Skills, government intervention and business performance: implications for the regional skills partnership (RSP)

The aim of this briefing paper is to provide an understanding of the factors that determine the level of skills in the economy, the level and type of skills demanded by employers, and how these are translated into performance improvements by individual employees. The paper deals with these questions at the national and regional level, at the level of the firm and finally of the individual employee. It then uses this knowledge to identify the range of alternative measures available to policy makers

Metallurgy of armour exhibited at the Palace Armoury, Valletta, Malta

The metallurgy of ten armour pieces from the Palace Armoury Collection in Malta was examined. Results showed that out of ten artefacts examined, six were produced in low carbon steel, one from a high carbon steel and three were made from wrought iron. One of the wrought iron armour pieces was fabricated from a phosphoric iron, an unusual material for these artefacts. All the steel artefacts exhibited a ferrite-pearlite microstructure. In their manufacture, no attempts had been made at producing martensite by full or slack quenching. All metal fragments contained slag inclusions. The elongated nature of the latter suggested that these artefacts were forged into shape.peer-reviewe

The effect of timing noise on targeted and narrow-band coherent searches for continuous gravitational waves from pulsars

Most searches for continuous gravitational-waves from pulsars use Taylor expansions in the phase to model the spin-down of neutron stars. Studies of pulsars demonstrate that their electromagnetic (EM) emissions suffer from \emph{timing noise}, small deviations in the phase from Taylor expansion models. How the mechanism producing EM emission is related to any continuous gravitational-wave (CW) emission is unknown; if they either interact or are locked in phase then the CW will also experience timing noise. Any disparity between the signal and the search template used in matched filtering methods will result in a loss of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), referred to as `mismatch'. In this work we assume the CW suffers a similar level of timing noise to its EM counterpart. We inject and recover fake CW signals, which include timing noise generated from observational data on the Crab pulsar. Measuring the mismatch over durations of order $\sim 10$ months, the effect is for the most part found to be small. This suggests recent so-called `narrow-band' searches which placed upper limits on the signals from the Crab and Vela pulsars will not be significantly affected. At a fixed observation time, we find the mismatch depends upon the observation epoch. Considering the averaged mismatch as a function of observation time, we find that it increases as a power law with time, and so may become relevant in long baseline searches.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Neutron Star Merger Remnants: Braking Indices, Gravitational Waves, and the Equation Of State

The binary neutron star merger GW170817/GRB170817A confirmed that at least some neutron star mergers are the progenitors of short gamma-ray bursts. Many short gamma-ray bursts have long-term x-ray afterglows that have been interpreted in terms of post-merger millisecond magnetars---rapidly rotating, highly magnetised, massive neutron stars. We review our current understanding of millisecond magnetars born in short gamma-ray bursts, focusing particularly three main topics. First, whether millisecond magnetars really do provide the most plausible explain for the x-ray plateau. Second, determining and observing the gravitational-wave emission from these remnants. Third, determining the equation of state of nuclear matter from current and future x-ray and gravitational-wave measurements.Comment: Conference Proceedings of the Xiamen-CUSTIPEN Workshop on the EOS of Dense Neutron-Rich Matter in the Era of Gravitational Wave Astronomy (January 3 - 7, 2019, Xiamen, China

Comparing models of the periodic variations in spin-down and beam-width for PSR B1828-11

We build a framework using tools from Bayesian data analysis to evaluate models explaining the periodic variations in spin-down and beam-width of PSR B1828-11. The available data consists of the time averaged spin-down rate, which displays a distinctive double-peaked modulation, and measurements of the beam-width. Two concepts exist in the literature that are capable of explaining these variations; we formulate predictive models from these and quantitatively compare them. The first concept is phenomenological and stipulates that the magnetosphere undergoes periodic switching between two meta-stable states as first suggested by Lyne et al. The second concept, precession, was first considered as a candidate for the modulation of B1828-11 by Stairs et al.. We quantitatively compare models built from these concepts using a Bayesian odds-ratio. Because the phenomenological switching model itself was informed by this data in the first place, it is difficult to specify appropriate parameter-space priors that can be trusted for an unbiased model comparison. Therefore we first perform a parameter estimation using the spin-down data, and then use the resulting posterior distributions as priors for model comparison on the beam-width data. We find that a precession model with a simple circular Gaussian beam geometry fails to appropriately describe the data, while allowing for a more general beam geometry provides a good fit to the data. The resulting odds between the precession model (with a general beam geometry) and the switching model are estimated as $10^{2.7 \pm 0.5}$ in favour of the precession model.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures; removed incorrect factor of (2\pi) from equation (15), allowed for arbitrary braking index, and revised prior ranges; overall conclusions unchange

Validation of a Novel Approach to Solving Multibody Systems Using Hamilton\u27s Weak Principle

A novel approach for formulating and solving for the dynamic response of multibody systems has been developed using Hamilton’s Law of Varying Action as its unifying principle. In order to assure that the associated computer program is sufficiently robust when applied across a wide range of dynamic systems, the program must be verified and validated. The purpose of the research was to perform the verification and validation of the program. Results from the program were compared with closed-form and numerical solutions of simple systems, such as a simple pendulum and a rotating pendulum. The accuracy of the program for complex systems for which there is no closed-form solution, such as a double pendulum and others, were assessed by calculating energy conservation and constraint violation. The results of this research confirm the validity of this novel approach to multibody system analysis, and pave the way for its application to increasingly complex configurations

Professional Growth: How do Cooperating Teachers Grow Through the Experience of Having a Student Teacher?

Cooperating teachers and student teachers share a unique internship that allows the development of skills for both individuals. The literature states that cooperating teachers can grow from student teachers; however, there are a few sources that state the areas in which this growth occurs. The purpose of this study was to determine if growth or impact happened in the areas of instructional practices, coaching skills, and self-efficacy during the student teaching process. This mixed methods study included a survey, focus group interview, and single interviews to determine whether any change was made. The survey created descriptive statistics, a Pearson correlation test, and interviews to balance the quantitative and qualitative data. The findings revealed that student teachers had an impact on instructional practices within the survey, focus group, and interviews. Coaching skills and self-efficacy revealed the impact was subtle as it showed in the positive correlation. The significance of these was that teachers reflect more because of the student teacher process and thus become better teachers; this leads to higher student achievement. Cooperating teachers pass on their knowledge to student teachers and colleagues by working together in collaboration and teaming to do what is best for the students

Diving Demand for Large Ship Artificial Reefs

Using data drawn from a web-based travel cost survey, we jointly model revealed and stated preference trip count data in an attempt to estimate the recreational use value from diving the intentionally sunk USS Oriskany. Respondents were asked to report their: (i) actual trips from the previous year, (ii) anticipated trips in the next year, and (iii) anticipated trips next year assuming a second diveable vessel (a Spruance class destroyer) is sunk in the same vicinity. Results from several different model specifications indicate average per-person, per-trip use values range from $480 to$750. The “bundling†of a second vessel in the area of the Oriskany to create a multiple-ship artificial reef area adds between $220 and$1,160 per diver per year in value.Artificial reefs, diving, recreation demand, combined revealed and stated preferences, non-market valuation, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Public Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q26, Q50,

The vector innovation structural time series framework: a simple approach to multivariate forecasting

The vector innovation structural time series framework is proposed as a way of modelling a set of related time series. Like all multi-series approaches, the aim is to exploit potential inter-series dependencies to improve the fit and forecasts. A key feature of the framework is that the series are decomposed into common components such as trend and seasonal effects. Equations that describe the evolution of these components through time are used as the sole way of representing the inter-temporal dependencies. The approach is illustrated on a bivariate data set comprising Australian exchange rates of the UK pound and US dollar. Its forecasting capacity is compared to other common single- and multi-series approaches in an experiment using time series from a large macroeconomic database.Vector innovation structural time series, state space model, multivariate time series, exponential smoothing, forecast comparison, vector autoregression.