The on-line tutorial: developing and evaluating resources and disseminating experience

This is an ESCalate development project awarded to Kerry Shephard, University of Southampton in 2005. It looked at developing practical approaches to integrating a range of commonly available e-learning tools to facilitate wider use of the On-line Tutorial in staff development settings. The aim of this project was to implement and assess the value of an online tutorial within staff development scenarios which are themselves encouraging e-learning engagement. Four tutorials were developed, each one addressing a different issue relating to the use of ICT (information and communication technology) in teaching: factors that limit the use of ICT to support student learning in UK HE, use of ICT to support widening participation, teaching strategies for e-learning, and a simulation of online student assessment

Construire un régime d’investissement étranger dans les Amériques

Le but de cet article est de mettre en lumière les impacts de la superposition des accords sur l’investissement étranger à dimension multiple sur les théories de la gouvernance globale et les relations internationales. Il examine en particulier le concept des « régimes superposés » (intersecting regimes) et son applicabilité dans les cas de réglementation internationale en matière d’investissement étranger, et s’appuie sur l’argument que les règles en matière d’investissement constituent une sorte de régime superposé spécifique qui n’a pas encore été traitée dans la littérature afférente. L’étude de cas examinée dans cet article décrit d’une part le problème de superposition de règlements dans la gouvernance des investissements étrangers directs sur le continent américain et démontre que ces intersections sont le fait de projets de légalisation issus de visions de la politique différentes quant au règlement de ces investissements étrangers qui sont en compétition les unes avec les autres ; et d’autre part comment ces superpositions se concrétisent pour aboutir à des règles et normes qui interfèrent les unes avec les autres et se contredisent ; et enfin discute les effets de ces interférences institutionnelles.The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of the multi-layered patchwork of investment agreements for theories of global governance and international relations. In particular, it examines more closely the concept of intersecting regime and its applicability to the case of international investment rules. It argues that rules on investment constitute a specific kind of intersecting regime that has not yet been considered in that literature. The case study describes the problem of overlapping rules in the governance of foreign direct investment in the hemisphere and demonstrates how these overlaps are due to competing legalization projects stemming from different political visions about the regulation of foreign investment ; how it is manifested in sets of overlapping and contradictory norms and rules ; and discusses the effects of this institutional overlap

Does Social Conflict in Rural Regions Decrease Firm Ownership? Evidence from the Mining Sector in Latin America

Using firm-level data for five countries in Latin America, we find a negative and statistically significant link between social conflict in rural areas and ownership of mines. We apply an instrumental variables approach and find that this link may be causal. The instrument employed is altitude of the mine location—which we claim is uncorrelated with the dependent variable, firm ownership—but is correlated with social conflict. This variable serves as an ideal instrument, as it complies with the exclusion restriction. Our results hold to a formal test of changes in specification

Time-lapse capacitive resistivity imaging: a new technology concept for the monitoring of permafrost

The British Geological Survey, in partnership with the Universities of Sussex and Bonn, is investigating and seeking to prove a new technology concept for the non-invasive volumetric imaging and routine temporal monitoring of the thermal state of permafrost (Figure 1), a key indicator of global climate change. Capacitive Resistivity Imaging (CRI), a technique based upon a low-frequency, capacitively-coupled measurement approach (Kuras et al., 2006) is applied in order to emulate Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) methodology, but without the need for galvanic contact on frozen soils or rocks. Recent work has shown that temperature-calibrated ERT using galvanic sensors (Figure 2) is capable of imaging recession and re-advance of rock permafrost in response to the ambient temperature regime. However, the use of galvanic sensors can lead to significant practical limitations on field measurements due to high levels of and large variations in contact resistances between sensors and the host material as it freezes and thaws Figure 3). The capacitive technology developed here overcomes this problem and provides a more robust means of making high-quality resistance measurements with permanently installed sensors over time. Reducing the uncertainty associated with uncontrolled noise from galvanic sensors increases the value of time-lapse ERT datasets in the context of monitoring permafrost

Reviews

Brian Clegg, Mining The Internet — Information Gathering and Research on the Net, Kogan Page: London, 1999. ISBN: 0–7494–3025–7. Paperback, 147 pages, £9.99

Geophysical-geotechnical sensor networks for landslide monitoring

Landslides are often the result of complex, multi-phase processes where gradual deterioration of shear strength within the sub-surface precedes the appearance of surface features and slope failure. Moisture content increases and the build-up of associated pore water pressures are invariably associated with a loss of strength, and thus are a precursor to failure. Consequently, hydraulic processes typically play a major role in the development of landslides. Geoelectrical techniques, such as resistivity and self-potential are being increasingly applied to study landslide structure and the hydraulics of landslide processes. The great strengths of these techniques are that they provide spatial or volumetric information at the site scale, which, when calibrated with appropriate geotechnical and hydrogeological data, can be used to characterise lithological variability and monitor hydraulic changes in the subsurface. In this study we describe the development of an automated time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography (ALERT) and geotechnical monitoring system on an active inland landslide near Malton, North Yorkshire, UK. The overarching objective of the research is to develop a 4D landslide monitoring system that can characterise the subsurface structure of the landslide, and reveal the hydraulic precursors to movement. The site is a particularly import research facility as it is representative of many lowland UK situations in which weak mudrocks have failed on valley sides. Significant research efforts have already been expended at the site, and a number of baseline data sets have been collected, including ground and airborne LIDAR, geomorphologic and geological maps, and geophysical models. The monitoring network comprises an ALERT monitoring station connected to a 3D monitoring electrode array installed across an area of 5,500 m2, extending from above the back scarp to beyond the toe of the landslide. The ALERT instrument uses wireless telemetry (in this case GPRS) to communicate with an office based server, which runs control software and a database management system. The control software is used to schedule data acquisition, whilst the database management system stores, processes and inverts the remotely streamed ERT data. Once installed and configured, the system operates autonomously without manual intervention. Modifications to the ALERT system at this site have included the addition of environmental and geotechnical sensors to monitor rainfall, ground movement, ground and air temperature, and pore pressure changes within the landslide. The system is housed in a weatherproof enclosure and is powered by batteries charged by a wind turbine & solar panels. 3D ERT images generated from the landslide have been calibrated against resistivity information derived from laboratory testing of borehole core recovered from the landslide. The calibrated images revealed key aspects of the 3D landslide structure, including the lateral extent of slipped material and zones of depletion and accumulation; the surface of separation and the thickness of individual earth flow lobes; and the dipping in situ geological boundary between the bedrock formations. Time-lapse analysis of resistivity signatures has revealed artefacts within the images that are diagnostic of electrode movement. Analytical models have been developed to simulate the observed artefacts, from which predictions of electrode movement have been derived. This information has been used to correct the ERT data sets, and has provided a means of using ERT to monitor landslide movement across the entire ALERT imaging area. Initial assessment of seasonal changes in the resistivity signature has indicated that the system is sensitive to moisture content changes in the body of the landslide, thereby providing a basis for further development of the system with the aim of monitoring hydraulic precursors to failure

Applying a longitudinal tracer methodology to evaluate complex interventions in complex settings

Long-running multi-faceted intervention studies are particularly problematic in large and complex organizations where traditional methods prove too resource intensive and can yield inaccurate and incomplete findings. This paper describes the first use of, longitudinal tracer methodology (LTM), a realist approach to evaluation, to examine the links between multiple complex intervention activities (intervention processes) and their outcomes on a construction megaproject. LTM is especially useful when the researcher has little control over intervention delivery but has access to evidence drawn from a variety of sources to evaluate the effects of intervention activities over time. There are, however, very few examples of how this methodology can be successfully deployed in complex organisational settings and none on a construction megaproject. In this paper we present a case study of its use over a period of three years, on 24 construction sites forming London’s Thames Tideway Tunnel (Tideway) megaproject. The aim of the study was to examine the ‘transformational’ power of occupational safety and health (OSH) interventions as they played out across the multiple organisations and supply chains that constituted the megaproject. The case study shows how, with careful design, the method can be adapted in-flight to accommodate shifting lines of inquiry as the intervention activities progress and change. This feature of the method, along with its resource efficient operation, make it a particularly attractive option where interventions are likely to have differential effects across multiple sites of enactment