There are three volumes in this body of work. In volume one, we lay the foundation for a general theory of organizing. We propose that organizing is a continuous process of ongoing mutual or reciprocal influence between objects (e.g., human actors) in a field, whereby a field is infinite and connects all the objects in it much like electromagnetic fields influence atomic and molecular charged objects or gravity fields influence inanimate objects with mass such as planets and stars. We use field theory to build what we now call the Network Field Model. In this model, human actors are modeled as pointlike objects in the field. Influence between and investments in these point-like human objects are explained as energy exchanges (potential and kinetic) which can be described in terms of three different types of capital: financial (assets), human capital (the individual) and social (two or more humans in a network). This model is predicated on a field theoretical understanding about the world we live in. We use historical and contemporaneous examples of human activity and describe them in terms of the model. In volume two, we demonstrate how to apply the model. In volume 3, we use experimental data to prove the reliability of the model. These three volumes will persistently challenge the reader’s understanding of time, position and what it means to be part of an infinite field. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99709
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Recent and ongoing curriculum innovations in Dutch secondary chemistry education have led to questions about which concepts should be central in the programme and which contexts should be used to embed these concepts into. Another important question is in the discussions about these innovations is: how do students learn chemistry? This thesis examines the relations between students' metacognitive beliefs, their learning outcomes, and the learning activities they conduct in the domain of chemistry. In studying these relations, a useful framework is provided bij Novak's educational theory on 'meaningful learning' as is described in chapter 2. In chapter 3, the development of an instrument for assessing students' metacognitive beliefs regarding chemistry is described. More specifically, this instrument, a questionnaire, consists of items that can be used to determine the nature of students' epistemological beliefs, learning conceptions, and goal orientations concerning chemistry. Using this instrument, it was found that the students' aforementioned metacognitive beliefs were highly interrelated. By means of the data produced in this study, an improved version of the instrument was constructed. We used this version of the instrument in a follow-up study and identified a set of items to assess a student's 'competence mindedness'. 'Competence mindedness' is defined as the extent to which students are oriented towards coming to understand subject matter in the chemical domain. This orientation is for instance inferred from students' beliefs about chemistry as a coherent body of knowledge and about chemistry learning as a process in which knowledge is actively constructed. We describe a student's score on this scale as the extent to which he is oriented towards developing chemical competence, or, in short, the student's 'competence mindedness'. As an indicator of students' chemical competence we used the so-called 'macro-micro concept'. The macro-micro concept consists of the ability to use the macro perspective (focusing on chemical phenomena on a substance level) and micro perspective on chemistry (focusing on the structure and behavior of subatomic particles) interchangeably. Although the macro-micro concept is considered to be a central chemical competence by many experts in the field of chemistry education, the concept itself is not mentioned explicitely in any Dutch chemistry textbook used in secondary education. Using the final version of the instrument described in chapter 3, relations between the competence mindedness of students and a central chemical competency were assessed in chapter 4. Consequently, an explorative study was conducted in which a small number of chemistry teachers was questioned on the extent to which they paid attention to the macro-micro concept in their own teaching. Five out of nine teachers interviewed, held the opinion that the macro-micro concept should be a part of chemistry teaching and consequently dedicated time in class to this concept. The other teachers that were interviewed, did not mention the macro-micro concept as a central chemical concept in the interviews. In another study, students' use of the macro-micro concept when answering regular chemistry test questions, was examined. From this study, it can be concluded that there are large differences in the students' use of this concept. However, from answers given by the students involved, it can be concluded that they use the macro-micro concept. Following from the last two studies mentioned, two more studies were conducted that focused on the use of the macro-micro concept by students. In particular we were interested in the way students use this concept differently than is to be expected from the sequencing of learning contents in chemistry textbooks. More specifically, we conducted two studies to determine if students' competence mindedness and the way they use the macro-micro concept (i.e. starting from the micro aspect or not) are related. In the first, small-scale, study, we concluded that senior students that are more competence minded, more often take the micro aspect of chemistry as a starting point when relating the micro and macro aspects of chemistry. In a follow-up study, a standardized instrument was used to assess students' use of the macro-micro concept. This instrument made it possible to include a larger sample of students in the study. This study confirmed the results found in the small-scale study: more competence minded students were found to prefer relations between the macro and micro aspects of chemistry that started from the micro aspect. Chapter 5 consists of several studies concerning students' notions about how the chemical domain can be described: their chemical domain beliefs. The development of these notions are considered an important indicator of chemical competence. Relations between students' competence mindedness and aspects of their chemical domain beliefs were examined through a repertory test procedure. More specifically, the students involved in this study were asked to compare the subject of chemistry with several other subjects. Thereby, data were gathered on constructs these students' used to describe the subject of chemistry and how they contrasted with the other subjects or resembled them. In another study, relations between students' chemical domain beliefs and the extent to which these students are competence minded were examined. The results show a number of relations between students' competence mindedness and selections of their chemical domain beliefs: in general, more competence minded students more often use concepts like 'chemistry as a science', 'properties of substances', and 'chemical reactions' to typify chemistry. Having found indications that students' competence mindedness regarding chemistry is related to their learning outcomes, the question arises how students' competence mindedness can be enhanced. Moreover, relations between students' competence mindedness and the learning strategies they deploy, have not been taken into consideration up to this point. In chapter 6, a learning environment was redesigned in the form of a student study guide, that is used as a supplement to the chemistry textbook students were used working with. The main purpose of the study guide was to change the type of learning activities students use. The two quasi-experimental studies in which the study guide was used as an intervention, did not lead to significant changes in students' learning activities. However, relations were found between students' learning activities and the extent to which students were competence minded. We conclude therefore, that the learning strategies used by the students involved in the study are in particular a consequence of their metacognitive beliefs, i.e. their competence mindedness, and not of the learning environment concerned.
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Seven new 1,3,5-cyclohexyltricarboxamide-phenylalanine derivatives were synthesized in order to investigate the effect of the amino acid chirality on the gelating properties of these small molecules in water. Gelation tests have shown that enantiomerically pure homochiral 1,3,5-cyclohexyltricarboxamide-L-phenylalanine is a non-hydrogelator as it crystallizes from water, whereas the heterochiral derivatives with either two L-phenylalanine moieties and one D-phenylalanine (LLD), or vice versa (DDL), are very good hydrogelators. Concentration-dependent gel-to-sol transition-temperature (T(gs)) curves for LLD or DDL gels show a sigmoidal behaviour, which is in contrast to the logarithmic curves generally observed for gels derived from low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs). Such sigmoidal behaviour can be related to interactions between fibre bundles, which give rise to intertwined bundles of fibres. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of LLD and DDL gels show a network of thin, unbranched, fibre bundles with diameters of 20 nm. Right-handed twisted fibre bundles are present in the LLD gel, whereas left-handed structures can be found in the DDL gel. Each bundle of fibres consists of a finite number of primary fibres. Gels consisting of mixtures of gelators, LLD and DDL, and nongelators (LLL or DDD) were investigated by means of T(gs) measurements, CD spectroscopy and TEM. Results show that the incorporation of nongelator molecules into gel fibres occurs; this leads to higher T(gs) values and to changes in the helicity of the fibre bundles. Furthermore, it was found that peripheral functionalization of the homochiral derivatives LLL or DDD by means of a second amino acid or a hydrophilic moiety can overcome the effect of chirality; this process in turn leads to good hydrogelators.
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The importance of teaching engineering students innovation development is commonly clearly understood. It is essential to achieve products which are attractive and profitable in the market. To achieve this, an institute of engineering education has to provide students with needed knowledge, skills and attitudes including both technical and business orientation. This is important especially for SME’s. Traditionally, education of engineering provides students with basic understanding how to solve common technical problems. However companies need wider view to achieve new products. Universities of applied Sciences in Oulu and Eindhoven want to research what is the today’s educational situation for this aim, to find criteria to improve the content of the educational system, and to improve the educational system. Important stakeholders are teachers and students within the institute but also key-persons in companies. The research is realized by questionnaires and interviews from which a current situation can be found. The research will also include the opinion of management who give possibilities to change the curriculum. By this research more insight will be presented about how to re-design a current curriculum. The research will act as basis for this discussion in SEFI-conference about formulating a curriculum that includes elements for wide-ranging knowledge and skills to achieve innovations especially in SME’s.
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The importance of teaching engineering students innovation development is commonly clearly understood. It is essential to achieve products which are attractive and profitable in the market. To achieve this, an institute of engineering education has to provide students with needed knowledge, skills and attitudes including both technical and business orientation. This is important especially for SME’s. Traditionally, education of engineering provides students with basic understanding how to solve common technical problems. However companies need wider view to achieve new products. Universities of applied Sciences in Oulu and Eindhoven want to research what is the today’s educational situation for this aim, to find criteria to improve the content of the educational system, and to improve the educational system. Important stakeholders are teachers and students within the institute but also key-persons in companies. The research is realized by questionnaires and interviews from which a current situation can be found. The research will also include the opinion of management who give possibilities to change the curriculum. By this research more insight will be presented about how to re-design a current curriculum. The research will act as basis for this discussion in SEFI-conference about formulating a curriculum that includes elements for wide-ranging knowledge and skills to achieve innovations especially in SME’s.
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Positioning paper bij de inauguratie van Vincent Voet als lector Circular Plastics.
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Understanding taste is key for optimizing the palatability of seaweeds and other non-animal-based foods rich in protein. The lingual papillae in the mouth hold taste buds with taste receptors for the five gustatory taste qualities. Each taste bud contains three distinct cell types, of which Type II cells carry various G protein-coupled receptors that can detect sweet, bitter, or umami tastants, while type III cells detect sour, and likely salty stimuli. Upon ligand binding, receptor-linked intracellular heterotrimeric G proteins initiate a cascade of downstream events which activate the afferent nerve fibers for taste perception in the brain. The taste of amino acids depends on the hydrophobicity, size, charge, isoelectric point, chirality of the alpha carbon, and the functional groups on their side chains. The principal umami ingredient monosodium l-glutamate, broadly known as MSG, loses umami taste upon acetylation, esterification, or methylation, but is able to form flat configurations that bind well to the umami taste receptor. Ribonucleotides such as guanosine monophosphate and inosine monophosphate strongly enhance umami taste when l-glutamate is present. Ribonucleotides bind to the outer section of the venus flytrap domain of the receptor dimer and stabilize the closed conformation. Concentrations of glutamate, aspartate, arginate, and other compounds in food products may enhance saltiness and overall flavor. Umami ingredients may help to reduce the consumption of salts and fats in the general population and increase food consumption in the elderly.
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This document combines four reports on existing regional business support programmes for inclusion or understanding of circular economy (CE) objectives, deliverable DT3.1.2 from the transform-CE project. Besides a general overview on national and regional level, the focus is on a selection of national and regional programmes aimed at the plastics industry. After explaining the format to structure the programmes, the results for the four regions are presented: Greater Manchester (UK), Rhineland Palatinate and North-Rhine Westphalia (DE), Wallonia (BE), Central Netherlands (NL).
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The focus of the thesis is an exploration into students’ vocational knowledge in the context of Dutch vocational education and training (VET). The reason students’ vocational knowledge requires exploration is because there is no consensus among scholars in the field of VET about how to theorise the nature of students’ vocational knowledge; most (not all) scholars rely on dichotomous conceptualisations, such as theory versus practice, general versus specific or explicit versus implicit. However, such commonly used dichotomies are not very helpful to understand the complex nature of vocational knowledge. Vocational knowledge is more than putting bits of theoretical and practical knowledge together, it is characterised by sometimes-intimate relationships between knowledge and actions. As a result of the above-mentioned gap in the VET literature, there is little empirical research on how VET students develop vocational knowledge and the extent to which this is occupation-specific knowledge. To understand students’ vocational knowledge, four different aims are formulated and carried out in four studies. The aim of the first study is to identify powerful vocational learning environments to enable the selection of a case that represents high quality vocational learning and teaching. With an eye on analysing students’ vocational knowledge, the second study aims to conceptualise the nature of vocational knowledge that avoids dichotomies. Therefore, two conceptual frameworks are integrated; the idea of contextualising is introduced which is based on cultural-historical theory to highlight the crucial role activity plays in knowledge development and to understand the relationships between the mind (i.e., what people think (and feel)), and action (i.e., what people do). Secondly, the theory is supplemented with ideas from inferentialism, a philosophical semantic theory of meaning to provide a useful way to focus on students’ processes of knowing and to reveal students’ vocational knowledge in terms of ongoing reasoning processes. The third study uses the conceptualisation of vocational knowledge to explore how students develop vocational knowledge in occupational practice, and to illustrate the process of contextualising. The forth study aims to describe what characterises students’ vocational knowledge using an analytic framework that distinguishes between occupation-specific knowledge components and qualities. This thesis contributes to research scholarship in the field of VET and an understanding of students’ vocational knowledge in practice. The theoretical framework of contextualising supplemented with inferentialism provides an alternative way to focus on students’ processes of knowing and helps to reveal students’ vocational knowledge in terms of reasoning processes. The empirical explorations and illustrations of students’ vocational knowledge contribute to the scholarly literature and practice on understanding the nature of vocational knowledge, how students develop vocational knowledge and what characterises their vocational knowledge. The intention to introduce the idea of contextualising is not about reinventing the wheel but rather an attempt to understand how it turns and how it functions. The intention of this thesis is to encourage dialogue and move the debate about the nature of vocational knowledge further, and hence, to provide some “food for thought”.
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In this paper we explore the influence of the physical and social environment (the design space) son the formation of shared understanding in multidisciplinary design teams. We concentrate on the creative design meeting as a microenvironment for studying processes of design communication. Our applied research context entails the design of mixed physical–digital interactive systems supporting design meetings. Informed by theories of embodiment that have recently gained interest in cognitive science, we focus on the role of interactive “traces,” representational artifacts both created and used by participants as scaffolds for creating shared understanding. Our research through design approach resulted in two prototypes that form two concrete proposals of how the environment may scaffold shared understanding in design meetings. In several user studies we observed users working with our systems in natural contexts. Our analysis reveals how an ensemble of ongoing social as well as physical interactions, scaffolded by the interactive environment, grounds the formation of shared understanding in teams. We discuss implications for designing collaborative tools and for design communication theory in general.
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