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Harnessing Complexity for better outcomes in Public and Non-profit Services
Get PDFHow can public services and social interventions create and sustain good outcomes for the populations they serve?Building on research in public health, social epidemiology and the social determinants of health, this book presents complexity theory as an alternative basis for an outcome-oriented public management praxis. It takes a critical approach towards New Public Management and provides new conceptual inroads for reappraising public management in theory and practice. It advances two practical approaches: Human Learning Systems (a model for public service reform) and Learning Partnerships (a model for research and academic engagement in complex settings).With up-to-date and extensive discussions on public service reform, this book provides practical and action-oriented guidance for a radical change of course in management and governance
Reliability and Validity of Non-Instrumental Clinical Assessments for Adults with Oropharyngeal Dysphagia: A Systematic Review
Get PDFThis systematic review on non-instrumental clinical assessment in adult oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) provides an overview of published measures with reported reliability and validity. In alignment with PRISMA, four databases (CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, and PubMed) were searched, resulting in a total of 16 measures and 32 psychometric studies included. The included measures assessed any aspect of swallowing, consisted of at least one specific subscale relating to swallowing, were developed by clinical observation, targeted adults, and were developed in English. The included psychometric studies focused on adults, reported on measures for OD-related conditions, described non-instrumental clinical assessments, reported on validity or reliability, and were published in English. Methodological quality was assessed using the standard quality assessment QualSyst. Most measures targeted only restricted subdomains within the conceptual framework of non-instrumental clinical assessments. Across the 16 measures, hypothesis testing and reliability were the most reported psychometrics, whilst structural validity and content validity were the least reported. Overall, data on the reliability and validity of the included measures proved incomplete and frequently did not meet current psychometric standards. Future research should focus on the development of comprehensive non-instrumental clinical assessments for adults with OD using contemporary psychometric research methods
Capacity-building and diasporic civil society
Get PDFDiasporic civil society stakeholders are increasingly incorporated into development programming in order to maximise the potential of their variegated roles in shaping development processes, outcomes, and trajectories. This viewpoint considers capacity-building in the context of diasporic civil society by providing an overview of the varying ways in which diasporic civil society capacity-building is operationalised within the “Northern” global development sector. We then proffer some notes of caution regarding this turn to capacity-building by discussing the implications of such interventions for wider development. We conclude that understanding the extent to which the capacity-building agenda further entrenches exclusionary practices and knowledges in diaspora-centred development approaches requires further research
Individual Characteristics as Enablers of Construction Employees’ Digital Literacy: An Exploration of Leaders’ Opinions
Get PDFThe shift towards digitalisation has been empowering growth in the construction industry, especially in the past decade. Construction stakeholders are offered myriad benefits by embracing digital advancements to achieve efficiency. However, the exploitation of digital opportunities is bounded by the need for a practitioner skillset that aligns with the digital era, a requirement that has been described as difficult to meet and justified by the low degree of digital literacy among construction employees. This paper reports findings from interviews with 19 leaders and decision makers in the construction sector to reveal the indicators that can predict construction employees’ digital literacy. Such an approach offers a comprehensive exploration of the likelihood of employees’ digital literacy through socially oriented characteristics. Overall, 19 individual characteristics emerged from the thematic analysis and highlight the critical connection between social behaviour and digital literacy. The findings of this paper are timely and important for those businesses assessing their employees’ willingness and maturity with regard to technological change through social and behavioural information. The qualitative approach led to the development of a conceptual framework that can explain the dynamics needed to assess employees’ digital literacy in construction organisations. This study, therefore, reveals the effectiveness of predicting employees’ readiness to shine in the digital era by shedding light on their digital literacy through examinations of individual characteristics in a construction workplace. This paper is among the first to encourage research efforts that take into account the importance of studying social and psychological complexities, which are subject areas that are limited in recent construction literature. As such, it is of value to employers wishing to embed greater digitalisation in their firms, as well as researchers in this domain and policymakers looking to encourage greater digital transformations
Rural co-working: New network spaces and new opportunities for a smart countryside
Get PDFCoworking has been a largely urban phenomenon although new initiatives are emerging in rural areas. Rural coworking is partly a response to the growing need for ICT, which is unevenly provided across rural areas, and partly to the social needs of freelancers and home-workers. By combining technological and social functions, coworking spaces can play key roles in the progress of a Smart Countryside, supporting digital, knowledge-based and creative entrepreneurs within rural places, thus reducing the need for extensive commuting and out-migration, particularly among younger and higher-skilled workers. As working practices evolve in the aftermath of Covid-19, these new physical spaces are expected to facilitate new network connections. Castells’ Network Society provides a valuable lens through which to investigate how coworking founders and managers promote a mix of internal and external networks that might create new, and superior, entrepreneurial opportunities. The research highlights strategies to promote collaboration as well as methods of adapting to meet new demands from rural workers in a range of rural settings. As an array of different rural coworking models evolve, we also reflect on the importance of inclusivity and identity in determining their relationship with other actors in the local economy
Comparison of Energy-use Efficiency for Lettuce Plantation under Nutrient Film Technique and Deep-Water Culture Hydroponic Systems
Get PDFEnergy conservation opportunities in closed plant production systems have been widely discussed, however, a comparison of energy-use efficiency (EUE) for different types of hydroponic systems is lacking. This paper compares the EUE of two different hydroponic systems, namely nutrient film technique (NFT) and deep-water culture (DWC), within an aquaponics facility. The energy is monitored in a controlled environment using artificial lighting and its impact on the growth dynamics of the crops is measured, in this case, on a leafy green crop (Lactuca Sativa L. ‘Little Gem’). Offering better efficiency and reliability, light-emitting diode (LED) irradiation is used with a photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) of 140 µmol·s−1 and a photoperiod of 12-hours. The seeds are then placed in growth chambers, kept at an ambient temperature of 18°C for 21 days. These seedlings are then transplanted in rockwool cubes, followed by placement in NFT or DWC systems in equal numbers. Both systems are illuminated with LED irradiation having a PPF of 200 µmol·s−1. Continuous irradiation with a photoperiod of 16-hours is provided to both systems for 5 weeks. Crop growth parameters, such as leaf count and plant height, are measured in both systems resulting in similar numbers obtained, however, shoot fresh weight, leaf area, and root length are significantly different. Furthermore, the NFT system exhibited an EUE of 31.3 g. kWh−1 and outperformed the DWC system with an EUE of 24.53 g. kWh−1; indicating higher growth and better energy savings associated with NFT systems. These results suggest that NFT systems has a higher potential to offer better energy-use efficiency for producing crops in plant factories and aquaponics facilities
The Ingenious Mr Charles Clagget: Inventor and ‘Harmonizer’ of Musical Instruments
Get PDFCharles Clagget (1733–1796) is a name many working in organology will have come across, particularly those concerned with instruments of the eighteenth century, keyboard history, or developments in valved brass. Clagget’s life was multifaceted; he worked as a musician, musical director, teacher, composer, dancing-master, and latterly as an inventor and ‘improver’ of musical instruments. Despite the reach and legacy of Clagget’s name, no critical scholarship concerning his life and work exists. This article is the first scholarly discussion of Clagget’s 15 inventions, nine of which concern tuning, intonation and temperament. Through exploration of his overlooked correspondence with the former musical instrument maker turned engineer James Watt, and Clagget’s two patents for musical inventions, my study here reveals that Clagget sought to recast himself as an innovator in order to achieve upward social mobility against the backdrop of an industrialised Enlightenment Britain. With discussion of Clagget’s social networks, his move to London, and his final fall from grace, this article aims to generate further interest in Clagget’s life and work during one of the most exciting periods for musical instrument innovation in early modern Britain
“We don’t normally require that in other contexts, do we”: Interpersonal meanings of tag questions in British university seminars based on the BASE corpus
Get PDFThis study investigates the interpersonal meanings expressed by English tag questions in the context of British university seminars from two dimensions: evidential modification of tags and conduciveness of responses. The data for the study derive from seminars in the British Academic Spoken English (BASE) Corpus, which is herein both quantitative and qualitative analyzed. The findings reveal that: (1) three-quarters of tag questions in the data are utilized by teachers, and the unmarked form of tag questions in university seminars are generally positive-negative forms, with a few examples of other varieties; (2) regarding evidential modification of tags, depending on the degree of epistemic certainty of the speakers on the proposition of the anchor, the default function of teachers’ tag questions in the data is to convey emphasis, followed by confirmatory function, with only a few cases of informational function; and (3) regarding conduciveness of responses, over 70% of tag questions are followed by no verbal response, while less than 30% are followed by explicit responses. Accordingly, these findings raise the question of whether tag questions can really provide sufficient scope for interactions in classroom. It is hoped that this nuanced, corpus-based analysis of tag question utilization within the context of British university seminars would empirically reveal the interpersonal relations between teachers and students and thereby shed light on more efficient seminar discussions
Li2Si2O5 Nano-brush Coated Carbon Cloth as a Potential Solution for Wastewater Treatment
Get PDFLi2Si2O5 nano-brush coated carbon cloth was synthesized using a hydrothermal method with lithium hydroxide and tetraethyl orthosilicate as the resource chemicals. Its adsorption capabilities for Mn2+, Cu2+ and Ni2+ ions were demonstrated for wastewater treatments, and their corresponding maximum adsorption capacities were 325.60, 314.76 and 270.15 mg/g at 298 K, respectively. Brush-like and highly uniformly Li2Si2O5 nanorods with an average diameter of ∼60 nm were uniformly synthesized onto the carbon cloth. Adsorption experiments showed that the adsorption behaviors for selected heavy metal ions followed both a pseudo-second-order model and a Langmuir isothermal model, indicating that the adsorption process was a monolayer and chemical adsorption one. The key adsorption mechanisms were identified as surface complexation between heavy metal ions and hydroxyl groups and ion-exchanges between heavy metal ions and lithium ions. These brush-like nanorods have advantages of effective adsorption of heavy metal ions in wastewater due to their widely exposed active sites and effective ion diffusion and transport
Improving the Effect of Electric Vehicle Charging on Imbalance Index in the Unbalanced Distribution Network Using Demand Response Considering Data Mining Techniques
Get PDFWith the development of electrical network infrastructure and the emergence of concepts such as demand response and using electric vehicles for purposes other than transportation, knowing the behavioral patterns of network technical specifications to manage electrical systems has become very important optimally. One of the critical parameters in the electrical system management is the distribution network imbalance. There are several ways to improve and control network imbalances. One of these ways is to detect the behavior of bus imbalance profiles in the network using data analysis. In the past, data analysis was performed for large environments such as states and countries. However, after the emergence of smart grids, behavioral study and recognition of these patterns in small-scale environments has found a fundamental and essential role in the deep management of these networks. One of the appropriate methods in identifying behavioral patterns is data mining. This paper uses the concepts of hierarchical and k-means clustering methods to identify the behavioral pattern of the imbalance index in an unbalanced distribution network. For this purpose, first, in an unbalanced network without the electric vehicle parking, the imbalance profile for all busses is estimated. Then, by applying the penetration coefficient of 25 and 75 for electric vehicles in the network, charging/discharging effects on the imbalance profile is determined. Then, by determining the target cluster and using demand response, the imbalance index is improved. This method reduces the number of busses competing in demand response programs. Next, using the concept of classification, a decision tree is constructed to minimize metering time