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The Development of Children's Literature
No full text'Before there could be children's books, there had to be children', wrote John Rowe Townsend (1990, p. 3) at the very beginning of what was, for many years, the standard popular history of English children's literature. It is a key statement, but one that also encodes the heart of the area's problems. 'Haven't there always been children?' is an obvious response. Townsend elaborates by saying that, while children there were, they weren't recognized in the same way, being seen rather as 'miniature men and women' (Townsend, 1990, p. 3). This, though, doesn't necessarily take the issue much further, for the next question is, how, then, did children come to be recognized? And the answer, of course, is that this could occur only by these miniature beings having increased representation in society's key discourses (e.g. church, education, family), through cultural forms like paintings and literary works, and in various non-discursive ways, too, such as by being given separate spaces (in schools, bedrooms, nurseries), distinctive clothing and other artefacts. With the Industrial Revolution and the growth of capitalism, the child would become a niche market with its own products, including books, illustrations, toys and games. But we then come to a decisive phrase in Townsend's work, one that separates him and other humanists from poststructuralist thinkers. He states that these specialized books were to serve the child's 'own particular needs and interests' (Townsend, 1990, p. 3), whereas later critics would ask, 'In what sense were these "needs" the child's own?' Surely it is predominantly adult depictions that we have of what children require and, not unsurprisingly, these have changed over time (from a need to be saved and instructed to being amused and educated). So, returning to Townsend's opening statement, we might now suggest that it could be reversed, to claim that children's texts helped produce the very beings that we now recognize as children (beings seen as innocent, natural, helpless, pure and so on)
Fuzzy Logic Based Self-Adaptive Handover Algorithm for Mobile WiMAX
No full textIt is well known that WiMAX is a broadband technology that is capable of delivering triple play (voice, data, and video) services. However, mobility in WiMAX system is still a main issue when the mobile station (MS) moves across the base station (BS) coverage and be handed over between BSs. Among the challenging issues in mobile WiMAX handover are unnecessary handover, handover failure and handover delay, which may affect real-time applications. The conventional handover decision algorithm in mobile WiMAX is based on a single criterion, which usually uses the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) as an indicator, with the other fixed handover parameters such as handover threshold and handover margin. In this paper, a fuzzy logic based self-adaptive handover (FuzSAHO) algorithm is introduced. The proposed algorithm is derived from the self-adaptive handover parameters to overcome the mobile WiMAX ping-pong handover and handover delay issues. Hence, the proposed FuzSAHO is initiated to check whether a handover is necessary or not which depends on its fuzzy logic stage. The proposed FuzSAHO algorithm will first self-adapt the handover parameters based on a set of multiple criteria, which includes the RSSI and MS velocity. Then the handover decision will be executed according to the handover parameter values. Simulation results show that the proposed FuzSAHO algorithm reduces the number of ping-pong handover and its delay. When compared with RSSI based handover algorithm and mobility improved handover (MIHO) algorithm, respectively, FuzSAHO reduces the number of handovers by 12.5 and 7.5 %, respectively, when the MS velocity is < 17 m/s. In term of handover delay, the proposed FuzSAHO algorithm shows an improvement of 27.8 and 8 % as compared to both conventional and MIHO algorithms, respectively. Thus, the proposed multi-criteria with fuzzy logic based self-adaptive handover algorithm called FuzSAHO, outperforms both conventional and MIHO handover algorithms
The Wookie Widget Server: a Case Study of Piecemeal Integration of Tools and Services
No full textApache Wookie (incubating) has generated considerable interest within the context of Technology Enhanced Learning where it was developed, as well as in mobile applications. The origins of the system in providing services for IMS Learning Design are described, together with an introduction to the system's design and functionality. However, the areas where it has had success are distinct from the application area for which it was designed and developed. The implications of this for understanding user needs is analysed by using ideas drawn from sociology. The complexity of the relationship between the context of use and user needs, and the feedback loops between them is discussed, and the role of technological interventions as an element in a discourse is considered. It is proposed that this understanding of users needs, together with the experience of the development and use of Wookie, argues in favour of an interoperability strategy which focuses on relatively small sets of functional requirements, and avoidance where possible of specifications developed for particular application domains: an approach which may be characterised as piecemeal rather than Utopian
Credit repayment decisions: The role of long-term consequence information, economic and psychological factors
No full textPurpose– Information concerning the long-term consequences of credit repayment decisions is often not available for flexible credit facilities such as credit cards. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of such information in repayment decisions. A dual mental accounting model of money management predicted that repayments would be influenced by both total cost and loan duration information. Experiment 2 also investigated the role of key economic and psychological factors, including some related to a risk defusing operator model of risk management.Design/methodology/approach – In two questionnaire-based experiments bank customers (n=241; 300) were presented with credit card and remortgage repayment scenarios. In both studies, total cost and loan duration information were varied in a 2×2 randomised-groups factorial design.Findings – In both studies, analysis of covariance showed that information on the long-term consequences of repayment decisions lead to significantly higher levels of repayment. However, in Experiment 2, it was found using hierarchical multiple regression that disposable income, level of education, and the perception of, and worry about, repayment difficulties had larger significant effects on repayment levels.Research limitations/implications – The effects of long-term consequence information were interpreted in terms of mental accounting and future-oriented thinking. The effect of concern with future repayment difficulties suggests that borrowers choose lower repayments to control such risks.Practical implications – Providing total cost and loan duration information for a range of repayment levels could help borrowers make better repayment decisions.Originality/value – These novel findings contribute to our understanding of borrowers’ repayment behaviour
Bounded rationality in credit consumers’ payment protection insurance decisions: the effect of relative cost and level of cover
No full textA previous study found that credit consumers’ decisions to purchase payment protection insurance (PPI) were surprising insensitive to changes in cost and level of cover. This was investigated further in a randomized-groups experiment in which these two factors and the cost of credit alternatives without PPI were systematically manipulated. High street bank customers (N = 215) were presented with realistic PPI purchase scenarios and a questionnaire assessing their willingness to pay (WTP) for PPI and perceptions of its usefulness. It was found that: (1) WTP and PPI decisions were insensitive to relatively large changes in level of cover; (2) the perceived usefulness of Premium and Basic levels of cover were not significantly different, although their usefulness was a significant predictor of PPI decisions and (3) sensitivity of PPI decisions to changes in cost was dependent on the cost of credit without PPI. The first two findings are explained in terms of simplified mental representations and the evaluability of insurance cover. It is concluded that further research on the effects of the relative cost of insurance is needed
Reinforcement of clay soils using waste carpet fibres.
No full textIt is reported that about 500,000 tonnes (i.e. 2% of the total waste) of waste carpet fibres are plunged into landfills annually in the UK. Municipalities and environmental authorities are increasingly concerned about the growing amount of carpet waste produced by household, commercial and industrial sectors.The notion of reusing such waste in industry has therefore attracted substantial attention in recent years by researchers and environmentalists.There have been a large number of studies in utilisation of virgin fibres in soils and other civil engineering applications. However, by contrast there have been relatively few studies of waste fibres especially waste carpet fibres in this context and in particular in cohesionless soils. In this study, the mechanical behaviour of composite cohesive soils (i.e. clay soils) with proportionate concentration of two types of waste carpet fibre is investigated.A series of consolidated undrained triaxial shear tests, Oedometer tests, swelling pressure tests and unconfined compression tests have been carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the waste carpet fibres in improving the mechanical properties of cohesive clay soils including; shear strength and compression strength as well as reducing swelling pressure and consolidation settlement of such soils.The results have shown that waste carpet fibres do increase the shear strength and unconfined compression strength of clay soils proportional to fibre content. It was found that relative increase in unconfined compression strength or reduction in swelling pressure of the fibre reinforced clay soils is dependent on the initial dry unit weight and moisture content of the clay.A neural network analysis was conducted on the results of the triaxial shear tests to construct a predictive model for estimating the maximum deviator stress in consolidated undrained triaxial tests as a function of fibre type, fibre content, dry unit weight and consolidation pressure. The modelled behaviour was shown to be a perfect fit with the experimental data. Model slope tests were also carried out using a large scale laboratory test tank (L:800mm x W:300mm x H:500mm) to investigate the load bearing pressure of the slope made of fibre reinforced clay soil under strip footing load. The results confirmed that bearing pressure of the model slopes increased significantly with increased fibre content.Particle image velocimetry (PIV) method was used to track the displacement of the soil particles in the exposed front view of the model slope and contours of displacement and slip surfaces of the model slopes were determined and compared
Development of metal oxide solar cells through numerical modeling.
No full textPhotovoltaic (PV) devices become increasingly important due to the foreseeable energy crisis, limitation in natural fossil fuel resources and associated green-house effect caused by carbon consumption. At present, silicon-based solar cells dominate the photovoltaic market owing to the well-established microelectronics industry which provides high quality Si-materials and reliable fabrication processes. However ever increased demand for photovoltaic devices with better energy conversion efficiency at low cost drives researchers round the world to search for cheaper materials, low-cost processing, and thinner or more efficient device structures. Therefore, new materials and structures are desired to improve the performance/price ratio to make it more competitive to traditional energy.Metal Oxide (MO) semiconductors are one group of the new low cost materials with great potential for PV application due to their abundance and wide selections of properties. However, the development of MO solar cells is very limited so far mostly due to the poor materials and poor understanding of the materials and devices. This research conducts a systematic numerical investigation on MO thin film solar cells.Various MO semiconductors are used to explore different structures and combinations for solar cells; and the effects of material properties and structures are optimised for the best performances.For the ideal cases, it is found that a TiO2/CuO hetero-junction solar cell shows a conversion efficiency of ~16% with the CuO film thickness only 1.5μm. When a back surface field layer, such as Cu2O, is added at the back of this device, the open circuit voltage (VOC) can be improved by 70% without sacrificing short circuit current, resulting in a conversion efficiency of ~28%, increased by ~70% as compared to the two-layered structure. This is close to the theoretical maximum efficiency of silicon single junction solar cell, which requires a 200~400μm thickness film. Modelling also shows the alternative Schottky barrier type MO semiconductor solar cells can perform well. For an ideal Metal/CuO Schottky barrier solar cell, the conversion efficiency could be as high as ~17%, better than the TiO2/CuO hetero-junction solar cell. The effects of defects and interface states are then considered for more realistic cases as there exists vast amount of defects mostly due to oxygen/metal vacancies/interstitials in the films, and vast amount of interface states due to the large lattice mismatch of the two materials used. All defects and interface states in the solar cell layers, hetero-junction interfaces and metal/semiconductor contacts are found detrimental to the cells. For example, if the defect concentration in the CuO layer in TiO2/CuO structure is compatible to the acceptor concentration of 1x1016cm-3, the cell efficiency would be reduced dramatically to 7%. With defect concentration even as low as 1x1013cm-3, the significant VOC improvements in the TiO2/CuO/Cu2O would be reduced to an ignorable value. For interface states, they capture and recombine both electrons and hols passing through the hetero-junction interface, leading to deteriorated performance. The simulation shows that the interface states have a detrimental effect on the performance if its density is higher than 1012cm-2. However it was found that by increasing the difference of doping concentration in p-n junctions, the interface state effect minimized significantly.Furthermore, it is found the optical reflection at hetero-junction interface may induce a serious conversion efficiency loss, if the n-type semiconductors and p-type semiconductors have very different refractive indices. For some MO devices such as TiO2/CuO and ZnO/Cu2O, the reflection rate is around 5%, while for other material systems such as ZnO/Si, or ITO/Ge, the interfacial optical reflection may reach 10~30%, resulting in an efficiency loss by ~10%. It is also found that the interfacial reflection should be calculated through experimental data of refractive index at each photon frequency, rather than the dielectric constant. Otherwise, huge error may be introduced to the simulation results
Ethnic and gender differences in the labour market perceptions of post-higher education job-seekers: 'double jeopardy' or 'ethnic prominence'?
No full textEthnic and gender differences in perceptions of graduate job acquisition difficulty among UK post-higher education job-seekers were investigated. Two main hypotheses were compared: the double jeopardy hypothesis (DJH), suggesting an additive or interactive increase in perceived difficulty associated with membership of different disadvantaged demographic categories; and the ethnic prominence hypothesis, arguing for the salience of ethnicity over gender in perceptions. Graduates and final year students (N = 800) from Black, Indian, Pakistani/Bangladeshi and White ethnic backgrounds rated the level of difficulty that a suitably qualified man and woman from their own ethnic background would encounter in attaining ten graduate jobs. Interactions between participant ethnic background and gender of job-seeker rated were examined in the context of the competing hypotheses. The perceptions of men, and Indian and Pakistani/Bangladeshi women, were consistent with the additive DJH, whereas Black women's perceptions were not. It is concluded that: (1) the perceptions of the latter group may reflect knowledge of Black male disadvantage, or negative stereotyping with respect to employment in the UK graduate labour market; and (2) perceptions of double jeopardy by some female graduates may have negative effects on their job-seeking endeavours
Lifelong learning, mindfulness and the affective domain of education
No full textAlthough the value of affective domain of education has been re-emphasised in recent years, this so-called 'therapeutic turn' has been criticised by several commentators on post-compulsory and adult learning. A key claim of these critics is that traditional goals of knowledge and understanding have been replaced with personal and social objectives concerned with enhancing and developing confidence and self-esteem in learners. After answering these criticisms, I suggest that there are some educationally justifiable goals underpinning what has been described as a therapeutic turn. Whilst accepting that 'self-esteem' and cognate concepts cannot provide a general end or universal aim of education, the therapeutic function - the affective domain of learning - is more valuable and significant than is generally acknowledged. This claim is justified by an examination of the concept of 'mindfulness' which, it is argued, can be an immensely powerful and valuable notion which is integrally connected with the centrally transformative and developmental nature of learning and educational activity at all levels. The incorporation of mindfulness strategies within adult learning programmes may go some way towards re-connecting the cognitive and affective dimensions of education