Challenging the gendered rhetoric of success? The limitations of women-only mentoring for tackling gender inequality in the workplace

Mentoring is widely acknowledged to be an important contributor to women’s career success and progression but women often struggle to access mentoring networks that can help sponsor and develop their careers. Formal mentoring programmes designed specifically for women help overcome this challenge, but such schemes may at the same time reinforce masculine discourses which position women as deficient in relation to the invisibly male norm that is implicit within contemporary working practices. Drawing on a formal women-only mentoring programme built on gender-positive goals to empower women to ‘be the best they can be’ within the events industry, this paper considers the extent to which such programmes can both challenge and reproduce gendered discourses of business and success. Interviews with mentors and mentees illustrate how such programmes make gender visible within business and individual careers, but masculinist underpinnings of organisational discourses remain invisible, unacknowledged and thus largely unchallenged

Formality and informality in the summative assessment of motor vehicle apprentices: a case study

This article explores the interaction of formal and informal attributes of competence‐based assessment. Specifically, it presents evidence from a small qualitative case study of summative assessment practices for competence‐based qualifications within apprenticeships in the motor industry in England. The data are analysed through applying an adaptation of a framework for exploring the interplay of formality and informality in learning. This analysis reveals informal mentoring as a significant element which influences not only the process of assessment, but also its outcomes. We offer different possible interpretations of the data and their analysis, and conclude that, whichever interpretation is adopted, there appears to be a need for greater capacity‐building for assessors at a local level. This could acknowledge a more holistic role for assessors; recognise the importance of assessors’ informal practices in the formal retention and achievement of apprentices; and enhance awareness of inequalities that may be reinforced by both informal and formal attributes of assessment practices

Subtraction dual-wavelength for enhanced transmission performance of free-space optical communication over turbulence effect

Performance of a free-space optical communication system is influenced by atmospheric turbulence which degrades signal transmission quality. A gamma–gamma channel model is employed to characterise this turbulence under weak-to-strong conditions. The proposed dual diffuser modulation using subtraction dual-wavelength concept is combined with a phase screen diffuser to improve signal transmission. Its performances are compared with conventional intensity modulationdirect detection on off keying and partial coherent beam on off keying techniques. In comparison, results show that the dual diffuser modulation demonstrates superior performances in both received power and bit rate transmission under different turbulence conditions

Impact of Rain Attenuation in Borneo using Free Space Optics Propagation

In recent years, Free Space Optics (FSO) communication provides attractive bandwidth enhancement with unlicensed bands worldwide spectrum. However, the link capacity and availability are the major concern in the different atmospheric conditions. The reliability of the link is highly dependent on weather conditions that attenuate the signal strength. In the tropical region specifically in Borneo Sarawak, rain is the dominant weather that act as the limiting factor to FSO performance. Hence, this study highlights on the impact of rain attenuation to the performance of FSO communication system. The finding is based on atmospheric model and performed through the simulation of OptiSystem software. The design of parameters in the simulation involves iteration of wavelengths, size of transmitter and receiver aperture and beam divergence angle. The simulation result shows longer wavelength 1550nm is much better than 785nm. The 0.25m of receiver aperture and transmitter aperture at 0.05m can reduce the loss. Narrow beam divergence angle can reduce the power consumption and maintain the high power at receiver. The analysis indicates that proposed FSO communication system is capable to withstand the attenuation from rain weather

Midterm Self Evaluation Report November 2004 - June 2007 : Dutch National Research Programme Climate changes Spatial Planning (CcSP)

This self evaluation report is a product of the Climatic Change Spatial Planning consortium. It describes the progress on a programme level and within each theme of the CcSP-programme over the period November 2004 until May 200

Performance Analysis of Double-MIMO Free Space Optical System under Atmospheric Turbulence

Over the last few years, free space optical communication (FSO) has emerged as a viable alternative to radio frequency communication. It provides a promising high-speed point�to-point communication solution. However, atmospheric absorption, scattering and turbulence degrade wireless optical communication significantly, lowering device efficiency. The attenuation of signals due to the above atmospheric reasons is another major factor that affects device efficiency. The atmospheric turbulence conditions are observed implemented into different models of FSO systems, such as Single Input Single Output (SISO), Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), Wavelength Division Multiplexing MIMO (WDM-MIMO) and proposed model Double Multiple Input Multiple Output (DMIMO) using the Gamma-Gamma model for a variety of reasons. The OptiSystem 7.0 software was used to run simulations to study how various weather conditions (clear, haze and fog) affected the performance of the channel. Simulation results show that implementing Double Multiple Input Multiple Output (DMIMO) techniques for FSO systems provides high quality factor for various ranges while still achieving accurate transmitted data at the receiver side. In the presence of atmospheric turbulence conditions such as clear air, haze and fog, performance improvements signal power levels, quality factor and link distance range have been demonstrated

The representative concentration pathways: An overview

This paper summarizes the development process and main characteristics of the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), a set of four new pathways developed for the climate modeling community as a basis for long-term and near-term modeling experiments. The four RCPs together span the range of year 2100 radiative forcing values found in the open literature, i.e. from 2.6 to 8.5 W/m2. The RCPs are the product of an innovative collaboration between integrated assessment modelers, climate modelers, terrestrial ecosystem modelers and emission inventory experts. The resulting product forms a comprehensive data set with high spatial and sectoral resolutions for the period extending to 2100. Land use and emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases are reported mostly at a 0.5 × 0.5 degree spatial resolution, with air pollutants also provided per sector (for well-mixed gases, a coarser resolution is used). The underlying integrated assessment model outputs for land use, atmospheric emissions and concentration data were harmonized across models and scenarios to ensure consistency with historical observations while preserving individual scenario trends. For most variables, the RCPs cover a wide range of the existing literature. The RCPs are supplemented with extensions (Extended Concentration Pathways, ECPs), which allow climate modeling experiments through the year 2300. The RCPs are an important development in climate research and provide a potential foundation for further research and assessment, including emissions mitigation and impact analysis

Let\u27s Talk About How We Talk: Communication Agreements in the Library Workplace

Purpose: This chapter introduces a new tool, termed the Communication Agreement, for enhancing communication in the library workplace. The chapter defines the communication agreement, provides discussion questions for forming a communication agreement, provides examples of how communication agreements are beneficial to a diverse library workforce, and provides strategies to informally assess communication agreements’ effectiveness. Practical implications: Communication problems in diverse library workplaces can lead to, or exacerbate, conflict between employees. Generational, cross-cultural, gender, and other differences can lead to misunderstandings and conflict between employees. The communication agreement provides library managers with a tool to bridge differences in communication styles between employees, enable employees to engage in more effective communication, assist employees in developing better understandings and respect for colleagues of different backgrounds, and raise employees’ emotional intelligences. Originality/Value: Numerous resources and publications provide generalized approaches to communicating with others in a heterogeneous workplace or team, but the communication agreement provides a new approach for developing effective communication between people in a diverse library workplace. Limitations: The chapter lays out informal assessment strategies for the communication agreement, but formal assessment methods and metrics still need to be developed