Aspects of management options for pasture-based dairy production stocked at two cows per hectare

End of project reportWhite clover in association with Rhizobium bacteria have the capacity to fix or convent atmospheric N into plant available N. This can make a considerable contribution to sward productivity. One of the objectives of this experiment was to determine the upper carrying capacity of grass-white clover swards receiving 90 kg fertilizer N/ha. A second objective was to examine the impact of grass-clover swards on mineral-N in the soil and losses of nitrate-N from soil to drainage water during the winter. This experiment was conducted at Solohead Research Farm. There were three treatments: (i) A grass-only treatment (FN) stocked at 2.0 cows per ha in 2003 and 2.2 cows per ha during 2004, 2005 and 2006. This treatment received an average of 226 kg per ha of fertilizer N per year during these years. (ii) A grass-clover treatment (WC) stocked at the same rates as FN and received an average of 90 kg per ha of fertilizer N per year during the experiment. (iii) A grass-only treatment (CC) that was gradually converted over to grass-clover during the experiment and stocked at 2.0 cows per ha throughout the experiment. Fertilizer N input was gradually lowered from 150 kg per ha in 2003 to a target of 90 kg per ha in 2005 and 2006

Fast Bayesian parameter estimation for stochastic logistic growth models

The transition density of a stochastic, logistic population growth model with multiplicative intrinsic noise is analytically intractable. Inferring model parameter values by fitting such stochastic differential equation (SDE) models to data therefore requires relatively slow numerical simulation. Where such simulation is prohibitively slow, an alternative is to use model approximations which do have an analytically tractable transition density, enabling fast inference. We introduce two such approximations, with either multiplicative or additive intrinsic noise, each derived from the linear noise approximation of the logistic growth SDE. After Bayesian inference we find that our fast LNA models, using Kalman filter recursion for computation of marginal likelihoods, give similar posterior distributions to slow arbitrarily exact models. We also demonstrate that simulations from our LNA models better describe the characteristics of the stochastic logistic growth models than a related approach. Finally, we demonstrate that our LNA model with additive intrinsic noise and measurement error best describes an example set of longitudinal observations of microbial population size taken from a typical, genome-wide screening experiment.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures and 2 table

Challenges involved in evaluating the national training programme at the Ministry of Oman: an insider perspective.

Purpose: This paper contributes to bridging the gap between academic research and practice by proposing an evaluation framework, which will be tested in the real world of practice. The practice context is an insider evaluation of the National Training Programme (NTP) in Oman. The paper presents a culturally sensitive evaluation framework inspired by a Critical Human Resource Development (CHRD) agenda. Approach: This is a theoretical paper based on a review of the evaluation literature, examining various frameworks of training evaluation, in particular at the national level. The literature is extended to include insights from an insider research perspective in order to explore the tensions and contradictions within evaluation processes and practices at the national level. Practical implications:This paper presents a framework for evaluating national training programmes, which will be extended to evaluate different policies and governmental activities. Concomitantly, it demonstrates the challenges encountered by the researcher as an insider evaluator. Originality/value:This paper considers the challenges of insider public sector evaluators, while providing a culturally sensitive evaluation framework

Adaptive action learning: a refusal to define

Editoria

Reflective practice in management practice: a systematic review

There can be few business schools in Britain that have not been influenced by a discourse holding that reflective practice on behalf of managers provides real value to the organisation in which they operate. Influenced by high profile cases of management failings (both ethically and organisationally) the impact on the management curriculum has been significant. Reflection is now enshrined in most professional and postgraduate management programmes. Anderson (2003), for example, argues that critical reflection is a ‘hallmark’ of Masters level management education, whilst authors such as Gray (2007) and Reynolds (1998) see a management curriculum embracing reflection as indicative of a more critical curriculum, challenging the traditional, functionalist orientation, with its emphasis on the transmission of knowledge. That reflective practice should feature prominently within the management education curriculum is a position supported by bodies such the British Academy of Management, the Association of Business Schools, the Association of Management Education and Development as well as many of the quasi professional bodies who purport to promote the education and continuing professional development (cpd) of their member managers (e.g. Chartered Management Institute, Charted Institute of Personnel and Development, Charted Institute of Management Accountants etc.)

Extending the reach of policy and strategy research using Political Discourse Analysis; the case of the Health and Social Care Act 2012

There is a growing interest in discursive perspectives on strategy and policy as practice. The goal of this paper is to present a discussion of the research methodology used to analyse the underexplored relationships between discourse, strategy and practice in health policy development The research explores the development of the Health and Social Care Act (2012) and in doing so highlights the weakness’ in communication – both in developing a narrative but also in being able to use it persuasively with important audiences – demonstrating a lack of engagement both with parliamentary colleagues, professionals and the electorate

Insider and outsider collaboration: questioning realities and revealing mirages - the case of the National Training Programme in Oman.

This paper has been co-constructed by an insider and an outsider and utilises material from a larger study conducted by the first named author, the insider. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the work of Human Resource Development (HRD) academics who have highlighted the importance of ‘talk’ with HRD; illuminating how a focus on discourse can ‘reveal’ aspects of HRD which often remain hidden (for example: Evans 2014; Lawless et al. 2011; Stewart et al. 2014). The paper also contributes to practitioner knowledge by illustrating how insiders and outsiders can work together, enabling the insider to question some taken-for-granted assumptions (Milano et al. 2015). We illustrate how an insider-outsider relationship enabled the insider to question the perceived ‘reality’ which emerged from initial template analysis. We discuss how further data generation and analysis, informed by a discourse approach, enabled the insider to question initial interpretations and in doing so reveal a more a complex ‘mirage’ emerging from the insider research. A ‘mirage’ which reflected the complexity within this particular research context while revealing possibilities for emancipatory change

How do teachers’ articulate ‘effective’ with regard to leadership? An exploration of how contextual factors function and shape leadership within a primary school

This paper centres on exploring how do contextual factors function and shape leadership of Primary Schools. Methodologically the research is best described as ‘involved’ research and is informed by interpretavist principles, seeking to gain a deeper professional understanding. Social reality for the author is meaningfully understood by perceiving individuals as social actors, actors who are not always fully aware of the impact of the social stage on their actions. The social stage consists of the often implicit expectations of ‘communities of practice’. This research is interested in how individual actors’ interpretations of their actions are situated in such communities and where is their understanding about processes at play in the leadership they are experiencing

The use-value of self-ethnographic research: insider-researcher, supervisor and external examiner perspectives

This paper aims to explore the challenges of conducting and writing up ethnographic research with a view to debating its use-value to an employing organisation and business education. Arising from Masters level research, conducted by the lead author, this paper explains the context of the research and why it was chosen as an area, examines the challenges involved in doing and writing ethnography and discusses the use-value of ethnographic research to an employing organisation. Arguments relating to whether or not ethnography can or should be ‘objective’ are also considered. In 2009/2010 the lead author, Chloe, conducted a Masters level research project which was supervised by the second author of this paper, Aileen. As the lead tutor on research methods, and Chloe’s supervisor, Aileen encouraged her students to consider self-ethnographic research as a strategy for their practitioner research projects. Elaine, the third author of this paper has also encouraged the use of ethnography as a research strategy. Both Aileen and Elaine have conducted their own self-ethnographic research projects and have reflected on the potential and pitfalls of this research approach for part-time students, (Corley & Eades, 2006). The process of writing this paper has enabled further reflection and joint sense-making as we question some of our taken-for granted understandings by subjecting Chloe’s research process to ‘other’ questions. We consider issues which arose during Chloe’s Masters research process and draw attention to the practical and ethical challenges she experienced whilst conducting and writing up her research. In doing so we address the following research questions: • To what extent can one avoid taken-for-granted assumptions? • Are there particular ethical issues/challenges which are unique to self-ethnographic research? • Is self-ethnographic research useful to employing organisation and business education