508 research outputs found
16.1 Helping good ideas to become good practice: Enhancing your professional practice through Joint Practice Development (JPD)
No full textThis reading draws upon five years of empirical research at the University of Sunderland’s Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT). This work engages practitioners from across the Further Adult Vocational Education (FAVE) sector in HE-supported practitioner research which aims to improve practice. It offers insights into the practicalities of using a collaborative approach to improving teaching, learning and assessment, described as Joint Practice Development (JPD). Focusing upon a six-stage cycle, it illustrates different stages in using JPD as an approach to the improvement of teaching and learning. It also points to the importance of measuring the impact of JPD through both hard and soft indicators of change and improvement.
How might you use the joint practice development approach to improving teaching and learning as part of your CPD?
Edited from: Gregson, M., Spedding, T. and Nixon, L. (forthcoming 2015) Helping Good Ideas Become Good Practice: Enhancing Professionalism through Joint Practice Development (JPD). London: Bloomsbury
15.3 Tackling Prejudice Together: What are trainee teachers' experiences of prejudice in educational contexts?
No full textThis reading derives from a research and development project based around the ways
in which teachers experience and deal with prejudiced behaviour. The research was
conducted by the University of Sunderland’s Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training
(SUNCETT) in 2011 with student teachers on a PGCE programme in Post Compulsory
Education and Training (PCET). Highlighted in this research, which is based upon an
analysis of 76 case study accounts, is the concern that a significant number (43%) of
experienced teachers ignored or made light of incidents of prejudice and that only a few
(11%) had any pedagogical responses in place for dealing with incidents of prejudiced
behaviour.
The key point to make is that teachers need practical strategies and support in order
to improve their confidence to plan and develop teaching, learning and assessment activities
in their own classrooms which enables them to ‘tackle prejudice head-on’.
Gregson, M., Nixon L. and Spedding P. (2011) Tackling Prejudice Together. Presentation
at University of Sunderland, Faculty of Education and Society Conference, 5 Septembe
Quantitative studies of the wakes of freely flying birds in a low-turbulence wind tunnel
No full textAbstract not available. Errata to article Spedding GR, Hedenström A, Rosén M (2003) Quantitative studies of the wakes of freely flying birds in a low-turbulence wind tunnel. Exp Fluids 34:291–30
Guide to Immunopharmacology: a database to boost immunology education, research and therapy
No full textIn the era of big data, the establishment of a free database, containing all the immune drug targets and associated cell types, is of great value. To this aim, the Guide to Immunopharmacology has been created in a joint effort between the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) and the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS). Here we highlight the structure and content of the database, which includes up‐to‐date quantitative information on the fundamental science underlying each immune target. A set of practical examples and tools for data mining are summarized to support immune research into drug discovery and therapeutics
Two-phase flow in a large diameter vertical riser
No full textThe rapid depletion of hydrocarbon fields around the world has led the industry to search for these resources in ever increasing water depths. In this context, the large diameter (D > 100mm) vertical riser has become a subject of great interest.
In this research work, a major investigation was undertaken to determine the two phase flow hydrodynamics in a 254mm vertical riser. Two types of experiments were performed for range of air-water superficial velocities. The first experimental campaign addresses the issue of the two gas injector’s performances (conventional vs. novel design gas injector) in the large diameter vertical riser. The experimental results show that the novel design gas injector should be the preferential choice.
The second set of the experimental work investigates the two phase flow hydrodynamics in the vertical riser in detail. The two phase flow patterns and their transitions were identified by combination of visual observations and statistical features. Based on the results, the experimental flow regime map was developed and compared with the existing vertical upflow regime maps/models. None of the flow regime transition models adequately predicted the flow regimes transitions in large diameter vertical risers as a whole. In this regard, the Taitel et al. (1980) bubble to slug flow transition model has been modified for large diameter vertical upflow conditions, based on the physical mechanism observed. The general trends of modified criteria agreed well with the current and other large diameter experimental results.
The effect of upstream conditions on the vertical riser flow behaviour was also investigated in detail by two different inlet configurations (i) near riser base injection and (ii) upstream flowline injection. It was found that no significant differences exist in flow behaviour at low air-water superficial velocities for both the inlet configuration, at high air-water superficial velocities, the intermittent flow behavior in flowline influences the riser flow pattern characteristics and thereby controls the riser dynamics. It is found that liquid slugs from the flowline naturally dissipate to some extent in the riser as a consequence of compression of succeeding bubble that rapidly expands and break through the liquid slug preceding it when it enters the riser. The experimental work corroborates the general consensus that slug flow does not exist in large diameter vertical upflow condition.
Experimental data has been further compared to increase the confidence on the existing two phase flow knowledge on large diameter vertical riser: (a) by comparing with other experimental studies on large diameter vertical upflow in which generally, a good agreement was found, (b) by assessing the predictive capability of void fraction correlations/pressure gradient methods. The important implication of this assessment is that the mechanistic approach based on specific flow regime in determining the void fraction and pressure gradient is more successful than conventional empirical based approaches. The assessment also proposes a proposed set a of flow regime specific correlations that recommends void fraction correlations based on their performances in the individual flow regimes.
Finally, a numerical model to study the hydrodynamic behaviour in the large diameter horizontal flowline-vertical riser system is developed using multiphase flow simulator OLGA. The simulated results show satisfactory agreement for the stable flows while discrepancies were noted for highly intermittent flows. The real time boundary application was partially successful in qualitatively reproducing the trends. The discrepancies between the predicted results and experimental data are likely to be related to the incorrect closure relations used based on incorrect flow regimes predictions. The existence of the multiple roots in the OLGA code is also reported for the first time
Quantitative studies of the wakes of freely flying birds in a low-turbulence wind tunnel
No full textAbstract not available. Errata to article Spedding GR, Hedenström A, Rosén M (2003) Quantitative studies of the wakes of freely flying birds in a low-turbulence wind tunnel. Exp Fluids 34:291–30
Socially innovative and commercially viable: Partners or prisoners of future business developments
No full textThere is a growing need for supply chain partners to work together in improving their performance and systems of operation. New information and communication technologies can be used to improve operations and facilitate the building of closer relationships, but they can also serve to undermine relations and create tensions. RFID represents the first major improvement traceability technology that potentially supersedes barcodes and our study seeks to develop a simulation model that moves beyond a purely technical analysis, towards an assessment that is able to accommodate the social and cultural dimensions in providing a dynamic roadmap for change.Patrick M. Dawson, Trevor A. Spedding, Lisa Daniel and Michael D. Clement
Neuroprotective effects of modulators of P2 receptors in primary culture of CNS neurones
No full textIn previous studies (Volonte and Merlo, 1996. J. Neurosci. Res. 45, 183-193) basilen blue was shown to be a P2 receptor antagonist which abrogated glutamate-mediated cytotoxicity in cerebellar neurones in primary culture. Our work has now been extended to evaluate the neuroprotective action of the compound in additional neuronal systems, as well as in a different paradigm of cell death. We show that basilen blue prevents L-glutamate-mediated neurotoxicity in rat cerebellar (90-100% inhibition), cortical (60-70%) and hippocampal (50%) neurones. Similarly, glutamate-dependent progressive darkening of cell bodies, loss of phase-brightness and rapid cellular swelling are inhibited. Basilen blue is significantly less toxic and more effective at blocking L-glutamate toxicity in mixed cortical/glial cultures, compared to its structural analogue cibacron blue. Moreover, its neuroprotective effect is correlated with the time of incubation with granule neurones. Other purinoceptor ligands, including 2,2'-pyridylisatogen, but not pyridoxal-phosphate-6-azophenyl-2',4'-disulphonic acid 4-sodium, are also effective in preventing glutamate toxicity. Furthermore, basilen blue prevents serum deprivation- and low potassium-induced apoptotic cell death in cerebellar granule neurones. In summary, our data extend and reinforce the possibility of a potential therapeutic use of P2 receptor modulators as neuroprotective agents for the central nervous system. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Gas-liquid two phase flow through a vertical 90 degrees elbow bend
No full textPressure drop data are reported for two phase air water flow through a vertical to horizontal 90 degrees elbow bend set in 0.026 in i.d. pipe. The pressure drop in the vertical inlet tangent showed some significant differences to that found for straight vertical pipe. This was caused by the elbow bend partially choking the inflow resulting in a build-up of pressure and liquid in the vertical inlet riser and differences in the structure of the flow regimes when compared to the straight vertical pipe. The horizontal outlet tangent by contrast gave data in general agreement with literature even to exhibiting a drag reduction region at low liquid rates and gas velocities between 1 and 2 m s-1. The elbow bend pressure drop was best correlated in terms of l(e)/d determined using the actual pressure loss in the inlet vertical riser. The data showed a general increase with fluid rates that tapered off at high fluid rates and exhibited a negative pressure region at low rates. The latter was attributed to the flow being smoothly accommodated by the bend when it passed from slug flow in the riser to smooth stratified flow in the outlet tangent. A general correlation was presented for the elbow bend pressure drop in terms of total Reynolds numbers. A modified Lockhart-Martinelli model gave prediction of the data
Smart chemical sensing microsystem : towards a nose-on-a-chip
No full textThe electronic nose is a rudimentary replica of the human olfactory system. However there has been considerable commercial interest in the use of electronic nose systems in application areas such as environmental, medical, security and food industry. In many ways the existing electronic nose systems are considerable inferior when compared to their biological counterparts, lacking in terms of discrimination capability, processing time and environmental adaptation. Here, the aim is to extract biological principles from the mammalian olfactory systems to create a new architecture in order to aid the implementation of a nose-on-a-chip system. The primary feature identified in this study was the nasal chromatography phenomena which may provide significant improvement by producing discriminatory spatio-temporal signals for electronic nose systems.
In this project, two different but complimentary groups of systems have been designed and fabricated to investigate the feasibility of generating spatio-temporal signals. The first group of systems include the fast-nose (channel 10 cm x 500 μm2), proto-nose I (channel 1.2 m x
500 μm2) and II (channel 2.4 m x 500 μm2) systems that were build using discrete components. The fast-nose system was used to characterise the discrete sensors prior to use. The proto-nose systems, in many ways, resembles gas chromatography systems. Each proto-nose system consists of two microchannels (with and without coating) and 40 polymer-composite sensors of 10 different materials placed along it. The second group of systems include the hybrid-nose and the aVLSI-nose microsensor arrays assembled with microchannel packages of various lengths (5 cm, 32 cm, 7lcm, 240 cm) to form nose-on-a-chip systems. The hybrid-nose sensor array consists of 80 microsensors built on a 10 mm x 10 mm silicon substrate while the aVLSI-nose sensor array consists of 70 microsensors built on a 10 mm x 5 mm silicon substrate using standard CMOS process with smart integrated circuitries. The microchannel packages were fabricated using the Perfactory microstereolithography system. The most advanced microchannel package contains a 2.4 m x 500 J.lm2 microchannel with an external size of only 36 mm x 27 mm x 7 mm. The nose-on-a-chip system achieved miniaturisation and eliminates the need for any external processing circuitries while achieving the same capability of producing spatio-temporal signals.
Using a custom-designed vapour test station and data acquisition electronics, these systems were evaluated with simple analytes and complex odours. The experimental results were in-line with the simulation results. On the coated proto-nose II system, a 25 s temporal delay was observed on the toluene vapour pulse compared to ethanol vapour pulse; this is significant compared to the uncoated system where no delay difference was obtained. Further testing with 8 analyte mixtures substantiated that spatio-temporal signals can be extracted from both the coated proto-nose and nose-on-a-chip (hybrid-nose sensor array with 2.4 m long microchannel) systems. This clearly demonstrates that these systems were capable of imitating certain characteristics of the biological olfactory system. Using only the temporal data, classification was performed with principal components analysis. The results reinforced that these additional temporal signals were useful to improve discrimination analysis which is not possible with any existing sensor-based electronic nose system. In addition, fast responding polymer-composite sensors were achieved exhibiting response times of less than 100 ms. Other biological characteristics relating to stereolfaction (two nostrils sniffing at different rates), sniffing rate (flow velocity) and duration (pulse width) were also investigated. The results converge with the biological observations that stereolfaction and sniffing at higher rate and duration improve discrimination. Last but not least, the characterisation of the smart circuitries on the aVLSI-nose show that it is possible to achieve better performance through the use of smart processing circuitries incorporating a novel DC-offset cancellation technique to amplify small sensor response with large baseline voltage. The results and theories presented in this study should provide useful contribution for designing a higher-performance electronic nose incorporating biological principles
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