The Butterfly Effect: Creative Sustainable Design Solutions through Systems thinking

FAIM: Intelligent Manufacturing now, Limerick, Irelan

Wear observations applied to Lifeboat Slipway Launches

It is necessary to use an inclined slipway to launch a large lifeboat in locations where there is no natural harbour or where there is a large tidal range. Slipway stations consist of an initial section where the boat is held on rollers followed by an inclined keelway of nickel/chromium coated steel, the lifeboat is released from the top of the slipway and proceeds under its own weight into the water. The lifeboat is subsequently recovered to the top of the slipway using a winch line. With the introduction of the new, larger Tamar class lifeboat existing boathouses are being upgraded and existing low friction coated steel slipway lining materials replaced with a low-friction jute fibre/phenolic resin composite, which is designed to operate with unlubricated conditions. This has led to problems of high wear on slipway panels, particularly where the lifeboat mounts the slipway for recovery. This paper describes a method for assessing slipway lining materials and lubricants. The selection of an appropriate test machine, the TE92 rotary tribometer, and design of a modified ring on disc arrangement incorporating panel interfaces and attaching holes effects is described. An experimental methodology is developed using programmed running intervals to simulate dwell effects. Experimental data is thus presented to establish slipway panel wear rates for a range of lubricants and contact pressures. Experimental results are incorporated into real-world slipway surveys to develop the wear scenario. Results and implications of this research for future lifeboat slipway design are discussed

Rolling contact fatigue of ceramics

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Ceramic/ceramic and ceramic/steel contacts under lubricated rolling conditions are studied. This work is of interest to ball bearing manufacturers as the use of ceramics in the design of these components has some advantages over traditional bearing-steel materials. Low density and increased stiffness are the mechanical properties which gas-turbine and machine tool manufacturers are most likely to realise. Much research over the past two decades on material structure, quality control and manufacturing techniques has produced a material which can seriously challenge bearing steel in ball-bearing design. This is especially the case for hybrid ball-bearings, ie ceramic balls with steel bearing races which are now used as standard components. The purpose of this study is to examine the rolling contact fatigue failure modes of ceramics. This study concentrates on silicon nitride as this material has most potential for use by industry. The primary reason for studying ceramic balls is because of interest in ball-bearing applications, hence a modified four-ball machine is employed which correctly models ball motions and precisely defines ball load. Experimental and theoretical kinematic analysis of ball motion during modified four ball machine tests is presented. The kinematic analysis reveals that in practice, lower ball tracking exists at high speeds. Test conditions of lubricated contacts under high compressive stress show delamination type failures. Delamination failures are classified in terms of propagation and initiation from scanning electron microscope observations. Residual stresses are measured on delaminated surfaces, which implies plastic deformation of the ceramic. Also, chemical analysis implies that disruption of silicon, nitrogen and oxygen levels may take place on delaminated surfaces. Experiments illustrating various fatigue failure modes using artificially pre-cracked ceramic balls in contact with a steel upper ball are presented

Early Stage Cavitation Erosion within Ceramics: An Experimental Investigation

Six ceramic material types were considered within an experimental investigation to identify the erosion damages mechanisms resulting from cavitation exposure. These materials were a Y-TZP type of zirconia, different commercially available silicon nitrides, a high purity alumina and an hardened high nitrogen stainless steel. An ultrasonic transducer was utilised to produce cavitation conditions and the configuration was “static specimen method” using a 5mm diameter probe, 20kHz and 50μm of amplitude. The exposure times were periods from 15 seconds to 2 hours. Experimental methods employed to characterise wear mechanisms were light microscopy, scanning light interferometry, scanning electronic microscopy. It was found that the zirconia and silicon nitrides demonstrated evidence of local pseudoplastic deformation or depression prior to more pronounced erosion damages by fracture. Zirconia showed evidence of delayed surface changes when the sample is at rest stored in air possibly by spontaneous phase transformation after the completion of the erosion tests. Alumina showed evidence of brittle surface fracture and negligible or no pseudo-plastic deformation. All wear mechanisms are discussed and the materials are ranked in terms of cavitation resistance performance

First national survey of practitioners with early years’ professional status

The first national survey of practitioners who have achieved Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) set out to ascertain: • more detailed demographic information about their backgrounds and experience • their views on their ability to carry out their role since gaining EYPS • information about career trajectories including their intentions to change setting, role or career • an overview of their professional development activities and plans • an assessment of the impact of obtaining EYPS on professional identity • their views on the difficulty of achieving change in their settings. This survey is part of a three year longitudinal study investigating the role and impact of early years professionals (EYPs) in their working environments (settings) and also investigating practitioners’ personal career development and aspirations. There are two main parts to the study: • a survey of all EYPs, asking about their career development needs and aspirations • case studies in 30 settings across the country, looking at how EYPs have an impact on the quality of education and care available to children. The survey, with slight modifications, will be repeated in year three of the study. The intention was to make the survey accessible to all who have achieved EYPS, with the aim of generating responses from approximately 10-15 per cent of respondents. The survey went live between January and February 2010 and by the close of the survey some 1,045 completed questionnaires had been generated, representing nearly 30 per cent of the total number of practitioners with EYPS. This sample was broadly representative of the total population of practitioners with EYPS based on gender, ethnicity, geographical distribution and the pathway they had followed to achieve EYPS

Investment in Sustainable Development: A UK Perspective on the Business and Academic Challenges

There are many legislative, stakeholder and supply chain pressures on business to be more ‘sustainable’. Universities have recognised the need for graduate knowledge and understanding of sustainable development issues. Many businesses and universities have responded and introduced Sustainable Development models into their operations with much of the current effort directed at climate change. However, as the current worldwide financial crisis slowly improves, the expectations upon how businesses operate and behave are changing. It will require improved transparency and relationships with all stakeholders, which is the essence of sustainable development. The challenges and opportunities for both business and universities are to understand the requirements of sustainable development and the transformation that is required. They should ensure that knowledge is embedded within the culture of the organisation and wider society in order to achieve a sustainable future

Case study as a means of evaluating the impact of early years leaders: Steps, paths and routes

The paper argues that case study will need to play an increasingly important role in the evaluation of leadership development programmes as both formal and substantive theories of leadership place greater emphasis upon the role played by organizational context on leaders ability to bring about change. Prolonged engagement within a case study provides researchers with opportunities to capture the dynamics between leaders and their organisational contexts. However, adopting a case study approach is no substitute for inadequate theorization of the link between leadership approaches and leadership effects. The paper argues for the use of inclusive and expansive theoretical notions of leadership and its relationship to organisational context. The evaluation used to illustrate these arguments was based on a longitudinal multi-site case study methodology. The case studies ran over a three-year period and tracked the effect of 42 leaders on the quality of provision in some 30 early years settings. Both individual and collective theoires of leadership were used to trace leaders’ steps, paths and routes to improvement. Three overlapping theoretical lenses were used to study the dynamics of these leaders interactions with a key aspect of their organisational contexts - the existing formal and informal leadership structures – and how these affected their attempts to improve the quality of provision of their settings. The analysis, and related findings, were tiered in order to provide progressively more detailed descriptions of the relationships between leaders’ approaches and changes in their settings’ quality of provision. Each layer of analysis operated with a causal logic that became gradually less general and linear and increasingly more ‘local’ and complex

From fragmentation to multiplexity: Decentralisation, localism and support for school collaboration in England and Wales

Decentralisation and localism have become increasingly common drivers and outcomes of policy changes in many education systems in recent years, often supported by an emphasis on collaboration. This paper uses research into three collaborative initiatives in England and Wales to explore these changes. Informed by insights from network theory, it reveals a number of issues and tensions relating to decentralisation and localism and ends with a call to move away from a deficit perspective in order to use the multiplexity of current systems as a starting point for future developments in policy and research