Hull of a home: Vessel as refuge and experience

A sailboat is a place for escape and refuge. When at sea, the hull relies only on buoyancy, the sails on catching wind and the sailor is left in silence, besides the rippling water. Any route is possible amidst coastline and on board there are minimal necessities. My research begins by asking: How can we learn from sailors by creating opportunities for environmental meditation, a shared intimate environment, and preservation of material? I search in my thesis to encapsulate this feeling of freedom of movement, simplicity of experience, and comfort of a personal enclosure to create an experimental spatial structure with possibilities for solitude or social engagement. Collaborative mobile space, like a sailboat, allows one to have agency to control one’s atmosphere and to utilize potential space. The constraints set for the project are motivated by my research of how aspects of sailing experience and culture can be emulated—a stand-alone structure that is easy to carry and assemble, creates an enclosure via translucent textile, and is large enough to accommodate company. Through several spatial iterations, the final prototype structure is comprised of bamboo segments and a spinnaker sail. The structure can be folded to travel and the sail can return intact to its original use. This space-making practice offers a new perspective on material reuse and encourages a proactive approach to infiltrate initially designed and accepted spaces and products. In an age of ecological catastrophe and comfortable standards of living, pragmatic ingenuity needs to be activated and inspired by examples of designerly methods. I explore methods of crafting value in everyday material with a focus on retaining imbedded meaning. I consider how this awareness of material history and potential can effect the quality of daily lived experience. Surrounded by consumerist excess, I feel an obligation to evaluate my real needs and what I can do to extend the lifespan of material possessions as an investment in precious materials. How can I influence the mindset of users to empower their amateur designerly skills to think of future potential of reuse, reinvention, or rebirth to create solutions rather than buying them? This work represents a process of searching for relevant insights into the sailing phenomenon, the effect of space, and feelings of comfort as associated with identity and home. My personal narrative is included in this research as autoethnographic research, including my fascinations, experiences, and motivations, which influence and lead the design process

Young people as co-researchers in schools: a collaborative research methodology which benefits young people and school culture

The voice of young people in schools is often tokenistic. They are asked to contribute to surveys for OFSTED or are part of an adult-led school council. Rarely are they asked to work with adults to create new knowledge for school improvement. Returning to my previous school to conduct research resulted in developing an inclusive and collaborative methodology. Whilst initially intending to use a participative action research (PAR) process, I synthesised this with Critical Communicative Methodology (CCM) to create Youth Participative Dialogic Action Research (YPDAR). This approach created a research power dynamic where responsibility was shared more equally between the young people and the researcher. The results of this approach were unexpected. As the process developed, the young people’s confidence grew, their trust in the school developed, and they felt empowered to act. This paper explores the processes involved and how YPDAR could be used as a school improvement model with the potential not only to transform young people’s lives, but also the culture of the school

Multi-Digit Coordination in Absence of Cutaneous Sensory Feedback During Grasping Tasks

Motor learning and adaptation to object properties and task requirements requires integration of cutaneous sensory feedback with motor commands. Joint mechanics constantly change, with individual joints or muscles compensation so performance output is the same per task. Effects of mixed cutaneous sensory feedback on multi-digit coordination is not well understood. Investigators sought to determine the influence absent cutaneous sensory feedback has on motor learning and adaptation, and how the CNS coordinates multi-digit mechanical output to adapt to manual tasks, with partially intact digital sensory feedback. 19 participants were randomly assigned for three-digit anesthesia administration (TIM- thumb, index, middle; TRL- thumb, ring, little). Experimental tasks were repeated on two visits (control and anesthesia): grasping and lifting an object, and a functional task. Under partial digital anesthesia, total maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) was lower, and decreased force production was seen in all five digits (

Genes influencing milk production traits predominantly affect one of four biological pathways

In this study we introduce a method that accounts for false positive and false negative results in attempting to estimate the true proportion of quantitative trait loci that affect two different traits. This method was applied to data from a genome scan that was used to detect QTL for three independent milk production traits, Australian Selection Index (ASI), protein percentage (P%) and fat percentage corrected for protein percentage (F% – P%). These four different scenarios are attributed to four biological pathways: QTL that (1) increase or decrease total mammary gland production (affecting ASI only); (2) increase or decrease lactose synthesis resulting in the volume of milk being changed but without a change in protein or fat yield (affecting P% only); (3) increase or decrease protein synthesis while milk volume remains relatively constant (affecting ASI and P% in the same direction); (4) increase or decrease fat synthesis while the volume of milk remains relatively constant (affecting F% – P% only). The results indicate that of the positions that detected a gene, most affected one trait and not the others, though a small proportion (2.8%) affected ASI and P% in the same direction

Young researchers in schools: a participative action research study into the efficacy of a whole school mental health strategy

In England between April and June of 2021, 190,271 young people were referred to mental health services, an increase of 134% since June 2020 (Local Government Association, 2022). Since 2014, schools have been expected to support young people’s mental health needs (Department for Education, 2014). This qualitative work critically explores the efficacy of a whole school mental health strategy, in a comprehensive academy in England. As participative action research (PAR), this approach involved self-selecting young people aged 16-18 years old to collaborate with me as a young research team (YRT). They worked closely with the study participants, aged 12-15 years, who volunteered from the pupil premium cohort (The Department for Education, 2022). A weekly cycle of meetings between myself, the YRT and participants took place, providing qualitative data. This research focuses on a school mental health strategy and new approaches to young people’s participation in school decision-making. My findings and contributions to knowledge are divided into two sections. Firstly, I present findings that indicate a school mental health strategy requires trusting staff / young people relationships to be successful. As a further contribution, I suggest relationships are viewed through a nanosystems lens (Rudasill et al., 2018), so schools can start to address this issue. My second area contributing to new knowledge is how this unique methodology has enabled the development of youth participative dialogic action research (YPDAR). I have discovered how using YPDAR can positively impact young people and school character. YPDAR benefits young people as attachment-like relationships may develop between young researchers and participants. In addition to improving young people’s socio-emotional skills, this research can boost their confidence, empowerment, agency and trust in the school. School character also benefits, as YPDAR requires a power shift from school to young people, strengthening relationships and the development of trust between them

Motivation for and within Online College Courses

Online courses have been heralded as efficient and cost-effective higher education solutions, but have negative associations with student learning and retention. In light of online learning’s increasing prevalence, yet disappointing outcomes, it is imperative to investigate which features of online courses may be contributing to disparities in student performance. In this dissertation, I focus on a critical, yet understudied predictor of performance in online courses: motivation. I use Expectancy-Value Theory to investigate how motivation impacts who decides to take online courses, how motivation is affected by online courses, and how motivation can be improved within online courses. In my first study, I find that students select into online courses largely due to the need for flexibility, and that motivational, behavioral, and performance differences between OL and F2F students become more apparent once students are grouped by their reasons for selecting into an OL course. In my second study, I identify that by increasing the transactional distance between students, asynchronous online courses degrade belonging, increasing social uncertainty around classmates and a perceived lack of access to the instructor. Furthermore, interview data suggest that students conceptualize belonging differently across contexts, and that quantitative measures designed to measure school belonging may produce misleading results when adapted to the classroom level. In my final study, I address a gap in the theory behind the popular utility value intervention (UVI): the behavioral mechanisms linking greater motivation to greater performance. I was able to utilize click data to discover behaviors that are associated with both motivation and course performance, finding that motivated click behavior (i.e., interest) is best identified by the patterns of spacing one’s engagement with the course across many days, especially days not surrounding course deadlines. I identify lingering questions about the directionality in the strengthening association between motivation and engaged behavior over time, discussing their implications for future intervention work. Overall, this study uses motivational theory to improve performance in online courses, and online course performance to inform motivational theory, demonstrating the potential for a symbiotic relationship between the fields of online learning and motivation

The effect of combined isometric and plyometric training on musculotendinous ankle stiffness and its subsequent effect on performance in international age-group track sprint cycling

Within sprint cycling, the ankle’s primary role is transferring power generated at the hip and knee. However, a stiffer musculotendinous unit around the ankle may directly contribute to increased performance. The aim of this study was to measure the influence of isometric and plyometric training on ankle stiffness and sprint cycling performance. Fifteen international age-group sprint track cyclists completed a 10-week intervention. An experimental group (n = 8) performed high-volume plyometrics and isometric calf raises in addition to their normal training, whilst a control group (n = 7) continued with no intervention. Kinetic measures were recorded on a force plate and in sprints on an isokinetic ergometer at 60 and 135 rev/min. Kinematic measures were recorded using highspeed cameras and reflective markers. Isometric peak force during plantar flexion and vertical ankle stiffness when hopping were both increased in the intervention group (p ≤ 0.05). Bicycle sprints showed group differences in ankle stiffness (p = 0.01) at 135 rev/min and average ankle angle (p = 0.04) at 60 rev/min. Therefore, combined plyometrics and isometrics were an effective method for increasing ankle stiffness. This combination of stimuli also effected the utilisation of the ankle in sprint cycling

Temporary Nerve Block at Selected Digits Revealed Hand Motor Deficits in Grasping Tasks

Peripheral sensory feedback plays a crucial role in ensuring correct motor execution throughout hand grasp control. Previous studies utilized local anesthesia to deprive somatosensory feedback in the digits or hand, observations included sensorimotor deficits at both corticospinal and peripheral levels. However, the questions of how the disturbed and intact sensory input integrate and interact with each other to assist the motor program execution, and whether the motor coordination based on motor output variability between affected and non-affected elements (e.g., digits) becomes interfered by the local sensory deficiency, have not been answered. The current study aims to investigate the effect of peripheral deafferentation through digital nerve blocks at selective digits on motor performance and motor coordination in grasp control. Our results suggested that the absence of somatosensory information induced motor deficits in hand grasp control, as evidenced by reduced maximal force production ability in both local and non-local digits, impairment of force and moment control during object lift and hold, and attenuated motor synergies in stabilizing task performance variables, namely the tangential force and moment of force. These findings implied that individual sensory input is shared across all the digits and the disturbed signal from local sensory channel(s) has a more comprehensive impact on the process of the motor output execution in the sensorimotor integration process. Additionally, a feedback control mechanism with a sensation-based component resides in the formation process for the motor covariation structure

Healing through YPAR transportation projects

Rationale: In Denver, Colorado, the streets aren’t safe and youth have been noticing and taking action in response. Eighthgrader Emilleo, for example, often spent his lunch meeting with his peers and even grilling city council members as part of a research project aimed at making a deadly local street safer. Ash, a high school senior, led her classmates in another transportation-related research project: an examination of the lack of school and city bus routes serving the growing school. In both cases, the transportation focus, emerging from youth participatory action research (YPAR) proved to be generative and healing for students. The more they understood how local transportation services oppressed them, the more they could devise solutions and actions that eventually proved empowering and healing. Theoretical perspective: Unlike other papers in this symposium, these projects did not set out to explicitly implement healing practices. Instead, we focused on implementing YPAR, an emergent epistemological approach that positions youth to name problems, conduct their own research around them, develop equitable policy solutions, and work with adults to implement them (Ozer & Douglas, 2015; Fox & Fine, 2013). In this case, both youth teams implemented YPAR projects that dealt with transportation inequities. Emilleo’s class launched their YPAR project after their teacher’s friend was hit and killed by a car while crossing a notoriously dangerous street. Ash’s class explored their past negative lived experiences with transportation to and from school. Through later individual and collective reflection with university researchers—via writing, video testimonials, and online group discussions and presentations—youth described the YPAR work as healing. Methods: After completing the projects, the youth met online with a group of university researchers to develop a reflection process. The intergenerational group, with members ranging from 13 to 64 years old in the US, United Kingdom, and Greece, developed two research questions. The first looked at what external changes the youth made. By external, we meant “outside of yourself,” like using YPAR to change school lunch offerings. The second examined internal changes or shifts occurring in students’ “heads or hearts.” Students, and one teacher, wrote and filmed video responses to those prompts, and the intergenerational group collectively analyzed the findings and engaged in regular online video discussions about their implications. Findings: In terms of external changes, the young people noted the tangible things they had achieved. Emilleo’s group had worked with elected officials to reduce lanes of traffic on a street from four to three and pilot pedestrian-only hours. Ash’s group secured the promise of a city bus line to their school. Progress is underway but not complete. In terms of internal changes, intergenerational analysis revealed a pattern of healing outcomes. The youth felt safer, more powerful, and able to use YPAR to mediate problems inside and outside of schools. Specifically, they described interactions with powerful adults as important. The young people in these cases interacted with adults ranging from school district administrators to the state’s governor, who listened, gave feedback, and even enacted some level of change. The youth said this political progress helped alleviate the immediate anguish of the transportation problems they faced and actually induced pride. “It was so healing to have adults sit down and be like ‘Wow, you’re passionate and committed,’” Ash said. Discussion: The two YPAR projects, while not explicitly designed with a healing justice framework, proved generative and reparative for young people. The transportation focus allowed young people to do the “both/and” work that Ginwright (2015) described: finding collective well-being in their school-based groups while also working to alleviate social oppression, in this case, the transformation of local transportation systems