142,519 research outputs found
Making sense?: The support of dispersed asylum seekers
Reforms of the system around the accommodation and support needs of asylum seekers entering the United Kingdom (UK), during the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have meant that the support of asylum seekers has largely moved away from mainstream social work to be based within dedicated asylum support teams. This article investigates how the workers engaged as asylum support workers understand and make sense of their participation in the support of asylum seekers dispersed across the UK. By drawing upon qualitative research with asylum support workers this paper looks at how such workers make sense of their roles and how the ‘support’ of asylum seekers is conceived. The paper concludes that by working within this political and controversial area of work, workers are constantly finding ways to negotiate their support role within a dominant framework of control
The mechanism underlying backward priming in a lexical decision task: Spreading activation versus semantic matching
Koriat (1981) demonstrated that an association from the target to a preceding prime, in the absence of an association from the prime to the target, facilitates lexical decision and referred to this effect as "backward priming". Backward priming is of relevance, because it can provide information about the mechanism underlying semantic priming effects. Following Neely (1991), we distinguish three mechanisms of priming: spreading activation, expectancy, and semantic matching/integration. The goal was to determine which of these mechanisms causes backward priming, by assessing effects of backward priming on a language-relevant ERP component, the N400, and reaction time (RT). Based on previous work, we propose that the N400 priming effect reflects expectancy and semantic matching/integration, but in contrast with RT does not reflect spreading activation. Experiment 1 shows a backward priming effect that is qualitatively similar for the N400 and RT in a lexical decision task. This effect was not modulated by an ISI manipulation. Experiment 2 clarifies that the N400 backward priming effect reflects genuine changes in N400 amplitude and cannot be ascribed to other factors. We will argue that these backward priming effects cannot be due to expectancy but are best accounted for in terms of semantic matching/integration
The role and effects of teaching assistants in English primary schools (Years 4 to 6) 2000-2003. Results from the Class Size and Pupil-Adult Ratios (CSPAR) KS2 Project
It is widely assumed that increasing the number of Teaching Assistants (TAs) in the classroom will be beneficial to children, and this is one important aim of the recently implemented Workforce Agreement. But there are still significant gaps in knowledge about many aspects of their deployment and impact. The Class Size and Pupil-Adult Ratio (CSPAR) KS2 study built on earlier findings when the pupils were in reception and KS1 and investigated: 1. the deployment of TAs in classrooms and how key parties involved perceived this; 2. the effect of TAs on interactions involving pupils and teachers in the same classrooms, and on pupil attainments. The study had a longitudinal, mixed method and multi-informant design. There were 202 schools, 332 classes and 8728 pupils in Y4. Methods of data collection included: for the whole sample) questionnaires completed by TAs, teachers and head teachers, assessments of pupil attainments in mathematics, English and science, data on pupil background, and (for a sub-sample) case studies and a systematic observation study. This study found that the TA’s role in KS2 is predominantly a direct one, in the sense of face-to-face interactions supporting certain pupils. There was no evidence that the presence of TAs, or any characteristic of TAs, had a measurable effect on pupil attainment. However, results were clear in showing that TAs had an indirect effect on teaching, e.g., pupils had a more active form of interaction with the teacher and there was more individualised teacher attention. This supported teachers’ views that TAs are effective in supporting them in this way. We conclude that more attention needs to be paid to what we call the pedagogical role of TAs so that they can be used effectively to help teachers and pupils, particularly in the context of the enhanced roles for TAs being introduced as part of the Government’s remodeling agenda
Revised Results for Non-thermal Recombination Flare Hard X-Ray Emission
Brown and Mallik (BM) recently showed that, for hot sources, recombination of
non-thermal electrons (NTR) onto highly ionised heavy ions is not negligible
compared to non-thermal bremsstrahlung (NTB) as a source of flare hard X-rays
(HXRs) and so should be included in modelling non-thermal HXR flare emission.
In view of major discrepancies between BM results for the THERMAL continua and
those of the Chianti code and of RHESSI solar data, we critically re-examine
and correct the BM analysis and modify the conclusions concerning the
importance of NTR. Although the analytic Kramers expression used by BM is
correct for the purely hydrogenic recombination cross section, the heuristic
expressions used by BM to extend the Kramers expression beyond the `bare
nucleus' case to which it applies had serious errors. BM results have therefore
been recalculated using corrected expressions, which have been validated
against the results of detailed calculations. At T ~ 10-30 MK the dominant ions
are Fe 22+, 23+, 24+ for which BM erroneously overestimated NTR emission by
around an order of magnitude. Contrary to the BM claim, NTR in hot flare
plasmas does NOT dominate over NTB, although in some cases it can be comparable
and so still very important in inversions of photon spectra to derive electron
spectra, especially as NTR includes sharp edge features. The BM claim of
dominance of NTR over NTB in deka-keV emission is incorrect due to a serious
error in their analysis. However, the NTR contribution can still be large
enough to demand inclusion in spectral fitting, the spectral edges having
potentially serious effects on inversion of HXR spectra to infer fast electron
spectra.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl
Recommendations for NASA research and development in artificial intelligence
Basic artificial intelligence (AI) research, AI applications, engineering, institutional management, and previously impractical missions enabled by AI are discussed
Polarimetric variations of binary stars. II. Numerical simulations for circular and eccentric binaries in Mie scattering envelopes
We present numerical simulations of the periodic polarimetric variations
produced by a binary star placed at the center of an empty spherical cavity
inside a circumbinary ellipsoidal and optically thin envelope made of dust
grains. Mie single-scattering is considered along with pre- and post-scattering
extinction factors which produce a time-varying optical depth and affect the
morphology of the periodic variations. We are interested in the effects that
various parameters will have on the average polarization, the amplitude of the
polarimetric variations, and the morphology of the variability. We show that
the absolute amplitudes of the variations are smaller for Mie scattering than
for Thomson scattering. Among the four grain types that we have studied, the
highest polarizations are produced by grains with sizes in the range 0.1-0.2
micron. In general, the variations are seen twice per orbit. In some cases,
because spherical dust grains have an asymmetric scattering function, the
polarimetric curves produced also show variations seen once per orbit.
Circumstellar disks produce polarimetric variations of greater amplitude than
circumbinary envelopes.
Another goal of these simulations is to see if the 1978 BME (Brown, McLean, &
Emslie, ApJ, 68, 415) formalism, which uses a Fourier analysis of the
polarimetric variations to find the orbital inclination for Thomson-scattering
envelopes, can still be used for Mie scattering. We find that this is the case,
if the amplitude of the variations is sufficient and the true inclinations is
i_true > 45 deg. For eccentric orbits, the first-order coefficients of the
Fourier fit, instead of second-order ones, can be used to find almost all
inclinations.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Astronomical Journa
Effect of angular inflow on the vibratory response of a counter-rotating propeller
This report presents the results of a propeller vibratory stress survey on the Fairey Gannet aircraft aimed at giving an assessment of the difference in vibratory response between single and counter-rotating propeller operation in angular inflow. The survey showed that counter-rotating operation of the propeller had the effect of increasing the IP response of the rear propeller by approximately 25 percent over comparable single-rotation operation while counter-rotating operation did not significantly influence the IP response of the front propeller
Comparison of Models of Critical Opacity in the Quark-Gluon Plasma
In this work we discuss two methods of calculation of quark propagation in
the quark-gluon plasma. Both methods make use of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model.
The essential difference of these calculations is the treatment of
deconfinement. A model of confinement is not included in the work of Gastineau,
Blanquier and Aichelin [hep-ph/0404207], however, the meson states they
consider are still bound for temperatures greater than the deconfinement
temperature T_c. On the other hand, our model deals with unconfined quarks and
includes a description of the q(bar)q resonances found in lattice QCD studies
that make use of the maximum entropy method (MEM). We compare the q{bar)q cross
sections calculated in these models.Comment: 7 pages and 4 figures RevTe
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