9,470 research outputs found
ImpacT2 project: preliminary study 1: establishing the relationship between networked technology and attainment
This report explored teaching practices, beliefs and teaching styles and their influences on ICT use and implementation by pupils. Additional factors explored included the value of school and LEA policies and teacher competence in the use of ICT in classroom settings. ImpaCT2 was a major longitudinal study (1999-2002) involving 60 schools in England, its aims were to: identify the impact of networked technologies on the school and out-of-school environment; determine whether or not this impact affected the educational attainment of pupils aged 816 years (at Key Stages 2, 3, and 4); and provide information that would assist in the formation of national, local and school policies on the deployment of IC
A dynamical model of a GRID market
We discuss potential market mechanisms for the GRID. A complete dynamical
model of a GRID market is defined with three types of agents. Providers,
middlemen and users exchange universal GRID computing units (GCUs) at varying
prices. Providers and middlemen have strategies aimed at maximizing profit
while users are 'satisficing' agents, and only change their behavior if the
service they receive is sufficiently poor or overpriced. Preliminary results
from a multi-agent numerical simulation of the market model shows that the
distribution of price changes has a power law tail.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Particle tunneling through a polarizable insulator
The tunneling probability between two leads connected by a molecule, a chain,
a film, or a bulk polarizable insulator is investigated within a model of an
electron tunneling from lead A to a state higher in energy, describing the
barrier, and from there to lead B. To describe the possibility of energy
exchange with excitations of the molecule or the insulator we couple the
intermediate state to a single oscillator or to a spectrum of these,
respectively. In the single-oscillator case we find for weak coupling that the
tunneling is weakly suppressed by a Debye-Waller-type factor. For stronger
coupling the oscillator gets 'stiff' and we observe a suppression of tunneling
since the effective barrier is increased. The probability for the electron to
excite the oscillator increases with the coupling. In the case of a film, or a
bulk barrier the behavior is qualitatively the same as in the single oscillator
case. An insulating chain, as opposed to a film or a bulk connecting the two
leads,shows an 'orthogonality catastrophe' similar to that of an electronic
transition in a Fermi gas.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Environmental capacity in the East Midlands: an evidence base fit for purpose
This report relates to the initial study into the measurement of Environmental Capacity within the East Midlands Region considering what indicators/measures of Environmental Capacity can be put into place in the near future within the region and what are the aspirations regarding longer term indicators / measures of Environmental Capacity in the region. The study involved in depth interviews with relevant employees from local authorities and other key agencies within the region covering the current data collected/used in monitoring and the possible link to the monitoring of Environmental Capacity as well as the interviewees' awareness of and attitudes towards Environmental Capacity as a monitoring tool
Curiosity, Forbidden Knowledge, and the Reformation of Natural Philosophy in Early-Modern England
From the patristic period to the beginning of the seventeenth century curiosity was regarded as an intellectual vice. Curious individuals were considered to be proud and "puffed up," and the objects of their investigations were deemed illicit, dispute engendering, unknowable, or useless. Seventeenth-century projects for the advancement of learning had to distance themselves from curiosity and its dubious fruits or, alternatively, enhance the moral status of the curious sensibility. Francis Bacon's proposals for the instauration of knowledge were an integral part of a process by which curiosity underwent a remarkable transformation from vice to virtue over the course of the seventeenth century. The changing fortunes of this human propensity highlight the morally charged nature of early modem debates over the status of natural philosophy and the particular virtues required of its practitioners. The rehabilitation of curiosity was a crucial element in the objectification of scientific knowledge and led to a gradual shift of focus away from the moral qualities of investigators and the propriety of particular objects of knowledge to specific procedures and methods
Stephen Gaukroger. The Collapse of Mechanism and the Rise of Sensibility: Science and the Shaping of Modernity, 1680–1760
Donald Trump is illiberal but he is not un-American
The meteoric rise of New York billionaire Donald Trump to the top of the Republican Party’s presidential primary field despite calling for bans on Muslims entering the US has prompted many commentators to suggest that his brand of politics are ‘un-American’. Peter Harris writes that while Trump’s politics are almost certainly illiberal, they actually fit relatively well with American society’s historic tendency to limit democracy and opportunity to certain groups because of their race, sex, religion or class
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