Ongoing Development Project Research Articles

Linguistically responsive teacher identity construction through reflections on sociocultural pedagogical practices: Collaborating with secondary content area teachers of emergent bilinguals

AbstractThis article shares findings from the implementation of an ongoing National Professional Development (NPD) project that advances second language literacy and biliteracy in secondary content areas. The project is part of a research–practice partnership between a large public university and two school districts in south Texas that engages in‐service secondary school teachers seeking additional certification in English as a Second Language or Bilingual Education. Project activities adapt linguistically responsive theoretical and research perspectives to impact secondary teachers' knowledge, dispositions/beliefs, and practices. Analysis examines how secondary in‐service content‐area teachers reflect, narrate, and enact their professional identities as linguistically responsive teachers of emergent bilinguals (EBs) through professional learning activities. Findings describe how participants negotiated their identities as teachers of linguistically responsive instruction for EBs, as demonstrated through their engagement of reflective practices, digital language stories, and enactments of sociocultural pedagogical practices.

The meaning of social work leadership. A local development process to enhance social services and reduce school dropout

ABSTRACT The study presents findings about social work leadership from a formative dialogue research project following an ongoing service development project in a Norwegian social services office. From observation of team meetings and individual interviews with the leader and middle managers the study contributes to research on the meaning of social work leadership when changes are made within an organization. Traditional leadership theories often focus on individual leadership qualities, grounded in binaries of leaders and followers, but this study’s findings support newer theoretical approaches that underscore the importance of approaching leadership within a social constructivist framework, highlighting the processual and relational aspects of leadership. The study adds to the call for more qualitative studies that capture the complexity of social work leadership. One particular finding in this regard is narrativity as a promising approach for the understanding of leadership as co-production between stakeholders. The study has implications for both practice and education, as it is relevant for understanding leadership issues in social work contexts, which should to a greater extent be a topic in social work education.

Symposium 2: A tentative model for sustainable pedagogical digital competence development

This paper addresses one large university initiative for educational development aimed at further developing educations and teacher competence with a focus on technology-enhanced and lifelong learning. The aim of the paper is to describe and problematize the design of an ongoing project for educational development, Higher Education and Digitalisation (HEaD). It focuses on identifying key components of an educational development project for technology enhanced learning as well as how such a project can be organized to sustain in regular university operations. The article discusses how a project for educational development can create over-time durable infrastructures, organization, policy and motivation for maintaining a continual educational development. In the first phase of the project, a model was developed for how competence development can be conducted sustainably. This model contains two perspectives: (1) an organizational perspective that focuses on the key partners to be involved; and (2) a process perspective that focuses on activities and aims in strategic competence development projects. The tentative model with its two perspectives is described and discussed in this article as a preliminary result. The model includes four identified key entities and their roles in pedagogical digital competence development; academic departments and their faculty, educational developers, infrastructure and IT-department and the pedagogical research unit. Further, a process model based on existing support structures, complemented with activities that can be sustained after the HEaD project ends is presented.

Leveling up to honour ethical relationality: pedagogical documentation as methodological entanglement

ABSTRACT Education today is not simple nor does it occur in isolation. Educators, now more than ever, are teaching within the global context of calls to action for truth and reconciliation with Indigenous communities around the world and a growing awareness of the damage caused by unsustainable human consumption of the environment. Drawing from an ongoing professional development project involving educators across four childcare centres, this article explores “leveling up” using Pedagogical Documentation and Barad (2007) diffractive thinking to explore new ways to help our human-centred and colonised minds understand Indigenous world views and see ourselves as part of the environment. The way we view PD must be considered critically, knowing that when we work to name, produce, catalyse and move learning forward we must also attend to how various matters have come to matter and how we (as observers and documenters) are part of this relational encounter. What we name as educative in the teaching and learning processes rests on our world view. This article addresses the question: How might leveling up and diffractive methodology inform our use of Pedagogical Documentation and take us beyond traditional human centred and bounded ways of seeing the world and curriculum?

Predicting the outcome of regional development projects using machine learning

<p><span lang="EN-US">Morocco, in its pursuit of inclusive and sustainable territorial development, initiated the advanced regionalization experiment over six years ago. The primary challenge facing government officials today is the management of a burgeoning number of regional development projects. In this article we developed a predictive model based on artificial intelligence and Machine Learning to predict the outcomes of regional development projects, in order to identify the risks associated with their potential failure, and anticipate their impact. To accomplish this, we implemented various data mining techniques and classification algorithms. We collected and analyzed data from past and ongoing regional development projects, considering diverse factors that influence their success or failure. Through rigorous experimentation, we assessed the effectiveness of different predictive models. Our findings reveal that the Random Forest classifier stands out as an efficient algorithm for predicting the outcomes of regional development projects. This research contributes to the broader discourse on the practical implementation of artificial intelligence in public policy and regional development, showcasing its potential to optimize resource allocation, and alleviate the burden of repetitive administrative tasks for organizationsoperating with limited resources.</span></p>

Improvement of an order-to-cash business process by deploying lean six sigma tools: a case study

PurposeThis study is focused to support an ongoing development project of the case company's current state and the challenges of the order-to-cash (O2C) process. The O2C process is the most visible process to the customer, and therefore, its punctual and fluent order management is vital. It is observed that the high degree of manual work in the O2C process causes mistakes, delays and rework in the process. The purpose of this article is therefore to analyze the case company's current state of the O2C process as well as to identify the areas of development in this process by deploying the means of Lean Six Sigma tools such as value stream mapping (VSM).Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted as a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Based on both the quantitative and qualitative data, a workshop on VSM was organized to analyze the current state of the O2C process of a case company, engaged in the energy and environment sector in Finland.Findings The results found that excessive manual work was highly connected to inadequate or incorrect data in pricing and invoicing activities, which resulted in canceled invoices. Canceled invoices are visible to the customer and have a negative impact on the customer experience. This study found that by improving the performance of the O2C process activities and improving communication among the internal and external stakeholders, the whole O2C process can perform more effectively and provide better customer value.Originality/value The O2C process is the most visible process to the customer and therefore its punctual and fluent order management is vital. To ensure that the O2C process is operating as desired, suitable process performance metrics need to be aligned and followed. The results gathered from the case company's data, questionnaire interviews, and the VSM workshop are all highlighted in this study. The main practical and managerial implications were to understand the real-time O2C process performance, which is necessary to ensure strong performance and enhance continuous improvement of the O2C process that leads to operational excellence and commercial competitiveness of the studied case company.

Signal-Free Corridor Development and Their Impact on Pedestrians: Insights from Expert and Public Surveys

Increasing vehicular demand has compelled decision makers to turn urban roads into signal-free corridors (SFCs) in Lahore. These corridors aim at prioritizing car flow over other modes and consist of various car-centric projects (CCPs), such as continuous flow intersections, grade separation, and continuous through movement. These projects often ignore pedestrian requirements and, thus reduce pedestrian safety. Considering the ongoing development projects in Lahore, this study aimed at evaluating the concept of SFCs. A total of 6 existing SFCs were identified in Lahore, which lacked basic pedestrian infrastructure. An expert survey was then conducted to understand the purpose of creating these SFCs, their effects on pedestrians, and the way forward. The thematic analysis regarding the purpose of creating these SFCs and their effect on pedestrians indicated the prioritization of private cars and pedestrian safety issues as the two underlying themes. A questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate the perceptions of pedestrians on these two themes, i.e., pedestrian safety and car priority. Principle component analysis extracted two components labeled as pedestrian safety and car priority. Component scores were computed, and the three CCPs were then compared using non-parametrical tests in terms of both these components. According to the results, continuous flow intersections were declared to be significantly safer than continuous through movement and grade separation, whereas continuous flow intersection was found to be prioritizing cars over pedestrians significantly more than continuous through movement and grade separation. Finally, policy implications were presented for practitioners.

Determining critical success factors for residential reconstruction in the urban city from the perspective of developers

Urban renewal involves various stakeholders holding different expectations during transformation and development. Residents usually envision improved living conditions, whereas developers devote their efforts to land use integration in anticipation of receiving a fair share of profits. In this study, to investigate factors affecting the success of urban renewal projects, we analyzed both complete and ongoing development projects on the basis of theoretical foundations established in the relevant literature. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and importance–performance analysis (IPA) were used to explore the relationship among the occurrence frequencies, weights of factors, and cumulative construction cost ratios. The results indicate that the land integration process is crucial to the success of urban renewal projects. Developers must be aware of the importance of (1) resident approval rates of >90 %, (2) the complexity of ownership (integrating both private and public ownership), (3) environmental friendliness, (4) high bulk rewards, (5) the duration of case reviews, and (6) employing their professional skills to provide residents with a vision of their community after renewal; attention to these factors can increase resident approval rates. Nevertheless, urban renewal relies on the assistance of government agencies and can succeed only when the government, developers, and landowners cooperate. Herein, we discuss critical success factors (CSFs) for urban renewal from the developers’ perspective. When developers successfully assist residents in maximizing the benefits they can receive from residential redevelopment, they can gain valuable experience and skills to apply in future cases, continuing to further the goal of urban renewal.

Reflections on development and fishermen’s survival in Gwadar, Pakistan

This study explores the marginalization of a poor fishing community in Gwadar, Pakistan. The study provides an insight into how different levels of power, such as hidden, visible/pluralist, and invisible ideological powers, are used in policy arenas to hinder fishers’ access to participatory spaces, decision-making, and resource use. By employing Gaventa’s power cubes analytical model, we analyze fishers’ experiences and prevailing scenarios. Qualitative research methods were used to collect data, including in-depth interviews and participant observation. The finding shows that the interests of the fishing community in fishery policies and ongoing development projects are excluded both with intention and unintentionally. The exclusion of the local fisher community from key spaces brings interruptions and transformations that influence their lives. Due to this, they are induced to join insurgent groups to confront exclusion-based policies in Gwadar, Pakistan.

Analysis of the Economic Impact of Improved Connectivity in Nepal

This study has estimated the economic impacts of ongoing and future infrastructure development projects in Nepal by using the geographical simulation model developed by the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-GSM). The IDE-GSM is a computational general equilibrium model based on spatial economics. The simulation analysis reveals that ongoing infrastructure development projects in Nepal benefit the country’s economy and that the planned connectivity improvement with India will have a positive impact, with an anticipated major shift in the mode of transport for trade. JEL Classification: C68, F17

Species composition and diversity of waterbird communities in Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) of South West Johor Coast, Malaysia

Abstract. Fauzi NA, Munian K, Shah AKMK, Norazlimi NA. 2023. Species composition and diversity of waterbird communities in Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) of South West Johor Coast, Malaysia. Biodiversitas 24: 3471-3480. Mangroves play a crucial role in supporting intertidal flats and providing habitats that enrich benthic communities, which in turn serve as feeding grounds for coastal waterbirds. However, the degradation of mangrove habitats caused by coastal reclamation activities indirectly impacts prey availability and, consequently, the populations of waterbirds. The coastline habitat along the Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) of the South West Johor Coast is currently under threat due to new and ongoing development projects involving large-scale reclamation activities. Therefore, this research was conducted to study the diversity and abundance of waterbirds and their relationship with prey availability. The study was conducted in three coastal mudflat sites along the South West Johor Coast, namely Tanjung Piai, Pontian Kechil, and Muar, from November 2020 to May 2021. The direct observation technique was used to determine the abundance of waterbirds, while the benthic core sampling method was employed to assess prey availability in all study sites. In total, 3,717 individual waterbirds, comprising 17 species, were counted across the three study sites. The study confirmed a significant positive relationship between the abundance of waterbirds and prey availability (R2=0.501). The results of this study serve as important baseline data and references for the conservation of waterbirds along the South West Johor Coast. Through the study, we believe that the relevant authorities are able to formulate sound conservation strategies to preserve the habitat for a vast diversity of waterbirds.

Access and Emergence: A Case Study of a Working-Class Journey into Studying Medicine

Abstract Analysis of data on school leavers in Scotland points towards considerable inequality in access to higher education. This is highlighted in terms of participation in higher education by young people from lower-income households or identifying as first in their families to consider going to university. The situation is more acute in terms of access to the most competitive courses leading to careers in medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry and law. This paper draws on data from an ongoing research and development project in the area of mentoring to present a case study of a young woman progressing an application to study medicine. Drawing on the concept of Academic Capital Formation it illuminates the ways in which institutional practices advance or impede access to higher education and particularly, to those courses which facilitate entry into high status professional occupations. The findings in this research problematise current thinking about how to widen participation in higher education and the most competitive professions.

Implementing and maintaining an evergreen risk screening program in an exploration and production company

A risk screening program has been developed to identify facilities that have the potential impact to public and environmental receptors. This allows the company to assess and effectively manage the risks associated with these facilities through their internal “Specialized Field Risk Management” (SFRM) program. Conducting risk screening and keeping it current in an operating environment is very challenging because of the large number of ongoing development projects, the frequent changes of operating conditions, and public encroachment on these facilities. This paper presents a systematic approach to implement and keep this risk screening program evergreen under these changing conditions. In this approach, existing project management systems such as Management of Change and Well Execution Planner were leveraged to develop and convey the risk screening workflow. In areas of concern such as public encroachment, where monitoring processes were not in place, a risk screening workflow was created to address the gap. This risk screening workflow was also integrated into asset acquisition due diligence activities to support these important business decisions. These workflows were consolidated into a single robust risk screening program managed by a centralized functional group. This program has been proven effective in identifying and avoiding potential high offsite risks in the planning stage of a project, as well as to help manage these risks through the asset’s life cycle.

Erosion Risk Level at Cameron Highlands with Regards to Soil Erosion Loss

The agricultural activities and urban developments in Cameron Highlands have made them vulnerable to erosion. This situation has been supported by the fact that many ongoing and new proposed development projects have taken place in the Cameron Highlands. Thus, this study evaluates soil loss risk levels by catchment and sub-districts (mukim) in Cameron Highlands using the USLE model with GIS application. The USLE model covers the six factors namely rainfall erosivity, soil erodibility, slope length and steepness, cover management, and conservation practice. In earlier studies, PLANMalaysia and the Department of Agriculture Malaysia recorded land use and land cover have produced different soil loss risk levels in Cameron Highlands. Land-use data from PLANMalaysia represents town construction and development, while land-use data from the Department of Agriculture represents agricultural impact. Based on the result, the soil loss risk level produced by REDAC USM has predicted that 6.72 per cent in Cameron Highlands possess 'HIGH' risk or higher. On the other hand, soil loss risk levels produced using data from PLANMalaysia and the Department of Agriculture have predicted 10.08 per cent and 5.95 per cent, respectively. This new soil loss risk level could guide farmers and local authorities to control current land-use practices, encouraging soil conservation, and minimising soil loss in Cameron Highlands.

Performances of Holiday Climate Index (HCI) for Urban and Beach Destinations in Sri Lanka under Changing Climate

Climate change has had a significant impact on the tourism industry in many countries, leading to changes in policies and adaptations to attract more visitors. However, there are few studies on the effects of climate change on Sri Lanka’s tourism industry and income, despite its importance as a destination for tourists. A study was conducted to analyze the holiday climate index (HCI) for Sri Lanka’s urban and beach destinations to address this gap. The analysis covered historical years (2010–2018) and forecasted climatic scenarios (2021–2050 and 2071–2100), and the results were presented as colored maps to highlight the importance of HCI scores. Visual analysis showed some correlation between HCI scores and tourist arrivals, but the result of the overall correlation analysis was not significant. However, a country-specific correlation analysis revealed interesting findings, indicating that the changing climate can be considered among other factors that impact tourist arrivals. The research proposes that authorities assess the outcomes of the study and conduct further research to develop adaptive plans for Sri Lanka’s future tourism industry. The study also investigated potential scenarios for beach and urban destinations under two climate scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) for the near and far future, presenting the findings to tourism industry stakeholders for any necessary policy changes. As Sri Lanka expects more Chinese visitors in the future due to ongoing development projects, this study could be valuable for policymakers and industry stakeholders when adapting to changing climate and future tourist behavior. While more research is needed to fully understand the effects of climate change on Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, this study serves as a starting point for future investigations.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS FOR DIGITAL AGRICULTURE IN POLAND

The aim of the article was to present a systematic review of research and development projects that included research tasks and proposals relevant to digitalization of agriculture in Poland. The transformation towards digital agriculture is currently one of the most important developmental challenges facing farms in Poland. The use of digital technologies and smart devices designed to optimize agricultural production and farm management processes is no longer just a matter of choice, but a necessity determined by the need to achieve climate, environmental and sustainable development goals. Research and development works carried out in the wide agri-food innovation ecosystem are of fundamental importance for the prospects of exploiting the opportunities offered by the current technological and digital revolution. However, information on ongoing and past research and development projects financed from the public funds is dispersed. The conducted review shows that although the number of projects and actions that support digital transformation in the Polish agricultural sector has increased in recent years, their scope remains limited. There is an insufficient number of interdisciplinary projects that encompass not only technological, but also socio-economic aspects of digitalization processes. Taking into account the need to both accelerate digital transformation in agriculture and to promote responsible research and innovation practices, it would be advisable to increase outlays for research and development projects that would support digitalization of Polish farms in holistic and systemic ways.

Network planning of metro-based underground logistics system against mixed uncertainties: A multi-objective cooperative co-evolutionary optimization approach

Featured with zero-carbon, jam-free, and high-capacity, the utilization of metro systems for collaborative passenger-and-freight transport (i.e., the metro-based underground logistics system, M-ULS) has been recognized as a favorable alternative to realize automated goods movement in future megacities. This paper proposes an equilibrium chance-constrained programming (ECP) approach for the M-ULS network planning problem (MULNP) considering uncertain demand and costs. Based on the ongoing satellite city development project, the layout formation, facility components, and transportation workflows of a two-tier M-ULS network are designed. The joint decisions (i.e., location, allocation, capacity, inventory, spoke pipeline layout, and flow routing) are formulated as an ECP model with conjoint objectives of minimal fixed cost, operating cost, and penalty cost due to low operating load, wherein the chance-based constraints are further reformulated into crisp equivalent form. To yield high-quality solutions for MULNP problem, an improved multi-objective cooperative co-evolutionary algorithm (MoCC) incorporating non-dominated sorting and chromosomal recombination strategy is proposed and then validated via two groups of instances. Results from the Beijing case study suggest that the proposed method has computational advantages over MoPSO and NSGA-II in acquiring Pareto fronts of large-scale MULNP. The best configurations and layout schemes of the M-ULS networks in both uncertain and deterministic scenarios are analyzed. Based on the findings, several insights for real-world M-ULS network decision-making are provided.

Challenges with the electrification of aircraft for a sustainable and greener aviation

Electric aircraft is a promising technological development in the aviation industry, and it will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fuel costs while increasing the efficiency of aircraft. There are also some challenges with electric aircraft, as in every new technology. These are storage technology, electric propulsion system comprising electric machine and power electronics converters, protection devices, wiring, thermal management of components, certification, and system/component integration. Electrification is once started with more electric aircraft, and ongoing research and development projects will light the way for the fully electric aircraft era in the future. This paper highlights the challenges of aircraft electrification and presents the current situation on electrification.

Die Produktive Stadt: eine Einordnung und Typologie für die Weiterentwicklung von Städten

Abstract As a result of the New Leipzig Charter 2020 and the general shift towards a service society, the small business economic structure in cities is once again becoming significantly more relevant. Under the concept of the “Productive City”, small businesses are to be integrated more strongly into the existing various neighborhoods of a city. In order to implement the concept of the Productive City in practice, a typology with quantitative factors is needed to assign completed, ongoing and future urban development projects to the Productive City.

Appraisal of T.P. scheme: A study of allotment for TP 18 & 20 of Vadodara, Gujarat, India

For urban planners in the majority of nations, the transition of rural and urban peripheral land for intensive and higher-order urban uses presents a significant problem. These issues are particularly significant in India because of the country's rapid physical expansion, intense population pressures, and ineffective institutional and administrative procedures. In addition, as the Indian Constitution assigns state jurisdiction over urban problems, there are regional differences in the law, government, and legal procedures governing urban land. Therefore, it frequently happens that mechanisms used in one state are unknown in different states. In general, India has used two strategies to control new urban growth. The one is "land acquisition." And anotheris the “land readjustment and pooling” or Town planning Schemes (TP) method. The policy recommended in this study advocates for revisions to the GTPUD Act to lessen the administrative approach and promote the decentralised planning strategy stated in the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act. According to some, giving both positive and adverse exclusions to land allocations made under Section 40 of the GTPUD Act can help the town planner connect the numerous ongoing development projects and broaden the buffer's coverage. The surveillance system for the Town Planning Scheme's implementation will be built using a decentralised strategy involving state and non-state institutions. In order to develop plans for immediate, mid-term, and long-term activities, I urge the member Ministries, State Governments, and City Governments to evaluate this research and expand further on it. We can’t develop urban India without Re-evaluating the TP scheme mechanism indicated in the conclusion of this document. Key Words: town planning Schemes, Gujarat Town planning and Urban Development Act, GTPUD, allotments, reservation, Gujarat