Learning to share and sharing to learn – professionaldevelopment of language teachers in HE to foster open educational practices

This case study presents the staff-development perspective of the ‘Collaborative Writing and Peer Review Project’ developed at the Department of Languages, at the Open University, UK, between November 2011 and March 2012. The project was set up to promote the professional development of teachers through collaborative writing and peer review, encouraging open educational practices (OEP) and by extension the production and publication of teaching resources in an open repository. As teacher developers working in a blended environment, the authors facilitate opportunities for sharing and developing good practice as part of a broad staff development programme to help teachers understand and integrate innovative approaches into their practice. Participants in this project brought with them a range of experiences as practitioners from their work with language students both at and outside the University. This case study focuses on the professional development aspect of this initiative. It presents the different aspects of the process and analyses teachers’ involvement with social online tools and the impact on teaching practice of engaging with the process of collaboration

Centuries of transition

This review of Chris Wickham's Framing the Early Middle Ages situates the book within the context of his earlier writings on the transition to feudalism, and contrasts his explanation for and dating of the process with those of the two main opposing positions set out in Perry Anderson's Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism (1974) and Guy Bois's The Transformation of the Year One Thousand (1989). Although Framing modifies some of Wickham's earlier positions, it largely sidesteps explicit theoretical discussion for a compellingly detailed empirical study which extends to almost the entire territorial extent of the former Roman Empire. The review focuses on three main themes raised by Wickham's important work: the existence or otherwise of a `peasant'-mode of production and its relationship to the `Asiatic' mode; the nature of state-formation and the question of when a state can be said to have come into existence; and the rôle of different types of class-struggle - slave-rebellions, tax-revolts and peasant-uprisings - in establishing the feudal system

Embedding knowledge and value of a brand into sustainability for differentiation

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in the Journal of World Business (under the provisional title "Embedding sustainability into brand knowledge and brand value for brand differentiation"). The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier B.V.Organisations offer products to consumers, buyers often question if the product or its production process are linked to the environmental, social or economic challenges being faced by mankind. Inquisitiveness of customers in this direction points towards an opportunity for marketers to create differentiation based on the concerns of brand towards overall issue of sustainability. The authors have synthesized knowledge from various domains with a positivistic approach to understand sustainability from the perspective of branding. Using empirical knowledge this study recommends embedding sustainability into brand knowledge and brand value for creating a differentiation for the brand in a competitive market

Adaption of structured analysis design techniques methodology for construction project planning

The construction industry has been heavily criticised by researchers and governmental organisations for its performance especially excessive delay. Ballard and Howell (2003) indicated that only about 50% of the tasks on weekly work plans are completed by the end of the plan week. This is a result of a lack of either effective project planning or effective production control. It therefore seems the traditional approach of planning is insufficient to meet the current demand and complexity of construction projects. This paper proposes to critically evaluate the adaptation of Structured Analysis Design Techniques (SADT) methodology as a tool for project planning. SADT which was further developed into IDEF (Integrated Definition) techniques claims to be a complete methodology to provide the means of understanding complex production systems and aid the implementation of change. The use of this methodology has led to process improvement. The research uses a literature review followed by interviews with academics and practitioners to investigate their knowledge and understanding of SADT (IDEFO). The results of the interviews indicated that SADT (IDEFO) methodology is seldom known and used in the construction industry. However, this study indicates that SADT methodology appears to be an effective project planning tool. This study contributes to the limited project planning techniques in construction industry by exploring the possible adaption of SADT

a scoping review

Funding Information: This work was partly supported by funds from the EU funded COST Action EVBRES ( CA17117 ) and internal funds from Danube University Krems . Funding Information: This scoping review is part of working group 3’s work within the EVBRES (EVidence-Based RESearch) – COST Action CA17117, funded by the European Union ( www.evbres.eu ). The protocol for this scoping review was published a priori via the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/fby54/ ) [11] . Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s)Objective: We aimed to map the resource use during systematic review (SR) production and reasons why steps of the SR production are resource intensive to discover where the largest gain in improving efficiency might be possible. Study design and setting: We conducted a scoping review. An information specialist searched multiple databases (e.g., Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus) and implemented citation-based and grey literature searching. We employed dual and independent screenings of records at the title/abstract and full-text levels and data extraction. Results: We included 34 studies. Thirty-two reported on the resource use—mostly time; four described reasons why steps of the review process are resource intensive. Study selection, data extraction, and critical appraisal seem to be very resource intensive, while protocol development, literature search, or study retrieval take less time. Project management and administration required a large proportion of SR production time. Lack of experience, domain knowledge, use of collaborative and SR-tailored software, and good communication and management can be reasons why SR steps are resource intensive. Conclusion: Resource use during SR production varies widely. Areas with the largest resource use are administration and project management, study selection, data extraction, and critical appraisal of studies.publishersversionpublishe

UK and EU policy for approval of pesticides suitable for organic systems: Implications for Wales

This study was commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) to review the pesticide approval system in the UK and Europe as far as it affects the use of substances and techniques for crop protection by organic producers in Wales. WAG considers it important that the UK pesticide approval system does not present unnecessary barriers to the development of organic production in Wales. Key Recommendations and scope for further work · WAG should work with the Pesticides Safety Directorate to ensure that the development of pesticide regulatory policy at both National and European level takes full account of the needs of both conventional and organic agriculture and horticulture in the UK. · There is scope for WAG to support the development of a National Pesticide Policy so that regulatory and commercial barriers impeding the development of organic pesticides are minimised. Not only could greater availability of ‘organic pesticides’ have a significant impact on organic production in Wales but there could be important implications for conventional horticulture systems and the use of alternatives to conventional pesticides. · One important regulatory barrier to the registration of ‘organic pesticides’ is the MRL requirement(s) for their approval and this needs to be resolved. Suitable analytical techniques are required to determine firstly whether these substances result in residues, and secondly to identify the breakdown and residue pathways. So far, this issue has not received the attention of any EU Member State. · According to the proposed framework for the 4th Stage Review of EU Pesticides Directive 91/414, notifiers are required to produce a dossier, at their own expense, covering characterisation, human toxicity, ecotoxicity efficacy and other relevant data. The Review includes specific provision for companies notifying the same substance to submit a shared dossier. This will help those businesses (many of which are relatively small companies) to save on the high cost of producing the dossiers. It will also aid the Commission since it will reduce the number of dossiers that have to be considered, and ensure that all the available data is included. WAG should encourage and support the production of collective dossiers; although as yet there is no indication of how this will be done in practice, and further details from the Commission are awaited. · This study has concluded that access to a wider range of ‘organically acceptable pesticides’ would not have a dramatic impact on organic production in Wales. However, in developing an integrated organic policy, WAG should continue to address the pesticides issue. Some of the methods of pest & disease control in organic systems are either physical or multi-cellular e.g. micro-organisms used as biocontrol agents. WAG agri environment policy may provide a vehicle to promote these techniques much more actively. Further, it is important to recognise that while Wales alone is too small to have a major impact on commercial and regulatory pressures, WAG can have an impact by working pro-actively with others to make progress. · There are no published EU or national Member State criteria that can be used to evaluate the acceptability of pesticide substances for organic production. Identifying such criteria and promoting their acceptance at EU level and nationally would allow more active substances to be made available. WAG should work with PSD and others to identify appropriate criteria. · The specific provisions of Article 7 in Annex 2(b) of the Organic Regulation (2092/91) place potential barriers to the adoption of organically acceptable substances for crop protection. There are a number of potentially useful substances currently not included in the Organic Regulation e.g. potassium bicarbonate. WAG should work with PSD and others to identify such substances and support the production of appropriate dossiers. WAG could also encourage further dialogue between the organic sector and Defra to identify amendments in the Organic Regulations to facilitate the inclusion of new pesticides. · Organic pest and disease management is not just a question of inputs but it also relies crucially on advice and extension through initiatives such as Farming Connect and the work of Organic Centre Wales. Long-term commitment to supporting on going advice and extension activities is vital to promote and disseminate best practice in Welsh agriculture and horticulture. · Organic horticulture, vegetable and fruit production systems are particularly sensitive to pest and disease management. Successful control of pests, diseases (and weeds) in these sectors can be critical to the business, and is not assured even when all husbandry and management methods have been effectively applied. Consequently, the use of organically acceptable crop protection methods resulting from future developments (e.g. biopesticides, biological control agents) could have an important role in pest and disease management in these sectors. Both organic and conventional producers in Wales could benefit from having these options available to them and WAG could encourage the adoption of these approaches through appropriate Technology Transfer activities. · The way in which such substances will be regulated at a European level in future is evolving as the review of the Pesticide Directive 91/414 EEC enters the 4th Stage. This stage of the review includes (amongst others) those substances permitted for use in organic production. The guidance documents for the evaluation of applications on plant protection products made from plants or plant extracts and from chemical substances are currently at the draft stage. The response of the Pesticide Safety Directorate and Defra to these developments is not yet clear but this provides an excellent opportunity for WAG to have an input at an early stage in the review process

"The Shift from Belt Conveyor Line to Work-cell Based Assembly Systems to Cope with Increasing Demand Variation and Fluctuation in The Japanese Electronics Industries"

As consumption patterns become increasingly sophisticated and manufacturers strive to improve their competitiveness, not only offering higher quality at competitive costs, but also by providing broader mix of products, and keeping it attractive by launching successively new products, the turbulence in the markets has intensified. This has impelled leading manufacturers to search the development of alternative production systems supposed to enable them operate more responsively. This paper discusses the trend of abandoning the strategy of relying on factory automation technologies and conveyor-based assembly lines, and shifting towards more human-centered production systems based on autonomous work-cells, observed in some industries in Japan (e.g. consumer electronics, computers, printers) since mid-1990s. The purpose of this study is to investigate this trend which is seemingly uneconomic to manufacturers established in a country where labor costs are among the highest in the world, so as to contribute in the elucidation of its background and rationality. This work starts with a theoretical review linking the need to cope with nowadays' market turbulence with the issue of nurturing more agile organizations. Then, a general view of the diffusion trend of work-cell based assembly systems in Japanese electronics industries is presented, and some empirical facts gathered in field studies conducted in Japan are discussed. It is worthy mentioning that the abandonment of short cycle-time tasks performed along conveyor lines and the organization of workforce around work-cells do not imply a rejection of the lean production paradigm and its distinctive process improvement approach. High man-hour productivity is realized as a key goal to justify the implementation of work-cells usually devised to run in longer cycle-time, and the moves towards this direction has been strikingly influenced by the kaizen philosophy and techniques that underline typical initiatives of lean production system implementation. Finally, it speculates that even though the subject trend is finding wide diffusion in the considered industries, it should not be regarded as a panacea. In industries such as manufacturing of autoparts, despite the notable product diversification observed in the automobile market, its circumstances have still allowed the firms to rely on capital-intensive process, and this has sustained the development of advanced manufacturing technologies that enable the agile implementation and re-configuration of highly automated assembly lines.

Corporate responsibility, supply chain partnership and performance: An empirical examination

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in International Journal of Production Economics. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier B.V.Unlike corporate and business levels, there is little research examining corporate responsibility (CR) at the functional level of the firm including supply chain strategy. The results of a firm-level survey show that CR internal awareness, and monitoring CR performance are positively related to the supply chain partnership approach, however sharing CR best practices is negatively associated. Furthermore, the impact of CR on firm performance is mediated by the functional behaviour of supply chain partnership formation. Our study provides support for including CR awareness building and monitoring in the development of partnerships but cautions against imposing CR best practices on suppliers

Lost in Knowledge Translation: Moving Towards a Clearer Picture? Mapping the conceptualisation of knowledge translation, transfer and exchange across public health in the North East

Over recent decades the concept of evidence-based practice in health care has become part of the language of practitioners, policymakers and researchers. However, a gap between the production of research evidence and use of this evidence in practice has been identified, leading to repeated calls for solutions which will render the process more effective and efficient. It is increasingly acknowledged that getting evidence into, or out of, policy and practice arenas is not a straightforward or a linear process and to view it as such may be both misleading and overly simplistic. The term knowledge translation (KT) is used to describe the work required to close or bridge this gap and is becoming common vocabulary. However, as a concept KT (and related terms) are not yet clearly defined, nor are there agreed meanings in many areas including public health. While there is a growing body of literature exploring these concepts, using this evidence to inform public health practice, strategy, research and education is often difficult given the diverse range of sources, the worldviews upon which they are based and the need for local ‘contextual fit’. This study was commissioned by Fuse to explore how various stakeholder groups (e.g. practitioners, commissioners, academics, researchers, local authority/government) make sense of and experience the concepts and processes of knowledge translation, transfer and exchange. The study aims were to: Undertake a rapid review of recent literature syntheses pertaining to knowledge translation, exchange and transfer in public health, Explore and articulate (map) stakeholder conceptualisations and interpretations of knowledge translation, exchange and transfer in public health