Can school competition improve standards? The case of faith schools in England

This paper measures the extent to which the presence of religious state-funded secondary schools in England impacts on the educational experiences of pupils who attend neighbouring schools, whether through school effort induced by competition or changes in peer groups induced by sorting. National administrative data is used to estimate pupil test score growth models between the ages of 11 and 16, with instrumental variable methods employed to avoid confounding the direct causal effect of religious schools. It finds significant evidence that religious schools are associated with higher levels of pupil sorting across schools, but no evidence that competition from faith schools raises area-wide pupil attainment.school choice, school competition, educational outcomes

What Should an Index of School Segregation Measure?

Segregation, Choice, Schools, School Admissions

D-optimal Design for Polynomial Regression: Choice of Degree and Robustness

In this paper we show that for D-optimal design, departures from the design are much less important than a depar-ture from a model. As a consequence, we propose, based on D-optimality, a rule for choosing the regression degree. We also study different types of departures from the model to define a new class of D-optimal designs, which is robust and more efficient than the uniform oneD-optimal design; regression degree; polynomial regression

Volatility and correlations for stock markets in the emerging economies

This paper examines the European investment implications of the recent European Union (EU) expansion to encompass former Eastern bloc economies. What are the risk and return characteristics of these markets pre- and post-EU? What are the implications for investors within the Euro zone? Should investors diversify outside the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)? The former Eastern bloc economies constitute emerging markets which typically offer attractive risk-adjusted returns for international investors. In this paper, we explore a number of aspects of this important issue and their implications for CEE based investors, culminating in a Markowitz efficient frontier analysis of these markets pre- and post-EU expansion.Emerging Markets; European Union; Portfolio investment

Diquaternary Ammonium Compounds in Zeolite Synthesis: Cyclic and Polycyclic N-Heterocycles Connected by Methylene Chains

An additional dimension has been added to our long-standing studies in high silica zeolite synthesis via a guest/host synergism. We have created and studied the impact of making symmetric diquaternary ammonium compounds, by varying the chain length between nitrogen charge centers, and the heterocycle size and geometry containing the nitrogen. This allows the introduction of a second spatial parameter in the use of the charged organo-cation guest in the zeolite synthesis. The series of 15 diquaternary ammonium compounds (5 heterocycles synthesized onto chain lengths of C4−C6) were tested in a total of 135 zeolite syntheses reactions. Nine screening reactions were employed for each guest molecule, and the conditions built upon past successes in finding novel high silica zeolites via introduction of boron, aluminum, or germanium as substituting tetrahedral framework atoms for silicon. Eighteen different zeolite structures emerged from the studies. The use of specific chain lengths for derivatives of the pyrrolidine ring system produced novel zeolite materials SSZ-74 and 75

Eureka! A Yurt! Integrating Mathematics, Cooperative Learning, and Community Service

The significance of Eureka! in the title derives from the exhilaration of discovery that took place through a project in which a class of sixth graders built a Yurt.1 There was a Wow! sense of awe and achievement akin to completing one\u27s first rockclimb or a thousand-piece puzzle. In the words of many of the sixth graders who participated- I can\u27t believe we did it! They built a scaled-down Yurt (see photo], a circular building having walls that slant upward and outward from a round base, with an overhanging, cone-like roof. The roof has a skylight in the middle, capping the top of the walls. After a fresh four-inch snowfall, the Yurt looks like a frosted cupcake. This wooden Yurt has a folded roof which resembles the folds in cupcake papers

Coherent structures in oscillatory flows within the laminar-to-turbulent transition regime for smooth and rough walls

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in [Journal of hydraulic research] on [2016], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00221686.2016.1174960We investigate coherent structures present in oscillatory boundary layers over smooth and rough beds for Reynolds numbers between 103 and 104, in the transition to turbulence regime. A two-camera 2D- particle image velocimetry (PIV) system was used to visualize coherent structures in an oscillatory-flow tunnel. The obtained results show that smooth-bed flow is populated by vortex-tube structures that are formed due to the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. Three types of coherent structures are observed in the rough-wall experiments: vortices randomly distributed in space; turbulent bursts – spatial structures without a clear shape compared to vortices but with a longer life than the former; and shear layers of vortices originating due to flow separation from some of the grains on the bed. The reported study contributes to the description of coherent structures in oscillatory flows that are captured with the PIV technique, particularly a new structure in flows over rough beds in the transition to turbulence regime.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft