Accountability: The Case of Accreditation of British Columbia’s Public Schools

Post-industrial governments are demanding higher levels of accountability, not least in the education sector. Accountability in British Columbia’s schools was initially based upon inspectors’ reports. It evolved into an accreditation process. This article analyzes the British Columbia public school accreditation process using an expanded model of account- ability based on Lundgren (1990). The main subjects of discussion are the difficulty of accreditation serving two audiences, and the nature of the accreditation manual. Les gouvernements post-industriels exigent une responsabilisation accrue, y compris et surtout dans le secteur de l’éducation. L’obligation de rendre compte dans les écoles de la Colombie-Britannique a d’abord été fondée sur les rapports des inspecteurs, puis a progressivement donné lieu à un processus d’agrément. Cet article analyse le processus d’agrément des écoles publiques de la Colombie-Britannique en faisant appel à un modèle élargi de responsabilité issu de Lundgren (1990). Les principaux thèmes abordés sont la difficulté de l’agrément en présence de deux auditoires ainsi que la nature du manuel d’agrément.

Supporting Primary and Secondary Beginning Teachers Online: Key findings of the Education Alumni Support Project

During 2005, the Education Alumni Support Project (EdASP) (Maxwell, Smith, Baxter, Boyd, Harrington, Jenkins, Sargeant & Tamatea 2006) provided online support for University of New England (UNE) graduand, and later, graduate, teachers as they commenced their careers. The project was based on research which reported that many beginning teachers did not get the support they needed as permanent or contract workers, or, as casual, relief or support teachers, and that small scale trials had shown that online support could be effective. One third of beginning teachers who were alumni of UNE in 2004, reported they did not receive adequate or any mentoring. UNE web-based technologies provided the teachers and mentors with online environments for professional and social interaction, and resource sharing. We found that support was especially sought by the project participants in their first school term, and there were differences in the levels of online support sought by secondary and primary beginning teachers. The project raises implications for on-going systemic support for beginning teachers, the issue of transition from students to teachers, as well as questions about teacher education students’ preparation. This paper provides the key findings of the project. Detailed description of the project structure, data collection and data analysis are available in Maxwell et al. (2006)

Consistency Checks for Two-Body Finite-Volume Matrix Elements. II. Perturbative Systems

Using the general formalism presented in [Phys. Rev. D 94, 013008 (2016); Phys. Rev. D 100, 034511 (2019)], we study the finite-volume effects for the 2 þ J → 2 matrix element of an external current coupled to a two-particle state of identical scalars with perturbative interactions. Working in a finite cubic volume with periodicity L, we derive a 1=L expansion of the matrix element through O(1=L5) and find that it is governed by two universal current-dependent parameters, the scalar charge and the threshold two particle form factor. We confirm the result through a numerical study of the general formalism and additionally through an independent perturbative calculation. We further demonstrate a consistency with the Feynman-Hellmann theorem, which can be used to relate the 1=L expansions of the ground-state energy and matrix element. The latter gives a simple insight into why the leading volume corrections to the matrix element have the same scaling as those in the energy, 1=L3, in contradiction to Phys. Rev. D 91, 074509 (2015), which found a 1=L2 contribution to the matrix element. We show here that such a term arises at intermediate stages in the perturbative calculation, but cancels in the final result

Consistency Checks for Two-Body Finite-Volume Matrix Elements: Conserved Currents and Bound States

Recently, a framework has been developed to study form factors of two-hadron states probed by an external current. The method is based on relating finite-volume matrix elements, computed using numerical lattice QCD, to the corresponding infinite-volume observables. As the formalism is complicated, it is important to provide nontrivial checks on the final results and also to explore limiting cases in which more straightforward predictions may be extracted. In this work we provide examples on both fronts. First, we show that, in the case of a conserved vector current, the formalism ensures that the finite-volume matrix element of the conserved charge is volume independent and equal to the total charge of the two-particle state. Second, we study the implications for a two-particle bound state. We demonstrate that the infmite-volume limit reproduces the expected matrix element and derive the leading finite-volume corrections to this result for a scalar current. finally, we provide numerical estimates for the expected size of volume effects in future lattice QCD calculations of the deuteron\u27s scalar charge. We find that these effects completely dominate the infinite-volume result for realistic lattice volumes and that applying the present formalism, to analytically remove an infinite series of leading volume corrections, is crucial to reliably extract the infinite-volume charge of the state

Geometric origin of excess low-frequency vibrational modes in amorphous solids

Glasses have a large excess of low-frequency vibrational modes in comparison with crystalline solids. We show that such a feature is a necessary consequence of the geometry generic to weakly connected solids. In particular, we analyze the density of states of a recently simulated system, comprised of weakly compressed spheres at zero temperature. We account for the observed a) constancy of the density of modes with frequency, b) appearance of a low-frequency cutoff, and c) power-law increase of this cutoff with compression. We predict a length scale below which vibrations are very different from those of a continuous elastic body.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Argument rewritten, identical result

Different Scenarios for Critical Glassy Dynamics

We study the role of different terms in the $N$-body potential of glass forming systems on the critical dynamics near the glass transition. Using a simplified spin model with quenched disorder, where the different terms of the real $N$-body potential are mapped into multi-spin interactions, we identified three possible scenarios. For each scenario we introduce a ``minimal'' model representative of the critical glassy dynamics near, both above and below, the critical transition lin e. For each ``minimal'' model we discuss the low temperature equilibrium dynamics.Comment: Completely revised version, 8 pages, 5 figures, typeset using EURO-LaTeX, Europhysics Letters (in press

Repeated call types in Hawaiian melon-headed whales (Peponocephala electra)

Author Posting. © Acoustical Society of America, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of Acoustical Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 136 (2014): 1394, doi:10.1121/1.4892759.Melon-headed whales are pantropical odontocetes that are often found near oceanic islands. While considered sound-sensitive, their bioacoustic characteristics are relatively poorly studied. The goal of this study was to characterize the vocal repertoire of melon-headed whales to determine whether they produce repeated calls that could assist in recognition of conspecifics. The first tag-based acoustic recordings of three melon-headed whales were analyzed. Tag records were visually and aurally inspected and all calls were individually extracted. Non-overlapping calls with sufficient signal-to-noise were then parameterized and visually grouped into categories of repeated call types. Thirty-six call categories emerged. Categories differed significantly in duration, peak and centroid frequency, and −3 dB bandwidth. Calls of a given type were more likely to follow each other than expected. These data suggest that repeated calls may function in individual, subgroup, or group recognition. Repeated call production could also serve to enhance signal detection in large groups with many individuals producing simultaneous calls. Results suggest that caution should be used in developing automatic classification algorithms for this species based on small sample sizes, as they may be dominated by repeated calls from a few individuals, and thus not representative of species- or population-specific acoustic parameters.This project was funded by the Office of Naval Research (award number: N000141110612; Program Manager Michael J. Weise), WHOI Marine Mammal Center, and the Sawyer and Penzance Endowed Funds, with additional field time funded by grants through Cascadia Research Collective by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (through the Alaska SeaLife Center) and the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center