11,596 research outputs found
Managing Education Policy in Globalised Knowledge -based Societies: Lessons from Hungary
Increased flows of information and the enhanced use of information, computer and telecommunication (ICT) technologies are seen as having major implications for those managing education and training policies, especially within resource scarce transitional economies. After reviewing a number of characteristics associated with progressively globalised and knowledge-based societies and relevant to educational/training initiatives, the Hungarian experience is considered in some detail. This analysis prompts a more focused debate on the effective management of educational and training policies in contemporary societies, especially those engaged in transition. Although the growth of knowledge based societies would seem to be imposing a relatively uniform set of challenges for education/training managers in all modern economies, effective implementation of these policies arguably demands a degree of customisation to account for the particular socio-cultural contexts existing within Hungary and the other transition economies
Quantum magnetism with ultracold molecules
This article gives an introduction to the realization of effective quantum
magnetism with ultracold molecules in an optical lattice, reviews experimental
and theoretical progress, and highlights future opportunities opened up by
ongoing experiments. Ultracold molecules offer capabilities that are otherwise
difficult or impossible to achieve in other effective spin systems, such as
long-ranged spin-spin interactions with controllable degrees of spatial and
spin anisotropy and favorable energy scales. Realizing quantum magnetism with
ultracold molecules provides access to rich many-body behaviors, including many
exotic phases of matter and interesting excitations and dynamics.
Far-from-equilibrium dynamics plays a key role in our exposition, just as it
did in recent ultracold molecule experiments realizing effective quantum
magnetism. In particular, we show that dynamical probes allow the observation
of correlated many-body spin physics, even in polar molecule gases that are not
quantum degenerate. After describing how quantum magnetism arises in ultracold
molecules and discussing recent observations of quantum magnetism with polar
molecules, we survey prospects for the future, ranging from immediate goals to
long-term visions.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Review articl
Low-density genotype panel for both parentage verification and discovery in a multi-breed sheep population
peer-reviewedThe generally low usage of artificial insemination and single-sire mating in sheep, compounded by mob lambing (and lambing outdoors), implies that parentage assignment in sheep is challenging. The objective here was to develop a low-density panel of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for accurate parentage verification and discovery in sheep. Of particular interest was where SNP selection was limited to only a subset of chromosomes, thereby eliminating the ability to accurately impute genome-wide denser marker panels. Data used consisted of 10,933 candidate SNPs on 9,390 purebred sheep. These data consisted of 1,876 validated genotyped sire–offspring pairs and 2,784 validated genotyped dam–offspring pairs. The SNP panels developed consisted of 87 SNPs to 500 SNPs. Parentage verification and discovery were undertaken using 1) exclusion, based on the sharing of at least one allele between candidate parent–offspring pairs, and 2) a likelihood-based approach. Based on exclusion, allowing for one discordant offspring–parent genotype, a minimum of 350 SNPs was required when the goal was to unambiguously identify the true sire or dam from all possible candidates. Results suggest that, if selecting SNPs across the entire genome, a minimum of 250 carefully selected SNPs are required to ensure that the most likely selected parent (based on the likelihood approach) was, in fact, the true parent. If restricting the SNPs to just a subset of chromosomes, the recommendation is to use at least a 300-SNP panel from at least six chromosomes, with approximately an equal number of SNPs per chromosome
Biofuel Subsidies: An Open-Economy Analysis
We present a general equilibrium analysis of biofuel subsidies in an open-economy context. In the small-country case, when a Pigouvian tax on conventional fuels such as crude is in place, the optimal biofuel subsidy is zero. When the tax on crude is not available as a policy option, however, a second-best biofuel subsidy (or tax) is optimal. In the large-country case, the optimal tax on crude departs from its standard Pigouvian level and a biofuel subsidy is optimal. A biofuel subsidy spurs global demand for food and confers a terms-of-trade benefit to the food-exporting nation. This might encourage the food-exporting nation to use a subsidy even if it raises global crude use. The food importer has no such incentive for subsidization. Terms-of-trade effects wash out between trading nations; hence, any policy intervention by the two trading nations that raises crude use must be jointly suboptimal.optimal biofuel subsidy, Pigouvian tax, terms-of-trade, pollution externality
The final frontier : the integration of banking and commerce. Part 1, the likely outcome of eliminating the barrier
Exploring the potential effects of removing the legal barriers between banks and commercial firms, this article surveys economic theory as well as experience in other developed countries and in U.S. nonbank conglomerates.Banks and banking ; Banking law
Choices and Responsibilities: A Human Centric Approach to University-Industry Knowledge Transfer
The paper reflects on the growing complexities of management education in which business practitioners invite selected academic institutions to develop partnerships for resolving practical challenges and equipping those in the workplace to make more reflective and enlightened choices. European examples from Cambridge and Nottingham illustrate that successful industry and academic collaborations embody long-established themes of mentor-mentee, master-learner relationships. This human centric approach yields personal characteristics for reflective practitioners which enhance innovation, productivity and reputation building. The examples presented in this paper are then placed in a broader university – industry knowledge transfer context, using a so-called ‘bow tie’ model.
The authors believe that by shifting the attention from processes to people, from productivity to individual and collective growth and maturity, and by starting to apply the best practices of our human heritage we can make a difference. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders of education to support and contribute to this shift
The Parkes quarter-Jansky flat-spectrum sample 3. Space density and evolution of QSOs
We analyze the Parkes quarter-Jansky flat-spectrum sample of QSOs in terms of
space density, including the redshift distribution, the radio luminosity
function, and the evidence for a redshift cutoff. With regard to the luminosity
function, we note the strong evolution in space density from the present day to
epochs corresponding to redshifts ~ 1. We draw attention to a selection effect
due to spread in spectral shape that may have misled other investigators to
consider the apparent similarities in shape of luminosity functions in
different redshift shells as evidence for luminosity evolution. To examine the
evolution at redshifts beyond 3, we develop a model-independent method based on
the V_max test using each object to predict expectation densities beyond z=3.
With this we show that a diminution in space density at z > 3 is present at a
significance level >4 sigma. We identify a severe bias in such determinations
from using flux-density measurements at epochs significantly later than that of
the finding survey. The form of the diminution is estimated, and is shown to be
very similar to that found for QSOs selected in X-ray and optical wavebands.
The diminution is also compared with the current estimates of star-formation
evolution, with less conclusive results. In summary we suggest that the
reionization epoch is little influenced by powerful flat-spectrum QSOs, and
that dust obscuration does not play a major role in our view of the QSO
population selected at radio, optical or X-ray wavelengths.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, accepted 18 Dec 2004, Astron. & Astrophys. The
accepted version is expanded to include an analysis of the form of the
decline in radio-QSO space density at high redshifts. This is compared with
the forms of epoch dependence derived for optically-selected QSOs, for
X-ray-selected QSOs, and for star formation rat
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