Undoing Chinese Privilege in Singapore through Reading with the Other

Contemporary cultural studies in USA have seen the rise of whiteness studies that seek to understand the nature of white privilege and its conditions of possibility. Despite calls from several activists and academics to look at how this resonates and yet deviates from Chinese privilege in Singapore, they have not gained much traction in local discussions in and outside the academia. Thus in this paper, I come as a subject, conditioned by middle-class Chinese heteronormative patriarchal privilege in Singapore but yet belonging to what is perceived to be a western religion, Christianity, to engage with the question of ‘Chinese Privilege’ through a contrapuntal reading of a story from the Bible in the book of Daniel, chapter 1 with Alfian Sa’at’s anthology, Malay Sketches (2012). The aim of this paper is to seek the undoing of my Chinese privilege while attempting to avoid the narcissism of navel-gazing in order to think deeper what it means following Gayatri Spivak, to ‘learn to learn from below’. I achieve this through surfacing the struggle of hiddenness in the story of Daniel by inflecting it through experiences of Malay marginalisation so as to alienate a text that is often (mis)used to reinforce epistemologies of ignorance to Chinese privilege

Validating Sample Average Approximation Solutions with Negatively Dependent Batches

Sample-average approximations (SAA) are a practical means of finding approximate solutions of stochastic programming problems involving an extremely large (or infinite) number of scenarios. SAA can also be used to find estimates of a lower bound on the optimal objective value of the true problem which, when coupled with an upper bound, provides confidence intervals for the true optimal objective value and valuable information about the quality of the approximate solutions. Specifically, the lower bound can be estimated by solving multiple SAA problems (each obtained using a particular sampling method) and averaging the obtained objective values. State-of-the-art methods for lower-bound estimation generate batches of scenarios for the SAA problems independently. In this paper, we describe sampling methods that produce negatively dependent batches, thus reducing the variance of the sample-averaged lower bound estimator and increasing its usefulness in defining a confidence interval for the optimal objective value. We provide conditions under which the new sampling methods can reduce the variance of the lower bound estimator, and present computational results to verify that our scheme can reduce the variance significantly, by comparison with the traditional Latin hypercube approach

Destructive physical analysis results of Ni/H2 cells cycled in LEO regime

Six 48-Ah individual pressure vessel (IPV) Ni/H2 cells containing 26 and 31 percent KOH electrolyte were life cycle tested in low Earth orbit. All three cells containing 31 percent KOH failed (3729, 4165, and 11,355 cycles), while those with 26 percent KOH were cycled over 14,000 times in the continuing test. Destructive physical analysis (DPA) of the failed cells included visual inspections, measurements of electrode thickness, scanning electron microscopy, chemical analysis, and measurements of nickel electrode capacity in an electrolyte flooded cell. The cycling failure was due to a decrease of nickel electrode capacity. As possible causes of the capacity decrease, researchers observed electrode expansion, rupture, and corrosion of the nickel electrode substrate, active material redistribution, and accumulation of electrochemically undischargeable active material with cycling

Vinculando avaliações TIMSS e NAEP para avaliar tendências internacionais em realizações

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) makes it possible to compare the performance of students in the US in Mathematics and Science to the performance of students in other countries. TIMSS uses four international benchmarks for describing student achievement: Low, Intermediate, High, and Advanced. In this study, we linked the eighth-grade Math TIMSS and NAEP scales using equipercentile equating to (a) help better interpret U.S. eighth-grade students’ performance on TIMSS, and (b) investigate the progress of eighth-grade U.S. students over time relative to the progress of students in other countries. Results indicated that relative to other countries, U.S. eighth-grade students increased with respect to the “At or Above Basic” NAEP Achievement level, but that other countries saw larger improvements in the higher achievement level categories, relative to the US. This finding may reflect the emphasis of No Child Left Behind on raising lower achievement to “proficient.” However, with respect to “Advanced” mathematics achievement, eighth-grade U.S. students showed less improvement than students in other countries. Las Tendencias en Matemáticas Internacionales y Estudios Ciencias (TIMSS) le permite comparar el rendimiento de los estudiantes en los EE.UU. en Matemáticas y Ciencia con el rendimiento de otros estudiantes de los países. El TIMSS utiliza cuatro puntos de referencia internacionales para describir el rendimiento del estudiante: bajo, intermedio y avanzado de alta. En este estudio, asociamos las escalas de TIMSS matemáticas y NAEP dadas en octavo grado utilizando equipercentile equivalente a (a) ayuda a interpretar mejor el rendimiento de octavo grado en el TIMSS, y (b) para investigar el progreso de los estudiantes de 8º grado en los Estados Unidos en el tiempo sobre el progreso de los estudiantes de otros países. Los resultados indicaron que, en comparación con otros países, los estudiantes de 8º grado de Estados Unidos aumentaron desde el nivel “igual o superior al básico” NAEP logro, pero otros países marcaron la mayor mejora en la mayoría de las categorías de nivel de rendimiento en los EE.UU.. Este hallazgo puede reflejar el énfasis de No Child Left Behind (NCLB) para elevar el rendimiento más bajo de "competente". Sin embargo, en cuanto a rendimiento en matemáticas “avanzada”, los estudiantes estadounidenses de octavo grado mostraron menor mejoría de los estudiantes de otros países.As Tendências em Matemática Internacional e Estudos em Ciências (TIMSS) permite comparar o desempenho dos estudantes nos EUA em Matemática e Ciência com o desempenho de alunos de outros países. O TIMSS usa quatro referências internacionais para descrever o desempenho dos alunos: Baixo, Intermediário, Alto e Avançado. Neste estudo, associamos as escalas de TIMSS e NAEP de matemática dada na 8ª série usando equivalentes equipercentile para (a) ajudar a interpretar melhor o desempenho dos estudantes da oitava série no TIMSS, e (b) investigar o progresso de estudantes de 8ª série nos EUA ao longo do tempo relativo ao progresso dos alunos em outros países. Os resultados indicaram que, em relação a outros países, os estudantes de 8º ano dos Estados Unidos aumentaram em relação ao nível “no ou acima do básico” de realização NAEP, mas que outros países marcaram melhorias maiores nas categorias de maior nível de desempenho em relação aos EUA. Essa descoberta pode refletir na ênfase de Nenhuma Criança Deixada Para Trás (No Child Left Behind) em elevar a realização inferior para "proficiente". No entanto, no que diz respeito à conquista de matemática “Avançada,” os estudantes americanos de 8ª série apresentaram menor melhora do que os estudantes de outros países