386 research outputs found
Situational effects of mathematics anxiety in pre-service teacher education
The new National Program Standards for Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education states that 'applicants' levels of personal literacy and numeracy should be broadly equivalent to those of the top 30 per cent of the population' (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL], 2011, p. 13) or, if pre-service teachers enrolled in the degree have not met this equivalence, institutions 'must establish satisfactory additional arrangements to ensure that all students are supported to achieve the required standard before graduation' (AITSL, 2011, p. 13). This places an emphasis on the numeracy and mathematical skills of the pre-service teachers completing the Early Childhood and Primary bachelor degrees. However, little consideration is given in their teaching qualification preparation to the anxiety these pre-service teachers may have towards mathematics. Pre-service teachers with mathematics anxiety may avoid mathematics (Isiksal, Curran, Koc, & Askum, 2009), may have lower teacher efficacy in mathematics (Gresham, 2008), may experience a negative impact on their teaching behaviours (Swars, Daane, & Giesen, 2007), may pass on their anxiety to their students (Malinsky, Ross, Pannells, & McJunkin, 2006), and may negatively influence the mathematics achievement of their students (Beilock, Gunderson, Ramirez, & Levine, 2009).The aim of this project was to determine whether a modified version of the self- report instrument developed by Cavanagh and Sparrow (2010a; 2010b) could measure mathematics anxiety in pre-service teachers. Specifically the project investigated different situations - in a university class, when completing a formal mathematics test, and when teaching. Data from 169 pre-service teachers were analysed using the Rasch Rating Scale model (Andrich, 1978a, 1978b &1978c). The results showed that data from the instrument complied with the requirements of the Rasch model. The results also enabled comparisons to be made of student scores in the three situations. The paper concludes by discussing the potential benefits of using the instrument in a diagnostic and formative way to inform pre-service teachers of the possible level of mathematics anxiety they might experience
What do all the numbers mean? Making sure we have all the pieces of the puzzle
As large-scale geophysical surveys increase, data collected using differing techniques mean that documenting and archiving this resource is increasingly significant. With technological advances in geophysical instrumentation, especially the integrationofGPS and multisensor platforms, large landscape surveys are increasingly practical and increasingly data-rich. Whilst only a few years ago only one dataset would have been collected at a site, multiple datasets are frequently collected in one “..
Photonic Quantum Logic with Narrowband Light from Single Atoms
Increasing control of single photons enables new applications of photonic
quantum-enhanced technology and further experimental exploration of fundamental
quantum phenomena. Here, we demonstrate quantum logic using narrow linewidth
photons that are produced under nearly perfect quantum control from a single
^87Rb atom strongly coupled to a high-finesse cavity. We use a controlled- NOT
gate integrated into a photonic chip to entangle these photons, and we observe
non-classical correlations between events separated by periods exceeding the
travel time across the chip by three orders of magnitude. This enables quantum
technology that will use the properties of both narrowband single photon
sources and integrated quantum photonics, such as networked quantum computing,
narrow linewidth quantum enhanced sensing and atomic memories.Comment: 5 pates, 3 figure
Should the use of adaptive machine learning systems in medicine be classified as research?
A novel advantage of the use of machine learning (ML) systems in medicine is their potential to continue learning from new data after implementation in clinical practice. To date, considerations of the ethical questions raised by the design and use of adaptive machine learning systems in medicine have, for the most part, been confined to discussion of the so-called “update problem,” which concerns how regulators should approach systems whose performance and parameters continue to change even after they have received regulatory approval. In this paper, we draw attention to a prior ethical question: whether the continuous learning that will occur in such systems after their initial deployment should be classified, and regulated, as medical research? We argue that there is a strong prima facie case that the use of continuous learning in medical ML systems should be categorized, and regulated, as research and that individuals whose treatment involves such systems should be treated as research subjects
Multidisciplinary investigation of the pit circuit at Durrington Walls, UK
ISBN: 9782753585874.– Comprehensive geophysical assessment of huge pits; ERT, GPR, mag and EM. – Novel approach to testing and interpreting pits via coring. – Largest pit circuit confirmed in both the Stonehenge landscape and the UK.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Superboom Caustic Analysis and Measurement Program (SCAMP) Final Report
The objectives of the Superboom Caustic Analysis and Measurement (SCAMP) Program were to develop and validate, via flight-test measurements, analytical models for sonic boom signatures in and around focal zones as they are expected to occur during commercial aircraft transition from subsonic to supersonic flight, and to apply these models to focus boom prediction of low-boom aircraft designs. The SCAMP program has successfully investigated sonic boom focusing both analytically and experimentally, while gathering a comprehensive empirical flight test and acoustic dataset, and developing a suite of focused sonic boom prediction tools. An experimental flight and acoustic measurement test was designed during the initial year of the SCAMP program, with execution of the SCAMP flight test occurring in May 2011. The current SCAMP team, led by Wyle, includes partners from the Boeing Company, Pennsylvania State University, Gulfstream Aerospace, Eagle Aeronautics, and Central Washington University. Numerous collaborators have also participated by supporting the experiment with human and equipment resources at their own expense. The experiment involved precision flight of a McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-18B executing different maneuvers that created focused sonic booms. The maneuvers were designed to center on the flight regime expected for commercial supersonic aircraft transonic transition, and also span a range of caustic curvatures in order to provide a variety of conditions for code validations. The SCAMP experiment was designed to capture concurrent F-18B on-board flight instrumentation data, high-fidelity ground-based and airborne acoustic data, and surface and upper air meteorological data. Close coordination with NASA Dryden resulted in the development of new experimental instrumentation and techniques to facilitate the SCAMP flight-test execution, including the development of an F-18B Mach rate cockpit display, TG-14 powered glider in-flight sonic boom measurement instrumentation and "Where's the Focus?" (WTF) software for near-real time way-point computation accounting for local atmospherics. In May 2011, 13 F-18B flights were conducted during 5 flying days over a 2 week period. A densely populated 10,000 ft-long ground acoustic array with 125-ft microphone spacing was designed to capture pre-, focus, and post-focus regions. The ground-based acoustic array was placed in a nominally east-west orientation in the remote Cuddeback lakebed region, north of Edwards AFB. This area was carefully selected to avoid placing focused booms on populated areas or solar power facilities. For the SCAMP measurement campaign, approvals were obtained to temporarily extend the Black Mountain supersonic corridor northward by three miles. The SCAMP flight tests successfully captured 70 boom events, with 61 focus passes, and 9 calibration passes. Seventeen of the focus passes and three of the calibration passes were laterally offset; with the others being centerline flights. Airborne incoming sonic boom wave measurements were measured by the TG-14 for 10 of the F-18B flight passes including one maximum focus signature, several N-u combinations, several overlapped N-u signatures, and several evanescent waves. During the 27-month program, the SCAMP team developed a suite of integrated computer codes with sonic boom focusing predictive capabilities: PCBoom, Lossy Nonlinear Tricomi Equation Method (LNTE) and the Nonlinear Progressive wave Equation (NPE) method. PCBoom propagates the rays through the atmosphere and, in addition to legacy focus signature prediction based on the Gill-Seebass method, provides input source characteristics and propagation parameters to LNTE and NPE. LNTE, a Tricomi solver that incorporates atmospheric losses, computes the focus signature at the focus, and computes the focus signature in the vicinity of the focal zone, including the evanescent and post-focus zones. LNTE signature auralization from low-boom vehicle designs has been demonstrated in the NASA Langley Interior Effects Room (IER). The NPE has also been validated for use in prediction of focused ground boom signatures in sonic boom focal zones. The NPE formulation has the capability to incorporate atmospheric turbulence in the predictions. This has been applied to sonic boom propagation in the past. Prediction of turbulence effects on focal zone signatures was not, however, explored during the SCAMP program
No imminent quantum supremacy by boson sampling
It is predicted that quantum computers will dramatically outperform their
conventional counterparts. However, large-scale universal quantum computers are
yet to be built. Boson sampling is a rudimentary quantum algorithm tailored to
the platform of photons in linear optics, which has sparked interest as a rapid
way to demonstrate this quantum supremacy. Photon statistics are governed by
intractable matrix functions known as permanents, which suggests that sampling
from the distribution obtained by injecting photons into a linear-optical
network could be solved more quickly by a photonic experiment than by a
classical computer. The contrast between the apparently awesome challenge faced
by any classical sampling algorithm and the apparently near-term experimental
resources required for a large boson sampling experiment has raised
expectations that quantum supremacy by boson sampling is on the horizon. Here
we present classical boson sampling algorithms and theoretical analyses of
prospects for scaling boson sampling experiments, showing that near-term
quantum supremacy via boson sampling is unlikely. While the largest boson
sampling experiments reported so far are with 5 photons, our classical
algorithm, based on Metropolised independence sampling (MIS), allowed the boson
sampling problem to be solved for 30 photons with standard computing hardware.
We argue that the impact of experimental photon losses means that demonstrating
quantum supremacy by boson sampling would require a step change in technology.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures. Comments welcom
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Context and HRM: theory, evidence, and proposals
Human resource management (HRM) has paid insufficient attention to the impact of context. In this article, we outline the need for HRM to take full account of context, particularly national context, and to use both cultural theories and, particularly, institutional theories to do that. We use research publications that utilize the Cranet data to show how that can be done. From that evidence, we develop a series of proposals for further context-based research in HRM
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