Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
From overt to covert exclusion: Implications of inclusive education policy statements on the education of the mathematically gifted learners in Umlazi District of South Africa

Abstract In most of the countries that signed the Salamanca Statement, there seems to be a gap between policy formulations and realisations of inclusive education. Much of this gap has been blamed on the deficit or narrow view to inclusive education that focuses only on the education for disabled students, against the broader view of inclusive education, which deals with all students in danger of marginalisation. In the deficit/narrow view, mathematically gifted students are neglected, and this is detrimental to national efforts towards producing the much-needed 21st century skills. The question at stake then is the origin of this narrow view—is it how inclusive education is conceptualised in the policy framework or is it more about the discretion of the actors in the implementation context? This paper analysed 3 international, 3 national inclusive policy documents and surveyed 51 foundation-phase teachers’ perceptions and practices with the aim of understanding the extent to which gifted students were accommodated in those policy documents and practices. Vygostky’s defectology theory was used as a lens to judge whether the dominant view to inclusive education was narrow or broad. Results show that although both the narrow and broad views are mentioned, the dominant view in both policy and practice was the narrow view to inclusive education. Similar South African studies have shown how an egalitarian and equalising approach to education would leave the gifted learner with minimal attention. Consistent with previous studies, our recommendation is that respect for difference can only be cultivated if those responsible for enacting educational practices are supported by consistent and coherent policy messages, which value skills development by challenging the deficit view to inclusive education.
Urine Immunoglobin G Greater Than 2.45 mg/L Has a Correlation with the Onset and Progression of Diabetic Kidney Disease: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Aim: To further assess the correlation between urine immunoglobin G (IgG) greater than 2.45 mg/L and the onset and progression of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Methods: One thousand and thirty-five patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were divided into two groups based on the baseline levels of 24 h urinary albumin excretion (24 h UAE): one group with 24 h UAE < 30 mg/24 h and one with 24 h UAE ≥ 30 mg/24 h. The groups were subdivided using baseline levels of urine IgG (≤2.45 mg/L and >2.45 mg/L; hereafter, the Low and High groups, respectively). We used logistic regression to assess the risk of urine IgG and it exceeding 2.45 mg/L. Kaplan–Meier curves were used to compare the onset and progression time of DKD. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to test the predictive value of urine IgG exceeding 2.45 mg/L. Results: Urine IgG was an independent risk factor for the onset and progression of DKD. The rate and risk of DKD onset and progression at the end of follow-up increased significantly in the High group. The onset and progression time of DKD was earlier in the High group. Urine IgG exceeding 2.45 mg/L has a certain predictive value for DKD onset. Conclusions: Urine IgG exceeding 2.45 mg/L has a correlation with the onset and progression of DKD, and it also has a certain predictive value for DKD onset.
Self-reported ongoing adherence to diet is associated with lower depression, fatigue, and disability, in people with multiple sclerosis

Introduction Increasingly, dietary improvements have been shown to have positive associations with health outcomes in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). However, adhering to a MS-specific or high-quality diet may be a challenge. We therefore assessed the level of diet-adherence necessary to improve health outcomes of depression, fatigue, and disability. Methods Data from an international population of pwMS followed over 7.5 years (n = 671) were analyzed. Self-reported diet quality via diet habits questionnaire (DHQ), and adherence to six MS-diets [Ashton Embry Best Bet, McDougall, Overcoming MS (OMS), Paleolithic (Paleo), Swank, and Wahls] were queried at two timepoints. Four levels of diet adherence were assessed: non-adherence at either timepoint; ceased at second timepoint; commenced at second timepoint; and ongoing at both timepoints. Associations between adherence to OMS and high-quality diet (DHQ score > median) with depression, fatigue, and disability, were assessed by log-binomial regression models adjusted for confounders. Results Forty-two percent of pwMS reported ongoing-adherence to a MS-diet at both timepoints, OMS (33%), Swank (4%), Wahls (1.5%), other (<1%). Of these, only OMS-diet adherence was analyzed for associations due to data availability. Ongoing-adherence to the OMS-diet or a high-quality diet, was associated with lower depression compared to non-adherence [OMS: Risk ratios (RR) = 0.80, p = 0.021; DHQ: RR = 0.78, p = 0.009] and ceased-adherence (OMS: RR = 0.70, p = 0.008; DHQ: RR = 0.70, p = 0.010), respectively. Ongoing-adherence to OMS-diet was associated with lower fatigue (RR = 0.71, p = 0.031) and lower severe disability (RR = 0.43, p = 0.033) compared to ceased-adherence. Conclusion Results suggest potential benefits of adherence to the OMS- or a high-quality diet on MS health outcomes, with ongoing-adherence likely best. Diet modification and maintenance may serve as a point of intervention to manage MS symptoms, especially depression, in pwMS.
All fiber‐optic sensor for liquid level measurement

In this article, a simple intensity‐modulated fiber optic sensor for liquid level measurement is presented. The sensor principle is based on frustrated total internal reflection effect caused by refractive index change of a medium surrounding an optical fiber. The end face of a step‐index multimode optical fiber is polished to form a hemispherical tip so that a part of the forward propagating modes is reflected in the reverse direction by the effect of total internal reflection. The change of medium (due to contact of the tip with the liquid) modifies the critical angle for the back reflected light thus giving modulated output power. The experimental results of the sensor obtained for different liquids (pure water, ethanol) confirm the sensor potential for liquid level determination with high accuracy nearly 5 μm and repeatability. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 1982–1984, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23533
Emerging market entrepreneurs’ narratives on managing business ethical misconduct

Orientation: South Africa’s entrepreneurial landscape faces multiple challenges that minimise the growth of established firms. Ethical misconduct is one of the main challenges entrepreneurs encounter in their business activities.Research purpose: To gain deeper insight into the entrepreneurs’ narratives of the types and management of ethical misconduct when engaging in entrepreneurial activities.Motivation for the study: Entrepreneurs are central to economic development and alleviating challenges, such as poverty, employment creation and economic inclusion. Therefore, managing challenges that hinder their growth will contribute to the country’s economic development.Research design, approach and method: This study used narrative qualitative research to gather data on business ethical misconduct types and their management strategies. A sample of 17 established entrepreneurs participated in one-hour semi-structured interviews. Focusing on established entrepreneurs with more than three years in business provided real experiences of ethical misconduct and their management. Thematic narrative analysis was used to analyse the participants’ experiences and develop key themes from the data.This study used narrative qualitative research to gather data on business ethical misconduct types and their management strategies. A sample of 17 established entrepreneurs participated in one-hour semi-structured interviews. Focusing on established entrepreneurs with more than three years in business provided real experiences of ethical misconduct and their management. Thematic narrative analysis was used to analyse the participants’ experiences and develop key themes from the data.Practical/managerial implications: This study provides an ethical misconduct management framework that entrepreneurs could use in business practice and teaching.Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to entrepreneurial ethics literature and South African entrepreneurship knowledge development.
Learning democracy through activism: the global climate strike movement and Belgian youth’s democratic experience in times of environmental emergency

ABSTRACT The climate protests are one of the most impressive social movements of this time and are historical in various respects: the global and widespread scale, the employed protest tactics, and its young demographic character. This study explicitly takes the position that the climate marches are opening new avenues of politization with a radical educational democratic potential. Building on the conceptual framework of social movement learning, the educational experiences of recurring participants of the protests are explored in terms of civic education. This contributes not only to the understanding of the possibility of the climate movement as educational spaces for learning about politics and democracy, but also to a better understanding of the educational potential of social movements in general. The research design consists of a single country case study with individual interviews and focus groups with frequent participants of the climate protests in Belgium. The findings indicate that the climate protests are an especially fruitful place for political engagement acting as a catalysator for politization. It fosters a process with reflections on individual agency, collective responsibility, current political structures, and the democratic ideals of our society.
Scattering of elastic waves by multiple elastic circular cylinders with imperfect interface

In the current paper a general method is presented for the rigorous solution for the scattering of elastic waves by a cluster of elastic circular cylinders of infinite length. The interface separating the cylinder from the surrounding media is considered to be homogeneous imperfect. Specifically, the tractions are continuous but the displacements are discontinuous and proportional in terms of interface stiffness parameters to their respective traction components. Using the exact theory of multipole expansion, analytic solutions for the scattered and internal fields excited by an incident plane P-wave, an incident cylindrical P-wave and an incident plane SV-wave are derived. Numerical results for directivity patterns and scattering cross-sections are presented for a finite hexagonal array of elastic circular inclusions with imperfect interface. The results show that the sequence of maxima and minima in the curves of scattered cross-sections becomes more undistinguishable as the interface becomes more imperfect. Also, the results reveal that large low-frequency peaks of the scattered cross-sections, which correspond to resonance scattering, can be observed for both the low-velocity and high-velocity elastic cylinders with extremely imperfect interface while the small high-frequency peaks of the scattered cross-sections can appear for low-velocity elastic cylinders with relatively perfect interface. Furthermore, the results clearly show that the interaction effects between cylinders cannot be ignored for an incident plane SV-wave as compared to an incident plane P-wave. More importantly is the fact that the reciprocity relations, which hold for elastic wave scattering by a single cylinder, no longer apply for elastic wave scattering by multiple cylinders.
A Golden Decade for Stellar Populations?

Abstract People working on stellar populations can look forward to an exciting decade ahead. Investigations of stellar populations lie at the heart of the science cases being used to justify the development of upcoming telescopes and emerging instrumentation technologies. Examples abound, but I will focus on three case studies: (1) Wide field astronomy with upcoming ground-based and space-based survey facilities; (2) Adaptive optics, which has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of stellar populations in both nearby and distant galaxies; (3) The James Webb Space Telescope, which may well extend the reach of stellar population work to encompass the full range of the star-forming history of the Universe. However, most of these developments will require extensive advance preparation in order to be used effectively. The time to start that preparation is now (if not yesterday). Three areas which need urgent development are highlighted in these proceedings: (1) We need a wide-field high-resolution spectroscopic capability to augment wide-area imaging surveys; (2) We need a set of AO-friendly extragalactic deep fields in order to exploit upcoming AO-fed instrumentation; and (3) Existing tools for population synthesis modeling need to be extended in order to incorporate the effects of dust. Because the physics of dust creation and destruction is so complicated and uncertain, the latter capability sounds almost impossibly hard to develop, but in this talk I will argue that some simple approaches already exist that allow dust to be injected rather naturally into population synthesis models. I will show a concrete example where incorporation of dust into spectral synthesis models allows one to detect and characterize rate of formation of circumstellar disks at high redshifts.
A thermosphere/ionosphere general circulation model with coupled electrodynamics

A new simulation model of upper atmospheric dynamics is presented that includes self-consistent electrodynamic interactions between the thermosphere and ionosphere. This model, which we call the National Center for Atmospheric Research thermosphere-ionosphere-electrodynamic general circulation model (NCAR/TIE-GCM), calculates the dynamo effects of thermospheric winds, and uses the resultant electric fields and currents in calculating the neutral and plasma dynamics. A realistic geomagnetic field geometry is used. Sample simulations for solar maximum equinox conditions illustrate two previously predicted effects of the feedback. Near the magnetic equator, the afternoon uplift of the ionosphere by an eastward electric field reduces ion drag on the neutral wind, so that relatively strong eastward winds can occur in the evening. In addition, a vertical electric field is generated by the low-latitude wind, which produces east-west plasma drifts in the same direction as the wind, further reducing the ion drag and resulting in stronger zonal winds.
Fatigue Detection System Based on Heart Rate and Eye Blink Equipped with Email and Buzzer Alerts to Increase Health Workers Productivity

During COVID-19 pandemic, health workers have a crucial role in promotion, prevention, communication, and education to the public. Limited human resources, longer working hours, high risk of infection, and negative stigma from the community are challenges for health workers in treating COVID-19 patients. If there is no change in the near future, then health workers are threatened with excessive fatigue. A heart rate and eye blink fatigue detection system equipped with email and buzzer alerts is developed as an effort to increase the productivity of health workers in the midst of a pandemic. For heart rate based fatigue detection system, the placement of the sensor on the wrist is chosen with 82% accuracy. Two of five battery bars left for five hours of operation. For eye blink based fatigue detection system, EAR 0.32 is chosen because health workers use mask and glasses while working. The potential benefits of this fatigue detection system are buzzer alert for user, email alert for supervisor, track record, increase service quality, time and workload management. All these potential advantages are expected to prevent fatigue which can increase the productivity of health workers.
Vortex instability from a near-vertical heated surface in a porous medium II. Nonlinear evolution

We consider the nonlinear evolution of vortex instabilities in a near–vertical free convection boundary layer in a porous medium. At such inclinations, both small amplitude and strongly nonlinear disturbances may be described within the confines of boundary–layer theory with no further approximations. Steady vortices are induced by placing a thermal disturbance within the boundary layer and by computing their development downstream using a parabolic solver. It is found that the strength of the resulting convection depends not only on the wavelength of the vortex disturbance, but also on the amplitude of the disturbance and its point of introduction into the boundary layer. Whenever vortices grow, they attain a maximum strength before decaying once more. Curiously, there is a specific disturbance amplitude that yields the largest possible response downstream, in the sense that both smaller and larger initial amplitudes yield weaker responses. This unusual phenomenon is shown to be related to the shape of the vortex.
Efficient linearization of the augmented plane-wave method

The present thesis concerns method development and applications in the field of first principles electronic structure calculations.Augmented planewaves combine the simple planewaves with exact solutions of the Schrodinger equation for a spherical potential. This combination yields a very good set of basis functions for describing the electronic structure everywhere in a crystal potential. In the present work, developments of the original augmented planewave (APW) method are presented. It is shown that the exact APW eigenvalues can be found using information from the eigenvalues of the APW secular matrix. This provides a more efficient scheme to solve the APW eigenvalue problem, than the traditional evaluation of the secular determinant. Further, a new way of linearizing the APW method is presented and compared to the traditional linearized APW method (LAPW). Using a combination of the original APW basis functions and the so called local orbitals (lo), the APW+lo linearization is found to reproduce the results of the LAPW method, but already at a smaller basis set size. Another advantage of the new linearization is a faster convergence of forces, with respect to the basis set size, as compared to the LAPW method.The applications include studies of the non-collinear magnetic configuration in the fcc-based high-temperature phase of iron, γ-Fe. The system is found to be extremely sensitive to volume changes, as well as to a tetragonal distortion of the cubic unit cell. A continuum of degenerate spin spiral configurations, including the global energy minimum, are found for the undistorted crystal. The in-plane anisotropy of the ideal interface between a ferromagnetic layer of bcc Fe and the semiconducting ZnSe crystal is also investigated. In contrast to the four-fold symmetric arrangement of the atoms at the interface, the in-plane magnetic anisotropy displays a large uniaxiality. The calculated easy axes are in agreement with experiments for both Se and Zn terminated interfaces. In addition, calculations of the hyperfine parameters were performed for Li intercalated battery materials.
Electromagnetic inverse scattering of multiple two-dimensional perfectly conducting objects by the differential evolution strategy

Electromagnetic inverse scattering of multiple two-dimensional (2-D) perfectly conducting objects with transverse magnetic (TM) wave incidence by the differential evolution strategy (DES) is presented. The governing electric field integral equations for the scattering problem are expressed as surface integral over the cylinder contours. The cylinder contours are approximately represented by closed cubic B-splines local shape functions in local polar coordinate system. The inverse problem is to locate the cylinders and to reconstruct their shape with or without a priori knowledge of the number of cylinders. It is cast into an optimization problem and is solved using the DES. Both synthetic and real reconstructions are carried out. The reconstruction results agree with the true profiles very well. Comparison with the real-coded genetic algorithm has been carried out. It has been observed that the DES outperforms the real-coded genetic algorithm.
The Processing Differences between Chinese Proper Nouns and Common Nouns in the Left and Right Hemispheres of the Brain

In this study, we investigated whether there were differences between the processing of Chinese proper nouns and common nouns in the left and that in the right hemispheres of the brain by using a visual half-field technique. The experimental materials included four types of proper nouns (people’s names, landmark names, country names, and brand names), four types of common nouns (animals, fruits and vegetables, tools, and abstract nouns), and pseudowords. Participants were asked to judge whether target words that had been quickly presented in their left or right visual field were meaningful words. The results showed that there was a distinction between the processing of the two types of words in the left and right hemispheres. There was no significant difference in the processing of the two types of nouns in the right hemisphere, but the left hemisphere processed common nouns more effectively than proper nouns. Furthermore, the processing difference of proper nouns between the two hemispheres was less than that of common nouns, suggesting that proper nouns have a smaller lateralization effect than common nouns.
Research on Limitations for Stabilizability of Networked Controlled Systems

In this paper we review fundamental results that form the background for the topics discussed in this dissertation. This paper presents criteria for the necessity and sufficiency of stabilization, and presents the fundamental limitations of feedback control systems caused by causality and finite- capacity communication links. Limitations on stabilization in the determin-istic sense and in several stochastic frameworks have been presented. The results dealt with the case of a discrete channel as well as a packet-based network.
Electron-impact excitation and ionization of for the determination of impurity influx in tokamaks

Electron-impact excitation for is studied using close-coupling R-matrix theory in LS coupling. Both 28-state and 40-state close-coupling approximations are employed and cross sections and effective collision strengths for selected excitation transitions are compared. In addition, ionization rate coefficients for are determined using distorted-wave theory and compared with experiment. Finally, these data, along with experimental and theoretical radiative rates, are entered into a collisional-radiative modelling program - (atomic data and analysis structure) to obtain SXB ratios for the radiative transitions and . These SXB ratios allow one to relate spectroscopic emissivity measurements to impurity influx from a localized source. In the present studies, we modelled the impurity influx when only the ground term contributes to the ionization of and showed that the SXB ratio corresponding to the radiative transition between the doublet terms is less sensitive to electron density and more reliable than the SXB ratio corresponding to the radiative transition between the quartet terms. Additional collisional - radiative modelling studies of impurity influx when the ground and metastable states contribute to the ionization of are also proposed.