Restoring the Chesapeake--A Watershed Education and Restoration Project for Virginia Youth

A watershed education and restoration project was started in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed in 2002. Over 37,000 hardwood seedlings were distributed to school groups and 4-H leaders in 19 counties. A geographic information system (GIS) identified subwatersheds in greatest need of riparian restoration. A Web site provided educational material and facilitated communication. Results indicate 3 years are needed to develop partnerships necessary for large-scale projects such as this one. Hands-on activities like planting trees result in large knowledge gains. Use of land-use maps and a Web site also result in knowledge gain about watershed

Politics, Power, PISA: a genealogy of mathematics education policy at second level in Ireland at the beginning of the 21st century

This thesis traces a genealogy of the discourse of mathematics education reform in Ireland at the beginning of the twenty first century at a time when the hegemonic political discourse is that of neoliberalism. It draws on the work of Michel Foucault to identify the network of power relations involved in the development of a single case of curriculum reform – in this case Project Maths. It identifies the construction of an apparatus within the fields of politics, economics and education, the elements of which include institutions like the OECD and the Government, the bureaucracy, expert groups and special interest groups, the media, the school, the State, state assessment and international assessment. Five major themes in educational reform emerge from the analysis: the arrival of neoliberal governance in Ireland; the triumph of human capital theory as the hegemonic educational philosophy here; the dominant role of OECD/PISA and its values in the mathematics education discourse in Ireland; the fetishisation of western scientific knowledge and knowledge as commodity; and the formation of a new kind of subjectivity, namely the subjectivity of the young person as a form of human-capital-to-be. In particular, it provides a critical analysis of the influence of OECD/PISA on the development of mathematics education policy here – especially on Project Maths curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. It unpacks the arguments in favour of curriculum change and lays bare their ideological foundations. This discourse contextualises educational change as occurring within a rapidly changing economic environment where the concept of the State’s economic aspirations and developments in science, technology and communications are reshaping both the focus of business and the demands being put on education. Within this discourse, education is to be repurposed and its consequences measured against the paradigm of the Knowledge Economy – usually characterised as the inevitable or necessary future of a carefully defined present

Three Applications of Instanton Numbers

We use instanton numbers to: (i) stratify moduli of vector bundles, (ii) calculate relative homology of moduli spaces and (iii) distinguish curve singularities.Comment: To appear in Communications in Mathematical Physic

The application of human factors in wake vortex encounter flight simulations for the reduction of flight upset risk and startle response

The current top safety risk concern for commercial air travel in Europe is known as “Flight Upset”. This term, also known as “Loss of Control in Flight”, entails the flight crew suddenly finding themselves in an unexpected, complex, and even confusing situation that if not resolved quickly can lead to a major accident. Accidents such as AF447 and the two B737 Max accidents fall into this category. An undesirable aspect of such events is known as the “startle response”, wherein one or both flight crew, finding themselves in dire and dangerous conditions, may experience ‘startle’, which temporarily affects their cognitive functioning. This may only last half a minute, but its effect can have a severe impact on the survivability of such events. A Horizon 2020 research project called SAFEMODE, which aims to integrate Human Factors techniques into a unified framework for designers in aviation and maritime domains, is exploring the use of state-of-the-art flight simulation facilities to measure pilot performance in severe wake turbulence events, which can induce the startle effect. This is part of a broader use case within SAFEMODE to validate the design of a new Wake Vortex Air Traffic Alert for the Cruise phase of flight. A tactical short-term alert to the Flight Crew, ahead of the wake encounter, is seen as beneficial to reduce the startle effect and support the appropriate management of these conflicts. The envisaged risk-alerting logic relies on a ground-based predictor, connected to the Air Traffic Control system, displaying an alert to the En-route Air Traffic Controllers, who can then provide a cautionary advisory to the Flight Crew so they can take appropriate actions.The cockpit flight simulations involve type-rated flight crews in realistic and representative cruise flight conditions, using a Type VI Boeing 737-800 full flight motion-based simulator (also used for Upset Prevention and Recovery training programs). During the simulation runs, pilots are exposed to simulated wake vortex encounters, corresponding to a strong wake-induced upset (between 30 and 40 degrees of bank), with or without prior ATC wake caution, and varying the initial direction of roll between left and right to limit the simulation training effect.Human Factors measurements include workload, situation awareness, trust, acceptability-based user feedback, as well as psychophysiological measures such as eye-tracking and Electro-Dermal Activity (EDA). In particular, eye-tracking is expected to support the refined determination of the sequence of actions before and after detection, and the reaction of flight crews to the en-route ATC Wake alert.A cockpit flight simulation, via combining the analyses of psychophysiological measures, flight parameters, expert observations and subjective pilot feedback, enables evaluation of Flight Crews performance in preparing for, managing or avoiding wake encounter upsets with the new ATC wake alerts, showing the net safety benefits. Early results indicate that the simulations can indeed induce startle effect, and that repeated exposure enables flight crew to overcome it and manage the situation in a more measured and controlled fashion

Review of the quarter's economic trends [May 1983]

The one thing this recovery does not lack is confidence. Surveys of business opinion in all the major economies reveal a greater level of optimism amongst the business community than at any time since 1979. But confidence alone is not adequate for a sustained recovery though it certainly helps. As this brief analysis shows, two constraints stand in the way of a worldwide upturn: real interest rates remain high and the response of governments to any acceleration of inflation remains unknown. The downward rigidity of nominal interest rates bears witness to the financial markets' belief that present low levels of inflation are not sustainable, yet if governments react to the expected mild acceleration of inflation in the latter half of this year with the policies of the recent past no significant recovery is likely. Further analysis of UK and world economic data are provided

The roared-at boys? Repertory casting and gender politics in the RSC's 2014 Swan season

This essay interrogates the loading of the “Roaring Girls” season by asking what it means to “roar” in both the early modern period and twenty-first century, unpacking the terms on which the women of these productions are empowered or undermined through their treatment by their male counterparts. Performed alongside the 2014 “Midsummer Mischief” new writing season, the plays reposition “roaring” as challenging male-centred modes of representation. Drawing on Marvin Carlson's influential work on “ghosting”, this essay addresses these questions through investigation of the practices and implications of ensemble casting. With Arden of Faversham, The Roaring Girl and The White Devil sharing a single ensemble, the iterated roles of actors across the ensemble become key to understanding the season's overall strategies for presenting and interrogating misogyny. The recycling of actors’ bodies throws into relief the individual roles of the main “roaring girls”, framing and articulating the role of mischievous disruption within the company's work

Socioeconomic inequalities in pregnancy outcome associated with Down syndrome: a population-based study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate socioeconomic inequalities in outcome of pregnancy associated with Down syndrome (DS) compared with other congenital anomalies screened for during pregnancy. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective population-based registry study (East Midlands & South Yorkshire in England). PARTICIPANTS: All registered cases of DS and nine selected congenital anomalies with poor prognostic outcome (the UK Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme (FASP)9) with an end of pregnancy date between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2007. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Poisson regression models were used to explore outcome measures, including socioeconomic variation in rates of anomaly; antenatal detection; pregnancy outcome; live birth incidence and neonatal mortality. Deprivation was measured using the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004 at super output area level. RESULTS: There were 1151 cases of DS and 1572 cases of the nine severe anomalies combined. The overall rate of antenatal detection was 57% for DS, which decreased with increasing deprivation (rate ratio comparing the most deprived tenth with the least deprived: 0.76 (0.60 to 0.97)). Antenatal detection rates were considerably higher for FASP9 anomalies (86%), with no evidence of a trend with deprivation (0.99 95% CI (0.84 to 1.17)). The termination of pregnancy rate following antenatal diagnosis was higher for DS (86%) than the FASP9 anomalies (70%). Both groups showed wide socioeconomic variation in the termination of pregnancy rate (rate ratio: DS: 0.76 (0.58 to 0.99); FASP9 anomalies: 0.80 (0.65 to 0.97)). Consequently, socioeconomic inequalities in live birth and neonatal mortality rates associated with these anomalies arise that were not observed in utero. CONCLUSIONS: Socioeconomic inequalities exist in the antenatal detection of DS, and subsequent termination rates are much higher for DS than other anomalies. Termination rates for all anomalies are lower in more deprived areas leading to wide socioeconomic inequalities in live born infants with a congenital anomaly, particularly DS, and subsequent neonatal mortality

Virtual reconnection: The online spaces of alternative food networks in England

AbstractSpaces of ‘alternative’ food production and consumption have been the subject of considerable interest within agri-food research and policy-making circles in recent decades. Examples of these Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) include Farmers' Markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) schemes and farm shops, where food products are embedded with social and spatial information that serves to differentiate them from conventional agri-food systems. These shorter, more transparent, localised supply chains that characterise AFNs are underpinned by the notion of reconnection – a fundamental set of biological, social and moral processes that enable agri-food stakeholders to participate in ethically minded, transparent systems, where they are better connected to one another and to the markets and environments in which they are immersed. Drawing on a range of eight AFN case studies in England and using a multi-method approach, we explore the notion of reconnection within online space to show how social relations have changed, and are changing as a result of online activity. In examining the websites and social media platforms of AFNs and primary data collected from the creators and users of these spaces, we uncover the notion of ‘virtual reconnection’. We found the embodied, socio-material reconnection processes that occur in-place also occur online. However, by extending AFN spaces, virtual reconnection cannot fully replicate the same embodied and tactile experiences associated with the material spaces of AFNs. As such, online spaces in the context of AFNs provide a useful additional realm for reconnection, but need to be understood as supplementary rather than as a substitution for socio-material reconnections. Future research should consider the moral dimensions of reconnection and the capacity that online spaces have for enhancing the inclusivity of Civic Food Networks (CFNs), and their transformative role in contributing to more sustainable behaviours

Compartir los datos de investigación en ciencia: introducción al data sharing

The emergence in the scientific community of an initiative known as data sharing, consisting of sharing research data among researchers and aiming to maximize efforts and resources, is analysed. First, the concept of research data and the related technical difficulties depending on the discipline are reviewed. We also examine the motivations, origins and growth of this movement, which has had an important impact on the scientific community’s behaviour through the creation of reposi- tories and data banks, raising both technical and social challenges. Then we discuss leading funding agencies’ initiatives and scientific journals’ editorial policies promoting these practices. Finally, we examine the impact these major changes in researchers’ habits have for librarians, including the emergence of new professional profiles

Mucedorus: the last ludic playbook, the first stage Arcadia

This article argues that two seemingly contradictory factors contributed to and sustained the success of the anonymous Elizabethan play Mucedorus (c. 1590; pub. 1598). First, that both the initial composition of Mucedorus and its Jacobean revival were driven in part by the popularity of its source, Philip Sidney's Arcadia. Second, the playbook's invitation to amateur playing allowed its romance narrative to be adopted and repurposed by diverse social groups. These two factors combined to create something of a paradox, suggesting that Mucedorus was both open to all yet iconographically connected to an elite author's popular text. This study will argue that Mucedorus pioneered the fashion for “continuations” or adaptations of the famously unfinished Arcadia, and one element of its success in print was its presentation as an affordable and performable version of Sidney's elite work. The Jacobean revival of Mucedorus by the King's Men is thus evidence of a strategy of engagement with the Arcadia designed to please the new Stuart monarchs. This association with the monarchy in part determined the cultural functions of the Arcadia and Mucedorus through the Interregnum to the close of the seventeenth century