1,722,151 research outputs found
Scaling up: Achieving a breakthrough in adult learning with technology
Get PDFThe first report commissioned by Ufi Charitable Trust. It investigates opportunities for and barriers to the application of digital technology to adult learning.
It focuses on possible ways to transform the UK’s vocational education and training system, identifying three main priorities for funding by the Ufi Charitable Trust:
* increasing the capability of those involved in running the vocational learning system
* exploiting networks to bring together learners, learning content and learning professionals
* harnessing computers to support individualised and differentiated learning
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The Effectiveness of the Response and Follow Up Processes to the Learndirect ‘Gremlins’ Campaign in the Nottingham Area
Get PDFIn the late 1990s the Government concluded that poor adult literacy and numeracy were having an effect on the United Kingdom’s competitiveness. Consequently, in 1999, Claus Moser was asked to undertake a review and make recommendations as to how greater numbers of disadvantaged adults might be encouraged to seek advice and start learning. Moser’s findings stimulated the Government to develop and launch the Skills for Life Strategy out of which came the Learndirect ‘Gremlins’ Campaign, a flagship awareness raising programme.
The researcher set out to develop a body of knowledge related to participation in learning, to find out more about callers to the Learndirect Helpline, and to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the publicly funded support services such as the Information, Advice & Guidance Service and providers of learning.
Out of a cohort of 360 callers, 165 agreed to take part in a telephone interview, and 52 said they had taken up a learning opportunity; however, only 27 were found to have taken up Learning & Skills Council ( LSC ) funded programmes leaving the researcher to conclude that the remaining 25 had either taken up programmes funded by Jobcentre Plus, started to learn informally, or were uncomfortable in admitting that they hadn’t started learning. Perhaps the most striking finding from the research was that the majority of respondents who chose not to take up learning were keen to stay involved. Also it was found that adults living in disadvantaged communities were significantly less likely to take up LSC funded learning opportunities; but, with additional support, learners from those
communities had the potential to perform better than those from other areas. Of those who went into learning a lower percentage than the Nottinghamshire average was employed full - time, a higher percentage was employed part - time and a higher percentage was economically inactive. More were in lower order occupations, with a bias towards personal service occupations.
The Government responded to Moser’s findings by setting challenging targets; however, although the targets have been exceeded, there is a significant difference in performance between 16 to 19 year olds re – taking GCSEs in English and Mathematics, and adults, aged 20 +, taking literacy and / or numeracy qualifications. During the 2004 academic year 46% of the former achieved their learning aim, but only 20% of the latter, suggesting that a renewed focus is needed on adults, especially the hard to reach living in disadvantaged communities.
It is recommended, therefore, that there should be a drive for greater consistency in the quality of information, advice & guidance and learning provision, and a more coherent network of high quality community based provision with enhanced levels of support provided by Information, Advice & Guidance Partnerships
A new way of learning The Ufi Network; developing the universtiy for industry concept
No full textSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:f99/2316 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Technological trends in electric topologies for offshore wind power plants
No full textThe current situation of the offshore wind market is characterized, among other things, by two opposing forces. On the one hand, there are a few already tested solutions that can be considered almost industrialized under certain conditions of sea bed depth and distance from shore, and investors interested in the offshore wind business will generally demand to keep risks at a minimum. On the other hand, as in any other emerging industry, optimized solutions are far from being available and OWPPs that will be built during the next decade will probably have to introduce new concepts to cope with the new challenges. Industry and academia are proposing alternative topologies for the electric systems of those future power plants, and different solutions are trying to demonstrate their techno-economical leadership in this budding market. The aim of the paper is to analyse the most promising proposals published by researchers and manufacturers during the last few years.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness , within the project ENE2010-19187-C03-01 , and by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) , within the Training and Research Units UFI-11/16 and UFI-11/28 .Peer reviewe
Concordat between Ufi Ltd, the Learning and Skills Council and the Adult Learning Inspectorate for inspection of learndirect provision
No full textRhine Cities - Urban Flood Integration (UFI)
No full textWhile agglomerations along the Rhine are confronted with the uncertainties of an increasing flood risk due to climate change, different programs are claiming urban river front sites. Simultaneously, urban development, flood management, as well as navigation and environmental protection are negotiating the border between the river and the urban realm. This produces complex spatial constellations between the river system and the urban realm with a diverse set of interdependencies, where programs have to synergize while adapting to dynamic water levels. Based on an expanding area at risk and the reliance on flood levels to remain within an acceptable spectrum for adaptive measures to be effective Urban Flood Integration (UFI) involves border negotiations between the river and the urban realm where adaptation and mitigation ideally synergize. Instead of a scientific approach that reduces complexity in order to reach a verifiable question, a post-normal science approach is chosen as an evaluation and working method applied within this research. The working method relies on literature studies, semi-structured interviews and empirical research through repeated site visits. The general heterogeneity of the case studies regarding their planning structure, status and time scales, data availability and the willingness by the agencies involved to provide usable information shapes the formal research structure. Part I serves as a narrative for the case study analysis and for the final conclusions and recommendations in Part II. It is made up of three chapters, where Urban Flood Integration is framed historically theoretically and strategically within the specific geographic context of the navigable Rhine: Anthropogenic transformations of the Rhine flood plains in the 19th and 20th century have turned formerly wide, often meandering or bifurcating river beds into urbanized embankments along straight, channelled rivers. The perception of the river changed from being dynamic to being controllable. This produced the spatial backdrop for modernist and therefore sectoral developments based on a dialectical relationship between the urban realm and the (river) landscape. Yet, as conversions of former harbours are turning sites outside the flood defence into inner city living quarters, as retention polders are positioned in flood plains with enough damage potential to threaten regional economies, and flood mitigating measures are more viable/effective on site in the middle of the city than in a rural area, site specific negotiations between simultaneous programmatic claims are producing new urban typologies/ecologies that demand and rely on a new methodological approach. Within this research design is considered not only a spatial, but also a strategic tool capable of not only linking different programs, but also different disciplines. Flood Risk Management along the Rhine today combines river expanding measures and adaptive strategies with the existing defensive system to cope with the risk increase as a consequence of previous interventions and developments and fluctuations in water levels due to climate change. Differences in landscapes and urgencies and differences in planning cultures between the Upper and Lower Rhine and the Delta have also led to different strategic approaches. Within this research the innovative capacity of the adaptive and anticipatory water-based approach in the Netherlands provides lessons to be learned specifically regarding spatial quality as a strategic component of water related projects. In Part II, the investigation of two Dutch and two German urbanized water front developments along different river segments of the Rhine according to their synergetic potential, but also regarding the temporal and spatial interdependencies between the river system as a whole, the regional context as well as the actual water front as the project site, aims to examine the following questions: Between adaptive and mitigative strategies, what is the spectrum of spatial constellations between urban development and flood management within the constraints set by navigation and a (partial) restoration of the dynamic river landscape? How are temporal and spatial interdependencies shaping these projects? Relational diagrams show the reciprocations between urban development and river dynamics of each investigated case study and the respective agencies and processes involved. The case study analysis serves as a basis for recommendations for the architectural and programmatic scope of flood-resilient projects dealing with expansive flood management strategies and respectively a strategic design approach addressing multiple scales and programs. Embedded in an exemplary atlas of the respective typology along the different Rhine segments, the four case studies from south to north are: Karlsruhe Rappenwört, a steered retention polder along the meandering Upper Rhine Mainz Zollhafen, a port conversion with flood adaptive housing along the bifurcating Upper Rhine Nijmegen Lent, a bypass and urban extension based on a dike set back along the Waal Dordrecht Stadswerven, an urban development outside the dikes in the DeltaUrban Theory and MethodsArchitecture and The Built Environmen
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