Does quality drive employee satisfaction in the UK learning sector?

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence to assess the nature and extent of the link between employee satisfaction and organisational performance. This paper examines the link between staff satisfaction and organisational performance, presenting findings from 21 colleges of Further Education that have participated in both a survey of staff satisfaction (covering over 2,600 staff from these colleges) and in a diagnostic benchmarking exercise using the “Learning PROBE” methodology. The results suggest that whilst each of the measured aspects of work are regarded as being important by a majority of survey respondents, the level of “satisfaction” displayed in each of these attributes is indicated by only a minority of those surveyed. The findings support the existence of a link between staff satisfaction and organisational excellence. Staff satisfaction levels are most strongly associated with the leadership and service processes indices, and even more so with the overall organisational diagnosis. This suggests that colleges that are implementing “good practices” covering a range of managerial aspects, and who are achieving corresponding organisational results, are likely to be closer to satisfying their staff. Practices relating to people, performance management and organizational results also show association with staff's satisfaction gap, although not as significantly as above. The results suggest an holistic approach to implementing business practices appears to be more effective than concentrating only on deploying good practices in only a single area of the managerial process. The value of the paper is to the UK Further Education Sector in that it identifies those organisational practices, which improved, can in combination address to some extent the work satisfaction levels of their employees

Teaching Computers to Think: Analysis of Artificial Intelligence and Connect Four

Connect Four is a classic two person, zero-sum game in which players utilize their wits and gravity to connect four of their own pieces in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row while blocking their opponent’s attempt to do the same. We have constructed a simulation of this game which we have used as a base for the implementation and testing of varying Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. Early strategies worked according to simple strategic methods, while more advanced heuristics employed a Min-Max Tree in tandem with methods to determine how advantageous a certain board would be. This Min-Max Tree goes beyond a simple strategy, as it allows for the computer to look many moves ahead, thus picking the move that optimizes its chances of winning. The collection of statistics for the various strategies has allowed for the analysis and improvement of the AI structures

Histone modifications influence the action of Snf2 family remodelling enzymes by different mechanisms

AbstractAlteration of chromatin structure by chromatin modifying and remodelling activities is a key stage in the regulation of many nuclear processes. These activities are frequently interlinked, and many chromatin remodelling enzymes contain motifs that recognise modified histones. Here we adopt a peptide ligation strategy to generate specifically modified chromatin templates and used these to study the interaction of the Chd1, Isw2 and RSC remodelling complexes with differentially acetylated nucleosomes. Specific patterns of histone acetylation are found to alter the rate of chromatin remodelling in different ways. For example, histone H3 lysine 14 acetylation acts to increase recruitment of the RSC complex to nucleosomes. However, histone H4 tetra-acetylation alters the spectrum of remodelled products generated by increasing octamer transfer in trans. In contrast, histone H4 tetra-acetylation was also found to reduce the activity of the Chd1 and Isw2 remodelling enzymes by reducing catalytic turnover without affecting recruitment. These observations illustrate a range of different means by which modifications to histones can influence the action of remodelling enzymes

Implementation of the frequency-modulated sideband search method for gravitational waves from low mass X-ray binaries

We describe the practical implementation of the sideband search, a search for periodic gravitational waves from neutron stars in binary systems. The orbital motion of the source in its binary system causes frequency-modulation in the combination of matched filters known as the $\mathcal{F}$-statistic. The sideband search is based on the incoherent summation of these frequency-modulated $\mathcal{F}$-statistic sidebands. It provides a new detection statistic for sources in binary systems, called the $\mathcal{C}$-statistic. The search is well suited to low-mass X-ray binaries, the brightest of which, called Sco X-1, is an ideal target candidate. For sources like Sco X-1, with well constrained orbital parameters, a slight variation on the search is possible. The extra orbital information can be used to approximately demodulate the data from the binary orbital motion in the coherent stage, before incoherently summing the now reduced number of sidebands. We investigate this approach and show that it improves the sensitivity of the standard Sco X-1 directed sideband search. Prior information on the neutron star inclination and gravitational wave polarization can also be used to improve upper limit sensitivity. We estimate the sensitivity of a Sco X-1 directed sideband search on 10 days of LIGO data and show that it can beat previous upper limits in current LIGO data, with a possibility of constraining theoretical upper limits using future advanced instruments.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Redox supercapacitor performance of nanocrystalline molybdenum nitrides obtained by ammonolysis of chloride- and amide-derived precursors

Reactions of MoCl5 or Mo(NMe2)4 with ammonia result in cubic ?-Mo2N or hexagonal ?1-MoN depending on reaction time and temperature. At moderate temperatures the cubic product from Mo(NMe2)4 exhibits lattice distortions. Fairly high surface areas are observed in the porous particles of the chloride-derived materials and high capacitances of up to 275 F g?1 are observed when electrodes made from them are cycled in aqueous H2SO4 or K2SO4 electrolytes. The cyclic voltammograms suggest charge is largely stored in the electrochemical double layer at the surface of these materials. Amide-derived molybdenum nitrides have relatively low surface areas and smaller capacitances, but do exhibit strong redox features in their cyclic voltammograms, suggesting that redox capacitance is responsible for a significant proportion of the charge stored

Parameter space metric for 3.5 post-Newtonian gravitational-waves from compact binary inspirals

We derive the metric on the parameter space of 3.5 post-Newtonian (3.5PN) stationary phase compact binary inspiral waveforms for a single detector, neglecting spin, eccentricity, and finite-body effects. We demonstrate that this leads to better template placement than the current practice of using the 2PN metric to place 3.5PN templates: The recovered event rate is improved by about 10% at a cost of nearly doubling the number of templates. The cross-correlations between mass parameters are also more accurate, which will result in better coincidence tests.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Hidden music: vowel formant theory and the languages of Verdi\u27s Don Carolos

Don Carlos, Giuseppe Verdi’s third French opera, was first performed at the Paris Opéra in 1867; today, it is commonly performed in its Italian translation. This translation is problematic, however, because it departs from the original French in more than language: as a translation to be sung, it often conveys a different meaning, places key words on different sections of the melody, and consists of a different sound. This latter aspect and its relationship to notated melody is the focus of this study. For the purpose of this study, the sound of a language is defined by the overtones of its vowels (called formants). Since formants have relative pitches ranging from low, [u], to high, [i], text has an internal, “hidden” melody that interacts with the notated melody in a variety of ways. Through an analysis of Don Carlos’s recitative and romance “Fontainebleau … Je l’ai vue” from Act I, this study shows that the formants may highlight certain keywords, draw a connection between related words, and mirror the contour of the melody (the latter especially at melodic cadences involving the e muet); it furthermore shows that, in the French version, the correspondence between formants and notated melody is generally more meaningful. Not even in the French, however, do the contours of formants and the melody correspond consistently; in fact, they sometimes correspond less well. This inconsistency suggests that Verdi did not observe the contour of the formants deliberately. Finally, this thesis also considers the problem of singing certain vowels on a high pitch and concludes that the French text is almost always easier to sing

The Handmaiden of Gnosis: Music in Esoteric Societies

Western esotericism, or the practice of trying to understand divinity through secret initiatic means, exists in several philosophical strains, which mystics through the ages have formalized into systems of teaching. One aspect that appears in many of the traditions is music. Music is a direct language of the consciousness within esoteric traditions because it does not rely on language to express higher concepts. Just as these societies teach truths mainly through symbolism, they use music, since it lends itself to interpretations beyond the connotation-laden nature of words. This dissertation focuses on three major strains of western esotericism: Rosicrucians, Theosophists, and American Freemasons. Regarding the first group, I demonstrate how music influenced Rosicrucian conceptions of unity, primarily through the example of Erik Satie, who incorporated these ideals in his three Sonneries of the Rose and Cross while involved with a Rosicrucian order, particularly focusing on the esoteric concept of transversality, or the coming together of two directions or opposites. Regarding the second group, I focus on the Theosophical Society’s involvement in the translation of Gustav Holst’s gnostic Hymn of Jesus text and demonstrate how the connection to that tradition heavily influenced Holst’s own composition. Regarding the third group, I trace the use of music among American Freemasons from colonial times to the present day, and demonstrate how Freemasons understood music as well as a means of attaining wisdom. Each of these groups exhibits an understanding of what some traditions call the “ternary principle,” or the idea that all pairs of opposites are not independent of each other, but rather are just different levels of manifestation of a higher principle. A member of any of these organizations employs the ternary principle to transcend oppositions until one is left with the unity of all things. For these groups, music helped to bring them closer to their goal of finding that unity by connecting the physical world to the immaterial world, or the body to the consciousness. These societies compared the laws of music to the harmony of all things. Music became for these organizations the truest symbol of the highest wisdom