98,288 research outputs found
Sun Devils Together: Breaking Stigmas on Student Homelessness
abstract: In universities, such as Arizona State, students are becoming homeless at an alarming rate. These homeless ASU students are often invisible, as seen through the lack of information on who they are and what resources the university has developed to help them. Typically, students arrive at university campuses with most of the resources required for them to pursue a degree. However, several economic factors such as unemployment or financial instability can impact these resources which influence students ability to stay enrolled in classes. This feature is reflected in the well understood concept of the starving student. Despite this paradigm, the fact remains that students under this stress are attending classes and are under financial stress to do so while being unable to meet their basic needs. These intertwined elements result in ASU students becoming exposed to cyclical needs-insecurities including homelessness.
Therefore, the team decided to develop a project called Sun Devils Together which addresses the needs of ASUs students facing homelessness and overall aims to help increase the accessibility of available resources through reducing the silo effect that occurs due to lack of communication between different departments and increases faculty, staff, and student awareness regarding the issue. In order to achieve this, the team has collaborated with the Assistant Dean of Students to produce a training module for ASU faculty, professional staff, and students. The team is contributing information to the creation of a new website that will have all the resources available to students in one place. In addition, the team will create a coded pamphlet with a map of resources that will be given out to different departments around campus that students may potentially reach out to for help while informing those departments regarding the existence of other departments that work towards the same cause
Open Access eXchange (OAeX): an economic model and platform for fundraising open scholarship services
This article describes the Open Access eXchange (OAeX) project, a pragmatic and comprehensive
economic model and fundraising platform for open scholarship initiatives. OAeX connects bidders
with funders at scale and right across the open scholarship spectrum through crowdfunding: financial
expenditure is regulated by a market of freely competing providers and financial transactions and
transparency are assured by a clearing-house entity. Specifically, OAeX seeks to facilitate open access
publishing without the barrier of article processing charges (APCs), as well as contribute to solving
challenges of transparency and economic sustainability in open scholarship projects in the broader sense
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Mainstreaming New Renewable Energy Technologies
This paper outlines the benefits, obstacles and options for governments to support international markets for technology
development. International markets for new energy technologies offer greater scope, thereby increasing the incentives and opportunities
for technology improvements. As the market is supported by more independent governments, the confidence of technology developers
and producers that future markets for their products will exist is increasing, thus enabling capital access and inducing R&D investment
and exploration of improved production processes. The bigger markets also allow for international competition, thus allowing for the
application of the best available technology. The government challenge to induce sufficient RD&D remains and with international markets
the benefits and costs of national governments free-riding on international effort needs to be addressed. Finally, we discuss how international
co-operation can be used to evolve the energy system in such a way that it can integrate new technologies at minimum cost
Maintaining an ethical balance in the curriculum design of games-based degrees.
In February 2011, games-based degrees were subjected to the scrutiny of the Livingstone- Hope report into the future of education in the fields of video games and visual effects. The report delivers a damning appraisal of the education system’s ability to fulfil skills shortages in these creative industries, and makes a range of proposals for changing education in both schools and universities to meet the needs of these sectors. This paper discusses the findings of this report from the perspective of higher education, with particular emphasis on the complex ethical considerations of designing a curriculum for games-based degrees. The argument for taking a broader perspective on this issue is illustrated through discussion of Games Software Development degrees at Sheffield Hallam University
Local flexibility market design for aggregators providing multiple flexibility services at distribution network level
This paper presents a general description of local flexibility markets as a market-based management mechanism for aggregators. The high penetration of distributed energy resources introduces new flexibility services like prosumer or community self-balancing, congestion management and time-of-use optimization. This work is focused on the flexibility framework to enable multiple participants to compete for selling or buying flexibility. In this framework, the aggregator acts as a local market operator and supervises flexibility transactions of the local energy community. Local market participation is voluntary. Potential flexibility stakeholders are the distribution system operator, the balance responsible party and end-users themselves. Flexibility is sold by means of loads, generators, storage units and electric vehicles. Finally, this paper presents needed interactions between all local market stakeholders, the corresponding inputs and outputs of local market operation algorithms from participants and a case study to highlight the application of the local flexibility market in three scenarios. The local market framework could postpone grid upgrades, reduce energy costs and increase distribution grids’ hosting capacity.Postprint (published version
The arrival of MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses
Summary: Internationally, a number of emerging technologies and associated developments are becoming available that could have far‐reaching effects on the delivery of tertiary education. One of these developments is Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
The opportunities MOOCs present include the ability for institutions to extend their brand and reach to large international audiences, experiment with innovative pedagogical approaches, an ability to offer niche provision at scale, and a potential reduction of costs. Its challenges and risks include that they are not widely recognised as formal qualifications, the absence of an established business model, and their pedagogical approaches.
We have developed this paper as the start of a conversation between and among government agencies, institutions, employers and learners on the appropriate policy settings and ways to support the introduction of these emerging technologies in the delivery of tertiary education.
This paper also supports the 2014 Innovations in Tertiary Education Delivery Summit, being held in Auckland on 5 and 6 June 2014, which looks at the future of tertiary education and the role of technology in it
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Impact Investing and Inclusive Business Development in Africa: A research agenda
Impact investing aims to create sustainable social and environmental impacts for investee enterprises and communities as well as adequate financial returns. As an attractive emerging market investment strategy, it involves development finance institutions and philanthropic foundations partnering with mainstream private venture capital to create impact funds with the goal of catalysing inclusive market-based enterprise development in low income
countries. In this paper, we present findings from a scoping study discussing the nature and operations of impact funds in African economies and the associated research opportunities on this topic. To facilitate the assessment, we reviewed the existing literature on impact investing, considering this along three interrelated perspectives, namely 1) impact investing as development finance policy for economic development, 2) impact investing as a development in socially responsible investing, and 3) impact investing as capacity-building for inclusive business development in African economies. The interplay of these perspectives shapes the constitution and operational strategies of specific impact funds and provide a conceptual context for understanding impact investing at country level.
Drawing on interviews, email exchanges and roundtable discussions with representative global and country-specific (Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Kenya) stakeholders our analysis makes three contributions to the impact investing debate. First we explore a model for understanding the ways in which impact funds are being channeled into inclusive businesses in Africa and the associated catalytic effects on poverty alleviation, social and economic development. Second we identified and tested access to, a range of impact funds and associated sector-specific inclusive businesses for future case writing – hopefully ‘failures’ as well as ‘successes’. Finally, we reflect on some of the unanswered managerial and policy-related questions that require a more rigorous inquiry-led appraisal to better understand and enhance the contribution of impact funds to inclusive business development in Africa
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