Environmentally Sustainable Construction: Knowledge and Learning in London Planning Departments

Environmentally sustainable construction is now recognised as a significant element of the broader sustainable development agenda and planners are being called upon to play a role in delivering more sustainable patterns of construction and development. This puts particular demands on the knowledge resources of planners since knowledge is implicated in the power relations between planners and developers. This paper examines the interrelationship between knowledge of environmentally sustainable construction and practice in planning departments. Drawing on a survey of and interviews with planners in London, it discusses the construction of knowledge within the dynamics of planning organisations and the potential for learning to promote a more sustainable built environment. Wenger's concept of communities of practice frames the analysis, alongside consideration of the translation of knowledge into bureaucratic and usable forms and the role of knowledge brokers in this process.     

在课程建设中寻求教师实践社群的专业发展

以一个新建专业中的中外英语教师团队为例,通过课程案例,描述他们如何在困境中寻求对策,同时探讨教师专业发展的新途径--充分利用课程建设的契机,通过教师实践社群的教学反思、互助合作以及意义协商来促进专业发展.     

知识社群中基于本体的用户模型表示和更新

随着INTERNET的发展,人们在获得知识的同时,也更深刻地了解到知识的重要性。而知识的特殊性以及INTERNET中信息的急速增长,使得人们无法容易找到自己所需要的知识。为了实现这一点,我们在构建知识社群的同时,提出该系统的用户模型的表示和更新,以实现对用户的准确定位,向用户推荐适合文本,并利用相关反馈,追踪和更新用户模型,提高服务的效率。     

电子水处理器杀菌灭藻效果的研究

研究了在不同的电压下一种电子水处理器对金黄色葡萄球菌,酶母菌和藻类的杀灭作用,结果显示在２０Ｖ和２４Ｖ电压下均有较好的杀菌效果,较高的电压效果较好。经过消息在作用后所产生的活性水对菌也有杀灭作用。     

新型天然海藻絮凝剂处理食品废水的研究

比较各种絮凝剂的优劣后,选用海藻直接制作天然高分子有机絮凝剂,采用正交表L8(34)设计试验方案.大量试验结果显示,用该絮凝剂处理COD初始质量浓度为3 000～13 000mg/L的蛋白废水,存在一个适宜的投加量和pH范围,投加质量浓度为12.5 g/L、pH2～4时,COD去除率大于70%,最高可达79.56%;室温下絮凝反应快,生成絮体大,自然沉降快.研究表明,该絮凝剂可有效去除COD,操作条件温和,且无毒、无害、无重金属残留,可处理食品行业的蛋白废水,絮凝产物可回收作饲料添加剂,具有良好的开发前景.     

From data to knowledge: The interaction between data management systems in educational institutions and the delivery of quality education

No school is an island; it is a part of a continuum or a pipeline of institutions which together form an educational pipeline through which groups of students pass. To turn a body of data into useful information for knowledge-based decision-making at any level, data must be collected, organised, analysed and reflected upon. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how schools and other educational institutions can not only collect better data but learn how to transform that data so that the information held within can be effectively shared among all stakeholders. This process will help to ensure that the school and the entire education system provide a more seamless and effective educational pipeline for students, and ultimately improve the quality of education delivered in the country as a whole.     

An intervention to reduce kerosene-related burns and poisonings in low-income South African communities.

Objective: Unintentional injury rates in low- and middle-income countries are up to 50 times higher than high-income nations. In South Africa, kerosene (paraffin) is a leading cause of poisoning and burns, particularly in low-income communities where it serves as a primary fuel for light, cooking, and heating. This study tested a community-based intervention to reduce kerosene-related injury risk. The intervention used a train-the-trainers model, whereby expert trainers train local paraprofessionals, who in turn deliver educational materials to community residents. The intervention was theory-driven, pragmatically motivated, and culturally sensitive. Design: Prospective quasi-experimental intervention design with nonequivalent case versus control groups. Main Outcome Measures: Three primary outcome measures were considered: self-reported knowledge of kerosene safety, observed practice of safe kerosene use, and self-reported recognition of risk for kerosene-related injury. Results: ANOVA models suggest a large and significant increase in self-reported kerosene-related knowledge in the intervention community compared to the control community. There were smaller, but statistically significant changes, in kerosene-related safety practices and recognition of kerosene injury risk in the intervention community compared to the control community. Conclusion: The intervention was successful. A train-the-trainers model might be an effective educational tool to reduce kerosene-related injury risk in low-income communities within low- and middle-income countries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing: programming for the media arts

Processing is a programming language and environment built for the media arts communities. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within the media arts context and to serve as a software sketchbook. It is used by students, artists, designers, architects, and researchers for learning, prototyping, and production. This essay discusses the ideas underlying the software and presents its relationship to open source software and the idea of software literacy. Additionally, Processing is discussed in relation to education and online communities.     

The nature of virtual communities

The impressive development of electronic communication techniques has given rise to virtual communities. The nature of these computer-mediated communities has been the subject of much recent debate. Are they ordinary social groups in electronic form, or are they fundamentally different from traditional communities? Understanding virtual communities seems a prerequisite for the design of better communication systems. To clarify this debate, we will resort to the classical sociological distinction between small traditional communities (based on personal relations) and modern social groups (bound by looser, more impersonal links). We will argue that the discussion about virtual communities is often vitiated by a simplistic assimilation to traditional communities, whereas they may be in fact quite different and much more impersonal. Virtual communities are often bound by reference to common objects or goals, and not by personal relations. In this respect, virtual communities are just another example of a long-term evolution of modern society toward more abstract social relationships.