Understanding the factors that may impact the transfer, persistence, prevalence and recovery of DNA (DNA-TPPR), and the availability of data to assign probabilities to DNA quantities and profile types being obtained given particular scenarios and circumstances, is paramount when performing, and giving guidance on, evaluations of DNA findings given activity level propositions (activity level evaluations). In late 2018 and early 2019, three major reviews were published on aspects of DNA-TPPR, with each advocating the need for further research and other actions to support the conduct of DNA-related activity level evaluations. Here, we look at how challenges are being met, primarily by providing a synopsis of DNA-TPPR-related articles published since the conduct of these reviews and briefly exploring some of the actions taken by industry stakeholders towards addressing identified gaps. Much has been carried out in recent years, and efforts continue, to meet the challenges to continually improve the capacity of forensic experts to provide the guidance sought by the judiciary with respect to the transfer of DNA.
BackgroundScientific software incorporates models that capture fundamental domain knowledge. This software is becoming increasingly more relevant as an instrument for food research. However, scientific software is currently hardly shared among and (re-)used by stakeholders in the food domain, which hampers effective dissemination of knowledge, i.e. knowledge transfer.Scope and approachThis paper reviews selected approaches, best practices, hurdles and limitations regarding knowledge transfer via software and the mathematical models embedded in it to provide points of reference for the food community.Key findings and conclusionsThe paper focusses on three aspects. Firstly, the publication of digital objects on the web, which offers valorisation software as a scientific asset. Secondly, building transferrable software as way to share knowledge through collaboration with experts and stakeholders. Thirdly, developing food engineers' modelling skills through the use of food models and software in education and training.
In this study, the impact of a training program focusing on the deliberate use of interventions during coaching dialogues with prospective teachers was investigated. Video recordings were analyzed of coaching dialogues carried on in the workplace by 28 teachers in primary education with the prospective teachers under their guidance, both before and after they participated in the training program. The main goal of this program was to broaden the repertoire of interventions which coaches use in their dialogues with student teachers. The video recordings made were transcribed verbatim, coded by three independent researchers and analyzed using descriptive statistics and t tests for paired observations. Coaches repertoires of interventions were found to consist of an average of six types of interventions. This average remained stable throughout the training program. After training, a shift from directive towards non-directive interventions was observed. The length of the coaches speaking time decreased, while the number of their interventions increased. After training, coaches structured dialogues to a greater extent. Considerable interindividual variability existed between coaches. The relevance of these findings is that the deliberate use of interventions during coaching dialogue can be influenced through training with results noticeable in the workplace. The findings of this study suggest that the training program studied can serve relatively large numbers of teacher coaches, as its setup requires a feasible amount of effort from schools and participants.
Students in Higher Music Education (HME) are not facilitated to develop both their artistic and academic musical competences. Conservatoires (professional education, or ‘HBO’) traditionally foster the development of musical craftsmanship, while university musicology departments (academic education, or ‘WO’) promote broader perspectives on music’s place in society. All the while, music professionals are increasingly required to combine musical and scholarly knowledge. Indeed, musicianship is more than performance, and musicology more than reflection—a robust musical practice requires people who are versed in both domains. It’s time our education mirrors this blended profession. This proposal entails collaborative projects between a conservatory and a university in two cities where musical performance and musicology equally thrive: Amsterdam (Conservatory and University of Amsterdam) and Utrecht (HKU Utrechts Conservatorium and Utrecht University). Each project will pilot a joint program of study, combining existing modules with newly developed ones. The feasibility of joint degrees will be explored: a combined bachelor’s degree in Amsterdam; and a combined master’s degree in Utrecht. The full innovation process will be translated to a transferable infrastructural model. For 125 students it will fuse praxis-based musical knowledge and skills, practice-led research and academic training. Beyond this, the partners will also use the Comenius funds as a springboard for collaboration between the two cities to enrich their respective BA and MA programs. In the end, the programme will diversify the educational possibilities for students of music in the Netherlands, and thereby increase their professional opportunities in today’s job market.
Teachers have a crucial role in bringing about the extensive social changes that are needed in the building of a sustainable future. In the EduSTA project, we focus on sustainability competences of teachers. We strengthen the European dimension of teacher education via Digital Open Badges as means of performing, acknowledging, documenting, and transferring the competencies as micro-credentials. EduSTA starts by mapping the contextual possibilities and restrictions for transformative learning on sustainability and by operationalising skills. The development of competence-based learning modules and open digital badge-driven pathways will proceed hand in hand and will be realised as learning modules in the partnering Higher Education Institutes and badge applications open for all teachers in Europe.Societal Issue: Teachers’ capabilities to act as active facilitators of change in the ecological transition and to educate citizens and workforce to meet the future challenges is key to a profound transformation in the green transition.Teachers’ sustainability competences have been researched widely, but a gap remains between research and the teachers’ practise. There is a need to operationalise sustainability competences: to describe direct links with everyday tasks, such as curriculum development, pedagogical design, and assessment. This need calls for an urgent operationalisation of educators’ sustainability competences – to support the goals with sustainability actions and to transfer this understanding to their students.Benefit to society: EduSTA builds a community, “Academy of Educators for Sustainable Future”, and creates open digital badge-driven learning pathways for teachers’ sustainability competences supported by multimodal learning modules. The aim is to achieve close cooperation with training schools to actively engage in-service teachers.Our consortium is a catalyst for leading and empowering profound change in the present and for the future to educate teachers ready to meet the challenges and act as active change agents for sustainable future. Emphasizing teachers’ essential role as a part of the green transition also adds to the attractiveness of teachers’ work.
Bedrijven in de maakindustrie staan voor de grote uitdaging om vakkennis structureel te borgen en zo de concurrentiepositie te behouden. Vakkennis vloeit weg doordat vakmensen met pensioen gaan en de kennis die zij hebben opgebouwd moeilijk aan deze nieuwe medewerkers overdraagbaar is. Huidige vormen van een-op-een instructieleren zijn erg tijdsintensief en steeds minder haalbaar doordat er minder experts beschikbaar zijn. Werkinstructies vangen de nodige vakkennis onvoldoende en de vorm sluit niet goed aan bij de leerstijlen en behoeften van de nieuwe instroom. Augmented reality (AR) en bijpassende methodieken bieden een alternatief dat laagdrempelige manieren van vakkennis vangen (capture) en delen (transfer) mogelijk maakt. Het vangen wordt ondersteund door verschillende sensoren en algoritmes om acties te monitoren. Het terugkoppelen van informatie kan in een intuïtievere, gepersonaliseerde vorm op de juiste plek, moment en in de juiste context. Maakbedrijven zien de potentie van deze technologie voor het oplossen van hun probleem van kennisborging en training van de brede nieuwe instroom, maar missen de handvatten om dit goed op te pakken en in te zetten. Door de vele onzekerheden durven bedrijven de nodige investering niet aan te gaan. Negen bedrijven, twee lectoraten, netwerkpartners uit de XR & smart industry en een universitaire vakgroep bundelen in deze aanvraag hun krachten om te komen tot handvatten en richtlijnen om AR effectief in te kunnen zetten voor het vangen en aanbieden van vakkennis. Hiervoor worden praktische oplossingen ontwikkeld, geëvalueerd, en algemene lessen uit geabstraheerd. De geleerde lessen, ontwikkelde methodiek en demonstrator opstellingen worden algemeen beschikbaar gesteld voor de maakindustrie die deze technologie willen gebruiken voor behoud van kennis en optimale inzet van nieuwe werknemers, en bedrijven die dit soort technologische oplossingen ontwikkelen.
