The European Music Portfolio development - the EMP-L: integrated music pedagogies as a framework for learning

Within the sphere of education, music generally features in two intertwined approaches. The first involves learning about music and musical activities as well as the development of musicality within the child; and the second involves activities for the child’s holistic development. The European Music Portfolio (http://www.emportfolio.eu), which was created through the collaboration of partners in seven European countries, has been grounded on the shared properties of language and music. Music and language are both tools for human communication, the seeds of which are planted prenatally. On the basis of Brown’s (2000) theory, language and music have evolved from a common ancestor, a ‘musilanguage’ stage. Our voices can serve the most primitive brain structures (Odent 2008). Singing, for example, can support the repetition needed for learning vocabulary and grammatical structure without the tedium of repetition (Driscoll et al. 2004). When considering theories for music teaching, it is important to understand how a child’s musical development and the ongoing musical, holistic learning events are structured and connected. In a deep holistic learning event, emotions, body and reason work together (Hannaford 2004; Damasio 1994). For successful holistic learning to take place these connections need to be articulated when designing musical activities (Ludke & Weinmann 2012) in order for learning to remain in the long-term memory (Hannaford, 2004). The goals of music education encompass cognitive, socioemotional, psychomotor and aesthetic goals (Marjanen 2002; 2009a; 2009b). The connections of music are here considered in relation to language development in order to promote a better understanding of the underlying musical processes which support children’s learning

Machine vision based measurement of dynamic contact angles in microchannel flows

When characterizing flows in miniaturized channels, the determination of the dynamic contact angle is important. By measuring the dynamic contact angle, the flow properties of the flowing liquid and the effect of material properties on the flow can be characterized. A machine vision based system to measure the contact angle of front or rear menisci of a moving liquid plug is described in this article. In this research, transparent flow channels fabricated on thermoplastic polymer and sealed with an adhesive tape are used. The transparency of the channels enables image based monitoring and measurement of flow variables, including the dynamic contact angle. It is shown that the dynamic angle can be measured from a liquid flow in a channel using the image based measurement system. An image processing algorithm has been developed in a MATLAB environment. Images are taken using a CCD camera and the channels are illuminated using a custom made ring light. Two fitting methods are experimented and the results compared in the measurement of the dynamic contact angles; a circle and two parabolas.Peer reviewe

Real-world emissions of nanoparticles, particulate mass and black carbon from a plug-in hybrid vehicle compared to conventional gasoline vehicles

Among various Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) charged from the grid are seen as the most advanced ones, as they can drive dozens of kilometers using only the electric engine and thus producing less tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions than vehicles with internal combustion engines or other HEVs. The proportion of PHEVs among all vehicles is still relatively low but increasing rapidly in many countries. However, the real-world emissions from these novel hybrid technologies are not straightforward to estimate. This study investigates multiple properties of the particle emissions of a PHEV, with gasoline direct injection, GDI, compared to two conventional gasoline vehicles, one with port fuel injection, PFI and one with GDI. Distance-based emission factors (EFs) for each vehicle in various driving modes, including battery-hold and battery-charge driving modes for the PHEV, were analyzed. The results showed that the PHEV produced smaller particles in size, resulting that particle mass (PM) and black carbon (BC) were lower by factor of ten in comparison to EFs from the vehicles with PFI and GDI engines. The PHEV consistently emitted lower distance-based EFs than the PFI and GDI vehicles in all driving modes, though EF for particle number (PN) in battery-charge mode was close to the EFs from the other two vehicles. The study also found that the vehicle cold start effect was present in the case of the shorter driving route but not as significant in the longer one. Overall, the study demonstrated that PHEVs could produce lower particle and BC emissions compared to traditional gasoline-powered vehicles. The vehicle cold start and systematic combustion engine restart effects still can have significant impacts on particle emissions, especially in shorter trips