Long term sustainable product development at the packaging sector

This paper outlines the importance of sustainable product developments and their role in securing a sustainable future through current practices and procedures. It discusses the difficulties faced within organisations through the complexities and swamping of regulations when considering sustainability and the problems in policing such a system to ensure compliance. Focus is centred on the design stage, where large numbers of standards and interests must be factored in to create specifications that are highly compliant. Where there is a limited understanding of the complexities that are presented at this stage, less optimum specifications will be dispatched. This presents the need to think strategically with new systems and approaches which adapt to company behaviour, where decisions that are made at a design stage have impacts up and down the supply chain, changes that are made must be in line with company strategic objectives and provide influential returns on investment

A time dependent relation between EUV solar flare light-curves from lines with differing formation temperatures

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) solar flare emissions evolve in time as the emitting plasma heats and then cools. Although accurately modeling this evolution has been historically difficult, especially for empirical relationships, it is important for understanding processes at the Sun, as well as for their influence on planetary atmospheres. With a goal to improve empirical flare models, a new simple empirical expression is derived to predict how cool emissions will evolve based on the evolution of a hotter emission. This technique is initially developed by studying 12 flares in detail observed by the EUV Variability Experiment (EVE) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Then, over 1100 flares observed by EVE are analyzed to validate these relationships. The Cargill and Enthalpy Based Thermal Evolution of Loops (EBTEL) flare cooling models are used to show that this empirical relationship implies the energy radiated by a population of hotter formed ions is approximately proportional to the energy exciting a population of cooler formed ions emitting when the peak formation temperatures of the two lines are up to 72% of each other and above 2 MK. These results have practical implications for improving flare irradiance empirical modeling and for identifying key emission lines for future monitoring of flares for space weather operations; and also provide insight into the cooling processes of flare plasma.Comment: Final version accepted for publication by the Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate on 23 November 201

Lesson plans for motivating science reading in grade six

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University, 1948. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

Exploring Critical Media Literacy Skills of Adults on Twitter during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States in the spring and summer of 2020

This study explores the self-directed learning behaviors of adult users of the social media vehicle, Twitter, through the lens of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States during the spring and summer of 2020. The objective was to identify Twitter usage patterns to determine adults’ awareness and use of media literacy and critical media literacy skills with social media content they consume. This study, informed by two focus groups and six individual interviews, is based on a qualitative research design using a constructivist approach. The central question is how do adults use critical media literacy on social media when gathering information to make decisions? Findings include: Source credibility, trust, and accuracy were key characteristics people used to follow and engage with Twitter accounts regarding COVID-19 information guiding users’ self-directed learning as they researched on Twitter. Study participants’ knowledge of media literacy was lower than they thought or displayed. Respondents informed others of accurate information from Twitter about COVID-19 due to misinformation and disinformation. Findings may help educators assess gaps in adults’ media literacy and critical media literacy skills with social media and determine the focus needed to improve awareness of social media messages. This research reveals gaps in adults’ knowledge of media literacy and critical media literacy and impacts of using those skills. Future research could include interventionist studies with pre-and post-tests on adults’ knowledge and usage

Industrializing the Corn Belt: Agriculture, Technology, and Environment, 1945–1972

Review of: "Industrializing the Corn Belt: Agriculture, Technology & Environment 1945–1972," by J. L. Anderson

Military Command Authority: A Phenomenological Study of How U.S. Army Company-Grade Leaders Experience Insubordination

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenology is to explore the experiences of U.S. Army company commanders regarding insubordinate acts aimed at undermining their legitimate command authority. The theory guiding this dissertation is French and Raven’s (1959) theory of social power, which states that power is divided into five unique forms that leaders use in exercising their will to accomplish tasks. This study particularly considers the legitimate power base, a form of social power often asserted by virtue of holding an office or formal organizational position. The setting is an Army post in western United States; the study sample comprises three groups of Army leaders: company commanders, squad leaders, and senior noncommissioned officers (NCOs). Data collection methods include interviews and letter writing. Besides uniquely investigating Army company-level commands, I discovered many Army leaders display a penchant for identifying and mitigating potential insubordination rather than allowing it to fester in the ranks. Stated as themes, soldiers want commanders who offer clear vision-casting efforts directed at mission accomplishment; authentic first-line supervisors strive to bridge the gap between the commander and the soldiers; and senior NCOs care enough to develop their subordinates, promoting a command climate that, in turn, improves military culture long term. Future research opportunities exist in exploring insubordination in other military services and components. Additionally recommended research opportunities include case studies and narrative research about leadership traits, development, and styles exhibited in contemporary military leaders

Process mapping in new product development for environmental impact reduction in small and medium manufacturing enterprises

Environmental impact reduction (EIR) in Product Development processes, can involve numerous elements and activities. In relation to business objectives, the strategic review and integration of environmental impact reduction should be considered a best practice development opportunity and a contribution towards longer term sustainability. It should be recognised that environmental impact reduction requirements are often complex and challenging for businesses to implement, especially for those companies lacking the knowledge and internal resources to address these activities. This has been found to be the case particularly with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) where flexibility towards new approaches can be strategically more problematic, due to the limitations of available capital and resource. After a combination of literature review, industrial collaboration and data collection from within the manufacturing logistics systems of packaging for SME products, an opportunity was identified to develop a contemporary framework to integrate key critical environmental impact reductive activities, within adjoining New Product Development (NPD) activity. Engaging key activities of environmental impact reduction seamlessly into standardised NPD though a visual mapping process, can promote changes in current behaviour towards best practice development opportunities concerning environmental impact reduction. The contribution to new knowledge from this programme of research has been the development of an investigative framework for visually mapping the product development processes which provides manufacturing SMEs with an approach to capturing „visual snapshots‟ of their current engagement within environmental impact reductive activities. This visual mapping process addresses a range of company sizes and organisational behaviours to provide specific feedback and inform best practices for more sustainable NPD