Reading framework for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1992-1998 : NAEP reading consensus project /

Shipping list no.: 97-0079-P.

Illinois streams natural resource assessment : operational framework /

Caption title: Final report of the Streams Assessment Subcommittee, State Water Plan Task Force.

Official papers, printed for the Common Council of the City of Boston : comprising the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of Massachusetts, with the amendments ; City and police acts, acts relating to the Board of Health, overseers of the poor, and firewards, together with an act providing for the assessment of taxes.

Mode of access: Internet.

Whole life performance assessment: critical success factors

Whole life costing (WLC) has become the best practice in construction procurement and it is likely to be a major issue in predicting whole life costs of a construction project accurately. However, different expectations from different organizations throughout a project's life and the lack of data, monitoring targets, and long-term interest for many key players are obstacles to be overcome if WLC is to be implemented. A questionnaire survey was undertaken to investigate a set of ten common factors and 188 individual factors. These were grouped into eight critical categories (project scope, time, cost, quality, contract/administration, human resource, risk, and health and safety) by project phase, as perceived by the clients, contractors and subcontractors in order to identify critical success factors for whole life performance assessment (WLPA). Using a relative importance index, the top ten critical factors for each category, from the perspective of project participants, were analyzed and ranked. Their agreement on those categories and factors were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation. All participants identify “Type of Project” as the most common critical factor in the eight categories for WLPA. Using the relative index ranking technique and weighted average methods, it was found that the most critical individual factors in each category were: “clarity of contract” (scope); “fixed construction period” (time); “precise project budget estimate” (cost); “material quality” (quality); “mutual/trusting relationships” (contract/administration); “leadership/team management” (human resource); and “management of work safety on site” (health and safety). There was relatively a high agreement on these categories among all participants. Obviously, with 80 critical factors of WLPA, there is a stronger positive relationship between client and contactor rather than contractor and subcontractor, client and subcontractor. Putting these critical factors into a criteria matrix can facilitate an initial framework of WLPA in order to aid decision making in the public sector in South Korea for evaluation/selection process of a construction project at the bid stage.

e-CAF: flexible marking schemes for electronic coursework assessment and feedback

Recent surveys reveal that many university students in the U.K. are not satisfied with the timeliness and usefulness of the feedback given by their tutors. Ensuring timeliness in marking can result in a reduction in the quality of feedback. Though suitable use of Information and Communication Technology should alleviate this problem, existing Virtual Learning Environments are inadequate to support detailed marking scheme creation and they provide little support for giving detailed feedback. This paper describes a unique new web-based tool called e-CAF for facilitating coursework assessment and feedback management directed by marking schemes. Using e-CAF, tutors can create or reuse detailed marking schemes efficiently without sacrificing the accuracy or thoroughness in marking. The flexibility in marking scheme design also makes it possible for tutors to modify a marking scheme during the marking process without having to reassess the students’ submissions. The resulting marking process will become more transparent to students.

How green is green? A framework for environmental performance assessment in operations

This paper presents a framework based upon a relationship between environmental benefits and the investments and costs needed to implement and run company operations. As the results of environmental management become more evident it is proposed that the benefits rather than the environmental impacts are measured in the analysis of environmental performance. Four categories, or stages, are defined in this paper: “creative-green”, “expensive-green”, “inefficient-green or beginner”, and finally, the “complacent” stage. The paper describes the characteristics of each category and provides examples of indicators that could be used to measure environmental benefits. Qualitative and quantitative methods are necessary to classify companies according to the framework. It is believed that this paper can assist companies and public organisations to assess operations and projects considering their level of sustainability. The proposed framework can impact FDI and environmental policies in the public arena, and foster innovation on environmental practices within the private sector.

Engaging employers as partners in work-based learning assessment:proposal for a quality enhancement framework

This paper seeks to advance research and practice related to the role of employers in all stages of the assessment process of work-based learning (WBL) within a tripartite relationship of higher education institution (HEI), student and employer. It proposes a research-informed quality enhancement framework to develop good practice in engaging employers as partners in assessment. The Enhancement Framework comprises three dimensions, each of which includes elements and questions generated by the experiences of WBL students, HEI staff and employers. The three dimensions of the Enhancement Framework are: 1. ‘premises of assessment’ encompassing issues of learning, inclusion, standards and value; 2. ‘practice’, encompassing stages of assessment made up of course design, assessment task, responsibilities, support, grading and feedback; 3. ‘communication of assessment’ with the emphasis on role clarity, language and pathways. With its prompt questions, the Enhancement Framework may be used as a capacity-building tool for promoting, sustaining, benchmarking and evaluating productive dialogue and critical reflection about assessment between WBL partners. The paper concludes by emphasising the need for professional development as well as policy and research development, so that assessment in WBL can more closely correspond to the potentially transformative nature of the learning experience.

Modelling storage-driven connectivity between landscapes and riverscapes : towards a simple framework for long-term ecohydrological assessment

Acknowledgements: We thank Iain Malcolm of Marine Scotland Science for access to data from the Girnock and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency for historical stage-discharge relationships. CS contributions on this paper were in part supported by the NERC/JPI SIWA project (NE/M019896/1).

A framework for reliability assessment of ship hull damage under ship bow impact

Peer reviewed

A framework for reliability assessment of ship hull damage under ship bow impact

Peer reviewed

A framework for rapid post-earthquake assessment of bridges and restoration of transportation network functionality using structural health monitoring

Peer reviewed