Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An independent inspectorate? Addressing the paradoxes of educational inspection in 2013

Recent changes in the English education system have resulted in the September 2012 Inspection framework. To a far greater extent than its predecessors this schedule looks to create a stronger relationship between the inspection agency Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education), and to extend the agency's already substantial reach and influence into the areas of teacher professional development and pupil attainment. An explicitly far tougher framework, the 2012 schedule places far greater emphasis on teaching and learning and on lesson observation as a means of judging teacher effectiveness and pupil attainment whilst concomitantly aiming to enhance the credibility of both judgements and agency by creating an enhanced professional relationship between inspectors and school staff. Drawing on Clarke's theoretical framework of performance paradoxes in public service inspection, this paper argues that in attempting to address concerns over the agencies' independence, the 2012 Inspection Framework and concomitant re-modelling of the inspection workforce serve rather to compound them. The paper concludes that this combined with profound changes in the English educational landscape presents problems for the agency which may in the longer term prove intractable.
Modified bacterial cellulose tubes for regeneration of damaged peripheral nerves

Introduction The subject of the experiment was bacterial nanocellulose, a natural polymer produced by bacteria – Gluconacetobacter xylinus. Following a specific modification process a cartilage-like material for restoration of damaged tissues may be produced. The obtained implants with excellent biocompatibility, mouldability, biophysical and chemical properties perfectly fit the needs of reconstructive surgery. The goal of the experiment was to develop and analyze cellulosic guidance channels in vivo for the reconstruction of damaged peripheral nerves. Material and methods The experiments were conducted on Wistar rats, femoral nerve. Cellulose was produced according to a self-patented method. In the experimental group tubulization was applied, whereas in the control traditional end-to-end connection was used. Observation time was 30, 60, 90, and 180 days. Results evaluation included histological analysis and postoperative observation of motor recovery. Results The overgrowth of connective tissue and disorganisation of neural structures was evident in 86.67% of control specimens, while for cellulosic group it was only 35% (p = 0.0022). Tubulization prevented the excessive proliferation of connective tissue and isolated from penetration with scar tissue. Autocannibalism, being probably an evidence of neurotrophic factors amassment, was observed in cellulosic group but not in the control one. Motor recovery did not differ significantly (p > 0.05). Biocompatibility of implants was affirmed by very small level of tissue response and susceptibility to vascularisation. Conclusions Cellulosic neurotubes effectively prevent the formation of neuromas. They are of very good biocompatibility and allow the accumulation of neurotrophic factors inside, thus facilitating the process of nerve regeneration.
Statesmanship and Party Government: A Study of Burke and Bolingbroke

In this incisive look at early modern views of party politics, Harvey C. Mansfield examines the pamphlet war between Edmund Burke and the followers of Henry St. John, First Viscount Bolingbroke during the mid-eighteenth century. In response to works by Bolingbroke published posthumously, Burke created his most eloquent advocacy of the party system. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the material, Mansfield shows that present-day parties must be understood in the light of the history of party government. The complicated organization and the public actions of modern parties are the result, he contends, and not the cause of a great change in opinion about parties. Mansfield points out that while parties have always existed, the party government that we know today is possible only because parties are now considered respectable. In Burke's day, however, they were thought by detractors to be a cancer in a free polity. Burke, however, was an early champion of the party system in Britain and made his arguments with a clear-eyed realism. In "Statesmanship and Party Government", Mansfield provides a skillful evaluation of Burke's writings and sheds light on present-day party politics.
Providing writing and language support for students who have English as a second language – a pilot study

This paper reports on a pilot project which provided writing support for registered nurses undertaking Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and for pre‐registration nursing students. Both groups of students have English as a second language (ESL). The aims of the project were to extend the scope of the available writing support within the faculty for ESL students through the provision of one‐to‐one sessions and workshops. In addition, workshops were provided for lecturers to improve their understanding of the barriers faced by ESL students. Literature indicates that communication with tutors and the need for clear feedback are important factors for ESL students. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from questionnaires completed by participants after teaching sessions and were analysed against pre‐agreed success criteria. Findings indicate that students were very positive about the effectiveness of the sessions in helping them improve their academic writing. Additionally, three themes emerged from the student data: reasons for using the ELS support service; what they liked most about the ELS service and suggestions for improvements to the service. Data from staff show that the sessions have given staff a greater insight into the problems faced by ESL students.
Introduction to the Social and Psychological Dynamics of Collective Action

Collective action is one of the core mechanisms of social change, and thus of major importance to social scientists, practitioners, and policy-makers. Our goal in editing this issue is to bring together recent advances on the social and psychological dynamics of collective action among members of disadvantaged as well as advantaged groups. This article introduces the contributions to this issue after a brief review of the major psychological perspectives on collective action (social identity, relative deprivation, and resource mobilization theories), and a discussion of the considerable diversity in collective action research in terms of contexts, populations, and measures. We hope that this issue contributes to a more multi-faceted and integrative understanding of the social and psychological dynamics of collective action in terms of theory, research, policy, and practice.
Sample-and-Hold Inputs for Minimum-Phase Behavior of Nonminimum-Phase Systems

The advantages of minimum-phase (MP) systems for control applications are well known. Prior research has shown that a non-MP (NMP) system can be discretized to an MP system using either a zero-order hold (ZOH) or a square-pulse sample-and-hold input (SHI). This paper investigates the MP characteristics of the discrete-time (DT) system obtained by discretizing a continuous-time single-input single-output NMP system using different SHIs. Two new SHIs (forward and backward triangular) are studied in addition to the square pulse. Numerical simulations were adopted for studying the MP property of the resulting DT system as a function of sample-and-hold parameters. The simulation results show that it is possible to find a smaller sampling period that results in an MP DT system using the proposed SHIs compared with the ZOH. The q-Markov cover system identification with pseudorandom binary signal was then used for a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation study. A resistor-capacitor filter was used to represent the implementation error of the SHI due to unmodeled actuator dynamics. The HIL simulation results show that the proposed SHI scheme is robust to actuator modeling error. The MP properties of the DT systems with three SHIs are compared. The results show that the forward triangle SHI has the best performance due to its robustness to unmodeled actuator dynamics and the capability of retaining the MP property of the discretized system at small sampling periods.
A tunable language model for statistical machine translation

A novel variation of modified KNESER-NEY model using monomial discounting is presented and integrated into the MOSES statistical machine translation toolkit. The language model is trained on a large training set as usual, but its new discount parameters are tuned to the small development set. An in-domain and cross-domain evaluation of the language model is performed based on perplexity, in which sizable improvements are obtained. Additionally, the performance of the language model is also evaluated in several major machine translation tasks including Chinese-to-English. In those tests, the test data is from a (slightly) different domain than the training data. The experimental results indicate that the new model significantly outperforms a baseline model using SRILM in those domain adaptation scenarios. The new language model is thus ideally suited for domain adaptation without sacrificing performance on in-domain experiments.
Dynamic Tailoring and Cloud-Based Deployment of Containerized Service Middleware

The emergence and consolidation of container-based virtualization techniques has simplified and accelerated the development, provisioning, and deployment of applications for the Cloud. When considering the case of composite service-based applications that rely on service middleware solutions for their operation, container-based virtualization offers the opportunity for rapid and efficient building and deployment of lightweight, optimally configured middleware instances. As such, it provides an ideal tool for the purposes of cloudifying existing middleware solutions and offering them as part of larger PaaS offerings. As part of this effort, our investigation focuses on leveraging and evaluating a container-based virtualization environment towards enabling the assembly, provisioning, and execution of dynamically tailored instances to satisfy service middleware communication requirements of specific applications. For these purposes we scope the discussion on one particular type of messaging middleware for composite service applications, the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) technology.
Measurement of Adult Hand Strength: A Comparison of Two Instruments

The purpose of this study was (a) to compare the Jamar Dynamometer, which is widely used to test hand strength, with the Vigorimeter, a commercially available but less well known instrument and (b) to establish norms for use of the Vigorimeter. A total of 486 adults ranging in age from 16 to 79 were tested for right- and left-hand strength using both devices. Correlations between the two instruments were moderately strong, suggesting reasonable comparability. Correlations for strength and age, although statistically significant, were so low as to be of little practical use. However, correlations between right- and left-hand strength were strong, and right- to left-hand ratios that were developed for both instruments were found to be accurate and stable in predicting hand strength across age ranges.
Structural tests of slave clock gating in low-power flip-flop

A novel slave clock-gating technique in [5] is designed to save power when the master and slave latches of a low-power flip-flop reach certain correlated states (e.g., both latches are at logic 0 or 1). Testing this clock-gating circuit is essential for power-sensitive applications, but is also very challenging. This is because power consumption increase is its only defective behavior, and it involves cell internal states, both of which are unfriendly to general automatic test-pattern generation (ATPG). This paper proposes an innovative method to test the slave clock-gating circuitry structurally with slight modification of the flop cell. The implementation on a two-latch version of a level-sensitive scan design (LSSD) flip-flop and its capability of extending to other types of flip-flop cells are presented.
Meaning Making in Survivorship: Application to Holocaust Survivors

Meaning making is fast emerging as a core construct in addressing trauma and violent loss. Meaning-making theorists, however, have suggested that people who have suffered severe, direct traumas may be the most likely to search for meaning but the least likely to find it. This unfortunate conclusion is based on empirical studies that have narrowly construed meaning making as “making sense” or “finding benefit” and that have limited their investigations to examining cognitive systems of appraisal. Armour found that family survivors of homicide victims employed other meaning-making processes and documented how activity or the intentional engagement in behaviors designed to focus explicitly on the things that matter most after trauma is often a part of the meaning making of those for whom cognitive processes alone prove less than healing. This mixed-methods study applies Armour's own theory of meaning making grounded in action to a historic and mass trauma by examining how 133 Holocaust survivors pursued what mattered at three different time points: during the Holocaust, after they immigrated to the United States, and as older adults. Content analysis of audiotaped interviews found that survival expressed through actions and attitudes was the core theme at all three time points. During the Nazi regime, survivors kept themselves alive physically by refusing to consider the option of death, being lucky, outwitting the Nazis, stealing, and following a strict philosophy of independence or collectivism. They kept hope alive through believing in liberation, attaching to personal fantasies of what the future might hold, and remaining loyal to loved ones and having faith in their reunion. After immigration, survivors focused on survival by striving for education and family; having children; being successful; shutting the door to the past; and cultivating proactive attitudes such as gratitude, acceptance, and the dissolving of hatred. As older adults, survivors' concerns with survival are expressed through maintaining their health, fulfilling their obligations to those who died, and taking principled stands to fight hatred and oppression.
Public relations orientation: Development, empirical testing and implications for managers

This study proposes a new construct and a measure for understanding the embeddedness of public relations capability at the organisation level. The public relations orientation measure assesses the degree to which organisations (1) pursue both behavioural and symbolic relationships with publics, (2) set public relations goals to support organisational goals and facilitate effective use of public relations information within the organisation, (3) provide adequate resources for public relations, and (4) engage in dialogue with the publics on whom their success or failure depends. Suggestions are given for how public relations orientation (PRO) can be used as a diagnostic and benchmarking tool in organisations.
Open-Loop Spatial Multiplexing and Diversity Communications in Ad Hoc Networks

This paper investigates the performance of open-loop multi-antenna point-to-point links in ad hoc networks with slotted ALOHA medium access control (MAC). We consider spatial multiplexing transmission with linear maximum ratio combining and zero forcing receivers, as well as orthogonal space time block coded transmission. New closed-form expressions are derived for the outage probability, throughput and transmission capacity. Our results demonstrate that both the best performing scheme and the optimum number of transmit antennas depend on different network parameters, such as the node intensity and the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio operating value. We then compare the performance to a network consisting of single-antenna devices and an idealized fully centrally coordinated MAC. These results show that multi-antenna schemes with a simple decentralized slotted ALOHA MAC can outperform even idealized single-antenna networks in various practical scenarios.
Facilitating the interaction with data warehouse schemas through a visual web-based approach

In most respects, there are implicit drawbacks concerning representation and interaction with data in relational-database applications. On the one hand, there is a lack of expressiveness and ease of use in the user interfaces that handle such data. On the other hand, there is an implicit need for interactive end-user visual tools to query data and avoid dependency on programming languages. The main aim of this work is to study the problem of database interaction and usability, comparing existing solutions and providing a new approach that overcomes existing problems. We propose a web-based tool that manipulates Data Warehouse schemas by using a visual language to represent the database structure and providing several visualization techniques that facilitate the interaction and creation of queries involving different levels of complexity. We based our research on an End-User Development approach that has been evaluated to obtain some initial usability indicators.
Modeling Highly Permeable and Conductive Ellipsoidal Clutter for the Detection of UXO in the Electromagnetic Induction Regime

The modeling of unexploded ordnances in the electromagnetic induction regime (from tens of hertz to a few kilohertz) is carried out in the ellipsoidal coordinate system, thus presenting an important generalization of the existing dipole model or spheroidal approach. Ellipsoidal geometries are of interest because of their ability to more accurately model real 3D objects while retaining the appeal of an analytical solution. Computation speed is minimized here by assuming objects of high permeability and conductivity, allowing for the use of the small penetration approximation, and avoiding the necessity of solving the wave equation using ellipsoidal wave functions inside the object. Simulations are compared with both existing numerical solutions and with measured data on fabricated ellipsoids, and prove the validity of our model.
An enhanced Gauss-Markov mobility model for simulations of unmanned aerial ad hoc networks

Routing protocols are designed assuming certain application-specific network characteristics. In order for a routing protocol to be effective and reliable it needs to be evaluated with a realistic mobility model. The Random Waypoint mobility model, widely used, allows node to stop suddenly and turn sharply, and therefore fails to capture the movement pattern of actual airborne vehicles. In this paper we propose the Enhanced Gauss-Markov (EGM) mobility model, a realistic model for networks of UAVs (UAANETs) based on the Gauss-Markov (GM) mobility model. EGM features mechanisms to eliminate/limit sudden stops and sharp turns within the simulation region. The model, unlike others, also deals explicitly with ensuring smooth trajectories at the boundaries. Simulations in OPNET show that EGM, compared to RWP, results in many more network partitions. This then suggests that network partitioning is a significant issue that ought to be dealt with in the protocol design for UAANETs.
Mobility-Driven Service Migration in Mobile Micro-Clouds

Tactical networks are highly constrained in communication and computation resources, particularly at the edge. This limitation can be effectively addressed by the emerging technology of mobile micro-clouds that is aimed at providing seamless computing/data access to the edge of such networks. Deployment of mobile micro-clouds can be used to deliver critical, timely, and mission relevant situational awareness to end users in highly dynamic environments. Different from the traditional cloud, a mobile micro-cloud is smaller and deployed closer to users, typically attached to a fixed or mobile basestation (BS) that is deployed in the field. Due to the relatively small coverage area of each BS, when a user moves across areas covered by different BSs, the issues of service performance and service migration become important. In this work, we consider such migration issues. We model the general problem as a Markov decision process (MDP). To reduce the state space, we propose a distancebased MDP approximation to the general model, which is exact for 1-dimensional uniform user mobility and approximates 2dimensional uniform user mobility with a constant error bound. For the distance-based MDP, we provide closed-form solutions to the cost values from a given service migration policy, and then propose an algorithm that finds the optimal policy based on the closed-form expression of the cost. Simulations with random walk mobility models and real-world mobility traces confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Radiation Budget of the Tropical Intraseasonal Oscillation

Abstract This study examines the relationship between precipitation and radiative heating on intraseasonal time scales in the Tropics using collocated top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and surface radiative flux measurements from special field program data [Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program and Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) experiments] as well as long-term TOA flux data [from Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data]. All the different datasets consistently show that the atmosphere-integrated radiative heating is nearly in phase with the precipitation and enhances the net condensation heating by about 10%–15%. The dominant contribution to this radiative warming during wet periods is the reduction of TOA outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), primarily by clouds but with a small contribution by water vapor. This radiative heating is reduced slightly by enhanced surface downwelli.
Catalytic asymmetric diamination of conjugated dienes and triene.

This paper describes a catalytic asymmetric diamination process using di-tert-butyldiaziridinone as nitrogen source with catalyst generated from Pd2(dba)3 and chiral phosphorus amidite ligand. A wide variety of conjugated dienes and triene can be effectively diaminated in good yields with high regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselectivities.
The Effects of Physical Materials on Kindergartners' Learning of Number Concepts

This study compared 2 kinds of materials in the context of kindergartners' learning of number concepts: 1 using structurally organized tile patterns and the other using diverse objects in various patterns to represent each number. A total of 157 kindergartners recruited from 2 classes from each of 3 schools participated in a 5-week mathematics enrichment program. A series of 9 games was designed to teach basic numbering, operations, and special numerical relations. A variety of tasks were used as pre- and posttests to assess children's learning as a function of the materials used. The findings suggest that these 2 kinds of materials have differential effects on different indicators of learning. At the level of numerical operations, structured materials facilitate children's choice of nonfinger strategies and speed up response time for finger-strategy users, whereas varied materials facilitate accuracy for finger-strategy users.