Where Were the Media in the Financial Crisis of 2008, and Have We Seen This Trend Before?

In the fall of 2008, the United States and the rest of the world experienced significant financial turmoil. The financial industry as we knew it crumbled before our eyes. After experiencing this event and the media\u27s fragmented and inconsistent coverage of it, I felt an interesting topic to look into was the financial press\u27 failed coverage of the finance industry, both today and in the past. In looking at this event, I will focus on both the financial press that failed to cover the happenings of the financial industry, as well as those that did recognize the issue at hand. In doing this, I will include a content analysis of the relevant sections of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In addition, I will also look into past financial crises, including the Enron scandal, the Savings and Loan crisis, and the Technology Bubble to see if the financial press\u27 recent failure is the continuation of a long trend. After discussing the fragmented nature of the financial press, I will then discuss why the financial press had little effect on individuals, despite some actually good coverage existing. In discussing this issue, I will focus on topics such as the media’s lack of objectivity and the audience\u27s unwillingness to accept the situations they are presented with. Finally, I will suggest ways to rectify this situation, such as news consumers becoming more media literate

Symbols of protection : the significance of animal-ornamented shields in early Anglo-Saxon England

The significance of shields with animal ornament on the boss and/or board in early Anglo-Saxon society is sought in the coincidence of artefactual, stylistic and iconographic symbolism. Twenty shields buried in the 6th to earliest 7th century, together with seventeen further mounts which were probably originally designed for shields, form the basis of a systematic typological review; decoration in Salin's Style I is emphasised. Analysis of dating, distribution and use in burial establishes cultural and social contexts. The meaning of the ornamental repertoire is sought through iconographic analogies, notably with Scandinavian bracteates and their putative association with a cult of Óðinn/Woden. It is proposed that the animal ornament invested the shields with a specific apotropaic quality, which emphasised, and amplified, the protective role of select adult males, and hence their authority over kin, community and even kingdo

Implementing the Single Assessment Process: Opportunities and challenges

Peer reviewe

Technology enhanced learning in 21st century mass higher education. Aspects of design, practice and strategy for a necessary step change

Modern day mass higher education presents challenges for both learners and teachers. Whilst digital resources, Web 2.0 technologies and online connectivity can add significantly to the learning opportunities of 21st century students, many cross programme Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) provisions remain collections of somewhat disconnected and basic materials. In its early development, organised e-learning has generally been the province of specialist programmes and individuals championing the new technologies. However along with the adoption of technology enhanced learning, there is a growing need to develop, design and embed more fundamental and far reaching strategic approaches that embrace the core of traditional university learning and teaching programmes. This paper focuses upon a large undergraduate core module and discusses the implications of a practice based case study which explored how traditional campus based undergraduate learning and teaching could be redesigned and enhanced by the addition of online technology and e-pedagogy. It considers aspects of both pedagogical and technological design and examines how a VLE can support learners and teaching teams. Findings showed that students were extremely positive about the mix of onsite and online learning. They saw anytime, anywhere access as fundamental, and valued the flexible access and collaborative opportunities offered by Web 2.0 and mobile resources. Considerable operational benefits arose in supporting teaching teams and student marks increased. Drawing upon lessons learned from practice, and feedback gained from students and teachers, the paper examines how the approach may inform future curriculum delivery and programme specification. It considers the contribution that blended learning may make in addressing the needs of 21st century learners in mass higher education, and reflects on the implications of the case study in terms of aspects of design, practice and strategy

CMB interferometry

Interferometry has been a very successful tool for measuring anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. Interferometers provided the first constraints on CMB anisotropies on small angular scales (l~10000) in the 1980s and then in the late 1990s and early 2000s made ground-breaking measurements of the CMB power spectrum at intermediate and small angular scales covering the l-range ~100-4000. In 2002 the DASI made the first detection of CMB polarization which remains a major goal for current and future CMB experiments. Interferometers have also made major contributions to the detection and surveying of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect in galaxy clusters. In this short review I cover the key aspects that made interferometry well-suited to CMB measurements and summarise some of the central observations that have been made. I look to the future and in particular to HI intensity mapping at high redshifts that could make use of the advantages of interferometry.Comment: 8 pages, 2 tables. Accepted in Proceedings of Science (PoS) as part of conference: Resolving the Sky - Radio Interferometry: Past, Present andFuture - RTS2012, April 17-20, 2012, Manchester, U

A study to discover whether or not parents desire or feel a need for further knowledge at the time of admission of their child to the hospital.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit