Mobile Digiquest: Developing rich media reflective practitioners

Mobile technologies, well-established as business tools, have now become more educationally-appropriate through integration of improved multimedia functionality. User-generated content and related activities have encouraged a transition from academic content creation to greater student collaboration across a range of platforms, which are increasingly mobile. With a greater awareness of 'citizen journalism' approaches, our students are becoming more familiar with using mobile technology in recounting their experiences. Our own staff surveys have indicated that these techniques are not commonplace internally, and while the greater majority of staff use their camera phones, few feel confident in transferring their rich media elsewhere. Within a wider framework of institutional knowledge-sharing, the OU's Digilab and educational professional development have included opportunities to explore m-learning further. Supported by device loans and emulation tools, the Digilab has provided a range of self-exploratory facilities which have been leveraged by increasing numbers of guided sessions and hands-on Digiquest activities. Other project work in the university has explored capturing local environments and language in residential schools, and a framework for remote fieldwork. Through offering sessions using commonly available technologies, including participants' camera phones, MMS and online mobile-blogging tools, our activities have demonstrated the ease with which rich media can enhance group work and reflection. Building on case studies from other institutions and related research in the field we have constructed two main themes: * Location-based approach, making use of existing physical trails around the campus, integrating with GPS/geocaching activity; * Scenario-based approach, working within a teaching and learning context, capturing practice through use of participant role-play. A number of considerations have arisen for further exploration. Technically, it is difficult to filter content and transcode/modify media sent by MMS so that all participants can access the same material. In creating the activities it was essential to take a more guided peer-learning approach, pairing, where possible, a more adept participant with novice users. The activity worked better when blended with a purpose e.g. creating practice-based course activities. Participants were able to reflect and extend their experiences after the face-to-face session through the mobile-blog. In this presentation we aim to outline the steps taken in providing these staff development opportunities and our future expectations of providing a return path for user-generated mobile rich media

The impact of college student immersion service learning trips on coping with stress and vocational identity

This study examined the impact of service learning immersion trips on vocational identity and coping with stress among college students. Fifty-one students (15 males, 36 females) who participated in immersion trips and 76 students (25 males, 51 females) in a non-immersion control group completed a series of questionnaires directly before and immediately after both fall and spring break immersion trips, and during a four-month follow up. Results suggest that, after returning from an immersion trip, students report a greater ability to cope with stress and a somewhat stronger sense of vocational identity relative to students who do not participate in immersion trips

Development of in-vitro mouth methods for studying oral phenomena

Manufacturers are under pressure to reformulate products to make healthier foods, without changing desirability or flavour. A better understanding of product breakdown under oral conditions is essential to structure novel products which are healthier without consumers noticing. In-vitro methods were developed to explore product behaviour when subject to a range of phenomena relevant to those in the mouth, with particular emphasis on lubrication behaviour. Polysaccharides common in food products were mainly used as model systems and salt release was studied in some systems. Three in-vitro systems were developed and used in this study. Firstly, a stirred vessel was developed to gather data of salt release from gelatin, gellan and alginate systems, under quiescent conditions. This was a reliable method of tracking diffusion of sodium ions through the gel structures into a surrounding liquid, showing that diffusion was unaffected by the differing structure of the gels. The second system introduced the effect of compression. Only when pressures are sufficient to rupture the gel samples did compressions affect salt release over that observed in the stirred vessel study. Samples released the majority of their contained salt up to nine times faster, as a result of greater surface areas being exposed. Finally, tribology equipment was developed, which explores the thin film, high shear behaviour of materials. An exploration of available equipment, processing parameters and configurations was carried out to determine optimum surfaces, normal forces and speed ranges which could be related to phenomena occurring in the mouth. The lubricating properties of inhomogeneous polysaccharides with different physical properties were studied. The mixing behaviour of the polysaccharide greatly affected the lubrication response; some mixed quickly so lubricated more efficiently and vice versa. Finally, the developed tribology equipment was used to study the ordering process of a series of fluid gel samples, indicating that lubrication tracks the ordering process, with a decrease in lubrication when structure forms. The pattern of this response is a result of polysaccharide and salt content of the materials, with increasing content enhancing the change in lubrication experienced as more rigid gel particles are produced. The work presented in this thesis shows that the use of in-vitro methods can provide repeatable information on structure behaviour under conditions relevant to the mouth. This information could then be used to develop and assess future food products for their expected performance when consumed

Anglo-American relations in south America during the second world war and post-war economic planning

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis examines relations between the United States and Great Britain in South America between 1939 and 1945. It does so in the broader context of the economic planning for the post-war world undertaken by the US and Britain during the Second World War. Traditional interpretations of Anglo-American post-war economic planning have tended to focus on a process whereby the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration advocated a multilateral system, based on equality of access to markets and raw materials. Doubting Britain’s ability to compete successfully in such a system, the British government baulked at the US proposal and clung to its autarkic structures constructed during the interwar years. This thesis argues that relations between the US and Britain in South America followed a different and more complex pattern. In this region it was in fact Britain that eventually took the lead in advocating multilateralism. This policy was adopted following a lengthy evaluation of British policy in Latin America, which concluded that multilateralism represented the surest means of protecting British interests in South America. The US, on the other hand, demonstrated exclusionary tendencies in its policy toward Latin America, which threatened the successful implementation of a global economic system based on multilateralism. In explaining this divergence from multilateralism in the Roosevelt administration’s post-war economic planning, this thesis pays particular attention to the influence of different factions, both within the administration and in the broader US political and business establishment. By exploring Anglo-American relations in this previously neglected region, this thesis contributes toward a greater understanding of the broader process of post-war economic planning that took place between the US and Britain during the Second World War

BREAKING DOWN THE BREAK UP

This is a culminating experience, titled, Breaking Down the Break Up! (BDTBU). BDTBU is a five song EP by the author, Tommy Mills. The songs on this EP span a wide range of genres such as rock, electronic, funk, orchestral, ragtime, and pop. The goal of the project is to explore different approaches towards making marketable pop music. This project challenged the author to modernize his composition and production techniques. Upon graduation, the songs on BDTBU will be released on Spotify, iTunes, and Apple Music. Key Words: EP, popular music, modern production, composition, sound design.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1182/thumbnail.jp

Identifying multiple steady states in the design of reactive distillation processes

Global homotopy continuation is used to identify multiple steady states in ideal reactive flash and reactive distillation systems involving a reaction of the form A+B [symbol for \u3c--\u3e C taking place in the liquid phase. The choice of specifications has an influence on the existence of multiple solutions for both the flash and the column. For the flash, specification of the heat input or withdrawal can give rise to multiplicities while specification of the split fraction does not. Specification of one internal energy balance variable and one external material balance variable does not produce multiplicities in the column; however, specification of two internal energy balance variables can produce multiplicities. This is seen to have implications for the selection of control variables for both the flash and the column. The effects of the relative volatility between the light and heavy components, the forward rate constant, and the reaction equilibrium constant are studied. It is concluded that both the relative volatility spread and the equilibrium constant exhibit threshold values, below which only singular solutions are obtained. Above this threshold, multiplicities are to be found. The rate constant also affects the appearance of multiple solutions, but the multiplicities are found in regions bounded above and below by regions producing only singular solutions. The cause of multiplicities in the idealized system studied is seen to be the interaction between consumption and creation of species by reaction and transfer of material between phases. The reaction rate appears to be the major contributor to this effect because it is able to reverse direction, assuming either positive or negative values --Abstract, page iv

Developments in the financing of residential real estate

Real estate, in the early twentieth century, was known to be one of the most stable and dependable revenue producing assets in the portfolios of investing institutions. However, in 1925, there began a slow rise in the rate of foreclosures of mortgage loans. The stock market collapse cam in 1929 and then the Depression. The causes of foreclosure and financial collapse can be linked to the real estate practices that were used during this period of time. This paper looks to examine those practices and how they affected the economy