Sustainability and renewal: findings from the Leading Sustainable Schools research project

"A research study highlighting the characteristics of sustainable schools and the leadership qualities required to develop sustainable schools." - Page 1

How Much Do Americans Pay for Fruits and Vegetables?

This analysis uses ACNielsen Homescan data on 1999 household food purchases from all types of retail outlets to estimate an annual retail price per pound and per serving for 69 forms of fruits and 85 forms of vegetables. Among the forms we priced, more than half were estimated to cost 25 cents or less per serving. Consumers can meet the recommendation of three servings of fruits and four servings of vegetables daily for 64 cents.Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

A study of the teaching of secretarial training on the junior college level

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University, 1946. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

The perceived strengths and weaknesses of the General Practice training e-portfolio: A case study exploration of General Practitioner (GP) trainers’ perspectives

Background: General Practitioner (GP) trainers spend considerable time completing their trainees’ e-portfolios, yet there is a paucity of research into their views. This study aimed to illuminate their perspectives and propose modifications. Additionally, a recent law-suit has highlighted tensions over written reflections in training e-portfolios being used in a court of law and this paper contributes to the conversation. Methods: Case study methodology was adopted. A survey permitted purposeful selection of six GP trainers for interview and informed the interview schedule. Semi-structured interviews provided the data and thematic analysis was employed for data analysis. Credibility indicators included member-checking and cross-checking. Results: Strengths and weaknesses of the e-portfolio were identified. Strengths lay in the ability to demonstrate accountability for a rigorous educational process, and intrinsic educational aspects of the e-portfolio. Weaknesses lay in the time spent by GP trainers in documentation, perceived by them as excessive, and the threats to credibility conferred both by burdensome documentation and the requirement for written reflection on clinical errors. Conclusions and Recommendations: GP trainers risk their work-life balance and clinical performance by the time spent on the e-portfolio. Participants proposed reducing documentation with fewer competencies and log-entries. They suggested that written reflection on clinical imperfections should not be expected, whilst learning from researching knowledge gaps should, and that they, as GP trainers, should be more involved in e-portfolio evolution

Comparison of OHS course accreditation procedures in Australia

As OHS professional bodies have moved or are moving towards professional certification of their members, the need for accredited programs of study has developed. This move has been prompted by the requirement of the certification boards for the applicant to demonstrate that they have the minimum knowledge required to work at a professional level. The AIOH has had a course accreditation procedure for over 20 years as discussed by Whitelaw and Reed (2011) which has been well recognised by the profession, but until 2009 only one course had been accredited. In the last two years the AIOH has revised its procedure and now requires any university applying for course accreditation to map their program against the learning outcomes as defined by the AIOH as well as the being at a minimum of a Graduate Diploma (AIOH, 2011) which is equivalent to the Australian Qualifications Level (AQF) level 8. In 2011 a new course accreditation board was set-up to look at courses that are promoted to educate OHS professionals that are not considered specialists and are core OHS Generalists. The new board called the Australian Occupational Health and Safety Education Accreditation Board (AOHSEAB) is set-up under the SIA but has members from all OHS professional groups in Australia in addition to academics, OHS representatives from government, employer and employee groups. Programs being accredited under this scheme have to be mapped against the OHS BoK and need to meet the respective AQF level of 7 or above depending on the qualification. This paper compares the two schemes in respect to both the procedure that is undertaken, and the knowledge required to meet course accreditation requirements

Coastal evolution in a Mediterranean microtidal zone: mid to late Holocene natural dynamics and human management of the Castelló lagoon, NE Spain

© 2016 Ejarque et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. We present a palaeoenvironmental study of the Castelló lagoon (NE Spain), an important archive for understanding long-term interactions between dynamic littoral ecosystems and human management. Combining geochemistry, mineralogy, ostracods, diatoms, pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal and archaeo-historical datasets we reconstruct: 1) the transition of the lagoon from a marine to a marginal environment between ∼ 3150 cal BC to the 17 th century AD; 2) fluctuations in salinity; and 3) natural and anthropogenic forces contributing to these changes. From the Late Neolithic to the Medieval period the lagoon ecosystem was driven by changing marine influence and the land was mainly exploited for grazing, with little evidence for impact on the natural woodland. Land-use exploitation adapted to natural coastal dynamics, with maximum marine flooding hampering agropastoral activities between ∼ 1550 and ∼ 150 cal BC. In contrast, societies actively controlled the lagoon dynamics and become a major agent of landscape transformation after the Medieval period. The removal of littoral woodlands after the 8 th century was followed by the expansion of agrarian and industrial activities. Regional mining and smelting activities polluted the lagoon with heavy metals from the ∼ 11 th century onwards. The expansion of the milling industry and of agricultural lands led to the channelization of the river Muga into the lagoon after ∼ 1250 cal AD. This caused its transformation into a freshwater lake, increased nutrient load, and the infilling and drainage of a great part of the lagoon. By tracking the shift towards an anthropogenically-controlled system around∼ 750 yr ago, this study points out Mediterranean lagoons as ancient and heavily-modified systems, with anthropogenic impacts and controls covering multi-centennial and even millennial timescales. Finally, we contributed to the future construction of reliable seashell-based chronologies in NE Spain by calibrating the Banyuls-sur-Mer ▵ R offset with ceramic imports from the Emporiae archaeological site