A survey of UK university web management: staffing, systems and issues

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to summarize the findings of a survey of UK universities about how their web site is managed and resourced, which technologies are in use and what are seen as the main issues and priorities. Methodology/approach: The paper is based on a web based questionnaire distributed in summer 2006, and which received 104 usable responses from 87 insitutions. Findings: The survey showed that some web teams were based in IT and some in external relations, yet in both cases the site typically served internal and external audiences. The role of web manager is partly management of resources, time and people, partly about marketing and liaison and partly also concerned with more technical aspects including interface design and HTML. But it is a diverse role with a wide spread of responsibilities. On the whole web teams were relatively small. Three quarters of responding institutions had a CMS, but specific systems in use were diverse. 60% had a portal. There was evidence of increasing use of blogs and wikis. The key driver for the web site is student recruitment, with instituitional reputation and information to stakeholders also being important. The biggest perceived weaknesses were maintaining consistency with devolved content creation and currency of content; lack of resourcing a key threat while comprehensiveness was a key strength. Current and wished for projects pointed again to the diversity of the sector. Research implications/limitations: The lack of comparative data and difficulties of interpreting responses to closed questions where respondents could have quite different status (partly reflecting divergent patterns of governance of the web across the sector) create issues with the reliability of the research. Practical implications: Data about resourcing of web management, technology in use etc at comparable institutions is invaluable for practitioners in their efforts to gain resource in their own context. Originality/value of paper: The paper adds more systematic, current data to our limited knowledge about how university web sites are managed

Operation and recovery of a seasonally-loaded UK waste stabilisation pond system

An intermittent discharge waste stabilisation pond system was trialled for treatment of a seasonal wastewater load from a campsite. The system showed rapid acclimatisation to incoming load, with chlorophyll-a exceeding 700 mg l?1 within 2 weeks and filtered and unfiltered effluent biochemical oxygen demand below 20 and 30 mg l?1 respectively. Good performance continued for some weeks, after which photosynthetic oxygenation capacity in the first pond was seriously impaired by a shock loading believed to include fatty material. Inflow to the system was suspended and a surface film was broken up, after which the pond recovered within an 8-day period. Laboratory experiments indicated that interventions such as artificial aeration and dilution with effluent had no beneficial effect although mixing may have increased the rate of recovery

Research data management and libraries: Current activities and future priorities

This paper reports research carried out at the end of 2012 to survey UK universities to understand in detail the ways in which libraries are currently involved in research data management (RDM) and the extent to which the development of RDM services is a strategic priority for them. The research shows that libraries were offering limited RDM services, with highest levels of activity in large research-intensive institutions. There were major challenges associated with skills gaps, resourcing and cultural change. However, libraries are currently involved in developing new institutional RDM policies and services, and see this as an important part of their future role. Priorities such as provision of RDM advisory and training services are emerging. A systematic comparison between these results and other recent studies is made in order to create a full picture of activities and trends. An innovation hype-cycle framework is deployed to understand possible futures and Abbott’s theory of professions is used to gain an insight into how libraries are competing to extend their jurisdiction whilst at the same time working collaboratively with other stakeholders

A Study of Degenerate Four-quark states in SU(2) Lattice Monte Carlo

The energies of four-quark states are calculated for geometries in which the quarks are situated on the corners of a series of tetrahedra and also for geometries that correspond to gradually distorting these tetrahedra into a plane. The interest in tetrahedra arises because they are composed of {\bf three } degenerate partitions of the four quarks into two two-quark colour singlets. This is an extension of earlier work showing that geometries with {\bf two} degenerate partitions (e.g.\ squares) experience a large binding energy. It is now found that even larger binding energies do not result, but that for the tetrahedra the ground and first excited states become degenerate in energy. The calculation is carried out using SU(2) for static quarks in the quenched approximation with $\beta=2.4$ on a $16^3\times 32$ lattice. The results are analysed using the correlation matrix between different euclidean times and the implications of these results are discussed for a model based on two-quark potentials.Comment: Original Raw PS file replace by a tarred, compressed and uuencoded PS fil

Environmental impacts of organic farming in Europe

Organic farming has become an important element of European agri-environmental policy due to increasing concern about the impact of agriculture on the environment. This book describes in detail the environmental and resource use impacts of organic farming relative to conventional farming systems, based on a set of environmental indicators for the agricultural sector on a European level. The policy relevance of the results is also discussed in detail

The crystal structure of urea oxalic acid (2:1)

The crystal structure of urea oxalic acid, 2[CO(NH2)2].(COOH)2 has been determined using three-dimensional X-ray data, collected on an automatic diffractometer. The space group is P21/c. The lattice constants are: a = 5.058 (3), b = 12.400 (3), c = 6.964 (2) A, fl= 98"13 (7) °. The number of molecules in the unit cell is two. The structure consists of layers of urea and oxalic acid molecules held together by hydrogen bonds. The positions of all hydrogen atoms have been found. The compound is not a uronium salt

Seasonally loaded waste stabilisation ponds: a novel application for intermittent discharge

This research examined the use of a single facultative pond for treatment of an intermittent discharge from a UK campsite. The system was monitored over an 11-month period to determine the optimum time for discharge in terms of quality standards. The results showed that based on organic strength, discharge was possible in winter between November and March but February was the optimum to meet nutrient and suspended solids requirements. The pond showed rapid acclimatisation to the influent wastewater, with biochemical oxygen demand removal rates during the filling period of around 60 kg ha?1 day?1 and removal efficiencies of ?95% after maturation. The system proved simple to operate. A major design factor is the requirement for storage of net incoming precipitation, which may provide dilution of residual pollutants but requires additional system capacity.<br/

A policy relevant assessment of the environmental impacts of organic farming

Organic farming has become an important aspect of European agri-environmental policy. Since the implementation of EC Reg. 2078/92, the EU promotes organic farming based explicitly on its positive effects on the environment. The objective of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of organic farming's effects on the environment in comparison to conventional farming and to discuss the policy relevance of these issues. For this purpose the OECD set of environmental indicators for the agricultural sector has been adapted, taking into consideration only those indicators that are directly affected by the system of organic farming, as are the indicator categories ecosystem, natural resources, farm input and output, and health and welfare. Based on a survey of specialists in 18 European countries (all EU-member states plus NO, CH, and CZ) using a structured questionnaire and an extensive literature review, a conclusive assessment is given for each of the indicator categories. For most of the chosen indicator categories organic farming performs better than conventional farming on a per ha basis. These results are discussed with respect to their policy relevance. An increase in the area of organic farming would clearly improve the environmental performance of agriculture, as long as food production level is not a limiting factor. The question of whether there are other agri-environmental means of achieving a desired level of environmental performance that might be cheaper for society than organic production is discussed. It is concluded that the support of organic farming can be a useful part of the agri-environmental tool box, however, other, more specific instruments are also needed. Organic farming seems especially useful if broad environmental concerns are to be addressed

Stakeholder involvement in policy evaluation and development in 11 European countries: synthesis results

In an effort in bringing together stakeholders of the organic farming and general agricultural policy sector within the EU in April Mai 2004 a group of stakeholders met for a one day-workshop in 11 European countries (AT, GB, DE, DK, IT, CH, CZ, PL, SI, EE, HU) to formulate policy recommen¬dations for the development of organic farming sector. Close personal contact of participants in these workshops facilitated policy learning and innovation at the national level and provided a platform to form alliances to decide on further actions. This contribution presents the synthesised results from all national workshops highlighting the current situation of organic farming policy in Europe and providing recommendations for future policy instruments

The diversity and welfare of older migrants in Europe

This paper sets the scene and provides a conceptual framework for the articles in this special issue. They present the findings of research on European residents who have reached or are on the threshold of old age and whose current circumstances have been strongly influenced by a migration across an international border. Such ‘older migrants’ are scattered throughout Europe and they have especially diverse characteristics. They include some of the most deprived and socially excluded, and some of the most affluent and accomplished, but all to a greater or lesser extent are disadvantaged through an interaction between social policies and their ‘otherness’ by living in a foreign country. Some claim attention through the severity of their unmet health and welfare needs and poor capacity to access advice and treatment, while the affluent groups are of great interest to social gerontology because of their enterprising, developmental and positive approaches to old age. They include among the most innovative of the latest generation of older people, who pursue new combinations of family responsibilities, leisure pursuits and income generation. The paper proposes that the concept ‘human capital’ summarises variations in preparedness for old age, that is, the resources by which people cope with demands for income, roles, treatment, care and support. A typology of the ‘welfare position’ of international migrants in contemporary Europe is presented