This dissertation focuses on ‘new learners’ with trendsetting learning biographies. Their biographies seem a prototypical fulfilment of a new cultural script as disclosed by for example education... Show moreThis dissertation focuses on ‘new learners’ with trendsetting learning biographies. Their biographies seem a prototypical fulfilment of a new cultural script as disclosed by for example education innovation and youth sociological discourses. Education innovators proclaim that learning processes of new generations will (have to) be fundamentally different. Youth sociologists emphasize today’s individualization of life courses. These changes are perceived as imperative in the shift towards an individualized knowledge society in which learning and life course constructing become almost synonymous. Empirical research that focuses on all aspects of learning and life courses of a new generation is scarce, and a coherent conceptual framework is lacking. General aim is to connect the - at this moment separate - discourses on learning and life courses. An integrated conceptual framework is developed with which learning biographies can be studied. This framework functions as a heuristic for the empirical study: analysing biographical narrations of expected ‘new learners’. The specific aim is to developa theoretically informed and empirically underpinned ideal type of a trendsetting learning biography. Central question: In what type of contexts do favorable conditions emerge for, and what are key factors in, trendsetting learning biographies of a new generation? Show less
The feasibility of earprint individualization depends upon the amount of variation in prints of different ears, but also upon that in prints of a single ear. In order to determine the limits to... Show moreThe feasibility of earprint individualization depends upon the amount of variation in prints of different ears, but also upon that in prints of a single ear. In order to determine the limits to intra-individual variation, we need to explore its potential causes. As the amount of force that is applied by the ear to the listening surface influences the appearance of the earprint, we investigated factors potentially affecting this force, such as the level and frequency of a target sound, and the level of ambient noise. We also investigated whether presence or absence of a target sound was of influence. Additionally, we explored if the duration of listening, and whether the ear had been recently cleaned or not, affected the appearance of an earprint. To evaluate the extent to which features may vary with passing time, we further attempted to determine the rate of growth of the external ear during adult life. As a next step, we then compared realistic intra-individual variation in earprints with a very small degree of inter-individual variation, i.e., that in prints of identical twins. To do so, we explored a method to fully automatically analyze prints. To our knowledge, this was the first time that any method capable of fully automated earprint comparisons has been described. Show less
