An investigation of working memory effects on oral grammatical accuracy and fluency in producing questions in English

This article addresses the question of how far working memory may affect second language (L2) learners' improvement in spoken language during a period of immersion. Research is presented testing the hypothesis that individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity are associated with individual variation in improvements in oral production of questions in English. Thirty-two Chinese adult speakers of English were tested, before and after a year's postgraduate study in the United Kingdom, to measure grammatical accuracy and fluency using a question elicitation task, and to measure WM using a battery of first language (L1) and L2 WM tests. Story recall in L1 (Mandarin) was significantly associated with individuals' improvement in oral grammatical measures (p < .05). However, there was no significant mean improvement across the cohort in grammatical accuracy, although there was for fluency. The findings suggest that WM may aid certain aspects of individuals' L2 oral proficiency during academic immersion through postgraduate study. They also indicate that academic immersion in itself can lead to improvements in oral proficiency, independent of WM capacity, but there is no general guarantee of significant grammatical change. Further research to clarify the opportunities for input and interaction available in academic immersion settings is called for.

Contributions to twentieth century total column ozone change from halocarbons, tropospheric ozone precursors, and climate change

We investigate ozone changes from preindustrial times to the present using a chemistry-climate model. The influence of changes in physical climate, ozone-depleting substances, N2O, and tropospheric ozone precursors is estimated using equilibrium simulations with these different factors set at either preindustrial or present-day values. When these effects are combined, the entire decrease in total column ozone from preindustrial to present day is very small (–1.8 DU) in the global annual average, though with significant decreases in total column ozone over large parts of the Southern Hemisphere during austral spring and widespread increases in column ozone over the Northern Hemisphere during boreal summer. A significant contribution to the total ozone column change is the increase in lower stratospheric ozone associated with the increase in ozone precursors (5.9 DU). Also noteworthy is the near cancellation of the global average climate change effect on ozone (3.5 DU) by the increase in N2O (–3.9 DU).

Evaluating the ability of process based models to project sea-level change

We evaluate the ability of process based models to reproduce observed global mean sea-level change. When the models are forced by changes in natural and anthropogenic radiative forcing of the climate system and anthropogenic changes in land-water storage, the average of the modelled sea-level change for the periods 1900–2010, 1961–2010 and 1990–2010 is about 80%, 85% and 90% of the observed rise. The modelled rate of rise is over 1 mm yr−1 prior to 1950, decreases to less than 0.5 mm yr−1 in the 1960s, and increases to 3 mm yr−1 by 2000. When observed regional climate changes are used to drive a glacier model and an allowance is included for an ongoing adjustment of the ice sheets, the modelled sea-level rise is about 2 mm yr−1 prior to 1950, similar to the observations. The model results encompass the observed rise and the model average is within 20% of the observations, about 10% when the observed ice sheet contributions since 1993 are added, increasing confidence in future projections for the 21st century. The increased rate of rise since 1990 is not part of a natural cycle but a direct response to increased radiative forcing (both anthropogenic and natural), which will continue to grow with ongoing greenhouse gas emissions

Placing defects at the heart of high quality new homes: a learning perspective

The UK new-build housing sector is facing dual pressures to expand supply, whilst delivering against tougher planning and Building Regulation requirements; predominantly in the areas of sustainability. The sector is currently responding by significantly scaling up production and incorporating new technical solutions into new homes. This trajectory of up-scaling and technical innovation has been of research interest; but this research has primarily focus on the ‘upstream’ implications for house builders’ business models and standardised design templates. There has been little attention, though, to the potential ‘downstream’ implications of the ramping up of supply and the introduction of new technologies for build quality and defects. This paper contributes to our understanding of the ‘downstream’ implications through a synthesis of the current UK defect literature with respect to new-build housing. It is found that the prevailing emphasis in the literature is limited to the responsibility, pathology and statistical analysis of defects (and failures). The literature does not extend to how house builders individually and collectively, in practice, collect and learn from defects information. The paper concludes by describing an ongoing collaborative research programme with the National House Building Council (NHBC) to: (a) understand house builders’ localised defects analysis procedures, and their current knowledge feedback loops to inform risk management strategies; and, (b) building on this understanding, design and test action research interventions to develop new data capture, learning processes and systems to reduce targeted defects.

Towards a framework for managing IT-enabled change, sourcing and governance

In the resource-based view, organisations are represented by the sum of their physical, human and organisational assets, resources and capabilities. Operational capabilities maintain the status quo and allow an organisation to execute their existing business. Dynamic capabilities, otherwise, allow an organisation to change this status quo including a change of the operational ones. Competitive advantage, in this context, is an effect of continuously developing and reconfiguring these firm-specific assets through dynamic capabilities. Deciding where and how to source the core operational capabilities is a key success factor. Furthermore, developing its dynamic capabilities allows an organisation to effectively manage change its operational capabilities. Many organisations are asserted to have a high dependency on - as well as a high benefit from - the use of information technology (IT), making it a crucial and overarching resource. Furthermore, the IT function is assigned the role as a change enabler and so IT sourcing affects the capability of managing business change. IT sourcing means that organisations need to decide how to source their IT capabilities. Outsourcing of parts of the IT function will also outsource some of the IT capabilities and therefore some of the business capabilities. As a result, IT sourcing has an impact on the organisation's capabilities and consequently on the business success. And finally, a turbulent and fast moving business environment challenges organisations to effectively and efficiently managing business change. Our research builds on the existing theory of dynamic and operational capabilities by considering the interdependencies between the dynamic capabilities of business change and IT sourcing. Further it examines the decision-making oversight of these areas as implemented through IT governance. We introduce a new conceptual framework derived from the existing theory and extended through an illustrative case study conducted in a German bank. Under a philosophical paradigm of constructivism, we collected data from eight semi-structured interviews and used additional sources of evidence in form of annual accounts, strategy papers and IT benchmark reports. We applied an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), which emerged the superordinate themes for our tentative capabilities framework. An understanding of these interdependencies enables scholars and professionals to improve business success through effectively managing business change and evaluating the impact of IT sourcing decisions on the organisation's operational and dynamic capabilities.

Detecting defects in UK new-build housing: a learning perspective

House builders play a key role in controlling the quality of new homes in the UK. The UK house building sector is, however, currently facing pressures to expand supply as well as conform to tougher low carbon planning and Building Regulation requirements; primarily in the areas of sustainability. There is growing evidence that the pressure the UK house building industry is currently under may be eroding build quality and causing an increase in defects. It is found that the prevailing defect literature is limited to the causes, pathology and statistical analysis of defects (and failures). The literature does not extend to examine how house builders individually and collectively, in practice, collect and learn from defects experience in order to reduce the prevalence of defects in future homes. The theoretical lens for the research is organisational learning. This paper contributes to our understanding of organisational learning in construction through a synthesis of current literature. Further, a suitable organisational learning model is adopted. The paper concludes by reporting the research design of an ongoing collaborative action research project with the National House Building Council (NHBC), focused on developing a better understanding of house builders’ localised defects analysis procedures and learning processes.

The dependence of wintertime Mediterranean precipitation on the atmospheric circulation response to climate change

Climate models indicate a future wintertime precipitation reduction in the Mediterranean region but there is large uncertainty in the amplitude of the projected change. We analyse CMIP5 climate model output to quantify the role of atmospheric circulation in the Mediterranean precipitation change. It is found that a simple circulation index, i.e. the 850 hPa zonal wind (U850) in North Africa, well describes the year to year fluctuations in the area-averaged Mediterranean precipitation, with positive (i.e. westerly) U850 anomalies in North Africa being associated with positive precipitation anomalies. Under climate change, U850 in North Africa and the Mediterranean precipitation are both projected to decrease consistently with the relationship found in the inter-annual variability. This enables us to estimate that about 85% of the CMIP5 mean precipitation response and 80% of the variance in the inter-model spread are related to changes in the atmospheric circulation. In contrast, there is no significant correlation between the mean precipitation response and the global-mean surface warming across the models. It follows that the uncertainty in cold-season Mediterranean precipitation projection will not be narrowed unless the uncertainty in the atmospheric circulation response is reduced.

Achieving and evidencing research 'impact'? Tensions and dilemmas from an ethic of care perspective

While many academics are sceptical about the 'impact agenda', it may offer the potential to re-value feminist and participatory approaches to the co-production of knowledge. Drawing on my experiences of developing a UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact case study based on research on young caregiving in the UK, Tanzania and Uganda, I explore the dilemmas and tensions of balancing an ethic of care and participatory praxis with research management demands to evidence 'impact' in the neoliberal academy. The participatory dissemination process enabled young people to identify their support needs, which translated into policy and practice recommendations and in turn, produced 'impact'. It also revealed a paradox of action-oriented research: this approach may bring greater emotional investment of the participants in the project in potentially negative as well as positive ways, resulting in disenchantment that the research did not lead to tangible outcomes at local level. Participatory praxis may also pose ethical dilemmas for researchers who have responsibilities to care for both 'proximate' and 'distant' others. The 'more than research' relationship I developed with practitioners was motivated by my ethic of care rather than by the demands of the audit culture. Furthermore, my research and the impacts cited emerged slowly and incrementally from a series of small grants in an unplanned, serendipitous way at different scales, which may be difficult to fit within institutional audits of 'impact'. Given the growing pressures on academics, it seems ever more important to embody an ethic of care in university settings, as well as in the 'field'. We need to join the call for 'slow scholarship' and advocate a re-valuing of feminist and participatory action research approaches, which may have most impact at local level, in order to achieve meaningful shifts in the impact agenda and more broadly, the academy.

Transatlantic flight times and climate change

Aircraft do not fly through a vacuum, but through an atmosphere whose meteorological characteristics are changing because of global warming. The impacts of aviation on climate change have long been recognised, but the impacts of climate change on aviation have only recently begun to emerge. These impacts include intensified turbulence and increased take-off weight restrictions. Here we investigate the influence of climate change on flight routes and journey times. We feed synthetic atmospheric wind fields generated from climate model simulations into a routing algorithm of the type used operationally by flight planners. We focus on transatlantic flights between London and New York, and how they change when the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is doubled. We find that a strengthening of the prevailing jet-stream winds causes eastbound flights to significantly shorten and westbound flights to significantly lengthen in all seasons. Eastbound and westbound crossings in winter become approximately twice as likely to take under 5 h 20 min and over 7 h 00 min, respectively. For reasons that are explained using a conceptual model, the eastbound shortening and westbound lengthening do not cancel out, causing round-trip journey times to increase. Even assuming no future growth in aviation, the extrapolation of our results to all transatlantic traffic suggests that aircraft will collectively be airborne for an extra 2000 h each year, burning an extra 7.2 million gallons of jet fuel at a cost of US$ 22 million, and emitting an extra 70 million kg of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of 7100 average British homes. Our results provide further evidence of the two-way interaction between aviation and climate change.

Using developmental evaluation methods with communities of practice

Purpose This research explored the use of developmental evaluation methods with community of practice programmes experiencing change or transition to better understand how to target support resources. Design / methodology / approach The practical use of a number of developmental evaluation methods was explored in three organisations over a nine month period using an action research design. The research was a collaborative process involving all the company participants and the academic (the author) with the intention of developing the practices of the participants as well as contributing to scholarship. Findings The developmental evaluation activities achieved the objectives of the knowledge managers concerned: they developed a better understanding of the contribution and performance of their communities of practice, allowing support resources to be better targeted. Three methods (fundamental evaluative thinking, actual-ideal comparative method and focus on strengths and assets) were found to be useful. Cross-case analysis led to the proposition that developmental evaluation methods act as a structural mechanism that develops the discourse of the organisation in ways that enhance the climate for learning, potentially helping develop a learning organization. Practical implications Developmental evaluation methods add to the options available to evaluate community of practice programmes. These supplement the commonly used activity indicators and impact story methods. 2 Originality / value Developmental evaluation methods are often used in social change initiatives, informing public policy and funding decisions. The contribution here is to extend their use to organisational community of practice programmes.

Desenvolvimento de um modelo de intervenção baseado no sistema toyota de produção e na teoria das restrições : autilização da pesquisa-ação em uma indústria de cerâmica vermelha de pequeno porte da região metropolitana de Porto Alegre

As teorias de gestão da produção, como o Sistema Toyota de Produção e a Teoria das Restrições, têm apresentado resultados positivos, em realidades organizacionais muito diferenciadas. Contudo, é preciso garantir a efetividade das ações em provocar as mudanças desejadas. Neste sentido, métodos de pesquisa participativa, como a pesquisaação, promovem a participação e o comprometimento das pessoas implicadas no processo de mudança. Esta dissertação propõe a construção de um modelo de intervenção visando aumentar a competitividade de uma realidade organizacional específica. Foram utilizados a pesquisa-ação, como método de trabalho e a Teoria das Restrições (TOC) e o Sistema Toyota de Produção (STP), como embasamento teórico. Cabe ressaltar que este modelo foi construído a partir de uma intervenção realizada em uma indústria de cerâmica vermelha da região metropolitana de Porto Alegre. Assim, a presente dissertação foi organizada da seguinte maneira: revisão bibliográfica do método de condução da pesquisa e adaptação do mesmo para o presente trabalho, fundamentação teórica, composta pelos princípios básicos de sustentação do STP e da TOC, análise do contexto do segmento industrial em questão, descrição da intervenção realizada e apresentação do modelo construído, análise dos resultados finais, conclusões e recomendações para futuras pesquisas. A análise dos resultados obtidos e as conclusões do estudo revelam a possibilidade de generalização parcial do modelo proposto, desde que observadas as características específicas da realidade industrial em questão.

Percursos para novas imagens: a produção audiovisual por não videntes

The purpose is to write a reflection on the audiovisual production by the visually impaired. The starting point for this research was a documentary video production workshop offered by the Instituto de Educação e Reabilitação de Cegos do Rio Grande do Norte - IERC / RN, with the participation of blind people with low vision and sighted employees of the institution. The research approach follows the precepts of complex thinking, where work is woven into the network, along with the researched. The theoretical framework is based on the theory of French sociologist Edgar Morin, and other important thinkers for this work, namely: Erving Goffman, Paulo Freire, Michel Foucault, Edward Said, Jacques Aumont, Phillpe Dubois, as well as scholars who think and theorize about his own condition and conduct discussions on the issue of blindness: Francisco Jose de Lima, Evgen Bavcar Jacques Lusseyran and Joana Belarmino. The research was formulated based on the statement in the interest of respondents to understand and produce visual images using video as a tool. In this sense, the methodology adopted approaches of action research in constructing the text and dialogue with the participation of those involved in the project. The technique of gathering the information was based on ethnographic description describing the dynamics of the workshop, the relationships between participants, relationship to the other that sees and the manner of operation of equipment. The main focus is the relationship based on dialogue of information, attitudes and ways of knowing from experience and capacity developed and obstacles for blind people to produce visual images using other benchmarks, such as touch, smell and time dimension and space, and add references that give new meaning to the guidelines based on visuality of ministering to the workshop. It is also held to discuss aspects related to the concept of image with sociological reflection about the audiovisual production made by blind people socially constructed and perpetuated by what Edgar Morin called cultural imprinting. Thus we attempted to walk the route with its obstacles and achievements in the production of new images that were seen

Proposta Curricular para Educação infantil: (re) significando saberes docentes

The theory contemporary in the field of early children education, as well the legal discourse and official texts valid in our country point to the need for systematization of proposals pedagogic / curriculum in institutions, built and carried out by subjects that act as factor of assurance care quality. Quest us about what knowledge are required to teachers in developing a proposed curriculum for children education. Defined as an object of study, the knowledge teachers necessary for the development of a proposed curriculum for children education. As goals, assume: investigate teachers knowledge necessary for the development of a proposed curriculum in a Public Institution for children education and contribute to the (new) meaning on the part of teachers, knowledge needed to build a proposed curriculum for children education. Assuming the principles of the paradigm of qualitative research, we have developed a research institution of a children education Network Public Hall of Ceará-Mirim-RN, which serves children of four and five years old (preschool) with the participation of 17 teachers and two supervisory (teachers) that institution - subject of our research. Therefore, we have adopted the principles of action research, according to which the knowledge gained through research should build so shared / dialogue in the relationship between researcher and participants, what is the implementation of an effective action formative. As the search procedures developed observations no-teaching participants in the meetings and activities of the classroom; semi-structured interviews (individual and collective) with teachers and supervisors; analysis of school documents and participant observation in the seminars of studies reflective. The latter is implemented as key moments of speech and thought, and finally to (new) meaning of knowledge, the subject of the research-action. For these knowledge, the systematization of the register built was developed based on the principles of analysis of Content that guided us to the definition of two categories 1) knowledge teachers concerning conceptions of curriculum / proposed curriculum and 2) knowledge teachers concerning specifics of children education. From these were built subs representing thematings more specific and significant, among the many that emerged in the analysis: 1.1) Definitions of curriculum and curriculum proposal; 1.2) The subjects makers / implementing a curriculum / proposed curriculum; 1.3) elements constituting a curriculum / proposed curriculum for children education and 2.1) Functions of children education and conception of child; 2.2) The space of the play in the organization of routine. Under the intervention could significant advances with regard to (new) meaning of such knowledge from the subjects, with major disruptions to their original designs. These are presented and reflected in this work. In front of this movement, transformation, made the need for a permanent work in the context of the institution of in-service training, or mediated by pedagogical coordinator or other to assume this role with teachers, in order to provide the development and effectiveness of proposed curriculum consistent and contextualized in practice effective with the children concrete envisage the service to their specificities and a quality education

Universo encantado do cuidado na autopoiese docente: uma viagem epistemológica transdisciplinar

The health transition experienced in Brazilian health care model requires a metamorphosis in human and society, placing new demands on health and education. The Faculty of Science, Culture and Extension of Rio Grande do Norte (Facex), aware of their responsibilities to the Health System, which brings the principle of comprehensiveness as its structural axis, dared to implement a course of nursing in complex thinking and Experiential Pedagogy Humanescente with curriculum inter / transdisciplinary. For deployment of proprosta was not enough to reform thinking of educators, there was a need corporalizar new teaching practices that are aimed at the integral formation of human beings. In this context, emerged the workshop on Human Education autopoietic, self-forming area of the educator, where he developed an Action Research Existential (PA-E) which enabled experience, describe and analyze how the human autopoietic educators could contribute to the practice educational humanescente transdisciplinary curriculum project. Were worked out in meetings, knowledge necessary to practice the transdisciplinary 1st Meeting - learn to create; 2nd Meeting - learn to recognize the laws of nature with emphasis on complexity theory, 3rd Meeting - learn to organize, 4th meeting - namely autoestruturar themselves; 5th Meeting - know how to choose, 6th Meeting - knowing innovate 7th Meeting - namely exchange. Next an autobiographical perspective, we chose the metaphorical possibility to narrate the ways and strategies covered by the author and apprentice in the company of the Little Prince de Saint-Exupery, in search of a sensible pedagogical practice complex, which promotes re-enchant transdisicplinar education. The route involved five methodological connections: a literature review which relate to training for care in undergraduate nursing: the study of learning processes that drive the formation humanopoiética, emphasizing the relationship that involves the complexity and embodiment in the educational process transdisciplinary, highlighting the analysis of what is to learn from the findings of biosciences and recent cognitive theories of Maturana and Varela, the description of the interdisciplinary curriculum of the nursing course of Facex and Training Workshop, Human autopoietic, with emphasis on Experiential Education Humanescente; the report of seven meetings of the Workshops (cocoon), recording the experiences and listening to educators (luminescent butterflies), the final reflections with learning opportunized. Experientiality lived through, the expressions and words, educators say the influence of workshops for their teaching practices, highlighting it as a space for selforganizing, creating, learning and enchantment, and can identify the workshop as a place of transformation necessary for deployment an interdisciplinary curriculum. The knowledge emerging from the study indicate the need for permanent spaces of self, in which the educator learns from its body, between cognitive processes and vital, and in the experiences of their formative process the opportunity to act on the dimensions of knowing and being

Potencialidades do uso do blog em educação.

This research is an interpretative analysis of the type participatory research, developed in a qualitative and quantitative use of the blog as a support to a specific discipline, in order to identify the potential evident from its use. The report discusses the changes that have occurred in contemporary society, relating to the development of information technologies and communication (ITC s), presents a brief review of the historical background of the Internet and its use as an aid to education, emphasizing some environments inserted media the Internet, focusing on the main blog - its concept, origin and categorization, and analyzes the concepts of using the blog from the dialogues with teachers and students of pedagogy course at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. Started from the assumption that the use of technological resources, such as blogging, with strictly educational purposes, can extend the knowledge beyond the walls of the classroom, thus creating a dialogic and interactive environment. Using data collected through interviews, questionnaires and observation, we seek to understand the object of study as a supportive environment for the teaching of a subject, raising some theoretical and methodological questions about its application to educational practice, and possible contributions to the construction of knowledge. The results indicate that there are several capabilities that make the blog a space conducive to teaching and learning process, and relates the concepts of the study participants about their use, highlighting the most important places to be solved, so that teachers and students to take ownership of knowledge necessary for capacity building required by the contemporary social context, due to the advancement of science and technology.