Costs of Participation in the School Administration Manager (SAM) Process

Analyzes variations in school districts' implementation costs, by model, of the school administration manager process to help principals increase the time they spend on instructional leadership. Explores funding sources

DASI Three-Year Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Results

We present the analysis of the complete 3-year data set obtained with the Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI) polarization experiment, operating from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole research station. Additional data obtained at the end of the 2002 Austral winter and throughout the 2003 season were added to the data from which the first detection of polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation was reported. The analysis of the combined data supports, with increased statistical power, all of the conclusions drawn from the initial data set. In particular, the detection of E-mode polarization is increased to 6.3 sigma confidence level, TE cross-polarization is detected at 2.9 sigma, and B-mode polarization is consistent with zero, with an upper limit well below the level of the detected E-mode polarization. The results are in excellent agreement with the predictions of the cosmological model that has emerged from CMB temperature measurements. The analysis also demonstrates that contamination of the data by known sources of foreground emission is insignificant.Comment: 13 pages Latex, 10 figures, submitted to Ap

Evaluation of the School Administration Manager Project

Examines the results to date of a Wallace-supported project to help principals delegate some administrative and managerial tasks to school administration managers and spend more time interacting with teachers, students and others on instructional matters

Accounting Law in Practice: Compliance, Consistency and Substance Focusing on the UK’s Implementation of EU Extractive Industry Country by Country Reporting of Government Payments to Governments

The passing into EU Law of a requirement that all companies domiciled in member states or listed on EU stock exchanges should publish a Report of Payments to Governments on the face of it is a victory for the civil society organizations long campaigning for the attendant increased transparency and accountability, a step towards better conditions and possibilities for many of the world’s poor. But it cannot be taken for granted. It was passed with a condition that it be reviewed (at both member state level, where a review can feed into the federal level review, and at the level of the EU), which is an opportunity to better it or a threat to reverse positive potentialities. The UK Brexit vote adds some uncertainty regarding the future of the law in the UK. And studies of manifestations of practices such as accounting and auditing (often intersecting with the law) caution against too much optimism as to their straightforward effectiveness. With a view to understanding this particular law in practice, so that it be strengthened and better function in line with its intended aims, we explore processes of its construction and early adoption in the UK. In a preliminary analysis, we elaborate how interpretations of the Law within the Extractives Industry run counter to the spirit or substance of the law and give rise to different and apparently problematic translations of the law into practice. Reflecting on our analysis, we make some recommendations as to ways forward

Reports on Payments to Governments: A critical review of early developments and experiences

We are concerned to review and discuss aspects of the Reports submitted in line with the Payments to Governments Regulations. We consider the process of transposition of this EU Accounting Law into UK law and the early implementation or operationalization of this law in the UK. Recommendations drawn from the study are intended to be of use to a variety of stakeholders who may input into the upcoming government consultation on these regulations. This version was published by Robert Gordon University

Reports on Payments to Governments: A report on early developments and experiences

We are concerned in this report to review and discuss aspects of the Reports submitted in line with the Payments to Governments Regulations. We consider the process of transposition of this Accounting Law into UK law and the early implementation or operationalization of this law in the UK. Recommendations drawn from the study will be useful for Publish What You Pay (PWYP) and other interested stakeholders in communications with government, regulators and standard setters and in general campaign activity

A Limit on the Polarized Anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background at Subdegree Angular Scales

A ground-based polarimeter, PIQUE, operating at 90 GHz has set a new limit on the magnitude of any polarized anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background. The combination of the scan strategy and full width half maximum beam of 0.235 degrees gives broad window functions with average multipoles, l = 211+294-146 and l = 212+229-135 for the E- and B-mode window functions, respectively. A joint likelihood analysis yields simultaneous 95% confidence level flat band power limits of 14 and 13 microkelvin on the amplitudes of the E- and B-mode angular power spectra, respectively. Assuming no B-modes, a 95% confidence limit of 10 microkelvin is placed on the amplitude of the E-mode angular power spectrum alone.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letter

Does tiny-scale atomic structure exist in the interstellar medium ?

We report on preliminary results from the recent multi-epoch neutral hydrogen absorption measurements toward three pulsars, B0823+26, B1133+16 and B2016+28, using the Arecibo telescope. We do not find significant variations in optical depth profiles over periods of 0.3 and 9--10 yr, or on spatial scales of 10--20 and 70--85 AU. The large number of non detections of the tiny scale atomic structure suggests that the AU-sized structure is not ubiquitous in the interstellar medium and could be quite a rare phenomenon.Comment: Accepted by ApJ Letters, 5 pages, 2 figure

Joint Bayesian component separation and CMB power spectrum estimation

We describe and implement an exact, flexible, and computationally efficient algorithm for joint component separation and CMB power spectrum estimation, building on a Gibbs sampling framework. Two essential new features are 1) conditional sampling of foreground spectral parameters, and 2) joint sampling of all amplitude-type degrees of freedom (e.g., CMB, foreground pixel amplitudes, and global template amplitudes) given spectral parameters. Given a parametric model of the foreground signals, we estimate efficiently and accurately the exact joint foreground-CMB posterior distribution, and therefore all marginal distributions such as the CMB power spectrum or foreground spectral index posteriors. The main limitation of the current implementation is the requirement of identical beam responses at all frequencies, which restricts the analysis to the lowest resolution of a given experiment. We outline a future generalization to multi-resolution observations. To verify the method, we analyse simple models and compare the results to analytical predictions. We then analyze a realistic simulation with properties similar to the 3-yr WMAP data, downgraded to a common resolution of 3 degree FWHM. The results from the actual 3-yr WMAP temperature analysis are presented in a companion Letter.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures; version accepted for publication in ApJ -- only minor changes, all clarifications. More information about the WMAP3 analysis available at http://www.astro.uio.no/~hke under the Research ta