Planning complex engineer-to-order products

The design and manufacture of complex Engineer-to-Order products is characterised by uncertain operation durations, finite capacity resources and multilevel product structures. Two scheduling methods are presented to minimise expected costs for multiple products across multiple finite capacity resources. The first sub-optimises the operations sequence, using mean operation durations, then refines the schedule by perturbation. The second method generates a schedule of start times directly by random search with an embedded simulation of candidate schedules for evaluation. The methods are compared for industrial examples

Carceral soundscapes. Sonic violence and embodied experience in films about imprisonment

Post 9/11 the ‘invisibility’ of political prisoners as part of the ‘war on terror’ has had a direct correlation with the concealment of abusive treatment of detainees in the detention camps at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Details of these abuse scandals have indicated that there has been a notable shift away from the optical towards the sonic as a form of punishment and torture, with accounts of detainees being subjected to rock music played for prolonged periods at excruciating volumes (Smith, 2008). Addressing a number of key concerns – sound and phe- nomenology, sound and the ethics of spectatorship, sound and the experience/intensification of confinement, sound as a (potential) mode of resistance/control – this paper will investigate the use of sound in cinematic depictions of imprisonment including A Man Escaped (Bresson, 1956), Hunger (McQueen, 2008) and Zero Dark Thirty (Bigelow, 2012). The aim is to explore how an auditory perspective might complicate previously held ocularcentric conceptions of power in penal institutions (Foucault, 1977) and to examine how this experience of sound is represented on screen. The essay also considers how sound design can bridge the distance between self and other, and align the spectator emotionally, ethically and politically with a film’s characters. The essay thus proposes that an ethical spectatorship may require cinematic auditors to listen more critically, and it claims that a better understanding of the fundamental role that sound and listening play in the articulation and recognition – or indeed, disavowal – of the subjectivity of prisoners within these narratives may lead to an increased awareness of the politics of aesthetics of individual films. The essay concludes by suggesting that the field of sound studies creates further opportunities for research that explores these important questions about representation, spectatorship and ethics from a range of disciplinary perspectives.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Housing Support Needs of Gypsies and Travellers in West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and York

First paragraph: Supporting People, a Government initiative, was implemented in April 2003, with the aim of providing housing related support to vulnerable people. The aim of a housing related support service is to allow a person to live in more independent accommodation than they otherwise might, or to prevent the loss of this independent living. Examples of housing related support might include: assisting and enabling the development of life skills such as budgeting, signposting to other agencies, and helping someone maintain a safe and secure dwelling

Carceral Soundscapes: sonic violence and embodied experience in film about imprisonment

Post 9/11 the ‘invisibility’ of political prisoners as part of the ‘war on terror’ has had a direct correlation with the concealment of abusive treatment of detainees in the detention camps at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Details of these abuse scandals have indicated that there has been a notable shift away from the optical towards the sonic as a form of punishment and torture, with accounts of detainees being subjected to rock music played for prolonged periods at excruciating volumes (Smith, 2008). Addressing a number of key concerns – sound and phe- nomenology, sound and the ethics of spectatorship, sound and the experience/intensification of confinement, sound as a (potential) mode of resistance/control – this paper will investigate the use of sound in cinematic depictions of imprisonment including A Man Escaped (Bresson, 1956), Hunger (McQueen, 2008) and Zero Dark Thirty (Bigelow, 2012). The aim is to explore how an auditory perspective might complicate previously held ocularcentric conceptions of power in penal institutions (Foucault, 1977) and to examine how this experience of sound is represented on screen. The essay also considers how sound design can bridge the distance between self and other, and align the spectator emotionally, ethically and politically with a film’s characters. The essay thus proposes that an ethical spectatorship may require cinematic auditors to listen more critically, and it claims that a better understanding of the fundamental role that sound and listening play in the articulation and recognition – or indeed, disavowal – of the subjectivity of prisoners within these narratives may lead to an increased awareness of the politics of aesthetics of individual films. The essay concludes by suggesting that the field of sound studies creates further opportunities for research that explores these important questions about representation, spectatorship and ethics from a range of disciplinary perspectives

‘Every drop of my blood sings our song. There can you hear it?’: Haptic sound and embodied memory in the films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Frequently drawing on avant-garde formal strategies, bringing together personal, social and cultural memories in a cinematic collage, the films of Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul recreate what Richard Dyer has called ‘the texture of memory' (Dyer 2010). Using narrative techniques such as repetition, fragmentation, and convergence (as different threads of a narrative resonate uncannily both within and across the films), the work expresses what the process of remembering feels like, how the warp and weft of the past continuously moves through and shapes the present just as the present shapes our memories of the past. While sound design in classical cinema often privileges the voice, lowering ambient sound in order to ensure intelligibility while creating an illusion of naturalism, in these films ‘natural' ambient or environmental sounds are amplified to the extent that they become almost denaturalized, thus heightening their affective power. In Blissfully Yours (Sud sanaeha, 2002), Tropical Malady (Sud pralad, 2004), Syndromes and a Century (Sang sattawat, 2006) and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Loong Boonmee raleuk chaat, 2010) the sound of the environment is often so dominant that it dismantles our reliance on the verbal or the linguistic to ground our understanding of what is happening in the narrative, and instead encourages (or rather insists upon) an embodied, phenomenological, engagement with the sensuality of the scene. This use of sound and textual synaesthesia foregrounds sound's materialism and its relationship to touch, sight, and taste, creating a feeling of sensory immersion on the part of the spectator where the senses seem to become indistinct. Alongside frequent bursts of pop music (expressing jouissance), the films' sound designer Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr uses these environmental sounds to create rhythmic ‘sonic sequences' that have themselves an almost musical quality reminiscent of experimental avant-garde compositions from the 1950s and 60s made up of single or multi-tracked field recordings. This essay examines these moments in Apichatpong's films and argues that they enable a sense of connection and intersubjectivity by appealing directly to the audio-viewer's shared knowledge of how we remember

Addressing the learning of chemistry at undergraduate level: towards the development of independent learning

A key focus of education is to encourage and provide opportunities for learning. Recent research in science education has identified challenges in teaching and learning of science such as declining student engagement, provision of appropriate assessment and transition between various stages of formal education. This study addresses these challenges. Firstly, the students’ profiles was determined both as the student entered university and then as they progressed through their study. The profile includes an indication of the students’ motivation, their preparedness for university, their expectations of university, their interaction with learning supports and their approaches to learning at university. In this study, varied and changing student profiles have been observed. It has been shown that factors including student ‘interest’, ‘learning responsibilities’, ‘student attendance’ and their ‘approaches to learning’ are positively correlated with academic achievement. It has also been shown that these factors which correlate well with academic achievement are also those that become problem areas by the end of both first and second year i.e. changing student profiles show an increase in surface approach to learning, reduction in perceived preparedness to take on learning responsibilities and reduction in student engagement. It is clear that these contributing factors towards student learning are not mutually exclusive, in fact they are interconnected, e.g. the approach that students adopt towards their learning is a factor in the quality of their learning but the approach and thus the learning is also influenced by the learning environment. With the knowledge of the student profile on entry to university, a first year undergraduate chemistry laboratory for general science students was developed and implemented with the focus of providing learning experiences that allowed for the development of a range of appropriate skills within the student as well as tackling issues of engagement and preparation for independent learning. From detailed analysis of several aspects of the new laboratory course, a framework for undergraduate chemistry laboratories is proposed. Having addressed the purpose of laboratories, the framework addresses many of these aspects that are normally not present in first year laboratories, namely problem solving tasks, open -ended problems, experimental design and development of professional skills. Additionally, a student assessment system was introduced that rewarded students for several different elements of the laboratory including manipulative skills, data interpretation, knowledge of the task in hand, knowledge of the underlying concepts, as well as maintenance of a laboratory journal. Additional elements were introduced including verbal presentations, pre-laboratories and practical assessments. This work clearly shows that implementation of such a framework has a positive effect on student learning and engagement and thereby is an appropriate learning environment. Additionally this work has shown that it is possible to implement such a system with large numbers of first year students by implementing, with adequate tutor training, a small group teaching environment for large heterogeneous groups of students

Foraging in the ruins : Nguyễn Trinh Thi’s mycological moving-image practice

Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Open ICT tools project

The paper will introduce a project titled the ‘Open ICT Tools’ which aims to explore and trial out ICT tools to facilitate a global collaborative and secured engagement with external business and community partners. The challenge is to facilitate a communication and multimedia data exchange between Northumbria University and participating external educational and business organisations without compromising the security of either Northumbria University IT infrastructure or that of the partner organisations. This is one of eight projects funded by the JISC infoNet from across the country under its Trialling of Online Collaborative Tools for Business and Community Engagement programme. The Open ICT Tools project is directly connected with the Global Studio, an innovative model of research informed teaching and learning. The Global Studio is a cross-institutional collaboration between Northumbria University and international universities based in the USA, Australia, UK and Korea as well as industry partners such as Intel, Motorola and Inverness Medical. The Global Studio was initiated by the School of Design three years ago and since then it included nearly 300 students from six international universities such as Hong-ik in Korea and RMIT in Australia. The aim of the Global Studio is to equip design students with skills for working in globally networked organisations particularly development of skills in intercultural communication and collaboration. To achieve this aim, students from the participating universities work together on industry led projects. However, attempting to use existing university technical infrastructure has been problematic. A particular problem relates to software licence agreements, which limit use of certain software and/or the virtual learning environment to a particular institution’s students. Attempts to use open source software has not been straightforward, for example using Skype for synchronous cross – institutional communication has often failed as students cannot log into a university’s technical infrastructure, begin a Skype based dialogue with students in another institution and simultaneously view a PowerPoint presentation. Online file sharing has often failed, primarily due to the file size. Therefore the aim of the Global Studio project is to build on the excellent ICT infrastructure at Northumbria and to identify and trial a diverse range of collaborative Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools that: (a) could support engagement between the university and its external collaborative business and community partners and (b) be embedded with the current university IT infrastructure. This paper explores how various ICTs are being trialled in the Global Studio to facilitate information and data exchange between students, teachers and industry partners and how this enables/constrains collaboration. The paper will explore the technologies that have been chosen as well as the rationale underpinning their choice