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Improving accuracy of downscaling rainfall by combining predictions of different statistical downscale models
No full textA flexible framework of multi-model of three statistical downscaling approaches was established in which predictions from these models were used as inputs to Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Traditional ANN, Simple Average Method (SAM), and combining models (SDSM, Multiple Linear Regressions (MLR), Generalized Linear Model (GLM)) were applied to a studied site in North-western England. Model performance criteria of each of the primary and combining models were evaluated. The obtained results indicate that different downscaling methods can gain diverse usefulness and weakness in simulating various rainfall characteristics under different circumstances. The combining ANN model showed more adaptability by acquiring better overall performance, while GLM, MLR and showed comparable results and the SDSM reveals relatively less accurate results in modelling most of the rainfall amount. Furthermore traditional ANN has been tested and showed poor performance in reproducing the observed rainfall compared with above methods. The results also show that the superiority of the combining approach model over the single models is promising to be implemented to improve downscaling rainfall at a single site
Transparent triboelectric generators based on glass and polydimethylsiloxane
No full textGlasses are widely used in modern society, mostly for achieving brightness for buildings, transportations etc.Here a transparent triboelectric generator (TEG) based on commercially available glasses and polydimethylsi-loxane (PDMS) plates is proposed and fabricated to harvest mechanical energy. Using flat glass and PDMSplates, an open voltage, short-circuit current and power up to 850 V, 20.6 μA and 3.13 mW are achieved fordevices with 5 cm×5 cm dimension, whereas the transparency of glass and PDMS structures exceeds 81% and89%, respectively. The TEGs show excellent mechanical stability and reliability upon cyclical contact for 10,000times. The voltage and power outputs of the glass based TEGs improve with increasing contact force, frequencyand distance, and with decreasing glass thickness and humidity level. Our results demonstrate the feasibility toutilize abundant glass windows to fabricate transparent TEGs for energy harvesting, which could make a greatcontribution to the sustainable developmen
The effectiveness of teacher appraisal policies and practices in vocational and technical education: a case study using comparative analyses of teachers' perspectives in the UK and Turkey
No full textTeacher appraisal is a controversial issue in the field of education. The purpose of an appraisal is primarily regarded as the assessment of one’s teaching performance.However, professional development activities are a significant aspect as well. In this regard, this dissertation is inspired by the researcher’s previous experiences, which show that professional development appraisal is mostly ignored. In this sense, this study investigates teachers’ perspectives on the effectiveness of teacher appraisal in terms of teachers’ professional development in Turkey and the United Kingdom.Countries legislate policies for effective teacher appraisal. However, the effect of the practices of these policies can be controversial in terms of teachers' professional development. In this regard, the main aim of the study is to determine the effects of the appraisal systems on teachers’ professional development in different countries.Two schools—one from Turkey and one from the United Kingdom—have been selected as the cases with which to investigate research question. Based on this selection, a comparative case study is used as a methodology and a structured questionnaire, distributed to participants, is implemented in this empirical study.The results of the study show that the UK teachers’ perceptions are more optimistic than those of the Turkish teachers. However, teachers believe that teacher appraisal policies and practices do not affect their professional development sufficiently in Turkey and the UK. Teachers’ perceptions also indicate that the variety and frequency of the methods used should be increased in their schools
An assessment of factors affecting quality of service delivery in municipalities (A case of Blantyre City Council)
No full textTo deliver quality services to customers is the desire of every public organisation, but what matters is to find a proper way on how it should be done. The main purpose of this research was to investigate and establish factors affecting the quality of service delivery in municipalities and recommend a theory or a framework that could enhance it using Blantyre City Council as a case study.A survey was conducted using three zoning areas of Blantyre city thus; residential (high, medium, low) density, industrial (light, heavy) and commercial areas. Three aspects of service delivery (technical, financial and community participation & customer relations) were used to identify problems that affect service delivery in municipalities. To identify factors contributing to poor service delivery, five key elements of service quality (responsiveness, reliability, assurance, empathy and tangibles) were used. To make sure that there was triangulation, structured interview with key persons of the areas and the researcher’s personal judgment were used. Being a qualitative study, purposive sampling with maximum variation was used to choose the samples.There is a great need for Blantyre City Council to improve on its existing infrastructure, find a technique of sustaining its finances and improve on its customer relations/community participation to pave way for quality delivery of services. This could work well if the services of the Council are reliable with a quick response to people’s needs while the employees show empathy and are able to assure the customers of their needs. Physicality of all the resources used need to be in good condition.The evidence collected in the research could be used with a few areas that could need further research although the study was meant to be for academic purposes
Understanding Design from a Second-Order Cybernetics Perspective: Is There a Place for Material Agency?
No full textOpen peer commentary on the article “Design Research as a Variety of Second-Order Cybernetic Practice” by Ben Sweeting. Upshot: This commentary supports Sweeting’s case for the relationship between the design tradition, second-order cybernetics and second-order science. It argues, however, that the extension of this argument to other intellectual traditions and areas of practice is complicated by differing views of material agency
Modelling analysis of heat transfer in polymeric materials exposed to different heating scenarios
No full textPolymers undergo physical, chemical and structural changes when exposed to heat and/or fire. Thermoplastics melt, decompose and burn; thermosets decompose, char and/or burn, depending on the temperature changes due to external incident heat flux.Detailed in this thesis is a theoretical and numerical heat transfer study, which is undertaken to simulate and experimentally validated temperature variations during melting, decomposition, charring and ignition phases of polymers. For melting, thermoplastic polymers (polypropylene, polyester, polyamide 6, polymethyl methacrylate, polycarbonate and polystyrene) have been used, whereas for decomposition, charring and ignition glass fibre – reinforced epoxy composites have been chosen.For each case a one-dimensional finite difference method, using Matlab as the operator has been developed to determine the transient temperature distributions within the different types of polymers materials. The convective and radiative heat transfer boundary conditions, at the exposed and unexposed sides of polymer samples, have also been taken into account accordingly. While some experimental results to validate the different numerical models built are from other researchers’ work at Bolton, in addition to these, other sets of experiments were specifically developed for this work.The melting behaviour of thermoplastics has been modelled in two scenarios: (i) vertically oriented sample where melt dripping occurs and (ii) horizontally oriented sample within a contained holder in order that the mass will not escape from the containment region. In the the first scenario the sample was placed in a tube furnace, where the radiant heat is uniform on all sides of the sample. This is based on the experimental methodology developed at Bolton University in an earlier project which studied the melt dripping behaviour of polymers. The thermogravimetric and rheological analysis of molten drops had indicated that, depending upon the temperature of the furnace (external heat flux) and the structure of the polymer, in some cases it was pure melting whereas in others it was accompanied by a partial decomposition of the polymer. A one-dimensional finite difference method based on a moving boundary approach has been developed to model the temperatures of the molten drops polymers. The simulated results showed good agreement with the molten drops’ temperatures measured by experiments. In addition, using kinetic parameters, degrees of decomposition in drops obtained at different furnace temperatures were also simulated, which were validated with previous experimental results.For the second scenario, in which the sample is placed horizontally in a container, experiments were conducted using a cone calorimeter with the heat applied only on the top surface, while the other sides of the polymer sample are insulated, A further one-dimensional finite difference method based on a Stefan approach involving phase changing material, has been developed to determine the melting point temperature and to estimate the temperature profile within the polymer slab, to simulate pure melting and melting plus partial decomposition which may or may not catch fire depending upon the degree of decomposition. The predicted results matched well with the experimental results.Furthermore, the heat transfer model was modified to simulate the temperature profiles through the thickness of a glass fibre - reinforced composite exposed to different heat fluxes in a cone calorimeter. This involved incorporating a kinetic model for the decomposition process taking into consideration the varying thermophysical properties as a function of temperature. This is achieved by using the critical heat flux that is the minimum incident heat flux leading to ignition, in the equation defining the ignition temperature, The simulated temperature profiles matched well with the experimental results obtained from previous works at the University of Bolton, giving a much better agreement than previously published models describing this condition. Ignition phenomenon is well described by the model showing a jumping step when the composite polymer ignites and burns.The last part of the work was to simulate the heat transfer in Intumescent coated glass fibre reinforced epoxy composites exposed to heat in a cone calorimeter. On exposure to heat the intumescent coating expands to form a char, the thickness and the thermal conductivity of which, depends on the type of coating. It was not the purpose of this work to model expansion of the coating; rather the emphasis was to understand the thermal barrier efficiency of the expanded char. However, changes to the surface, expansion of the local thickness and char region when exposed to heat were incorporated into the model to gain better agreement with experiment values
Initial interest confusion: attempting to define its current status within European trade mark law
No full textInitial interest confusion is a controversial doctrine and has, until now, been largely resisted or ignored. Following Interflora v. Marks & Spencer (CAII) and OCH-Ziff Management v. OCH Capital it is necessary to ask whether it ought to be accepted within European trade mark law, and if so, where within the current framework it should sit
It's not what you know, but what you know: supporting the developing researcher from the first tentative search to the PhD and beyond
No full textIn 2015, the library launched Discover@Bolton a service that enables the user to search across the full text of our rich range of electronic resources. Use of Discover@Bolton has exceeded all expectations: between February 2015 when the very first link appeared on the library website and February 2016 there were 193,375 searches and 23,230 visits. There is also a direct correlation between subject-related enquiries to library staff and what we know about assignments from our liaison activities and recorded searches in Discover@Bolton. Furthermore, our students use information retrieval skills they already possess: they are less likely to use Boolean operators, truncation and other “library” search techniques. Such techniques are largely at odds with the information retrieval skills employed often unwittingly in a normality where information on any given subject can be found using minimal keystrokes on either a search engine, or a tool such as Discover@Bolton. We have a duty to our entire community to grasp the nettle of research. As a library service, we are increasingly proactive in how we support all levels of research. We foster confidence in information retrieval; our research support mechanisms are for all levels of research. For example, UBIR, the University of Bolton Institutional Repository, invites engagement in open access from researchers at every stage, such as depositing examples of excellent research proposals, student poetry published in an in-house publication, theses, journal articles, book chapters and conference papers: all levels of research are represented.Ultimately, we can demonstrate that attitudes to finding academic material: complex research is not the preserve of the most advanced researcher. This paper will explore the ways in which the library can be an integral part of the research journey, from the early stages of an undergraduate research proposal to the production of a PhD and beyond
Can teaching critical reflexivity be improved using metaphors? The hippo in the room
No full textThis case study investigation reflects on the benefits of using metaphors to teach postgraduate educations students how to deal with personal bias, subjectivity and advocates critical reflexivity as a method for doing this. Students are reluctant to be critically reflective (Adriansen and Knudsen, 2013) as they can feel threatened by the reflective process (Borochowitz, 2005), feel they can sit apart or outside their research and write without bias (Gursti-Pepin and Patrizio, 2009) and/or feel critical reflection may damage their research findings, (Fook and Askeland, 2007). The paper explores the effectiveness of an approach to overcoming this reluctance by applying a metaphor from a research module in Zambia to a UK education class. In Zambia students discussed personal bias by likening it to an encounter with a dangerous unseen animal, and identified similarities with a hippopotamus. This animal is difficult to tame, dangerous, hard to deal with, can remain hidden for a long time, it appears unexpectedly, cannot be ignored, and awareness the main defence. Anecdotal reports suggested this improved the early adoption of critical reflexivity in their dissertations. This metaphor was then used as a key discussion point on a postdoctoral education programme in the UK and investigated using focus groups. Students reporting a greater understanding personal bias, recognition of the importance of being critically reflexive, and felt the metaphor of the hippo had been instrumental in their understanding and the use of Rokeachs’ personal values; morality, competency, personal and social behaviour, provided a supportive reflexive framework. Follow up research with supervisors showed an increase in the application of critical reflexivity early in the students research. This is underpinned by findings from Hoggan (2016) who researched the used of metaphors to help cancer patients explain difficult personal constructs about their condition
The reconstruction of the juridico-political : affinity and divergence in Hans Kelsen and Max Weber
No full textHans Kelsen and Max Weber are conventionally understood as the original proponents of two distinct and opposed processes of concept formation generating two separate and contrasting theoretical frameworks for the study of law. The Reconstruction of the Juridico-Political: Affinity and Divergence in Hans Kelsen and Max Webercontests the conventional understanding of the theoretical relationship between Kelsen’s legal positivism and Weber’s sociology of law. Utilising the conceptual frame of the juridico-political, the contributors to this interdisciplinary volume analyse central points of affinity and divergence in the work of these two influential figures. Thus, the chapters collected in The Reconstruction of the Juridico-Political offer a comprehensive reconsideration of these affinities and divergences, through a comparison of their respective reconstruction of the notions of democracy, the State, legal rights and the character of law. From this reconsideration a more complex understanding of their theoretical relationship emerges combined with a renewed emphasis upon the continued contemporary relevance of the work of Kelsen and Weber