcome are largely attributable to decreases in putter head angle at impact. The topographical pattern displayed by preparatory upper-alpha power is consistent with the gating of resources to central sensorimotor areas and away from temporal and occipital areas. Importantly, increased inhibition of cognitive (e.g., language) processes performed in the left temporal cortex partially accounted for improved putting outcome and performance. Finally, data on self-reported measures (e.g., conscious processing) as well as limitations and further directions will be presented and discussed in relation to alpha gating
Solving models with jump discontinuities in policy functions
No full textWe show that the Value Function Iteration (VFI) algorithm has difficulties approximating models with jump discontinuities in policy functions. We find that VFI fails to accurately identify both the location and size of jump discontinuities while the Endogenous Grid Method (EGM) and the Finite Element Method (FEM) are much better at approximating this class of models. We further show that combining value function iteration with a local interpolation step (VFI-INT) is sufficient to obtain accurate approximations. Differences between policy functions generated by VFI and these alternative methods are economically significant. We highlight that these differences across methods cannot be identified using Euler equation errors as these are not a sufficient measure of accuracy for models with jump discontinuities in policy functions. As a result, speed comparisons across methods that rely on Euler equation errors as a measure for accuracy can be misleading. The combination of computational speed, relatively easy implementation and adaptability make VFI-INT especially suitable for approximating models with jump discontinuities in policy functions
Five Benefits I Got From Doing Pro Bono
No full textBased on a talk given at the November 2015 Student Pro Bono Conference in Birmingham, this paper is written by a final year LLB student, and highlights the impact of her participation in Birmingham Law School's Pro Bono Group
A ‘right to have rights’ in the EU public sphere? An Arendtian justification for the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
No full textThis paper discusses the Court’s reasoning in interpreting the EU Charter, using recent case law on horizontal effect as a case study. It identifies two possible means of interpreting the provisions of the Charter: firstly, an approach based on common values (e.g. equality or solidarity) and, secondly, an approach based on access to the public sphere. It argues in favour of the latter. Whereas an approach based on common values is more consonant with the development of the case law so far, it is conceptually problematic: it involves subjective assessments of the importance and degree of ‘sharedness’ of the value in question, which can undermine the equal constitutional status of different Charter provisions. Furthermore, it marginalises the Charter’s overall politically constructional character, which distinguishes it from other sources of rights protection listed in Art 6 TEU. The paper argues that, as the Charter’s provisions concretise the notion of political status in the EU, they have a primarily constitutional, rather than ethical, basis. Interpreting the Charter based on the very commitment to a process of sharing, drawing on Hannah Arendt’s idea of the ‘right to have rights’ (a right to access a political community on equal terms), is therefore preferable. This approach retains the pluralistic, post-national fabric of the EU polity, as it accommodates multiple narratives about its underlying values, while also having an inclusionary impact on previously underrepresented groups (e.g. non-market-active citizens or the sans-papiers) by recognising their equal political disposition
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