Offenders and E-Learning - a literature review on behalf of Becta

This literature review has been prepared by the Hallam Centre of Community Justice at Sheffield Hallam University, on behalf of Becta. The literature review provides a summary of existing research and knowledge relating to e-learning in the offending learning sector with a view to developing a range of e-maturity indicators across the sector. The review also highlights linkages with current Government policy in relation to offender learning and skills

The price of inscrutability

In our reasoning we depend on the stability of language, the fact that its signs do not arbitrarily change in meaning from moment to moment.(Campbell, 1994, p.82) Some philosophers offer arguments contending that ordinary names such as “London” are radically indeterminate in reference. The conclusion of such arguments is that there is no fact of the matter whether “London” refers to a city in the south of England, or whether instead it refers to Sydney, Australia. Some philosophers have even suggested that we accept the conclusion of these arguments. Such a position seems crazy to many; but what exactly goes wrong if one adopts such a view? This paper evaluates the theoretical costs incurred by one who endorses extreme inscrutability of reference (the ‘inscrutabilist’). I show that there is one particular implication of extreme inscrutability which pushes the price of inscrutabilism too high. An extension of the classic ‘permutation’ arguments for extreme inscrutability allow us to establish what I dub ‘extreme indexical inscrutability’. This result, I argue, unacceptably undermines the epistemology of inference. The first half of the paper develops the background of permutation arguments for extreme inscrutability of reference and evaluates some initial attempts to make trouble for the inscrutabilist. Sections 1 and 2 describe the setting of the original permutation arguments for extreme inscrutability. Sections 3 and 4 survey four potential objections to extreme inscrutability of reference, including some recently raised in Vann McGee’s excellent (2005a). Sections 5 sketches how the permutation arguments can be generalized to establish extreme indexical inscrutability; and shows how this contradicts a ‘stability principle’—that our words do not arbitrarily change their reference from one moment to the next—which I claim plays a vital role in the epistemology of inference. The second half of the paper develops in detail the case for thinking that language is stable in the relevant sense. In section 6, I use this distinction to call into question the epistemological relevance of validity of argument types; Kaplan’s treatment of indexical validity partially resolves this worry, but there is a residual problem. In section 7, I argue that stability is exactly what is needed to bridge this final gap, and so secure the relevance of validity to good inferential practice. Section 8 responds to objections to this claim. An appendix to the paper provides formal backing for the results cited in this paper, including a generalization of permutation arguments to the kind of rich setting required for a realistic semantics of natural language.1 Extreme indexical inscrutability results can be proved within this setting. The first half of the paper shows that the inscrutabilist is committed to extreme indexical inscrutability, which implies that language not determinately ‘stable’. The second half of the paper argues that good inference requires stability. The price of inscrutabilism, therefore, is to sever the connection between the validity of argument-forms and inferential practice: and this is too high a price to pay

Episodic Post-Shock Dust Formation in the Colliding Winds of Eta Carinae

Eta Carinae shows broad peaks in near-infrared (IR) JHKL photometry, roughly correlated with times of periastron passage in the eccentric binary system. After correcting for secular changes attributed to reduced extinction from the thinning Homunculus Nebula, these peaks have IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) consistent with emission from hot dust at 1400-1700 K. The excess SEDs are clearly inconsistent, however, with the excess being entirely due to free-free wind or photospheric emission. One must conclude, therefore, that the broad near-IR peaks associated with Eta Carinae's 5.5 yr variability are due to thermal emission from hot dust. I propose that this transient hot dust results from episodic formation of grains within compressed post-shock zones of the colliding winds, analogous to the episodic dust formation in Wolf-Rayet binary systems like WR140 or the post-shock dust formation seen in some supernovae like SN2006jc. This dust formation in Eta Carinae seems to occur preferentially near and after periastron passage; near-IR excess emission then fades as the new dust disperses and cools. With the high grain temperatures and Eta Car's C-poor abundances, the grains are probably composed of corundum or similar species that condense at high temperatures, rather than silicates or graphite. Episodic dust formation in Eta Car's colliding winds significantly impacts our understanding of the system, and several observable consequences are discussed.Comment: MNRAS accepted; 8 pages, 5 figs, 2 color fig

Resilience of the higher education sector to future climates: A systematic review of predicted building energy performance and modelling approaches

A continued upward trend in global greenhouse gas emissions is estimated to see average temperatures rise by 2.7 °C before 2100. This warming effect presents risks to global infrastructure and built assets that should be identified to minimise negative consequences on inhabitants. For higher education estates, a key challenge is to maintain high indoor environmental quality standards whilst mitigating increased cooling loads under future climates. Findings from this meta-analysis suggest that existing passive cooling mechanisms may be insufficient to tolerate predicted increases in summertime temperatures, even in cooler UK climates. Across typologies, peak electricity demand for mechanically cooled higher education buildings was estimated to increase the most for halls of residences (4–27 %) and the least for laboratory buildings (0–5%) by 2080. Under a high emission scenario, the increase in total annual energy consumption by 2050 varies widely across studies (+5–33 %), although almost all cases predict a greater increase in cooling energy consumption than decrease in heating energy consumption. Probabilistic climate projections are the predominant source of uncertainty for predictions of energy demand, with the difference between low and high emission scenarios contributing to 34–44 % of variability in predicted annual cooling energy consumption in 2050. Further research is warranted to identify the most likely indicators of future building performance across a range of university building typologies. This work provides recommendations on expanding the evidence basis through development of standardised climate change impact assessments

Properties of Five Iowa Fine Sands

Today a major problem in the State of Iowa is the development of substitute materials which can be used in place of the rapidly diminishing supplies of readily available gravel and rock surfacing materials for roads and streets. The materials now available are not evenly distributed throughout the state, and the rate at which they are being used indicates that it will soon be necessary to turn to materials which are not now considered suitable. One such material is fine sand, commonly discarded by gravel plants as waste. Fine sand is readily available in almost every section of the state. It forms a portion of the flood plain deposits of many of the major rivers and streams and is found in a variety of occurrences related to the glacial drift sheets of the -state. The Iowa State Highway Commission has inaugurated a research program to find ways of utilizing fine sands as highway surfacing materials. The portion of this problem dealing with the determination of fundamental properties of the sands was assigned to the Iowa Engineering Experiment Station, Iowa State College. This report presents the results of the Station\u27s study of five samples of fine sand

Packaging of Planetary Exploration Organic Composition Analyzer for NASA’s Europa Mission

ME450 Capstone Design and Manufacturing Experience: Winter 2021Our team has designed a spaceflight packaging structure for a micro gas chromatograph (GC), an organic compound analysis instrument currently being developed by Prof. Kurabayashi at the University of Michigan for NASA’s proposed lander mission to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. As the development of the GC continues, our stakeholders need a more robust structure to package the device and simulate the space environment. Using the design framework and methodologies learned in ME 450, our team has created and verified a solution to meet our stakeholder’s current needs. This report documents Team 33’s solution design process.Prof. Kurabayashi, Dr. Blase, Dr. Venkatasubramanian : University of Michigan Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Research Institutehttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167648/1/Team_33-Packaging_of_Planetary_Exploration_Organic_Composition_Analyzer_for_NASAs_Europa_Mission.pd

Panel III: Congressional Control of the Administration of Government: Hearings, Investigations, Oversight, and Legislative History

My remarks will be the first on the panel to address the problems of legislative history. We have heard two quite illuminating discussions of congressional oversight activities, with which I largely agree philosophically. When one then reaches the questions of why is this happening, and whether anything can be done about it, the issues become more difficult. My remarks address some complications that may arise from the current distaste for legislative history that may make the oversight problem a little bit worse

Fourier-Legendre expansion of the one-electron density-matrix of ground-state two-electron atoms

The density-matrix rho(r, r') of a spherically symmetric system can be expanded as a Fourier-Legendre series of Legendre polynomials Pl(cos(theta) = r.r'/rr'). Application is here made to harmonically trapped electron pairs (i.e. Moshinsky's and Hooke's atoms), for which exact wavefunctions are known, and to the helium atom, using a near-exact wavefunction. In the present approach, generic closed form expressions are derived for the series coefficients of rho(r, r'). The series expansions are shown to converge rapidly in each case, with respect to both the electron number and the kinetic energy. In practice, a two-term expansion accounts for most of the correlation effects, so that the correlated density-matrices of the atoms at issue are essentially a linear functions of P1(cos(theta)) = cos(theta). For example, in the case of the Hooke's atom: a two-term expansion takes in 99.9 % of the electrons and 99.6 % of the kinetic energy. The correlated density-matrices obtained are finally compared to their determinantal counterparts, using a simplified representation of the density-matrix rho(r, r'), suggested by the Legendre expansion. Interestingly, two-particle correlation is shown to impact the angular delocalization of each electron, in the one-particle space spanned by the r and r' variables.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure