Empowering teachers and learners: Strategies to maximise curriculum potential and counter disadvantage in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, through the Khanyisa initiative

This paper first provides a discussion on disadvantage and what that means in an educational context. It then proposes a theoretical conceptualisation of curriculum highlighting that curriculum advantages some learners more than others on several levels. Finally, discussion then turns to an evaluative study of an initiative that is ongoing in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, involving disadvantaged learners and their teachers in under-resourced schools. Key findings from the study include effective ways the initiative found (a) to assist teachers in disadvantaged schools to keep abreast of changes to curriculum; (b) to empower teachers to promote their learners’ capacity to access the physical science, higher level mathematics, and the business studies curriculum; and (c) to support learners to substantially increase their grades in what they term ‘the killer subjects’. This paper has a strong focus on mathematics as it is here that there have been the most marked increases in learners’ grades. These outcomes in turn have allowed learners to escape from the poverty trap and the disadvantage in which they had been situated

Innovation and Style of Governance How might political institutions enhance economic competitiveness? Testing the effects of liberal versus egalitarian democracy on business sector innovation

En nøkkelfaktor for utvikling og velstand i land er økonomisk vekst, dette antas ofte å komme på bakgrunn av fremskritt innen innovasjon. I den forbindelse er land som ønsker å utvikle sine økonomier avhengig av institusjoner og styresett som gir gunstige forhold for innovasjon. Selv om enkelte autokratiske land har sett en enorm økonomisk vekst de siste tiårene, anses demokrati fremdeles å være den ideelle formen for styring når det gjelder generell velstand. Derimot er det fremdeles en pågående debatt angående hvilken form for demokrati som er mest gunstig for innovasjon. Denne oppgaven forsøker dermed å bidra til denne debatten, hvorav jeg benytter meg av tidsserie-tverrsnittsanalyse for å teste mellom liberal- og egalitært demokrati. Jeg bruker data om innovasjon fra World Economic Forum (WEF), som fungerer som en proxy for innovasjon i næringslivet, samtidig som jeg tester data om konkurranseevne fra International Institute for Management Development (IMD). Dataen om liberal- og egalitært demokratisk styresett er hentet fra Varieties of Democracy (VDEM) dataprosjekt. Jeg testet effekten på alle landene som WEF (145) og IMD (58) sine datasett inkluderer, samtidig som jeg måler effekten kun på høyinntekts demokratier. Analysen medførte flere resultater, hvorav de mest bemerkelsesverdige funnene inkluderer at; egalitært demokrati har en signifikant positiv effekt på innovasjon for høyinntekts demokratiske land, mens liberalt demokrati har en marginal positiv effekt. Videre, ved å skille demokratikomponenten (frie og rettferdige valg) fra de uavhengige variablene, fant jeg at demokrati i seg selv hadde en signifikant positiv effekt på innovasjon for høyinntektsland, mens det hadde en marginal negativ effekt når alle land ble inkludert. I tillegg hadde den egalitære komponenten en signifikant positiv effekt på konkurranseevnen for alle land, mens den liberale komponenten hadde en positiv effekt på konkurranseevnen for høyinntektsland.Most would agree that a key determinant for development and prosperity is economic growth, which is commonly thought to be based in technological change and innovation. Therefore, nations looking to develop their economies in search of prosperity, are dependent on institutions and governance to provide favourable conditions in this regard. Even though some autocratic countries have seen immense economic growth in recent decades, democracy is overwhelmingly believed to be the ideal form of governance in terms of long-term development for overall human prosperity. That being said, the question of what style of democratic governance being most conducive to innovation, is a question still very much up for debate. As such, this thesis attempts to examine exactly this question, by utilising time-series-cross-sectional analysis to test empirically whether liberal or egalitarian style of democracy better explains economic innovation. I apply data on innovation from the World Economic Forum (WEF), which serves as a proxy for business sector innovation, whilst additionally testing data on competitiveness from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). The data on liberal- and egalitarian style of governance is obtained from the Varieties of Democracy (VDEM) data project. I tested the effects on all the countries that the WEF (145) and IMD (58) datasets include, as well as a sample of high-income democracies. The analysis yielded intriguing results. The most notable findings are that egalitarian democracy has a significant substantially large positive effect on innovation for high income democratic countries, whilst liberal democracy has a marginal positive effect. Further, when separating the democracy (free and fair elections) component from the independent variables, I found that democracy itself had a significant positive effect on innovation for high income countries, whilst having a marginal negative effect when all countries were included. In addition, the egalitarian component had a significant positive effect on competitiveness for all countries, whilst the liberal component had a positive effect on competitiveness for high income countries

Transculturalism in parents' experiences of caring for an autistic child

In the UK there has been a marked increase in children from minority ethnic families receiving an autism diagnosis but there continues to be a dearth in research that has explored the diversity of families’ lived experiences. The research sought to address this under-representation by using a transcultural approach to understand how families are drawing on multiple cultural influences in response to having an autistic child. Eleven parents from nine families who lived in one London borough were interviewed using a non-directive narrative approach. The families included two parents who were born in the UK, five who migrated to the UK as children and four who came to the UK as adults. All the families had a child with autism aged between four and seventeen years old, who attended either a special school or a mainstream school in the same London borough. Combining transculturalism with a narrative interview approach made it possible to pay attention to the ways in which families’ lives are transformed when they have an autistic child, how parents develop multiple identities in their interactions with professionals and family members across different social and cultural contexts and the impact this has on their sense of belonging to the community and networks of support. Analysing the interviews followed a case-based approach with themes examined within and across all cases. A thematic analysis of the families’ transcultural experiences showed that there were commonalities in their experiences of parenting children with autism as well as distinct and relevant cultural values and resources which influenced their individual responses to having an autistic child. The families wanted teachers in mainstream schools and those in their community to have more understanding and knowledge about how autism affected their lives and positive recognition of the solution-focused strategies that they were using to advocate for their autistic child’s healthcare and education. The findings from this research supported the development of a transcultural model that will be of value in developing culturally responsive pedagogical practice in autism education. The recommendations are that there is a need to further address culture and ethnicity in research on autism and special education, encouraging teachers to think about how they work with autistic children and the social and cultural realities that are an essential aspect of families’ transcultural lives

Magnetic Fields of F-Type Stars

Magnetic fields are an observable feature of many stars, with warm, F-type stars of interest in searching for the transition from the fossil fields in hot stars to dynamos in cool stars driven by convection zones. Thus, this thesis presents an observational survey of F-type stars close to the expected transition between fossil and dynamo magnetic fields. A magnetic snapshot survey of 55 targets resulted in 14 magnetic field detections, across every spectral class from F3V-F9V ranging in strength from 0.3±0.1G (36 UMa, F8V) to 8.3±0.9 G (h Dra, F8V). These results are followed up with detailed mapping using Zeeman Doppler Imaging (ZDI) of the large-scale surface magnetic fields for four of these stars, β CrB, σ Boo, θ Dra, and β Vir. On the hot side of the suspected transition zone, β CrB (A9) shows a relatively complex, but stable topology which is not common for a fossil field and is more complex than a dipole. On the cool side of the suspected transition zone, the surface magnetic field of σ Boo (F3V) shows a relatively simple field topology with a dominant dipole structure. This is the first magnetic map for an F3 star and provides an opportunity to study magnetism in a star with an outer convection zone thickness less than three per cent of the stellar radius. ZDI maps are also presented for two late F-stars, θ Dra (F8IV) and β Vir (F9V). These two late F-stars are contrasted with σ Boo, and show a more complex magnetic topology. There are differences in complexity of the magnetic field between θ Dra and β Vir, which is possibly related to an increased rotation rate for θ Dra which shows more detail due to a greater surface resolution. The ZDI maps are also used in modelling the stellar winds. While definitive evidence of the transition from fossil to dynamo field is not clear from the single-epoch magnetic map results obtained, this work suggests additional future maps obtained across different epochs will provide empirical evidence for how stellar mass, rotation and age drive the emergence of dynamo fields in stars with shallow convection zones

The Stony Brook / SMARTS Atlas of mostly Southern Novae

We introduce the Stony Brook / SMARTS Atlas of (mostly) Southern Novae. This atlas contains both spectra and photometry obtained since 2003. The data archived in this atlas will facilitate systematic studies of the nova phenomenon and correlative studies with other comprehensive data sets. It will also enable detailed investigations of individual objects. In making the data public we hope to engender more interest on the part of the community in the physics of novae. The atlas is on-line at \url{http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/SMARTS/NovaAtlas/} .Comment: 11 figures; 5 table

Beginnings: NSW Teachers\u27 Views on the Early Stages of Implementing a New National Curriculum

This PhD study researched NSW teachers’ conceptions of curriculum change after the introduction of a new Australian national curriculum. One key rationale for the development of a national curriculum in Australia was to raise the standard of education by providing excellent curriculum to students in all Australian states and territories. However, educational standards improve through a combination of many factors, including quality teaching. A curriculum’s success is dependent on the teachers who implement it. While the curriculum itself garnered considerable attention, how classroom teachers responded to it was likely to be a contributing factor to its overall success. Yet, there is a lack of research on the early stages of implementing a curriculum, particularly from the perspective of classroom teachers. This phenomenographic study contributes to the body of knowledge on teacher professional development and change theory by exploring the valuable, in-depth perspectives of NSW teachers during a time of significant curriculum change. Group interviews were conducted with eighteen primary school teachers from schools in rural, suburban and urban settings across NSW. Through a theoretical framework that overlaps curriculum theory, change theory and teacher professional development as a subset of adult education, this study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of teachers during times of large-scale school change. This study found that the participants see their role in the classroom as being much broader than that of teaching the curriculum. They viewed their role as essential to their students’ wellbeing. However, this study also found that the early stage of implementing the NSW curriculum was a time of stress where teachers felt unheard and unsupported. There were missed opportunities to engage classroom teachers in the curriculum and to employ quality teacher professional development. The insights gained through this study are useful in considering how to approach school change and provide professional learning and support for teachers

Computational Strategy for Graphene: Insight from Odd Electrons Correlation

The correlation of odd electrons in graphene turns out to be significant so that the species should be attributed to correlated ones. This finding profoundly influences the computational strategy addressing it to multireference computational schemes. Owing to serious problems related to the schemes realization, a compromise can be suggested by using single-determinant approaches based on either Hartree-Fock or Density-Functional theory in the form of unrestricted open-shell presentation. Both computational schemes enable to fix the electron correlation, while only the Hartree-Fock theory suggests a set of quantities to be calculated that can quantitatively characterize the electron correlation and be used for a quantitative description of such graphene properties as magnetism, chemical reactivity, and mechanical response. The paper presents concepts and algorithms of the unrestricted Hartree-Fock theory applied for the consideration of magnetic properties of nanographenes, their chemical modification by the example of stepwise hydrogenation, as well as a possible governing the electron correlation by the carbon skeleton deformation.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, 3 table

The Formation of Gay Space in Joko Anwar’s Arisan!

Although the notion of gay space started out as a cultural geographic study that predominantly focused on Western countries where gay visibility was high, more scholars have begun to show keenness in tracing the existence of gay space in Asian regions in recent years. This article traces the formation of gay space in Jono Anwar’s 2003 movie Arisan!. Set in modern day Indonesia where homosexuality is still deeply frowned upon, the movie explores how the male protagonist - Sakti struggles to come to terms with his own homosexuality in a world governed by heteronormativity. This study argues that the gay space in Arisan! is not formed by merely portraying the gay characters in a positive light but rather, by toppling the heteronormative structures that shaped the core of sexual hegemony as portrayed in the movie. This study examines how the formidable heteronormative structures are destabilized by toxic masculinity, toxic femininity, and the problematizing of heterosexual world for the purpose of making room for the formation of gay space.

Bioengineering thymus organoids to restore thymic function and induce donor-specific immune tolerance to allografts

One of the major obstacles in organ transplantation is to establish immune tolerance of allografts. Although immunosuppressive drugs can prevent graft rejection to a certain degree, their efficacies are limited, transient, and associated with severe side effects. Induction of thymic central tolerance to allografts remains challenging, largely because of the difficulty of maintaining donor thymic epithelial cells in vitro to allow successful bioengineering. Here, the authors show that three-dimensional scaffolds generated from decellularized mouse thymus can support thymic epithelial cell survival in culture and maintain their unique molecular properties. When transplanted into athymic nude mice, the bioengineered thymus organoids effectively promoted homing of lymphocyte progenitors and supported thymopoiesis. Nude mice transplanted with thymus organoids promptly rejected skin allografts and were able to mount antigen-specific humoral responses against ovalbumin on immunization. Notably, tolerance to skin allografts was achieved by transplanting thymus organoids constructed with either thymic epithelial cells coexpressing both syngeneic and allogenic major histocompatibility complexes, or mixtures of donor and recipient thymic epithelial cells. Our results demonstrate the technical feasibility of restoring thymic function with bioengineered thymus organoids and highlight the clinical implications of this thymus reconstruction technique in organ transplantation and regenerative medicine

Reading The Book of Jonah through the Eco-Spiritual Perspective

Whether one chooses to acknowledge or disregard its significance, nature has always been part of us. In an anthropogenic era, the dire state of the environment has made it an increasingly concerning topic of discussion among us. Nature has been extensively examined in numerous scholarly discussions ranging from secular to religious perspectives. This paper examines how nature plays a crucial role in helping us understand the relationship between God and humans, as portrayed in the Bible. The Bible being a religious text exists with very specific purposes. That being said, elements of nature were also used very specifically in the Bible. Most presently available scholarly research focuses on reading the significance of nature elements from religious perspectives. However, this research employs the eco-spirituality theory to examine the book of Jonah from the Bible to determine the relationship between Jonah, God, and nature. Through this secular perspective, the aim is to show that elements of nature have been carefully woven into narratives to signify various meanings. Furthermore, this research aims to identify how God communicates with humans through nature, which eventually helps to establish various forms of relationships between humans and nature. Through these newly formed relationships, we can understand the authority of a Creator and the consequences of obedience and submission. All these highlight the importance of co-existence between humans and nature, and examining the Bible through the lens of eco-spirituality perpetuates the relevance of the Bible to 21st-century readers.