Scour at Bridge Piers Protected by the Riprap Sloping Structure: A Review

Bridge piers on large rivers are often protected from scouring using launchable stone, such as a riprap sloping structure. While such scour countermeasures are effective for pier protection, they significantly alter flow conditions in the bridge opening by overtopping flow and flow contraction, deflecting the formation of the scour hole downstream and exposing the downstream riverbed to additional scour. This paper provides a comprehensive and relevant review of bridge scour estimation methods for piers with a riprap sloping structure installed as a scour countermeasure. Research on empirical methods for bridge scour estimation is reviewed and analyzed with formulae used for comparable structures—complex pier formulae and formulae for river training structures. A summary of relevant formulae applicable to piers with installed scour countermeasures is provided, as well as a discussion on the possible future research directions that could contribute to the field.

Investigating Cascade Training of CEFR-Aligned Standards-Based English Language Curriculum (SBELC) in Rural Malaysia

This article describes a study to understand teachers’ experience in implementing the CEFR-Aligned Standards-Based English Language Curriculum (SBELC) in rural Sabah, Malaysia. The literature review revealed many cases where curriculum reform was not implemented as intended due to factors such as inappropriate training structures and inadequate training, understanding, and resources. Compared to other regions in Malaysia, rural Sabah schools may face a more acute situation due to teachers’ lack of experience and resource shortages for the implementation of training and teaching. In this study, the researchers interviewed six teachers, with two of them also serving as trainers of the new curriculum. Transcripts were analysed using deductive thematic analysis. The codes revealed that teachers in general had a positive training experience that was reflective, open to reinterpretation, and with a degree of decentralisation of expertise. There were also issues where quality of training deteriorated as the levels progressed, due to lack of resources allocated. This article offers some suggestions to enhance rural Sabah teachers’ training experience. A quantitative study of a larger scale should be done to further confirm the findings of this study.

Tecnologías digitales y ecologías de aprendizaje: desafíos y oportunidades

La tecnología ha devenido, hoy en día, un factor primordial de cuyo adecuado empleo depende en gran medida el funcionamiento de los diversos contextos del aprendizaje humano. La teoría ecológica del aprendizaje considera el factor tecnológico como un componente especialmente relevante. Además, las tecnologías digitales están potenciando el desarrollo de nuevas oportunidades de aprendizaje que trascienden las fronteras temporales y geográficas, y propician sistemas que rompen el encorsetamiento de las estructuras de formación formal dando paso a ambientes flexibles, expandidos y diversos desde los que se favorecen mecanismos de aprendizaje informal. Desde esta perspectiva, y de cara a la construcción de tales contextos, resulta conveniente disponer de un marco de referencia paradigmático acerca de las oportunidades que las TIC puedan presentar y, paralelamente, valorar también la problemática asociada a su empleo. Para la identificación de este elenco de affordances tecnológicas, hemos seguido el método Delphi, en cuyo desarrollo han colaborado diversos expertos nacionales e internacionales. El análisis de resultados confirma el papel destacado de los usos tecnológicos en los contextos de aprendizaje actuales, y desvela su funcionamiento en íntima relación con los demás componentes que los integran. Resaltan no solo los aspectos potenciadores del aprendizaje, como son, entre otros, la facilitación de diversas herramientas de comunicación, acceso e intercambio de información, su potencialidad para la creación de vínculos entre personas y comunidades, y la transformación de los roles educativos. Se desvela también la emergencia de ciertas barreras en su empleo, como la ausencia de estrategias de uso. En este sentido, y siempre sobre la base del análisis de la configuración concreta de cada contexto, de sus elementos e interrelaciones, puede manejarse un marco de referencia general de affordances tecnológicas que sirva de guía para el desarrollo de una ecología de aprendizaje auténtica. Currently technology has become a primary factor in the various contexts of human learning, that depend, in a large extend, on the proper use of ICT. The ecological theory of learning considers the technological factor as a particularly relevant component of learning contexts. In addition, digital technologies are driving the development of new learning opportunities that transcend temporal and geographical borders and favor systems that break the confinement of formal training structures, giving way to flexible, expanded and diverse environments that generate informal learning mechanisms. From this perspective and with a view to the construction of such contexts, it seems convenient to have a paradigmatic frame of reference of the opportunities that ICTs can present. To identify this list of technological affordances, we have proceed through the Delphi method, in whose development various national and international experts have collaborated. The analysis of results confirms the prominent role of ICT in modern learning contexts and their operation in close relationship with the other components that comprise them. Their affordances for improving learning can be highlighted, such as, among others, the facilitation of various communication tools, access and exchange of information, their potential for creating links between people and communities, and the transformation of educational roles. In this sense, and always on the basis of the analysis of the specific configuration of each context in question, its elements and interrelations, a general framework of technological affordances can be used to serve as a guide for the development of an authentic learning ecology.

How does practice change across the season? A descriptive study of the training structures and practice activities implemented by a professional Australian football team

There is limited research investigating objective practice monitoring in team sports. This observational study examined the practice activities used by eight professional coaches across 72 different practice sessions in one season within a professional Australian football team. This study aimed to evaluate the extent to which these practice types differed from those shown to facilitate skill acquisition in team sports. Across the whole season (pre-season and in-season), coaches implemented seven practice types which were categorised into training-form and playing-form. Practice type frequencies were different between pre- and in-season (χ2 = 109.6, p < 0.001). Significant differences were reported for practice type duration between pre-season and in-season (p = 0.023, d=–0.17), where in-season activities were longer. Coaches implemented a higher percentage of practice time to playing-form activities in-season (62.0 [Formula: see text] 25.4) compared to pre-season (52.4 [Formula: see text] 19.8) [95%CI: –2.35:21.4]. Coaches were more likely to alter the frequency of practice types, rather than the exposure time. Players performed more training-form activities during pre-season than in-season (χ2 = 30.8, p < 0.001). There were no differences in playing-form activities between pre- and in-season. This study provides insights into the practice activities implemented by professional Australian football coaches and discusses the extent to which they represent best practice in the context of skill acquisition.

Post-professionalism and allied health

This chapter explores post-professional roles in detail, and the implications of these roles for the allied health professions generally. One relatively unique feature of the allied health professions is the extent of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary working across the continuum of professionalisation. These trans- and interdisciplinary relationships can be negotiated at a team or institutional level; however, they are also formalised into recognised training structures and professional hierarchies, particularly in the fields of diabetes education, mental health and in generic assessment and case management roles, such as with the National Disability Insurance Scheme in Australia and with intermediate and transitional care for older people in the UK.

Torn between the Old and New World of Work: Insights into the Modernised Semi-Profession of the Fashion IndustryDate submitted: December 31, 2019Date accepted after double-blind review: February 1, 2021

This paper explores how persistent gender inequalities of the old world of work are amplified by the new world of work. Focusing on the fashion industry of Berlin, the article offers insight into a female-dominated field of labour as a particular field of labour of the cultural and creative industries (CCI). The CCI is regarded as a role model for new work. However, they entail deep gender inequalities in terms of segregation, low status and low pay. The paper addresses the question of how these gendered inequalities in the fashion industry are intertwined with its professional mechanisms and training structures. Based on a qualitative study, I argue that the fashion industry is a modernised semi-profession, which has been undergoing a market-driven professionalisation. However, this new pathway into the fashion industry fails to fully professionalise that industry. On contrary, it erects new occupational barriers into the field of labour that help establish high qualified and low qualified fashion work that also aids in polarising the still mostly female workforce in terms of status and rewards. Overall, it should become clear that the fashion industry is torn between the old and new world of work which helps to maintain or even reinforce traditional gender inequalities.