Ex post evaluation of the management and implementation of cohesion policy 2000-06 (ERDF)

This report has been drafted by the European Policies Research Centre (University of Strathclyde) as part of an ex post evaluation of the management and implementation systems for Cohesion policy, 2000-06, which has been commissioned by DG REGIO and which is being managed by EPRC and Metis (Vienna) under European Commission contract no: 2007.CE.16.0.AT.034. The report provides an overview of the main features of management and implementation systems across the EU25 in the 2000-06 period (2004-06 for the EU10) and has been drafted by Professor John Bachtler, Laura Polverari and Frederike Gross, with assistance from Dr Sara Davies and Ruth Downes. The research is based on studies of individual countries undertaken by EPRC together with national experts from each of the EU25 Member States. The authors are grateful for helpful comments from the DG REGIO Evaluation Unit and Geographical Units, in particular Anna Burylo, Veronica Gaffey and Kai Stryczynski. Any errors or omissions remain the responsibility of the authors

Soft singularity and the fundamental length

It is shown that some regular solutions in 5D Kaluza-Klein gravity may have interesting properties if one from the parameters is in the Planck region. In this case the Kretschman metric invariant runs up to a maximal reachable value in nature, i.e. practically the metric becomes singular. This observation allows us to suppose that in this situation the problems with such soft singularity will be much easier resolved in the future quantum gravity then by the situation with the ordinary hard singularity (Reissner-Nordstr\"om singularity, for example). It is supposed that the analogous consideration can be applied for the avoiding the hard singularities connected with the gauge charges.Comment: 5 page

A Correlational Analysis of Students' Achievement in Waec and Neco Mathematics

This study presents the findings of the relationship between students' achievement in mathematics conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO) in four selected secondary schools in Ifedayo Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria.The analysis showed that there is significant positive relationship between mathematics in all the selected schools contrary to the hypothesis that says there is no relationship in WAEC and NECO mathematics results in the schools. It is therefore recommended that students should develop more interest in sitting for either of the two examinations since they produce equivalent results. Keywords: WAEC, NECO, Correlation Coefficient, Mathematics results, Performanc

The Distance of the First Overtone RR Lyrae Variables in the MACHO LMC Database: A New Method to Correct for the Effects of Crowding

Previous studies have indicated that many of the RR Lyrae variables in the LMC have properties similar to the ones in the Galactic globular cluster M3. Assuming that the M3 RR Lyrae variables follow the same relationships among period, temperature, amplitude and Fourier phase parameter phi31 as their LMC counterparts, we have used the M3 phi31-logP relation to identify the M3-like unevolved first overtone RR Lyrae variables in 16 fields near the LMC bar. The temperatures of these variables were calculated from the M3 logP-logTe relation so that the extinction could be derived for each star separately. Since blended stars have lower amplitudes for a given period, the period amplitude relation should be a useful tool for identifying which stars are affected by crowding. We find that the low amplitude stars are brighter. We remove them from the sample and derive an LMC distance modulus 18.49+/-0.11.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa