Part 1 New SME curricula

We began our work at the first residential meeting in Accra (January 2010) by discussing the nature of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and entrepreneurship in a Ghanaian context, clarifying our understanding of the informal sector, and identifying priority areas for curriculum development. At an early stage, we recognised that there was a need to develop more appropriate courses to support enterprise education within our universities and also entrepreneurial learning beyond the campus, particularly in relation to the informal sector. This work informed the first phase, in which we began to engage with SMEs and their associations and to establish their various requirements through dialogue and knowledge sharing. This information was brought back to the second residential meeting in Kumasi (July 2010) as the basis for designing new types of provision. At Kumasi, we worked on two projects that are reported in more detail in the following sections: ♦ A problem-based design for the informal sector: the Sokoban Wood Village Project (Section 1.2) ♦ Strategies for curriculum review and course design in Ghanaian universities (Section 1.3

Teaching with Technology to Engage Students and Enhance Learning

Teaching technology effects on student learning in a large lecture introductory statistics course were tested. Findings show in-class personal response systems and on-line homework/quizzes significantly improve student exam scores. We infer proven small class techniques, participating in class and doing homework via technologies, can restore sound pedagogy in larger classes. The experiment was conducted using just one class, but factors usually unaccounted for in assessment research were controlled, especially the instructor and other materials. The technologies investigated here can provide learning benefits to students even in larger courses often criticized for their inability to provide students quality learning experiences.Teaching, technology, statistics, active learning.

Chaotic motion of a harmonically bound charged particle in a magnetic field, in the presence of a half-plane barrier

The motion in the plane of an harmonically bound charged particle interacting with a magnetic field and a half-plane barrier along the positive x-axis is studied. The magnetic field is perpendicular to the plane in which the particle moves. This motion is integrable in between collisions of the particle with the barrier. However, the overall motion of the particle is very complicated. Chaotic regions in phase space exist next to island structures associated with linearly stable periodic orbits. We study in detail periodic orbits of low period and in particular their bifurcation behavior. Independent sequences of period doubling bifurcations and resonant bifurcations are observed associated with independent fixed points in the Poincaré section. Due to the perpendicular magnetic field an orientation is induced on the plane and time-reversal symmetry is broken.\u

Electrodynamic guiding and deceleration of polar diatomic molecules

Imperial Users onl

Cross-Border Valuation: The International Cost of Equity Capital

How does a firm in one country evaluate an investment in a firm in another country, or how does it evaluate a foreign project that the firm itself is undertaking? The firm must estimate future free cash flows just as in a domestic project, but choosing an appropriate discount rate is a particular challenge. This study examines the determinants of the discount rate for an international acquisition or project by examining the sources of risk in an international setting. These risks include stock-market price risk measured with various versions of the capital asset pricing model, as well as exchange rate risk and political risk. To measure stock market risk, both segmented and integrated models of the world equity markets are considered. The emphasis of the study is on some of the practical aspects of estimation, particular for markets where no comparable investments exist on which to base estimates of risk premiums. To show how each of these risks might be measured, the study reports estimates for a representative French firm, Thals. The estimates range widely depending on whether or not the equity market is globally integrated.

Are tiled display walls needed for astronomy?

Clustering commodity displays into a Tiled Display Wall (TDW) provides a cost-effective way to create an extremely high resolution display, capable of approaching the image sizes now gen- erated by modern astronomical instruments. Astronomers face the challenge of inspecting single large images, many similar images simultaneously, and heterogeneous but related content. Many research institutions have constructed TDWs on the basis that they will improve the scientific outcomes of astronomical imagery. We test this concept by presenting sample images to astronomers and non- astronomers using a standard desktop display (SDD) and a TDW. These samples include standard English words, wide field galaxy surveys and nebulae mosaics from the Hubble telescope. These experiments show that TDWs provide a better environment for searching for small targets in large images than SDDs. It also shows that astronomers tend to be better at searching images for targets than non-astronomers, both groups are generally better when employing physical navigation as opposed to virtual navigation, and that the combination of two non-astronomers using a TDW rivals the experience of a single astronomer. However, there is also a large distribution in aptitude amongst the participants and the nature of the content also plays a significant role is success.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in PASA (Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia

Analysis of unsteady-state heat conduction in a cylinder with the finite element method

Unsteady-state heat conduction in a cylinder of finite dimensions with constant physical and thermal properties was analyzed with the finite element method. Symmetry of the cylinder and application of Newman\u27s method reduced the problem to two independent one-dimensional problems. Finite element equations for the axial and radial dimensions were developed utilizing Galerkin\u27s method of weighted residuals. Crank-Nicholson approximations were used for time derivatives. A computer program was written for solution of the finite element equations. Solutions obtained were conditionally stable; dependent on the value of the ratio KΔt/ρCpl2. For values of the ratio less than 1/3, errors in solutions at small times result. For values of the ratio greater than 2.0, very large errors result. The magnitude of the errors increase with increasing values of the ratio. For proper values of the ratio KΔt/ρCpl2, finite element solutions converge to the analytical solutions by increasing the number of finite elements in the problem

Viscoelastic properties of human and bovine articular cartilage : a comparison of frequency-dependent trends

Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank Spencer C. Barnes and Hamid Sadeghi for assistance during experimentation. We would also like to thank patients donating tissue and the surgeons collecting these. Funding The equipment used in this study was funded by Arthritis Research UK (Grant number H0671). We are grateful to Arthritis Research UK for the award of a PhD studentship to Anna A. Cederlund (Grant number 19971). Arthritis Research UK had no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD