PDP4Life: personal development planning for lifelong learning. Final Report.

Many HEIs have developed electronic Personal Development Planning (e-PDP) systems that support the learner through the processes of personal development planning, however, little attention appeared to have been paid to developing frameworks within these systems to enable learners to merge formal and informal records of learning into a single database, to transfer records from one institutional learning environment to another, and to access and manipulate their learner records when not registered within a place of study. PDP4Life attempted to address these issues. This final project report outlines the outcomes of this JISC project

Extending the applicability of an open-ring trap to perform experiments with a single laser-cooled ion

An open-ring ion trap, also referred to as transparent trap was initially built up to perform $\beta$-$\nu$ correlation experiments with radioactive ions. This trap geometry is also well suited to perform experiments with laser-cooled ions, serving for the development of a new type of Penning trap, in the framework of the project TRAPSENSOR at the University of Granada. The goal of this project is to use a single $^{40}$Ca$^+$ ion as detector for single-ion mass spectrometry. Within this project and without any modification to the initial electrode configuration, it was possible to perform Doppler cooling on $^{40}$Ca$^+$ ions, starting from large clouds and reaching single ion sensitivity. This new feature of the trap might be important also for other experiments with ions produced at Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) facilities. In this publication, the trap and the laser system will be described, together with their performance with respect to laser cooling applied to large ion clouds down to a single ion.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figure

Improvement of the social and economic development of single-industry regions in the Russian Federation

In this paper, the author has made a comprehensive analysis of a number of Russian studies devoted to single-industry towns, categorizing them according to their contribution to theoretical knowledge as well as their methods and methodology. Common features in these papers have been identified, including those establishing the criteria for classifying a city as a single-industry one and estimating the number of such cities in the Russian Federation in terms of their socio-economic status. Methods for assessing the socio-economic development of single-industry towns and directions for their development are proposed. Having summarized existing theoretical and methodological approaches set out in the various papers reviewed, the author (1) proposes the adoption of the novel concept of a “single-industry region”; (2) identifies the criteria for assigning such a designation; (3) calculates the number of such single-industry regions in the Russian Federation; (4) suggests allocation of grants from the federal budget to the respective RF Subjects for improving the socio-economic situation in their single-industry towns; (5) classifies single-industry regions into (a) “balanced socio-economic development”, (b) “an unbalanced and backward economic development”, (c) “an unbalanced and backward social development” and finally (d) “deprived regions that are unbalanced and have very low levels of socio-economic development”. The author has developed a model for improving the socio-economic development of single-industry regions, whose focus is on a balanced approach to project planning for the socioeconomic development of mono-cities and the efficient allocation of budgetary funds, providing mechanisms for regular and detailed monitoring of the socioeconomic development of mono-cities and allowing the effectiveness of the allocation of budgetary funds to be systematically monitored by introducing a system of grantification aimed at improving the socioeconomic development in mono-cities. The scientific and practical results of the research will allow the development of theoretical and methodological approaches to improving the socioeconomic development of single-industry towns, facilitating the introduction of the new term “single-industry region” into the academic lexicon

Development of ultra-light pixelated ladders for an ILC vertex detector

The development of ultra-light pixelated ladders is motivated by the requirements of the ILD vertex detector at ILC. This paper summarizes three projects related to system integration. The PLUME project tackles the issue of assembling double-sided ladders. The SERWIETE project deals with a more innovative concept and consists in making single-sided unsupported ladders embedded in an extra thin plastic enveloppe. AIDA, the last project, aims at building a framework reproducing the experimental running conditions where sets of ladders could be tested

Sustainable development in Africa: agriculture, trade and climate change

This repository item contains a single issue of Issues in Brief, a series of policy briefs that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. This paper is part of The Project on Food and Development, a Pardee Center program of research, publications and symposia exploring the relationship between global food policy and development in its various dimensions. The project is generously supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands. The views expressed in this paper are strictly those of the author and should not be assumed to represent the views of Boston University or the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands.This paper looks at the confluence of trade, agriculture and climate change in Africa in the context of food and sustainable development. This paper is part of The Project on Food and Development, a Pardee Center program of research, publications and symposia exploring the relationship between global food policy and development in its various dimensions

Seeing hunger through new eyes: from lack to possibility

This repository item contains a single issue of Issues in Brief, a series of policy briefs that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. This paper is part of The Project on Food and Development, a Pardee Center program of research, publications and symposia exploring the relationship between global food policy and development in its various dimensions. The project is generously supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands. The views expressed in this paper are strictly those of the author and should not be assumed to represent the views of Boston University or the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands.This paper takes a broad and bold look at the questions of food, hunger and development, and raises questions as well as possible solutions that are often missed. This paper is part of The Project on Food and Development, a Pardee Center program of research, publications and symposia exploring the relationship between global food policy and development in its various dimensions

Integrating children's perspectives in policy-making to combat poverty and social exclusion experienced by single-parent families: a transnational comparative approach

This is the final report of a research project that addressed social exclusion and poverty as it relates to single parent families and their children in particular. The rising numbers of single parent families and children throughout the EU and the increased likelihood that these families will live in poverty and experience many different forms of social exclusion in their daily lives brings in sharp focus the need to address the issue as an urgent one in our efforts to eradicate poverty and social exclusion. The focus on the children of single parent families seeks to rectify a long-standing problem in our knowledge and understanding of single parent families and the social problems they face, namely, the fact that little, if anything, is known about how these children experience and understand their lives as members of these families. The research set out to contribute to policy development and the transnational exchange of best practice by adding a much-neglected dimension on single parent families. The project used a cross-national comparative qualitative research design and methods (Mangen 1999) which involved all partners in the design of each research phase including the analysis; partners were England, Cyprus and Greece

Narrative Fortresses: Crisis Narratives And Conflict In The Conservation Of Mount Gorongosa, Mozambique

A single narrative about the Gorongosa Restoration Project (GRP) in Mozambique circulates widely in the popular media. This story characterises the project as an innovative intervention into an ecological crisis situation. The narrative hails the project\u27s aim to use profits from tourism to address the goals of both human development and conservation of biodiversity, and portrays the park project as widely embraced by long-term residents. This representation helps the project attract broad acclaim, donor funding, and socially conscious visitors, yet it obscures the early emergence of unified opposition to the project\u27s interventions among long-term residents of Gorongosa Mountain. This article draws on ethnographic research conducted on Gorongosa Mountain between 2006 and 2008 to examine the project\u27s early activities there. I examine two crisis narratives that led to entrenched conflict between park-based actors and mountain residents. Focusing on the emergence and solidification of divergent narratives-narrative fortresses-about the extension of the park\u27s activities to Gorongosa Mountain offers insight into the powerful role of crisis narratives in producing and maintaining conflict, leading to outcomes counter to the desires of conservationists. Ultimately, the article points to ways in which narratives of environmental crisis work against aspirations of partnership and collaboration with resident populations in conservation and development schemes

Food crises in developing countries: the role of national governance

This repository item contains a single issue of Issues in Brief, a series of policy briefs that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. This paper is part of The Project on Food and Development, a Pardee Center program of research, publications and symposia exploring the relationship between global food policy and development in its various dimensions. The project is generously supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands. The views expressed in this paper are strictly those of the author and should not be assumed to represent the views of Boston University or the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands.This paper looks at the recent price increases in food commodities and using Pakistan as a case study it concludes the national governance is a key component in understanding what happened and why. This paper is part of The Project on Food and Development, a Pardee Center program of research, publications and symposia exploring the relationship between global food policy and development in its various dimensions