Elpidoforos S Soteriades, Loukas Petrokokkinos, Michael A Talias, Andreas Zissimos, Maria Kolovou, Constantinos Potiriadis, Vasiliki Kamenopoulou and Evangelos Georgiou
Radon is responsible for approximately 50 per cent of public exposure to environmental radiation. The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively assess indoor radon levels in…
Abstract
Purpose
Radon is responsible for approximately 50 per cent of public exposure to environmental radiation. The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively assess indoor radon levels in Cyprus.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 500 passive radon detectors were used to estimate radon levels in the areas of Nicosia (capital), Paphos, Nisou and Famagusta. A total of 240 different public and private buildings were randomly selected in the above districts and two passive radon detectors were placed inside each building. The detectors were collected on average, three months following placement.
Findings
The average radon level from all passive detectors was 53.7 and 49.2 Bq/m3 after excluding the seven highest values. The two highest measurements were observed in Paphos, Tsada-Kili elementary school (429 Bq/m3) and Emba, Paphos district (410 Bq/m3), respectively. Differences were also seen in public buildings compared to private buildings (p=0.058). In addition, rural buildings had higher radon levels compared to urban buildings (p=0.001). Predictive multilevel regression models for logarithmic radon levels were employed and differences were seen on point estimates regarding building- and district-level radon measurements. Most of the random variability observed was due to building-level variation.
Practical implications
Residents from different geographic areas in Cyprus are reassured about the safety of indoor radon levels in public and private buildings.
Originality/value
The estimation of indoor radon levels was done by the optical microscopy technique using a specific mathematical formula. Observed radon levels do not raise concern regarding residents’ radon exposure in Cyprus. Paphos district and Nisou area may require further investigation.
Details
Keywords
Martine Gadille, Maria Antonietta Impedovo, Josephine Rémon and Caroline Corvasce
The purpose of this paper is to understand how the creativity of pupils and teachers is nurtured through the use of a virtual world (VW) within a sociotechnical network affecting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how the creativity of pupils and teachers is nurtured through the use of a virtual world (VW) within a sociotechnical network affecting pupils’ learning in a pilot secondary school.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is the result of a pluri-disciplinary systemic analysis involving didactics, sociology, psychology and management science on an individual, collective and systemic scale. This participatory action research is based on interviews and systematic observations in class, in-world and in the global ecosystem. Linguistic and multimodal analysis is applied to the data, through teacher monographs that hint at the teachers’ activity.
Findings
Pupils’ and teachers’ creativity appeared to be anchored within four main interdependent nurturing conditions the personal inclinations and professional interactions in the sociotechnical network sustaining the VW; a creative regulation allowing compromises with the institutional constraints of pedagogical control; avatars and 3 D boundary objects that act as a motor of teachers-pupils inquiry and creativity; the sociotechnical network that contributes, through the actors’ play, to bringing the organisational rules of the school towards an innovation trajectory, that in turns mediates success in the use and the adoption of the new technology.
Research limitations/implications
Although this is a study within a specific school, the findings can be put to use by other pedagogical teams who would wish to integrate a VW to re-engage pupils.
Practical implications
The participatory design processes taking place within a sociotechnical network support teachers in the building of Virtual World scenarios negotiated with researchers and start-up developers.
Social implications
The pedagogical use of a virtual world opens new learning engagement opportunities for the pupils through enhanced experiential learning and sustains the transformation of teachers’ professionality.
Originality/value
The authors’ approach differs from the previous educational VW literature, in that they integrate the teachers’ creativity and their pedagogical scripts into their study, within a systemic approach, thus requiring a wider theoretical framework, necessary for understanding the building of strategies and knowledge that foster teachers’ and pupils’ creativity in educational settings using a VW.