A practical approach to goal modelling for time-constrained projects

Goal modelling is a well known rigorous method for analysing problem rationale and developing requirements. Under the pressures typical of time-constrained projects its benefits are not accessible. This is because of the effort and time needed to create the graph and because reading the results can be difficult owing to the effects of crosscutting concerns. Here we introduce an adaptation of KAOS to meet the needs of rapid turn around and clarity. The main aim is to help the stakeholders gain an insight into the larger issues that might be overlooked if they make a premature start into implementation. The method emphasises the use of obstacles, accepts under-refined goals and has new methods for managing crosscutting concerns and strategic decision making. It is expected to be of value to agile as well as traditional processes

Persistence of chlorpropham (CIPC) in the concrete flooring of potato stores

The loss of the sprout suppressant, chlorpropham (CIPC), to the fabric of potato stores is currently of concern due to the risk of potential cross contamination of other crops subsequently housed in these stores. HPLC UV/VIS and GCMS methods were successfully employed to detect CIPC in the concrete flooring of research and commercial potato stores with histories of between 1 and 26 years of use. The concentrations in identical research stores, with different numbers of applications, were in the range 0.58–5.7 and 3.4–112 μg g−1, suggesting the magnitude of contamination was influenced by the number of applications. Commercial store A, with a history of 18 seasons of applications (estimate of total CIPC applied 2040 kg), had concentrations varying between 6 and 48 μg g−1 in the top three centimetres, with more than 92% within the top centimetre. In contrast, commercial store B, with a history of less than five seasons of applications (estimate of total CIPC applied 319 kg), had concentrations varying between 0.58 and 304 μg g−1 in the top four centimetres, with less than 47% within the top centimetre. The difference in depth distributions between A and B may be due to the structural integrity of the concrete, which was much poorer in B. CIPC was persistent in all stores irrespective of the total quantities of CIPC applied and date of the final application

Death of the pedagogue: pluralism and non-didacticism

Contest and controversy; orthodoxy and heterodoxy; critique and reject: how can economics curricula be adjusted to illustrate the multiplicity of, frequently antagonistic, explanations for observed phenomena? This paper commences by addressing the meaning of pluralism within the rubric of Foucault and Barthes, proposing that the application of pluralism in economics is a more complex process than has previously been acknowledged. It posits that the emphasis falls too often on pedagogical issues that re-affirm hierarchical teacher-learner relationships which hinder learner autonomy and encourages the transmission of teacher bias. Arguing that the economics instructor should instead act as an enlightened navigator, it addresses the practical aspects of delivery by exploring two key modules in undergraduate degree provision: intermediate microeconomics and the dissertation

The association between anthropometric variables, functional movement screen scores and 100 m freestyle swimming performance in youth swimmers

This study examined the association between anthropometric variables, Functional Movement Screen (FMS) scores and 100 m freestyle swimming performance in early adolescent swimmers. Fifty competitive, national level, youth swimmers (21 males, 29 females, mean age ± SD = 13.5 ± 1.5 years, age range 11–16 years) performed an “all-out” 100 m freestyle (front crawl) swim as fast as they could in a 50 m pool. A median divide for 100 m timed swim was also used to divide the sample into faster or slower groups. Height, body mass, skinfolds and limb lengths were also assessed. Maturation was calculated by proxy using anthropometric measures and participants also undertook the FMS as a measure of functional performance. Backwards linear regression indicated a significant model (p = 0.0001, Adjusted R2 = 0.638) explaining 63.8% of the variance in swim performance with total sum of skinfolds, upper leg length, lower leg length, hand length and total height significantly contributing to the model. Swimmers who were classed as fast had lower total sum of skinfolds (p = 0.005) and higher total FMS score (p = 0.005) compared to their slower peers. In summary, this study indicates that anthropometric variables significantly explained the variance in 100 m freestyle swimming performance in youth swimmers

Art, Agency and Eco-Politics: Rethinking Urban Subjects and Environment(s)

This research aims to examine the extent to which cultural agency can be seen to ‘act’ in an ecopolitical context and how its operations urge a rethinking of the processes that govern the production of urban subjects and environment(s). Responding to the fact that in recent decades, art and architectural cultures have converged around a shared concern for ‘ecological matters’ and that discourses in visual/spatial culture have become increasingly ‘ecologized’, this research broadens the points of reference for the term ‘ecology’ beyond that which simply reinforces an essentialist perspective on ‘nature’. The thesis re-directs the focus of current theoretical discourse on ‘ecological art’ towards a more rigorous engagement with its frames of reference and how it uses them to evaluate the role of cultural production in enacting ways of thinking and acting eco-logically. In doing so it develops an eco-logical mode of analysis for mapping and probing the attribution of cultural agency, how it intervenes in the production of the commons and how it discloses the participants and mechanisms of a nascent political ecology. Setting cultural agency within a more expansive and multivalent field of action, means that the nexus of agency (and intentionality) is dislocated and translated between ‘things’. Reconfigured in this way, ‘an ecology of agencing’ demonstrates the profound implications this has for any ‘bodies’ of action, cultural or otherwise. Locating this exploration within the socio-natural environment(s) found in urban spatialities this thesis attends to the relatively under-theorised, but highly significant area (in eco-logical terms) of aesthetic praxis operating at the interstices of art and architecture. Pressing at the boundaries of the formal and conceptual enterprises of both disciplines, critical spatial practices represent a distinctive form of eco-praxis being cultivated ‘on the ground’. Through a series of encounters with its operations this research looks to the ways in which practice and theory, in relation to the question of ecology, are becoming increasingly co-constituted

Lime burning in clamp kilns in Scotland's Western Central Belt: primitive industry or simple but perfectly adequate technology?

Lime is a fundamental component in many industrial, agricultural and chemical processes, and is itself produced by an industrial process, namely, the heating in kilns (calcining, or more colloquially ‘burning’) of calcium carbonate rock or other carbonate material. Research and literature on lime burning in Scotland, based largely on lime production in Scotland's eastern Central Belt, are dominated by the view that lime burning in draw kilns is the paradigm for Scottish lime production. Other parts of Scotland, however, largely or completely ignored, draw kilns in favour of simpler clamp kilns, even in major industrial sites of lime production. This paper reports our map- and field-based surveys in Scotland's western Central Belt, which clearly point to the enduring importance and almost exclusive use of clamp kilns in that area's historical lime-burning industry

Heterogeneity in Karakoram glacier surges

Many Karakoram glaciers periodically undergo surges during which large volumes of ice and debris are rapidly transported down-glacier, usually at a rate of one to two orders of magnitude greater than during quiescence. Here we identify eight recent surges in the region, and map their surface velocities using cross-correlation feature tracking on optical satellite imagery. In total, we present 44 surface velocity datasets, which show that Karakoram surges are generally short-lived, lasting between 3 and 5 years in most cases, and have rapid build-up and relaxation phases, often lasting less than a year. Peak velocities of up to 2 km a-1 are reached during summer months and the surges tend to diminish during winter months. Otherwise, they do not follow a clearly identifiable pattern. In two of the surges, the peak velocity travels down-ice through time as a wave, which we interpret as a surge front. Three other surges are characterised by high velocities that occur simultaneously across the entire glacier surface and acceleration and deceleration is close to monotonic. There is also no consistent seasonal control on surge initiation or termination. We suggest that the differing styles of surge can be partly accounted for by individual glacier configurations, and that while some characteristics of Karakoram surges are akin to thermally-controlled surges elsewhere (e.g. Svalbard), the dominant surge mechanism remains unclear. We thus propose that these surges represent a spectrum of flow instabilities and the processes controlling their evolution may vary on a glacier by glacier basis