29295 research outputs found
Sort by
Identification of Cultural Heuristics for the creation of consistent and fair pedagogy for ethnically diverse students.
Get PDFThis book chapter intends to illustrate the complexity of supporting culturally diverse students in UK Higher Education Business Schools and how this complexity is compounded by pedagogy, which is shaped by educational practice that is dominated by aspirations of Western culture. The role that culturally responsive teaching can play as an approach to meeting the educational needs of students whose educational framework and culture are different from western mainstream education is also explored within the context of UK Business Schools. This chapter investigates the cultural constructs of culturally responsive teaching within the structured framework of the five-pillars of Jabbar and Hardaker (2013). We propose, through the identification of the cultural constructs, that within HE there are gaps within fundamental areas that should be developed to consistently engage with students in a fair, consistent and equitable manner
Time! What’s that? You’re joking, I don’t have any!
No full textThe purpose of this study is to understand how lecturers delivering college-based higher education viewed their workloads, and how this (if at all), influenced their engagement in scholastic activities, which may then enable them to become more knowledgeable in their chosen field of study. The research was of a qualitative nature, whereby semi-structured, in-depth interviews were undertaken with 26 individual lecturers employed at different further education colleges throughout the Yorkshire and Humber region. It was found that lack of time and onerous administrative responsibilities on top of their current workload were two of the major issues these lecturers were facing in their current roles. As a result, it is recommended that an independent audit be conducted to ascertain FE lecturers’ contact time with students and that ways in which to reduce their administrative duties be considered
Investigation of a new bis(carboxylate)triazole-based anchoring ligand for dye solar cell chromophore complexes
No full textA novel anchoring ligand for dye-sensitised solar cell chromophoric complexes, 1-(2,2′-bipyrid-4-yl)-1,2,3-triazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid (dctzbpy), is described. The new dye complexes [Ru(bpy)2(dctzbpy)][PF6]2 (AS16), [Ir(ppy)2(dctzbpy)][PF6] (AS17) and [Re(dctzbpy)(CO)3Cl] (AS18) were prepared in a two stage procedure with intermediate isolation of their diester analogues, AS16-Et2, AS17-Et2 and AS18-Et2 respectively. Electrochemical analysis of AS16-Et2, AS17-Et2 and AS18-Et2 reveal reduction potentials in the range −1.50 to −1.59 V (vs. Fc+/Fc) which are cathodically shifted with respect to that of the model complex [Ru(bpy)2(dcbH2)]2+ (1) (Ered = −1.34 V, dcbH2 = 2,2′-bipyridyl-4,4′-dicarboxylic acid). This therefore demonstrates that the LUMO of the complex is correctly positioned for favourable electron transfer into the TiO2 conduction band upon photoexcitation. The higher energy LUMOs for AS16 to AS18 and a larger HOMO–LUMO gap result in blue-shifted absorption spectra and hence reduced light harvesting efficiency relative to their dcbH2 analogues. Preliminary tests on TiO2 n-type and NiO p-type DSSCs have been carried out. In the cases of the Ir(III) and Re(I) based dyes AS17 and AS18 these show inferior performance to their dcbH2 analogues. However, the Ru(II) dye AS16 (η = 0.61%) exhibits significantly greater efficiency than 1 (η = 0.1%). In a p-type cell AS16 shows the highest photovoltaic efficiency (η = 0.028%), almost three times that of cells incorporating the benchmark dye coumarin C343
Microwave processed solid dispersions for enhanced dissolution of gemfibrozil using non-ordered mesoporous silica
No full textThis study describes the application of three non-ordered mesoporous silicas (Syloid AL-1, Syloid 72 and Syloid 244) in improving the dissolution rate of a poorly aqueous soluble drug, namely gemfibrozil. For this purpose, solid dispersions were formulated using a robust and controlled microwave heating method. Prepared formulations were subjected to solid state characterisation and dissolution behaviour. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results confirmed that microwave heating method incorporated gemfibrozil in an amorphous form in Syloid 72 and Syloid 244. This was attributed to a large pore volume and diameter compared with Syloid AL-1 which has a small pore volume. Presence of more crystalline drug in the case of Syloid AL-1 based formulations was attributed to larger surface area where drug was adsorbed in layers as confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy. DSC and XRD results also confirmed stability of formulations when stored for 3 months under stressed conditions (40 °C and 75% RH). FT-IR results show lack of interaction between silica and the drug in all cases. It was also noted that all three silica types improved the dissolution behaviour of gemfibrozil when compared with dissolution properties of pure drug. The surface properties of Syloid 72 were found optimum as it enhanced the rate of dissolution of gemfibrozil from microwave processed formulation far better than physically mixed formulations and those prepared with Syloid AL-1 and Syloid 24
Prioritizing young people's emotional health support needs through participatory research
Get PDFIntroduction
Youth mental health is a global concern. Emotional health promotes mental health and protects against mental illness. Youth value self-care for emotional health, but we need better understanding of how to help them look after their emotional health. Participatory research is relevant, since meaningful engagement with youth via participatory research enhances the validity and relevance of research findings and supports young people's rights to involvement in decisions that concern them.
Aim
We aimed to develop a participatory approach for involving youth in research about their emotional health support preferences.
Method
Our team included a young expert-by-experience. We developed a qualitative, participatory research design. Eleven youth (16-18 years) participated in focus groups, followed immediately by a nominal group exercise in which they analysed the data, thus enhancing methodological rigour.
Results
This process highlighted youth perspectives on self-care strategies for emotional health.
Discussion and Implications for Practice: Our simple participatory research approach generated trustworthy and credible findings, which accurately reflect youth perspectives and are consistent with the literature, endorsing our method. Young people said that they want reassurances of quality and safety when accessing digital mental health resources. These findings can inform future development of youth-oriented digital mental health resources
Nano-scratch testing of (Ti,Fe)Nx thin films on silicon
No full textThin films of (Ti,Fe)Nx have been produced on silicon wafers with a wide range of compositions and mechanical properties to investigate correlations between the mechanical properties measured by indentation and crack resistance in the highly loaded sliding contact in a nano-scratch test. The nano-scratch test data on the thin films using a well-worn Berkovich indenter with ~1 m end radius were supported by high resolution scanning electron microscopic (SEM) imaging and analytical stress modelling. The results show that mechanical properties of the coating, its thickness and the substrate properties all influence the deformation process. They affect the critical loads required, the type of failures observed and their location relative to the moving probe. The differences in coating mechanical properties affect how the interface is weakened (i.e. by initial substrate or coating yielding or both) and determine the deformation failure mechanism. The load dependence of the friction coefficient provides details of the sliding contact zone and the location of failure relative to the sliding probe. Improved performance was achieved at intermediate hardness and H3/E2 in the nano-scratch tests on thin films. The friction and modelling results strongly suggest that failure at low load on the hardest coatings is due to a combination of high tensile stress at the rear of the contact zone and substrate yield. Designing thin films for protective coatings with in-built dissipative structures (such as soft and low elastic modulus inclusions) and mechanisms to combat stress may be a more successful route to optimise their toughness in highly loaded sliding conditions than aiming to minimise plasticity by increasing their hardness
Estimating the relative cost of track damage mechanisms: combining economic and engineering approaches
No full textThis paper proposes a new, two-stage methodology to estimate the relative marginal cost of different vehicle types running on rail infrastructure. This information is important particularly where infrastructure managers wish to differentiate track access charges by vehicle type for the purpose of incentivising the development and use of more track friendly vehicles. EU legislation requires that European infrastructure managers set access charges based on the incremental (marginal) cost of running trains on their networks.
The novelty of the approach derives from the combination of: (1) engineering simulation methods that estimate the track damage caused by rail vehicles; and (2) econometric methods that estimate the relationship between actual maintenance costs and the different damage mechanisms. This two-stage approach fills an important gap in the literature, given the limitations of existing “single-stage” engineering or econometric approaches in obtaining relative marginal costs for different types of damage.
We demonstrate the feasibility of the method using 45 track sections from Sweden, for which we have data on maintenance costs together with relevant track and vehicle data for 2012
(supplied by the Swedish Transport Administration). We demonstrate the feasibility of producing summary, section-level damage measures for three damage mechanisms (wear, rolling contact fatigue and settlement) which can be taken forward into the second stage. The second stage econometric results indicate that it is possible to obtain sensible relationships between cost and the different damage types – and thus produce relative marginal costs by damage mechanism and in turn vehicle type. Based on this feasibility study, settlement is found to be the most costly (in terms of maintenance cost) of the three mechanisms, followed by rolling contact fatigue and then wear. Future applications should focus on larger datasets in order to produce the required degree of precision on the marginal cost estimates
A narrative based model of differentiating rioters
Get PDFThe present study applied a narrative analysis upon rioter accounts of their motivations during the August 2011 England riots. To the authors’ knowledge, this piece of research was the first to utilise narrative theory to explore the phenomenon of Rioting. Narrative accounts of twenty rioters were compiled from media, online and published sources. Content analysis of the cases produced a set of 47 variables relating to offenders’ motivations given when describing their criminality. Data were subjected to Smallest Space Analysis (SSA), a non-metric multidimensional scaling procedure and results revealed four distinct themes: the Professional Rioter, the Revengeful Rioter, the Victim Rioter and the Adventurer Rioter in line with previous research conducted on differing crime types (Canter et al, 2003; Youngs and Canter, 2011). The four narrative themes are consistent with motivations identified in previous theories
Template Analysis for Business and Management Students
No full textThis book explains what Template Analysis is, its place in qualitative research, and the main strengths and limitations of this method. Practical case studies and examples from published research guide you through how to use it in your own research project
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage University of Huddersfield Repository? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!