Advanced manufacturing industrial doctorate centre : engineering doctorate students collaborating with industry within an academic and industrial environment

The University of Strathclyde (UoS) acknowledged the importance and need for an Advanced Manufacturing Industrial Doctorate Centre (AMIDC) which is jointly supported by the University's department of Design Manufacture and Engineering Management (DMEM) and their industry-focused research centre, the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC). The Engineering Doctorate (EngD) students work with both Industry and academia during the four year programme giving students an unparalleled opportunity to engage with these companies in an academically accredited manner. This presents the students with a unique learning opportunity and further adds an important element of experience of working in the Design and Engineering industry both at the strategic high level and at the operational day-to-day level. So far, the industrial partner companies have all been large Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's), these companies all are engaged in the design and production of highly specified technologically complex products that are sold around the world, these companies are in some cases world leaders in their market place. It could be argued that because of the high value and manufacturing complexity these companies must invest in research and can see the long term benefits in investing in the EngD programmes. These large companies all have their own well-managed research design and engineering methods and procedures, these methods and procedures are sometimes at variants with the EngD programmes running within the university. It is therefore critical to match the company, the needs of their intended research, the EngD programme as run within the university and importantly the skill set and interest areas of the EngD students. This paper will describe in principal the organisation and implementation of EngD programmes to suit a variety of OEM's and the particular management differences that have to be considered to ensure a successful outcome for the company, the student and the university. The unique aspect of this approach is to facilitate high-level design activity with industrial partners within a high technology research centre located in a University. The University is offering access to state of the art complex manufacturing technology to industrial partners when they engage in design engineering projects through the EngD programme

How Do You Rate?

There is a close correlation between the grades which a student receives in costume design and her personal appearance rating, according to Miss Lillian Navratil in her thesis, Comparison of Personal Appearance Ratings and Grades of Senior Home Economics Students at Iowa State College

The Musical Palette Expresses Color, Harmony and Mood

Music begins where speech leaves off, a great English poet once said. Isn\u27t it essential that each of us have a speaking acquaintance with this art which adds so much richness to life

No Secrets from the Camera

Having one\u27s picture taken is serious business, That tilt of the chin and expression in your eyes will be permanently recorded. So-when you plan to walk into the photographer\u27s shop and sit in front of the glaring lights, plan also how you are going to look. Think of the purpose of the portrait photograph. Is it for mother and father, boy friend, senior annual or prospective employer

Development of an Extreme High Temperature n-type Ohmic Contact to Silicon Carbide

We report on the initial demonstration of a tungsten-nickel (75:25 at. %) ohmic contact to silicon carbide (SiC) that performed for up to fifteen hours of heat treatment in argon at 1000 C. The transfer length method (TLM) test structure was used to evaluate the contacts. Samples showed consistent ohmic behavior with specific contact resistance values averaging 5 x 10-4 -cm2. The development of this contact metallization should allow silicon carbide devices to operate more reliably at the present maximum operating temperature of 600 C while potentially extending operations to 1000 C. Introduction Silicon Carbide (SiC) is widely recognized as one of the materials of choice for high temperature, harsh environment sensors and electronics due to its ability to survive and continue normal operation in such environments [1]. Sensors and electronics in SiC have been developed that are capable of operating at temperatures of 600 oC. However operating these devices at the upper reliability temperature threshold increases the potential for early degradation. Therefore, it is important to raise the reliability temperature ceiling higher, which would assure increased device reliability when operated at nominal temperature. There are also instances that require devices to operate and survive for prolonged periods of time above 600 oC [2, 3]. This is specifically needed in the area of hypersonic flight where robust sensors are needed to monitor vehicle performance at temperature greater than 1000 C, as well as for use in the thermomechanical characterization of high temperature materials (e.g. ceramic matrix composites). While SiC alone can withstand these temperatures, a major challenge is to develop reliable electrical contacts to the device itself in order to facilitate signal extractio

Public Health Spending and Health Outcomes in Kenya

Health is important for sustainable economic performance of a country. This study seeks to investigate the effectiveness of public health spending on health outcomes. This is obtained by estimating a health production function for Kenya. In the study, infant mortality rate is used to measure health outcomes. The study uses time series data running from 1984 to 2015. The data is obtained from World Bank database and Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Economic Surveys. Error Correction Model (ECM) is adopted due to presence of cointegration. The results show that public expenditure on average influence health outcomes in Kenya. These results therefore provide evidence to support that increase in public expenditure improves health outcomes. The other factor that is found to be important determinant of health outcomes in Kenya is child immunization. The major policy implication of this study is that Kenyan government should increase budgetary allocation to health sector. In addition, government of Kenya should allocate more resources to child immunization

Skin temperature reveals the intensity of acute stress

Acute stress triggers peripheral vasoconstriction, causing a rapid, short-term drop in skin temperature in homeotherms. We tested, for the first time, whether this response has the potential to quantify stress, by exhibiting proportionality with stressor intensity. We used established behavioural and hormonal markers: activity level and corticosterone level, to validate a mild and more severe form of an acute restraint stressor in hens (Gallus gallus domesticus). We then used infrared thermography (IRT) to non-invasively collect continuous temperature measurements following exposure to these two intensities of acute handling stress. In the comb and wattle, two skin regions with a known thermoregulatory role, stressor intensity predicted the extent of initial skin cooling, and also the occurrence of a more delayed skin warming, providing two opportunities to quantify stress. With the present, cost-effective availability of IRT technology, this non-invasive and continuous method of stress assessment in unrestrained animals has the potential to become common practice in pure and applied research

Which extended paramedic skills are making an impact in emergency care and can be related to the UK paramedic system? A systematic review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Increasing demand on the UK emergency services is creating interest in reviewing the structure and content of ambulance services. Only 10% of emergency calls have been seen to be life-threatening and, thus, paramedics, as many patients’ first contact with the health service, have the potential to use their skills to reduce the demand on Emergency Departments. This systematic literature review aimed to identify evidence of paramedics trained with extra skills and the impact of this on patient care and interrelating services such as General Practices or Emergency Departments. METHODS: International literature from Medline, Embase, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), ProQuest, Scopus and grey literature from 1990 were included. Articles about any prehospital emergency care provider trained with extra skill(s) beyond their baseline competencies and evaluated in practice were included. Specific procedures for certain conditions and the extensively evaluated UK Emergency Care Practitioner role were excluded. RESULTS: 8724 articles were identified, of which 19 met the inclusion criteria. 14 articles considered paramedic patient assessment and management skills, two articles considered paramedic safeguarding skills, two health education and learning sharing and one health information. There is valuable evidence for paramedic assessing and managing patients autonomously to reduce Emergency Department conveyance which is acceptable to patients and carers. Evidence for other paramedic skills is less robust, reflecting a difficulty with rigorous research in prehospital emergency care. CONCLUSIONS: This review identifies many viable extra skills for paramedics but the evidence is not strong enough to guide policy. The findings should be used to guide future research, particularly into paramedic care for elderly people

Workshop session : How can social network sites support collaboration within product design education?

In line with the conference theme of collaboration and cross-disciplinary, this workshop will discuss the role of social network sites in design education. Social network sites are an everyday tool to communicate with friends and family. Students have adopted the technology not only in their social lives but also to facilitate their academic work. Studies have indicated that social network sites make it easier for students to share formal and informal information within group project work, and achieve more timely communication. From a pedagogical perspective, this raises interesting questions regarding how a team’s social dynamics could change when it comes to participating in group projects, how we can support and encourage students to use social network sites, as well as how appropriate our involvement is. Since these sites reflect a record of the communication, interaction and collaboration within the group, is it possible to use a student’s involvement in a social network environment as an evaluation of their performance? If you interested in learning more about using social network sites to support collaboration, this workshop will act as an introduction to current and future use of the communication methods and can help you to understand how students today are utilising platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for effective design communication