Educating the world's railway engineers

An increasing loss of engineering expertise from the railway industry globally coincides with a rapid expansion of the industry. Continuing professional development is critical to this sector, but needs to be distance based to cater for the international demand for such development. A unique Master degree in railway infrastructure was created out of extensive materials prepared by expert engineers, which captured their detailed knowledge. A team at Queensland University of Technology in Australia prepared the detailed and high quality online resources needed for this degree; the team comprised an academic, a project manager, learning designers and a publisher, all with experience in distance education. The degree has been running for 12 months with students from many countries. A key aim of the degree is to create a collaborative community comprising learners, teachers and practicing engineers from around the world. The team has also worked hard to ensure the content of the study materials, the form of the assessment tasks and the interactive learning sessions relate closely to real-world problems and challenges faced by the students in their workplace, wherever that is. Widely differing time zones are a challenge but are usually obviated by the asynchronous nature of the online resources.

An anthropometric history of the World, 1810-1980: did migration and globalization influence country trends?

We find that regional height levels around the world were fairly uniform throughout most of the 19th century, with two exceptions: above-average levels in Anglo-Saxon settlement regions and below-average levels in Southeast Asia. After 1880, substantial diver- gences began to differentiate other regions -- making the world population taller, but more unequal. During the late 19th century and 20th century, heights between world regions devi- ated significantly, when incomes also became very unequal. Interestingly, during the “breaking point period” between the two regimes, heights declined significantly in the cattle-rich New World countries, whereas they started to increase in Old Europe. We discuss in this study whether immigration was a core factor to influence the height decline in the “Anthropometric Decline of the Cowboy and Gaucho Empires”.

Trade and the environment in the context of the World Trade Organization

Includes bibliography

Global Change and the World's Mountains-Research Needs and Emerging Themes for Sustainable Development A Synthesis From the 2010 Perth II Conference

The conference on Global Change and the World’s Mountains held in Perth, Scotland, in 2010 offered a unique opportunity to analyze the state and progress of mountain research and its contribution to sustainable mountain development, as well as to reflect on required reorientations of research agendas. In this paper we provide the results of a three-step assessment of the research presented by 450 researchers from around the world. First, we determined the state of the art of mountain research and categorized it based on the analytical structure of the Global Land Project (GLP 2005). Second, we identified emerging themes for future research. Finally, we assessed the contribution of mountain research to sustainable development along the lines of the Grand Challenges in Global Sustainability Research (International Council for Science 2010). Analysis revealed that despite the growing recognition of the importance of more integrative research (inter- and transdisciplinary), the research community gathered in Perth still focuses on environmental drivers of change and on interactions within ecological systems. Only a small percentage of current research seeks to enhance understanding of social systems and of interactions between social and ecological systems. From the ecological systems perspective, a greater effort is needed to disentangle and assess different drivers of change and to investigate impacts on the rendering of ecosystem services. From the social systems perspective, significant shortcomings remain in understanding the characteristics, trends, and impacts of human movements to, within, and out of mountain areas as a form of global change. Likewise, sociocultural drivers affecting collective behavior as well as incentive systems devised by policy and decision makers are little understood and require more in-depth investigation. Both the complexity of coupled social– ecological systems and incomplete data sets hinder integrated systems research. Increased understanding of linkages and feedbacks between social and ecological systems will help to identify nonlinearities and thresholds (tipping points) in both system types. This presupposes effective collaboration between ecological and social sciences. Reflections on the Grand Challenges in Sustainability Research put forth by the International Council for Science (2010) reveal the need to intensify research on effective responses and innovations. This will help to achieve sustainable development in mountain regions while maintaining the core competence of mountain research in forecasting and observation.

Experience with human factors in agricultural areas of the world.

"Report of the Committee on Social Sciences in Relation to Extension Work, of the Conference on Extension Experiences Around the World."

The explorations of Captain James Cook in the Pacific, as told by selections of his own journals, 1768-1779.

Mode of access: Internet.

A visit to the South Seas, in the U.S. Ship Vincennes, during the years 1829 and 1830; with scenes in Brazil, Peru, Manila, the Cape of Good Hope, and St. Helena.

Mode of access: Internet.

A visit to the South Seas, in the U.S. ship Vincennes : during the years 1829 and 1830 : with notices of Brazil, Peru, Manilla, the Cape of Good Hope, and St. Helena /

Added t.p., engraved, dated 1832.

An historical account of the circumnavigation of the globe : and of the progress of discovery in the Pacific Ocean from the voyage of Magellan to the death of Cook ...

Mode of access: Internet.

Man-of-war life; a boy's experience in the United States Navy.

Mode of access: Internet.

Voyage pittoresque autour du monde : resumé général des voyages de découvertes ...

Mode of access: Internet.

Voyage of the United States frigate Potomac : under the command of Commodore John Downes, during the circumnavigation of the globe, in the years 1831, 1832, 1833, and 1834; including a particular account of the engagement at Quallah-Battoo, on the coast of Sumatra; with all the official documents relating to the same /

Mode of access: Internet.

Voyage of the United States frigate Potomac, under the command of Commodore John Downes, during the circumnavigation of the globe, in the years 1831, 1832, 1833, and 1834.

Microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich., University Microfilms [n.d.] (American culture series, Reel 352.6)

The complete works of Mark Twain

- Autobiography. - [v.1.] The adventures of Tom Sawyer. -[v.2.] The innocents abroad. - [v.3.] Pudd'nhead Wilson. - [v.4.] The American claimant. - [v.5.] Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court. -[v.6.] Roughing it. - [v.7.] Life on the Mississippi. - [v.8.] The mysterious stranger. -[v.9.] The adventures of Huckleberry Finn. - [v.10.] The gilded age. - [v.11.] A tramp abroad. -[v.12.] What is man? - [v.13.] Following the equator. -[v.14.] Tom Sawyer abroad. - [v.15.] The man that corrupted Hadleybrug. -[v.16.] In defense of Harriet Shelley. - [v.17.] Joan of Arc. - [v.18.] The 30,000 bequest. - [v.19.] Sketches, new and old. - [v.20.] Europe and elsewhere. - [v.21.] - The Prince and the pauper. - [v.22.] Mark Twain's notebook. - [v.23.] Christian Science. -[v.24.] Mark Twain's speeches.

Benchmarking the knowledge competitiveness of the globe's high performing regions:a review of the World Knowledge Competitiveness Index

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the way in which the knowledge competitiveness of regions is measured and further introduces the World Knowledge Competitiveness Index (WKCI) benchmarking tool. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology consists of an econometric analysis of key indicators relating to the concept of knowledge competitiveness for 125 regions from across the globe consisting of 55 representatives from North America, 45 from Europe and 25 from Asia and Oceania. Findings – The key to winning the super competitive race in the knowledge-based economy is investment in the future: research and development, and education and training. It is found that the majority of the high-performing regional economies in the USA have a knowledge competitive edge over their counterparts in Europe and Asia. Research limitations/implications – To an extent, the research is limited by the availability of comparable indicators and metrics at the regional level that extend across the globe. Whilst comparative data are often accessible at the national level, regional data sources remain underdeveloped. Practical implications – The WKCI has become internationally recognized as an important instrument for economic development policymakers and regional investment promotion agents as they create and refine their strategies and targets. In particular, it has provided a benchmark that allows regions to compare their knowledge competitiveness with other regions for around the world and not only their own nation or continent. Originality/value – The WKCI is the first composite and relative measure of the knowledge competitiveness of the globe's best performing regions.