SMILE Project

Accessing information and evaluation of material is essential in today’s digital society. Employers are concerned that graduates leaving university do not have adequate employability skills (Braid 2007). University lecturers are also concerned that students are coming to university with poor learning skills (Shepherd 2006). Discussions in Higher Education (HE) are focusing on who should be developing student learning and employability skills, with the consensus being that it should be the responsibility of both employers and universities (Kosviner 2007). With modularisation, it can be difficult for study and employability skills to be embedded in subject-focused modules. These skills and competencies are frequently mentioned in the module specifications, but there is often little time set aside to teach the skills. This project was an attempt to combine the skills into an “information journey” and develop a module that could be delivered in a variety of ways. It was funded by JISC (Joint Information Services Committee) as one of 20 projects (collectively RePRODUCE) to “develop, run and quality assure technology enhanced courses using reused and repurposed learning materials“ (JISC, 2009). The project was a consortium of Loughborough University, Imperial College London and University of Worcester (the lead institution)

ANCIL in action: progress updates on A New Curriculum for Information Literacy

Secker & Coonan’s 2011 research on A New Curriculum for Information Literacy (ANCIL) positions information literacy as a vital, holistic and institution-wide element in academic teaching and learning. Rather than taking a competency-based approach in which abilities and performance levels are delineated prescriptively, ANCIL is founded on a perception of information literacy as a continuum of skills, competences, behaviours and values around information, centred in an individual learner engaged in a specific task or moving towards a particular goal. ANCIL offers both micro- and macro-level approaches to reviewing the information literacy support offered in an institution. With its emphasis on active, reflective and transferable elements in learning, ANCIL lends itself well to practical course design and lesson planning. By reviewing the structure and content of individual sessions through the ANCIL lens, it is possible to enhance information literacy teaching significantly even where provision is restricted to one-shot or front-loaded training sessions. In addition, ANCIL’s holistic mapping of information literacy, together with the interprofessional and collaborative approach this entails, allows departments or whole institutions to audit where, how and when provision is offered to and encountered by the student in the course of his or her learning career.The original ANCIL project research was supported by the Arcadia Programme at Cambridge University Library

A new microscopic nucleon-nucleon interaction derived from relativistic mean field theory

A new microscopic nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction has been derived for the first time from the popular relativistic mean field theory (RMFT) Lagrangian. The NN interaction so obtained remarkably relate to the inbuilt fundamental parameters of RMFT. Furthermore, by folding it with the RMFT-densities of cluster and daughter nuclei to obtain the optical potential, it's application is also examined to study the exotic cluster radioactive decays, and results obtained found comparable with the successfully used M3Y phenomenological effective NN interactions. The presently derived NN-interaction can also be used to calculate a number of other nuclear observables.Comment: 4 Pages 2 Figure

Developing The Tribal Trust Lands

A Rhodesia Journal of Economics paper presented by a Rhodesia Finance Minister on the need for rural development in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Originally given as an address to the annual dinner conference of the Institute of Directors, Bulawayo, October 11, 1968.My subject is “The Tribal Trust Lands: Their Need for Development”. Many people may wonder why the need for developing the Tribal Trust Lands is receiving such emphasis today; and they may well conclude that this much talked of development is a new concept. It is not. However, this development is now being approached with perhaps a little more co-ordination, vigour and purpose than in the past. Although the need for developing the Tribal Trust Lands I feel sure is obvious to all, it may be advantageous to set out the three main objectives that Government has in mind in promoting this development. These are, firstly, to provide land for settlement to cope with the increasing demand for land by tribesmen and to provide a livelihood for a growing African population which cannot be absorbed in industry and elsewhere; secondly, to provide employment on Tribal Trust Land for those who are without land or who have to supplement their agricultural earnings in order to subsist in times of drought or crop failure, and finally to assist, by means of settlement, in the control and eradication of tsetse fly thereby opening up production and at the same time protecting areas which are being farmed properly

The Vulnerability of Subsea Infrastructure to Underwater Attack: Legal Shortcomings and the Way Forward

This Article explores the vulnerability of submarine pipelines and cables to underwater subterfuge beyond territorial waters, particularly with regards to the emerging threat posed by unmanned vehicles in executing such mal intent. Next, it describes the legal status of this critical infrastructure before identifying shortcomings in legal protection from underwater attack. Finally, potential solutions are offered for the way forward

Method for obtaining mycelial pads

Method for obtaining mycelial pad

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationObesity is gaining attention as a worldwide problem, particularly among poor and emerging economies. Evaluating leading obesogenic theoretical pathways from a global structural perspective exposes the effect of globalization on body weight. I test competing obesogenic pathways cross-nationally to assess economic development and food security mechanisms among poor nations. I also test the influence of structural convergence theories on body mass to measure their respective magnitudes. Cross-national longitudinal regression analyses are implemented to develop obesity theory sympathetic to macrostructural research in economic development. Results suggest international obesity to be, in part, the effect of counterintuitive effects of foreign investment exacerbated by existing economic vulnerabilities

Embeddings of graph braid and surface groups in right-angled Artin groups and braid groups

We prove by explicit construction that graph braid groups and most surface groups can be embedded in a natural way in right-angled Artin groups, and we point out some consequences of these embedding results. We also show that every right-angled Artin group can be embedded in a pure surface braid group. On the other hand, by generalising to right-angled Artin groups a result of Lyndon for free groups, we show that the Euler characteristic -1 surface group (given by the relation x^2y^2=z^2) never embeds in a right-angled Artin group.Comment: Published by Algebraic and Geometric Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/agt/AGTVol4/agt-4-22.abs.htm

Who Owns the Customer? The Emerging Law of Commercial Transactions in Electronic Customer Data

The Information Revolution is changing the way commerce acted and value is defined within transactions. Before the Internet and e-business took center stage, electronic commerce meant electronic data interchange, just-in-time inventory systems, supply chain automation, and corporate reengineering. But the rise of the Internet as a communications medium has coincided with a shift in management focus, from merely trying to improve the efficiency of business logistics systems to a more holistic perspective on improving customer relationships. Intangible assets such as intellectual property rights, human capital in the form of employee knowledge, and established relationships with customers and suppliers are playing an increasingly important role in both old economy and new economy businesses. Computer databases are one form of intangible asset that have played an important role in business for decades. The use of customer databases is key to any strategy to build better relationships through electronic commerce. In recent years, there have been dramatic advances in the technology associated with building databases and analyzing the data they contain for competitive advantage. While data mining and customer profiling both antedate the rise of commercial Internet sites by many years, their use in business has become more visible and more controversial in recent years due to the ability of commercial Internet sites to collect new forms and greater quantities of customer data than was possible only a few years ago. As a result of their growing size and sophistication, and because of the pivotal role they play in managing business relationships, customer databases are becoming an ever more valuable asset for both bricks and mortar and Internet businesses. The commercial law governing business-to-business transactions in customer databases has not kept up with the rapid pace of developments in business practice. Many interests in databases are not recognized as property rights under copyright or other intellectual property laws. Even a statute as newly-minted as the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA), which was finalized by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in July 1999, is silent on many important issues raised by business transactions in data. In addition, the question of what rights, if any, individuals have to control the use of personally identifiable data has become very controversial in recent years as the ability to collect and analyze personal data continues to outstrip laws governing the privacy rights of individuals whose personal data is stored in databases. Uncertainty also results where there is no express agreement among interested parties governing the collection and use of the data, or where one of the parties with an interest in the data seeks to change the rights of interested parties unilaterally by modifying an existing agreement or practice. The number of parties claiming commercial interests in the same data is growing as electronic commerce marketing strategies become more interdependent and interconnected. With the trend towards coopetition —including vertical hubs, partnerships, strategic alliances, and other licensing arrangements—it may be difficult for transacting parties to determine whether they have obtained good title to database assets or are taking them subject to competing claims of ownership or claims in infringement of the rights of third parties. These uncertainties are compounded by the rapid globalization of electronic commerce and the inconsistent legal standards applied in different jurisdictions. For example, current U.S. law governing commercial use of customer data may be incomplete and highly uncertain with regard to many issues raised by new applications for customer databases. European Union (EU) law, by contrast, is often quite unambiguous in simply prohibiting or sharply curtailing a wide range of business practices U.S. firms consider unproblematic. Global transactions often are subject to these and other potentially conflicting bodies of law, creating additional legal risks with respect to database assets. This Article explores the new business models and technological advances driving the growing business interest in customer databases and the uncertain and fragmentary state of the law applicable to these practices and technologies. The Article also discusses practical strategies businesses should consider to minimize the risks they face from collecting and using customer data for competitive advantage in electronic commerce markets. In recent years and months, many businesses have become involved in disputes with regulators, competitors, and customers as a result of changing conditions for the collection and use of customer data. As context for the discussion of law and technology that follows, this Article summarizes seven case studies involving actual or potential conflicting claims in customer data. These cases illustrate the variety and significance of the legal issues being created by the ongoing shifts in practice and technology. Next, the Article provides an overview of the evolving business technologies fueling the explosive growth in the development and exploitation of customer databases. Computer networking, data capture opportunities, and data storage and analysis technologies are expanding rapidly. The pace of technological change is far exceeding the ability of the lawmakers to keep up, and indeed, some new technologies threaten to impair or even eliminate the practical ability to enforce legal rights in data. This Article then summarizes the current U.S. legal framework for protection of database assets and the divergent EU data protection framework, respectively. Finally, the Article concludes with analysis and practical suggestions for managing risks in commercial transactions in data. Given the uncertainty in the law regarding new commercial applications for customer data, contract provisions will often assume paramount importance in establishing the parties\u27 intentions regarding the value being created in new databases. However, the complexity of Internet commerce technologies and the interdependence of Internet businesses and their marketing strategies, combined with the unsettling impact bankruptcy law could have on such virtual alliances, will limit the certainty any contract provisions can provide. Accordingly, businesses should carefully evaluate legal risks arising from significant transactions involving data and take practical as well as legal measures to avoid or reduce the risks created in the new electronic commerce environment