2,010 research outputs found
Commercialisation and Privatisation in/of education in the context of Covid-19
The Covid-19 emergency has affected education systems worldwide. The\ua0âpivotâ to âonline learningâ and âemergency remote teachingâ has positioned\ua0educational technology (edtech) as an integral component of education\ua0globally, bringing private sector and commercial organisations into the\ua0centre of essential educational services. The effects are likely to persist for\ua0some time, first of all in temporary âblendedâ models of âsocially distancedâ\ua0schooling during the period of pandemic recovery, and perhaps for\ua0longer in âhybridâ approaches in which edtech is embedded in curriculum,\ua0pedagogy, assessment, and school management. This report explores\ua0how privatisation and commercialisation of education have advanced\ua0during the 2020 pandemic, with a particular focus on edtech
May Irwin\u27s New Coon Song Hits / music by Ernest Hogan; words by Ben Harney
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The vertical cloud structure of the West African monsoon: a 4 year climatology using CloudSat and CALIPSO
The West African summer monsoon (WAM) is an important driver of the global climate and locally provides most of the annual rainfall. A solid climatological knowledge of the complex vertical cloud structure is invaluable to forecasters and modelers to improve the understanding of the WAM. In this paper, 4 years of data from the CloudSat profiling radar and CALIPSO are used to create a composite zonal mean vertical cloud and precipitation structure for the WAM. For the first time, the near-coincident vertical radar and lidar profiles allow for the identification of individual cloud types from optically thin cirrus and shallow cumulus to congestus and deep convection. A clear diurnal signal in zonal mean cloud structure is observed for the WAM, with deep convective activity enhanced at night producing extensive anvil and cirrus, while daytime observations show more shallow cloud and congestus. A layer of altocumulus is frequently observed over the Sahara at night and day, extending southward to the coastline, and the majority of this cloud is shown to contain supercooled liquid in the top. The occurrence of deep convective systems and congestus in relation to the position of the African easterly jet is studied, but only the daytime cumulonimbus distribution indicates some influence of the jet position
Does the Fornax dwarf spheroidal have a central cusp or core?
The dark matter dominated Fornax dwarf spheroidal has five globular clusters
orbiting at ~1 kpc from its centre. In a cuspy CDM halo the globulars would
sink to the centre from their current positions within a few Gyrs, presenting a
puzzle as to why they survive undigested at the present epoch. We show that a
solution to this timing problem is to adopt a cored dark matter halo. We use
numerical simulations and analytic calculations to show that, under these
conditions, the sinking time becomes many Hubble times; the globulars
effectively stall at the dark matter core radius. We conclude that the Fornax
dwarf spheroidal has a shallow inner density profile with a core radius
constrained by the observed positions of its globular clusters. If the phase
space density of the core is primordial then it implies a warm dark matter
particle and gives an upper limit to its mass of ~0.5 keV, consistent with that
required to significantly alleviate the substructure problem.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, high
resolution simulations include
Elastomeric Sensing of Pressure with Liquid Metal and Wireless Inductive Coupling
This project describes resistance-based soft sensors filled with liquid metal, which permit measurements of large strains (0 percent to 110 percent), associated with small forces of less than 30 Newtons. This work also demonstrates a methodology for wireless transfer of these strain measurements without connected electrodes. These sensors allow intermittent detection of pressure on soft membranes with low force. Adapting these sensors for passive wireless pressure sensing will eliminate the need for embedded batteries, and will allow the sensors to transmit pressure data through non-conductive materials including glass and acrylic. The absence of batteries allows us to embed these sensors into materials for long-term use because the sensors only use passive analog circuit elements. We found the oxidation of the liquid metal (eutectic gallium indium) plays a role in the repeatability of the soft sensors. We investigated how the oxidation layer affected the behavior of the sensor by encapsulating materials (silicone, fluorosilicone, and PVC) with varied permeabilities to oxygen. We measured the effects of mechanical loading on the oxidation layer and the effects of wireless inductive coupling on the oxidation layer. We concluded our research by investigating the effects of embedding self-resonant circuits into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Efforts to design engineered systems with soft materials are a growing field with progress in soft robotics, epidermal electronics, and wearable electronics. In the field of soft robotics, PDMS-based grippers are capable of picking up delicate objects because their form-fitting properties allow them to conform to the shape of objects more easily than conventional robotic grippers. Epidermal devices also use PDMS as a substrate to hold electronic components such as radios, sensors, and power supply circuits. Additionally, PDMS-based soft sensors can monitor human motion with liquid metal embedded within micro-channels. Passive wireless sensors have applications in structural health monitoring and medical health monitoring. Doctors can take wireless blood pressure measurements inside arteries to monitor the progression of heart disease. Glaucoma patients can use this technology to monitor the pressure in their eyes to track the progression of the disease
Can Reproductive Health Voucher Programs Improve Quality of Postnatal Care? A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of Kenyaâs Safe Motherhood Voucher Scheme
This study tests the group-level causal relationship between the expansion of Kenyaâs Safe Motherhood voucher program and changes in quality of postnatal care (PNC) provided at voucher-contracted facilities. We compare facilities accredited since program inception in 2006 (phase I) and facilities accredited since 2010-2011 (phase II) relative to comparable non-voucher facilities. PNC quality is assessed using observed clinical content processes, as well as client-reported outcome measures. Two-tailed unpaired t-tests are used to identify differences in mean process quality scores and client-reported outcome measures, comparing changes between intervention and comparison groups at the 2010 and 2012 data collection periods. Difference-in-differences analysis is used to estimate the reproductive health (RH) voucher programâs causal effect on quality of care by exploiting group-level differences between voucher-accredited and non-accredited facilities in 2010 and 2012. Participation in the voucher scheme since 2006 significantly improves overall quality of postnatal care by 39% (p=0.02), where quality is defined as the observable processes or components of service provision that occur during a PNC consultation. Program participation since phase I is estimated to improve the quality of observed maternal postnatal care by 86% (p=0.02), with the largest quality improvements in counselling on family planning methods (IRR 5.0; p=0.01) and return to fertility (IRR 2.6; p=0.01). Despite improvements in maternal aspects of PNC, we find a high proportion of mothers who seek PNC are not being checked by any provider after delivery. Additional strategies will be necessary to standardize provision of packaged postnatal interventions to both mother and new-born. This study addresses an important gap in the existing RH literature by using a strong evaluation design to assess RH voucher program effectiveness on quality improvement
Tests of the Accelerating Universe with Near-Infrared Observations of a High-Redshift Type Ia Supernova
We have measured the rest-frame B,V, and I-band light curves of a
high-redshift type Ia supernova (SN Ia), SN 1999Q (z=0.46), using HST and
ground-based near-infrared detectors.
A goal of this study is the measurement of the color excess, E_{B-I}, which
is a sensitive indicator of interstellar or intergalactic dust which could
affect recent cosmological measurements from high-redshift SNe Ia. Our
observations disfavor a 30% opacity of SN Ia visual light by dust as an
alternative to an accelerating Universe. This statement applies to both
Galactic-type dust
(rejected at the 3.4 sigma confidence level) and greyer dust (grain size >
0.1 microns; rejected at the 2.3 to 2.6 sigma confidence level) as proposed by
Aguirre (1999). The rest-frame -band light cur ve shows the secondary
maximum a month after B maximum typical of nearby SNe Ia of normal luminosi ty,
providing no indication of evolution as a function of redshift out to z~0.5. A
n expanded set of similar observations could improve the constraints on any
contribution of extragalactic dust to the dimming of high-redshift SNe Ia.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal, 12 pages, 2 figure
Cores in warm dark matter haloes: a Catch 22 problem
The free streaming of warm dark matter particles dampens the fluctuation
spectrum, flattens the mass function of haloes and imprints a fine grained
phase density limit for dark matter structures. The phase space density limit
is expected to imprint a constant density core at the halo center on the
contrary to what happens for cold dark matter. We explore these effects using
high resolution simulations of structure formation in different warm dark
matter scenarios. We find that the size of the core we obtain in simulated
haloes is in good agreement with theoretical expectations based on Liouville's
theorem. However, our simulations show that in order to create a significant
core, (r_c~1 kpc), in a dwarf galaxy (M~1e10 Msun), a thermal candidate with a
mass as low as 0.1 keV is required. This would fully prevent the formation of
the dwarf galaxy in the first place. For candidates satisfying large scale
structure constrains (m_wdm larger than 1-2 keV) the expected size of the core
is of the order of 10 (20) pc for a dark matter halo with a mass of 1e10 (1e8)
Msun. We conclude that "standard" warm dark matter is not viable solution for
explaining the presence of cored density profiles in low mass galaxies.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, new theory section, fig 8 updated, conclusions
unchanged, accepted for publication on MNRA
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