Celtic Explorer Cruise CE10005, 16-24 Sep 2010, Milford Haven, UK to Galway, Ireland. Porcupine Abyssal Plain Observatory servicing

The principal objective was to maintain the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) observatory infrastructure. The main components of this are:-• A large ODAS buoy mooring (PAP 1) with real time telemetry and multiple underwater and meteorological sensors. The buoy and sensor frame will be recovered and most of the sensors and telemetry systems replaced, before redeployment.• A sediment trap mooring (PAP 3). This mooring will be recovered and replaced with a new one.• A Bathysnap camera lander. To be recovered and replaced.Associated work will include CTD sensor calibration dips and deployment of 2 ARGO floats. The work proposed will be vital to maintaining the long standing time-series measurements at this site, and will also provide critical feedback on sensor and mooring design performance.This cruise was originally conceived as a key component of the MODOO (MOdular Deep Ocean Observatory) ESONET demonstration project http://www.modoo.info/ . The main partof this project was a BoBo lander belonging to NIOZ that was deployed at the same time as the ODAS buoy in June 2010. This lander should have been recovered during CE10005 to obtain in-situ data from the lander and to assess the performance of the acoustic telemetry system. Unfortunately the lander appears to have suffered an implosion shortly after deployment, and one objective of this cruise will now be to attempt to communicate with the lander’s acoustic releases.An ancillary task led by Marine Institute (MI) involves the collection of samples as part of the Marine Biodiscovery project in NUI, Galway. The aim of this research is to investigate the possibility that phytoplankton species in Irish waters can produce biologically active compounds (bioactives) of significance for use as human medicines

Building socialism and communism: Planning and the process of transcending markets

This short paper will argue the following 8 points. This paper will - 1) as a background to what this paper will consider, accept both that planning is an inherent and essential aspect of socialism, and that not only the details but the very basic nature of the planning that will be appropriate in today's world for supporting (various) transitions to socialism has to be created; 2) focus on just one of many questions that need to be resolved concerning the appropriate basic structure of today's socialist planning, the question of the role of markets in planning for socialism; 3) discuss the essential nature of capitalist markets in relation to shaping their participants in ways appropriate for capitalism (any mode of production creates its own presuppositions), and therefore in ways inappropriate for either living under socialism or effecting the transition from capitalism to socialism ; 4) review Marx and Engels' position that immediately after the seizure of power by a workers' government capitalist commodity production and capitalist markets will still exist; 5) review Marx and Engels' position that the transition to socialism will involve a withering away of both capitalist markets and commodity production, and that under socialism these will already both be transcended; 6) then argue, closely based on Marx and Engels' writings, that under socialism there will necessarily be markets, albeit markets of a different nature that I will call socialist markets (and I will carefully indicate their fundamental difference from capitalist markets); 7) then argue that notwithstanding that socialist markets are both necessary for socialism and different from capitalist markets, they will still represent barriers to the transition from socialism to communism; 8) finally discuss what will be necessary for the transcendence of socialist markets which is a necessity for completing the transition to a communist mode of production, which Marx indeed saw as a society without markets

The Cuban economy: Data on today's performance and information on tomorrow's projected changes

There is widespread discussion both within and outside Cuba concerning what direction the Cuban economy will go under its new interim president Raúl Castro. This short paper is intended to contribute two pieces of information that are needed to intelligently discuss that issue- where Cuba's economy stands today, and what type of reforms Cuba's political and economic leadership say they intend to implement. Its goal is to compactly present current information on some of the key economic issues Cuba faces in regards to both the present and the near future, and thereby give a solidly information-based picture of Cuba's current economic reality. It presents two central conclusions. First, that the evidence supports that there indeed has been real and meaningful accelerated improvement in the Cuban economy in recent years, and at the same time Cuba remains far from being able to meet many of its citizens' economic needs in accord with its own principals of human development. Second, that Cuba intends to continue the process of economic reform that it has been engaged in since at least the early 1990s. This will involve significant restructuring of aspects of how the economy functions, with a central concern with improved efficiency. Cuba intends to introduce some (further) market-mechanisms and in certain areas even markets. But the whole reform process will be conducted in a frame that intends to keep both efficiency considerations and market instruments subordinated to their central goal of building socialism. Two aspects are particularly important in assuring that capitalism-like instruments remain subordinate. The first is an expanded role of the entire population in determining both what is most socially desired, and in presenting ideas on how to improve the economy. The second is the continued use of central planning even as they shift many appropriate decisions in their planning and management process out from the central ministries to the regions and especially to the enterprises

The balance of payments as a constraint on Turkey's growth, 1960 - 2004

The aim of this study is to test the existence of balance of a payments constraint on the long run economic growth of the Turkish economy. The balance of payments constrained growth (BPCG) model which was developed by Thirlwall (1979) and extended by Thirlwall and Hussain (1982) is tested over the period of 1960-2004 using OLS. Empirical findings of this paper support the BPCG model for the whole period under consideration. For the different sub-periods, there are either different essential economic relations or behaviors behind the BOP constraint

A Phase Model with Large Time Delayed Coupling

We consider two identical oscillators with weak, time delayed coupling. We start with a general system of delay differential equations then reduce it to a phase model. With the assumption of large time delay, the resulting phase model has an explicit delay and phase shift in the argument of the phases and connection function, respectively. Using the phase model, we prove that for any type of oscillators and any coupling, the in-phase and anti-phase phase-locked solutions always exist and give conditions for their stability. We show that for small delay these solutions are unique, but with large enough delay multiple solutions of each type with different frequencies may occur. We give conditions for the existence and stability of other types of phase-locked solutions. We discuss the various bifurcations that can occur in the phase model as the time delay is varied. The results of the phase model analysis are applied to Morris-Lecar oscillators with diffusive coupling and compared with numerical studies of the full system of delay differential equations. We also consider the case of small time delay and compare the results with the existing ones in the literature

Developing growth mindsets in engineering students: Work-in-progress on a systematic literature review

Engineering programs can be very demanding, particularly in the first years where students often encounter challenging coursework. Dropout from engineering studies has been linked to ‘fixed mindset’ beliefs that make students more likely to give up when facing new challenges. Extensive research evidenced that students with a ‘fixed mindset’ believe that intelligence is an innate and fixed trait. In contrast, students with a ‘growth mindset’ believe that intelligence can be improved with effort and drive, and are then less likely to disengage when confronting difficult tasks. Interventions to develop ‘growth mindsets’ have been successfully implemented at primary and secondary schools. However, there seems to be a paucity of interventions with university students studying engineering. In this work-in-progress paper, we will present findings from a systematic literature review of engineering, education and psychology databases to answer the question, ‘What interventions to develop growth mindsets have been implemented with engineering students, and what measures have been used to assess the effectiveness of the interventions?’ Preliminary findings suggest that the number of interventions aimed at strengthening growth mindsets in engineering students is still small. We present a categorization of interventions together with the measures used to assess the effectiveness of the interventions. The findings will be useful for engineering educators who want to encourage students to have the benefits associated with a growth mindset, such as greater resilience after setbacks and willingness to take on challenges and stick with them when difficulties arise, and support their academic success

Developing growth mindsets in engineering students: a systematic literature review of interventions

Dropout from engineering studies has been linked to ‘fixed mindset’ beliefs of intelligence as fixed-at-birth that make students more likely to disengage when facing new challenges. In contrast, ‘growth mindset’ beliefs that intelligence can be improved with effort make students more likely to persist when confronting difficulties. This systematic literature review of engineering, education and psychology databases explores the effectiveness of different interventions in developing growth mindset in engineering students, what measures have been used in assessing the effectiveness of these interventions and who has benefited from these interventions, in terms of gender and year of study. We compare interventions by geographical location, intervention type, methodology for assessing mindsets, other topics studied, and effectiveness. The results show a variation in effectiveness among the fifteen included studies. The findings will be useful for educators who want to encourage growth mindset and thereby support the academic success of their students

M-current Induced Bogdanov-Takens Bifurcation and Switching of Neuron Excitability Class

In this work, we consider a general conductance-based neuron model with the inclusion of the acetycholine sensitive, M-current. We study bifurcations in the parameter space consisting of the applied current, $I_{app}$ the maximal conductance of the M-current, $g_M$, and the conductance of the leak current, $g_L$. We give precise conditions for the model that ensure the existence of a Bogdanov-Takens (BT) point and show such a point can occur by varying $I_{app}$ and $g_{M}$. We discuss the case when the BT point becomes a Bogdanov-Takens-Cusp (BTC) point and show that such a point can occur in the three dimensional parameter space. The results of the bifurcation analysis are applied to different neuronal models and are verified and supplemented by numerical bifurcation diagrams generated using the package MATCONT. We conclude that there is a transition in the neuronal excitability type organized by the BT point and the neuron switches from Class-I to Class-II as conductance of the M-current increases

Understanding graduation rates at higher education institutions: A forecasting model

Graduation rates and degree completion have always been a concern for students, students’ families and universities. Moreover, many consider college degree completion rates to be among one of the most important indicators of institutional quality according to a report from the Higher Education Research Institute published in the United States of America. This research studied factors that can explain graduation rates which include student‐faculty ratio, financial factors, and enrollment status. Data was collected and analyzed for state and private universities, and a Multiple Regression Model (MLR) was built to forecast graduation rates. The model was able to highlight variables that significantly relate to graduation rates. Researchers can use this article to understand the different factors that correlate with degree completion and to forecast graduations rates at Higher Education Institutions. The international researcher can explore replicating the forecasting model at universities outside the United States of America