Good practice guide in learning and teaching

Once again this publication is produced to celebrate and promote good teaching and learning support and to offer encouragement to those imaginative and innovative staff who continue to wish to challenge students to learn to maximum effect. It is hoped that others will pick up some good ideas from the articles contained in this volume. We have again changed our approach for this 2006/07 edition (our fourth) of the Aston Business School Good Practice Guide. As before, some contributions were selected from those identifying interesting best practice on their Annual Module reflection forms in 2005/2006. Other contributors received HELM (Research Centre in Higher Education Learning and Management) small research grants in 2005/2006. Part of the conditions were for them to write an article for this publication. We have also been less tight on the length of the articles this year. Some contributions are, therefore, on the way to being journal articles. HELM will be working with these authors to help develop these for publication. The themes covered in this year?s articles are all central to the issues faced by those providing HE teaching and learning opportunities in the 21st Century. Specifically this is providing support and feedback to students in large classes, embracing new uses of technology to encourage active learning and addressing cultural issues in a diverse student population. Michael Grojean and Yves Guillaume used Blackboard™ to give a more interactive learning experience and improve feedback to students. It would be easy for other staff to adopt this approach. Patrick Tissington and Qin Zhou (HELM small research grant holders) were keen to improve the efficiency of student support, as does Roger McDermott. Celine Chew shares her action learning project, completed as part of the Aston University PG Certificate in Teaching and Learning. Her use of Blackboard™ puts emphasis on the learner having to do something to help them meet the learning outcomes. This is what learning should be like, but many of our students seem used to a more passive learning experience, so much needs to be done on changing expectations and cultures about learning. Regina Herzfeldt also looks at cultures. She was awarded a HELM small research grant and carried out some significant new research on cultural diversity in ABS and what it means for developing teaching methods. Her results fit in with what many of us are experiencing in practice. Gina leaves us with some challenges for the future. Her paper certainly needs to be published. This volume finishes with Stuart Cooper and Matt Davies reflecting on how to keep students busy in lectures and Pavel Albores working with students on podcasting. Pavel?s work, which was the result of another HELM small research grant, will also be prepared for publication as a journal article. The students learnt more from this work that any formal lecture and Pavel will be using the approach again this year. Some staff have been awarded HELM small research grants in 2006/07 and these will be published in the next Good Practice Guide. In the second volume we mentioned the launch of the School?s Research Centre in Higher Education Learning and Management (HELM). Since then HELM has stimulated a lot of activity across the School (and University) particularly linking research and teaching. A list of the HELM seminars for 2006/2007 is listed as Appendix 1 of this publication. Further details can be obtained from Catherine Foster (c.s.foster@aston.ac.uk), who coordinates the HELM seminars. For 2006 and 2005 HELM listed, 20 refereed journal articles, 7 book chapters, 1 published conference papers, 20 conference presentations, two official reports, nine working papers and £71,535 of grant money produced in this research area across the School. I hope that this shows that reflection on learning is alive and well in ABS. We have also been working on a list of target journals to guide ABS staff who wish to publish in this area. These are included as Appendix 2 of this publication. May I thank the contributors for taking time out of their busy schedules to write the articles and to Julie Green, the Quality Manager, for putting the varying diverse approaches into a coherent and publishable form and for agreeing to fund the printing of this volume.

Are democratising countries ‘rewarded’ with higher levels of foreign aid?

The paper examines how flows of foreign aid have reacted to events of democratisation in developing countries. Using a panel dataset of 136 aid-receiving countries between 1980 and 2009, aid allocation regressions reveal that Western donors in general have tended to react to visible, major democratic transitions by increasing aid to the partner country, but no significant increases can be identified in the case of countries introducing smaller democratic reforms. The increases in aid flows are not sustained over time, implying that donors do not provide long-term support to nascent democracies. Also, democratisations in Sub-Saharan Africa do not seem to have been rewarded with higher levels of aid.

A Necessary and Sufficient Condition for the Existence of an (n,r)-arc in PG(2,q) and Its Applications

ACM Computing Classification System (1998): E.4.

Are Democratizing Countries ‘Rewarded’ with Higher Levels of Foreign Aid?

The paper examines how flows of foreign aid have reacted to events of democratization in developing countries. Using a panel dataset of 136 aid receiving countries between 1980 and 2009, aid allocation regressions reveal that donors in general have tended to react to visible, major democratic transitions by increasing aid to the partner country, but no significant increases can be identified in case of countries introducing smaller democratic reforms. The increases in aid flows are not sustained over time, implying that donors do not provide long term support to nascent democracies. Also, democratizations in Sub-Saharan Africa do not seem to have been rewarded with higher levels of aid.

A heavy metal P-type ATPase OsHMA4 prevents copper accumulation in rice grain

Acknowledgements We thank B. Lahner, E. Yakubova and S. Rikiishi for ICP-MS analysis, N. Komiyama, Iowa State University Plant Transformation Facility and Prashant Hosmani for generation of transgenic rice, K. Wang for providing pTF101.1 vector and N. Verbruggen for providing pYES2 and pYEC2/CT-GFP vectors. We also thank Rice T-DNA Insertion Sequence Database center for providing the T-DNA insertion line and X. Wang, T. Zheng and Z. Li for accessing 3 K rice genome sequence, and Graeme Paton for helpful discussions on Cu bioavailability in water-logged soils. This research was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Specially promoted Research (JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 16H06296 to J.F.M), and the US National Science Foundation, Plant Genome Research Program (Grant #IOS 0701119 to D.E.S., M.L.G. and S.R.M.P.).

How to Apply for Scholarships and Grants (2016)

A short guide highlighting federal and state scholarships and grants, including Pell Grant, career-related training grants, opportunities for foster youth and state-funded scholarships.

Performance assessment, vulnerability, human capital, and the allocation of aid among developing countries

Developing country performance with respect to economic policies and institutional behavior is a common criterion for the allocation of aid among recipient countries. This paper examines how performance is used, arguing that performance is too narrowly defined. A more appropriate definition is one that controls for the economic vulnerability and human capital of developing countries. Econometric analysis of cross-section and panel data is presented that supports this contention. The paper also contends that performance and exogenous economic shocks are likely to be pro-cyclical. This implies a double punishment when aid is allocated according to performance. Evidence of such punishment is also provided. The paper concludes by arguing that economic vulnerability and human capital variables should augment performance measures in aid allocation decision-making.

Navigating scientific uncertainty in wildfire and flood risk mitigation: a qualitative review

Natural hazards are complex events whose mitigation has generated a diverse field of specialised natural science expertise that is drawn upon by a wide range of practitioners and decision-makers. In this paper, the authors bring natural science research, risk studies and science and technology studies together in aid of clarifying the role scientific uncertainties play in the mitigation of natural hazards and their associated risks. Given that uncertainty is a necessary part of scientific practise and method, those engaged in risk mitigation must manage these scientific uncertainties in their decision-making just as, equally, social science researchers, stakeholders and others hoping to understand risk mitigation must understand their character and influence. To this end, the authors present the results of an extensive literature review of scientific uncertainties as they emerge in relation to wildfire and flood risk mitigation in Australia. The results are both a survey of these major uncertainties and a novel categorisation within which a variety of expert and non-expert audiences might discuss and translate the scientific uncertainties that are encountered and managed in risk mitigation.

Performance evaluation of elitist-mutated multi-objective particle swarm optimization for integrated water resources management

Optimal allocation of water resources for various stakeholders often involves considerable complexity with several conflicting goals, which often leads to multi-objective optimization. In aid of effective decision-making to the water managers, apart from developing effective multi-objective mathematical models, there is a greater necessity of providing efficient Pareto optimal solutions to the real world problems. This study proposes a swarm-intelligence-based multi-objective technique, namely the elitist-mutated multi-objective particle swarm optimization technique (EM-MOPSO), for arriving at efficient Pareto optimal solutions to the multi-objective water resource management problems. The EM-MOPSO technique is applied to a case study of the multi-objective reservoir operation problem. The model performance is evaluated by comparing with results of a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) model, and it is found that the EM-MOPSO method results in better performance. The developed method can be used as an effective aid for multi-objective decision-making in integrated water resource management.

Lojalitet i licensavtal

Loyalty in Licensing Agreements The purpose of the dissertation is to analyse the impact of the principle of loyalty on licensing agreements from the viewpoint of Finnish law using the traditional legal method (Rechtsdogmatik) combined with empirical data in the form of licensing agreements. The need for good licensing agreements is crucial. One should avoid mechanical and stereotyped agreements in favour of more conscious and goal-oriented ones. When the parties' will and goals have been made clear, the drafting technique should be chosen accordingly. The importance of the principle of loyalty in the interpretation of licensing agreements varies according to their degree of relationality. This is a concept originating in the relational contract theory, more precisely Ian Macneil's spectrum of contracts, where contracts can be placed on an axis according to their degree of relationality. In the dissertation different factors are used to conclude whether the licensing agreement at hand is to be placed on the axis closer to the transactional pole or closer to the relational pole. A conclusion of the dissertation is that few licensing agreements can be placed so close to the transactional pole, that the principle of loyalty lacks importance altogether. The impact of the principle of loyalty the main focus of which is on fostering the contracting parties to behave in accordance with best practices, not for example on altering contract terms is analysed in different situations where the parties' interests typically collide. These situations are discussed from the point of view of three patent and knowhow licensing agreements that differ as to their degree of relationality. A balance needs to be struck between freedom of contract and relational needs. Especially when interpreting more modern licensing agreements, one should not focus on the written document alone, as is often recommended in the literature on Nordic intellectual property law. Neither is the principle of caveat emptor a proper starting point. Moreover, where the parties are of equal bargaining power, one should not assume that the grants in licensing agreements are to be interpreted narrowly. Focus in the interpretation should instead be on the entirety of the circumstances.

Markets and microstructure

This document contains three papers examining the microstructure of financial interaction in development and market settings. I first examine the industrial organization of financial exchanges, specifically limit order markets. In this section, I perform a case study of Google stock surrounding a surprising earnings announcement in the 3rd quarter of 2009, uncovering parameters that describe information flows and liquidity provision. I then explore the disbursement process for community-driven development projects. This section is game theoretic in nature, using a novel three-player ultimatum structure. I finally develop econometric tools to simulate equilibrium and identify equilibrium models in limit order markets.

In chapter two, I estimate an equilibrium model using limit order data, finding parameters that describe information and liquidity preferences for trading. As a case study, I estimate the model for Google stock surrounding an unexpected good-news earnings announcement in the 3rd quarter of 2009. I find a substantial decrease in asymmetric information prior to the earnings announcement. I also simulate counterfactual dealer markets and find empirical evidence that limit order markets perform more efficiently than do their dealer market counterparts.

In chapter three, I examine Community-Driven Development. Community-Driven Development is considered a tool empowering communities to develop their own aid projects. While evidence has been mixed as to the effectiveness of CDD in achieving disbursement to intended beneficiaries, the literature maintains that local elites generally take control of most programs. I present a three player ultimatum game which describes a potential decentralized aid procurement process. Players successively split a dollar in aid money, and the final player--the targeted community member--decides between whistle blowing or not. Despite the elite capture present in my model, I find conditions under which money reaches targeted recipients. My results describe a perverse possibility in the decentralized aid process which could make detection of elite capture more difficult than previously considered. These processes may reconcile recent empirical work claiming effectiveness of the decentralized aid process with case studies which claim otherwise.

In chapter four, I develop in more depth the empirical and computational means to estimate model parameters in the case study in chapter two. I describe the liquidity supplier problem and equilibrium among those suppliers. I then outline the analytical forms for computing certainty-equivalent utilities for the informed trader. Following this, I describe a recursive algorithm which facilitates computing equilibrium in supply curves. Finally, I outline implementation of the Method of Simulated Moments in this context, focusing on Indirect Inference and formulating the pseudo model.

Utilización de la lógica borrosa en la selección de personas e ideas para la participación en programas públicos de ayuda a la creación de empresas

[ES] Se propone en este trabajo un modelo de control borroso que ayude a filtrar y seleccionar las solicitudes de subvención que pueda recibir una institución pública en un programa de fomento para la creación y desarrollo de nuevas iniciativas empresariales. Creemos que la utilización de la lógica borrosa presenta ventajas sobre los procedimientos ordinarios ya que nos movemos en un escenario de actuación complejo y vago. El control borroso introduce el conocimiento de los expertos de un modo muy natural mediante variables lingüísticas y procesos de inferencia propios del lenguaje ordinario, lo que facilita la toma de decisiones en situaciones complejas. Nuestro modelo considera por un lado la idea empresarial y por otro la persona . Los indicadores y criterios que los expertos consideran relevantes para la evaluación de la subvención son modelados mediante variables lingüísticas y tratados como antecedentes y consecuentes de un motor de inferencia borroso, cuya salida nos proporciona la valoración final de la solicitud. Al final de nuestro trabajo resolvemos un caso práctico sencillo para aclarar el procedimiento.

Two-photon excited fluorescence from CdSe quantum dots on SiN photonic crystals

Two-photon excited fluorescence from CdSe quantum dots on a two-dimensional SiN photonic crystal surface is investigated by using a femtosecond laser. By using a photonic crystal, a 90-fold enhancement in the two-photon excited fluorescence in the vertical direction is achieved. This is the highest enhancement achieved so far in the two-photon excited fluorescence in the vertical direction. The mechanism of the enhancement for two-photon excited fluorescence from quantum dots on photonic crystals is analyzed.

人口空间数据误差分析研究

Spatial population data, obtained through the pixeling method, makes many related researches more convenient. However, the limited methods of precision analysis prevent the spread of spatial distribution methods and cumber the application of the spatial population data. This paper systematically analyzes the different aspects of the spatial population data precision, and re-calculates them with the reformed method, which makes breakthrough for the spread of the pixeling method and provides support and reference for the application of spatial population data. The paper consists of the following parts: (2) characters of the error; (2) origins of the error; (3) advancement on the calculating methods of the spatial population data. In the first place, based on the analysis of the error trait, two aspects of the spatial population data precision are characterized and analyzed: numerical character and spatial distributing character. The later one, placed greater emphasis on in this paper, is depicted in two spatial scales: county and town. It is always essential and meaningful to the research in this paper that spatial distribution is as important as numerical value in analyzing error of the spatial distributed data. The result illustrates that the spatial population data error appears spatially in group, although it is random in the aspect of data statistics, all of that shows there lies spatial systematic error. Secondly, this paper comes to conclude and validate the lineal correlation between the residential land area (from 1:50000 map and taken as real area) and population. Meanwhile, it makes particular analysis on the relationship between the residential land area, which is obtained from the land use map and the population in three different spatial scales: village, town and county, and makes quantitative description of the residential density variation in different topological environment. After that, it analyzes the residential distributing traits and precision. With the consideration of the above researches, it reaches the conclusion that the error of the spatial distributed population is caused by a series of factors, such as the compactness of the residents, loss of the residential land, the population density of the city. Eventually, the paper ameliorates the method of pixeling the population data with the help of the analysis on error characters and causes. It tests 2-class regionalization based on the 1-class regionalization of China, and resorts the residential data from the land use map. In aid of GIS and the comprehensive analysis of various data source, it constructs models in each 2-class district to calculate spatial population data. After all, LinYi Region is selected as the study area. In this area, spatial distributing population is calculated and the precision is analyzed. All it illustrates is that new spatial distributing population has been improved much. The research is fundamental work. It adopts large amounts of data in different types and contains many figures to make convincing and detailed conclusions.

Patriotic souvenir - Dominion Day, St. Catharines, Canada, 1915

Issued in aid of war relief and charity.