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Topology optimisation of wireless sensor networks
Get PDFWireless sensor networks are widely used in a variety of fields including industrial environments. In case of a clustered network the location of cluster head affects the reliability of the network operation. Finding of the optimum location of the cluster head, therefore, is critical for the design of a network. This paper discusses the optimisation approach, based on the brute force algorithm, in the context of topology optimisation of a cluster structure centralised wireless sensor network. Two examples are given to verify the approach that demonstrate the implementation of the brute force algorithm to find an optimum location of the cluster head
The New Indices of Religious Orientation Revised (NIROR): A study among Canadian adolescents attending a Baptist Youth Mission and service event
Get PDFThis study explores the properties of the New Indices of Religious Orientation Revised (NIROR) among a sample of 521 Canadian adolescents attending a Baptist youth mission and service event, ranging in age from 12 to 19 years. This revision simplified the language of the original instrument to increase its accessibility among young people. The data support the internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the three revised nine-item scales designed to operationalise extrinsic religious orientation, intrinsic religious orientation, and quest religious orientation
Promoting empathy through immersive learning
Get PDFObjectives: This paper reports on a mixed methods study to explore the use of immersive learning with a convenience sample of healthcare students (seven of Mental Health Nursing and twelve of Occupational therapy) in promoting empathy. Two immersive learning scenarios were created using real life stories of the symptoms experienced by people with psychosis and sufferers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Methods: Data were collected using a mixed methods approach: quantatively, using a pre and post test measure using two previously validated tools together with qualitative reflections related to the immersive learning experience.
Results: The quantitative aspect of the study demonstrated that the immersive experience solidified the already positive attitude that the participants had towards mental health and to empathy. The qualitative findings demonstrate that immersive learning brought an awareness of being empathic to the fore.
Conclusions: The findings provide evidence regarding the impact of immersive learning as a pedagogical approach. The experience provided students with an opportunity to embody people with mental illness, and students were able to consider their own future practice in relation to people experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations and flashbacks associated with PTSD
Apostolic Networks in Britain Revisited
Get PDFThis paper presents an account of the theological ideas that led to the formation of apostolic networks in Britain in the 1970s. It takes note of the function of theology as a driver of ecclesiastical innovation and offers the thesis that, while theology provides ideas and arguments, society is the receptacle into which these ideas are poured. Consequently similar ideas will be expressed in different social forms as society changes. The changes within apostolic networks in the last 15 years are commented upon and the appearance of meta-networks is noted. Equally the emergence of networks within denominational settings is flagged up
Temperament theory and congregation studies: different types for different services?
Get PDFTemperament theory and psychological type theory provide a tool for assessing and interpreting the profile of church congregations. In this study the profiles of the three congregations (Ns = 43, 110, 43) at one Anglican church (given the pseudonym of Holy Trinity Church) are situated against the normative profile generated by the congregations at 140 Anglican churches (N = 3302). The data demonstrate that normative profile attracts a high proportion of the Epimethean Temperament at 72%. The two morning services at Holy Trinity Church replicated the profile at 65% and 74%. The evening service, however, attracted a significantly lower proportion of the Epimethean Temperament (47%) with a corresponding significantly higher proportion of the Apollonian Temperament. These findings support the view that individual churches are able to offer diverse provisions that generate congregations with distinctively different psychological profiles
Learning about alcohol: Personal experiences taken into social work practice
Get PDFThis article explores social workers’ knowledge of alcohol, as acquired through their experiences of familial and personal drinking. In doing so, it explores how non-codified knowledge acquisition complements that of the classroom, policy guidance and textbooks. It does so by presenting a data subset which is an extraction from a more comprehensive study of social workers’ knowledge of alcohol. The overall study adopted a predominantly qualitative methods approach: in particular biographically structured interviews with fifteen qualified social workers. The contextual considerations are presented first, before abundance of illustrative data which demonstrate how social workers’ knowledge of alcohol is significantly contributed to through familial and personal experiences. The detailed exploration is set within a number of distinct themes; learning from family drinking, accounts of personal drinking, explorations of defining drinking through language and social workers’ individual relationships with alcohol. Discussion is set within the data presentation and highlights how these moments of learning strongly influence understanding of alcohol: a topic which is an increasingly significant element in most social work practice. The discourse is set within a context which explores how working within more inclusive typologies and frameworks for social work knowledge has potential implications for accepting that social work practice is additionally informed by understanding acquired beyond the classroom or office setting
"You can trust me…" Young people going missing and at risk of, or abused through, child sexual exploitation in North Wales
Get PDFChild sexual exploitation (CSE) has been a strategic priority, and a key area for practice development, for Barnardo’s for over two decades. Within Wales, Barnardo’s Cymru has worked closely with the Welsh Government since 2005 to support the development of robust policy and practice guidance to address CSE in Wales. Established research and practice evidence demonstrates a strong correlation between children and young people going missing and risk of sexual exploitation. Over the past few years, a series of high-profile prosecutions of cases of CSE have raised public awareness of this crime. Networks of perpetrators who had been abusing children and young people over many years were uncovered in Rotherham, Rochdale, Derby, Sheffield, Manchester and Oxford, leading to an increase in activity across all sectors to improve safeguarding and disrupt perpetrators. This research aims to improve understanding of the nature of the relationship between going missing and CSE, and to improve responses to children and young people at risk. Although this issue has been considered at a UK level, very little research into children and young people who go missing and the link between going missing and risk of CSE has been undertaken in Wales. This research was carried out in North Wales but might usefully inform practice across Wale
Synthesis of a discrete-action thermo-bimetallic actuator with a tongue
Get PDFThe selection of suitable parameters, by experimental or intuitive processes for snap-through actuation of a bimetallic actuator at a prescribed temperature is an extremely time-consuming task. This paper describes a new methodology for the optimization of a discrete action thermo-bimetallic actuator with a tongue. This methodology makes it possible to solve the optimization task with higher efficiency. The requirement is to find optimal parameters values so that the actuator will make a snap-through at a given temperature. The constrained optimization task was performed using an evolutional algorithm and surrogate modelling and this was coded in Matlab. Functional relationships between the criteria and parameters were not set explicitly, but they were calculated using finite element method, each simulation of which was performed in Abaqus
The Sound of the Smell (and taste) of my Shoes too: Mapping the Senses using Emotion as a Medium
Get PDFThis work discusses basic human senses: sight; sound; touch; taste; and smell; and the way in which it may be possible to compensate for lack of one, or more, of these by explicitly representing stimuli using the remaining senses. There may be many situations or scenarios where not all five of these base senses are being stimulated, either because of an optional restriction or deficit or because of a physical or sensory impairment such as loss of sight or touch sensation. Related to this there are other scenarios where sensory matching problems may occur. For example: a user immersed in a virtual environment may have a sense of smell from the real world that is unconnected to the virtual world. In particular, this paper is concerned with how sound can be used to compensate for the lack of other sensory stimulation and vice-versa. As a link is well established already between the visual, touch, and auditory systems, more attention is given to taste and smell, and their relationship with sound. This work presents theoretical concepts, largely oriented around mapping other sensory qualities to sound, based upon existing work in the literature and emerging technologies, to discuss where particular gaps currently exist, how emotion could be a medium to cross-modal representations, and how these might be addressed in future research. It is postulated that descriptive qualities, such as timbre or emotion, are currently the most viable routes for further study and that this may be later integrated with the wider body of research into sensory augmentation