The public reception of the Research Assessment Exercise 1996

Abstract

This paper reviews the public reception of the Research Assessment Exercise 1996 (RAE) from its announcement in December 1996 to the decline of discussion at end May 1997. A model for diffusion of the RAE is established which distinguishes extra‐communal (or exoteric) from intra‐communal (or esoteric) media. The different characteristics of each medium and the changing nature of the discussion over time are considered. Different themes are distinguished in the public reception of the RAE: the spatial distribution of research; the organisation of universities; disciplinary differences in understanding; a perceived conflict between research and teaching; the development of a culture of accountability; and analogies with the organisation of professional football. In conclusion, it is suggested that the RAE and its effects can be more fully considered from the perspective of scholarly communication and understandings of the development of knowledge than it has been by previous contributions in information science, which have concentrated on the possibility of more efficient implementation of existing processes. A fundamental responsibility for funding councils is also identified: to promote the overall health of university education and research, while establishing meaningful differentiations between units.

On “Torqueless” Accretion from a Magnetically Truncated Disk

“…A frequently invoked astrophysical scenario involves a rotating, magnetized object (such as a binary X-ray pulsar, an intermediate polar, or a T Tauri star) that accretes from a surrounding disk (see, e.g., Reynolds et al 1996;Warner 1996;Kenyon, Yi, & Hartmann 1996). If the star's magnetic field is sufficiently strong, the Keplerian disk is disrupted at some distance R 0 from the star, where R 0 is much greater than the stellar radius R * .…”

Multiwavelength observations of V479 Andromedae: a close compact binary with an identity crisis

“…It appears that the condition for synchronization requires significantly weaker fields, marked by the dash-dot line (Ch. 4 in Warner 1996, and references therein). With dashed lines we also show the velocity of particles in the ballistic stream when it reaches the coupling region where it is captured by the magnetosphere and channeled onto the white dwarf.…”

“…11). We relied on the prescriptions provided by Warner (1996), where a modest magnetic moment of the donor star (on the order of 100 G) was also taken into account, to calculate the corresponding relations. The solid line corresponds to the radius of the magnetosphere at which the formation of an accretion disk is prevented (Eq.…”

Discovery of a new cataclysmic variable through optical variability and X-ray emission

“…In the case of polars, this is probably caused by the same mechanism as in VY Scl stars, while the high states seen in some intermediate polars (IPs) are (in at least some cases) believed to be caused by the disc instability that operates in DNe (Kim et al 1992;Warner 1996;Hellier et al 1997).…”