Community Development: A Shift in Thinking Towards Heutagogy

As a result of the distinct socio-economic changes that UK society has faced in over recent years more specific community health development approaches to curricula delivery are required to ensure the provision of effective methods and approaches to health improvement. An effective way in which to promote successful curricula is to adopt and engage with Barnet’s (1994; 2004; 2012) notion of a tri partite model, incorporating, societal, institutional and students needs. In order to achieve this, a holistic approach to curricula delivery must be adopted. However due to the fragmented nature of the delivery ‘community development’ curricula; good, effective, and pedagogical based delivery approaches and methods are not widely shared. The authors in this paper/presentation will explore the pedagogical basis of the CD curriculum and present a model of joined up thinking, incorporating a cross disciplinary approach to curriculum development and explore strategic approaches to teaching concepts in community development. In this paper the authors argue that a self-determined learning approach that involves an expansion and re-interpretation of andragological principles. A shift in thinking towards heautagogy will enable the learner to develop space, promoting the learner as an “architect” of learning

Why are Spiritual Aspects of Care so hard to Address in Nursing Education?’ A Literature Review (1993-2015)

Difficulties persist in conceptualising spiritual needs and understanding their relationship to religious needs and relevance to wellbeing. This review was undertaken to clarify some of these issues. It set out to establish what is already known about how issues of spiritual assessment and care are addressed in undergraduate nursing education. Using a systematic approach, a literature review covering the period 1993-2015 was undertaken. Reviewed materials were collected from mainly online sources including with searches conducted using CINHAL, SUMMON and PubMed databases, after defining keywords and inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study found that Spirituality appears to be a broad but useful category which is concerned with how people experience meaning and purpose in their lives. However, it also established that here are relatively few studies focused on how spiritual care competencies could be developed in nursing students. There is also little work exploring nursing educators’ perspectives and experiences about how to develop spiritual competencies in their students. The study concludes that further research is necessary in order to bridge the gap between aspirations and practice

Single walled carbon nanotube channel flow electrode : hydrodynamic voltammetry at the nanomolar level

The use of single walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) band electrodes in a channel flow cell, for low concentration detection, with hydrodynamic voltammetry is reported. A two dimensional SWNT network electrode is combined with a one piece channel flow cell unit, fabricated by microstereolithography. This configuration provides well defined hydrodynamics over a wide range of volume flow rates (0.05–25 mL min− 1). Limiting current measurements, from linear sweep voltammograms, are in good agreement with the channel electrode Levich equation, for the one electron oxidation of ferrocenylmethyl trimethylammonium (FcTMA+), over a wide concentration range, 1 × 10− 8 M to 2.1 × 10− 5 M, with a detection limit of 5 nM. At the highest flow rates, some influence of the slightly recessed electrode geometry arising from the SWNT electrode fabrication is noted. However, this can be accounted for by a full simulation of the hydrodynamics and solution of the resulting convection–diffusion equation. Application of this hydrodynamic configuration to the voltammetric detection of dopamine is also demonstrated

Effects of Blue and Green Light on Plant Growth and Development at Low and High Photosynthetic Photon Flux

The optimal combination of wavelengths of light (spectral quality) for single leaf photosynthesis has been well characterized, but spectral quality is not well characterized in whole plants in long-term studies. Here we report the effects of eight light spectra at two photosynthetic photon fluxes (200 and 500 µmol m-2 s-1) on dry mass, leaf area index and net assimilation of seven species in replicate 21-day studies. The combination of treatments allowed us to separately assess the effects of blue and green light fraction among species and PPF. At a PPF of 500, increasing blue light from 11 to 28 % significantly decreased dry mass in tomato, cucumber, and pepper, but there was no significant effect on soybean, lettuce and wheat. At a PPF of 200, dry mass significantly decreased only in tomato across the blue light range. Effects on leaf area paralleled effects on dry mass in all species at both PPFs, indicating that the effects of blue light on dry mass were mediated by changes in leaf area. Contrary to predictions of net assimilation based on blue light response of single leaves, there was no evidence of decreasing net assimilation with increasing blue light. In contrast to the significant effect of blue light dry mass and leaf area, increasing green light fraction from zero to 30 % resulted in few significant differences. Contrary to several reports on significant green light effects on growth (both increases and decreases), we found no consistent effect of green light among species on growth, leaf area or net assimilation. Collectively, these results indicate significant differences among species in sensitivity to blue light and less sensitivity to green light, and that the effect of blue light on dry mass is primarily determined by changes in leaf area

Mentor Assissted Learning

This presentaion: Explores key concepts associated with mentor assisted learning (MAL) Considers advantages and disadvantages of such an approach to learning Offers reflection upon MAL projec

Electroanalytical applications of carbon electrodes using novel hydrodynamic flow devices

Since the first reported use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as an electrode material in 1996 the use of CNTs within electrochemistry has grown rapidly. Single walled carbon nanotubes offer bio-compatibility combined with nano-scale dimensions and low background currents in the pristine state. Over the past decade the quantity of SWNTs synthesised globally has greatly increased making the material available for a variety of studies and potentially a feasible material for commercial electrodes. Despite this rise in popularity there is still an on going debate about the sites of electron transfer (ET) at a carbon nanotube. Some reports claim that the sidewall of the carbon nanotube exhibits sluggish ET rates with the majority of the ET occurring at defect sites and the end of the CNT. In contrast there is also evidence that suggests that ET at the sidewall is facile and not sluggish. The origin of ET is investigated using both theoretical and experimental data to probe the developing diffusion profiles to active ET sites. This is achieved on the timescale of a typical voltammetric experiment by significantly reducing the rate of diffusion to the electroactive sites using a NafionTM film. The reduced rate of diffusion allows the developing diffusion profiles to the individual sites to be decoupled. The use of convection and diffusion is a proven electrochemical technique to increase the sensitivity of analytical measurements and to probe reaction rates and mechanisms. The well-defined mass transport within a channel flow cell or an impinging jet electrode, combined with the continual replacement of solution, makes this geometry amenable to online studies, e.g. bedside or industrial monitoring, or a combination with chromatography. One draw back of conventional channel flow and impinging jet electrode set-ups is the need for specialist equipment or calibration steps each time the system is assembled. The use of microstereo lithography (MSL) to construct custom designed cells for use with a variety of planar electrodes is investigated. The hydrodynamics within the proposed designs are theoretically tested and verified experimentally. The devices constructed are easily assembled using a wide range of electrode materials and the computer aided manufacture provides flexibility in critical dimensions. Importantly, the devices only require a one-off determination of the height prior to assembly, removing the need for an electrochemical calibration step as the cells do not distort during assembly. Of particular interest for analytical studies is the greatly reduced background currents provided by a carbon nanotube network compared to an equivalent size carbon macroelectrode. The lower background signal allows small Faradaic currents to be observed experimentally, allowing lower concentrations to be distinguished. The enhanced sensitivity is combined with the increased mass transport of channel flow and impinging jet convective systems to determine the limit of detection for particular channel and impinging jet geometries under constant flow rates. This approach allows the successful detection of nano-molar concentrations under hydrodynamic control using standard voltammetric techniques

Community Development: A shift in thinking towards heautagogy

This presentation present the argument that a self-determined learning approach that involves an expansion and re-interpretation of androgogical principles - A shift in thinking towards heautagogy will enable the learner to develop space, promoting the learner as an “architect” of learning. Key concepts explored within the paper will include the concept of habitus, where the student is seen as an arranger and exploiter of space, the association with the notion of student as an architect of learning will be illustrated, where learning is arranged around activities rather than content, thus allowing the content to be context specific. The inter dependence of habitus, architect and heautagogical learning will be illustrated, where students will create their own pattern of ideas and experiences relevant to their own mind and being...promoting the “knowing,” “being” and “acting” of an engaging curriculum

Coaching and Mentoring in HE: Its place and purpose...or the story so far!

this presentaion explores the place and purpose of the coaching and mentoring within UK Higher Educatio