Teaching ultrasonics using spreadsheets

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

Book review: Robert McNamara's other war: the World Bank and international development by Patrick Allan Scharma

In Robert McNamara's Other War: The World Bank and International Development, Patrick Allan Scharma attends to the lesser-studied final act of McNamara's political career - his role as leader of the World Bank. This thoroughly researched book offers a detailed and memorable account of both McNamara and this vital moment in the history of global economic development, yet occasionally pulls its ..

Book review: charity sucks by Iqbal Wahhab

Are charities best placed to solve social problems and deliver welfare or might business do it better? This is the key argument of Iqbal Wahhab in his new ‘provocation’, Charity Sucks. While the controversial message of the book chimes with wider debates about the capacity for commerce to deliver prosperity, this unconvincing book fundamentally misunderstands the nature of donation and the relationship between capitalism and charity, writes John Picton

Using photo elicitation to understand first-year student experiences: Student metaphors of life, university and learning

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Book review: the right to buy? Selling off public and social housing by Alan Murie

Introduced under the Thatcher government, ‘Right to Buy’ has had a formative effect on housing in the UK for the past 35 years. In The Right to Buy? Selling Off Public and Social Housing, Alan Murie examines the policy’s long-standing and ongoing impact, and considers the implications of its more recent extension. While more explicit political analysis of the consequences of ‘Right to Buy’ would have bolstered the book’s arguments, John Picton welcomes this timely, detailed and important read

Adolescent television viewing and belief in vampires

A total of 1133 13-15-year-old pupils in six secondary schools in South Wales were invited to complete questions concerning vampire belief and amount of television watching. The data demonstrate that belief in vampires was positively associated with higher levels of television watching

Des communiqués de presse du Cnes à la presse généraliste Vers un observatoire de la diffusion des termes

International audienceRésumé Cet article s'intéresse au phénomène de la dé-terminologisation, c'est-à-dire aussi bien au passage qu'à l'usage des termes dans la langue dite générale. La problématique s'est élaborée à partir d'une demande du Cnes (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) qui souhaitait voir comment le spatial imprègne la connaissance commune. Nous avons ré-interprété cette demande en mettant en place un observatoire permettant d'examiner, à partir des méthodes de terminologie outillée, les phénomènes de dé-terminologisation. Cet observatoire est composé d'un corpus d'articles de presse générale quotidienne et de communiqués de presse du CNES (disponibles sur internet). A partir des candidats-termes extraits grâce à Termostat, nous avons pu constituer une version « termes » du corpus de presse, constituée des articles comportant au moins 1 candidat-terme. L'article présente les questions de méthodologie de constitution du corpus et d'analyse outillée que pose l'étude de la dé-terminologisation. Il propose aussi quelques résultats qui ont déjà pu être obtenus grâce à l'analyse comparée (statistique, lexicographique et sémantique) dans les corpus de l'observatoire, du fonctionnement de certains termes-candidats (particulièrement ceux construits à partir de satellite) et il expose les perspectives d'analyses, nombreuses, qui pourraient être menées grâce à la constitution de cet observatoire, sur les phénomènes de glissement des termes vers la langue générale. A terme, cet observatoire permettra de caractériser systématiquement les éléments permettant de décrire la dé-terminologisation

Étude du fonctionnement des nominalisations déverbales dans un contexte de déspécialisation

International audienceDans cet article, nous nous intéressons au fonctionnement des nominalisations déverbales dans un corpus spécialisé (textes scientifiques et techniques) par rapport à un corpus général (articles de la presse quotidienne). Le point de vue global que nous adoptons est celui de la « déterminologisation » et, plus précisément, de ce que nous appellerons ici la « déspécialisation » de la connaissance. Nous cherchons à baliser la question de la déspécialisation à travers une approche de linguistique de corpus. Nous proposons la mise en place de jalons méthodologiques pour observer ce phénomène complexe et présentons des résultats préliminaire

Book review: kids - child protection in Britain: the truth by Camila Batmanghelidjh with Tim Rayment

In Kids – Child Protection in Britain: The Truth, Camila Batmanghelidjh with Tim Rayment sets out a defence of Kids Company, the charity that she ran from 1996 until its dramatic and controversial closure in 2015. While the book underscores the organisation’s genuine impact upon the most vulnerable, due to both Batmanghelidjh’s passionate commitment as well as considerable governmental support, and offers valuable insight into the inner workings of a non-profit, John Picton is left dissatisfied by the simplistic engagement with the wider social and political context in which Kids Company operated