Appreciative Inquiry – a Research Tool for Institutional Change

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) emanated from the PhD work of David Cooperrider at Case Western Reserve University in the 1980s. Founded upon social constructionist theories (Berger & Luckmann,1966, Gergen, 2009), it is an approach to organizational change that eschews former Organization Development (OD) deficit models in favour of a positive approach to change that builds a vision for the future based upon what already works well within an existing system. It also provides a framework for researching or evaluating different forms of professional practice, including learning, teaching and the student experience. Its self-empowering philosophy, effected through the ‘4-D’ process (Discover, Dream, Design and Destiny), is realized through the collaborative working of all stakeholders within an institution; through systematic participation in a jointly constructed vision of an organization’s future, they become an integral part of its success. At its core is the unconditional positive question, which seeks out the best of ‘what is’ in order to prompt the collective imagination to envision ‘what might be’. The use of AI within higher education in the UK is not yet well-developed and existing studies of the application of AI to this context have tended to focus principally on the areas of teaching and institutional change. It is suggested that through the publication of recent books such as ‘Appreciative Inquiry in Higher Education: A Transformative Force’ (Cockell, McArthur-Blair & Schiller, 2013), it will perhaps become more widely adopted in this context

Man, the State, and Revolution

Despite the progress that has been made in revolutionary theorising over the past few years, most theorists of social change continue to neglect the influence of opposition leaders upon the revolutionary process. One of the few exceptions in this regard is Max Weber. In his analysis of legitimate authority, Weber asserts that the charismatic form of authority rests on popular devotion to the normative order ordained by a specific person at a time of crisis. Though his work offers some important insights into the revolutionary process, Weber fails to take into account the conditions that give rise to such forms of authority in the first place. This is why the state-in-society approach is so important. It analyses the interactions of multiple sets of formal and informal groups that promote different conceptions of political order. The focus here is not so much on whether a state provides opportunities for people to act, but how the practices of states generate justifiable collective grievances and ideologies in the first place. This is significant because revolutionary theorising needs to recognise the processes by which states influence the identities and ideas of various opposition groups in society. Where state practices contend with very different forms of social behaviour, people tend to be drawn into revolutionary movements because they are inspired by the vision of those who offer an escape from the unjust practices of the state. As we will see, this was certainly true in Cuba and Iran, where Fidel Castro and Ayatollah Khomeini came to assume paramount roles in revolutionary movements committed to very different forms of socio-economic justice

'Usemyability’ (UMA). An Investigation Into Whether an Online Employability Skills Audit Can Enhance Students Understanding of the Term Employability

This project was completed as part of the students as academic partners (SAPs) initiative. The project aimed to ascertain the current level of understanding surrounding students’ employability skills and how they may be improved. It was expected that through the use of an online self-audit tool ‘usemyability’ (UMA 1) students would be able to establish a benchmark from which to track their development across a range of 16 benchmarked employability skills. A baseline questionnaire was completed by 31 University of Worcester (UW) students to investigate their existing knowledge surrounding the concept of employability. Results suggested that students had a limited understanding of the term employability. Notably, students regarded employability as simply ‘getting a job’ (9 students suggested this) or ‘having skills’ (12 students noted this). Skills listed focussed around personal attributes (including reliability and confidence) illustrating discrepancies in what students think employers look for (attributes) and what employers actually look for (skills, literacy, being ICT efficient for example) (Archer & Davison, 2008). The UMA audit allowed students to document their skills and work experiences to date, as well as further educate students on employability skills. Students stated benefits associated with completing the UMA audit and provided relevant examples in support of this. A number of limitations to the project, including timing and length of the audit were identified by students. Further limitations identified by the researchers included the timing of the study within the academic year, low participation rates and attendance of participants on the day of the presentation of employability skills. A greater response sample is required to generalise the impact of the UMA audit on a wider scale

Coherent structure impacts on blowoff using various syngases

Swirl stabilized combustion is one of the most successful technologies for flame and nitrogen oxides control in gas turbines. However, complex fluid dynamics and lean conditions pose a problem for stabilization of the flame. The problem is even more acute when alternative fuels are used for flexible operation. Although there is active research on the topic, there are still various gaps in the understanding of how interaction of large coherent structures during the process affect flame stabilization and related phenomena. Thus, this paper approaches the phenomenon of lean premixed swirl combustion of CH4/H2/CO blends to understand the impacts of these fuels on flame blowoff. An atmospheric pressure generic swirl burner was operated at ambient inlet conditions. Different exhaust nozzles were used to alter the Central Recirculation Zone and observe the impacts caused by various fuel blends on the structure and the blowoff phenomenon. Methane content in the fuel was decreased from 50% to 10% (by volume) with the remaining amount split equally between carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Experimental trials were performed using Phase Locked PIV. The Central Recirculation Zone and its velocity profiles were measured and correlated providing details of the structure close to blowoff. The results show how the strength and size of the recirculation zone are highly influenced by the fuel blend, changing stability based on the carbon-hydrogen ratios. Nozzle effects on the shear flow and Re numbers were also observed. Modelling was carried out using the k-ω SST CFD model which provided more information about the impact of the CRZ and the flame nature close to blowoff limit. It was observed that the model under-predicts coherent structure interactions at high methane fuel content, with an over-prediction of pressure decay at low methane content when correlated to the experimental results. Thus, complex interactions between structures need to be included for adequate power prediction when using very fast/slow syngas blends under lean conditions

Modification of titania nanoparticles for photocatalytic antibacterial activity via a colloidal route with glycine and subsequent annealing

Changes in the colloid-chemical and photocatalytic properties of titania nanoparticles by attrition milling in the presence of glycine (Gly) and subsequent heat treatment were examined. By milling at 1500 rpm for 6 h, the average particle size was decreased from 123 to 85 nm, with simultaneous decrease in the specific surface area from 35.1 to 23.5 m2/g. Interfacial reactions between titania and Gly were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, from the blue shift of the COO− related vibrational bands by 25 cm−1, relative to the same band from the pristine Gly. The bimodal N1s x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy peak similar to that from the reported titania—amino acid complex is another indication of the complex formation with the participation of nitrogen. When the dispersion was dried and calcined at 500 °C in air, the powder exhibited pale yellow color. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy showed significant visible light absorption, suggesting nitrogen incorporation into titania. The fired product showed high photocatalytic antibacterial activity by irradiation of blue light centered at around 440 nm, using Escherichia coli as a specimen of bacterial species. Thus, the present Gly-modified titania nanoparticles could be used for eliminating indoor bacteria under soft blue illumination. The series of interfacial chemical processes involved are also discusse

In situ fabrication of carbon fibre–reinforced polymer composites with embedded piezoelectrics for inspection and energy harvesting applications

Yan, X., Courtney, C. R., Bowen, C. R., Gathercole, N., Wen, T., Jia, Y., & Shi, Y. (2020). In situ fabrication of carbon fibre–reinforced polymer composites with embedded piezoelectrics for inspection and energy harvesting applications. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 31(16), 1910-1919. doi:10.1177/1045389X20942315. Copyright © 2020 (Copyright Holder). Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.Current in situ damage detection of fibre-reinforced composites typically uses sensors which are attached to the structure. This may make periodic inspection difficult for complex part geometries or in locations which are difficult to reach. To overcome these limitations, we examine the use of piezoelectric materials in the form of macro-fibre composites that are embedded into carbon fibre–reinforced polymer composites. Such a multi-material system can provide an in situ ability for damage detection, sensing or energy harvesting. In this work, the piezoelectric devices are embedded between the carbon fibre prepreg, and heat treated at elevated temperatures, enabling complete integration of the piezoelectric element into the structure. The impact of processing temperature on the properties of the macro-fibre composites are assessed, in particular with respect to the Curie temperature of the embedded ferroelectric. The mechanical properties of the carbon fibre–reinforced polymer composites are evaluated to assess the impact of the piezoelectric on tensile strength. The performance of the embedded piezoelectric devices to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals is evaluated, along with the potential to harvest power from mechanical strain for self-powered systems. Such an approach provides a route to create multi-functional materials

Highly-confined and tunable plasmonics based on two-dimensional solid-state defect lattices

Plasmons, collective excitations of electrons in solids, are associated with strongly confined electromagnetic fields, with wavelengths far below the wavelength of photons in free space. This strong confinement promises the realization of optoelectronic devices that could bridge the size difference between photonic and electronic devices. However, despite decades of research in plasmonics, many applications remain limited by plasmonic losses, thus motivating a search for new engineered plasmonic materials with lower losses. A promising pathway for low-loss plasmonic materials is the engineering of materials with flat and energetically isolated metallic bands, which can strongly limit phonon-assisted optical losses, a major contributor to short plasmonic lifetimes. Such electronic band structures may be created by judiciously introducing an ordered lattice of defects in an insulating host material. Here, we explore this approach, presenting several low-loss, highly-confined, and tunable plasmonic materials based on arrays of carbon substitutions in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) monolayers. From our first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT), we find plasmonic structures with mid-infrared plasmons featuring very high confinements ($\lambda_{\text{vacuum}}/\lambda_{\text{plasmon}}$ exceeding 2000) and quality factors in excess of 1000. We provide a systematic explanation of how crystal structure, electronic bandwidth, and many-body effects affect the plasmonic dispersions and losses of these materials. The results are thus of relevance to low-loss plasmon engineering in other flat band systems