Planning for Change While Changing the Plan: A Case Study of Staff Perceptions of an Elementary ELL Program Redesign

This study shows how I, the leader, conceptualized and implemented a program redesign over the course of two years (2009-11). At the time of this study I was faced with multiple factors which led to the inspiration for change: (a) the relatively rapid increase in the number of students needing ELL services, (b) a growing teacher concern for ELLs performing in the core academic areas, and (c) greater emphasis on improving level of English proficiency and overall academic performance for placement purposes in the ELL program and in the regular education class, and (d) the change of exit criteria in January 2010 by the state for ELL students. The purpose of this research study was to assess how administrators and teachers in an elementary school perceived the first two years of a new ELL program at Wiley from conceptualization to implementation. In order to answer the exact questions of inquiry identified in the following chapters, I gathered a team of five staff members who would review and assist with this complex change process. I chose to use a case study methodology approach that focused on the change process experienced by the district while conceptualizing and implementing a program redesign for ELLs. I gathered data through the use of surveys, interviews, and artifacts to draw my conclusions. Overall, staff appreciated the awareness and identification of the issue of the changing ELL population and setting a plan to address the concerns. However, because this study was based on a two year process, the findings indicated a need for more time to address the entire process. More time would be used to create a culture of collaboration for staff and schedule additional time to fully implement a three- to five-year redesign plan

The exact CC-function in integrable λ\lambda-deformed theories

By employing CFT techniques, we show how to compute in the context of \lambda-deformations of current algebras and coset CFTs the exact in the deformation parameters C-function for a wide class of integrable theories that interpolate between a UV and an IR point. We explicitly consider RG flows for integrable deformations of left-right asymmetric current algebras and coset CFTs. In all cases, the derived exact C-functions obey all the properties asserted by Zamolodchikov's c-theorem in two-dimensions.Comment: v1: 1+15 pages, Latex, v2: PLB version, v3: Correcting a typo in footnote

Classical solutions of λ\lambda-deformed coset models

We obtain classical solutions of \l-deformed \s-models based on $SL(2,\mathbb{R})/U(1)$ and $SU(2)/U(1)$ coset manifolds. Using two different sets of coordinates, we derive two distinct classes of solutions. The first class is expressed in terms of hyperbolic and trigonometric functions, whereas the second one in terms of elliptic functions. We analyze their properties along with the boundary conditions and discuss string systems that they describe. It turns out that there is an apparent similarity between the solutions of the second class and the motion of a pendulum.Comment: 36+9 pages, 8 figure

REBRAIN GREECE: The Greek Case of Collective Intelligence Ecosystem for Governmental Decision Making

REBRAIN GREECE (RBG), a multidisciplinary and inter-ministerial working group, formulated in April 2019, is perhaps the first Greek governmental collective intelligence ecosystem, reaching out to efficiently handle issues of utmost importance, such as brain drain and digital transformation of the existing human resources to the new digital working society. As an ecosystem, it consists of several, thematic, inter-connected working groups, composed of different ministries’ teams of field experts, dealing with concrete but inter-correlated issues, interoperating in a constant way. RBG constitutes a three pillar- interoperability -collective intelligence- ecosystem, encompassed in its functional architecture constant and open source, interoperability synergies between governmental agencies, different field’s experts and ministerial executives, between machine learning schemes and data bases and integrated information systems info exchange modules. It uses the data analytics power of the Labour Market Diagnosis Mechanism (LMDM) and already produced data driven policy proposals. Big data applications of LMDM are interpreting and visualising different types of big data bases through cross-checking raw data and thus formulating approaches towards public policies. Through visualization softwares used for interpreting the data into policy perspectives and proposals, that policy makers examine and elaborate on the most suitable choices and activities for challenge-responsive market digital policies

Economic aspects of safety in the Greek construction industry

The thesis addresses the economic impacts of construction safety in Greece. The research involved the development of a methodology for determining the overall costs of safety, namely the sum of the costs of accidents and the costs of safety management failures (with or without accident) including image cost. Hitherto, very little work has been published on the cost of accidents in practical case studies. Moreover, to the author’s belief, no research has been published that seeks to determine in real cases the costs of prevention. The methodology developed is new, transparent, and capable of being replicated and adapted to other employment sectors and to other countries. The methodology was applied to three construction projects in Greece to test the safety costing methodology and to offer some preliminary evidence on the business case for safety. The survey work took place between 1999 and 2001 and involved 27 months of costing work on site. The study focuses on the overall costs of safety that apply to the main (principal) contractor. The methodology is supported by 120 discrete cost categories, and systematic criteria for determining which costs are included (counted) in the overall cost of safety. A quality system (in compliance with ISO9000 series) was developed to support the work and ensure accuracy of data gathering. The results of the study offer some support for the business case for safety. Though they offer good support for the economics of safety as they demonstrate need for cost effectiveness. Subject to important caveats, those projects that appeared to manage safety more cost-effectively achieved the lowest overall safety cost. Nevertheless, results are significantly lower than of other published works for two main reasons; first costs due to damages with no potential to injury were not included and second only costs to main constructor were considered. Study’s results are discussed and compared with other publish works

Supersymmetric Casimir energy on N=1\mathcal{N}=1 conformal supergravity backgrounds

We provide a first principles derivation of the supersymmetric Casimir energy of $\mathcal{N}=1$ SCFTs in four dimensions using the supercharge algebra on general conformal supergravity backgrounds that admit Killing spinors. The superconformal Ward identities imply that there exists a continuous family of conserved R-currents on supersymmetric backgrounds, as well as a continuous family of conserved currents for each conformal Killing vector. These continuous families interpolate between the consistent and covariant R-current and energy-momentum tensor. The resulting Casimir energy, therefore, depends on two continuous parameters corresponding to the choice of conserved currents used to define the energy and R-charge. This ambiguity is in addition to any possible scheme dependence due to local terms in the effective action. As an application, we evaluate the general expression for the supersymmetric Casimir energy we obtain on a family of backgrounds with the cylinder topology $\mathbb{R}\times S^3$ and admitting a single Majorana supercharge. Our result is a direct consequence of the supersymmetry algebra, yet it resembles more known expressions for the non-supersymmetric Casimir energy on such backgrounds and differs from the supersymmetric Casimir energy obtained from the zero temperature limit of supersymmetric partition functions. We defer a thorough analysis of the relation between these results to future work.Comment: 32 pages; v2: minor improvements, added references and discussion; v3: minor typos corrected; added one reference and comments in the introduction; version to appear in JHE

TEACHING PRACTICES OF ORAL LANGUAGE AND READING SKILLS IN STUDENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Communication includes a wide range of difficulties for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from acquisition and processing of information and verbal expression to reading and writing. Therefore, these students face challenges in their school life. The purpose of this research is to evaluate and apply teaching practices for the cultivation of oral and reading skills in students with ASD The methodology used was action research in three general secondary schools and lasted 3 years. The research was conducted in Greece by the second teacher of the class who only supported students with special educational needs. Specifically, we conducted three case studies of students with an average age of 15.3 years. Students were diagnosed with ASD. Qualitative data from the action research were collected through observation methodology with informal pedagogical evaluation in checklists of basic skills. Furthermore, the methodology of the intervention with field notes was applied to the form of the teaching interaction. The results showed that students respond to comprehensive differentiated teaching interventions, which include oral speech and reading comprehension activities.  Article visualizations

READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS OF STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES: TEACHING PRACTICES WITH TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS

Students with intellectual and developmental disabilities exhibit heterogeneity in their learning readiness and reading skills in secondary education. Special education teachers are tasked with addressing their multiple needs by leveraging both their abilities and teaching strategies at their disposal. The purpose of this study is to present applied teaching practices utilizing differentiated instruction, teaching techniques, and technological tools to support reading skills in heterogeneous groups of students attending secondary education. The design of teaching practices involves the application of the methodology of observation and intervention in the context of a targeted, individual, structured, integrated program of special education and training. Students' skills regarding learning readiness and reading abilities are recorded with specific objectives, and activities are defined with certain pedagogical materials. In the conclusions of this study, a discussion is attempted regarding the implementation of differentiated teaching methods in secondary education, which allow for the utilization of teaching techniques through assistive technology. Additionally, emphasis is placed on the use of educational games for understanding school subjects, such as literature.  Article visualizations