Red Guide Paper 42: Managing a Module Part 1: Delivering a Module

This revised guide covers various aspects of the process for developing a new module and provides an overview of the general principles of module development

A modern day panopticon: using power and control theory to manage volunteer tourists in Bolivia

Volunteer tourism literature is yet to examine the impact of power and control practices on volunteer tourist compliancy. This paper contributes to closing this research gap by proposing and testing a new theoretical model of power and control practices. Drawing upon the previously un-synthesized theoretical contributions of Foucault (1979) and French & Raven (1959), the model presents power and control practices identified in the extant organizational literature. Using an auto-ethnographic approach, data was collected within a Bolivian volunteer-host community. Examination of results suggested mutually beneficial volunteer-host working relationships occur under ‘softer’ management practices. Our findings also offer insight into the salience of using reward-based management strategies as a control mechanism, as well as identifying two new control practices that emerged empirically. The research suggests several implications for the management of host communities towards creating more harmonious, efficient, and effective working relationships between volunteer tourists and hosts

What Difference Does ADR Make? Comparison of ADR and Trial Outcomes in Small Claims Court

This study compares the experience of small claims litigants who use alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) to those who proceeded to trial without ADR. ADR had significant immediate and long-term benefits, including improved party attitudes toward and relationship with each other, greater sense of empowerment and voice, increases in parties taking responsibility for the dispute, and increases in party satisfaction with the judiciary. Cases that settled in ADR also were less likely to return to court for an enforcement action within the next year

Modelling Investment When Relative Prices Are Trending: Theory and Evidence for the UK

This paper investigates the ability of aggregate and disaggregate equations to account for the boom in UK plant and machinery investment in the second half of the 1990s. We extend previous US research by Tevlin and Whelan (2002) by explaining the failure of the aggregate equations more formally in terms of misspecification when relative prices are trending; and by conducting the econometric analysis in a formal cointegration framework. In line with the US research, we find asset-level equations can explain the UK investment boom over this period, whereas the aggregate equation completely fails.investment, computers, relative prices

Composition portfolio

PhD ThesisThis portfolio of compositions, prose and critical contextualisation is a practice-led PhD that incorporates site-specific field recording practice and electroacoustics into post-techno music production. Combining psychogeographical strategies and phonographic practices to investigate the production of a poetry of place within a rapidly gentrifying city, it also includes poetry and fiction written within the urban and architectural context of Newcastle upon Tyne from 2008 to 2012. An interactive city-wide art installation called Surrogate City brought these elements together during 2012 and is documented here. Straddling the cleft between rhythm, literature and place, this thesis draws on the writings of 20th century Irish writer James Joyce and contemporary African-American poet Nathaniel Mackey among others to quarry and sound out a particular relationship between music and writing centered around ideas of rhythm, meter and beats, specifically with regards to concepts of slippage and swing. An album of electronic music called Glyphic Bloom constructed from field recordings and experiments in beat programming is the fulcrum on which this practice-led research rests

An Exploratory Case Study: Using Web-based Micro Videos as a Parent Involvement Tool to Support Families with Preschool Age Children in Early Numeracy Development

The United States Federal Government recognized the importance of parent involvement in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. Parent involvement has been associated with lower grade retention rates (student repeating a grade level), higher graduation rates, and higher student achievement rates. Reported obstacles to parent involvement include lack of child development knowledge and time constraints. In early childhood, a major focus has been placed on early literacy skills. However, studies that involve early numeracy skills especially in the home environment are lacking. Therefore, this study attempted to fill that void. An instrumental exploratory case study research design was utilized in which information was gathered on parents’ numeracy skill knowledge, numeracy perceptions, numeracy home activities and perceptions on the implementation of the numeracy micro videos as a parent involvement tool. A total of 41 preschool parents participated in the study who were randomly assigned to either a video user or nonuser group. Beginning in January 2019, the user group received a weekly micro video YouTube link for the parent to watch. A total of 6 videos were provided on early numeracy skills and support practices. Data analysis suggested the videos impacted preschool skill knowledge. For the user group, parental confidence grew as well as the need for additional support. In addition, an increase in home activities was observed. According to the participants, the physical activity micro videos seemed to be enjoyed more than the measurement cooking videos. From this study, it is believed that micro videos could provide another parent involvement outlet that encourages parent participation in their child’s learning process. Information from this study can help develop more micro videos that address parent’s need and concerns regarding early numeracy development

Ecofeminism: The Path towards Healing the Earth

The concept of the patriarchy, or any concept in which one group dominates another, is inseparable from the formation of human kind’s domination of nature. This domination of nature has led to the current the ecological crisis humanity faces. Those who deny climate change can admit to the massive amounts of pollution, trash, and deforestation. Despite this worsening economic crisis, those in power have been slow to react. Women can ultimately provide and lead the movement to solve this ecological crisis through the growing movement of Ecofeminism. In the philosophy of Ecofeminism, individuals recognize and reject western dualistic thinking that the earth, and all things physical, is separate from the divine

Lipotoxicity, aging, and muscle contractility: does fiber type matter?

Sarcopenia is a universal characteristic of the aging process and is often accompanied by increases in whole-body adiposity. These changes in body composition have important clinical implications, given that loss of muscle and gain of fat mass are both significantly and independently associated with declining physical performance as well as an increased risk for disability, hospitalizations, and mortality in older individuals. This increased fat mass is not exclusively stored in adipose depots but may become deposited in non-adipose tissues, such as skeletal muscle, when the oxidative capacity of the adipose tissue itself is exceeded. The redistributed adipose tissue is thought to exert detrimental local effects on the muscle environment given the close proximity. Thus, sarcopenia observed with aging may be better defined in the context of loss of muscle quality rather than loss of muscle quantity per se. In this perspective, we briefly review the age-related physiological changes in cellularity, secretory profiles, and inflammatory status of adipose tissue which drive lipotoxicity (spillover) of skeletal muscle and then provide evidence of how this may affect specific fiber type contractility. We focus on biological contributors (cellular machinery) to contractility for which there is some evidence of vulnerability to lipid stress distinguishing between fiber types.Accepted manuscrip

Illuminating and measuring personal development: the impact of this work on learning and teaching

This short article gives an overview of a small-scale case study research project based on a 2nd year cohort of students from the Business Information Systems area of the School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences at Northumbria University. The aim of this employability module is to prepare students for the recruitment process for their placement year in industry and to inculcate proper professional attitudes and behaviour. The teaching strategy uses the precepts of PDP, and an eportfolio is the vehicle for learning and assessment