Face-to-face or distance training? Two different approaches to motivate SMEs to learn - an update

In the past, too many government-sponsored initiatives have presented learning resources that have been wasted because the target small business audience has failed to make use of them. This paper explores the issue of offering learning materials to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a manner that recognizes their working environment, mode of operation and preferred learning methods. It then outlines methods currently being tested in the UK and Ireland, and indicates preliminary findings. The two methodologies are different in that the UK (LSSB - Learning Support for Small Businesses) programme is aimed at distance learning in primarily small businesses, whilst the Irish (University of Limerick and Limerick City Enterprise Board) programme is aimed at face-to-face learning primarily in micro-enterprises. Preliminary findings are presented

Orthodontic palatal implants: clinical technique

The aim of this paper is to familiarize the readers with some of the clinical considerations necessary to ensure successful use of mid-palatal implants. Both surgical and technical aspects will be discussed along with a description of impression techniques used

A study of in-service teacher educator roles, with implications for a curriculum for their professional development

Cataloged from PDF version of article.In-service educators have a crucial role to play in meeting the professional learning needs of teachers of the future, according to the Council of Europe’s ‘ET 2020’, although it is less clear what that role entails. This empirical study, undertaken in a university school of English language in Turkey, explores the everyday experience of a team of wholly school-based in-service educators and develops a model of their role based on an analysis of questionnaire, interview and focus group data. The results attest to the complexities of the in-service educator’s role, revealing them to be more than simply effective teachers. Catering for affective needs, coaching a broad range of clients, interpreting contextual variables and providing appropriate feedback represent some of the challenges in-service educators are facing in the research context, which set them apart and suggest important lessons for the development of an in-service educator training curriculum. © 2014, © 2014 Association for Teacher Education in Europe

Proof of Luck: an Efficient Blockchain Consensus Protocol

In the paper, we present designs for multiple blockchain consensus primitives and a novel blockchain system, all based on the use of trusted execution environments (TEEs), such as Intel SGX-enabled CPUs. First, we show how using TEEs for existing proof of work schemes can make mining equitably distributed by preventing the use of ASICs. Next, we extend the design with proof of time and proof of ownership consensus primitives to make mining energy- and time-efficient. Further improving on these designs, we present a blockchain using a proof of luck consensus protocol. Our proof of luck blockchain uses a TEE platform's random number generation to choose a consensus leader, which offers low-latency transaction validation, deterministic confirmation time, negligible energy consumption, and equitably distributed mining. Lastly, we discuss a potential protection against up to a constant number of compromised TEEs.Comment: SysTEX '16, December 12-16, 2016, Trento, Ital

Area estimations of cultivated organic soils in Ireland: reducing GHG reporting uncertainties

peer-reviewed Cultivated organic soils, which are a large source of CO2 emissions, are of particular interest in the Republic of Ireland where peatlands cover 20 % of the landscape. For accurate accounting and national reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, there is a need to calculate the total land area used for cultivation activity on drained organic soils. Peatlands (organic soils) in Ireland are also used for arable farming, which results in particularly high greenhouse gas emissions per unit area. However, the Irish National Inventory Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change lacks mention of this type of land use. The actual area of organic soils under arable land use (cropland) in Ireland has, thus far, not been quantified. Here we provide a first estimate of the area of organic soil that is used for arable farming in Ireland. Through map overlay analysis using GIS in combination with probability sampling and ground truthing, we estimate the area of organic soils under arable cropping at 1,235 ha, which is considerably lower than the estimate of 3,688 ha based on map overlays alone. This research provides information to support improved accounting of organic soils under cultivation and may contribute to reducing uncertainty in national reporting of GHG emissions, thus providing a more reliable basis for strategies aimed at reducing GHG emissions in Ireland in the future.PUBLISHEDpeer-reviewe

Stabilizing the forming process in unipolar resistance switching using an improved compliance current limiter

The high reset current IR in unipolar resistance switching now poses major obstacles to practical applications in memory devices. In particular, the first IR-value after the forming process is so high that the capacitors sometimes do not exhibit reliable unipolar resistance switching. We found that the compliance current Icomp is a critical parameter for reducing IR-values. We therefore introduced an improved, simple, easy to use Icomp-limiter that stabilizes the forming process by drastically decreasing current overflow, in order to precisely control the Icomp- and subsequent IR-values.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure