Online “Maker” Modules to Support Production Pedagogies in Education

Our research study examines the use of online maker modules (developed by our research team) on the learning process for, and professional development of, graduate M.Ed. and M.A. students in a faculty of education in Ontario, Canada. The research draws on the practice of critical making with both digital and real-world artefacts as a vehicle for collaborative knowledge- sharing and generation, deep learning and meaningful engagement with one’s local and global communities. The students engaged in all five online maker modules as part of a graduate-level course and this paper offers insight into the experiences of two of these students -- how the modules impacted their learning process, professional development and their willingness to adopt an inquiry and/or production (maker) pedagogy in their own teaching and learning environments

Real-Time Wireless Platform for In Vivo Monitoring of Bone Regeneration

For the monitoring of bone regeneration processes, the instrumentation of the fixation is an increasingly common technique to indirectly measure the evolution of bone formation instead of ex vivo measurements or traditional in vivo techniques, such as X-ray or visual review. A versatile instrumented external fixator capable of adapting to multiple bone regeneration processes was designed, as well as a wireless acquisition system for the data collection. The design and implementation of the overall architecture of such a system is described in this work, including the hardware, firmware, and mechanical components. The measurements are conditioned and subsequently sent to a PC via wireless communication to be in vivo displayed and analyzed using a developed real-time monitoring application. Moreover, a model for the in vivo estimation of the bone callus stiffness from collected data was defined. This model was validated in vitro using elastic springs, reporting promising results with respect to previous equipment, with average errors and uncertainties below 6.7% and 14.04%. The devices were also validated in vivo performing a bone lengthening treatment on a sheep metatarsus. The resulting system allowed the in vivo mechanical characterization of the bone callus during experimentation, providing a low-cost, simple, and highly reliable solution.Junta de Andalucía US-1261691Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad DPI2017-82501-PMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad PGC2018-097257-B-C3

The Music Bluetooth Controller: An Intersection Between Technology and Music

The modern musician faces a new challenge: how can technology be used to enhance a performance? This thesis documents the development of a Bluetooth remote controller that will aid today’s performing musicians by interacting with a digital display (e.g., an iPad) to flip musical score pages remotely. At its core, while mimicking a Bluetooth pedal (the current industry standard), this device attaches to the musician’s hand. In its pilot stages, the device has been referred to “MBC” (Music Bluetooth Controller)

How do electronic musicians make their music? : creative practice through informal learning resources

The paper will explore the creative practices of professional electronic musicians through their interviews published in consumer materials, commonly perceived as informal learning resources. Drawing on data gathered from music technology and music culture-related publications including magazines, newspapers, online sources, video, and radio, the study will consolidate 154 existing interviews, given over a seventeen-year period. The aim of this study is not to provide a complete illustration of electronic music production, but rather offer points of significance that hold meaning in the context of creative practice

Epic Stories: Sequence Fiction, Young Readers, And The Aesthetics Of World Building

This study theorizes the world building processes that sequence fiction engages within a framework of intratextual structuralism and cognitive aesthetic stage theory. The study begins with an interdisciplinary overview of fictional and possible worlds theory before proposing a structural adaptation of this lens that explains the developmental, aesthetic benefits of the genre for young readers. Chapter II is an application of the adapted lens to a canonical epic, the His Dark Materials sequence by Philip Pullman. I interpret the intentional structure of the story world across novels to discuss how these engage readers at different aesthetic milestones and encourage a deeper imaginative construct as a result. Chapter III is a similar application of the proposed theory for the popular television story world: Nickelodeon’s animated epic, The Last Airbender by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. The examination of this story world includes a discussion of how media and different forms of literacy disrupt and encourage specific aesthetic responses to a story world. The final chapter begins with an observational discussion of my two children and their experiences engaging with fictional worlds. My analysis of their responses to a popular sequence proposes the children have an intuitive reading process that revolves around play and multimodal engagement with fiction that enhances the internalization of a story world. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how similar methods in an adult classroom can benefit adult students that struggle with reading engagement

Conceptual design of Electrodynamic Multi Tether system for self-propelled Jovian capture

Space missions in the environments of the outer planets require a large amount of propellant or assistant flybys. Moreover, the quadratic decrease of the radiation intensity with the distance from the sun makes solar panels less convenient as power source. Electrodynamic tether (EDT) technology is receiving increasing attention since it allows for obtaining both power and propulsion profiting from the high magnetic field and plasma density in the proximity of the giant planets. In particular, it has been shown that a self-propelled vehicle with a single EDT could be captured by Jupiter, were it not for the relativistic effects in the electron collection and the overheating of the tether due to the interaction with the environment. Here, we show that a multi EDT (MEDT) propulsion system can be used to circumvent these limitations. The suitable number, shape, and length of the tethers, depending on the size of the vehicle, are selected by structural and thermal analysis. A possible MEDT-propelled mission to Jupiter is described, including the design of the interplanetary trajectory, the orbital insertion, and the subsequent orbits around the planet. The results obtained demonstrate that such a bare MEDT system is a feasible option to provide propulsion and power in outer planets environments

Mechanical Design of the HGCal Wedges with Thermal Gradient

After the discovery of the Higgs Boson, the purpose of the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), seemed to have been achieved. Despite the fact that the Standard Model apparently complies with most experimental data up to this day, the majority of particle physicists feel that it is not a complete framework [1]. Therefore, there are still many unresolved problems in the physics of elementary particles. That is the reason why, in 2013, the European Strategy for Particle Physics announced its update. The High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) project aims to increase luminosity by a factor of 10 beyond the LHC’s design. The higher the luminosity, the more data the experiments can gather to allow scientists to observe rare processes. Its development depends on several technological innovations, like the High-Granularity Calorimeter (HGCal), a major upgrade of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector. [2] This project analyses the design and optimisation processes of the supports (wedges) which join the calorimeter (HGCal) to the related parts of the CMS detector. Specifically, the study focuses on the intermediate wedges. The main challenge is to create an optimal configuration for both the operational (vertical) and the assembly (horizontal) position. For this reason, a series of mechanical, magnetic and thermal considerations must be taken into account. This includes withstanding a mass of 200 tons and 50 °� of thermal difference. In order to achieve this goal, it is first necessary to analyse the functionality of the detector. This in-depth research allows a precise problem definition. Later, the preliminary design of the intermediate wedges is studied. By analysing the finite element results, the optimisation steps are established. At the end, the final version, the results of its analyses and some suggestions for the building process are presented. In the final result analyses, a hybrid configuration of fixed and hinged intermediate wedges was presented. In the operational position, stresses and vertical load values were lowered. In addition, a thermal analysis concluded that the heat transfer was sufficient for meeting the given requirements. In the assembly analysis, it was verified that the supports are not buckling or permanently deforming

Making room for 21st century musicianship in higher education

Having been asked to respond to Action Ideal VIII by the Mayday Group, concerning technology and its impacts on music education, what follows are some observations and reflections from my experiences teaching undergraduate music and music technology degrees in the UK. I put forward the idea that Post-Digital music aesthetics reflect an emergent sensibility in contemporary music cultures, and this represents an opportunity for music educators to reconfigure and strengthen their pedagogical approaches. By recognizing the legitimacy of new and varied forms of musicianship, and acknowledging the ways in which our subject area continues to grow in its range of practices and necessary literacies, strategies can be developed to support a music student experience that is cohesive, inclusive, hybridized, meaningful and useful

A Corpus-assisted Discourse Analysis of Music-related Practices Discussed within Chipmusic.org

abstract: This study examined discussion forum posts within a website dedicated to a medium and genre of music (chiptunes) with potential for music-centered making, a phrase I use to describe maker culture practices that revolve around music-related purposes. Three research questions guided this study: (1) What chiptune-related practices did members of chipmusic.org discuss between December 30th, 2009 and November 13th, 2017? (2) What do chipmusic.org discussion forum posts reveal about the multidisciplinary aspects of chiptunes? (3) What import might music-centered making evident within chipmusic.org discussion forum posts hold for music education? To address these research questions, I engaged in corpus-assisted discourse analysis tools and techniques to reveal and analyze patterns of discourse within 245,098 discussion forum posts within chipmusic.org. The analysis cycle consisted of (a) using corpus analysis techniques to reveal patterns of discourse across and within data consisting of 10,892,645 words, and (b) using discourse analysis techniques for a close reading of revealed patterns. Findings revealed seven interconnected themes of chiptune-related practices: (a) composition practices, (b) performance practices, (c) maker practices, (d) coding practices, (e) entrepreneurial practices, (f), visual art practices, and (g) community practices. Members of chipmusic.org primarily discussed composing and performing chiptunes on a variety of instruments, as well as through retro computer and video game hardware. Members also discussed modifying and creating hardware and software for a multitude of electronic devices. Some members engaged in entrepreneurial practices to promote, sell, buy, and trade with other members. Throughout each of the revealed themes, members engaged in visual art practices, as well as community practices such as collective learning, collaborating, constructive criticism, competitive events, and collective efficacy. Findings suggest the revealed themes incorporated practices from a multitude of academic disciplines or fields of study for music-related purposes. However, I argue that many of the music-related practices people discussed within chipmusic.org are not apparent within music education discourse, curricula, or standards. I call for an expansion of music education discourse and practices to include additional ways of being musical through practices that might borrow from multiple academic disciplines or fields of study for music-related purposes.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Music Education 201

Meeting technological challenges? Design and technology in schools 2007–10

Using evidence from Her Majesty’s Inspectors’ focused surveys of primary and secondary schools, this report evaluates the provision of design and technology (D&T) in the curriculum. Most pupils in all of the schools visited enjoyed designing and making products, solving problems and seeing their ideas taking shape. Achievement and provision in D&T were good in about two thirds of the primary schools and just under half of the secondary schools, particularly where up-to-date technologies were used and explained accurately to pupils. However, a lack of subject-specific training for teachers undermined efforts to develop pupils’ knowledge and skills, particularly in using electronics, developing control systems and using computers to aid designing and making. The report also addresses the challenges presented to schools in modernising the D&T curriculum so that it keeps pace with global technological development