Access courses as a site of engagement: a research project

This research project was funded by the Greater Manchester Strategic Alliance and Aimhigher Research Network North West. A database of Access students was held at the University of Salford that included students from 1998-2006. The names of the students were gathered by the Access Unit from their Enrichment Programme over the period. Ethical approval for the research was sought from the IRIS Director and advice on the Data Protection Act sought from the manager responsible within the university. The database contained information on name, age, address, telephone contact, gender, ethnicity, college and Access course attended. There were approximately 6000 entries on the database. “Access to higher education courses offer a route into higher education (HE) for those who do not have the educational qualifications which are usually required for entry. These courses provide the underpinning knowledge and skills needed for university-level study, and lead to the award of the Access to HE qualification, which is of an equivalent standard to Level 3 qualifications, such as A levels.” UCAS website. Individuals can study a range of courses in different subject areas such as health, science or humanities. Access courses can be studied over one year as a full time course or over two-three years as a part time course. The starting point for the study is the view that to enrol on an Access to HE course means that a major decision or turning point in an adult’s life has taken place and that the individual wants to change direction. This change of direction is important and suggests that individuals may have missed an opportunity earlier in their lives or do not wish to continue in the same employment situation or in the case of many women who are carers their circumstances have changed. The engagement in learning is an agentic act on the part of the individual that may be prompted by others in the immediate family or friends. However, a necessary aspect of this engagement is the provision of Access courses as a means to enter higher education or change employment

Properties of high emittance materials

High emittance coating materials for beryllium, niobium-zirconium compounds, and stainless steel used in spacecraft radiator

An experimental documentation of trailing-edge flows at high Reynolds number

Experiments documenting attached trailing-edge and near-wake flows at high Reynolds numbers are described. A long, airfoil-like model was tested at subsonic and low transonic Mach numbers, and both symmetrical and asymmetrical flows with pressure gradients upstream of the trailing edge were investigated. Model surface pressures and detailed mean and turbulence flow qualities were measured in the vicinity of the trailing edge and in the near-wake. The data obtained are of sufficient quality and detail to be useful as test cases in assessing turbulence models and calculation methods

Results of investigations on an 0.015-scale 140A/B configuration of the Rockwell International space shuttle orbiter (model 49-O) in the NASA/Ames Research Center 3.5-foot hypersonic wind tunnel (OA36)

The results of wind tunnel tests of the 140A/B configuration components are reported for the fuselage, canopy, elevons, bodyflaps, pods, engine nozzles, rudder, vertical tail, and wing. The test facility, and data reduction procedures are described. Test results for each component are graphed, and tabulated source data are included

Modelling Stress Wave Propagation and Triaxial Compression Test using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is used to model stress wave propagation and compression tests in elastic solids under triaxial loading conditions. It builds on our previous studies of deformation of elastic solids under uniaxial and biaxial loading. A laboratory scale triaxial compression test is used to demonstrate the generation, propagation and reflection of the elastic waves in the specimen. To verify the SPH based approach, the results are compared to matching results using the Finite Element Method (FEM). The solutions predicted by SPH are found to agree well. This paper illustrates the potential of SPH for accurate modelling of solid materials that are subjected to triaxial compression, and of the resulting elastic wave propagation

Modelling Plastic Deformation and Thermal Response in Welding using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

An approach for modelling plastic deformation and thermal response in a weld pool using the mesh-free Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method is developed. The proposed modelling technique is illustrated by simulating a simple setup of an arc welding process. The plastic deformation and temperature distribution in the weld pool and the surrounding parent material are analysed using SPH. This work establishes the capability of SPH in gaining insight into the material deposition and its subsequent evolution, and predicting plastic deformation and heat transfer in welding processes. This can then be used to evaluate the generation of thermal stresses and the change in mechanical and metallurgical properties in the weld pool and the adjacent Heat Affected Zone (HAZ)

Towards a virtual comminution machine

Towards the end of the 1990s readily available personal computers became sufficiently powerful - when combined with an efficient numerical code - to use discrete element modelling (DEM) in two dimensions for models involving a few hundred to a few thousand particles in commercially available packages. Some proprietary codes reported up to 200,000 particles [Herbst, J.A., Nordell, L., 2001. Optimization of the design of sag mill internals using high fidelity simulation. In: Vancouver, B.C., Barratt, D.J., Allan, M.J., Mular, A.L. (Eds.), Proceedings of the SAG Conference, University of British Columbia, IV, 150-164; Cleary, P.W., 2001a. Charge behaviour and power consumption in ball mills: Sensitivity to mill operating conditions, liner geometry and charge composition. Int. J. Min. Process. 63, 79-114 and Cleary, P.W., 2001b. Recent advances in DEM modelling of tumbling mills. Minerals Eng. 14, 1295-1319]. In early 2000, JKMRC and CSIRO-MIS agreed to an informal collaboration with the objective of testing various DEM approaches against detailed process measurements. The initial collaboration demonstrated that 3D-DEM using spheres was sufficiently realistic for flow patterns and power estimation within tumbling mills. The results were reported in papers which were presented at SAG 2001 and in the technical literature [Morrison, R.D., Cleary, P.W., Valery, W., 2001. Comparing power and performance trends from DEM and JK modelling. SAG 2001, Department of Mining and Minerals Process Engineering. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 284-300; Cleary, P.W., Morrison, R., Morrell, S., 2003. Comparison of DEM and experiment for a scale model SAG mill. Int. J. Min. Process. 68, 129-165]. The commencement of the CRC for Sustainable Resource Processing in 2003 provided an opportunity to formalize the collaboration and bring increased resources to bear. The objective of this collaboration is to develop a virtual comminution machine (VCM). The VCM will allow a comminution machine design which exists as a suitably detailed design in a 3D Computer aided design file (CAD) to simulate processing an ore (which has been characterised by suitable test work) to predict progeny, power consumption, wear and even machine component loadings. This paper reports on the substantial progress made to date towards a practical Virtual Comminution Machine

Whistleblowing Need not Occur if Internal Voices Are Heard: From Deaf Effect to Hearer Courage; Comment on “Cultures of Silence and Cultures of Voice: The Role of Whistleblowing in Healthcare Organisations”

Whistleblowing by health professionals is an infrequent and extraordinary event and need not occur if internal voices are heard. Mannion and Davies’ editorial on “Cultures of Silence and Cultures of Voice: The Role of Whistleblowing in Healthcare Organisations” asks the question whether whistleblowing ameliorates or exacerbates the ‘deaf effect’ prevalent in healthcare organisations. This commentary argues that the focus should remain on internal processes and hearer courage