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Understanding industry perceptions and experiences of seventeen of the measures to reduce the HGV driver shortage
No full textIn response to an acute shortage of Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) drivers, the UK Government introduced 33 measures to support the road haulage sector. The measures addressed supply chain efficiency, driver training, capacity of testing and licencing processes, driver working conditions and taxes. The first measures were introduced in March 2020. Some were introduced for specific periods, and some were permanent changes. Of the temporary measures, some had ended by April 2023, a few were continuing until the end of 2023.The Department for Transport (DfT) commissioned the Centre for Transport & Society at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE) to evaluate 17 of the measures. The 17 were selected by DfT based on initial assessments it had undertaken. Measures are included if they: 1) were temporary and immediate as these measures were intended to have an impact in the short-term 2) could impact safety, as the UK Government has a duty of responsibility to consider any potential safety implications 3) increase the skills supply chain as this has been identified as a key priority by the sector. The project was to conclude by the summer of 2023. The purpose of the evaluation was to:• understand sector wide perspectives on the extent to which the measures had been effective in reducing the HGV driver shortage, and what policy interventions would be suitable for repeating at a future date, if necessary, • explore stakeholder experiences of any unintended outcomes and how these might be mitigated, and• examine whether any lessons could be learned about the process of implementation
For immanent idealism: A response to reviewers
Get PDFI am greatly indebted to Dave Elder-Vass, William Outhwaite, Tero Piiroinen and Leonidas Tsilipakos for the time and energy they spent in offering their valuable feedback. In order to respond to so many insightful remarks, I will start with a few clarifications of a terminological misunderstanding, before offering some reflections on critical realism in relation to the notions of emergence and social structure, and some remarks on language and the imaginary. I will conclude my response by arguing for immanent idealism as an alternative to realism and naturalism in philosophy and the social sciences
Self-understanding and getting on with oneself: The overlooked importance of solitude for Gadamer’s Hermeneutics
Get PDFThe following offers a critical appraisal of the themes of self-directedness and self-relatedness in Gadamer’s hermeneutics. It does so through an examination of solitude as a moment of what I call self-solicitude which, while emerging from and responding to various forms of otherness and encounter, has an ineliminable singularity to it that Gadamer misses. The case is made that Gadamer’s critique of subjectivity causes him to neglect the singularity of such self-directedness and self-relatedness and, by extension, to undervalue the importance of solitude when outlining a hermeneutics of the self. The aim is to offer a course correction to Gadamer’s own course correction, both endorsing many of his readings, while also pressing him on where he fails to examine more thoroughly the experience of returning to oneself and getting on with oneself in self-understanding and solitude
Candros optimization algorithm based dual attention LieNet model for low light image enhancement
Get PDFThe images taken in the low-light environment appear dark and possess low visual quality due to inadequate light exposure, which influences the image view, affecting the oriented applications. The quality enhancement of the low-light image plays a significant role in multi-media applications and image processing. Numerous existing methods attempt to handle the issues of low-light images through advanced learning techniques. Yet, these existing methods fail to provide complete contextual information in the image. Hence, a Candros optimization-based dual attention network is proposed in this research for image enhancement to ensure its applicability in the medical field. A dual attention LieNet is constructed using the channel and position attention modules for extracting the relevant features to support the image enhancement and for managing the computational complexity, the Candros optimization is developed, which all together increases the quality of the image. Further, the Candros optimization algorithm determines the optimal fusion parameter for establishing the final enhanced image. The experimental outcomes reveal the dominance of the proposed image enhancement model, which acquired the peak signal to noise ratio of 37.44 dB and similarity index measure of 0.893, visual information fidelity of 0.869, feature similarity of 0.934, and visual saliency-induced index of 0.924 for the LID data set without noise
Schmidt-hammer R-values from glacially-scoured bedrock surfaces across glacier-foreland boundaries: Insights into Holocene weathering rates with implications for exposure-age dating
No full textSchmidt-hammer R-values were measured on glacially-scoured bedrock outcrops located inside and outside of 11 ‘Little Ice Age’ glacier-foreland boundaries in the Jotunheimen and Jostedalsbreen regions of southern Norway. Analysing paired samples differing in exposure age by ~10,000 years constitutes a field experiment on chemical weathering rates within and between regions. Mean R-values (± 95 % confidence intervals) from inside sites were 65.9 ± 0.6 and 66.9 ± 0.6 for rock surfaces composed of pyroxene-granulite gneiss in Jotunheimen at altitudes of 990–1360 m above sea level and granite and granitic gneiss in the Jostedalsbreen region at 270–620 m a.s.l. The corresponding values from outside sites of 39.9 ± 0.9 and 39.0 ± 0.9 were significantly lower, indicating a higher degree of chemical weathering. In contrast, regional differences in mean R-values were insignificant. A similar pattern is reflected in indices of rock weathering (39.0 % for Jotunheimen and 41.6 % for Jostedalsbreen), and weathering rate (2.8 R-value units and 3.0 units per 1000 years, respectively). These results imply an estimated minimum age resolution of Schmidt-hammer exposure-age dating of ~265–315 years and a maximum age range of ~20,000 years. They suggest potential application of the Schmidt hammer to both studies of weathering rates and exposure-age dating at the regional scale, despite lithological variation associated with different rock types and climatic variation associated with altitudinal differences of up to 1000 m between the sites
The Super Quick Guide to Learning Activities
No full textLearning activities for effective teaching summarised and explained for trainee teachers. This book provides key knowledge on specific learning activities and their use in everyday teaching. It considers the suitability and challenges of each activity and supports trainee teachers to adapt them for their phase, learners and subject. Includes content on how the ITT Core Content Framework links to the selection and adaptation learning activities
A participatory urban governance framework for transitioning cities towards sustainability: linking the protection of urban ecosystems’ functions and circularity principles
Get PDFThe purpose of this research is to provide an urban governance framework that can aid decision-makers to transition cities towards more sustainability and resilience. Our premise is that such transition will take time, iterations and adaptations and will benefit from using a governance framework that is both participatory and that also highlights the ecological, economic and social dimensions of sustainability all at once. In order to do so, we suggest considering the city itself as an ecosystem that delivers environmental functions (production, sink, amenity and regulation) through its activities. Using an accounting representation that links urban activities to these functions, we are then advocating building sustainable urban strategies based on the protection of these functions and on minimising non-re-usable waste or by-products. Encouraging such circularity requires negotiation amongst stakeholders who need to know how production processes could be connected to minimise the overall generation of waste. It also promotes cooperation amongst producers and consumers, and generates collective learning and co-creation. The article shows that adopting an ecosystemic representation can help in understanding circularity as a regenerative approach that goes beyond an accounting balancing exercise. We suggest to integrate design thinking to enhance negotiations based on the information provided by the accounts. The research illustrates how such method could be operationalised by focusing on food system activities, stakeholders, and security as core to urban resilience, using Lisbon Metropolitan Area food strategy as a case study
A risk assessment analysis to enhance the security of OT WAN with SD-WAN
Get PDFThis paper introduces a comprehensive risk assessment of various wide area network (WAN) technologies as applied to Operational Technology (OT) infrastructures, thus uncovering which WAN technology is best suited for OT to mitigate the risks of Denial of View (DoV), Denial of Control (DoC), and Denial of Service (DoS). A new risk weight-based evaluation approach is proposed following NIST CSF and ISA/IEC 62443 standard risk scoring (RS). In this approach, RS was modified by introducing new risk metrics, namely, risk (Rn), mitigation (Mm), risk prioritization (WRn), and mitigation prioritization (WMm) to create a specialized probability formula to assess risks on OT WAN infrastructure. The proposed formula has been implemented to automate data analysis and risk scoring across nine WAN technologies. The obtained results demonstrated that software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) has the best security features that even overshadow its vulnerabilities to perform not just as a WAN solution but as a security solution against DoV, DoC, and DoS. Furthermore, this paper identifies and highlights what to prioritize when designing and assessing an SD-WAN setup. In addition, this paper proposes an SD-WAN-based architecture to reduce DoV, DoC, and DoS risks
The Adult Safeguarding Practice Handbook
No full textThe second edition of this best-selling book provides an essential guide to best practice in adult safeguarding. It has been updated to include recent legislative, guidance and research-based developments and relates them to useful practice examples.Featuring new support materials and key case studies, it includes:•a focus on working with marginalised groups under the safeguarding and prevention duties, including ‘transitional’ safeguarding;•an exploration of best practice in light of changes to national guidance and research;•findings from a range of Safeguarding Adults Reviews with reflections on the outcomes of two national (England) Safeguarding Review Audits; and•an expansion of the concepts of professional curiosity and trauma-informed/-aware approaches.Students and practitioners are guided to reflect on practice and to extend their skills, knowledge and values to become confident and competent in the complex area of adult safeguarding