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Teacher preparation in Scotland, 1872–1920
No full textThis chapter examines the inauguration of the university study of Education in Scotland and its relation to teacher education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The chapter outlines moves to establish Education as a disciplinary field in higher education and the junctures at which this movement aligns with and is in tension with concurrent moves to advance teaching as a profession. Academisation and professionalisation are the twin poles of this debate. This is not a parochial or obsolete debate. The place of teacher preparation in higher education has been the focus of sustained discussion across Anglophone nations. Three examples – the inauguration of chairs and lectureships, the governance of teacher education and deliberation on the content and purpose of a degree in Education – are used to help explain the apparent paradox between the historic place of education in Scottish culture and identity and the relatively recent full involvement of Scotland's universities in the professional preparation of teachers. Investigating the activities of the first academic community of educationists in Scotland may help to understand continuing struggles over jurisdiction and authority in this contested and yet neglected field
Value creation through cloud SAAS applications : Business IT alignment in service industries
Get PDFAlthough the business IT alignment phenomenon has garnered much attention in the fiercely competitive modern service industry, aligning business and IT strategies still presents a challenge in enterprise. Despite the selection dilemma enterprises face when deciding on the most effective business-IT alignment approach, the proliferation of cloud computing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is attracting many service enterprises to create business value. This paper provides insight into how cloud SaaS applications can be a source of value creation for enterprises operating in the service sector. Using a case study approach and semi-structured interviews, the findings aimed to determine how aligning IT strategy and business strategy can lead to value creation. On-demand self-service, rapid elasticity and measured service were among the most persuasive dimensions of business-IT alignment, while vendor-lock-in, incompatibility issues and potential security and privacy issues were among the most dissuasive dimensions of business-IT alignment. Future research could explore other cloud service models, such as Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) applications that support business-IT alignment to reveal how and why other cloud service applications can succeed or fail
Poetic connections: sympathy and community in Whitman’s Song of Myself
Get PDFIf to be sympathetic to others is a prerequisite for harmonious community, how does this function in the absence of identities in common? In his figurations of sympathy as auto-poetic affectivity, Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself offers a way; exceeding the humanist register on which much thinking about community relies
Potential Synergism between Novel Metal Complexes and Polymeric Brominated Flame Retardants in Polyamide 6.6
Get PDFWhile environmental concerns have caused polymeric brominated primary flame retardants (PolyBrFRs) to be effective replacement monomeric species, few alternatives for antimony trioxide (ATO) have been developed beyond the zinc stannates (ZnSs). Previous research, which explored the interactions of aluminium (AlW), tin (II) (SnW) and zinc (ZnW) tungstates with several phosphorus-containing flame retardants in polyamide 6.6 (PA66), is extended to two PolyBrFRs: brominated polystyrene (BrPS), and poly(pentabromobenzyl acrylate) (BrPBz). On assessing the effect of each tungstate on the thermal degradation and flammability in combination with each PolyBrFR using TGA, UL94, LOI, cone calorimetry and TGA-FTIR, only ZnW and SnW showed significant increases in LOI (>26 vol.%). Both ZnW-BrPS- and ZnW-BrPBz-containing formulations yielded average UL94 ratings ≥ V-2 and TGA char residues (corrected for metals content at 500 °C) in air > 15 wt.%. BrPS-containing samples, especially those containing ZnW and SnW, generated peak heat release rates approximately 50% lower than the equivalent BrPBz samples. These reductions did not correlate with respective increases in LOI, suggesting that tungstate-PolyBrFR combinations influence pre-ignition differently to post-ignition behaviour. Calculated synergistic effectivities indicate that ZnW functions as a synergist in both pre- and post-ignition stages, especially with BrPS. TGA-FTIR and char analyses showed that, in addition to the vapour-phase activity normally associated with PolyBrFRs, condensed-phase processes occurred, especially for the ZnW-PolyBrFR combinations. Additionally, ZnW demonstrated significant smoke-suppressing properties comparable with zinc stannate (ZnS)
Triple Helix as a Tool for Knowledge Management, Transfer and Entrepreneurial Outcomes on a European Scale: A Case Study of the RAGE Project.
No full textImpact of public procurement reform on public health service delivery case of Malawi
Get PDFProcurement of Medical Supplies in public hospitals has for many years faced a myriad of
challenges and constrictions that in many cases are detrimental to public health services delivery.
Disintegrated supply chain management is among the challenges in the public health sector. In 2019
Malawi registered 48% overall availability of medicine in public hospitals. On the other hand an
average of 52% stock out of medicines was on the higher side therefore this thesis intended to
investigate the possible causes with a focus on role of reformed Public Procurement as policy
intervention on how effective it has been in improving drug availability Public Health Services in
Malawi. For 39 years since independence Malawi had no public procurement legal framework in
place to regulate public sector procurement systems. Following the public outcry against poor
public services delivery that was believed to have been caused by glaring procurement system
inefficiencies and procurement related corruption, the Government responded with a reform in
Public Procurement as a policy intervention. The Public Procurement legal framework was in place
by 2003. The government intended to improve supply chain management by regulating its
functions, which seem to still be relevant factor for improved public service delivery to date. The
Malawi National Health Policy (2018) and the Health Sector Strategy Plan II, 2017 – 2022, (HSSP
II), continue to seek improvement of supply chain if health service delivery is to improve.
This thesis therefore assessed the impact of “Public Procurement Reform on Public Health Service
Delivery.” The assessment focused on critical broad objectives of the reform, which is efficiency
and economy. The reform has posted significant positive strides towards public procurement
transparency and accountability in public health service. However, following detailed data
collection and analysis, the research has exposed deficiencies on procurement economy and
efficiency. Deficient areas being lack of procurement professional capacity, noncompliance with
key provisions of the law and absence of store management framework in the reform. These
dimensions have related impact on availability of medicines in public health services.
These findings directly hinge on policy implication, knowledge contribution to procurement as a
field of study and practice and set a parameter for future research studies
The origins of a Global Political Economy of Education
Get PDFThis Chapters outlines the development of a Global Political Economy of Education from the recognition political economies in the early 19th Century and the formation of The Political Economy Club by John Mill. It examines the development of the political economy as it begins to impact on education from 1850 onward and enters the debate on the purpose of education as it was supported by the political economy
Integrated temperature and current controller for high power LEDs using luminescent lighting
Get PDFThe usage of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for lighting applications is significantly increasing. White light is the standard for these applications, it
is divided in different types of light: cold white, neutral white and warm
white depending on the application. Currently, there is no semiconductor
material available emitting white light directly. Thus, other coloured LEDs
are used and the emitted light of them is mixed to white light. As blue light
emitting LEDs have the best efficiency today, they are the most promising
base for white light. A part of the blue emitted light is converted into yellow light by a colour conversion layer placed on top of the semiconductor
structure. The resulting mixture of both; the blue and the yellow light is
recognised as white light by the human eye. By using this technique, a
high efficient white LED can be realised. Nevertheless, LEDs still convert
about 30 % to 90 % of power into heat. This power loss increases the LED
device temperature which often results in a significant decrease of the lifetime of the LED and a colour shift or lumen reduction. Common design
criteria of lights integrating LEDs lead to small size and low thermal conductivity, which enhances overheating of lighting systems. Therefore, a
thermal management for LEDs is mandatory to ensure long life with constant light quality of the LED, which is the scope of this thesis. Part of this
management is the determination of temperatures at different parts of the
LED device. The sophisticated, complex and compact LED structures prevent a direct temperature measurement at key spots. A thermalphysical
model of the LED is needed to determine temperatures at key points. Multiphysics simulations of typical LED structures are performed to develop a
model of the thermal behaviour inside the LED. Results of the simulation
are taken as basis for the development of a thermal measurement. The
forward voltage of a pn junction changes over temperature and can thus
be used as an existing temperature sensor in the LED. Beside the semiconductor temperature, the temperature of the colour conversion layer need
to be tracked too. Usually, the layer consist of phosphor embedded into
silicone. Overheating changes the emitted colour of the phosphor and lumen loss can increase. For all these reasons a thermal management including temperature determination is developed. It is integrated into the
LED driver and tested in a discreet development. Different approaches
have been tested, evaluated and optimized using the discrete structure.
The optimized approach was transferred in an ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) design combining LED driver, temperature measurement and thermal management in a single chip to achieve a small size, low cost highly integrated solution. The resulting chip controls the current of
the LED while determining and controlling the LED temperature even at
critical operation regions, which minimises risks of thermal hotspots
Adding University to work and life: The work-life balance and well-being experiences of women who combine employment, HE learning and care of the family
Get PDFIn this article, we considered women’s experiences of undertaking Higher Education (HE) study (Foundation Degree in Early Years (EY)) drawing on research based in the North of
England, UK. The study, informed by a social constructionist approach, explored ten women’s experiences of work-life balance and well-being alongside Higher Education (HE)
study through semi-structured interviews. A focus group explored women’s personal perceptions of work-life balance and well-being. The findings were analysed thematically
and we argue that the formation of a third sphere of commitment (HE study) disrupted WLB and created some disequilibrium, which impacted upon the women’s well-being. The women underwent a transformative process as initial academic inexperience and lack of belonging in University was replaced by confidence and student identity. This
transformation was made possible through personal adaptations, diverse strategies and motivation that indicated individual and collective resilience. One noticeable strategy
involved the overlapping of commitment spheres, including HE study taking place at home.
While being challenging to manage, this contributed to an important cultural shift as study became normal for households, creating the ‘learning family’
Living Mathematics
Get PDFI define my ‘living mathematics’ as my living-educational-theory of teaching and researching mathematics. I define ‘Living Mathematics’ as the overarching values-based approach to the teaching and research of mathematics as a parallel to the distinction made between ‘living-educational-theory’ and ‘Living Educational Theory research’. In this article I ask the question ‘how do I improve my practice of teaching and researching here?’ by exploring how I:
As a teacher can support mathematical thinking and the understanding of textbook concepts using a value based approach and,
As a researcher can enhance my mathematical thinking and modify, or create, mathematical models by calling upon my lived experiences, capturing and representing them in a symbolic form.
I define teaching and research pathways in Living Mathematics as sequences of useful and focused key actions. Four exemplar case studies of my living mathematics are discussed; two from the teaching pathway and two from the research pathway