Showing papers by "Open University published in 1992"

What's Wrong With Ethnography?: Methodological Explorations

Abstract: Part One: Ethnography, Theory and Reality 1. What's wrong with ethnography? The myth of theoretical description 2. Some questions about theory in ethnography and history 3. Ethnoraphy and realism 4. By what criteria should ethnographic research be judged? Part Two: Ethnography, Relevance and Practice 5. The relevance of ethnography 6. Critical theory as a model for ethnography 7. Parts that even ethnography cannot reach: Some reflections on the relationship between research and policy 8. On practitioner ethnography Part Three: Qualitative versus Quantitative Method 9. Deconstructing the quantitative-qualitative divide 10. Keeping the converstion open: the relationship between quantitative and qualitative 11. The logic of theory-testing in case study research 12. So, what are case studies?

The cult[ure] of the customer

Abstract: Much organizational restructuring, at least in the UK and USA, seeks to replace organizational regulation by that of the market. These developments centre around an emphasis on relations with customers - the ‘sovereign consumer’- as a paradigm for effective forms of organizational relations; they are apparent in, and underpin, a wide variety of organizational developments: just-in-time, total quality management, culture change programmes. Understanding these developments requires consideration of the discourse of enterprise of which the culture of the (internal) customer constitutes a key element. Defining internal organizational relations ‘as if’they were customer/supplier relations means replacing bureaucratic regulation and stability with the constant uncertainties of the market, and thus requiring enterprise from employees. This discourse has fundamental implications for management attempts to define working practices and relations and, ultimately, has impact on the conduct and identities of employees. Understanding these developments is not possible if analysis remains at the level of the organization. It requires that organizational restructurings, and the discourse which supports them, be located within the social and political rationality of enterprise. The certainties of management, the conviction that environmental challenge and competitive threat must be met by the cult[ure] of the customer, are due to managements’largely unquestioned acceptance of the normality and perceived good sense of the discourse of enterprise.

Chemical stratigraphy of the Paraná lavas (South America): classification of magma types and their spatial distribution

Abstract: A new classification scheme has been developed to assign the lava flows of the Parana continental flood basalt province (South America) into geochemically distinct magma types, with six basaltic major and trace element abundances and/or ratios. By mapping out the spatial distribution of these magma types within the lava sequences, it has been possible to determine the internal stratigraphy of the lava pile on a regional scale. Previous studies on road profiles traversing the well-exposed coastal Serra Geral escarpment of southern Brazil are summarised together with results from some new sampled sections. More widespread stratigraphical investigations of the Parana lavas have been hampered by the lack of sufficient topographic relief and the cover of sedimentary rocks. However, access to drill-core chippings from nine boreholes in the central Parana region has provided a unique opportunity to investigate the stratigraphy of the otherwise inaccessible deeper levels of the lava pile and to map out stratigraphic variations in three dimensions. The borehole samples have indicated cated a stacking of units of different magma types all overlapping towards the north, which suggests that the main locus of magmatism moved northwards with time within the Parana basin. This migration could be related to the northward propagation of rifting during the initiation of the South Atlantic Ocean. Maps of the surface distribution of samples of each magma type show a pattern consistent with the stratigraphy inferred from the boreholes, although suggesting that the shift in magmatism may have been towards the northwest. On the basis of geochemical similarities between magma types and their inferred stratigraphical relationships, it is proposed that the Parana can be divided into two principal magmatic centres: (1) an older one in the south, comprising the Gramado, Esmeralda and Urubici magma types; and (2) a younger one, developed about 750 km to the north, formed by the Pitanga, Paranapanema and Ribeira magma types.

Dehydration melting and the generation of continental flood basalts

Abstract: CONTINENTAL flood basalt provinces represent important magmatic events, which may contribute significantly to the generation of new crust. In a typical flood basalt province, large volumes of magma are erupted in a short time: for example, at least 106 km3 in 2–3 Myr in the Parana–Etendeka province of southeast Brazil and northern Namibia. In many areas flood basalts are associated with mantle plumes, but details of their origin, such as the site of major-element melting, remain unresolved. Recent authors1–3 have assumed that partial melting took place at the anhydrous peridotite solidus, and thus concluded that during continental extension, more than 95% of the erupted magmas are generated in the sublithospheric upper mantle. In this situation, the distinctive isotope and trace element geochemistry of the basalts is attributed not to this process, but to the addition of low-degree partial melts scavenged from the overlying lithosphere4. Here we present an alternative model in which, in the presence of small amounts of water (∼0.4%), the observed quantities of melt may be generated entirely within the mantle lithosphere. As rifting proceeds, however, the basalts acquire an increasingly 'asthenospheric' chemistry, as melts from the asthenosphere come to dominate those from the lithosphere.

Importance of gravitational spreading in the tectonic and volcanic evolution of Mount Etna

Abstract: THE interaction between gravity and thermal effects largely determines the structural and magmatic evolution of volcanic constructs at scales spanning several orders of magnitude, from small cones to the oceanic crust1–3. Although gravitational spreading is a direct consequence of this interaction and a fundamental process in volcano growth, it is rarely recognized as such. Here we describe a striking example of this process, at Etna volcano, in Italy. The volcano and its clay-rich substratum are slowly spreading towards the east and south, driven by gravity. Spreading produces extensional structures in the summit region and contpressional structures at the base of the volcano. Eastward movement of the volcanic edifice over a stationary magma supply may be the cause of an apparent westward migration of volcanic activity. As gravitational spreading seems to control the location and magnitude of shallow seismicity and flank eruptions, an appreciation of its effects could become an essential element of future volcanic hazard evaluation. Our model proposed here for Etna may also be relevant to a reinterpretation of the geological history of a number of other volcanoes.

Trace element modelling of pelite-derived granites

Abstract: The presence or absence of a vapour phase during incongruent-melt reactions of muscovite and biotite together with the composition of the protolith determines the trace-element characteristics of the resulting melt, provided that equilibrium melting occurs for those phases that host the tracc elements of interest. For granitic melts, Rb, Sr and Ba provide critical constraints on the conditions that prevailed during melting, whereas REE are primarily controlled by accessory phase behaviour. Mass-balance constraints for eutectic granites that are formed by the incongruent melting of muscovite in pelites indicate that melting in the presence of a vapour phase will result in a large melt fraction, and deplete the restite in feldspar. Hence the melt will be characterized by low Rb/Sr and high Sr/Ba ratios. In contrast, vapour-absent melting will result in a smaller melt fraction, and an increase in the restitic feldspar. Consequently high Rb/Sr and low Sr/Ba ratios are predicted. Vapour-absent melting will also enhance the negative Eu anomaly in the melt. Granites that result from the incongruent melting of biotite in the source will be characterized by higher Rb concentrations than those that result from the incongruent melting of muscovite. The Himalayan leucogranites provide an example of unfractionated, crustally derived eutectic melts that are enriched in Rb but depleted in Sr and Ba relative to their metasedimentary protoliths. These compositions may be generated by the incongruent melting of muscovite as a low melt fraction (F∼0.1) from a pelitic source under vapour-absent conditions.

Parasites as biological indicators of the population biology, migrations, diet, and phylogenetics of fish

Abstract: 1Department of Zoology, National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales and School of Pure and Applied Biology, University of Wales College of Cardiff, Cardiff, CF1 3NP, Wales 2Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department, Marine Laboratory, Victoria Rd, Aberdeen, AB9 8DB, UK 3 The Open University in Wales, 24 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, Wales and Department of Zoology, National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF1 3NP, Wales

A History of Probability and Statistics and Their Applications before 1750

Abstract: A History of Probability and Statistics and their Applications before 1750. By A. Hald. ISBN 0 471 50230 8. Wiley, New York, 1990. xiv + 590pp. £55.15.

Partnership: Issues of policy and negotiation

Abstract: "Partnership" has become one of the code words of our times. Being a partial euphemism and a token of political negotiation, the concept of "partnership" contains a very high level of ambiguity. Partnership schemes are rarely well defined one-off deals between partners with clearly differentiated goals, but rather sites of continuing political and economic renegotiation. It is the purpose of this paper to try to capture some characteristic aspects of this conflict and renegotiation in a number of recent local government partnership schemes.

Learning Together Apart

Abstract: This paper defines collaborative learning as “individual learning occurring as a result of group process”, and examines some of the issues and problems in using computer-mediated communication (CMC) for collaborative learning A number of typical applications of computer conferencing, in both the educational context (where learning is the explicit primary goal, as in a course or training programme) and the organisational context (where learning might be a desirable, but secondary, outcome of a task-oriented activity), are reviewed The influences of social climate, a text-based asynchronous communication environment, and software design features, on the success or failure of CMC for collaborative learning are examined

Tectonothermal evolution of the High Himalayan Crystalline Sequence, Langtang Valley, northern Nepal

Abstract: The High Himalayan Crystalline Sequence in north-central Nepal is a 15-km-thick pile of metasediments that is bound by the Main Central Thrust to the south and a normal fault to the north. The Langtang section through the metasediments shows an apparent inversion of metamorphic isograds with high-P, kyanite-grade rocks exposed beneath low-P, sillimanite-grade rocks. Textural evidence confirms that the observed inversion is a result of a polyphase metamorphic history and phase equilibria studies indicate that thermal decoupling has occurred within a mechanically coherent section of crust. Rocks now exposed at the base of the High Himalayan thrust sheet underwent Barrovian regional metamorphism (M1) prior to 34 Ma in the early stages of the Himalayan orogeny, recording metamorphic conditions of T= 710 ± 30° C, P= 9 ± 1 kbar. After the activation of the Main Central Thrust, which emplaced these metapelites southwards onto the lower grade Lesser Himalayan formations, the upper part of the thrust sheet was overprinted by a second heating event (M2), resulting in sillimanite-grade metamorphism and anatexis of metapelites at T= 760 ± 30° C, P= 5.8 ± 0.4 kbar between 17 and 20 Ma. Crustally derived, leucogranite magmas have been emplaced into low-grade Tethyan sediments on the hangingwall of the normal fault that bounds the northern limit of the metapelitic sequence. The cause of the selective heating of the upper section of the metasediments during M2 cannot be reconciled with either post-thrusting thermal relaxation or advection models. The cause of M2 remains problematical but it is suggested that heat focusing has occurred at the top of the High Himalayan Crystalline Sequence as a result of movement on the normal fault blanketing metapelites of high heat productivity with low-grade sediments of low thermal conductivity. This model implies that the normal fault was active before M2, consistent with decompression textures that formed during, or shortly after, sillimanite-grade metamorphism.

Epistemology, Practical Work and Academic Skills in Science Education.

Abstract: This article discusses the inherent flaws in considering and using the epistemology of the natural sciences as equivalent to a pedagogic basis for teaching and learning in the natural sciences. It begins with a discussion of the difference between practising science and learning to practice science. It follows with a discussion and refutation of three commonly held motives for using practicals in science education. It concludes with the presentation of three new, better motives for their use.

Cognitive mapping and repertory grids for qualitative survey research: some comparative observations

Abstract: A study of business strategy was carried out in 86 organizations in the crop protection industry. A multi-operational approach was used to enable validation of data by triangulation, including cognitive mapping used in an unusual way. This provided an unintended opportunity to conduct a comparative evaluation of interactive investigational methods in a relatively controlled, if unsophisticated manner. Results were interesting enough to suggest that further investigation is needed into the impact of various subject-generated factors such as face validity on methodological effectivness, as well as more traditional criteria such as construct validity of particular methods. Accordingly, process issues affecting repertory grids, cognitive mapping and software for the analysis of cognitive maps (COPE) are described and discussed. Recommendations are made for improvements to mapping and software and further studies suggested.

The procoagulant response of cytomegalovirus infected endothelial cells.

Abstract: The report describes the effect of an in vitro infection of human umbilical vein endothelial cells with human Cytomegalovirus (CMV). The parameters studied are cellular procoagulant activity, secretion of plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA), activation and internalization of factor X and Merocyanine 540 staining. The infection does not result in an increase in PAI-1 and u-PA secretion, but it brings about a procoagulant response, which is relatively rapid compared to the tissue factor mediated response induced by inflammatory mediators. The time course and the coagulation factor dependency suggest a facilitated interaction of coagulation factors on the surface of infected cells. Chromogenic activity measurements after the addition of purified factor X and electron microscopic examination of the cells after addition of colloidal gold-factor X conjugates both point to an internalization of factor X and/or Xa after interaction with the endothelial cell surface. Merocyanine 540 staining suggests that CMV infection leads to membrane perturbations.

Work-load and the quality of student learning

Abstract: For many undergraduates, the amount of work they are asked or expected to do is among the most crucial factors affecting their engagement with a course of study. Yet student work-load is a neglected issue, in research literature as in practice among teachers in higher education. In the context of increasing concern among educationists about the quality of students' learning, and some discussion of recent research findings, it is argued that ‘reasonable work-load˚s is a pre-condition of good studying and learning. Some of the ways in which workload can be measured are discussed and, in particular, the methodological difficulties involved in relying on students' perceptions of it. A more rigorous method of calculating student workload, in advance of course presentation, is outlined. Arguments and evidence are drawn largely from studies of adult part-time students of the arts and humanities at the Open University (OU), but are applicable more widely in higher education. Suggestions are offered about...

Three-loop on-shell charge renormalization without integration:\(\Lambda _{QED}^{\overline {MS} } \) to four loops

Abstract: Using algebraic methods, we find the three-loop relation between the bare and physical couplings of one-flavourD-dimensional QED, in terms of Γ functions and a singleF 32 series, whose expansion nearD=4 is obtained, by wreath-product transformations, to the order required for five-loop calculations. Taking the limitD→4, we find that the $$\overline {MS} $$ coupling $$\bar \alpha (\mu )$$ satisfies the boundary condition $$\begin{gathered} \frac{{\bar \alpha (m)}}{\pi } = \frac{\alpha }{\pi } + \frac{{15}}{{16}}\frac{{\alpha ^3 }}{{\pi ^3 }} + \left\{ {\frac{{11}}{{96}}\zeta (3) - \frac{1}{3}\pi ^2 \log 2} \right. \hfill \\ \left. { + \frac{{23}}{{72}}\pi ^2 - \frac{{4867}}{{5184}}} \right\}\frac{{\alpha ^4 }}{{\pi ^4 }} + \mathcal{O}(\alpha ^5 ), \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ wherem is the physical lepton mass and α is the physical fine structure constant. Combining this new result for the finite part of three-loop on-shell charge renormalization with the recently revised four-loop term in the $$\overline {MS} $$ β-function, we obtain $$\begin{gathered} \Lambda _{QED}^{\overline {MS} } \approx \frac{{me^{3\pi /2\alpha } }}{{(3\pi /\alpha )^{9/8} }}\left( {1 - \frac{{175}}{{64}}\frac{\alpha }{\pi } + \left\{ { - \frac{{63}}{{64}}\zeta (3)} \right.} \right. \hfill \\ \left. { + \frac{1}{2}\pi ^2 \log 2 - \frac{{23}}{{48}}\pi ^2 + \frac{{492473}}{{73728}}} \right\}\left. {\frac{{\alpha ^2 }}{{\pi ^2 }}} \right), \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ at the four-loop level of one-flavour QED.

Pan-African charnockite formation in Kerala, South India

Abstract: Sm-Nd mineral ages of gneisses and associated granulites from the Ponmudi incipient charnockite locality (South India) indicate that granulite metamorphism occurred at, or shortly after, 558 Ma. Proterozoic ages recorded by garnet separates reflect a detrital age or an earlier metamorphic event preserved by inclusions within garnet. The age of post-metamorphic uplift (440–460 Ma) is constrained by Sr isotope equilibration between biotite and plagioclase. Since charnockite formation and subsequent uplift north of the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone had terminated by earliest Proterozoic time, these results confirm two distinct periods of granulite formation in South India and suggest that the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone represents the boundary between two blocks of strongly contrasting geological histories. Both incipient charnockite formation and subsequent uplift at Ponmudi may be correlated with the tectonothermal evolution of the Highlands Group in Sri Lanka. The similarity between Nd and Sr model ages for charnockites and gneisses from Ponmudi indicates that no significant Rb-Sr fractionation has occurred during the crustal history of these incipient charnockites. Pb isotopic ratios suggest that Th-U ratios were fractionated during charnockite formation at about 500 Ma. In contrast to charnockites found north of the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone, fractionation of U-Pb during the Archaean did not occur in the Ponmudi granulites.

Some reflections on ethnography and validity 1

Abstract: The question of what are appropriate criteria for assessing ethnographic research has become a matter of considerable debate in recent years. This paper identifies four philosophical positions that have influenced ethnographers’ thinking about this issue: realism, positivism#shmethodism, relativism, and instrumentalism. The implications of these ideas for judgements about the validity of ethnographic findings are sketched in the first half of the paper. In the second half, I argue that none of these positions is adequate and outline a more satisfactory view. 1 An earlier version of this paper was given at a seminar at the Centre for Applied Research in Education, University of East Anglia. I thank the participants in that seminar for fruitful discussion of the issues covered here.

Group polarization as conformity to the prototypical group member

Abstract: Self-categorization theory hypothesizes that group polarization arises from an intragroup process of conformity to a polarized in-group norm, i.e. a norm more extreme than the mean of members' initial opinions but in the same direction. It argues that the in-group norm is embodied in the prototypical response of members, which is not necessarily their average position. Polarization occurs when the prototype is more extreme than the mean in the same direction and when mutual influence leads members to conform to the norm. Convergence on the mean occurs when the prototype coincides with the mean position. Whether the prototype and the mean coincide or differ depends on whether group responses are moderate or extreme in terms of the comparative social context. A computer simulation (Study 1, N = 1000 groups) and two semi-naturalistic group discussion studies (Studies 2 and 3, Ns = 32 and 44 groups respectively over five items) were conducted to test this analysis. All three studies found significant correlational support for the hypothesis (H1) that in-group prototypes become more polarized as the group becomes more extreme in the social context and Studies 2 and 3 also found a significant empirical correlation (H2) between polarization and the extent to which group members conformed to a polarized prototype.

Simulation Exercises in Disability Awareness Training: A Critique

Abstract: This paper takes a critical look at simulation exercises. Little evidence exists that these exercises have a positive effect on either attitudes or behaviour but, despite this, they are used extensively in disability awareness training, both for children and adults. It is argued in this paper that by individualising and medicalising disability, and by focusing excessively on problems and difficulties, simulation exercises provide false and misleading information, and inculcate negative, rather than positive, attitudes towards disabled people. It is suggested that simulation exercises fail to simulate impairment correctly, and address neither the coping strategies and skills disabled people develop in living with impairment, nor the cumulative social and psychological effect of encountering social and physical barriers over a lifetime. Rather than using simulation as a means of attempting to understand the experience of disability, the paper concludes by advocating the use of disability equality t...

Evaluation Methodologies for Computer Conferencing Applications

Abstract: This chapter is a review of evaluation methodologies for computer conferencing applications. It focuses on major practitioners: the work of Roxanne Hiltz, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, the Institute for the Future, the Open University, and the University of Stockholm. The advantages and disadvantages of a wide range of evaluation strategies — survey questionnaires, laboratory experiments, case studies and user interviews — are discussed as they apply to conferencing applications, and particularly to collaborative uses of computer conferencing. The chapter makes a case for evaluators to focus on content analysis of conference messages as the key methodology for establishing the educational value of this medium.

An evolutionary and functional view of mammalian adipose tissue.

Abstract: The main function of adipose tissue is uptake, storage and controlled release of lipids; processes that involve large and rapid changes in tissue mass. The most efficient place for such a tissue is inside the abdomen near the centre of gravity and that is where most of the adipose tissue of amphibians and fast-moving reptiles such as lizards is found. The storage tissues of insects and other invertebrates are also intra-abdominal. In nearly all mammals except pinnipeds (seals) and certain small cetaceans (whales and dolphins), and in many birds, adipose tissue is partitioned into a dozen or more discrete depots that are widely distributed around the body. The tissue forms structurally intimate relations with skin, skeletal and cardiac muscle and various abdominal organs. Although very familiar to mammalian physiologists and biochemists, it is important to emphasize that, viewed in the context of the animal kingdom as a whole, the anatomy of adipose tissue in mammals and birds is unusual, and, in view of its primary function, illogical. There is no satisfactory explanation of why functionally, or when, in evolutionary time, this arrangement evolved. It is becoming increasingly clear that total adiposity is determined more by appetite and energy expenditure than by the adipose tissue itself (Rossner & Bjorntorp, 1989). However, although brain and endocrine mechanisms may determine the total abundance of the tissue, it is difficult to see how they could account for the relative sizes of different depots. The distribution of adipose tissue must be controlled, at least in part, by properties of the adipose tissue itself. Site-specific properties may, therefore, be among the features of adipose tissue that have the most direct bearing on obesity and animal production. Until recently, white adipose tissue in mammals was simply described as ‘widespread’ (Ashwell, 1985) and its distribution was regarded as inconsistent and not amenable to functional or phylogenetic interpretation. It was regarded as a Cinderella tissue, filling in any spaces not occupied by other tissues. Curiously, the one exception to the notion that white adipose tissue ‘has no gross anatomy’ is the persistent belief that it accumulates between the skin and the superficial muscles because it is essential for thermal insulation. Despite its popularity, there is very little evidence that supports this theory but comparisons between arctic and temperate-zone species provide a rare opportunity to test it rigorously.