MAKING ADVICE WORK (CALDERDALE) EVALUATION FINAL REPORT

The Making Advice Work Project (MAW) was set up in 2013 to facilitate advice agencies in Calderdale to work together, and to improve advice and support through partnership. The project was delivered by a group of 4 organisations; Citizens Advice Calderdale Bureau (CACB), Age UK Calderdale and Kirklees, WomenCentre Calderdale and Kirklees and Calderdale Disability Advice Resource (DART). This report presents the findings from an evaluation of MAW conducted by the Centre for Health Promotion Research, Leeds Beckett University. It presents evidence about the project’s journey, the project outcomes and the overall learning from the project

Taking on different roles: how educators position themselves in MOOCs

Educators in massive open online courses (MOOCs) face the challenge of interacting with tens of thousands of students, many of whom are new to online learning. This study investigates the different ways in which lead educators position themselves within MOOCs, and the various roles that they adopt in their messages to learners. Email messages from educators were collected from six courses on FutureLearn, a UK-based MOOC platform that had 26 university partners at the time. Educator stance in these emails was coded thematically, sentence by sentence. The resulting typology draws attention to the different ways in which educators align themselves in these settings, including outlining the trajectory of the course, acting as both host and instructor, sometimes as fellow learner, and often as an emotionally engaged enthusiast. This typology can be used to explore relationships between educator stance and variables such as learner engagement, learner test results and learner retention

Health within the Leeds Roma Community: Final Report

This report illustrates the findings from a piece of health-related research carried out within the Roma community in Leeds in 2012. The research aimed to explore Roma community member’s health status and associated health needs. Based upon data gathered from questionnaires and focus groups with Roma community members and interview data from health professionals working with them, this report presents evidence from the data gathered. The findings reported here relate to the migrant population of Roma resident within the UK, not the indigenous Gypsy and Traveller population of the UK. UK and Irish Travellers, despite sharing common experiences to the Roma in terms of discrimination and exclusion, are a distinct community and are not of Roma origin and thus are not the focus of this report

Study of Velocity and Materials on Tribocharging of Polymer Powders for Powder Coating Applications

Electrostatic powder deposition is widely used in a plethora of industrial-applications ranging from the pharmaceutical and food.industries, to farm equipment and automotive applications. The disadvantages of this technique are possible back corona (pin-like formations) onset and the Faraday penetration limitation (when the powder does not penetrate in some recessed areas). A possible solution to overcome these problems is to use tribochargers to electrostatically charge the powder. Tribocharging, or contact charging while two materials are in contact, is related to the work function difference between the contacting materials and generates bipolarly charged particles. The generation of an ion-free powder cloud by tribocharging with high bipolar charge and an overall charge density of almost zero, provides a better coverage of the recessed areas. In this study, acrylic and epoxy powders were fluidized and charged by passing through stainless steel, copper, aluminum, and polycarbonate static mixers, respectively. The particle velocity was varied to determine its effect on the net charge-to-mass ratio (QIM) acquired by the powders. In general, the Q/M increases rapidly when the velocity was increased from 1.5 to 2.5 m/s, remaining almost constant for higher velocities. Charge separation experiments showed bipolar charging for all chargers

Passive Thermal Management Systems Employing Shape Memory Alloys

A thermal management system includes a first substrate having a first conductive inner surface. A second substrate has a second conductive inner surface. A connecting structure is attached to the first and second substrates to space apart the first and second inner surfaces defining an insulating space for a single architecture. One or more passively-acting elements are attached to the inner surface of at least one substrate and including a shape memory material such as a shape memory alloy (SMA). The SMA passively reacts to the temperature of the first substrate by thermally contacting or separating from the second inner surface of the second substrate for the control of the conduction of heat energy in either direction

Apparatus and Method for Low-Temperature Training of Shape Memory Alloys

An apparatus and method for the low-temperature thermo-mechanical training of shape memory alloys (SMA) has been developed. The experimental SMA materials are being evaluated as prototypes for applicability in novel thermal management systems for future cryogenic applications. Alloys providing two-way actuation at cryogenic temperatures are the chief target. The mechanical training regimen was focused on the controlled movement of rectangular strips, with S-bend configurations, at temperatures as low as 30 K. The custom holding fixture included temperature sensors and a low heat-leak linear actuator with a magnetic coupling. The fixture was mounted to a Gifford-McMahon cryocooler providing up to 25 W of cooling power at 20 K and housed within a custom vacuum chamber. Operations included both training cycles and verification of shape memory movement. The system design and operation are discussed. Results of the training for select prototype alloys are presented