\u27Dear Colleague\u27 letter

\u27Dear Colleague\u27 letter for the September 2006 briefing on Children\u27s Well-Being and the Role of Workplace Flexibility for Parents event. Prepared on behalf of Workplace Flexibility 2010 by Senator Mike DeWine and Senator Christopher J. Dodd

Crafting Growth : Exploring the Emerging Potential & Challenges for Scotland's Craft Beer Sector

This White Paper reports on the findings of a Scottish Universities Insights Institute (SUII) funded project, which brought together leading European craft brewers, and academics studying the sector, from eight countries, led by a team from the University of Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt University. The aim of the project was to collectively explore barriers to growth, as well as development opportunities, for craft brewing at firm, sectoral, regional, national, and international levels. The White Paper first sets out the six key areas of challenge which emerged from the study, namely: resourcing growth, marketing communications, market expansion, building skills, working with the value chain, and, crucially, legislation and support structures. Key recommendations to emerge from the workshop-driven study are discussed in detail

Shared orchestration within and beyond the classroom

The TEL research community has long neglected the dynamics of the real school classroom. Forty years ago TEL (or Computer Assisted Instruction as it was then) held out a promise of making life easier for teachers, while also enhancing the effectiveness of student learning. For so long teaching has been regarded as a human task that it is novel to suggest that a machine should take over the role of contact with the students, and leave a teacher to do the planning and preparation of the lesson. But it does seem to work, and in a world that is short of teachers there is every reason to develop it as far as possible. (Dodd, Sime & Kay, 1968) TEL has never delivered on this promise. Machines have not successfully engaged in teaching students (with a few notable, but limited exceptions). Instead, the modern classroom has become a more complex and demanding place, with the teacher not only having to prepare lesson plans, accommodate formal curricula, and follow regulations on health, safety and discipline, but also understand and manage a variety of technologies such as interactive whiteboards, desktop and laptop computers. Into this volatile mix we are now proposing to add orchestration technology

Verbal Descriptions of Cue Direction Affect Object Desirability

Approach-avoidance behaviors are observed across a broad range of species. For humans, we tend move toward things we like, and away from things we dislike. Previous research tested whether repeatedly shifting visuo-spatial attention toward an object in response to eye gaze cues can increase liking for that object. Here, we tested whether a gaze-liking effect can occur for verbal descriptions of looking behavior without shifts of attention. Also, we tested the gaze specificity hypothesis – that the liking effect is specific to gaze cues – by comparing the effect of different types of cue (pointing gestures and arrow cues). In Experiment 1, participants (N = 205) were split into 5 groups according to the type of cue that was described as directed either toward or away from an object. The results show that (1) attention is not necessary; the liking effect was recorded for verbal descriptions of looking, (2) the effect also occurs for descriptions of pointing and arrows, and (3) the liking effect is enhanced for gaze cues compared to arrows, consistent with the gaze specificity hypothesis. Results from a further experiment suggest that the effect is not due to demand compliance. We conclude that the gaze-liking effect occurs for verbal descriptions of eye gaze. Indeed, because our method bypasses altogether the use of visual cues, objects, and shifts in visual selective attention, our paradigm appears to be more sensitive at tapping into the fundamental approach-avoidance response that mediate the implicit liking effect. As such, it offers new opportunities for research investigations in the future

Resilience of New Zealand indigenous forest fragments to impacts of livestock and pest mammals

A number of factors have combined to diminish ecosystem integrity in New Zealand indigenous lowland forest fragments surrounded by intensively grazed pasture. Livestock grazing, mammalian pests, adventive weeds and altered nutrient input regimes are important drivers compounding the changes in fragment structure and function due to historical deforestation and fragmentation. We used qualitative systems modelling and empirical data from Beilschmiedia tawa dominated lowland forest fragments in the Waikato Region to explore the relevance of two common resilience paradigms – engineering resilience and ecological resilience – for addressing the conservation management of forest fragments into the future. Grazing by livestock and foraging/predation by introduced mammalian pests both have direct detrimental impacts on key structural and functional attributes of forest fragments. Release from these perturbations through fencing and pest control leads to partial or full recovery of some key indicators (i.e. increased indigenous plant regeneration and cover, increased invertebrate populations and litter mass, decreased soil fertility and increased nesting success) relative to levels seen in larger forest systems over a range of timescales. These changes indicate that forest fragments do show resilience consistent with adopting an engineering resilience paradigm for conservation management, in the landscape context studied. The relevance of the ecological resilience paradigm in these ecosystems is obscured by limited data. We characterise forest fragment dynamics in terms of changes in indigenous species occupancy and functional dominance, and present a conceptual model for the management of forest fragment ecosystems

Brass Ensembles Showcase

Kennesaw State University School of Music presents Brass Ensembles Showcase featuring performances by various brass ensembles showcasing the KSU brass faculty and students.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1777/thumbnail.jp

On the beer wagon : the past, present and future of Celtic Craft Brewing and its policies

This paper examines the potential of the craft beer sector as a regional development lever. Focusing on three culturally linked but politically distinct small nations, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, it takes a historical journey from the inception of this sector to present day. Discussion focuses on highlighting the complex interactions between brewing, society, policy and economy. We review current policy and sectoral realities for our Celtic context and propose a grounded and holistic vision of regional craft brewing policies, particularly around more circular and zero-waste ecosystems

Evidence for increases in vegetation species richness across UK Environmental Change Network sites linked to changes in air pollution and weather patterns

We analysed trends in vegetation monitored at regular intervals over the past two decades (1993–2012)at the twelve terrestrial Environmental Change Network (ECN) sites. We sought to determine the extent to which flora had changed and link any such changes to potential environmental drivers. We observed significant increases in species richness, both at a whole network level, and when data were analysed within Broad Habitat groupings representing the open uplands, open lowlands and woodlands. We also found comparable increases in an indicator of vegetation response to soil pH, Ellenberg R. Species characteristic of less acid soils tended to show more consistent increases in frequency across sites relative to species with a known tolerance for strongly acidic soils. These changes are, therefore, broadly consistent with a response to increases in soil solution pH observed for the majority of ECN sites that, in turn, are likely to be driven by large reductions in acid deposition in recent decades. Increases in species richness in certain habitat groupings could also be linked to increased soil moisture availability in drier lowland sites that are likely to have been influenced by a trend towards wetter summers in recent years, and possibly also to a reduction in soil nitrogen availability in some upland locations. Changes in site management are also likely to have influenced trends at certain sites, particularly with respect to agricultural practices. Our results are therefore indicative of wide-scale responses to major regional-scale changes in air pollution and recent weather patterns, modified by local management effects. The relative consistency of management of ECN sites over time is atypical of much of the wider countryside and it is therefore not appropriate to scale up these observations to infer national scale trends. Nevertheless the results provide an important insight into processes that may be operating nationally. It will now be necessary to test for the ubiquity of these changes using appropriate broader spatial scale survey data