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.

Model-driven software adaptation:report on the workshop M-ADAPT at ECOOP 2007

This first edition of the workshop Model-driven Software Adaptation (M-ADAPT'07) took place in the Technische Universität Berlin with the International Conference ECOOP'07 in the beautiful and buzzing city of Berlin, on the 30th of July, 2007. The workshop was organized by Gordon Blair, Nelly Bencomo, and Robert France. Participants explored how to develop appropriate model-driven approaches to model, analyze, and validate the volatile properties of the behaviour of adaptive systems and its environments. This report gives an overview of the presentations as well as an account of the fruitful discussions that took place at M-ADAPT'07. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Did they ‘Read before burning’? The Coalition and quangos

Attitudes to quangos are paradoxical. On the one hand they are perceived to be undemocratic, unaccountable organisations, while on the other they are seen to improve effectiveness, limit political interference and increase public confidence in government. This paradox is reflected in the behaviour of political parties, which generally adopt a harsh line towards quangos in opposition, but come to rely on these bodies in office. Ahead of the 2010 general election it was, however, noticeable that the Conservative party rejected this dynamic by promising to pursue ‘a more sophisticated approach’. This article explores the Coalition government's subsequent ‘public bodies reform programme’, assessing its progress against recommendations contained within the Institute for Government's Read before Burning report of July 2010. It concludes that while the Coalition has addressed long-standing concerns about the day-to-day governance of public bodies, it has failed to resolve a set of broader and strategic (metagovernance) issues.

The Wide-Field Plate Database: Development and Access via Internet

ACM Computing Classification System (1998): J.2.

Macrozoobenthos abundance on a tropical oyster culture in an Amazon estuary, Para state, northern Brazil

The present study describes the biofouling composition of the surface of the mangrove oyster Crassostrea rhizophorae (Guilding, 1828), cultivated in an Amazon estuary, located in the state of Pará, northern Brazil. In total, 6.124 macroinvertebrates were sampled in the months of July, August, October and December 2013. Collected epifauna was presented by five taxa (Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Polychaeta, Crustacea and Anthozoa), 20 families and 37 species. Bivalvia was the most abundant class, presenting 5.183 mussels Mytella charruana (d'Orbigny, 1842). Knowledge of biofouling composition associated to the surface cultured bivalves enables the implementation of mitigation measures to the impacts caused by this association.

História oral de vida de pessoas com úlcera venosa nos serviços de atenção primária à saúde

The Chronic Venous insufficiency is characterized as a set of physical changes including how most serious complication of venous ulcers, characterized by irregular and progressive loss of continuity of the skin. The occurrence of venous ulcers in people with chronic venous insufficiency generates dependence on them with health services, with long-term treatments that cause limitations and high-impact changes, affecting their quality of life, affecting the physical, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual as an important public health problem. This study aimed to describe the experience of having a venous ulcer, in the scenario of primary health care services to Health, which includes Primary Care Units and Family Health Strategy in the city of Natal / RN, based on the life histories of users. This is a qualitative study, exploratory and descriptive, with the Oral History of Life as a methodological framework. From the ponto zero was the recruitment of participants who formed the network, totaling six employees, of both sexes and aged between 57 and 79 years. After approval by the Research Ethics Committee - UFRN under the Protocol 653 788/2014 and CAAE 30408014.0.0000.5537 was held data collection, between the months of July and August, through interviews, using identification and characterization of the instrument employees and open questions. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, transcriadas and returned to employees for a conference. The narratives were subjected to Content thematic analysis technique, according to Bardin, allowing the construction of three themes that encompass categories, namely: Axis I - Perspectives on the changes: the impact wound in social relations (changes with ulcer venous, venous ulcer and social and family relationships); Axis II - Brands in body and soul: the story of being hurt (conceptions of the body injured; therapeutic itinerary in primary care services); and Axis III - Reconstruction of being hurt: coping mechanisms (redefinition of the wounded body, resilience to chronic wound). The impact of having a chronic venous ulcer generates impact of physical, psychological and social order. As aspects related to changes after the appearance of venous ulcers, survey participants reported the presence of pain, physical limitations, psychological distress, social and emotional isolation, incapacity, aesthetic discomfort and dependency on health services; the family was the aspect thatshowed no significant change after the occurrence of wound for most participants, an ally in the therapeutic process as a support network. The redefinition of the body and the wound are the main coping mechanism of chronic condition. The services in the Primary Care Network play a fundamental role in the rehabilitation of patients with venous ulcers, although there are difficulties in accessing appropriate treatment and need for expanded services, with permanent professional training of health teams and providing the resources managers to strengthen the comprehensive care of people with venous ulcers in Health Primary Care.

Ant abundance and occurrence along the plant diversity gradient in the Jena Experiment (Main Experiment, year 2013)

This data set contains measurements of ant abundance (number of individuals attracted to baits) and ant occurrence (binary data) measured in the Main Experiment plots of a large grassland biodiversity experiment (the Jena Experiment; see further details below). In the Main Experiment, 82 grassland plots of 20 x 20 m were established from a pool of 60 species belonging to four functional groups (grasses, legumes, tall and small herbs). In May 2002, varying numbers of plant species from this species pool were sown in the plots to create a gradient of plant species richness (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 60 species) and functional richness (1, 2, 3, or 4 functional groups). Plots were maintained by bi-annual weeding and mowing. Ants where sampled in 80 plots of the Main Experiment using baited traps end of July/ beginning of August 2013. Sampling took place 36 days after the end of a major flooding of the field site that lasted for several weeks (see DOI flood descriptor). In each plot two petri dishes were set on the ground, one received ~10g of Tuna the other ~10g of Honey. After 30min the occurrence (presence = 1 / absence = 0) and abundance (number) of ants at the two baits was recorded. Given is, per plot, the sum of ants attracted to the two different baits.

Avaliação de risco ambiental na indústria em regime de responsabilidade ambiental

O presente relatório surgiu na sequência do estágio curricular realizado na empresa Envienergy - Ambiente e Energia, Lda. O tema do estágio resultou da necessidade de responsabilização das empresas pelos danos ambientais que possam surgir da sua atividade, segundo as disposições da Diretiva n.º 2004/35/CE, de 21 de Abril, transposta para o regime jurídico nacional pelo Decreto-Lei n.º 147/2008, de 29 de julho, também conhecido por Diploma da Responsabilidade Ambiental. No âmbito deste regime de responsabilidade, desenvolveu-se e aplicou-se a um caso de estudo, uma metodologia de avaliação de riscos ambientais, com posterior cálculo da garantia financeira. O caso de estudo foi uma empresa industrial da área da cerâmica, de médias dimensões, cliente da Envienergy. A metodologia consistiu numa apreciação do estado inicial do ambiente envolvente à empresa em estudo (designada como CERÂMICA), levantamento dos riscos da sua atividade, formulação de cenários de acidentes, avaliação da severidade e da probabilidade dos riscos de acidente e estimativa dos custos de reparação e compensação ambiental dos danos que a atividade possa provocar (a garantia financeira). Segundo esta metodologia, o caso de estudo requer uma garantia financeira no valor de 26.125€, correspondente ao valor financeiro necessário para assegurar que seja possível à indústria avaliada a responsabilização ambiental por danos provocados pela sua atividade. A metodologia também prevê a sugestão de medidas de redução de risco e, considerando a aplicação dessas medidas, a reavaliação dos riscos e da garantia financeira. Desta reavaliação resultou uma garantia financeira estimada em 5.403€. A avaliação de riscos ambientais feita à indústria cerâmica serviu para testar e comprovar a adaptabilidade da metodologia a um caso real. Os resultados obtidos foram satisfatórios, e a metodologia está apta a ser aplicada a casos de estudo de dimensão semelhantes ao caso de estudo avaliado neste relatório.

A experiência turística nos destinos de montanha: os cinco sentidos

O objetivo da presente dissertação é analisar a experiência turística vivida nos destinos de montanha, nomeadamente no Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela, com especial incidência sobre o papel que a dimensão sensorial possui nas restantes dimensões da experiência. A concretização deste objetivo obrigou a uma reflexão teórica acerca do marketing sensorial, da experiência turística multissensorial e do turismo praticado nos destinos de montanha. Com base nessas reflexões, apoiadas por uma extensa revisão da literatura, constatou-se que os destinos de montanha são propícios ao desenvolvimento de experiências multissensoriais, que permitem satisfazer as necessidades do novo tipo de turista – este é mais sensível a experiências emocionais e sensoriais, autênticas e únicas, que contribuam para um envolvimento mais intenso com o destino e para a construção da sua própria identidade. Contudo, apesar da relevância do turismo de montanha a nível global e da importância dos cinco sentidos na vida do indivíduo, a experiência turística multissensorial nos destinos de montanha constitui ainda uma área de investigação incipiente, sendo de grande interesse conhecer e avaliar a importância da dimensão sensorial nas restantes dimensões da experiência turística. Para este efeito, realizou-se uma pesquisa empírica, com inquérito dirigido a visitantes de montanha. A recolha dos dados primários foi realizada via inquérito por questionário, aplicado a 241 visitantes da Serra da Estrela, durante os meses de julho e agosto de 2015. Permitiu a descrição do perfil do visitante de montanha e ainda o estudo das relações entre a dimensão sensorial e as outras dimensões da experiência, bem como das relações existentes entre a dimensão sensorial e as consequências da experiência (satisfação e lealdade). Entre várias conclusões encontradas, sobressaiu a relação existente entre as características individuais, as motivações, o perfil comportamental e a dimensão sensorial, as relações maioritariamente positivas entre a dimensão sensorial e as restantes dimensões da experiência, e a relação positiva entre a dimensão sensorial e a satisfação e lealdade. As conclusões permitiram uma melhor compreensão das implicações que a dimensão sensorial da experiência tem para o desenvolvimento sustentável e competitivo dos destinos de montanha.

Em que medida a estimulação cognitiva vertente estimulação sensorial, contribui para o bem estar e qualidade de vida da pessoa idosa com demência

Trabalho de Projeto apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Paula Frassinetti para obtenção do grau de mestre em Intervenção Comunitária, especialização em Educação para a Saúde

Implementing The KiVa Antibullying Program: What Does It Take?

There is variation in how teachers and schools implement bullying prevention programs. Although this variation has been discussed, there has been little empirical research concerning the relationship between implementation fidelity and program outcomes. This thesis contains three studies, each of them in the context of implementing the KiVa antibullying program, and examines teachers’ actions in preventing and intervening in school bullying. The first aim of this thesis is to examine implementation degree of the KiVa curriculum and its’ association with reductions in victimization and bullying perpetration (Study I). The second aim is to clarify why teachers displayed different degrees of adherence to the KiVa curriculum during a school year (Study II). Thirdly, it is investigated whether recognizing victimization can be difficult for school staff (Study III). In addition to these peer-reviewed studies, the thesis includes a qualitative analysis (unpublished) of the teachers’ open answers concerning their implementation experiences. The data were collected from elementary school teachers (Studies I–II; the unpublished study), elementary school students (Study I), and students on the elementary and middle school levels (Study III) during the evaluation of the effectiveness of KiVa antibullying program between 2007 and 2009. The findings demonstrate that a larger reduction in victimization can be achieved in classrooms where teachers display higher levels of adherence to the KiVa curriculum and invest more time for preparing the lessons. Bullying perpetration, however, was not equally affected by the level of curriculum implementation. With respect to the implementation process over one year, there was significant variation between individual teachers’ activity—ranging from systematic and high implementation to declining delivery from lesson to lesson. The sustained actions (high and moderate levels of implementation) were premised on principal support for antibullying work. Lesson preparation was associated with keeping implementation high throughout the school year. The findings also implied that the belief in the effectiveness of the program is important for a higher implementation degree at starting point of the process. Finally, there are severe flaws in teachers’ ability to identify students who are victimized. As it turns out, it is possible that only one-fourth of chronically victimized students are helped by the school staff. Especially when the victims are middle-school-aged girls, when they bully others themselves, or when they do not tell adults about bullying, reaching out for them is difficult. Implementation and dissemination of research-based interventions will take a good deal of time and effort. The findings demonstrate that active implementation is important for improving program outcomes. They also show how implementation can be sustained—there are both individual and interpersonal factors that facilitate or inhibit high-quality implementation. Thus, implications for future research regarding the implementation of school-based programs are suggested.

Relatório de estágio. Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Brussels

Dissertação de Mestrado, Direção e Gestão Hoteleira, Escola Superior de Gestão, Hotelaria e Turismo, Universidade do Algarve, 2016

Drought impact on rainfed common bean production areas in Brazil.

Common bean production in Goiás, Brazil is concentrated in the same geographic area, but spread acrossthree distinct growing seasons, namely, wet, dry and winter. In the wet and dry seasons, common beansare grown under rainfed conditions, whereas the winter sowing is fully irrigated. The conventional breed-ing program performs all varietal selection stages solely in the winter season, with rainfed environmentsbeing incorporated in the breeding scheme only through the multi environment trials (METs) wherebasically only yield is recorded. As yield is the result of many interacting processes, it is challengingto determine the events (abiotic or biotic) associated with yield reduction in the rainfed environments(wet and dry seasons). To improve our understanding of rainfed dry bean production so as to produceinformation that can assist breeders in their efforts to develop stress-tolerant, high-yielding germplasm,we characterized environments by integrating weather, soil, crop and management factors using cropsimulation models. Crop simulations based on two commonly grown cultivars (Pérola and BRS Radi-ante) and statistical analyses of simulated yield suggest that both rainfed seasons, wet and dry, can bedivided in two groups of environments: highly favorable environment and favorable environment. Forthe wet and dry seasons, the highly favorable environment represents 44% and 58% of production area,respectively. Across all rainfed environment groups, terminal and/or reproductive drought stress occursin roughly one fourth of the seasons (23.9% for Pérola and 24.7% for Radiante), with drought being mostlimiting in the favorable environment group in the dry TPE. Based on our results, we argue that eventhough drought-tailoring might not be warranted, the common bean breeding program should adapttheir selection practices to the range of stresses occurring in the rainfed TPEs to select genotypes moresuitable for these environments.

AVALANCHAS EN LA SIERRA VOLCANICA CENTRAL. EL CASO DE RIO CIRUELAS

El dia 20 de julio de 1988, en la tarde, se produjo una avalancha considerable en el rio Ciruelas, localizado en la ladera suroeste del volcán Barva, Heredia, Costa Rica, causando daños enormes en la población de San Bosco de Santa Bárbara.  El área afectada se dividió en tres grandes sectores, descritos a continuación: I.        SECTOR SUPERIOR (DESLIZAMIENTOS)Comprendido entre las cotas de 2.600m y 2.800 m, o sea cerca de la cima del Barva, caracterizado por desprendimientos de materiales poco consolidados (cenizas gruesas) con un ancho de aproximadamente 30m-40m y una profundidad de aproximadamente 4m-5m en casi todos los afluentes del rio Ciruelas. II.      SECTOR INTERMEDIO (TRANSITO)Comprendido entre las cotas de 2.600m y 1.600m, caracterizado por profundización erosiva del cauce en areas de materiales poco resistentes y por la ocurrencia de pequeños deslizamientos secundarios causados por la profundización del cauce. III.    SECTOR BAJO ( SEDIMENTACION)De 1.600m hasta 950m, caracterizado por la sedimentación en los primeros kilómetros de material grueso(bloques mayores de 2m). El pueblo de San Bosco esta situado sobre un abanico aluvial de materiales de eventos similares. En lo9s siguientes kilómetros se presenta la sedimentación de materiales mas finos.  La causa de esta desastre es únicamente la presencia de lluvias de alta intensidad provocadas por un frente de brisa, que en este dia ocurrieron en el sector I, provocando los deslizamientos y por ende las avalanchas de rocas y lodo que llegaron a los lugares mas bajos. Por estar el sector superior totalmente y el sector intermedio parcialmente en la selva virgen del Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo se puede excluir definitivamente algún impacto humano que haya causado la desestabilización de las laderas. Por los vestigios de eventos antiguos de este tipo( acumulaciones cerca de San Bosco) se puede derivar que estos fenómenos también ocurrieron en tiempos pasados , sin embargo, se estima la probabilidad de una repetición pronta como muy baja. SUMMARYA big avalanche  that occurred the 20 th of july in the afternoon in the (rio ciruelas) watershed situated on the sowthwestern slope of the Volcano Barva, Costa Rica, caused big losses in the village of San Bosco de Santa Barbarbara. Based on field observations we distinguished three sectors analysed below: I.                    SUPERIOR SECTOR (LAND SLIDES)Localed in altitude between 2.600m and 2.800m near the peak of the volcano, characterized by landslides of poorly consolidated ashes, with a  width of between 30m-40m and a depth of about 4m to 5m, found in nearly and all of the affluents of the (Rio Ciruelas). II.                  MEDIUM SECTOR (TRANSIT)Between 2.600m and 1.600m, characterized by deep erosion in area of materials of low resistivity and by secondary(small) landslides provoked by the destruction of the support. III.                LOWER SECTOR ( SEDIMENTATION)Between 1.600m and 950m, characterized by sedimentation, in the first kilometers of coarse material (sometimes<2m).The village of San Bosco was constructed exactly above the detrictic cone of anterior events. In the subsequent kilometers we found the sedimentation of fine materials. As the cause of this desastre we analysed high intensity rainfalls provoked by a local front in the zone of the firt sector, causing landslides and then avalanches in the lower part of the primary forest of the national park <<Braulio Carrillo>>.The sediments of older events(the San Bosco cone) prove that avalanches ocurr in this area with a certain frecuency, but with relatively long recurrence intervals.