A Tale of Evaluation and Reporting in UK Smart Cities

Global trends towards urbanisation are associated with wide-ranging challenges and opportunities for cities. Smart technologies create new opportunities for a range of smart city development and regeneration programmes designed to address the environmental, economic and social challenges concentrated in cities. Whilst smart city programmes have received much publicity, there has been much less discussion about evaluation of smart city programmes and the measurement of their outcomes for cities. Existing evaluation approaches have been criticised as non-standard and inadequate, focusing more on implementation processes and investment metrics than on the impacts of smart city programmes on strategic city outcomes and progress. To examine this, the SmartDframe project conducted research on city approaches to the evaluation of smart city projects and programmes, and reporting of impacts on city outcomes. This included the ‘smarter’ UK cities of Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Milton Keynes and Peterborough. City reports and interviews with representative local government authorities informed the case study analysis. The report provides a series of smart city case studies that exemplify contemporary city practices, offering a timely, insightful contribution to city discourse about best practice approaches to evaluation and reporting of complex smart city projects and programmes

Leadership in, of, and for Smart Cities – Case Studies from Europe, America and Australia

This paper analyses leadership in, of and for smart cities. Using a multi-case study research design and Mode 2 research (based upon collaboration between a scholar and a practitioner) we explore smart cities initiatives in Europe (Amsterdam, Bristol & Milton Keynes), North and South America (Chicago & Curitiba) and Australia (Melbourne). We undertake a comparative analysis which looks at leadership through six lenses: place, purpose, person, position, process, performance. From our analysis four modes of smart city leadership emerge: smart cities as digital government; smart cities as digital driver for economic growth; smart cities as an open platform for digital socio-political innovation; and smart cities as an open platform for digital economy

Mining a MOOC to examine international views of the “Smart City”

Increasing numbers of cities are focussed on using technology to become “Smart”. Many of these Smart City programmes are starting to go beyond a technological focus to also explore the value of a more inclusive approach that values the input of citizens. However, the insights gained from working with citizens are typically focused around a single town or city. In this paper we explore whether it is possible to understand people’s opinions and views on the Smart City topics of Open Data, privacy and leadership by examining comments left on a Smart City MOOC that has been delivered internationally. In doing so we start to explore whether MOOCs can provide a lens for examining views on different facets of the Smart City agenda from a global audience, albeit limited to the demographic of the typical MOOC user

The Role of Data Literacy within a MOOC Analysis

This paper discusses the role of data literacy in the planning of analysis of data from a six week Smart Cities MOOC delivered on the FutureLearn platform. The aim of the analysis was to discover whether the MOOC had met the aims of engaging participants with topics related to smart cities and to evaluate social interactions and understanding of the key concepts through analysis of MOOC comments. The paper identifies where data literacy impacts on decisions made, such as the need to include both domain and data expertise in the analysis, whether this is provided by a single person or by a team. It also identifies a need for better tools for rapid protoyping of methods for analysing large data sets particularly of non-standard data, such as natural language data. This would be of benefit in cases where the analysis will be used just a few times for a specific purpose, such as analysing the MOOC data across several presentations

The workplace meal: A migrant workers’ perspective

Abstract Purpose Employees eat at least one meal per day in the workplace on a regular basis, carrying implications for their physical and emotional wellbeing. For migrants, this can be challenging, owing to food culture differences. This study explores migrant workers perceptions’ of the food eaten in the hospitality workplace. Design/methodology/approach Eleven in-depth, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were carried out with migrant workers in three and four stars hotels in the South West of England. Findings The findings show that the food eaten in the workplace is perceived as unhealthy and fattening, and therefore unappealing. This partly informs a decision to eat home country food away from work. Research limitations/implications Further research is needed across many more organisations to investigate whether this would actually have the positive impact on employee well-being (migrant or home national) and employer reputation. Practical implications Providing additional ‘off-menu’ meals for migrant employees is recognised. However, staff turnover within the hotel environment may mean that dishes acceptable to one nationality may not be acceptable to another. Alternatively, it may be that attention to such detail and the provision of a food offering that is seen as fit for purpose by staff may reduce turnover and demonstrate ‘care’ on the part of the employer. An annual staff survey could be conducted to gauge employee opinion. Social implications This study helps to show the significance of food for migrant wellbeing. It highlights that in increasingly globalised workplaces, food provision is important for both emotional and physical health. The study’s findings have relevance to other multicultural workplaces where the food provided to staff may have consequences for employee wellbeing. Originality/value Little research has focused on the link between the food consumed in the hospitality workplace and migrant worker wellbeing. This study therefore makes an important contribution to knowledge by exploring feelings about the food eaten at work from the perspective of migrant workers themselves

Effect of the Nutrient Microenvironment of an Ovarian Follicle on Gap Junction Activity in Cumulus-Oocyte Complexes in Post-Partum Cows

For mammalian oocyte maturation it is important for the oocyte to communicate with the surrounding somatic cells in a bidirectional manner. In part, this is achieved through gap junction connections between cumulus cells and the oocyte. These gap junctions permit the transfer of essential metabolites, nucleotides, amino acids and ions from the cumulus cells to the oocyte in order for growth and development to occur. It is hypothesized that one reason for post-partum infertility in dairy cows is poor oocyte quality due to an inappropriate nutrient microenvironment in the developing antral follicle. In turn, this might compromise the nutrient and/or energy delivery by cumulus cells to the oocyte and thus affect oocyte quality. The objectives of this study were to: (1) -develop a reliable in vitro measure of gap junction activity for bovine cumulus–oocyte-complexes (COC) using a fluorescent (calcein) dye technique, and (2)- assess the effects of different amino acid compositions, cholesterol and fatty acid concentrations on gap junction activity in COC. The development and validation of the bovine COC gap junction assay was undertaken using a standard commercial medium (M199). Thereafter, media were prepared representing the amino acid concentrations in follicular fluid of both non-lactating and lactating dairy cows as measured in a NZ pastoral situation. These media formed the basis for subsequent measures of COC gap junction activity with differing concentrations of cholesterol and the essential fatty acids- oleic acid, stearic acid and palmitic acid. The major findings from this study were that the different amino acid concentrations typical of that in the follicular fluid of the non-lactating and lactating dairy cow and M199 do not significantly affect the gap junction activity in COC. Given that the amino acid compositions in lactating and non-lactating cows were approximately 50% of those in M199; this indicates that the amino acid concentrations within the ovarian follicle are not a critical factor affecting oocyte quality. However, high concentrations of cholesterol or of the essential fatty acids significantly compromised gap junction activity in bovine COC. High concentrations of the fatty acids were identified in a number of lactating dairy cows during the post-partum interval. In times of negative energy balance, which is common in pasture fed NZ dairy cows during the early post-partum interval and lactation, a significant mobilisation of fatty acids occurs. In turn, this is known to result in an increase in lipid concentrations within the ovarian follicle. The results from this study support the hypothesis that the nutrient environment of the ovarian follicle during early lactation is detrimental to the quality and developmental competence of the oocyte and thus may account for post-partum infertility in some animals

Smart Cities MOOC: Teaching citizens how to co-create smart cities

There is increasing recognition that the ICT4S community needs to take a role in both developing education and conducting re-search on how to educate people in using ICT to make urban areas more sustainable. In this paper we explore the question how can a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) be used to engage citizens in learning about smart cities and teach them how to co-create a smart cities project in their community. We discuss our experiences of designing and delivering a Smart Cities MOOC, a multidisciplinary course targeted at an international audience and built upon the pedagogical approach of social learning that is supported through FutureLearn, the MOOC platform on which the course is delivered. We use data gathered from the first presentation of the course to evaluate the motivations, demographics, online participation and experiences of our learners. An analysis of social learning interactions also provides insight into citizens’ views on smart cities and we identify how the MOOC can be adapted to meet the learning needs of smart city initiatives and potential areas for future research

Secondary Pre-Service Teachers’ Algebraic Reasoning About Linear Equation Solving

This study analyzes the responses of 12 secondary pre-service teachers on two tasks focused on reasoning when solving linear equations. By documenting the choices PSTs made while engaging in these tasks, we gain insight into how new teachers work mathematically, reason algebraically, communicate their thinking, and make pedagogical decisions. We will share qualitative results from our examination of teacher knowledge through pre-service teachers’ explanations, models, language, and conjectures about student thinking