Selected Roles/Functions of Technical/Vocational Education Administrators in Barbados and the Need for Further Preparation and Continuing Professional Development

The purpose of this study was to identify the roles/functions of technical/vocational education (TVE) administrators in Barbados and to ascertain their personal needs for further preparation and continuing professional development. The population for the study consisted of 115 TVE administrators from the Ministry of Education, tertiary institutions, vocational centers, Grammar schools, and Newer secondary schools. The survey method was used to gather the data. All respondents were asked to complete a 87-item questionnaire which described various roles/functions associated with the administration of TVE programs under eight major categories. For each role descriptor, respondents were asked to indicate how important it was to their success as a TVE administrator and their need for continuing professional development. The data was analyzed using one-way analysis of variance. The major findings in the study were: (1) TVE administrators perceived six of eight categories to be very important to their position. School/Community Relations and Business and Financial Management were not considered as being important to their job. (2) While the highest expressed need was in the category of Staff Relations, TVE administrators expressed little need for further preparation in any other category. (3) There were no differences among TVE administrators in the perception of the importance of their roles/functions based on educational background, but those who were permanently employed and appointed in their job attached a higher level of importance to certain roles/functions than those who were of other status. (4) TVE administrators who worked in other institutions and Newer secondary schools attached a higher level of importance to certain roles/functions than those in Grammar schools. (5) There were no differences among TVE administrators with regard to their perception of their need for further preparation within the eight categories based on tenure in position or educational setting although TVE administrators with less than B.A. degrees expressed a greater need for further preparation than TVEadministrators with B.A. degrees or graduate degrees

Equality: A tool for free-form equation editing

We describe a new tool, Equality, for equation entry using free-form layout of components drawn from a palette of symbols. Our approach is designed to enable learners to easily manipulate the structure of their equations, to be functional in both desktop and mobile environments, and to minimize the amount of learning required to use the tool.We present the results of a study comparing a prototype of our approach with Microsoft Equation Editor using a desktop machine. The initial results are promising with participants reporting that the mechanism is easy to learn and an easy way to manipulate their equations. We report the results of the study and the views of the participants and identify how these will inform the future development of Equality.We thank the Department for Education (United Kingdom) for their support in funding this work through the Isaac Physics project.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICALT.2015.3

Lie Superalgebras and the Multiplet Structure of the Genetic Code II: Branching Schemes

Continuing our attempt to explain the degeneracy of the genetic code using basic classical Lie superalgebras, we present the branching schemes for the typical codon representations (typical 64-dimensional irreducible representations) of basic classical Lie superalgebras and find three schemes that do reproduce the degeneracies of the standard code, based on the orthosymplectic algebra osp(5|2) and differing only in details of the symmetry breaking pattern during the last step.Comment: 34 pages, 9 tables, LaTe

Reading Stuart Hall : the influence of the New Left on social work

This article will discuss the work of the late cultural and political theorist Professor Stuart Hall (1932–2014). Hall made hugely significant contributions in cultural studies. In addition, he was one of the first thinkers on the Left to recognise the huge seismic shift that the electoral success of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 represented. Hall made a huge contribution to the development of progressive politics. His analysis of the centrality of race, empire and colonialism to the formation of modern Britain and its ongoing significance was a key element in the anti-racist politics of the 1970s and 1980s. These developments were very influential in the development of critical and radical social work perspectives. This article will argue that Hall’s work provides a theoretical and conceptual toolkit for a radical analysis of contemporary politics and culture. Social workers, academics and other practitioners can use this toolkit to develop critical perspectives on social work practice and other aspects of social and welfare policies

Oldham Mental Health Phone Triage/RAID Pilot Project Evaluation Report

In 2013, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) commissioned an independent evaluation of the Oldham Phone Triage/RAID Pilot Project. This evaluation report covers the period of the six month pilot from 02.12.2013 to 31.05.14. Lord Adebowale’s recent Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing (2013) concluded that mental health represents one of the most significant and complex challenges for policing in the UK; addressing this matter is core business and should become a priority in all future service planning and delivery at a local level. The Sainsbury Centre (2008) identified that nationally, 15% of all incidents dealt with by the police include the presence of significant mental health difficulties and problems. The report highlighted that police officers do not typically have ready access to sufficient additional information that would support their decision-making in these types of cases. Officers also felt that their training did not always adequately prepare them for this area of work. In February 2014, a national Crisis Care Concordat was signed by more than 20 organisations in England in a bid to drive up standards of care for people in police custody. The Concordat, seeks to build on other announcements on mental health care, notably liaison and diversion schemes, street triage and the national Mental Health Action Plan (2014). GMP and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester (PCCGM) have been instrumental in setting up a Mental Health Strategy Group to coordinate and improve mental health and policing across Greater Manchester. Mental health and the need to protect vulnerable people have been given major status in the Police and Crime Plan 2013-16 for Greater Manchester (PCCGM, 2013). At a recent consultation event, Tony Lloyd (Police and Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester) stated: ‘People suffering mental health problems deserve the best service and the only way to achieve that is for the police, NHS and other agencies to pool resources and work together’ (PCCGM, 2014: online)

Earthquakes and tsunamis caused by low-angle normal faulting in the Banda Sea, Indonesia

As the world's largest archipelagic country in Earth's most active tectonic region, Indonesia faces a substantial earthquake and tsunami threat. Understanding this threat is a challenge because of the complex tectonic environment, the paucity of observed data and the limited historical record. Here we combine information from recent studies of the geology of Indonesia's Banda Sea with Global Positioning System observations of crustal motion and an analysis of historical large earthquakes and tsunamis there. We show that past destructive earthquakes were not caused by the supposed megathrust of the Banda outer arc as previously thought but are due to a vast submarine normal fault system recently discovered along the Banda inner arc. Instead of being generated by coseismic seafloor displacement, we find the tsunamis were more likely caused by earthquake-triggered submarine slumping along the fault's massive scarp, the Weber Deep. This would make the Banda detachment representative not only as a modern analogue for terranes hyper-extended by slab rollback but also for the generation of earthquakes and tsunamis by a submarine extensional fault system. Our findings suggest that low-angle normal faults in the Banda Sea generate large earthquakes, which in turn can generate tsunamis due to earthquake-triggered slumping. Low-angle normal faults in the Banda Sea have caused large earthquakes that indirectly generated tsunamis due to earthquake-triggered submarine slumping, according to an analysis of historical earthquake and tsunami events and GPS observations.Peer reviewe

Public access defibrillation: Suppression of 16.7 Hz interference generated by the power supply of the railway systems

BACKGROUND: A specific problem using the public access defibrillators (PADs) arises at the railway stations. Some countries as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden are using AC railroad net power-supply system with rated 16.7 Hz frequency modulated from 15.69 Hz to 17.36 Hz. The power supply frequency contaminates the electrocardiogram (ECG). It is difficult to be suppressed or eliminated due to the fact that it considerably overlaps the frequency spectra of the ECG. The interference impedes the automated decision of the PADs whether a patient should be (or should not be) shocked. The aim of this study is the suppression of the 16.7 Hz interference generated by the power supply of the railway systems. METHODS: Software solution using adaptive filtering method was proposed for 16.7 Hz interference suppression. The optimal performance of the filter is achieved, embedding a reference channel in the PADs to record the interference. The method was tested with ECGs from AHA database. RESULTS: The method was tested with patients of normal sinus rhythms, symptoms of tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. Simulated interference with frequency modulation from 15.69 Hz to 17.36 Hz changing at a rate of 2% per second was added to the ECGs, and then processed by the suggested adaptive filtering. The method totally suppresses the noise with no visible distortions of the original signals. CONCLUSION: The proposed adaptive filter for noise suppression generated by the power supply of the railway systems has a simple structure requiring a low level of computational resources, but a good reference signal as well

General criteria for the stability of uniaxially ordered states of Incommensurate-Commensurate Systems

Reconsidering the variational procedure for uniaxial systems modeled by continuous free energy functionals, we derive new general conditions for thermodynamic extrema. The utility of these conditions is briefly illustrated on the models for the classes I and II of incommensurate-commensurate systems.Comment: 5 pages, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Short communication: The effect of storage conditions over time on bovine colostral immunoglobulin G concentration, bacteria, and pH

peer-reviewedThe objective of the present study was to measure the effect of storing colostrum in different conditions for varying amounts of time on IgG concentration, bacteria, and pH. In experiment 1, colostrum from 12 Holstein-Friesian cows (6 primiparous and 6 multiparous) was collected within 3h of calving, and colostrum from another 12 multiparous cows was collected within 3h of calving (6 cows) and >9h postpartum (6 cows). Aliquots were refrigerated or stored at room temperature for up to 72h, depending on treatment. In experiment 2, colostrum was collected from 6 multiparous cows within 9h of calving, and aliquots were stored for up to 72h in temperature-controlled units set at 4, 13, and 20°C. All colostrum samples were analyzed for IgG concentration, total bacteria count, and pH after 0, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72h of storage. Storage conditions did not affect the IgG concentration of colostrum. Bacterial growth was most rapid in the first 6h of storage, reducing thereafter, but bacteria multiplied at a significantly greater rate when stored in warmer conditions (i.e., >4°C). The pH of colostrum was not significantly altered when stored at temperatures <13°C, but when stored at 20°C the pH significantly decreased after 24h of storage. Storing colostrum in warmer conditions significantly alters both total bacteria count and pH; consequently, colostrum should be stored at ≤4°C

The strange Case of Ian Stuart Brady and the Mental Health Tribunal

Haggerty (2009) argues that serial killing is essentially a phenomenon of modernity. One of the key features of modernity is the role of mass media and the rise of celebrity culture. He suggests that there is a symbiotic relationship between the media and serial killers. This paper will use the newspaper reporting of the June 2013 appearance of Ian Brady at a Mental Health Review Tribunal hearing to explore the nature of the relationship between the media, high profile cases and notorious offenders. The paper uses bricolage as a research method to explore the inter-connectedness of real events and their media and fictional representations. There is a loop between fictional representations and real life events. The authors argue that the focus of such cultural processes is almost solely on the motivations of the perpetrators of these appalling crimes. The result is to obscure the real nature of these crimes and marginalise the suffering of victims and their families. The MHRT raised very important moral, philosophical, ethical and legal questions about the nature of mental illness, crime and punishment. The consideration of these wider issues was pushed to the margins as the reports of the hearing took on the tone of Gothic fiction concentrating on the “appearance” of Brady. The reporting of the hearing is an example of what Seltzer (1997) termed modern “wound culture” an addiction to violence