Directivity and spacing for the antenna elements

The optimum design choice for the MST radar antenna was considered. The following factors are required: directivity and gain; beam width and its symmetry; sidelobe levels, near and wide angle; impedance matching; feeder network losses; polarization diversity; steerability; cost effectiveness; and maintainability. The directivity and related beam forming aspects of various antenna elements and directivity aspects when such elements are formed into an array are discussed. Array performance for important variables, in particular, the spacing of the elements is considered

‘Are we being de-gifted, Miss?’ Primary school gifted and talented co-ordinators’ responses to the Gifted and Talented Education Policy in England

This is the accepted version of the following article: Koshy, V. and Pinheiro-Torres, C. (2013), ‘Are we being de-gifted, Miss?’ Primary school gifted and talented co-ordinators’ responses to the Gifted and Talented Education Policy in England. British Educational Research Journal, 39: 953–978. doi: 10.1002/berj.3021, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3021/abstract.Over a decade ago the UK government launched its gifted and talented education policy in England, yet there has been very little published research which considers how schools and teachers are interpreting and implementing the policy. By seeking the views of the gifted and talented co-ordinators (For ease of reference, the term gifted and talented (G&T) co-ordinator is used throughout the paper as a generic shorthand for the research participants who were either designated school gifted and talented co-ordinators or teachers or head teachers with responsibility for policy implementation) with responsibility for addressing the requirements of the policy, the study reported in this paper explored how primary schools in England responded to the policy. Drawing on data gathered using questionnaires with a national sample of primary schools as well as follow-up in-depth interviews with a sample of G&T co-ordinators, the authors report their findings. The study found that there was considerable unease about the concept of identifying and ‘labelling’ a group of pupils as ‘gifted and talented’. G&T co-ordinators found it difficult to interpret the policy requirements and were responding pragmatically to what they considered to be required by the government. Curriculum provision for the selected group of gifted and talented pupils was patchy. The paper concludes by identifying a need for further professional development for teachers and by challenging the policy's over-emphasis on identifying and labelling gifted and talented pupils. We posit whether the gifted and talented education policy would have been better introduced and enjoyed greater success by leaving the identification of pupils to one side and by placing greater emphasis on developing effective learning and teaching strategies instead

Opportunities and challenges of working with gifted and talented students in an urban context: A university-based intervention program

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article appeared in Gifted Child Today, 34(1), 2011. Copyright 2011 @ Sage Publications.No abstract available

Nurturing the young shoots of talent: Using action research for exploration and theory building

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 19(4), 433-450, 2011, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/1350293X.2011.623515.This paper reports the outcomes of a set of action research projects carried out by teacher researchers in 14 local education authorities in England, working collaboratively with university tutors, over a period of three years. The common aim of all the projects was to explore practical ways of nurturing the gifts and talents of children aged four–seven years. The project was funded by the Department of Education and Skills in England as part of the government's gifted and talented programme. The project teachers felt that their understanding of issues relating to nurturing the gifts and talents of younger children was enhanced through their engagement in the project. It was possible to map the findings of the projects to the English government's National Quality Standards for gifted and talented education which include: (1) identification; (2) effective provision in the classroom; (3) enabling curriculum entitlement and choice; (4) assessment for learning; (5) engaging with community, families and beyond. The findings are also analysed within the framework of good practice in educating children in the first years of schooling. Participating practitioners felt that action research offered them a suitable methodology to explore the complexity of the topic of giftedness through cycles of planning, action and reflection and personal theory building

Tonsillectomy among children with low baseline acute throat infection consultation rates in UK general practices: a cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of tonsillectomy in reducing acute throat infection (ATI) consultation rates over 6 years' follow-up among children with low baseline ATI consultation rates. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: UK general practices from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. PARTICIPANTS: Children aged 4-15 years with ≤3 ATI consultations during the 3 years prior to 2001 (baseline). 450 children who underwent tonsillectomy (tonsillectomy group) and 13 442 other children with an ATI consultation (comparison group) in 2001. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mean differences in ATI consultation rates over the first 3 years' and subsequent 3 years' follow-up compared with 3 years prior to 2001 (baseline); odds of ≥3 ATI consultations at the same time points. RESULTS: Among children in the tonsillectomy group, the 3-year mean ATI consultation rate decreased from 1.31 to 0.66 over the first 3 years' follow-up and further declined to 0.60 over the subsequent 3 years' follow-up period. Compared with children who had no operation, those who underwent tonsillectomy experienced a reduction in 3-year mean ATI consultations per child of 2.5 (95% CI 2.3 to 2.6, p<0.001) over the first 3 years' follow-up, but only 1.2 (95% CI 1.0 to 1.4, p<0.001) over the subsequent 3 years' follow-up compared with baseline, respectively. This equates to a mean reduction of 3.7 ATI consultations over a 6-year period and approximates to a mean annual reduction of 0.6 ATI consultations per child, per year, over 6 years' follow-up. Children who underwent tonsillectomy were also much less likely to experience ≥3 ATI consultations during the first 3 years' follow-up (adjusted OR=0.12, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.17) and the subsequent 3 years' follow-up (adjusted OR=0.24, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.41). CONCLUSIONS: Among children with low baseline ATI rates, there was a statistically significant reduction in ATI consultation rates over 6 years' follow-up. However, the relatively modest clinical benefit needs to be weighed against the potential risks and complications associated with surgery

Extractive Spectrophotometric Determination of Vanadium(V) with N-p-Chlorophenyl-2-naphthohydroxamic Acid and Investigation of Its Solid Complex

A simple, selective and sensitive method for the extractive spectrophotometric determination of vanadium(V) using N-p-chlorophenyl- 2-naphthohydroxamic acid (CP-2-NHA) is described. Vanadium( V) is quantitatively extracted from 3-8.4 M HCl as a violet complex with CP-2-NHA into chloroform. Beer\u27s law is applicable in the concentration range 34 and 224 fig of vanadium(V) per 25 ml of chloroform extract. The Sandell sensitivity of the system is 0.0089 μg/cm2 at 530 nm. The method has been satisfactorily employed for the determination of vanadium in steel. The solid complex, VOCI (C11H11N02Cl)2, was prepared and characterised by melting point, elemental analysis, visible and infrared spectra

Mathematically gifted and talented learners: Theory and practice

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 40(2), 213-228, 2009, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00207390802566907.There is growing recognition of the special needs of mathematically gifted learners. This article reviews policy developments and current research and theory on giftedness in mathematics. It includes a discussion of the nature of mathematical ability as well as the factors that make up giftedness in mathematics. The article is set in the context of current developments in Mathematics Education and Gifted Education in the UK and their implications for Science and Technology. It argues that early identification and appropriate provision for younger mathematically promising pupils capitalizes on an intellectual resource which could provide future mathematicans as well as specialists in Science or Technology. Drawing on a Vygotskian framework, it is suggested that the mathematically gifted require appropriate cognitive challenges as well as attitudinally and motivationally enhancing experiences. In the second half of this article we report on an initiative in which we worked with teachers to identify mathematically gifted pupils and to provide effective enrichment support for them, in a number of London Local Authorities. A number of significant issues are raised relating to the identification of mathematical talent, enrichment provision for students and teachers’ professional development

A simple combinatorial proof of Shapiro's Catalan convolution

Shapiro proved an elegant convolution formula involving Catalan numbers of even index. This paper gives a simple combinatorial proof of his formula. In addition, we show that it is equivalent with the alternating convolution formula of central binomial coefficients

Retrospective analysis of clinical manifestations and treatment outcomes of patients diagnosed with langerhans cell histiocytosis from a tertiary cancer hospital in South India

Background: Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) comprises a diverse group of disorders where pathologic Langerhans cells accumulate in a variety of organs. Aims and objectives of the study is to analyse the clinical manifestations and treatment outcomes of patients diagnosed with LCH in a tertiary cancer hospital in South India.Methods: Retrospective analysis of the case records of patients presenting with histological proven case of LCH over a period of 7 years from 2011 to 2018, being treated at Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre.Results: 10 patients with biopsy proven LCH were included. The median age of diagnosis was 8 years (range 1 to 73 years) and 3 patients aged 18 years or older at the time of diagnosis. The male: female ratio was 3:2. Multisystem involvement was found in 4 patients (40%) and Single system Involvement in remaining 6 patients. Isolated bone lesions were found in 4 patients (40%), 1 patient had isolated Lymph node involvement; 1 patient had oral cavity lesion. None of the 4 patients with multisystem diseases had skin/mucosal involvement; 3 had bony involvement, 2 patients had lung involvement. One patients with multisystem disease expired while 5 patients were lost to follow-up. 4 out of the 10 patients are on regular follow-up and are in remission.Conclusions: Despite limitation by the retrospective nature, this descriptive study was done to provide further disease information regarding Indian population. Data from this study clearly confirms the known fact that most of the patients with Single System LCH have a very good response rate. Patients with multisystem disease have the highest risk of disease related mortality and morbidity as one among the 4 patients with multisystem disease died just after initiating treatment