Daniela Diaz-Alonso, Mario Moreno-Moreno, Carlos Zuñiga, Joel Molina, Wilfrido Calleja, Juan Carlos Cisneros, Luis Niño de Rivera, Volodymir Ponomaryov, Felix Gil, Angel Guillen and Efrain Rubio
This paper aims to purpose the new design and fabrication scheme of Touch Mode Capacitive Pressure Sensor (TMCPS), which can be used in a wireless integrated resistor, inductor…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to purpose the new design and fabrication scheme of Touch Mode Capacitive Pressure Sensor (TMCPS), which can be used in a wireless integrated resistor, inductor and capacitor circuit for monitoring pressure in biomedical applications.
Design/methodology/approach
This study focuses on the design, simulation and fabrication of dynamic capacitors, based on surface micromachining using polysilicon or aluminum films as the top electrode, both structural materials are capped with a 1.5 μm-thick polyimide film.
Findings
The design of microstructures using a composite model fits perfectly the preset mechanical behavior. After the full fabrication, the dynamic capacitors show complete mechanical flexibility and stability.
Originality/value
The novelty of the method presented in this study includes two important aspects: first, the capacitors are designed as a planar cavity within a rigid frame, where two walls contain channels which allow for the etching of the sacrificial material. Second, the electromechanical structures are designed using a composite model that includes a polyimide film capping for a precise pressure sensing, which also protects the internal cavity and, at the same time, provides full biocompatibility.
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Monica E. Mincu and Sara Romiti
The Italian system of education is characterised by weak school autonomy, strong teacher autonomy, and lack of collegial cultures. From the point of the cohesion/regulation…
Abstract
The Italian system of education is characterised by weak school autonomy, strong teacher autonomy, and lack of collegial cultures. From the point of the cohesion/regulation matrix, the Italian case is rather of an individualist type with some fatalist notes, given a widespread culture of pedagogical egalitarianism and the existence of formal collegial bodies. There are many barriers to the introduction of evidence-based practice in Italian teaching. At the same time, some major enablers at the school level are as a self-evaluation school rapport and a school improvement plan. At the school system level, the Institute for school evaluation is as a key player contributing to the advancement of a culture of EIP. We argue that an enduring centralization model with weak coordination mechanisms at the school level is not suitable to mobilize academic research knowledge across the Italian system. A new governance mechanism based on widely disseminated policies would be of critical importance in the Italian case, in order to improve the use of EIP in schools and to enhance the skills of teachers and school leaders through professional development.
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Miriam Mason and David Galloway
This chapter draws on the school improvement research of EducAid, a small NGO with schools in Sierra Leone. We review the challenge of school improvement in the context of a…
Abstract
This chapter draws on the school improvement research of EducAid, a small NGO with schools in Sierra Leone. We review the challenge of school improvement in the context of a low-income country still emerging from the aftermath of civil war, historically low expenditure on education as a per cent of GDP, low levels of trust between people and the government and lack of a reliable evidence base on which to plan school improvement. As predictable consequences of these challenges, the Ministry of Education recognises weaknesses in teacher recruitment and training, resulting in low student attainments. In a critique of adaptations of Hood's (1998) social cohesion/social regulation matrix we argue that it may not provide a coherent framework for understanding the process of school improvement in a low-income country such as Sierra Leone. Specifically, high social cohesion, when focussed on educational improvement, is likely to be necessary for school improvement, but the concept of social regulation is more complex. Although the structure is hierarchical, both at national and local levels, implying high social regulation, lines of accountability seldom work effectively, resulting in low social regulation. The picture is further complicated by evidence that socioeconomic status may be less influential in predicting students' attainments in low-income countries than in those with high and middle incomes. We argue that a professional learning network for head teachers is a necessary starting point for head teachers to stimulate debate on change strategies within their own schools.
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David J. Ketchen and Donald D. Bergh
Welcome to the fourth volume of Research Methodology in Strategy and Management (RMSM). The publication of our fourth volume provides a source of satisfaction because our original…
Abstract
Welcome to the fourth volume of Research Methodology in Strategy and Management (RMSM). The publication of our fourth volume provides a source of satisfaction because our original contract with Elsevier only guaranteed a three volume run for the series. The popularity of RMSM led our contacts at the publisher to be eager to continue beyond their original commitment. We are excited about the future of the series, and have begun assembling Volume 5.
Purpose – In this chapter I unpack the public workforce system, with a gender lens, to detail and assess its ability to provide job training and education to single mothers. Based…
Abstract
Purpose – In this chapter I unpack the public workforce system, with a gender lens, to detail and assess its ability to provide job training and education to single mothers. Based on that analysis, I suggest strategies to develop job training policy that attends to the needs of single, working, poor mothers, and can help provide them with the education and skills training to raise themselves and their families out of poverty.
Methodology – Analytical review of existing policy and research.
Findings – With 1996 welfare reform, the United States “reformed” welfare policy so that recipients would be immediately attached to the labor market, and have a specified lifetime limit to receive public assistance. As a result, millions of single mothers are now working, but still poor. A companion piece of legislation to welfare, and what is the country's federal employment and training legislation – the Workforce Investment Act – does not provide single mothers with the human capital skills to escape poverty. The United States need a job training policy that actually does provide single mothers with routes out of low-wage work and includes attention to gender in constructing and implementing that policy.
Practical implications – The chapter provides recommendations to craft workforce policy in ways that will help women attain education and training in ways that acknowledge the complexity and structural constrains in their lives.
Value of chapter – The chapter presents a new vision for workforce development policy that takes into account gender and women's lived experiences.
Anna Marie Johnson, Claudene Sproles and Robert Detmering
The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.
Findings
Information about each source is provided. The paper discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.
Originality/value
The information in the paper may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.
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The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential effects of climate change on the habitat and human settlements in Mexico, through an analysis of three regions that are…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential effects of climate change on the habitat and human settlements in Mexico, through an analysis of three regions that are vulnerable to hydrometeorological hazards such as droughts, floods and hurricanes.
Design/methodology/approach
The research process included fieldwork in the states of Oaxaca, Tabasco and Yucatán, and a historical study of hydrometeorological events in each region. The authors sought to identify a means of interpreting these events linked to climate variability, on the basis of the history of disasters, the environment and the habitat. The local climatic indications were compared to the IPCC’s global successes, to show that contradictions do not exist but that it is difficult to apply the IPCC’s findings at a local level, given the considerable margin of uncertainty.
Findings
The indications of the effects of climate change make it possible to foresee that the most vulnerable populations will be the ones facing the strongest impact in the future.
Practical implications
The research has direct implications on urban and housing policies, offering a roadmap to design climate change adaptation strategies; adaptive capacity not only requires political commitment.
Social implications
It is also related to social and economic development and an “integral risk management” approach rather than a “civil protection” strategy.
Originality/value
The main interest of this research is to show that a multidisciplinary approach is essential in order to understand the local implications of climate change.
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Daniel Martínez-Ávila and John M. Budd
The purpose of this paper is to update and review the concept of warrant in Library and Information Science (LIS) and to introduce the concept of epistemic warrant from…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to update and review the concept of warrant in Library and Information Science (LIS) and to introduce the concept of epistemic warrant from philosophy. Epistemic warrant can be used to assess the content of a work; and therefore, it can be a complement to existing warrants, such as literary warrant, in the development of controlled vocabularies. In this proposal, the authors aim to activate a theoretical discussion on warrant in order to revise and improve the validity of the concept of warrant from the user and classifier context to the classificationist context.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have conducted an extensive literary review and close reading of the concept of warrant in LIS and knowledge organization in order to detect the different stances and gaps in which the concept of epistemic warrant might apply. The authors adopted an epistemological approach, in the vein of some of the previous commenters on warrant, such as Hope Olson and Birger Hjørland, and built upon the theoretical framework of different authors working with the concept of warrant outside knowledge organization, such as Alvin Plantinga and Alvin Goldman.
Findings
There are some authors and critics in the literature that have voiced for a more epistemological approach to warrant (in opposition to a predominantly ontological approach). In this sense, epistemic warrant would be an epistemological warrant and also a step forward toward pragmatism in a prominently empiricist context such as the justification of the inclusion of terms in a controlled vocabulary. Epistemic warrant can be used to complement literary warrant in the development of controlled vocabularies as well as in the classification of works.
Originality/value
This paper presents an exhaustive update and revision of the concept of warrant, analyzing, systematizing, and reviewing the different warrants discussed in the LIS literary warrant in a critical way. The concept of epistemic warrant for categorizational activities is introduced to the LIS field for the first time. This paper, and the proposal of epistemic warrant, has the potential to contribute to the theoretical and practical discussions on the development of controlled vocabularies and assessment of the content of works.