User guide for the Infiltration SuDS Map : summary

This report presents a description of the Infiltration SuDS Map: Summary developed by the British Geological Survey (BGS). The map provides screening-level data that gives an indication of the suitability of the subsurface for infiltration sustainable drainage systems (SuDS). The map does not provide any specific information about the properties of the ground; such data is included in the Infiltration SuDS Map: Detailed (Dearden, 2016). The summary map is designed to be used by those involved in the strategic assessment of the subsurface for the installation of infiltration SuDS. It may be particularly valuable for spatial planners and local authorities who wish to undertake a strategic assessment. More information about pricing and licensing the Infiltration SuDS Map is provided at http://www.bgs.ac.uk/products/hydrogeology/infiltrationSuds.html. The map comprises of four GIS (geographical information system) layers, focusing on significant constraints, potential for drainage, potential for instability and protection of groundwater quality. The layers are derived from a combination of 15 BGS national datasets and show the overall opportunities for the installation of infiltration SuDS. The method has been critically assessed by Dr. V. Banks and Dr. D. Aldiss who specialise in hydrogeology and in geologically derived products at the BGS. The purpose of this user guide is to enable those licensing this dataset to have a better appreciation of how the dataset has been created and therefore a better understanding of its potential applications and limitations

User guide for the Infiltration SuDS Map : detailed

This report presents a description of the Infiltration SuDS Map: Detailed developed by the British Geological Survey (BGS). The dataset provides subsurface information enabling preliminary assessment of the ground for infiltration sustainable drainage systems (SuDS). The map can be used in relation to any type of infiltration SuDS including soakaways, infiltration basins and permeable pavements. The map is designed to be used by those interested in the properties of the ground for the installation of infiltration SuDS, but it is not an alternative to a ground investigation. It may be particularly valuable for developers, planners and local authority SuDS approval officers, who need to either assess the properties of the ground directly, or assess planning application for SuDS. The Infiltration SuDS Map: Detailed comprises of twenty-four individual GIS (geographical information system) layers, which are structured under the following headings: infiltration constraints, drainage potential, ground instability and groundwater protection. The GIS layers under each heading include up to seven individual data layers showing the properties of the ground and a summary layer, which provides an overview of the information contained within those data layers highlighting overall suitability. More information about pricing and licensing the Infiltration SuDS Map is provided at http://www.bgs.ac.uk/products/hydrogeology/infiltrationSuds.html. For those involved in the strategic assessment of ground conditions for the installation of infiltration SuDS, the Infiltration SuDS Map: Summary may be more appropriate. This map provides an indication of the suitability of the subsurface for infiltration SuDS, but does not provide any specific information about the properties of the ground. The methodology employed in creating this dataset has been critically assessed by Dr. V. Banks and Dr. D. Aldiss who specialise in hydrogeology and in geological derived products at BGS. The dataset has also been reviewed by seven external experts and improvements have been made based on their suggestions. The purpose of this user guide is to enable those licensing the Infiltration SuDS Map: Detailed to have a better appreciation of how the dataset has been created and therefore a better understanding of its potential applications and limitations

Human computer interaction for international development: past present and future

Recent years have seen a burgeoning interest in research into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the context of developing regions, particularly into how such ICTs might be appropriately designed to meet the unique user and infrastructural requirements that we encounter in these cross-cultural environments. This emerging field, known to some as HCI4D, is the product of a diverse set of origins. As such, it can often be difficult to navigate prior work, and/or to piece together a broad picture of what the field looks like as a whole. In this paper, we aim to contextualize HCI4D—to give it some historical background, to review its existing literature spanning a number of research traditions, to discuss some of its key issues arising from the work done so far, and to suggest some major research objectives for the future

Make it so! Jean-Luc Picard, Bart Simpson and the design of e-public services

In this paper, we report on a project applying participatory design methods to include people who have experience of social exclusion (in one form or another) in designing possible technologies for e-(local)-government services. The work was part of a project for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the UK, and was concerned with ‘access tokens’ that can provide personal identification for individuals accessing public services, based on technologies such as multi-functional smartcards, flash memory sticks, mobile phone SIMs or similar devices. In particular we report on our experience using the ‘pastiche scenarios’ technique recently developed by Mark Blythe. Our findings indicate that the technique can be effective and engaging in helping people to create realistic scenarios of future technology use and highlight some possible pitfalls to consider when using this technique.</p

National evaluation of the neighbourhood nurseries: impact report

This study assessed the impact of NNI on parental employment, use of formal childcare, and take-up of benefits and tax credits, particularly for disadvantaged groups such as lone parents, low income families and ethnic minority groups

Raising awareness for potential sustainability effects in Uganda: A survey-based empirical study

Copyright © 2019 for this paper by its authors. In July 2019, we ran the 3rd International BRIGHT summer school for Software Engineering and Information Systems at the Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. The participants developed a group project over the course of the week, which included the application of the Sustainability Awareness Framework. The framework promotes discussion on the impact of software systems on sustainability based on a set of questions. In this paper, we present the educational evaluation of the Sustainability Awareness Framework in a country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The results indicate that the framework can provide supportive guidance of the societal and environmental challenges in the given context

How was it for you? Experiences of participatory design in the UK health service

Improving co-design methods implies that we need to understand those methods, paying attention to not only the effect of method choices on design outcomes, but also how methods affect the people involved in co-design. In this article, we explore participants' experiences from a year-long participatory health service design project to develop ‘Better Outpatient Services for Older People’. The project followed a defined method called experience-based design (EBD), which represented the state of the art in participatory service design within the UK National Health Service. A sample of participants in the project took part in semi-structured interviews reflecting on their involvement in and their feelings about the project. Our findings suggest that the EBD method that we employed was successful in establishing positive working relationships among the different groups of stakeholders (staff, patients, carers, advocates and design researchers), although conflicts remained throughout the project. Participants' experiences highlighted issues of wider relevance in such participatory design: cost versus benefit, sense of project momentum, locus of control, and assumptions about how change takes place in a complex environment. We propose tactics for dealing with these issues that inform the future development of techniques in user-centred healthcare design

Economics of education research: a review and future prospects

In this paper we offer an appraisal of the economics of education research area, charting its history as a field and discussing the ways in which economists have contributed both to education research and to education policy-making. In particular, we highlight the theoretical and methodological contributions that economists have made to the field of education during the last 50 years. Despite the success of the economics of education as a field of inquiry, we argue that some of the contributions made by economists could be limited if the economics of education is seen as quite distinct from the other disciplines working in the field of education. In these areas of common interest, economists need to work side by side with the other major disciplines in the field of education if their contribution to the field is to be maximised, particularly in terms of applying improved methodology. We conclude that the study of education acquisition and its economic and social impact in the economics of education research area is very likely to remain a fertile research ground. Acknowledgement