Thoughts on “publish or perish”

Higher Education - It is widely believed that one publishes or perishes in academic life. This proposition is examined and evidence noted that shows salary and success of various kinds are related...     

DISCRIMINATORY ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXTS AND BLACK SCIENTISTS ON POSTSECONDARY FACULTIES

Severe underrepresentation of African-Americansamong postsecondary faculty is often linked toeducational pipeline supply problems,while institutional variations in demandfor black faculty labor and barriers to theirrecruitment and retention receive less empiricalattention. Using a nationally representative sample ofcollege faculty from a wide array of institutions andscience disciplines, this study investigates linksbetween internal organizational conditions and blackfaculty representation. Hypotheses derive from competingexplanations of the role of race in academicorganizations: institutionalized discrimination to protectdominant group privileges; statistical discriminationbased on expectations of racial group differences inacademic preparation; labor supply and politicalconstraints on black faculty recruitment. A multivariateanalysis examines organizational conditions that promoteor curb these dynamics and their relationship to blackappointments at different tenure levels. Results indicate that although the discipline-specificblack doctoral labor supply is a powerful constraint onthe representation of black faculty, selectiveorganizational contexts are substantial influences as well. Although we find little evidence thatinsulation from competition or segmented faculty labormarkets influence the racial composition of faculties,black faculty are more often found whereinstitutionalized discrimination may be checked by greaterformalization and black constituencies on campus.Consistent with statistical discrimination, blackfaculty are poorly represented at research-orientedinstitutions, even controlling for the scholarly reputationof doctoral credentials.     

The information requirements and information-seeking behaviours of health and social care professionals providing care to children with health care needs: a pilot study

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this work were to identify the sources of information currently received, information-seeking behaviours, information requirements and preferences for future information provision amongst health and social care professionals providing care to children with health care needs. METHODS: Data were collected using a cross-sectional postal questionnaire survey. RESULTS: A wide range of information resources was reported as being available to professionals. However, a large proportion of respondents found it necessary to perform additional searches for information, suggesting that current resources were not satisfying their needs. The majority of professionals reported a preference for electronic formats, whilst a smaller proportion preferred hard copy materials. Participants promoted the use of informal networks as a means of support and exchange of information. CONCLUSION: Supplementing the information that is provided in electronic and hard copy formats, by enhancing informal networks, may be the most effective way of meeting the information needs of this group of professionals.     

Focus-on-form instructional methods promote deaf college students' improvement in English grammar

Focus-on-form English teaching methods are designed to facilitate second-language learners' noticing of target language input, where "noticing" is an acquisitional prerequisite for the comprehension, processing, and eventual integration of new grammatical knowledge. While primarily designed for teaching hearing second-language learners, many focus-on-form methods lend themselves to visual presentation. This article reports the results of classroom research on the visually based implementation of focus-on-form methods with deaf college students learning English. Two of 3 groups of deaf students received focus-on-form instruction during a 10-week remedial grammar course; a third control group received grammatical instruction that did not involve focus-on-form methods. The 2 experimental groups exhibited significantly greater improvement in English grammatical knowledge relative to the control group. These results validate the efficacy of visually based focus-on-form English instruction for deaf students of English and set the stage for the continual search for innovative and effective English teaching methodologies.     

Three universities in Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: the struggle against corruption and for social cohesion

Universities may contribute to a nation’s social cohesion through both direct and indirect means. In their syllabi they may include techniques necessary for understanding complex social problems. Faculty may model good behaviour in terms of listening and understanding points of view that may contradict their own. University administrators may illustrate ways to lead honourably, which can enhance the chances for achieving consensus with respect to future dilemmas. This project assessed typical areas of university tension, including academic freedom, equity of participation and academic honesty. Three different universities were chosen as sites for faculty interviews—a foreign private university in Kyrgyzstan, a flagship state university in Georgia, and a regional teacher training college recently upgraded to university status in Northeast Kazakhstan. Results suggest that the single most important arena wherein universities can influence social cohesion in these countries is the manner by which they address education corruption. The paper reproduces the statements of those faculty members who participate in corruption as well as those who refuse to participate. It concludes with some predictions about the future of the relationship of higher education to social cohesion.

Turnover Causation Amongst High School Teachers in Nigeria

Four theoretical frameworks were used to explore causations of turnover amongst high school teachers in Nigeria: (1) teachers’ personal health, (2) work–family life, (3) job satisfaction, and (4) actual turnover intention. Quantitative data were obtained from 925 public high school teachers in Ogun State, South-Western Nigeria. Cronbach's Alpha reliability procedure, regression modelling and t-test were used to analyse a total of 96 causations of turnover. Ad hoc analysis returned an Alpha value of 0.78. However, this improved to 0.93 when the causation factors were reduced to 64 – those with highest item-rest and itemtotal correlations. The findings showed that job (dis)satisfaction, personal health and work– family life conflict are prominent amongst the issues that trigger the intention of Nigerian high school teachers to quit their jobs voluntarily. Insights from the findings will help funding administrators in prioritising strategic decisions around mitigating turnover.     

M.A.S.S.: A Model for Producing Transfer

Transfer is the application in the workplace of the knowledge, skills and attitudes learned in training. With transfer, trainers hope to link training to increased job performance. However, training alone will not produce transfer. To affect job performance as a result of training, trainers must intentionally promote transfer using a variety of strategies based on known principles of human performance technology. The MASS model, presented in this paper, brings together four of these principles. According to the MASS model, trainers who promote transfer (and who thereby become performance technologists) 1) Motivate trainees to learn and use the training material; 2) increase trainees' Awareness of when to use new skills and ideas; 3) enable trainees to master and to apply Skills; and 4) give trainees psychological and physical Support on the job. When performance technologists follow the MASS model, they can expect to produce trainees who apply at work what they have been taught in training. Use of the model is illustrated with two examples.     

New physics searches at the BESIII experiment

The standard model (SM) of particle physics, comprised of the unified electroweak and quantum chromodynamic theories, accurately explains almost all experimental results related to the micro-world, and has made a number of predictions for previously unseen particles, most notably the Higgs scalar boson, that were subsequently discovered. As a result, the SM is currently universally accepted as the theory of the fundamental particles and their interactions. However, in spite of its numerous successes, the SM has a number of apparent shortcomings, including: many free parameters that must be supplied by experimental measurements; no mechanism to produce the dominance of matter over antimatter in the universe; and no explanations for gravity, the dark matter in the universe, neutrino masses, the number of particle generations, etc. Because of these shortcomings, there is considerable incentive to search for evidence for new, non-SM physics phenomena that might provide important clues about what a new, beyond the SM theory (BSM) might look like. Although the center-of-mass energies that BESIII can access are far below the energy frontier, searches for new, BSM physics are an important component of its research program. This report reviews some of the highlights from BESIII’s searches for signs of new, BSM physics by: measuring rates for processes that the SM predicts to be forbidden or very rare; searching for non-SM particles such as dark photons; performing precision tests of SM predictions; and looking for violations of the discrete symmetries C and CP in processes for which the SM expectations are immeasurably small.     

French DNCG management control versus UEFA Financial Fair Play: a divergent conception of financial regulation objectives

The French Football Federation was the first football governing body to put in place, in 1990, a financial regulation system. It might be expected that UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) system established in 2010 would be similar to French DNCG (National Direction for Management Control) regulations. However, while FFP is concerned with profitability, DNCG is focused on solvency. Hence, a French club may be loss-making and not compliant with FFP, while at the same time being solvent in accordance with DNCG rules. Our research confirms that most French clubs do not conform to FFP rules. As such, it provides further evidence that DNCG has not prevented poor financial management within French clubs. The coexistence of DNCG and FFP– or any other domestic financial regulation and FFP –may result in disparities between domestic clubs. As a consequence, there should be consistent financial regulation in all European leagues.