Systemic inquiry as a form of qualitative Inquiry

Chapter 1 in boo

Writing as talk

Historically, the psychotherapies have subscribed to an idea that the spoken word is the first language of psychotherapy. This idea has influenced my practice but work with Susan challenged this prejudice. We have worked together to find ways of using writing to communicate things which were not finding their way into spoken language. This paper shares some stories from our written and spoken conversations. Susan and I reflect on the place of writing in our work and talk about the experience of reading each other’s writing. In this paper, I propose that writing and reading are relational practices. I suggest the reflexive movement in these activities both anticipates and shapes the responses between self and other when while reading the writings to the writer-as- listener. In preparing and presenting these writings and reflections from within and about our conversations, I hope to create some coherence with a dialogical collaborative style of working and propose writing as a form of systemic practice and systemic inquiry

Use of a student response system in Primary Schools — an empirical study

This paper reports a pilot study for a student response system (SRS) used in an English school. The technology used is the “Wireless Response System” – WRS developed at Huddersfield University, and the learning activities were conducted in Mathematics and English classes. The main concepts – activity based, problem based and opinion based learning – are adopted into the study. A case study was the method used in the investigation. The results show that the system is suitable for different sizes groups of users, who may choose their preferred question types. The school claims the use of WRS was successful, evidenced by the data collected, and the children and teachers were interested in using it. We conclude that the SRS can assist teachers in classroom teaching at primary school level, especially in the observations of engagement and effectiveness of students’ learning

GAEA Action Equations Paradigm

This technical report consists of two papers describing the GAEA action equations paradigm. Incremental Dynamic Semantics for Language-based Programming Environments explains why attribute grammars are not suitable for expressing dynamic semantics and presents action equations, an extension of attribute grammars suitable for specifying the static and the dynamic semantics of programming languages. It describes how action equations can be used to generate language-based programming environments that incrementally derive static and dynamic properties as the user modifies and debugs the program. Rapid Prototyping of Concurrent Programming Languages extends this technology to a concurrent framework. It describes an (unimplemented) system that generates a parallel interpreter for the language and provides runtime support for the synchronization primitives and other facilities in the language

Generation of Distributed Programming Environments

This technical report consists of three related papers in the area of distributed programming environments. Incremental Attribute Evaluation in Distributed Language-Based Environments presents algorithms that extend existing technology for the generation of single-user language-based editors from attribute grammars to the cases of multiple-user concurrent and distributed environments. Multi-User Distributed Language-Based Environment, an extended abstract, provides additional information on how to apply the algorithms. Reliability in Distributed Programming Environments presents additional algorithms that extend our results to unreliable networks

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

External Peer Review of Assessment: A Guide to Supporting the External Referencing of Academic Standards

This resource is intended to provide support to academic staff engaging in the external peer review of assessment. It is aimed at experienced reviewers and for people preparing to review for the first time. Funding for this project was provided by the Council of Australasian University Leaders in Learning and Teaching (CAULLT)

Drivers and drawbacks of an external auditing career

With this study the authors shed light on Maltese auditors’ perceptions about a professional career in auditing. They examine the motivational factors that steer individuals towards a career in auditing. In addition, an analysis of the drawbacks encountered in the auditing profession from the perspective of the Maltese auditors is also carried out. An explanatory sequential mixed method design was employed. A questionnaire was first distributed to audit practitioners working within Maltese audit firms, and 205 responses were received. This was followed by ten semi-structured interviews with auditors. Findings highlight job security as the most significant career driver and that if Maltese auditors had to look for another job, the majority would not opt for an audit-related post but would instead move towards other accountancy-related jobs. Moreover, it was concluded that factors such as heavy workload, stress and problems with managing work-life balance are associated with the auditing profession, especially by respondents working within Big Four audit firms in Malta.peer-reviewe

Evaluation of the small business rates relief scheme in Wales

This document reports on the primary research undertaken by the Centre for Regional Economic Development (CRED) to evaluate the Small Business Rates Relief Scheme (SBRRS) in Wales. Specifically it will document the views of SME businesses supported by the SBRRS on the impact of the scheme on their business and on the business sector in general. The report draws final conclusions and recommendations for the consideration of the Welsh Assembly Government

Studies on the mechanism of the peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence reaction Part 1. Confirmation of 1,2-dioxetanedione as an intermediate using 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

A simple model peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence system was monitored directly across a range of temperatures (from −80 to +20 °C) using 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. These experiments were made possible by the utilisation of 13C doubly labelled oxalyl chloride, which was reacted with anhydrous hydrogen peroxide in dry tetrahydrofuran. Ab initio quantum calculations were also performed to estimate the 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) shift of the most commonly postulated key intermediate 1,2-dioxetanedione and this data, in concert with the spectroscopic evidence, confirmed its presence during the reaction