Aspirations, Expectations and Education Outcomes for Children in Britain: Considering Relative Measures of Family Efficiency

We apply the distance function methodology to the analysis of household production functions. In particular, the family’s ability to efficiently and simultaneously generate a dual education (mathematics and reading) output for their child subject to multiple, constrained input availability is addressed. A stochastic production frontier model is estimated and significant shortfalls from the productive ideal are established, indicating that there is substantial scope for improvement in the production of childhood education outcomes amongst British families. There is also substantial variation across families in the efficiency of their production. Implementing a conditional mean model, inefficiency is shown to be strongly related to both family and child-centric variables and, in particular, to the educational aspirations of the parents for their child.childhood education, family, performance, production efficiency, aspirations, expectations

The Status and Prospects of Community Education Workers in China

Professionalization, career development prospects, and social value are the three basic components of the status and prospects of community education workers, which influence their choice to continue their careers or not. In China, these problems are complex and lacking in systematic research, and the current situation does not meet the needs of community education. This study interviewed 24 community workers regarding their salaries, working conditions, and training and career advancement opportunities to evaluate this situation in Ningbo City. The findings highlight challenges in the evaluation processes and work motivations of community education workers, including teams without professional knowledge, lack of training opportunities, unsupportive policies, and low salaries. These findings can be used by governments and community workers to find collaborative ways to facilitate community education processes, including the provision of adult education for community educators. New legal policies to raise the status of community educators are also suggested

The global solution of the minimal surface flow and translating surfaces

In this paper, we study evolved surfaces over convex planar domains which are evolving by the minimal surface flow $$u_{t}= div\left(\frac{Du}{\sqrt{1+|Du|^2}}\right)-H(x,Du).$$ Here, we specify the angle of contact of the evolved surface to the boundary cylinder. The interesting question is to find translating solitons of the form $u(x,t)=\omega t+w(x)$ where $\omega\in \mathbb R$. Under an angle condition, we can prove the a priori estimate holds true for the translating solitons (i.e., translator), which makes the solitons exist. We can prove for suitable condition on $H(x,p)$ that there is the global solution of the minimal surface flow. Then we show, provided the soliton exists, that the global solutions converge to some translator.Comment: 16 page

Zaozao Xu’s case: Chinese women’s appeal for the right to freeze their eggs

China’s regulatory framework on assisted reproductive technologies (henceforth ARTs) has remained unchanged and unchallenged for over two decades, prohibiting unmarried women from accessing any form of ARTs. Section 1 Article 4(1) of the Ethical Principles for Human Reproductive Technologies and Human Sperm Banks explicitly stipulates that ‘couples who do not comply with national population and family planning laws and regulations and single women’ are prohibited from accessing ARTs. However, unmarried men are allowed to freeze sperm regardless of their marital status, constituting direct discrimination against women. Furthermore, significant legislative conflicts exist between local regulations and departmental rules in this area, hindering the consistent application of ART norms in China and substantially limiting the reproductive rights of Chinese women. Zaozao Xu’s case is the first case in China directly challenging the current prohibitive regulations on egg freezing and may signify a crucial turning point in China’s reform of ARTs legislation. This commentary provides an overview of the case and examines various issues associated with the existing regulatory framework, including the vagueness of the legislation and regulation, legislative conflicts in the current framework, deeply rooted discrimination against women, and the regulator’s problematic conception of ARTs. This commentary emphasises the urgent need for China to re-evaluate and reform its ARTs regulatory framework to allow unmarried women to access ARTs, or at least egg-freezing services as the first step

A One-Class Support Vector Machine Calibration Method for Time Series Change Point Detection

It is important to identify the change point of a system's health status, which usually signifies an incipient fault under development. The One-Class Support Vector Machine (OC-SVM) is a popular machine learning model for anomaly detection and hence could be used for identifying change points; however, it is sometimes difficult to obtain a good OC-SVM model that can be used on sensor measurement time series to identify the change points in system health status. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for calibrating OC-SVM models. The approach uses a heuristic search method to find a good set of input data and hyperparameters that yield a well-performing model. Our results on the C-MAPSS dataset demonstrate that OC-SVM can also achieve satisfactory accuracy in detecting change point in time series with fewer training data, compared to state-of-the-art deep learning approaches. In our case study, the OC-SVM calibrated by the proposed model is shown to be useful especially in scenarios with limited amount of training data

Impact of Multiple Vegetation Covers on Surface Runoff and Sediment Yield in the Small Basin of Nverzhai, Hunan Province, China

Vegetation plays a significant role in controlling soil erosion. However, the effects of each vegetation type on soil erosion have not been fully investigated. In order to explore the influence of multiple vegetation covers on soil erosion and surface runoff generation, 10 different vegetation types, typical of the Nverzhai small basin, have been selected for this study. Regional precipitation, surface runoff, and sediment yield were measured from 2007 to 2018. The wettest year recorded was 2012. Recorded data confirmed that July was the wettest month in this region while January and December were the driest months. Furthermore, surface runoff and sediment yield associated with different vegetation types gradually decreased after 2013, which is the quantification of the consequences due to afforestation processes started in this area. Surface runoff and sediment content recorded for the configuration of sloping farmland were the largest between the different investigated vegetation types. The smallest were the broad-leaved mixed forest, the coniferous mixed forest, and shrubs. Finally, a significant linear positive correlation was found between rainfall and surface runoff, as well as sediment yield (R2 = 0.75). This suggests that climate change implications could be limited by using the more efficient vegetation covering. This research indicates that the ground cover is a key element in controlling soil and water loss, as well as vegetation measures, with high ground cover (i.e., broad-leaved trees). These measures should be strongly recommended for soil erosion control and surface runoff reduction. Moreover, these outcomes can be very helpful for vegetation restoration and water conservation strategies if implemented by local authorities

Low-lying s=+1s=+1 Pentaquark states in the Inherent Nodal Structure Analysis

The strangeness $s=+1$ pentaquark states as $qqqq\bar{q}$ clusters are investigated in this letter. Starting from the inherent geometric symmetry, we analyzed the inherent nodal structure of the system. As the nodeless states, the low-lying states are picked out. Then the S-wave state $(J^P, T)= ({{1/2}}^{-}, 0)$ and P-wave state $(J^P, T)= ({{1/2}}^{+}, 0)$ may be the candidates of low-lying pentaquark states. By comparing the accessibility of the two states and referring the presently obtained K-N interaction potential, we propose that the quantum numbers of the observed pentaquark state $\Theta^{+}$ may be $(J^P, T)=({{1/2}}^{+}, 0)$ and L=1.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables. Revised version with detailed description, expanded discussion and reference for the geometric configuration to be proposed being adde

Sector skills insights : construction

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills is a social partnership, led by Commissioners from large and small employers, trade unions and the voluntary sector. Our mission is to raise skill levels to help drive enterprise, create more and better jobs and promote economic growth. Our strategic objectives are to: • Provide outstanding labour market intelligence which helps businesses and people make the best choices for them; • Work with businesses to develop the best market solutions which leverage greater investment in skills; • Maximise the impact of employment and skills policies and employer behaviour to support jobs and growth and secure an internationally competitive skills base. These strategic objectives are supported by a research programme that provides a robust evidence base for our insights and actions and which draws on good practice and the most innovative thinking. The research programme is underpinned by a number of core principles including the importance of: ensuring ‘relevance ’ to our most pressing strategic priorities; ‘salience ’ and effectively translating and sharing the key insights we find; internationa