Interview with Erica Uszak: Scholarship Recipient for 2018 CWI Summer Conference

Recently, the CWI reached out to Erica Uszak ’22 to reflect on her experience at the 2018 CWI Summer Conference. Uszak, currently a freshman at Gettysburg College studying History and the Civil War, was one of ten high school students to receive a scholarship to attend the conference. Any high school student with an interest in history is eligible to apply for the High School Scholarship. [excerpt

Public Perceptions of the Midwest’s Pavements - Wisconsin - Phase I (Winter Ride)

The Wisconsin Winter Ride Survey was designed to determine the extent to which drivers were tolerant of the rougher ride of pavements on rural two-lane highways in the winter. Survey objectives, as such, were centered around this primary question of winter ride tolerance. A telephone survey was conducted by the Wisconsin Survey Research Laboratory (WSRL), which added questions to its quarterly Wisconsin Opinion Poll for the data collection period of January 15 to March 15, 1997. A similar survey focusing only on the topic of winter driving on rural highways was conducted in Minnesota during the same period. Random digit dial samples were drawn for both states according to accepted sampling procedure. The survey data set provided by WSRL included 417 respondents. Conclusions derived from the Wisconsin Winter Ride Survey included the following. Overall, Wisconsin respondents were predominately tolerant of the pavement’s potentially rougher ride in winter. Three-fourths of the 173 respondents who had noticed a change in the pavement indicated that they were more tolerant of the rough ride in winter than they would be the rest of the year. The extent to which motorists noticed changes in the pavement was influenced by the driving and vehicle characteristics. Respondents who drove more frequently on rural two-lane highways and those driving trucks, full-size vans or sport utility vehicles were more 2 likely to notice changes. The latter finding suggests that differences in suspension and ride entered in for respondents driving cars versus those driving trucks. It follows, therefore, that noticing pavement changes generally increased as ratings of the vehicle’s ride quality declined

Inmigración y diversidad: implicaciones para la formación de profesores de matemáticas

Este trabajo utiliza mi trayectoria profesional en educación matemática para presentar propuestas concretas y áreas de investigación en el tema de formación de profesores de matemáticas para aulas multiculturales. Señalo la urgencia de crear un mayor acercamiento entre los que trabajan temas como creencias y conocimientos de los profesores y los que trabajan temas de equidad en contextos multiculturales. Centrándome en la necesidad de conocer y entender el contexto sociocultural de los alumnos, subrayo la importancia de la valoración del conocimiento, la necesidad de rechazar una pedagogía basada en una visión de déficit hacia los alumnos de minorías, y la importancia de involucrar a los profesores en actividades donde puedan reflexionar sobre su práctica y desarrollar enfoques más participativos

Skills for multiagency responses to international crises

Overview Australian responses to international, complex emergencies and humanitarian crises, generated by natural disaster, conflicts or incidents, demand the coordinated responses of multiple civil-military-police actors and agencies. A scoping study of Australian government agency training needs in the latter half of 2013 indicated that stakeholder agencies continue to have difficulty in identifying and developing individual skills to enable people to operate effectively in a high-pressure crisis environment that requires an integrated civil-military-police response. Agencies highlighted the need to develop a ‘whole-of-government’ set of skills for civil-military-police interaction that would complement agency specific skills. In 2015, the Australian Civil-Military Centre (ACMC) commissioned Sustineo to undertake a project to address this gap. This report, based on Sustineo’s research and consultations, goes some way to identifying the skills needed for effective civil-military-police interaction. However, the list is not exhaustive. In fact, the report highlights the difficulty of articulating a specific set of multiagency, cross-cutting skills for civil-military-police interaction. Practitioners gave consistent advice that specific skills were less important than other factors in successful civil-military-police interaction. Skills and training are only one component of success. The factors that can facilitate and enhance civil-military-police interaction and the strategies required to address those factors are much broader. The report highlights some of these broader factors and how they interrelate. It identifies the interdependence of individual knowledge, skills and attributes, the value of building relationships, the importance of tolerance and understandings of difference and the need for trust and credibility. The report concludes that an individual’s ability to operate effectively in a civil-military-police environment is developed both prior to and during a mission or deployment and relates more to the type of person and their relationships than to specific skills. Generic skills and attributes for effective civil-military-police interaction Common and shared goals Situational awareness Understanding of whole-of-government Personal attributes such as flexibility, resilience and working in a team Professional skills, such as negotiation, mediation, conflict management and partnership brokering Existing professional relationships and networks Trust Self-awareness (and social and emotional intelligence) Tolerance of diversity (including of organisational differences and cultural diversity). The report identifies considerations for developing people for deployments and it is hoped that these will inform agencies’ training and development strategies. The findings support the ongoing work that the ACMC is undertaking to develop an Australian Government Preparedness Framework (the Framework). The Framework will draw together several streams of work that are interrelated, including this report, to further build Australia’s whole-of-government effectiveness in responding to disasters and complex emergencies overseas

Australian Government guiding principles for civil-military-police interaction in international disaster and conflict management

The Australian Government’s Guiding Principles for Civil-Military-Police Interaction in International Disaster and Conflict Management (the Guiding Principles) has been developed by the Australian Civil-Military Centre (ACMC) in collaboration with the departments of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), Defence (ADF), Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Attorney-General’s (AGD), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID). The Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Treasury have also reviewed and contributed to the Guiding Principles. The purpose of this document is to outline five strategic principles, agreed at working and senior levels across government, to inform policy and planning for international disaster and conflict management. The Guiding Principles does not seek to replace current multiagency 1 or single agency documents and policies. It aims to provide common strategic imperatives to improve the effectiveness of whole-ofgovernment collaboration in a multiagency environment. The Guiding Principles is designed to build on the unique capabilities of all stakeholders. The agreed principles are: > Clearly define strategic objectives and operational roles and responsibilities > Engage proactively > Share knowledge and understanding > Leverage organisational diversity > Commit to continuous improvement

Implantació d'un tren tramvia a la comarca del Bages

Premi al millor Projecte de Fi de Carrera presentat durant el curs 2009-2010 en l'àmbit de Mobilitat Sostenible que atorga TMB i Ferrocarril Metropolità de BarcelonaLa comarca del Bages es caracteritza a la situació actual per l’ús massiu del transport privat en els desplaçaments amb la consegüent participació escassa del transport públic en la mobilitat dels seus habitants. Aquest fet, propiciat per l’escassa oferta de transport col·lectiu que no satisfà les necessitats de mobilitat de la zona, comporta la congestió de la xarxa viària i un escenari mediambiental insostenible. Presentada aquesta situació, el present projecte té com a objecte l’estudi de la viabilitat de la implantació d’un nou sistema de transport que modifiqui el repartiment modal actual de manera que augmenti la proporció de l’ús del transport públic. A tal fi, es proposa avaluar les repercussions en quant a mobilitat i econòmiques que aportarà l’arribada d’aquest nou sistema a la oferta de transport. L’existència de dues línies de mercaderies que s’estenen actualment des de Manresa fins a Súria i Sallent, tot passant per Santpedor i Callús, i la voluntat de donar cobertura a la ciutat de Manresa i altres poblacions del seu entorn com Sant Joan de Vilatorrada o Sant Fruitós de Bages, aconsella dissenyar un sistema d’explotació intermedi entre un ferrocarril i un tramvia, l’anomenat tren-tramvia. Aquest sistema comporta una disminució del consum energètic i una reducció notable de les emissions de gasos contaminants. Per tal d’avaluar els beneficis que aportarà el nou sistema en el repartiment modal, es modelitza la mobilitat entre les diferents zones dels municipis considerats mitjançant les dades de l’Enquesta de la Mobilitat Quotidiana 2006. A continuació es fa ús del model teòric Logit amb la finalitat d’estimar la demanda del tren-tramvia que implicarà un nou escenari de mobilitat en la situació futura. Aquesta situació de futur pren tres valors (any 2012, 2014, 2015) depenent de l’extensió a la que dóna cobertura el nou sistema. L’avaluació econòmica pel tren-tramvia és rendible per a l’escenari futur a l’any 2015. La implantació del nou mode suposaria un estalvi de costos econòmics i socials provinents de l’increment del percentatge de desplaçaments realitzats en aquest mode. No només reduiria el consum energètic sinó que també es disminuirien les emissions de gasos d’efecte hivernacle per passatger.Award-winnin