95 research outputs found
A brave new world for voluntary sector infrastructure? Vouchers, markets and demand-led capacity building
Frontline voluntary and community organisations are often argued to need capacity building support of various kinds, but, in a context of austerity, how should this be organised and funded? Policy makers and many funders are rethinking the ways in which such support might be delivered. There is increasing interest in âdemand-ledâ capacity building, where frontline organisations choose and purchase the support they require from a range of providers. In what seems to be a far cry from previous models of support during the âgolden ageâ of infrastructure investment, a market for capacity building looks like it is in the making. However we know very little about how this extending market is being constructed and how it works.
This paper is the outcome of a short piece of applied research on three âdemand-ledâ capacity building initiatives in practice: the BIG Assist programme, and local schemes in Sheffield and Worcestershire. It considers the challenges involved in designing the architecture for an emerging market in capacity building, and for working within it. Although the three schemes are clearly a departure from existing models of infrastructure support, the study concludes by questioning whether âdemand-led capacity buildingâ is an appropriate label given the opaque but important role played by funders and programme operators in the capacity building process
Data mining and analysis of scientific research data records on Covid 19 mortality, immunity, and vaccine development in the first wave of the Covid 19 pandemic
In this study, we investigate the scientific research response from the early
stages of the pandemic, and we review key findings on how the early warning
systems developed in previous epidemics responded to contain the virus. The
data records are analysed with commutable statistical methods, including R
Studio, Bibliometrix package, and the Web of Science data mining tool. We
identified few different clusters, containing references to exercise,
inflammation, smoking, obesity and many additional factors. From the analysis
on Covid-19 and vaccine, we discovered that although the USA is leading in
volume of scientific research on Covid 19 vaccine, the leading 3 research
institutions (Fudan, Melbourne, Oxford) are not based in the USA. Hence, it is
difficult to predict which country would be first to produce a Covid 19
vaccine
What country, university or research institute, performed the best on COVID-19? Bibliometric analysis of scientific literature
In this article, we conduct data mining to discover the countries,
universities and companies, produced or collaborated the most research on
Covid-19 since the pandemic started. We present some interesting findings, but
despite analysing all available records on COVID-19 from the Web of Science
Core Collection, we failed to reach any significant conclusions on how the
world responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we increased our analysis
to include all available data records on pandemics and epidemics from 1900 to
2020. We discover some interesting results on countries, universities and
companies, that produced collaborated most the most in research on pandemic and
epidemics. Then we compared the results with the analysing on COVID-19 data
records. This has created some interesting findings that are explained and
graphically visualised in the article
COVID-19 what have we learned? The rise of social machines and connected devices in pandemic management following the concepts of predictive, preventive and personalised medicine
A comprehensive bibliographic review with R statistical methods of the COVID
pandemic in PubMed literature and Web of Science Core Collection, supported
with Google Scholar search. In addition, a case study review of emerging new
approaches in different regions, using medical literature, academic literature,
news articles and other reliable data sources. Public responses of mistrust
about privacy data misuse differ across countries, depending on the chosen
public communication strategy
Validating differential volatilome profiles in Parkinsonâs disease
Contains fulltext :
231972.pdf (Publisherâs version ) (Open Access
Mid-IR Luminosities and UV/Optical Star Formation Rates at z<1.4
UV continuum and mid-IR emission constitute two widely used star formation
indicators at intermediate and high redshifts. We study 2430 galaxies with
z<1.4 in the Extended Groth Strip with MIPS 24 mic observations from FIDEL,
spectroscopy from DEEP2, and UV, optical, and near-IR photometry from AEGIS.
The data are coupled with stellar population models and Bayesian SED fitting to
estimate dust-corrected SFRs. In order to probe the dust heating from stellar
populations of various ages, the derived SFRs were averaged over various
timescales--from 100 Myr for "current" SFR to 1--3 Gyr for long-timescale SFRs.
These SED-based UV/optical SFRs are compared to total infrared luminosities
extrapolated from 24 mic observations. We find that for the blue, actively star
forming galaxies the correlation between the IR luminosity and the UV/optical
SFR shows a decrease in scatter when going from shorter to longer SFR-averaging
timescales. We interpret this as the greater role of intermediate age stellar
populations in heating the dust than what is typically assumed. This holds over
the entire redshift range. Many so-called green valley galaxies are simply
dust-obscured actively star-forming galaxies. However, there exist 24
mic-detected galaxies, some with L>10^11 L_sun, yet with little current star
formation. For them a reasonable amount of dust absorption of stellar light is
sufficient to produce the observed levels of IR. In our sample optical and
X-ray AGNs do not contribute on average more than ~50% to the mid-IR
luminosity, and we see no evidence for a large population of "IR excess"
galaxies (Abridged).Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Content identical to arXiv version
1. No color figure
The energy cultures framework: Exploring the role of norms, practices and material culture in shaping energy behaviour in New Zealand
The energy cultures framework was developed in 2009 to support interdisciplinary investigation into energy behaviour in New Zealand. In this paper, we discuss the framework in light of 5 years of empirical application and conceptual development. The concept of culture is helpful in seeking to better understand energy behaviour because it conveys how behaviours are embedded within the physical and social contexts of everyday life, and how they are both repetitive and heterogeneous. The framework suggests that the energy culture of a given subject (e.g. an individual, a household, a business, a sector) can be studied by examining the interrelationships between their norms, practices and material culture, and how these, in turn, are shaped by external influences. We discuss the key theoretical influences of the framework, and how the core concepts of the framework have evolved as we have applied them in different research situations. We then illustrate how we have applied the framework to a range of topics and sectors, and how it has been used to support interdisciplinary research, in identifying clusters of energy cultures, in examining energy cultures at different scales and in different sectors, and to inform policy development
Public Sector Poetry Journal: Telling Stories about Health, Education and Society
A collection of ethnographic poems by public sector workers across the UK, using poetry to articulate their lived experiences within the sector. Issue 2 of the magazine is a collection of 15 selected poems from a submission of 187 poems; all poems will be used as qualitative data and explored using thematic analysis and findings will support recommendations to advocate change and improvement in the sector
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