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Political dissent threads through the history of the Olympic Games. Although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) openly prohibits athletes from injecting politics into the Games, Olympians have nevertheless staged protests, using the Olympics to challenge the predominant power structures and institutions. This chapter analyzes outbursts of athlete activism in the context of wider social movements that make these political paroxysms more viable. Social movements scythe political space for athletes, spark athletes' political imaginary, and provide support and cover. From the early days of the Games, Olympic athletes have expressed dissent, as when Irish track-and-field athlete Peter O'Connor rebelled against British colonialism at the 1906 Olympics in Athens. At the Mexico City 1968 Games, Czech gymnast Vera Čáslavská carried out a politically symbolic acts as did US sprinters John Carlos, Tommie Smith, and Wyomia Tyus. At the 1972 Munich Games, US track medalists Vincent Matthews and Wayne Collett protested in nonchalant fashion on the medal stand. At the 1980 Olympics, Polish Olympian Władysław Kozakiewicz issued politically provocative symbology on the pole vault mat that challenged Soviet hegemony. In the twenty-first century, numerous Olympians have made political statements, despite a rule in the Olympic Charter that forbids such activity. In each case, athlete activists were bolstered by vibrant political movements in their home country. In this chapter, I trace the relationship between political Olympians and social movements as well as the wider dialectic of resistance and restriction that encompasses the interplay between dissident Olympians and the IOC.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the Sourtoe Cocktail, a custom in Dawson City, Canada’s Yukon, in which participants drink a shot of alcohol with a dehydrated human toe in it. Springing from a local legend, the thrill-inducing Sourtoe Cocktail has attracted the attention of tourists. The paper reveals insights from this particular case study in order to discuss potential future tourism trends within the Arctic, especially in regard to the development of a sustainable tourism industry. Additionally, it illustrates how local communities can avoid negative effects of “Arctification.”

The case study is deconstructed through Dean MacCannell’s (1976) framework of sight sacralization. The Sourtoe Cocktail is analyzed based on the five stages of the framework, which helps to reveal the various elements at play at the local level. The framework specifically highlights linkages between society and the Sourtoe Cocktail as a product in order to understand how it became a tourist attraction.

The use of MacCannell’s sight sacralization framework reveals the intricate relationship of the Sourtoe Cocktail to both the Arctic and the local folklore of the Klondike Gold Rush. In addition, it is argued that the activity can serve as an example of avoiding “Arctification” processes for northern communities.

The originality of the study lies in the application of the sight sacralization framework to an ordinary object – a toe – instead of an object of inherent historical, aesthetic or cultural value. The paper proposes a complementary study to the recommendations provided in the Arctic Tourism in Times of Change: Seasonality report (2019) for the development of sustainable Arctic societies.

The area of microfluidic systems has greatly enhanced the in vitro field of tissue engineering. Microfluidic systems such as microchannelled assays are now widely used for mimicking in vivo cell behaviour and studies into basic biological research. In certain cases engineered tissue cell design use 3D ordered geometrical configurations in vitro (such as microchannel assays) to reproduce native in vivo functions. The most common approach for manufacturing micro‐assays is now rapid prototyping (RP) technology. The choice of assay material is dependent on the proposed cell type and ultimately the tissue application. However, many RP technologies can be unsuitable for cell growth applications because of the construction methods and materials they employ. The purpose of this paper is to describe a comparison between two different RP 3D printing methods of fabrication and investigates the merits of each technology for direct cell culture applications using micro‐assays, while also examining the dispensing accuracy of both techniques.

Using a Thermojet and Spectrum Z510 printer pre‐designed micro‐assays incorporating different size microchannels are dispensed. The base materials of both methods are examined for cytotoxic effects while in solution with primary tendon fibroblasts (PFB) cells. After obtaining favorable results from the toxicology experiments, PFB cells are seeded onto the thermojet structures with a view to investigate cell adherence, encapsulation and how the channel width influences cell alignment.

This research concluded that the thermojet had a higher degree of accuracy when manufacturing structures that incorporate microchannels when compared with the Spectrum Z510. Both techniques show that the accuracy of the build decreases with reduction in channel width. The fact that the Spectrum Z510 structures have to be infiltrated with a hardening glue as a post‐processing technique (since the dispensed material is water‐based and hence soluble) causes a cytotoxic effect compared to the thermojet plastic which is not cytotoxic in solution with PFB cells. Seeding the PBF cells directly onto the thermoplastic structure caused problems due to the hydrophobic nature of the material and this necessitated the technique of soaking the structures in a collagen bath to penetrate the surface and reduce the interactions of hydrophobic species enhancing cell attachment and proliferation. Without this coating the thermojet structures induced strong hydrophobic interactions at the surfaces of the microchannels with the culture media resulting in non‐attachment and poor cell mortality.

This research paper describes a comparison between the base materials and methodology of two 3D printing techniques for applications in basic biological studies. This is achieved by analysing the dispensing accuracy of both technologies and the interaction between cells and surface at the interface.

Hydrogels with low viscosities tend to be difficult to use in constructing tissue engineering (TE) scaffolds used to replace or restore damaged tissue, due to the length of time it takes for final gelation to take place resulting in the scaffolds collapsing due to their mechanical instability. However, recent advances in rapid prototyping have allowed for a new technology called bioplotting to be developed, which aims to circumvent these inherent problems. This paper aims to present details of the process.

The paper demonstrates how by using the bioplotting technique complex 3D geometrical scaffolds with accurate feature sizes and good pore definition can be fabriated for use as biological matrices. PEG gels containing the cell‐adhesive RGD peptide sequence were patterned using this method to produce layers of directional microchannels which have a functionalised bioactive surface. Seeding these gels with C2C12 myoblasts showed that the cells responded to the topographical features and aligned themselves along the direction of the channels.

This process allows plotting of various materials into a media bath containing material of similar rheological properties which can be used to both support the structure as it is dispensed and also to initiate cross‐linking of the hydrogel. By controlling concentrations, viscosity and the temperature of both the plotting material and the plotting media, the speed of the hydrogel gelation can be enhanced whilst it is cross‐linking in the media bath. TE scaffolds have been produced using a variety of materials including poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), gelatin, alginic acid and agarose at various concentrations and viscosities.

This paper describes one of the very few examples of accurate construction of 3D biological microporous matrices using hydrogel material fabricated by the bioplotting technique. This demonstrates that this technique can be used to produce 3D scaffolds which promote tissue regeneration.

This chapter employed a systemic meta-synthesis literature review to reflect on the transactional variables of the theory of transactional distance (TTD) in addressing barriers to student engagement in the open and distance learning (ODL). Literature sources were obtained from unlimited databases around the globe; however, articles published before 2015 were not included in this review. Through the literature review, the authors identified barriers to student engagement in the ODL through the lens of TTD. The identified barriers to student engagement are presented according to three transactional variables of the TTD and later classified concerning student engagement dimensions. Findings suggest that key instructional dialogue barriers emanate from the teacher and student personality. For program structure, the authors found the poorly designed courses while for learner autonomy there are situational, institutional, and dispositional barriers. The identified barriers to student engagement in ODL revealed the interrelatedness of the transactional variables and the strong link with the student engagement dimensions. By integrating the transactional variables of TTD and student engagement dimensions, this chapter identified possible strategies to address barriers to student engagement in the ODL.

The purpose of this research is to inspect the perceptions of MBA students regarding learning through podcasts. The author's goals are to reveal the students' attitudes toward the use of podcasts as a key learning tool in a graduate academic course, to examine the learning efficacy in this mode of learning, to inspect students' opinions regarding flexibility in learning with podcasts and to examine whether there is a different reference to podcasts as a mid-term assignment vs podcasts as a substitute for lectures.

This paper examines the learning attitudes and effectiveness of postgraduate students in business administration toward combining podcasts as an e-Learning tool. This paper also explores the flexibility of this kind of asynchronous learning. Two types of podcasts for two different pedagogical purposes were examined in the study, one as a team mid-term assignment and second as recorded lectures. The main results of this study provide significant evidence that previous experience in listening to podcasts on the Internet has a significant impact on learning effectiveness, student attitudes and learning satisfaction while using this technology. In fact, this study establishes that students that are technologically oriented and have prior experience listening to podcasts learn more in the course, have positive attitudes toward podcast technology as a learning tool, have high learning effectiveness and are satisfied with the flexibility of the asynchronous learning process.

The findings state that both in the mid-term assignment and in the course lessons as students listened to podcasts more frequently and gained experience listening to podcasts on the Internet, the students expressed more positive views toward learning using this technology, the students' learning effectiveness was higher and the students were more satisfied with the flexibility made possible by using this asynchronous technology tool of e-Learning. Moreover, the results of the study clearly indicate a positive correlation between listening to the podcast lessons in the course and the effectiveness of learning both in the mid-term assignment and in classes.

This study has some limitations. First, the findings are limited by the relatively small sample, with graduate students in an MBA program, in a course from the field of technological entrepreneurship. Furthermore, in this study, the students had partial freedom to choose the podcast for the students' mid-term assignment from a specific well-known program in the field of entrepreneurship and were not free to choose podcasts from any site available on the Internet. Although this process guided the students to use podcasts from a quality podcast program, the process also reduced the students' choice to some extent.

Academic institutions must provide the appropriate technological infrastructure for the development, creation and recording of quality podcasts by lecturers for students, in addition to training lecturers to teach through podcasts as an integral part of e-Learning advanced tools. Furthermore, institutions must financially incentivize and educationally encourage lecturers to teach at least some of the content in the course using pre-prepared podcasts.

The author's first suggestion to lecturers that wish to use podcasts as learning resources is to familiarize themselves with the technology and resources available to introduce students to the basics of podcasting and to make the students aware of the podcast's benefits. Second, the study highly recommends to integrate podcasts into the teaching curriculum in academia as early as possible in the basic courses, before the students move on to advanced courses in undergraduate studies. In this way, students in advanced courses can make better use of this technology.

As far as the author knows, this is the first study that combined two types of podcasts used for two complementary pedagogical purposes in an academic course: the first, open and available online podcasts as part of a mid-term assignment and the second type of podcasts that are recorded audio lessons as a complete replacement for course lectures. Additionally, the study sharpens the understanding that students' previous experience with technology is of great importance to learning effectiveness, as well as positive opinions and high learning satisfaction.

While larger tourism enterprises benefit from a graduate management intake and continuing executive development, the owner of the small tourism operation is limited in continuing education and professional development opportunities due to resource poverty, lack of appropriate and available tertiary tourism education. This chapter details the pedagogical and technological challenges faced by the education team at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) in developing and implementing an innovative blended learning degree, customised to meet the requirements of the entrepreneur for a sense of involvement, relevance and flexibility. Understanding how to harmonise blended learning with face-to-face PBL was the cornerstone of success in the design and implementation of the programme and the insights gained will provide guidelines to educators who are responsible for the development of relevant and accessible business degree programmes for owner/managers of micro/small business enterprises.

Bone tissue engineering is an emerging field providing viable substitutes for bone regeneration. Poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) is a good candidate for scaffold fabrication due to its high mechanical strength and excellent resistance under moist conditions, but its hydrophobicity causes cell‐attached difficulties, thus limiting its clinical application. The paper aims to develop an air pressure‐aided deposition system for fabricating scaffolds made of synthesized PCL‐PEG‐PCL copolymers and to validate the biocompatibility and hydrophilicity improvement of fabricated scaffolds.

An air pressure‐aided deposition system that involves rapid prototyping technique has been developed to fabricate scaffolds for tissue engineering (TE) application. Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), a hydrophilic non‐ionic polymer, is adopted to reduce the hydrophobicity of PCL alone. The synthesis process of PCL‐PEG‐PCL copolymer is briefly introduced. Effect of viscosity in regard to scanning speed on the deposited strand is investigated. Scaffolds with different mean pore sizes are fabricated using the developed system. The fibroblast cells are seeded for culturing and biocompatibility of fabricated scaffolds are validated using methylthiazol tetrazolium assay.

The study finds that the air pressure‐aided deposition system is suitable for fabricating micro‐porous cellular scaffold, especially for thermal‐sensitive copolymers. In addition, the experimental results shows that at the molecular weight of 50,000, the molten form can be stably deposited through a heating nozzle at an air pressure of 0.3 MPa and no crack occurs after it solidifies. The scaffold with mean pore size of 339×396 μm is suitable for fibroblast binding and ingrowth. The synthesized copolymers are non‐toxic, biocompatible and can be used for biomedical application.

This study shows that weight ratio of PEG, 0.1, enhances the hydrophilicity of copolymer. Improvement regarding the weight ratio of PEG is necessary. Important challenges for further research are to optimize the fabrication parameter and pore interconnection for eliminating pore size error and enhancing cells proliferation, respectively.

An air pressure‐aided deposition system is successfully proposed to construct 3D tissue scaffolds. In addition, synthesized PCL‐PEG‐PCL copolymers are verified for biocompatibility and successfully fabricated into tissue scaffold with different mean pore sizes.

This paper aims at examining the potentiality of using Hibiscus sabdariffa L. calyces’ (Hs) aqueous extract to remove soot stains from the surface of fire-damaged silver gelatin prints. It further studies the cleaning efficiency and impact of both a contact method and a noncontact method with argon dielectric barrier discharge plasma (DBD Ar. plasma) on the different properties of silver gelatin prints. Accordingly, it prompts using economic, eco-friendly materials and methods in the photograph conservation field.

To achieve the aims of this paper, four silver gelatin prints were stained with soot and treated with the Hs aqueous extract as a contact method and DBD Ar. plasma combined with the aqueous extract as a noncontact method. The assessment was carried out using digital microscopy, atomic force microscopy and spectrophotometer to study the efficiency of the tested treatments and their impact on the surface of the photographs. Fourier transform infrared was used to monitor the state of the binder after cleaning. Furthermore, the pH and the mechanical properties were measured.

The contact method resulted in lower concentrations of Hs extract that efficiently cleaned the surface without causing any stains or damage to the treated photographs. The noncontact method (plasma with an aqueous extract) proved to be less effective in cleaning and made the binder more susceptible to deterioration.

This paper reveals the success of Hs aqueous extract in cleaning soot on vulnerable photographs' surfaces.