Abstract
Four years prior to the publication of Moral Education in A Secular Society, Hirst presaged his commitment to education as a moral enterprise in The Logic of Education, co-authored with R. ...S. Peters. A cursory glance at the index will confirm his (their) preoccupation with morality as a, and probably the, key condition of all education. Morality appears some 43 times in the index, considerably more than any other item, including the curriculum and knowledge. Add the many further references to moral education, moral judgement and sundry substantive moral conceits show that his concern with morality is indisputable. In an educational landscape preoccupied with the admittedly somewhat asinine contest between personal actualisation and performativity, perhaps Hirst's explicit preoccupation with education as a moral endeavour may appear rather anachronistic. Yet, at the time, this concern was central to the conversation as to educational purpose and practice and Hirst was the liminal figure in British education standing at the threshold between a post-War educational identity centred on religion, sacrifice and a social contract, on the one hand, and a new, more individualized, self-expressive culture, on the other. Arguably Hirst's most important contribution in this was to act as a midwife to a new way of thinking about morality and education. In this article I will suggest that Hirst's enduring importance to British education was in his liminal role as a moralist trying to wean the educational establishment off an increasingly unsustainable attachment to Christian piety as the motive force underpinning educational provision while simultaneously attempting to hold on to the virtues that had secured much social progress in the War period. In 1970, the same year as he published The Logic of Education, the precursor to the British Journal of Religious Education, Learning for Life published a series of discussions on ethics and education, repeatedly asking the question: ‘Can ethics survive without religion?'. Through the lens of 21st century post-structralism, this can appear very odd but in 1970 it was commonplace in schools, universities, and indeed further education to explicitly see religion as the shape and energy of education. Hirst enters these controversies as an educational moralist intent on re-positioning moral education away from its status as a practical appendage to Christianity and as an integral activity of education, itself considered as a moral good. Moreover, I will suggest that Hirst’s account of moral education cannot be understood apart from his consideration of the general aims of education and that his voice has retained its echo long past his citation scores!
This introduction attempts to draw together the various threads which comprise this special issue and place them in the context of recent disruptions to the political order occasioned by the rise of ...populist politics, the resurgence of widespread racial tensions in a number of polities and the emergence of a global pandemic. Central to the challenges thrown up by these 'events' and a motive force, has been the incremental advancement of libertarianism with its capacity to disorient and displace a more socially oriented liberalism. Together with a range of changes (some might argue enhancements) to our technological capacities these moves offer significant challenges to the advancement of a moral education that is sufficiently robust. The discussion moves from the development of historico-political readings of our present situation and challenge, through some important epistemic questions about truth-telling, integrity and sociality, and on to practical questions about the relationship between technology and personal moral capacities. This last challenge is explored with respect to the need to maintain the very analogue capacity of judgement in the face of a digitally mediated world. Moreover, this introduction also explores the structural and political challenges posed by narrow specialisation in the field of moral education, the evolution of bio-technology/materials and consciousness.
A comprehensive statistical analysis was performed on Global Positioning System scintillation data acquired at high latitudes from 2014 to 2017 after separating phase scintillation events originating ...from refraction and/or diffraction. Events exceeding a prescribed threshold were identified and analyzed statistically as a function of time, latitude, and propagation angle. The statistical analysis indicates that at high latitudes phase scintillation, which occurs more frequently than amplitude scintillation, is generated through refractive processes which can typically be treated as a stochastic Total Electron Content effect at high latitudes for Global Navigation Satellite System frequencies, and have the highest probability around magnetic noon in the Cusp. On average the phase scintillation index values decrease as a function of latitude, particularly during the first 6 hr of the evening. In addition, irregularities on the poleward side of the aurora are predominantly smaller than the Fresnel scale, when amplitude scintillation events are observed. By comparison, the mean of the phase scintillations on the equatorial side of the aurora, when amplitude scintillations are also present, indicates the existence of irregularities which are larger and smaller than the Fresnel scale. We also found that, during the day and at dusk, the spectral content of the irregularities apparently changes with decreasing off‐B Angle. No such increase is readily apparent at night or at dawn.
Key Points
In the polar regions Global Positioning System (GPS) phase scintillations originating from refraction are predominant while amplitude scintillations are relatively rare
GPS phase scintillation probability is highest at magnetic noon in the Cusp and in general increase as the propagation path off‐B Angle decreases during 6–15 MLT which indicates a higher degree of field‐aligned irregularities during this time
Phase scintillations at Global Navigation Satellite System frequencies can typically be considered as a stochastic Total Electron Content effect at high latitudes
Electron density irregularities in the ionosphere modify the phase and amplitude of trans-ionospheric radio signals. We aim to characterize the spectral and morphological features of E- and F-region ...ionospheric irregularities likely to produce these fluctuations or "scintillations". To characterize them, we use a three-dimensional radio wave propagation model-"Satellite-beacon Ionospheric scintillation Global Model of upper Atmosphere" (SIGMA), along with the scintillation measurements observed by a cluster of six Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers called Scintillation Auroral GPS Array (SAGA) at Poker Flat, AK. An inverse method is used to derive the parameters that describe the irregularities by estimating the best fit of model outputs to GPS observations. We analyze in detail one E-region and two F-region events during geomagnetically active times and determine the E- and F-region irregularity characteristics using two different spectral models as input to SIGMA. Our results from the spectral analysis show that the E-region irregularities are more elongated along the magnetic field lines with rod-shaped structures, while the F-region irregularities have wing-like structures with irregularities extending both along and across the magnetic field lines. We also found that the spectral index of the E-region event is less than the spectral index of the F-region events. Additionally, the spectral slope on the ground at higher frequencies is less than the spectral slope at irregularity height. This study describes distinctive morphological and spectral features of irregularities at E- and F-regions for a handful of cases performed using a full 3D propagation model coupled with GPS observations and inversion.
Uganda adopted the integrase inhibitor dolutegravir (DTG) as part its preferred first-line HIV treatment regimen in 2018. Prior to the national rollout, the Uganda Ministry of Health and Clinton ...Health Access Initiative (CHAI) launched a pilot study in July 2017 aimed at better understanding patients' and prescribers' experience and acceptability of DTG. Patients were enrolled in the study if they were newly initiating treatment or switched from an NNRTI regimen due to intolerance. Patients were followed up for 6 months after initiation onto DTG and acceptability and experiences were assessed through questionnaires at one-month and six-month follow-up visits. In addition to acceptability side effects of patients on DTG regimens were assessed. Analysis was conducted using MS Excel and SAS 9.4 and confidence intervals were adjusted for facility level clustering. A total of 365 patients from 6 study sites were enrolled in the study, of whom 50% were treatment-experienced and 50% treatment naïve. 325 patients completed the 6 months of follow-up. Survey results showed a high level of acceptability (more than 90%) of DTG-containing regimens for both categories of patients during the from one-month and six-months interviews. The rate of self-reported side effects amongst patients was 33% overall and higher for experienced (37%) than naïve (29%) patients at 6 months. Although frequencies declined between month-1 and month-6, the changes were not statistically significant. Almost all patients (94%) were virally suppressed at 6 months. Overall, the study findings showed a very high level of acceptability of Dolutegravir-based regimens across both experienced and naïve patients. The overall viral suppression rate in this cohort was 94% at six months of taking DTG-based regimen.
This paper draws on an AHRC/ESRC funded, three-year multi-dimensional study of the political, cultural and pedagogical practices of religious education (Project AH/F009135/1). More specifically, it ...draws on that material to help understand the challenges to a sense of professional identity amongst UK religious education teachers. The empirical findings are here located in and shed light on prior discussions of the extent to which teachers in general are to be considered professional. These prior discussions have seen the idea of teacher professionalism come under sustained attack with the conflation of the conceits of professional, vocation and occupation, and the opening section of the paper tries to understand how this has come to pass. This concern with professional identity is subsequently pursued into the domain of religious education and the ways in which, amongst other concerns, the rise of a deracinated examination process and the neglect of religious literacy have contributed significantly to the diminution of the religious education teacher as a professional.
In this study, we present the results of an inversion of ionospheric phase scintillation data to characterize the plasma density irregularity parameters for the structures associated with a series of ...Polar Cap Patches. The parameter estimates obtained during the inversion suggests that the irregularities associated with Polar Cap Patches are predominantly composed of moderately elongated electron density rods aligned with the earth's magnetic field which in some instances are interbedded within sheet and wing like density structures. Analysis of the spatial and temporal distribution of the axial ratio (AXRs), which are the ratios of irregularity elongation parallel and perpendicular to the field, indicates that the measured phase scintillation indices increase roughly proportionally with AXR values for the rods but remain roughly constant for wings and sheets. These findings indicate that while wings and sheets can produce phase fluctuations, it is the apparent existence of rods that mark the occurrence of plasma processes that lead to the formation of field‐aligned irregularities that produce phase scintillations which are most significant.
Key Points
Inversion of Gloval Positioning System ionospheric phase scintillation data indicates that for this case study the irregularities associated with a series of Polar Cap Patches are predominantly composed of electron density rods that are elongated along the magnetic field that are in some instances interbedded between sheets and wings
While wings and sheets of electron density irregularities can produce phase fluctuations, it is the apparent existence of rods that leads to higher values of phase scintillation
The spatial and temporal distribution of the axial ratio (AXR) values also indicates that the measured phase fluctuations increase roughly proportionally with AXR values for rods but remain constant for wings and sheets
Nigeria adopted dolutegravir (DTG) as part of first line (1L) antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2017. However, there is limited documented experience using DTG in sub-Saharan Africa. Our study assessed ...DTG acceptability from the patient's perspective as well as treatment outcomes at 3 high-volume facilities in Nigeria. This is a mixed method prospective cohort study with 12 months of follow-up between July 2017 and January 2019. Patients who had intolerance or contraindications to non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors were included. Patient acceptability was assessed through one-on-one interviews at 2, 6, and 12 months following DTG initiation. ART-experienced participants were asked about side effects and regimen preference compared to their previous regimen. Viral load (VL) and CD4+ cell count tests were assessed according to the national schedule. Data were analysed in MS Excel and SAS 9.4. A total of 271 participants were enrolled on the study, the median age of participants was 45 years, 62% were female. 229 (206 ART-experienced, 23 ART-naive) of enrolled participants were interviewed at 12 months. 99.5% of ART-experienced study participants preferred DTG to their previous regimen. 32% of particpants reported at least one side effect. "Increase in appetite" was most frequently reported (15%), followed by insomnia (10%) and bad dreams (10%). Average adherence as measured by drug pick-up was 99% and 3% reported a missed dose in the 3 days preceding their interview. Among participants with VL results (n = 199), 99% were virally suppressed (<1000 copies/ml), and 94% had VL <50 copies/ml at 12 months. This study is among the first to document self-reported patient experiences with DTG in sub-Saharan Africa and demonstrated high acceptability of DTG-based regimens among patients. The viral suppression rate was higher than the national average of 82%. Our findings support the recommendation of DTG-based regimen as the preferred 1L ART.
The Ethics of Research Excellence CONROY, JAMES C.; SMITH, RICHARD
Journal of philosophy of education,
November 2017, 2017-11-00, 20171101, Letnik:
51, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We here analyse the ethical dimensions of the UK's ‘Research Excellence Framework’ (REF), the latest (2014) version of an exercise which assesses the quality of university research in the UK every ...seven or so years. We find many of the common objections to this exercise unfounded, such as that it is excessively expensive by comparison with alternatives such as various metrics, or that it turns on the subjective judgement of the assessors. However there are grounds for concern about the crude language in which for example all relevant scholarship becomes called ‘research’ and publications become ‘outputs’. The focus on the impact of research, which was a new feature of the most recent exercise, is particularly problematic, creating as it does a tendency to what Aristotle called alazony, self‐aggrandisement, on the part of academics. We conclude that the REF is a mixed good from an ethical point of view, and that more could be done to mitigate its more unfortunate features.
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