Music, Play, Games and Education

A significant body of recent music scholarship has sought to emphasize the playfulness of music. Many of these discussions have occurred with reference to music in digital video games. This chapter investigates how an awareness of music and play, particularly informed by the findings from the context of video games, might inflect teaching. By considering the fundamental aspects of play – the components of rules, creativity and fun aesthetics, fusing ludus and paidia – we not only recognize elements that motivate and reward engaging with music generally, but we can turn some of these qualities to educational ends. The chapter considers three dimensions of music, video games and play: i) the role of interfaces in scaffolding musical creative processes, ii) interactivity and musical-dialogic teaching and iii) participatory culture as a type of informal learning that provides musical specialization and technical expertise. The chapter concludes with an outline of planned lessons for a term’s music teaching. This overview suggests just some of the ways that these ideas might be implemented in a school music curriculum

Mott is Different: An Information Theory Description of Mott Physics

This thesis brings an information-theoretic perspective to strongly correlated electron physics problems. Using the paradigmatic model of interacting systems capturing the competition between kinetic and potential energy, the Hubbard model, in two dimensions on a 2 × 2 square lattice, entropy-based quantities are used to characterise the phases of the model as a function of doping. These quantities are analysed in the Mott insulating phase, through the strongly correlated pseudogap phase and correlated metallic phase, and in the superconducting phase. The local entropy and mutual information are found to exhibit an inflection at the endpoint of the pseudogap-correlated metal transition that is continuously connected to the Mott transition at zero doping, a signature of Mott physics extending away from half filling. The inflections trace out a crossover line from the endpoint. In the superconducting phase, the local entropy is found to reflect the source of the superconducting condensation energy, whilst the total mutual information reveals amplified quantum and classical correlations within the superconducting dome. Thermodynamic measures including the thermodynamic entropy and the velocity of sound are also characterised across the pseudogap to correlated metal transition, contributing to the body of work studying cuprate systems - for which the Hubbard model is a minimal model. The thermodynamic entropy in the normal state exhibits a broad maximum that is obliterated in the superconducting phase. The velocity of sound exhibits sharp dips as a function of doping and interaction, arising from Mott physics. Finally, the probability of the eigenstates of the 2 × 2 plaquette in the superconducting state is analysed. These works are presented in a series of four co-authored publications accepted to PRX Quantum [1], PNAS [2], and PRB [3,4]. The results and predictions presented in this thesis could be tested with optical lattice experiments with ultracold atomic gases, and contribute to an understanding of cuprate high temperature superconductors

Firm–education–industry association linkages:Driving the territorial embeddedness of business services multinational corporations in Romania?

This study examines the nature and implications of linkages between multinational corporations and local institutions across peripheral regions. Analysing the development of outsourced and offshored business services in Romania, the study highlights the role of firm–education–industry association linkages in driving the territorial embeddedness of multinational corporations into host country regions. Firm–education–industry association linkages facilitated changes in higher education curricula to supply firm-specific skills, the development of advanced technical and management skills, and a programme of state policies privileging foreign capital. While this industrial and institutional transformation facilitated Romania’s move up the value chain into more advanced business services, it simultaneously drove forms of corporate capture and dependency, reproducing a flexible, co-opted workplace labour regime

Comparing Colonialisms in Dan Simmons's The Terror and its AMC Adaptation

While the AMC broadcast adaptation of Dan Simmons’ horror novel The Terror is largely faithful to the book, key differences in the portrayal of the Inuit, the British expedition members and the supernatural Tuunbaq creature, as well as in the fates of certain characters, lead to contrasting messages about colonialism and resistance from each text. Broadly speaking, the book has a less sympathetic and nuanced portrayal of native people and their resistance to colonialism, but ultimately a more optimistic view of the sustainability of their relationship with the environment; the broadcast series, in contrast, provides ample space for the native perspective on colonisation and a more complex exploration of the relationship between colonizer and colonized, but is ultimately pessimistic about the outcomes of resistance against colonialism. This paper will analyse the source work and adaptation in comparison with each other, and, finally, will explore what the differences say about the authors’ contrasting perspectives on the subject of colonialism and resistance, and about changes in the social environment between the writing of the book and the production of the broadcast series. <br/

From Barriers to Belonging: Societal Perceptions, Transport Accessibility, and the role of Travel Buddies:Understanding the social processes of Travel Buddies, peer-to-peer travel support for people with learning disabilities

People with learning disabilities remain socially excluded from many aspects of life, with one quarter spending less than one hour per day outside their home. Societal stigma and limited transportation options are key barriers to inclusion, with many people relying on taxis, family, or friends to attend appointments and activities. These arrangements can be costly, unsustainable, and further reinforce dependency. They also fail to challenge public perceptions, often segregating people with learning disabilities from the wider community, thus contributing to their invisibility. Travel Buddies are people with learning disabilities and/or autism, employed to support others with learning disabilities to travel. While peer support has been explored within mental health and recovery contexts, little is known about the social processes and the added value of peer support in travel contexts for people with learning disabilities. This study aimed to explore the social processes involved in peer-to-peer travel support within the context of learning disabilities. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used, alongside ethnographic methods within one inner-city Travel Buddies service in the UK. Data collection took place through nine semi-structured interviews with eight Travel Buddies and their manager, as well as five observations and audio recordings of travel journeys involving four Travel Buddies and clients. Findings revealed that Travel Buddies adopt five key roles when supporting clients: ‘care professional’, ‘advocate’, ‘protector’, ‘companion’, and ‘teacher’, often shaped by their own lived experiences, adding value to this role. The findings suggest that peer-led models offer a valuable and inclusive approach to travel support, with implications for the peer-supporter, client, service, and society