Clickers and Learner Engagement

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Constructivist Learning

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A water supply system for a small mining community

This thesis deals with the problems met in solving the water supply question for a small coal mining community in southern Illinois. It will contain a brief general treatise on modern water purification with a discussion of the various methods and steps in modern practice, a set of drawings and specifications for a water supply system for this community together with an explanation of them --Introduction, page 4

Church-based HIV prevention programs in the African-American church: a scoping analysis

In lifetime risk for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) are at the greatest risk of all demographic groups. Creative modes of engagement have been established to reach this group in prevention efforts, including prevention programming in community-based organizations such as churches. Church-based HIV prevention is an emerging area of research and existing studies fall into one of three categories: BMSM’s perspectives on church and church-based HIV prevention, church leaders’ and members’ perspectives on HIV prevention in their congregations, and reported outcomes of HIV prevention interventions that have been conducted in church settings. Given the paucity of research in this area, a scoping analysis was conducted to survey the existing studies in order to identify overarching themes and gaps for future research efforts. In a review of the research, facilitators and barriers to successful implementation of HIV programming in churches emerged. Prominent barriers were stigmatizing sermons given in church and pastoral denial that HIV is a relevant issue to the Black community. Facilitators reported commonly were BMSM’s comfort found in faith and a pastor’s blessing of HIV prevention efforts in churches. Interventions primarily reported lessons learned in implementation of church-based HIV programs. A frequently reported lesson learned was the importance of close collaboration with participant churches to develop program curricula that were effectively couched within church doctrine, and that would be received well by church members. Some interventions also measured intervention efficacy outcomes, one of which showed a statistically significant decrease in HIV stigma post-intervention. This research has important implications for the effective development, implementation, and reporting of outcomes for future, church-based HIV interventions. As research in HIV prevention in the church continues to develop, it may be able to serve as a template for other community-based HIV prevention efforts and open doors for inclusion of other high risk groups such as injection drug users and sex workers

The Irish Banking Crisis: Regulatory and Financial Stability Policy

This report to the Irish Minister for Finance by the Governor of the Central Bank describes the the performance of the respective functions of the Central Bank and Financial Regulator in the period 2003-8 in order to arrive at a fuller understanding of the root causes of the systemic failures that led to the need for extraordinary support from the State to the Irish banking system.Ireland banking crisis; financial crises; financial stability policy

Road traffic offending and an inner-London magistrates’ court (1913-1963)

This article examines the impact of the growing number of prosecutions for road traffic offences at Clerkenwell Court in central London. The average number of cases heard in each courtroom remained stationary and additional traffic prosecutions were accommodated by reductions in prosecutions for drunkenness or disorderly behaviour and for regulatory offences. This change in police prosecution policy impacted on the court’s proceedings and increased the court’s workload because motorists were more likely than drunks to argue their cases and to employ legal representatives. Sentencing patterns, the memoirs of magistrates and court clerks and other published documents indicate that the court staff viewed traffic offending as essentially ‘regulatory’ and distinguished it from ‘serious crime’ except when somebody was killed or a court order was ignored. The court prioritised its own resources to deal with ‘serious crime’ at the expense of traffic prosecutions. The results of this study support Howard Taylor’s thesis that resource constraints had an important influence on police prosecution policies, but show that not only police resources but also court resources and the discretionary powers of individual magistrates were important factors in prosecution patterns

Numerical Studies of Models of Self-Assembling Systems

Self-assembly processes are of great interest in numerous fields. This work attempts to better understand the aggregation of Janus ellipsoids, the parameter space which Janus ellipsoids can be used for encapsulation, and the adsorption of Y-shaped molecules on a two-dimensional lattice. We first employ Canonical Monte Carlo simulations to approximate a ``micellization temperature, cluster distributions, as well as orientation correlation of interacting Janus ellipsoids with an aspect ratio of $0.6$ and an interaction range of $0.2\sigma$. The phase diagram of this system was also approximated through a system of $B_{2}$ scaling and a phase diagram calculated for a model of Janus spheres with an interaction range of $0.5\sigma$. Seeing a possibility of encapsulation, we explore parameters of temperature, sphere size, inter-particle interaction range and strength and determine the most efficient areas in parameter space for encapsulation of spheres by Janus ellipsoids. The adsorption of a model of Y-shaped particles on a two-dimensional lattice implemented Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations, using histogram reweighting and biasing techniques to determine the phase diagram of this system. The critical temperature of this system was also determined through finite-size scaling. We also explore the effects of patterned lattices on the critical temperature of the system

Growing a Research Culture in an Irish Technological University

Research, along with teaching and engagement is one of the three pillars of higher education. However, in the Irish Institutes of Technology (IoT), where, traditionally, the focus has been on vocational education, providing good quality graduates well trained for the workforce. Their research activity has been underdeveloped and teaching has been the primary focus. Two recent public strategy documents (‘The Hunt Report’ and ‘Towards a Future Higher Education Landscape’) have identified the need for Ireland to develop a ‘Technological University’ sector with an emphasis on research of a more applied nature. Technological University Dublin is on a trajectory to become Ireland’s first Technological University with an obligation to undertake research of global significance, national importance and regional relevance, including identified areas of research strength and minimum quotas of PhD students. The move towards a Technological University is driving IoTs to upgrade their research capabilities and capacities and move from teaching led institutions to research led, however this switch is not without its challenges. This study seeks to determine those factors influencing research activity by academic and research staff across and Irish technological institute. An online survey of academic and research staff will generate insights into barriers and enablers of research activity