Search results

This study aims to explore the construct of teacher resilience. Researchers examined the relationship among complex risk (constraining) factors leading to burnout and attrition, as well as protective (enabling) factors that allow teachers to adapt and thrive within stressful school settings.

This paper presents results from three focus groups comprised of 33 English language arts teachers across diverse school districts. Utilizing situational analysis, developed from grounded theory, the research plan included six stages: development of initial situational map honoring theoretical sensitivity, theoretical sampling, data collection, coding, memoing, sorting, revising of the initial map based on analysis and literature review to develop the relational map.

Three propositions emerged beginning to comprise a theory of teacher resilience. (1) Resilient teachers embed roots in their school communities to withstand challenges, pulling from a sense of purpose to navigate constraining factors and benefit from enabling factors. (2) Resilient teachers embrace uncertainty, reframing negative experiences into learning experiences. Reframing helps teachers retain power, not cede it to situations, which helps balance constraining and enabling factors. (3) Teachers use relationships with colleagues, students and school leaders to endure challenges. The dynamic interaction between internal and external enabling and constraining factors is depicted on the situational map illustrating how factors counterbalance to either predict positive outcomes such as resilience and agency or negative outcomes such as burnout or attrition.

Despite a robust international evidence base, there is a dearth of US studies exploring teacher resilience. This study proposes a theory of teacher resilience relevant to US schools and recommends practical applications and future research.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the South African Heritage Resources Information System (SAHRIS), developed by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) in 2011. The paper aims to describe how SAHRIS facilitates online applications for heritage approval and/or permits for developments and research, fulfils SAHRA’s mandate as a repository for a national inventory of heritage sites and objects in the country, and serves as an integrated, responsive tool for reporting heritage crimes and tracking the progress of the resultant cases. The paper also aims to explain, simply, the application processes for each of these functions.

The paper provides an explanation of the design and functions of the system and outlines how each of the content types and applications are created.

The system has improved the process of South African heritage resources management by decreasing the turnaround time for submissions to heritage authorities, raised the standards of good governance and increased public compliance with the heritage legislation.

Poor uptake of the system by provincial heritage authorities has limited the impact of the system on heritage management as practiced in South Africa.

The system, when used effectively provides an efficient service to the public, while promoting good governance, transparency, public access to information and improved compliance with the heritage legislation.

Through the creation of a single, unified platform for heritage management processes, geo-referencing of heritage sites and development areas, the provision of a national fossil sensitivity map, and the national heritage inventory, SAHRIS represents a world first in terms of proactive, integrated heritage management tools.

The purpose of this paper is to present the sensing mechanism, design issues, performance evaluation and applications for planar capacitive sensors. In the context of characterisation and imaging of a dielectric material under test (MUT), a systematic study of sensor modelling, features and design issues is needed. In addition, the influencing factors on sensitivity distribution, and the effect of conductivity on sensor performance need to be further studied for planar capacitive sensors.

While analytical methods can provide accurate solutions to sensors of simple geometries, numerical modelling is preferred to obtain sensor response to different design parameters and properties of MUT, and to derive the sensitivity distributions of various electrode designs. Several important parameters have been used to evaluate the response of the sensors in different sensing modes. The designs of different planar capacitive sensor arrays are presented and experimentally evaluated.

The response features and design guidelines for planar capacitive sensors in different sensing modes have been summarised, showing that the sensor in the transmission mode or the single‐electrode mode is suitable for material characterisation and imaging, while the sensor in the shunt mode is suitable for proximity/displacement measurement. The sensitivity distribution of the sensor depends largely on the geometry of the electrodes. Conductivity causes positive changes for the sensor in the transmission and single‐electrode mode, but negative changes for the sensor in the shunt mode. Experimental results confirm that sensing depths of the sensor arrays and the influence of buried conductor on capacitance measurements are in agreement with simulations.

Experimental verification is needed when a sensor is designed.

This paper provides a comprehensive study for planar capacitive sensors in terms of sensor design, evaluation and applications.

This paper argues that knowledge mapping may provide a fruitful avenue for intellectual capital management in academic environments such as university departments. However, while some research has been conducted on knowledge mapping and intellectual capital management in the public sector, the university has so far not been directly considered for this type of management. The paper initially reviews the functions and techniques of knowledge mapping and assesses these in the light of academic demands. Second, the result of a focus group study is presented, where academic leaders were asked to reflect of the uses of knowledge mapping at their departments and institutes. Finally a number of suggestions are made as to the rationale and conduct of knowledge mapping in academe.

Crystallization is the process widely used for components separation and solids purification. The systems for crystallization process evaluation applied so far, involve numerous non-invasive tomographic measurement techniques which suffers from some reported problems. The purpose of this paper is to show the abilities of three-dimensional Electrical Capacitance Tomography (3D ECT) in the context of non-invasive and non-intrusive visualization of crystallization processes. Multiple aspects and problems of ECT imaging, as well as the computer model design to work with the high relative permittivity liquids, have been pointed out.

To design the most efficient (from a mechanical and electrical point of view) 3D ECT sensor structure, the high-precise impedance meter was applied. The three types of sensor were designed, built, and tested. To meet the new concept requirements, the dedicated ECT device has been constructed.

It has been shown that the ECT technique can be applied to the diagnosis of crystallization. The crystals distribution can be identified using this technique. The achieved measurement resolution allows detecting the localization of crystals. The usage of stabilized electrodes improves the sensitivity of the sensor and provides the images better suitable for further analysis.

The dedicated 3D ECT sensor construction has been proposed to increase its sensitivity in the border area, where the crystals grow. Regarding this feature, some new algorithms for the potential field distribution and the sensitivity matrix calculation have been developed. The adaptation of the iterative 3D image reconstruction process has also been described.

This paper aims to demonstrate a Geographic Information System (GIS)‐based study on development of District Disaster Management System for floods for Allahabad Sadar Sub‐District (India).

An approach has been designed to explore the scope for the combination of Disaster Management and GIS. The flood‐prone areas have been identified and their positions are marked using ArcView 9.1. GIS has been exploited to obtain the spatial information for the effective disaster management for flood‐affected areas.

ArcView 9.1 has been used as a tool for storing all types of relevant data for analysis and decision making. The various thematic maps include road network map, drinking water sources map, land use map, population density map, ward boundaries and location of slums.

The paper proposes evelopment of a GIS‐based early response system, and an emergency preparedness plan for the Allahabad Sadar sub‐district and also analysis of the impact of flood disasters in the region and its relationship to infrastructure development with a view to identifying how local governing bodies could be helped in addressing these issues. The proposed GIS‐based flood mitigation and management program would improve the current practices of disaster management process. If implemented properly, it would result in proper and quick decisions for the rescue and safety of the general public, which in turn would help in minimizing loss of life and property.

The Social Return on Investment (SROI) framework has been developed for mapping and measuring social impact. It may be used for legitimating organisations and projects. The framework is often criticised for its overemphasis of the SROI ratio, i.e. the relationship between monetised benefits and costs. This study aims to demonstrate how the SROI method legitimates organisations or projects with multiple other discursive ways besides the SROI ratio. It also discusses the status of these other ways of legitimation in relation to the quantifying and monetising core tendency of SROI.

The empirical data consist of an SROI guidebook and 12 SROI reports. Their study applies Theo van Leeuwen’s ideas for analysing the discursive legitimation of social practices. The study takes place broadly in the framework of Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, aided by qualitative content analysis.

In the analysis, the full spectrum of the van Leeuwenian legitimation means used by SROI – authorisation, rationalisation, moral evaluation and mythopoetical narration – is brought out in the data and the status and social context of the legitimation means are assessed and discussed. It is shown that there is existing potential for broader and more visible use of different legitimation means.

Based on the findings of the study, suggestions for the improvement of SROI reporting by a more balanced explicit use of the multitude of legitimation means are presented.

The study is original both in its subject (the spectrum of legitimation in SROI) and its method (qualitative discursive and contentual analysis of SROI as a legitimating discourse).

‘A MAP OF THE WORLD that does not include Utopia is not worth glancing at’ wrote Oscar Wilde. ‘It leaves out the one country at which humanity is always landing. And when it lands there it looks out and, seeing a better country, sets sail again. Progress is the realization of Utopias’.

The visualization of ranking information in global public policy is moving away from traditional “league table” formats and toward dashboards and interactive data displays. This paper explores the rhetoric underpinning the visualization of ranking information in such interactive formats, the purpose of which is to encourage country participation in reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper unpacks the strategies that the visualization experts adopt in the measurement of global poverty and wellbeing, focusing on a variety of interactive ranking visualizations produced by the OECD, the World Bank, the Gates Foundation and the ‘Our World in Data’ group at the University of Oxford. Building on visual and discourse analysis, the study details how the politically and ethically sensitive nature of global public policy, coupled with the pressures for “decolonizing” development, influence how rankings are visualized. The study makes two contributions to the literature on rankings. First, it details the move away from league table formats toward multivocal interactive layouts that seek to mitigate the competitive and potentially dysfunctional pressures of the display of “winners and losers.” Second, it theorizes ranking visualizations in global public policy as “alignment devices” that entice country buy-in and seek to align actors around common global agendas.

The health crisis has highlighted the shortcomings of the industry sector which has revealed its vulnerability. To date, there is no guarantee of a return to the “world before”. The ability of companies to cope with these changes is a key competitive advantage requiring the adoption/mastery of industry 4.0 technologies. Therefore, companies must adapt their business processes to fit into similar situations.

The proposed methodology comprises three steps. First, a comparative analysis of the existing CPSs is elaborated. Second, following this analysis, a deep learning driven CPS framework is proposed highlighting its components and tiers. Third, a real industrial case is presented to demonstrate the application of the envisioned framework. Deep learning network-based methods of object detection are used to train the model and evaluation is assessed accordingly.

The analysis revealed that most of the existing CPS frameworks address manufacturing related subjects. This illustrates the need for a resilient industrial CPS targeting other areas and considering CPSs as loopback systems preserving human–machine interaction, endowed with data tiering approach for easy and fast data access and embedded with deep learning-based computer vision processing methods.

This study provides insights about what needs to be addressed in terms of challenges faced due to unforeseen situations or adapting to new ones. In this paper, the CPS framework was used as a monitoring system in compliance with the precautionary measures (social distancing) and for self-protection with wearing the necessary equipments. Nevertheless, the proposed framework can be used and adapted to any industrial or non-industrial environments by adjusting object detection purpose.