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Attitudes to Research Ethics in Sub Saharan Africa; a phenomenographic based narrative inquiry
No full textBuilding on work presented at BESA 2015, this paper presents the results of phenomenographic research into the attitudes and practices of academic research ethics in Sub-Saharan Africa. By understanding the cultural underpinnings of African ethical philosophy, it aims to reconcile research practices in the region with the ethical compliance requirements and processes explicit in Western postgraduate research.Research is an important element of many postgraduate degrees and an understanding of the principles and policies associated with conducting research ethically is an important component of student research. For students of a British university operating in Sub-Saharan Africa there is a dichotomy between the requirements of the University, based on ethical rationalism, and the cultural context, influenced by pragmatism, in which they operate. Research by Grant and Gazdula (2017) found that students’ ethical compass was strongly influenced by cultural factors, the most prominent of these being family, tribe and religion.This paper builds on this previous work and presents the findings from a second phase of qualitative data collection (interviews) in Malawi and Zambia (May 2017) which looks specifically at the ways students engage with and experience the Research Ethics process to better understand the impacts that their culture, society and experience have on research ethics in a transnational context. It explores the challenges encountered as the students navigate their way through the University Ethical Processes within the societies in which they are researching
Triboelectric effect in energy harvesting
No full textWith the development of wearable technology, much research has been undertaken in the field of flexible and stretchable electronics for use in interactive attire. The challenging problem wearable technology faces is the ability to provide energy whilst keeping the endproduct comfortable, light, ergonomic and nonintrusive. Energy harvesting, or energy scavenging as it is also known, is the process by which ambient energy is captured and converted into electric energy. The triboelectric effect converts mechanical energy into electrical energy based on the coupling effect of triboelectrification and electrostatic induction and is utilized as the basis for triboelectric generators (TEG). TEG's are promising for energy harvesting due their high output power and efficiency in conjunction with simple and economical production. Due to the wide availability of materials and ease of integration, in order to produce the triboelectric effect such functional materials are effective for wearable energy harvesting systems. Flexible TEG's can be built and embedded into attire, although a thorough understanding of the underlying principle of how TEG's operate needs to be comprehended for the development and in incorporation in smart technical textiles. This paper presents results associated with TEG'S and discusses their suitability for energy harvesting in textiles structures
Advances in piezoelectric thin films for acoustic biosensors, acoustofluidics and lab-on-chip applications
No full textRecently, piezoelectric thin films including zinc oxide (ZnO) and aluminium nitride (AlN) have found a broad range of lab-on-chip applications such as biosensing, particle/cell concentrating, sorting/patterning, pumping, mixing, nebulisation and jetting. Integrated acoustic wave sensing/microfluidic devices have been fabricated by depositing these piezoelectric films onto a number of substrates such as silicon, ceramics, diamond, quartz, glass, and more recently also polymer, metallic foils and bendable glass/silicon for making flexible devices. Such thin film acoustic wave devices have great potential for implementing integrated, disposable, or bendable/flexible lab-on-a-chip devices into various sensing and actuating applications. This paper discusses the recent development in engineering high performance piezoelectric thin films, and highlights the critical issues such as film deposition, MEMS processing techniques, control of deposition/processing parameters, film texture, doping, dispersion effects, film stress, multilayer design, electrode materials/designs and substrate selections. Finally, advances in using thin film devices for lab-on-chip applications are summarised and future development trends are identified
The role of transformational leadership in reinforcing product and service innovation : the direct and indirect impact. A case of Jordanian telecommunication sector.
No full textToday, the world is witnessing huge and comprehensive developments in the social, political and economic aspects of life. This dynamic environment describes the rapid change which can be attributed toward recent developments in the telecommunication tools. Evolving technology has transformed the world into one big country, a phenomenon referred to as globalisation. Jordan is a developing country and can tremendously benefit from this surge of rapidly evolving technologies. Recently, the telecommunication industry has gained massive attention because of the latest technologies that are catering to the growing demands of society. Innovation is the key element in this equation, particularly, in this sector since this sector is responsible for delivering the latest products and services that enhance the various aspects of life.On the one hand, leadership in organisations is characterised as a vital factor and trigger for managing people in this sector to be more innovative. On the other hand, it is imperative that leaders in such organisations possess specific skills equipping them to encourage and support employees for critical thinking and problem-solving. This in turn augments the idea generation process that results in the production of innovative products and services. Correspondingly, transformational leadership style gained more attention in the past two decades and is described as the main engine propelling the innovation wheel. Likewise, job satisfaction is fundamental to the efficient functioning of organisations. However, job satisfaction is likely to be the most affected by the leadership. In addition, knowledge sharing is identified as one of the most vital assets for organisations. Furthermore, knowledge sharing sustains a comparative advantage that allows an organisation to acquire a superior position among the competitors. Moreover, it is also a key element for enhancing the innovation. Also, previous literature has revealed that transformational leadership is one of the most influential styles that positively affects knowledge sharing, job satisfaction, and innovation.The current study responds to the call for more investigation regarding the direct impact of transformational leadership (TL) on innovation (INN). In addition, the study seeks to scrutinise the indirect impact of (TL) on (INN) through the mediating role of job satisfaction (JS) and the moderating role of knowledge sharing (KS), particularly in the context of Jordanian Telecommunication Sector (JTS). The study has been conducted by employing mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative). Therefore, for all study purposes a concurrent strategy was used, with the collection of quantitative data from the employees of this sector, and 486 valid responses were used to test the casual relationships among the study’s variables. Besides, 25 teams’ leaders from one company were interviewed for the qualitative analysis purpose. These interviews were designed and structured with the aim to explain the results obtained from the quantitative part.For the quantitative part, structural equation modelling (SEM) has been employed with Amos23 software in addition to SPSS software. Also, paths analysis was used to investigate the direct impact of TL behaviours on INN and the indirect impact through the mediating role of JS. The results revealed a direct positive impact of the TL on INN, and identified TL as the ideal style of leadership suited to this sector. However, the results also showed that TL behaviours have a positive and direct impact on the promotion and enhancement of the JS level among employees in this sector. Moreover, the study showed that JS acts as a vital element in the relationship between TL and INN in JTS. Additionally, JS was found to partially mediate this relationship. Alternatively, multi-group and interaction analysis were both employed for the purpose of investigating the moderating role of KS. The study found that KS moderated the relationship between TL and INN in JTS. The qualitative part, however, revealed differences and similarities in practising TL behaviours among team leaders in different departments within the same company. These differences lead to different consequences on JS as well as INN.The study has made significant contributions to the theoretical, practical, or/and methodological aspects. Theoretically, it contributes to the assertion on the direct impact of TL on INN, the mediating role of JS, and the moderating role of KS in the relationship between TL and INN. It also offers a better understanding regarding these relations in the business environment; particularly, in the telecommunication industry within a developing country. Although, Jordan qualifies for such an evaluative insight, it has been ignored from such a systematic investigation of the telecommunications sector. Moreover, the study provides a theoretical framework that links all variables undertaken in this investigation and can be instrumental towards other future researches evaluating such relationships. On the practical aspect, the study offers a number of recommendations that are worthy and helpful towards more developments in the telecommunication industry. Finally, the study uses a mixed methods approach that leverages the advantages of using two methods rather than one single method
Mechanical and comfort properties of Hydroentangled nonwovens from comber noil
No full textCotton fibre is one of the most important commodity fibre and is widely employed in apparels. At present, the share of natural fibres in production of nonwoven fabrics is low and employed in opt applications. The cotton fibre is conventionally converted into woven and knitted fabrics by short staple spinning methods. The comber noil is short fibre waste during production of combed cotton yarns. The aims of the current study were to employ comber noil for preparation of Hydroentangled cotton nonwovens at varying water jet pressures and conveyor speeds. The effect of these parameters is studied with respect to mechanical and comfort properties of prepared fabrics. The results showed that these variables can help to manufacture fibrous assemblies with engineered properties according to required application area
High-resolution spatial modelling of greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change to energy crops in the United Kingdom
No full textWe implemented a spatial application of a previously evaluated model of soil GHG emissions, ECOSSE, in the United Kingdom to examine the impacts to 2050 of land-use transitions from existing land use, rotational crop- land, permanent grassland or woodland, to six bioenergy crops; three ‘first-generation’ energy crops: oilseed rape, wheat and sugar beet, and three ‘second-generation’ energy crops: Miscanthus, short rotation coppice wil- low (SRC) and short rotation forestry poplar (SRF). Conversion of rotational crops to Miscanthus, SRC and SRF and conversion of permanent grass to SRF show beneficial changes in soil GHG balance over a significant area.Conversion of permanent grass to Miscanthus, permanent grass to SRF and forest to SRF shows detrimental changes in soil GHG balance over a significant area. Conversion of permanent grass to wheat, oilseed rape, sugar beet and SRC and all conversions from forest show large detrimental changes in soil GHG balance over most of the United Kingdom, largely due to moving from uncultivated soil to regular cultivation. Differences in net GHG emissions between climate scenarios to 2050 were not significant. Overall, SRF offers the greatest bene- ficial impact on soil GHG balance. These results provide one criterion for selection of bioenergy crops and do not consider GHG emission increases/decreases resulting from displaced food production, bio-physical factors (e.g. the energy density of the crop) and socio-economic factors (e.g. expenditure on harvesting equipment).Given that the soil GHG balance is dominated by change in soil organic carbon (SOC) with the difference among Miscanthus, SRC and SRF largely determined by yield, a target for management of perennial energy crops is to achieve the best possible yield using the most appropriate energy crop and cultivar for the local situation
TeleLab for Decentralized Hybrid Power System with renewables.
No full textTraining, education and research on renewable based power systems and automation is the topic of discourse among scientific and academic community. Renewable energy generation technologies are viewed as one of the solution that could significantly contribute to solve the problems associated with global warming and environment destruction. They are clean, available in abundance and distributed in nature. This means, on one side, there are huge solar or wind parks generating energy for large number of households connected over grid and on the other side, there are stand-alone systems capable of satisfying energy requirements of a single household. For efficient operation and control of these systems, trained and educated power system engineers are required. In order to increase acceptability of these systems among common people, awareness regarding the system and its operation is significant. Theoretical and simulation based platforms are useful but not sufficient to deliver power systems education. There is requirement of a platform which would offer opportunity of learning through interaction with real system hardware. It should be affordable, easy to access and familiar to most of the users. The concept should extend further to include a defined learning methodology which could offer the best education value from the experiment.In this thesis, methodology to use the idea of TeleLab (also known as remote lab or web lab) for Hybrid Power System (HPS) with renewables is proposed, implemented and evaluated on the basis of its purpose to offer high educational value to the users and its ability to promote knowledge and technology transfer between users and institutions all over the world. The purpose of this PhD work is to take advantage of remote communication technology like internet to access labs or research facilities/infrastructure to promote power systems education.This work is aimed at developing a TeleLab with focus on renewable based HPS. The knowledge of information technology, automation technology and power systems engineering is used to describe best practice to perform renewable energy experiments from remote location. The remote experiment platform would be cost effective and could be used for technology and knowledge transfer among users located in remotely accessible areas, those with physical disabilities, those representing educational and research institutions and including those who represent professional firms. Resources could be shared between different institutions along with promoting collaborative learning and research activities focused on power engineering education. Development of this remote platform to perform real experiments offer several economic advantages to the users like saving in travel time and costs, saving in infrastructure investments, saving in lab personnel costs, possibility to use the experiment environment with greater flexibility and for longer time. Social advantages offered by this approach to the user are in terms of possibility to establish good work-life balance. Significant benefits are offered for users from developing or poor countries where possibilities of investments in costly lab infrastructure are rare.The thesis discusses scientific contribution to knowledge like design, development and implementation of the hardware structure of HPS consisting of renewable energy technologies like solar and wind supported by battery system. Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is used to automate the HPS which functions as a “smart system” contributing to the idea of smart grid. It performs operations like reading and recording system parameters, monitoring and control of system components, management of system load and management of battery charging mechanism. This follows by design, development and implementation of TeleLab to monitor and control the system from remote location over internet. This involves the task of development and implementation of safety and security measures related to the proposed system. It was aimed to develop a remote lab which offers high educational value to the user. This was achieved by proposing innovative thinking in designing and development of learning activities on MOODLE learning management system. To facilitate efficient solving of issues related to the lab and to encourage participation of users in the experiment design and development process, a feedback mechanism was proposed. Methodology to analyze, evaluate and assess system as well as user performance assisted by possibility to provide suggestions or guidance for improvement was proposed. The thesis concludes by presenting results about the performance of the HPS using TeleLab platform and its impact over user performance with respect to knowledge and technology transfer. This analysis is performed by evaluating and assessing user performance in comparison to hands-on lab and TeleLab. Economic impact of remote experimentation for users and institutions is discussed in this thesis. At the end, possible future aspects of this concept are discussed
‘Something axiomatic on the nature of articulacy’: Don Paterson’s ‘An Elliptical Stylus’ as ars poetica
No full textScholarly study of the British author Don Paterson’s work may be in its infancy, but the poem ‘An Elliptical Stylus’, from his first collection of poetry Nil Nil (1993), has already attracted a considerable degree of critical attention. This essay discusses various appraisals of the poem, within a detailed exploration of the ways in which divides between, and anxieties surrounding, social classes in contemporary Britain are re-evaluated and redressed within the work. It argues that the poem’s stylistic techniques – its estrangement of the ordinary through perceptually transformative use of quotidian detail, augmented by direct address to the reader and use of personae – also serve to expose the frequently mutable, incoherent nature of personal identity, destabilising broader notions of a unified sense of self. As such, the essay proposes that ‘An Elliptical Stylus’ represents an embryonic ars poetica, and should be viewed not only as a crucial poem in the stylistic and underlying thematic development of Paterson’s writing, but as a key poem in the postmodern canon
The effect of energy on output per worker in the Balkan Peninsula: A country-specific study of 12 nations in the Energy Community
No full textIn this paper, we explore the long-run co-integration relationship between output per worker, capital per worker and energy per worker for 12 countries in the Balkan Peninsula (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey) which are part of the Energy Community. In line with the current developments in energy economics [62], we add to the literature by reviewing the elasticity coefficients for the 12 countries using the augmented Solow [63] framework and the ARDL bounds procedure [57]. The causality nexus is explored using the Toda and Yamamoto (1995) procedure. The results show that output, capital and energy (in per worker terms) are co-integrated. We note that all countries have positive and statistically significant long-run energy elasticity coefficients. Except for Macedonia, we note that energy is statistically significant in the short-run for all other countries. The causality results support the conservation hypothesis for 7 countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Turkey); the growth hypothesis for 2 countries (Austria and Macedonia); and the feedback hypothesis for 3 countries (Greece, Slovakia and Slovenia), respectively
A positive psychology workshop for trainee assistant practitioners
No full textThis article discusses, first, how trainee assistant practitioners (TAPs) can learn transferable positive psychological interventions to enable them to flourish at work and in higher education.Second, they can also learn the importance of maintaining their wellbeing when dealing with the demands of providing supportive, high-quality care in a changeable workforce environment.An overview is provided of a one-day pilot workshop, delivered as a summer school, to learners beginning their second year of study, with an outline of the range of interventions used. Results are presented showing that the pilot workshops achieved their goals. Students finished the workshops with a significantly greater appreciation of their own strengths and recognised their need to be more self-compassionate.Finally, the potential of further developing the workshop/toolkit to enhance personal and professional self-efficacy is considered