Discovery of "isolated" comoving T Tauri stars in Cepheus

During the course of a large spectroscopic survey of X-ray active late-type stars in the solar neighbourhood, we discovered four lithium-rich stars packed within just a few degrees on the sky. These very young stars are projected several degrees away from the Cepheus-Cassiopea clouds, in front of an area void of interstellar matter. As such, they are very good "isolated" T Tauri star candidates. We acquired high-resolution optical spectra as well as photometric data allowing us to investigate in detail their nature and physical parameters with the aim of testing the "runaway" and "in-situ" formation scenarios. We derive accurate radial and rotational velocities and perform an automatic spectral classification. The spectral subtraction technique is used to infer chromospheric activity level in the H-alpha line core and clean the spectra of photospheric lines before measuring the equivalent width of the lithium absorption line. Both physical (lithium content, magnetic activity) and kinematical indicators show that all stars are very young (ages in the range 10-30 Myr). In particular, the spectral energy distribution of TYC4496-780-1 displays a strong near- and far-infrared excess, typical of T Tauri stars still surrounded by an accretion disc. They also share the same Galactic motion, proving that they form a homogeneous moving group of stars with the same origin. The most plausible explanation of how these "isolated" T Tauri stars formed is the "in-situ" model, although accurate distances are needed to clarify their connection with the Cepheus-Cassiopeia complex

The Inclusion of Pupils with Special Educational Needs: A Study of the Formulation and Implementation of the National Curriculum Physical Education in Britain

The paper examines the planned and unplanned outcomes associated with the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in the National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE) in Britain. This involves the use of key concepts from figurational sociology, and documentary analysis, to examine the emergence of disability as a social issue in British society and in secondary school education. Norbert Elias’ game models (Elias, 1978) are then used to analyse the NCPE 1992, 1995 and 2000 documents, and their associated consultation materials. This allows the researcher to identify all the major players involved in the formulation of the NCPEs, and the extent to which the objectives of each player, and their subsequent power struggles with each other, impacted upon the overall objectives and content of the NCPEs. The game models are then used to examine the extent to which the objectives of the players involved in the implementation of the NCPE generated outcomes which none of the players planned for, or could have foreseen

Stag-nations

Economic conditions

Nations and neoliberalism

This paper examines nations and neoliberalism

Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2011: Post-crisis trade and investment opportunities

Commercial services exports are slowly returning to their pre-crisis level, with global exports climbing by 8.3% from $3.4 trillion in 2009 to$3.7 trillion in 2010. Asia, and the Pacific, in particular developing Asia, is again leading the recovery, with a growth rate of more than 20% in 2010. This strong rise came after a slump in commercial services exports by almost 12% in 2009.Services, Trade, Trade, recovery, export, import, Asia, Pacific, international, tourism, computer, information, intraregional

Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2011: Post-crisis trade and investment opportunities

The traditional developed economies of the Group of Three (G3)-the European Union, Japan and the United States- all face economic slowdown, and acceptance is growing that the Asia-Pacific region will be the world's next engine of economic growth. Developing economies in Asia and the Pacific are rapidly increasing their importance in the world economy, having performed robustly to make a quick recovery in 2010 and reach pre-crisis levels of economic activity while major industrial countries continue to struggle.Trade, Investment, Opportunities, European Union, Japan, United States, G3, Group of three, economic, growth, import, export, Asia, Pacific

Factors predicting the scientific wealth of nations

It has been repeatedly demonstrated that economic affluence is one of the main predictors of the scientific wealth of nations. Yet, the link is not as straightforward as is often presented. First, only a limited set of relatively affluent countries is usually studied. Second, there are differences between equally rich countries in their scientific success. The main aim of the present study is to find out which factors can enhance or suppress the effect of the economic wealth of countries on their scientific success, as measured by the High Quality Science Index (HQSI). The HQSI is a composite indicator of scientific wealth, which in equal parts considers the mean citation rate per paper and the percentage of papers that have reached the top 1% of citations in the Essential Science Indicators (ESI; Clarivate Analytics) database during the 11-year period from 2008 to 2018. Our results show that a high position in the ranking of countries on the HQSI can be achieved not only by increasing the number of high-quality papers but also by reducing the number of papers that are able to pass ESI thresholds but are of lower quality. The HQSI was positively and significantly correlated with the countries’ economic indicators (as measured by gross national income and Research and Development expenditure as a percentage from GDP), but these correlations became insignificant when other societal factors were controlled for. Overall, our findings indicate that it is small and well-governed countries with a long-standing democratic past that seem to be more efficient in translating economic wealth into high-quality science

Languages, nations and identities

This article reviews a range of ways in which issues of national identity have been shown to be linked with the topic of language. We suggest that there is scope for development both of the theoretical underpinning to claims made about the nature of these links, and also, in consequence, to the methodological approaches appropriate to empirical investigations of them. Here, we explore the ways in which aspects of the social world such as those summarised above are understood theoretically. The first part of the paper argues that debates about the relationship of languages to forms of social identity, particularly those associated with nationalisms, often make a number of assumptions - about languages, about collectivities and about social agency. The second part interrogates these assumptions and proposes the utility of realist theory in evaluating claims in this area. In the final part of the paper, we outline the methodological implications of our argument