Designing for mathematical abstraction

Our focus is on the design of systems (pedagogical, technical, social) that encourage mathematical abstraction, a process we refer to as designing for abstraction. In this paper, we draw on detailed design experiments from our research on children's understanding about chance and distribution to re-present this work as a case study in designing for abstraction. Through the case study, we elaborate a number of design heuristics that we claim are also identifiable in the broader literature on designing for mathematical abstraction. Our previous work on the micro-evolution of mathematical knowledge indicated that new mathematical abstractions are routinely forged in activity with available tools and representations, coordinated with relatively naïve unstructured knowledge. In this paper, we identify the role of design in steering the micro-evolution of knowledge towards the focus of the designer's aspirations. A significant finding from the current analysis is the identification of a heuristic in designing for abstraction that requires the intentional blurring of the key mathematical concepts with the tools whose use might foster the construction of that abstraction. It is commonly recognized that meaningful design constructs emerge from careful analysis of children's activity in relation to the designer's own framework for mathematical abstraction. The case study in this paper emphasizes the insufficiency of such a model for the relationship between epistemology and design. In fact, the case study characterises the dialectic relationship between epistemological analysis and design, in which the theoretical foundations of designing for abstraction and for the micro-evolution of mathematical knowledge can co-emerge. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

Using edit distance to analyse errors in a natural language to logic translation corpus

We have assembled a large corpus of student submissions to an automatic grading system, where the subject matter involves the translation of natural language sentences into propositional logic. Of the 2.3 million translation instances in the corpus, 286,000 (approximately 12%) are categorized as being in error. We want to understand the nature of the errors that students make, so that we can develop tools and supporting infrastructure that help students with the problems that these errors represent. With this aim in mind, this paper describes an analysis of a significant proportion of the data, using edit distance between incorrect answers and their corresponding correct solutions, and the associated edit sequences, as a means of organising the data and detecting categories of errors. We demonstrate that a large proportion of errors can be accounted for by means of a small number of relatively simple error types, and that the method draws attention to interesting phenomena in the data set

A Systematic Review of the Health Impacts of Mass Earth Movements (Landslides)

Background. Mass ground movements (commonly referred to as ‘landslides’) are common natural hazards that can have significant economic, social and health impacts. They occur as single events, or as clusters, and are often part of ‘disaster’ chains, occurring secondary to, or acting as the precursor of other disaster events. Whilst there is a large body of literature on the engineering and geological aspects of landslides, the mortality and morbidity caused by landslides is less well documented. As far as we are aware, this is the first systematic review to examine the health impacts of landslides. Methods. The MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, SCOPUS databases and the Cochrane library were systematically searched to identify articles which considered the health impacts of landslides. Case studies, case series, primary research and systematic reviews were included. News reports, editorials and non-systematic reviews were excluded. Only articles in English were considered. The references of retrieved papers were searched to identify additional articles. Findings. 913 abstracts were reviewed and 143 full text articles selected for review. A total of 27 papers reporting research studies were included in the review (25 from initial search, 1 from review of references and 1 from personal correspondence). We found a limited number of studies on the physical health consequences of landslides. Only one study provided detail of the causes of mortality and morbidity in relation a landslide event. Landslides cause significant mental health impacts, in particular the prevalence of PTSD may be higher after landslides than other types of disaster, though these studies tend to be older with only 3 papers published in the last 5 years, with 2 being published 20 years ago, and diagnostic criteria have changed since they were produced. Discussion. We were disappointed at the small number of relevant studies, and the generally poor documentation of the health impacts of landslides. Mental health impacts were better documented, though some of the studies are now quite old. Further research on the health impacts of landslides needs to be undertaken to support those responding to landslide disasters and to aid disaster risk mitigation advocacy

PENERAPAN TINDAK PIDANA PASAL 294 AYAT (2) KE 1 KUHP DALAM PRAKTIK PENGADILAN (PUTUSAN MAHKAMAH AGUNG NOMOR 1240 K/PID/2016)

Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan tujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana pengaturan tindak pidana pejabat yang melakukan perbuatan cabul dengan bawahan atau orang yang penjagaannya dipercayakan kepadanya menurut Pasal 294 ayat (2) ke 2 KUHP dan bagaimana praktik penerapan tindak pidana Pasal 294 ayat (2) ke 1 KUHP menurut Putusan Mahkamah Agung Nomor 1240 K/Pid/2016. Dengan menggunakan metode penelitian yuridis normatife, disimpulkan: 1. Pengaturan tindak pidana pejabat yang melakukan perbuatan cabul dengan bawahan atau orang penjagaannya dipercayakan kepadanya menurut Pasal 294 ayat (2) ke 2 KUHP, yaitu: 1) pelaku adalah seorang pejabat (ambtenaar); 2) yang melakukan perbuatan cabul, tidak menjadi soal apakah dilakukan dengan paksaan ataupun tanpa paksaan; 3) terhadap bawahannya atau orang yang penjagaannya dipercayakan kepadanya, tidak menjadi soal apakah oran tersebut belum dewasa atau telah dewasa. 2. Praktik penerapan tindak pidana Pasal 294 ayat (2) ke 1 KUHP menurut Putusan Mahkamah Agung Nomor 1240 K/Pid/2016, tanggal 22 Desember 2016, yaitu perbuatan seorang laki-laki PNS sebagai kepala kantor yang secara memaksa memeluk dan mencium seorang perempuan PNS yang menjadi bawahannya di kantornya, telah melakukan tindak pidana “Pegawai Negeri Melakukan Perbuatan Cabul Dengan Orang Yang Karena Jabatannya Adalah Bawahannya, Atau Dengan Orang Yang Penjagaannya Dipercayakan Atau Diserahkan Kepadanya†sebagaimana yang diatur dalam Pasal 294 ayat (2) ke 1 KUHP.Kata kunci: Tindak Pidana, Menyembunyikan Orang, Menghindarkannya dari Penyidikan, Penahanan

Hypermedia Information Systems in Industry

The requirements for industrial strength hypermedia are well known. If hypermedia applications are to be used successfully in the industrial environment, then considerable effort is required to integrate them into with the organisation’s current business practices. This implies that any proposed model must be simple to maintain and implement, as well as bringing real benefits to the organisation as a whole. This article discusses the development of such a system, its implementation and evaluation to support manufacturing operations at Pirelli Cables, Eastleigh

Testing theories of labour market matching

This paper estimates a model of two-sided search using micro-level data for a well-defined labour market. It examines the assumption of random matching and contrasts it with the stock-flow (or non-random) matching model of Coles and collaborators. Given a dataset of contacts, matches, and complete labour-market histories for both sides of the market, we estimate hazard functions for both (unemployed) job-seekers and vacancies. For job-seekers, the tests adds the stock of new vacancies to a standard job-seeker hazard which itself depends on the stocks of vacancies and unemployed. Our tentative results find very weak evidence of stock-flow matching.two-sided search, random matching, hazards

Brexit, Whitehall, and the demise of Haldane: the need for a new minister-civil servant relationship?

Brexit poses significant challenges to Whitehall, and raises questions about whether the Civil Service is up to the task of negotiating a new settlement for Britain’s place in the world, write Dave Richards and Martin Smith. Outlining the development of Whitehall reforms, they explain why a very different ministerial-civil service relationship is needed, as well as an overhaul of the Westminster Mode

The Micro-Evolution of Mathematical Knowledge: The Case of Randomness

In this paper we explore the growth of mathematical knowledge and in particular, seek to clarify the relationship between abstraction and context. Our method is to gain a deeper appreciation of the process by which mathematical abstraction is achieved and the nature of abstraction itself, by connecting our analysis at the level of observation with a corresponding theoretical analysis at an appropriate grain size. In this paper we build on previous work to take a further step towards constructing a viable model of the micro-evolution of mathematical knowledge in context. The theoretical model elaborated here is grounded in data drawn from a study of 10-11 year olds’ construction of meanings for randomness in the context of a carefully designed computational microworld, whose central feature was the visibility of its mechanisms-how the random behavior of objects actually worked. In this paper, we illustrate the theory by reference to a single case study chosen to illuminate the relationship between the situation (including, crucially, its tools and tasks) and the emergence of new knowledge. Our explanation will employ the notion of situated abstraction as an explanatory device that attempts to synthesize existing micro- and macro-level descriptions of knowledge construction. One implication will be that the apparent dichotomy between mathematical knowledge as de-contextualized or highly situated can be usefully resolved as affording different perspectives on a broadening of contextual neighborhood over which a network of knowledge elements applies

Rapid-Prototyping Emulation System for Embedded System Hardware Verification, using a SystemC Control System Environment and Reconfigurable Multimedia Hardware Development Platform

This paper describes research into the suitability of using SystemC for rapid prototyping of embedded systems. SystemC[1][2][3] communication interface protocols [4][5] are interfaced with a reconfigurable hardware system platform to provide a real-time emulation environment, allowing SystemC simulations to be directly translated into real-time solutions. The consequent Rapid Prototyping Emulation System Platform1, suitable for the implementation of consumer level multimedia systems, is described, including the system architecture, SystemC Controller model, the FPGA configured MicroBlaze CPU system and additional logic devices implemented on the Multimedia development board used for the hardware in the PESP, illustrated in the context of a typical application