Report of the essential EAFM training course, Chittagong, Bangladesh, 12-20 November, 2014

Participants were exposed to concepts and information about Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) using a structured, participatory method of delivery. The learning strategy involved specifically designed exercises, using real examples, to consolidate learning. Daily monitoring and reviews were conducted together with pre-and post-course assessment.

Report of the training programme on Essential Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM): developing capacity in the EAFM, Chennai, India, 11-16 August, 2014

Participants were exposed to concepts and information about EAFM using a structured, participatory method of delivery. The learning strategy involved specifically designed exercises, using real examples, to consolidate learning. Daily monitoring and reviews were conducted together with pre-and post-course assessment.

Report of the pilot Essential EAFM course, Samut Prakan, Thailand, 20-25 January, 2014

This course, co-hosted by South East Asian Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC), was a refined version of the pilot course held in Malaysia in June 2013. Participants were exposed to concepts and information about Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) using a structured, participatory method of delivery. The learning strategy involved specifically designed exercises, using real examples, to consolidate learning. Daily monitoring and reviews were conducted together with pre-and post-course assessment.

Exploring key sustainable development themes through learning activities

The Masters programme in Engineering for Sustainable Development at Cambridge University explores a number of key themes, including dealing with: complexity, uncertainty, change, other disciplines, people, environmental limits, whole life costs, and trade-offs. This paper examines how these concepts are introduced and analyses the range of exercises and assignments which are designed to encourage students to test their own assumptions and abilities to develop competencies in these areas. Student performance against these tasks is discussed and student feedback is also presented, with a focus on how their awareness of the themes are met through a range of activities.

Exploring key sustainable development themes through learning activities

Purpose: The paper examines how a number of key themes are introduced in the Masters programme in Engineering for Sustainable Development at Cambridge University through student centred activities. These themes include dealing with complexity, uncertainty, change, other disciplines, people, environmental limits, whole life costs, and trade-offs. Design/methodology/approach: The range of exercises and assignments designed to encourage students to test their own assumptions and abilities to develop competencies in these areas are analysed by mapping the key themes onto the formal activities which all students undertake throughout the core MPhil programme. The paper reviews the range of these activities that are designed to help support the formal delivery of the taught programme. These include residential field courses, role plays, change challenges, games, systems thinking, multi criteria decision making, awareness of literature from other disciplines and consultancy projects. An axial coding approach to the analysis of routine feedback questionnaires drawn from recent years has been used to identify how student’s own awareness develops. Also results of two surveys are presented which tests the students’ perceptions about whether or not the course is providing learning environments to develop awareness and skills in these areas. Findings: Students generally perform well against these tasks with a significant feature being the mutual support they give to each other in their learning. The paper concludes that for students from an engineering background it is an holistic approach to delivering a new way of thinking through a combination of lectures, class activities, assignments, interactions between class members, and access to material elsewhere in the University that enables participants to develop their skills in each of the key themes. Originality /value: The paper provides a reflection on different pedagogical approaches to exploring key sustainable themes and reports students own perceptions of the value of these kinds of activities. Experiences are shared of running a range of diverse learning activities within a professional practice Masters programme.

Manufacturing excellent engineers: Skill development in a Masters programme

An MPhil programme, delivered by the Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge, claims to be excellent at preparing graduates for manufacturing industry careers. The course uses a combination of different educational experiences, including industry-based assignments, industrial visits and practical exercises. This research explores how problem solving skills are developed during the first module, Induction, which is designed to enable students to undertake their first industrial assignment. From the literature, four conditions necessary for skill development were identified: Provision of a skill description, making explicit key components A number of different experiences with a range of contextual variables A teaching process which includes regular feedback and student reflection Students motivated to learn. These were used to construct a skill development framework (SDF). Using a case study research design, multiple types of evidence were collected to test for the above conditions using both classroom observation and questionnaire methods. The results confirmed the presence of the SDF conditions at different levels, with reflection aspects considered the weakest. Conflicting results were obtained regarding the students' self-awareness of skill levels. A plausible explanation is a change in the students' frame of reference. This initial study set out to develop a better understanding of the process of skill development. Whilst the SDF appears reasonable, there is a need for further work in three broad areas of defining skills, assessing skills and developing reflection skills.

油气勘探风险评价与决策技术研究

PetroChina and other national petroleum incorporations need rigorous procedures and practical methods in risk evaluation and exploration decision at home and abroad to safeguard their international exploration practice in exploration licence bidding, finding appropriate ratio of risk sharing with partners, as well as avoiding high risk projects and other key exploration activities. However, due to historical reasons, we are only at the beginning of a full study and methodology development in exploration risk evaluation and decision. No rigorous procedure and practical methods are available in our exercises of international exploration. Completely adopting foreign procedure, methods and tools by our national incorporations are not practical because of the differences of the current economic and management systems in China. The objective of this study is to establish a risk evaluation and decision system with independent intellectual property right in oil and gas exploration so that a smooth transition from our current practice into international norm can take place. The system developed in this dissertation includes the following four components: 1. A set of quantitative criteria for risk evaluation is derived on the basis of an anatomy of the parameters from thirty calibration regions national wide as well as the characteristics and the geological factors controlling oil and gas occurrence in the major petroleum-bearing basins in China, which provides the technical support for the risk quantification in oil and gas exploration. 2. Through analysis of existing methodology, procedure and methods of exploration risk evaluation considering spatial information are proposed. The method, utilizing Mahalanobis Distance (MD) and fuzzy logic for data and information integration, provides probabilistic models on the basis of MD and fuzzy logic classification criteria, thus quantifying the exploration risk using Bayesian theory. A projection of the geological risk into spatial domain provides a probability map of oil and gas occurrence in the area under study. The application of this method to the Nanpu Sag shows that this method not only correctly predicted the oil and gas occurrence in the areas where Beibu and Laoyemiao oil fields are found in the northwest of the onshore area, but also predicted Laopu south, Nanpu south and Hatuo potential areas in the offshore part where exploration maturity was very low. The prediction of the potential areas are subsequently confirmed by 17 exploration wells in the offshore area with 81% success, indicating this method is very effective for exploration risk visualization and reduction. 3. On the basis of “Methods and parameters of economic evaluation for petroleum exploration and development projects in China”, a ”pyramid” method for sensitivity analysis was developed, which meets not only the need for exploration target evaluation and exploration decision at home, but also allows a transition from our current practice to international norm in exploration decision. This provides the foundation for the development of a software product “Exploration economic evaluation and decision system of PetroChina” (EDSys). 4. To solve problem in methodology of exploration decision, effort was made on the method of project portfolio management. A drilling decision method was developed employing the concept of geologically risked net present value. This method overcame the dilemma of handling simultaneously both geological risk and portfolio uncertainty, thus casting light into the application of modern portfolio theory to the evaluation of high risk petroleum exploration projects.

填土边坡水文作用机理与破坏过程研究—以深圳羊宝地填土滑坡为例

A full understanding of failure mechanism, critical hydrological condition, and process of mobilization and deposition of a landslide is essential for optimal design of stabilization measure and forecasting of landslide hazard. This requires a quantitative study of hydrological response of a slope to rainfall through field monitoring, laboratory test and numerical modelling. At 13:40 on September 18, 2002, a fill slope failed following a period of prolonged rain in Shenzhen, resulting in 5 fatalities and 31 injuries. The failed mass with a volume about 2.5×104m3 traveled about 140m on level ground. Field monitoring, laboratory test, theoretical analysis and numerical modelling were carried out to undestand the hydrological response and failure mechanism of this fill slope. This thesis mainly focuses on the following aspects: (1) The hydrological responses and failure processes of slopes under rainfall infiltration were reviewed. Firstly, the factors influencing on the hydrological responses of slopes were analysed. Secondly, the change of stress state of slope soil and modelling methods of slope failure under rainfall infiltration were reviewed. (2) The characteristics of the Yangbaodi landslide and associated rainfall triggering the failure were presented. The failure was characterized by shallow flowslide, due to an increase of ground water table caused by rainfall infiltration. (3) A fully automated instrumentation was carried out to monitor rainfall, and saturated – unsaturated hydrological response of the fill slope, using a raingauge, piezometers, tensiometers and moisture probes. A conceptual hydrogeological model was presented based on field monitoring and borehole data. Analysis of monitoring data showed that the high pore water pressure in fill slope was caused by upward flow of semiconfined groundwater in the moderately decomposed granite. (4) Laboratory and in-situ testing was performed to study the physical and mechanical properties of fills. Isotropically consolidated undrained compression tests and anisotropically consolidated constant shear stress tests were carried out to understand the failure mechanism of the fill slope. It is indicated that loosely compacted soil is of strain-softening behaviour under undrained conditions, accompanied with a rapid increase in excess pore water pressure. In anisotropically consolidated constant shear stress tests, a very small axial strain was required to induce the failure and the excess pore water pressure increased quickly at failure. This indicated that static liquefaction caused by rise in groundwater table due to rainfall infiltration occurred. (5) The hydraulic conductivity of the highly and moderately decomposed granite was estimated using monitering data of pore water pressure. A saturated – unsaturated flow was modeled to study the hydrological response of the fill slope using rainfall records. It was observed that the lagged failure was due to the geological conditions and the discrepancy of hydraulic conductivity of slope soils. The hydraulic conductivity of moderately decomposed granite is relatively higher than the other materials, resulting in a semiconfied groundwater flow in the moderately decomposed granite, and subsequent upward flow into the upper fill layer. When the ground water table in the fill layer was increased to the critical state, the fill slope failed. (6) Numerical exercises were conducted to replay the failure process of the fill slope, based on field monitoring, laboratory and in-situ testing. It was found that the fill slope was mobilized by a rapid transfer of the concentrated shear stress. The movement of failure mass was characterized by viscosity fluid with a gradual increase in velocity. The failure process, including mobilization and subsequent movement and deposition, was studied using numerical methods.

The Computer as Coach: An Athletic Paradigm for Intellectual Education

Over the next five years, computer games will find their way into a vast number of American homes, creating a unique educational opportunity: the development of "computer coaches" for the serious intellectual skills required by some of these games. From the player's perspective, the coach will provide advice regarding strategy and tactics for better play. But, from the perspective of the coach, the request for help is an opportunity to tutor basic mathematical, scientific or other kinds of knowledge that the game exercises.

Recovery of linear and nonlinear heart rate dynamics after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery

Background: Conventional coronary artery bypass grafting (C-CABG) and off-pump CABG (OPCAB) surgery may produce different patients' outcomes, including the extent of cardiac autonomic (CA) imbalance. the beneficial effects of an exercise-based inpatient programme on heart rate variability (HRV) for C-CABG patients have already been demonstrated by our group. However, there are no studies about the impact of a cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on HRV behaviour after OPCAB. the aim of this study is to compare the influence of both operative techniques on HRV pattern following CR in the postoperative (PO) period.Methods: Cardiac autonomic function was evaluated by HRV indices pre- and post-CR in patients undergoing C-CABG (n = 15) and OPCAB (n = 13). All patients participated in a short-term(approximately 5 days) supervised CR programme of early mobilization, consisting of progressive exercises, from active-assistive movements at PO day 1 to climbing flights of stairs at PO day 5.Results: Both groups demonstrated a reduction in HRV following surgery. the CR programme promoted improvements in HRV indices at discharge for both groups. the OPCAB group presented with higher HRV values at discharge, compared to the C-CABG group, indicating a better recovery of CA function.Conclusion: Our data suggest that patients submitted to OPCAB and an inpatient CR programme present with greater improvement in CA function compared to C-CABG.

NHS Wales e-library portal evaluation (For Informing Healthcare Strategy implementation programme)

Thomas, R. & Urquhart, C. NHS Wales e-library portal evaluation. (For Informing Healthcare Strategy implementation programme). Aberystwyth: Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth Follow-on to NHS Wales User Needs study Sponsorship: Informing Healthcare, NHS Wales

Where the People Are: Language and Community in the Poetry of W.S. Graham

Francis, Matthew, Language and Community in the Poetry of W.S. Graham (Cambridge: Salt Publishing, 2004) RAE2008

Sedentariness and physical inactivity in diabetes: a case for home-based exercise prescription

Increasing proportions of the global population are being diagnosed with diabetes. It is anticipated that by 2030, 10% of the adult population worldwide will be living with this condition. Lifestyle factors can impact on the development, management and progression of diabetes. Obesity and sedentary living are contributory factors to the increased volume of diabetes. Physical activity offers those living with diabetes the opportunities to keep well and attain potentially more stable blood glucose control reducing the level of medical intervention required and delaying or preventing some of the life-changing complications that can derive from a diabetes diagnosis. Exercise interventions are effective in preventing and treating type-II diabetes. However, maintaining regular exercise routines, especially home-based exercises may provide a key for sustaining the health benefits.

Wykorzystanie gier decyzyjnych/symulacyjnych w naukach społecznych. Wybrane problemy

Treścią publikacji jest przedstawienie wybranych problemów prognozowania w naukach społecznych. W artykule skoncentrowano się na metodzie gier decyzyjnych/symulacyjnych, które – zwłaszcza wraz z rozwojem teorii gier oraz komputerów – są coraz częściej wykorzystywane w wielu dziedzinach. Na wybranych przykładach gier decyzyjnych/symulacyjnych – Poznań International Model United Nations 2013/POZiMUN; S.E.N.S.E. a także gry sieciowej EVE Online – wskazano jak ważne są takie ćwiczenia, by móc precyzyjniej przewidywać przyszłość. Zwrócono także szczególną uwagę na kwestię przypadku oraz czynników zakłócających, które mogą destabilizować proces przewidywania. Poruszono ponadto problem podejmowania decyzji w aspekcie klasycznej oraz kwantowej logiki.

Generating Representative Web Workloads for Network and Server Performance Evaluation

One role for workload generation is as a means for understanding how servers and networks respond to variation in load. This enables management and capacity planning based on current and projected usage. This paper applies a number of observations of Web server usage to create a realistic Web workload generation tool which mimics a set of real users accessing a server. The tool, called Surge (Scalable URL Reference Generator) generates references matching empirical measurements of 1) server file size distribution; 2) request size distribution; 3) relative file popularity; 4) embedded file references; 5) temporal locality of reference; and 6) idle periods of individual users. This paper reviews the essential elements required in the generation of a representative Web workload. It also addresses the technical challenges to satisfying this large set of simultaneous constraints on the properties of the reference stream, the solutions we adopted, and their associated accuracy. Finally, we present evidence that Surge exercises servers in a manner significantly different from other Web server benchmarks.