Context dependent learning: its value and impact for workplace education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how a management development programme based on situated learning theory resulted in change for individuals, organisational culture and performance. The case study illustrates how new understandings about learning in the workplace and in higher education points towards the need to take account of the context in which learners utilise their knowledge and skills. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative and qualitative strategies were used to provide an evaluation of the impact of a management development programme in a group of companies. A questionnaire, focus groups and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data on three cohorts of supervisors and middle managers at different stages of the programme. A triangulated approach was adopted towards data analysis that illuminated a broad and deep change process. Findings – Positive cultural change was a significant benefit to the host organisation from the training programme. It was apparent that training can move beyond individual development to bring about organisational gains. Research limitations/implications – Future research might adopt a longitudinal design and facilitate a co-researcher approach using students’ learning logs of workplace experiences. Practical implications – Situated approaches to learning in higher education and the workplace need to be developed further to enhance workplace performance. A proposal is made for “learning consultants” to move between the two environments and facilitate knowledge exchange and improve understanding of the variety of learning contexts in business and educational settings.</p

Differential capacitance of ionic liquids according to lattice-gas mean-field model with nearest-neighbor interactions

The Bragg-Williams free energy is used to incorporate nearest-neighbor interactions into the lattice gas model of a solvent-free ionic liquid near a planar electrode. We calculate the differential capacitance from solutions of the mean-field consistency relation, arriving at an explicit expression in the limit of a weakly charged electrode. The two additional material parameters that appear in the theory -- the degree of nonideality and the resistance to concentration changes of each ion type -- give rise to different regimes that we identify and discuss. As the nonideality parameter, which becomes more positive for stronger nearest-neighbor attraction between like-charged ions, increases and the electrode is weakly charged, the differential capacitance is predicted to transition through a divergence and subsequently adopt negative values just before the ionic liquid becomes structurally unstable. This is associated with the spontaneous charging of an electrode at vanishing potential. The physical origin of the divergence and the negative sign of the differential capacitance is a nonmonotonic relationship between surface potential and surface charge density, which reflects the formation of layered domains alternatingly enriched in counterions and coions near the electrode. The decay length of this layered domain pattern, which can be many times larger than the ion size, is reminiscent of the recently introduced concept of "underscreening".Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures, version of record published in The Journal of Chemical Physic

Quadruplex digital flight control system assessment

Described are the development and validation of a double fail-operational digital flight control system architecture for critical pitch axis functions. Architectural tradeoffs are assessed, system simulator modifications are described, and demonstration testing results are critiqued. Assessment tools and their application are also illustrated. Ultimately, the vital role of system simulation, tailored to digital mechanization attributes, is shown to be essential to validating the airworthiness of full-time critical functions such as augmented fly-by-wire systems for relaxed static stability airplanes

Study and determination of an optimum design for space utilized lithium doped solar cells Quarterly report

Hall coefficient measurements for lithium doped solar cell

Study of radiation effects in Li-doped silicon solar cells Quarterly report

Irradiation and annealing of lithium doped silicon solar cell

Charged particle radiation damage in semiconductors, 15 - Study and determination of an optimum design for space utilized lithium doped solar cells, part 1 Interim final report

Hall coefficient measurements of irradiated lithium doped solar cell

Bonding machine for forming a solar array strip

A machine is described for attaching solar cells to a flexable substrate on which printed circuitry has been deposited. The strip is fed through: (1) a station in which solar cells are elevated into engagement with solder pads for the printed circuitry and thereafter heated by an infrared lamp; (2) a station at which flux and solder residue is removed; (3) a station at which electrical performance of the soldered cells is determined; (4) a station at which an encapsulating resin is deposited on the cells; (5) a station at which the encapsulated solar cells are examined for electrical performance; and (6) a final station at which the resulting array is wound on a takeup drum

Energy input is primary controller of methane bubbling in subarctic lakes

Emission of methane (CH4) from surface waters is often dominated by ebullition (bubbling), a transport mode with high‐spatiotemporal variability. Based on new and extensive CH4 ebullition data, we demonstrate striking correlations (r2 between 0.92 and 0.997) when comparing seasonal bubble CH4 flux from three shallow subarctic lakes to four readily measurable proxies of incoming energy flux and daily flux magnitudes to surface sediment temperature (r2 between 0.86 and 0.94). Our results after continuous multiyear sampling suggest that CH4 ebullition is a predictable process, and that heat flux into the lakes is the dominant driver of gas production and release. Future changes in the energy received by lakes and ponds due to shorter ice‐covered seasons will predictably alter the ebullitive CH4 flux from freshwater systems across northern landscapes. This finding is critical for our understanding of the dynamics of radiatively important trace gas sources and associated climate feedback

Charged particle radiation damage in semiconductors. Part 14 - Study of radiation effects in lithium doped silicon solar cells

Lithium doped silicon solar cells under electron irradiation and determination of semiconductor parameter

Evidencing a place for the hippocampus within the core scene processing network

Functional neuroimaging studies have identified several “core” brain regions that are preferentially activated by scene stimuli, namely posterior parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), retrosplenial cortex (RSC), and transverse occipital sulcus (TOS). The hippocampus (HC), too, is thought to play a key role in scene processing, although no study has yet investigated scene-sensitivity in the HC relative to these other “core” regions. Here, we characterised the frequency and consistency of individual scene-preferential responses within these regions by analysing a large dataset (n = 51) in which participants performed a one-back working memory task for scenes, objects, and scrambled objects. An unbiased approach was adopted by applying independently-defined anatomical ROIs to individual-level functional data across different voxel-wise thresholds and spatial filters. It was found that the majority of subjects had preferential scene clusters in PHG (max = 100% of participants), RSC (max = 76%), and TOS (max = 94%). A comparable number of individuals also possessed significant scene-related clusters within their individually defined HC ROIs (max = 88%), evidencing a HC contribution to scene processing. While probabilistic overlap maps of individual clusters showed that overlap “peaks” were close to those identified in group-level analyses (particularly for TOS and HC), inter-individual consistency varied across regions and statistical thresholds. The inter-regional and inter-individual variability revealed by these analyses has implications for how scene-sensitive cortex is localised and interrogated in functional neuroimaging studies, particularly in medial temporal lobe regions, such as the H