259 research outputs found
Dampening prey cycle overrides the impact of climate change on predator population dynamics : a long-term demographic study on tawny owls
Funded by ERA-Net BiodivERsA NERC. Grant Numbers: NE/E010660/1, NE/F021402/1, NE/G002045/1Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Efficiency in the further education sector in England
Further education in England is a diverse sector which typically provides education for the 16 - 19 age group. This study investigates efficiency levels by subject of study within further education (FE) colleges. Mean overall technical efficiency is found to vary from 75% to 86% in the worst- and best-performing subject areas, respectively. Statistical analysis of efficiency reveals that, while student and teacher composition and regional characteristics affect efficiency in each subject, the strength of these effects can vary by subject. This has the clear policy implication that strategies to improve efficiency in English FE must be devised and operated at subject rather than provider level
Transformation of a small-to-medium-sized enterprise to a multi-organisation product-service solution provider
This paper aims to: (1) précis the extant literature on servitization and enterprization transformations, focusing on the role of information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) and their inter-relationships; (2) illustrate these interrelationships by showing how a small-to-medium-sized enterprise (SME) can move from being a predominantly independent SME, delivering only products, to become part of a multi-organisation enterprise able to deliver product-service solutions; and (3) provide generic learning by proposing a new integrated business transformation model. The methodology used is abductive action research. A literature review is conducted to provide academically grounded themes to inform and interpret practical actions. An empirical case study is conducted with a UK SME from the construction industry that provides empirical data to illustrate a business transformation. Inductive reasoning is used to propose a new integrated transformation model. Findings show that enterprization and servitization transformation themes are highly interdependent and co-implementable when an IT/IS focus is taken. Furthermore, these transformations can be used as part of a successful strategy for growth by an SME. A new operating structure, labelled a product-service enterprise (PSE), is proposed as part of a business transformation model to assist future deliveries of product-service solutions (PSSns). Actions and findings are based on a single empirical case abducted with academic themes. Whilst it is probable that the themes and actions have contributed towards the organization's successful growth, no absolute deterministic causality is claimed
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Signposts for staff development (2): workplace mentors
The study guide is designed as a resource to be used in the setting up and running of staff development for mentors. It provides a basis for analysing the function of work-based learning (WBL) within a programme of learning and hence the role of mentoring in supporting this learning and goes on to show the kinds of staff development possible and available through texts, training sessions and self-help groups and provides organisers of mentor training with information about both generic and subject specific materials and approaches. It is not a training manual. It provides an overview of training materials and approaches to assist in the design of programmes tailored to the needs of mentors in specific higher education (HE) contexts.
The available training materials for mentors and for organisers of mentoring schemes are plentiful and we have narrowed the field to staff development for people mentoring specific vocational diploma and degree students both in terms of general materials and materials and approaches relating specifically to the following four broad subject areas which have contrasting needs.
- technologies and applied science subjects
- helping and caring disciplines
- creative art and design disciplines
- business and management disciplines
Ariel - Volume 9 Number 1
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Signposts for staff development (1): link tutors
Signposts for Staff Development (I): Link Tutors is intended to provide experienced curriculum and staff developers in higher education with a resource pack so that they can support academic staff concerned with managing placements and work-based learning to fulfil their role more effectively. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to provide staff developers with factual information and guidance, whilst, at the same time, posing questions and providing suggestions for activities which will generate a constructive response from link tutors and enhance their performance in this role. Consequently this booklet contains a set of photocopiable resources (The Link Tutor Task Checklist, Appendix I; Activity Resource Sheets, Appendix 2) and a substantial bibliography (Appendix 3) which might help to address some of the issues involved.
It is important not to lose sight of the fact that the principal aim must be to enhance the quality of student experience of work-based learning. Students on placements, working primarily outside their universities and colleges, do so because they need to add to their store of subject knowledge and specialist skills, as well as practise and enhance what they know and can already do. In addition, they must gain a whole range of transferable personal skills which are themselves highly valued by employers. There is no doubt that all the participants in placement activity recognise its exceptional value in enhancing interpersonal, technical and applicatory skills (Davies, 1990). The link tutor has a key role to play in all this, ensuring that the outcomes of work-based learning are of maximal benefit to the student and, where appropriate, to the profession for which they are being prepared.
Link tutors need to be:
- clear about the nature of the role in practical terms
- demonstrably competent in this role
- well motivated and convinced of the value of their work
- self critical and forward thinking, in the vein of Schon's reflective practitioner, always
- anticipating new developments and productive change (Schon, 1986) and
- open to new insights from a variety of sources.
It is hoped that this guide and its associated materials will make a contribution to the clarification and refinement of this critically important role
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Briefing papers
This set of short briefing papers (prepared by members of the Project Team) are intended to complement our Guidelines for Good Practice in Supporting Students in the Workplace, which are the main outcome of a Department for Education and Employment funded project undertaken by the Open University's Quality Support Centre.
The briefing papers embed some of the issues raised in the Guidelines in the relevant literature and cover the following: learning styles and learner strategies; learning agreements; assessment strategies for work-based learning (WBL); learning outcomes and competence-based assessment; professional ethics as a dimension of the development of subject area knowledge and skills in the workplace; organisational forms of WBL
Microtorus: a High Finesse Microcavity with Whispering-Gallery Modes
We have demonstrated a 165 micron oblate spheroidal microcavity with free
spectral range 383.7 GHz (3.06nm), resonance bandwidth 25 MHz (Q ~ 10^7) at
1550nm, and finesse F > 10^4. The highly oblate spheroidal dielectric
microcavity combines very high Q-factor, typical of microspheres, with vastly
reduced number of excited whispering-gallery (WG) modes (by two orders of
magnitude). The very large free spectral range in the novel microcavity - few
hundred instead of few GigaHertz in typical microspheres - is desirable for
applications in spectral analysis, narrow-linewidth optical and RF oscillators,
and cavity QED.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Agents to the Rescue?
The advent of electronic environments is bound to have profound effects on consumer decision making. While the exact nature of these influences is only partially known it is clear that consumers could benefit from properly designed electronic agents that know individual users\u27 preferences and can act on their behalf. An examination of the various roles agents perform is presented as a framework for thinking about the design of electronic agents. In addition, a set of goals is established that include both outcome-based measures, such as improving decision quality, as well as process measures like increasing satisfaction and developing trust
Response to Brentuximab Vedotin by CD30 Expression in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
BACKGROUND: The safety and efficacy of brentuximab vedotin (BV), an antibody-drug conjugate directed to the CD30 antigen, has been assessed in several trials in patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), or B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The objective of this research was to examine the relationship between CD30 expression level and clinical response to BV.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed response in patients treated with BV monotherapy in 5 prospective clinical studies in relapsed or refractory PTCL, CTCL, or B-cell NHL. CD30 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using the Ber H2 antibody for 275 patients.
RESULTS: Across all 5 studies, 140 (50.9%) patients had tumors with CD30 expression
CONCLUSIONS: In this analysis of studies across a range of CD30-expressing lymphomas, CD30 expression alone, as measured by standard IHC, does not predict clinical benefit from BV, making the determination of a threshold level of expression uncertain
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