OER update for Science and Technology

Recap on what the Open Educational Resources (OERs) so far released for the School of Science and Technology are and the statistics on their views an downloads.

Problem-Solving

Author: Dr Scott Turner

http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001

Details

These mini lectures are intended for undergraduate computing students, for providing simple steps in problem solving before the students learn a programming language. Problem-Solving and Programming is a common first year undergraduate module on the BSc Computing Programme at the University of Northampton. This material was taken from the problem solving part of the module and provides an introduction to five topics in problem-solving.

The resource can be found at: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001

Statistics are:

Pollution And Pollutants

Authors: Paul Cox and Nigel Freestone

http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/18529

Details

Pollution is the undesirable introduction of pollutants (contaminants) into the natural environment (land, air and water) and can have an adverse affect on human health. This resource provides an introduction to pollution and pollutants. The classification and distribution of pollutants is also considered. A number of self-assessment questions are provided to allow you to check your new knowledge. The material comes in Word format and its HTML equivalent. The pollutants.htm file includes two images (poll.gif and ld50.gif) and an answers page (SAQ_Answers.htm) related to it that need to be put in the same folder as the pollutants.htm file.


Statistics are:

Properties of Ultrasonic Waves

Author: Phil Picton 

http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/18755

Details

This material gives the description of the physical processes involved in the propagation of ultrasonic pressure waves as they pass through a material. It includes a mathematical derivation of the amplitude of the transmitted and reflected pressure waves, and an explanation is given for the differences between the near and far zones. This material has been used in the Advanced Inspection Methods and Techniques module as part of the BSc programme in Non-Destructive Testing at the University of Northampton.

Statistics are:

Open Education Resource: Properties of Ultrasonic Waves

Another new Open Education Resource (OER) has been made available by the School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton.

Properties of Ultrasonic Waves

Author: Phil Picton 

http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/18755

Details

This material gives the description of the physical processes involved in the propagation of ultrasonic pressure waves as they pass through a material. It includes a mathematical derivation of the amplitude of the transmitted and reflected pressure waves, and an explanation is given for the differences between the near and far zones. This material has been used in the Advanced Inspection Methods and Techniques module as part of the BSc programme in Non-Destructive Testing at the University of Northampton.

Published:  School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton

Keywords: UKOER, Ultrasonic waves, Inspection and testing, Non-destructive testing 

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

The resource found on Jorum at: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/18755 

Sixth Form students working with professional scientists at the University of Northampton

Taken from: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/sixth-form-students-spend-their-summer-holidays-working-with-professional-scientists-at-the-university-of-northampton

Sixth Form students spend their summer holidays working with professional scientists at the University of Northampton

• Thursday 22nd August 2013
  
  Sixth Form students have had the opportunity to work alongside professional scientists at the University of Northampton on a research project as part of the Nuffield Research Placements programme.  
  
  
  The six students were from schools across the county and spent six weeks at the University’s School of Science and Technology, gaining hands-on experience and a valuable insight into a professional research environment. The University has been actively involved with this programme for several years and it is part of the School of Science and Technology’s larger commitment to outreach.
  
  
  The participants included Sheldon Kawonga from Kettering Science Academy, Emmanuel Hlouverakis and Hafiz Alaraf both from The Duston School, Agota Geciauskaite from Malcolm Arnold Academy, James Adams from The Northampton Academy and Phillipa Hawkley from Brooke Weston Academy. All were invited to give presentations on their individual projects, which varied from building a mobile device app to investigating the sensitivity of magnetic particle inspection technique.
  
  
  Nuffield Research Placements provides 1,000 students each year with the opportunity to work alongside professionals in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) sector. The programme is open to students on the first year of a post-16 STEM course and placements are available across the UK in universities, commercial companies, voluntary organisations and research institutions.
  
  
  One of the students, Phillipa Hawkley, said:  “I found this experience to be really good as we got to use facilities that we don’t have at school and the chance to use this software puts us above others our age and will really help with university applications.”
  
  
  James Adams said: “It’s been a good experience, especially from a software developer’s point of view, as I’ve never had the experience of developing something based on someone else’s specifications.”
  
  
  Dr Abdeldjalil Bennecer, Senior Lecturer in Engineering at the University of Northampton commented: “The sixth form students are about to enter the second year of their A-levels and have spent six weeks over the summer with us working on individual projects.
  
  
  We held interviews with each student and the ones we offered places to were the brightest in their class and expressed an interest in STEM subjects at university level. We tailored the project briefs to suit their interests.
  
  
  It's been a beneficial few weeks for these students and we have thoroughly enjoyed working with them and giving them the ultimate experience of working with professional scientists."

TEACHING ULTRASONICS USING SPREADSHEETS

Recent paper published by Professor Phil Picton at The International Conference on Engineering Education 2012 Turku Finland July 30 – August 3, 2012

Proceedings can be found at: julkaisut.turkuamk.fi/isbn9789522162946.pdf

The University of Northampton, phil.picton@northampton.ac.uk

Whenever an ultrasonic wave encounters a boundary between two media it is partially reflected and refracted, as any acoustic wave would be. Unlike light, the wave also undergoes mode conversion so that in the general case a single incident wave could produce two reflected waves and two refracted waves. The angles which define the path of the wave are determined by Snell’s law and are easily calculated. The relative amplitudes, on the other hand, require quite complicated formula when the angle of incidence is anything other than 0 degrees. This problem gets compounded when the angle of the incident wave goes beyond the first critical angle. At this point the angle of the refracted wave becomes imaginary and the equations to calculate the relative amplitudes become complex. This paper describes a tool that has been developed, using a spreadsheet, which performs the calculations for all incident angles. The user selects the media and the type of incident wave and the resulting waves are shown graphically as well as numerically. The tool was developed primarily as part of an undergraduate course on ultrasonic testing, but could be used more widely.