Using appreciative inquiry to explore the professional practice of a lecturer in higher education: moving towards life-centric practice

This paper reports on a strategy for exploring the life-centric practice of a lecturer in Higher Education. The initiative for this inquiry arose out of the realisation that there did not appear to be positive, heart-lifting stories in a lecturer’s current teaching experiences. Using an appreciative eye and supported by a critical friend, life-giving experiences were ‘stalked’ from the past. The hope in this endeavour was to find greater meaning in the lecturer’s best professional practice. Using an Appreciative Inquiry approach, this endeavour rejuvenated the lecturer’s professional practice. As life-centric stories were recalled, provocative propositions were constructed that became the basis of a personalised action plan for future professional practice. This paper outlines the nature of the journey and the heartfelt discoveries

Estate accounting as a public policy tool and its application in the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.

Este estudio pretende informar sobre la contabilidad sucesoria en el Imperio Otomano, presentando una muestra originaria del siglo XVII. En el Imperio Otomano, la contabilidad sucesoria y la liquidación de herencias servía para mantener el orden social, asegurando la pervivencia de las deudas cuando una de las partes fallecía, así como el debido pago a terceros con derecho a bienes pertenecientes al patrimonio objeto de la herencia. The objective of this study is to give information about estate accounting in the Ottoman Empire and present a sample from the 17th century. In the Ottoman Empire estate accounting and settlement served to maintain social order by ensuring the continuation of debt-credit relationship even when one of the parties died and also by ensuring the rightful discharge of estates between those with rights to the estate.Imperio Otomano, historia de la contabilidad, siglo XVII, contabilidad sucesoria. Ottoman Empire, accounting history, 17th century, estate accounting.

Honour-related violence (HRV) in Scotland: A cross- and multi-agency intervention involvement survey

This paper documents the results of a small-scale pilot study, which represents the first step towards further research in this overlooked area of violence against women and represents a first step towards responding to widespread calls for multi-disciplinary research to be conducted in this area. ‘Honour’ killings and ‘honour’ related violence is a neglected area in criminology. Such killings and acts of violence are assaults committed against women both by female and male family or community members, for what is considered ‘immoral behaviour,’ that might include women choosing their own marriage partner, allegations of premarital or extramarital sex, being a victim of sexual abuse or rape and even talking innocently with a man who is not a relative. This paper highlights the lack of provision for females facing this specific type of family violence and problems faced by agencies who attempt to help them. This Primary Research Paper provides insights that will remind/inform readers that because this form of violence is shrouded by notions of ‘honour’, there are girls and women living in the UK who are outwardly living calmly in what are effectively dangerous and violent family- and community-governed environments

Cooperation and Underlay Mode Selection in Cognitive Radio Network

In this research, we proposes a new method for cooperation and underlay mode selection in cognitive radio networks. We characterize the maximum achievable throughput of our proposed method of hybrid spectrum sharing. Hybrid spectrum sharing is assumed where the Secondary User (SU) can access the Primary User (PU) channel in two modes, underlay mode or cooperative mode with admission control. In addition to access the channel in the overlay mode, secondary user is allowed to occupy the channel currently occupied by the primary user but with small transmission power. Adding the underlay access modes attains more opportunities to the secondary user to transmit data. It is proposed that the secondary user can only exploits the underlay access when the channel of the primary user direct link is good or predicted to be in non-outage state. Therefore, the secondary user could switch between underlay spectrum sharing and cooperation with the primary user. Hybrid access is regulated through monitoring the state of the primary link. By observing the simulation results, the proposed model attains noticeable improvement in the system performance in terms of maximum secondary user throughput than the conventional cooperation and non-cooperation schemes

Adjusting a simple crop model to predict maize and sorghum yield in the northeast Brazil.

A agricultura de sequeiro no Nordeste do Brasil tem sido frequentemente afetada pelas condições adversas de tempo e clima. Para antecipar a ocorrência de um colapso na produção agrícola o presente trabalho objetivou ajustar um modelo agrometeorológico para as culturas de milho e sorgo nos municípios de Serra Talhada e Araripina, ambos no estado de Pernambuco. Foi utilizado o modelo de balanço hídrico do CPTEC/INPE, incluindo informações para estimar colapso de safra, como proposto por Doorenbos e Kassan (1979). A análise apresentou um índice de concordância de 80%, classificado como muito bom, e um erro menor que 30%, classificado como aceitável, o que sugere que o modelo ajustado possa também produzir estimativas satisfatórias pra toda região Nordeste

Mapping the e-Learning Assessment Domain: Concept Maps for Orientation and Navigation

Concept or Topic Maps have long been used as a method of categorizing and organizing information about a domain. Building them can help people conceptualize an area and spot trends or gaps, and as a presentation method they quickly provide an overview and general impression of a space. We are currently constructing a Reference Model of the Assessment Domain that takes the form of a highly interlinked dynamic website. This represents the assessment domain via the software, projects, standards and use cases of which it is composed. In this paper we present our efforts to create complimentary concept maps of the assessment domain, not as an overview, but for navigation and orientation within the domain. These concept maps, which model resources and activities independently, have been corroborated with practitioners in the e-learning community

Frequency of consumption and nutrient composition of composite dishes commonly consumed in the UK by South Asian Muslims originating from Bangladesh, Pakistan and East Africa (Ismailis)

Introduction: This paper presents information on the nutrient composition of commonly consumed traditional dishes eaten by the three major South Asian Muslim groups residing in Britain, namely Bangladeshi, Pakistani and East African Ismaili Muslims. Methods: Information regarding the most common dishes consumed by South Asian Muslims originating from Bangladesh, Pakistan and East Africa (Ismailis) and living in London was obtained from 7-day menu records over two seasons. For each common dish, weighed recipes were collected in triplicate and the composition (energy and selected nutrients) was calculated from the ingredients and cooked weight of the dish. Results: The three Muslim groups showed considerable variation in traditional foods commonly consumed as well as variation in fat and energy contents of similar recipes both within and between groups. Nutrient composition of commonly consumed dishes is presented calculated from the recipe nearest the average in terms of fat and energy for a particular dish. Discussion and Conclusions: The potential uses of the data, one of which would be to improve dietary compliance (especially to lower fat intakes) amongst the three diverse South Asian Muslim groups, are discussed

Picturing impact of the PEDIGREA program: a case study from Indramayu, Indonesia

Over the last twelve years, FIELD Indonesia staff has been using various participatory approaches towards measuring impact of its interventions, mainly in the framework of its involvement under FAO Community Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Asia program. Since 2002, FIELD is one of the partners in the PEDIGREA program, focusing on participatory crop and farm animal improvement. PEDIGREA is a regional program on farmer’s management of genetic resources, i.e. rice, local vegetables and poultry, which is implemented by three NGOs in Philippines, Cambodia and Indonesia, and supported by Wageningen UR, FAO, and IPGRI APO. The first attempt in 1991 (the development of three IPM Village Profiles) involved having farmers draw and discuss the benefits of participation in a Farmer Field School (FFS). Other approaches are relying on aerial planning and interactive participation techniques, iterative appraisal approaches, and socio-economic impacts. Comparing these approaches reveals that a wide scope of options for monitoring impact is available. Here we report on the results of an impact assessment method that appeared highly practical as a participatory tool: a participatory and interactive perception measuring technique for which farmers were asked to analyze the impact of the PEDIGREA program activities in their villages by making a photograph series of the project results and discussing the photographs in the community. The process distinguishes three steps: a) a three days workshop with farmer representatives from each group/village to discuss the concept of project results and impacts, to learn how to take useful photographs, and to make a work plan of objects and situations for each village to be photographed; b) a two week period of activities in each village to take photos, to select the interesting pictures, and to write the explanatory notes for each of the photos; c) a three days workshop to finalize the notes for each picture, to reflect on the program impacts and farmer’s benefits, to evaluate the impact study process, and to develop follow-up plan for each group/village. Some of the major results as visualized in the impact monitoring approach include: other farmers in the villages started to learn the breeding process from the farmer participants in the FFS; other farmers started to ask for and plant the local vegetable seeds, e.g. luffa and bitter gourd, which resulted from breeding activities in the village; better prices in local market for luffa produce by the farmer participants were realized; and some village authorities provided resources to the groups to conduct local field studies

Mobilizing greater crop and land potentials: Replacing the faltering engine

Prof Amir Kassam (University of Reading & UN Food & Agriculture Organisation - FAO) and Dr Gottlieb Basch (University of Evora, Portugal, and President of the European Conservation Agriculture Federation, ECAF) then presented their paper on ensuring the supply side of food production: ‘Mobilizing greater crop and land potentials: replacing the faltering engine’. They explained that the engine of the supply side of food security is the way we farm. The current engine of conventional farming method is seen to be faltering and needs to be replaced. The presentation focused on the new paradigm of Conservation Agriculture (CA) (involving no-till farming with mulch soil cover and diversified cropping) that raises productivity sustainably and efficiently, reduces inputs, regenerates degraded land, minimises soil erosion and harnesses the flow of ecosystem services. There is empirical and scientific evidence that future food supplies can be assured sustainably by shifting away from conventional agriculture towards the more sustainable paradigm of CA. They suggested that the supply side of future food security will be determined by how successful we are in facilitating the global up-scaling of this new engine of sustainable agriculture - Conservation Agriculture