Special educational needs and evaluation

AbstractThe italian school is dealing with the matter of the evaluation of Special Educational Needs (SED). Since there are no legislative references that indicate which procedures to follow, it is left to the teachers’ discretion. Recent ministerial documents, though, suggest to refer to the existing normative on Specific Learning Disturbances, in particular to prepare the PDP, and to use the necessary tools to reach the estimated requisites for the SED.One of the main problems is still that of evaluation. Despite all the debates, even when evaluation is not used in a selective function it is not correctly used in an educational perspective, as a mean to teach, to improve the learning processes more than to penalize the results.In the following work, we aim at indicating some evaluating tools and approaches useful in the delicate assessment activity of teachers, mostly intended in its educational value

Multiturn Measurements at the CERN SPS

The CERN SPS multiturn facility, based on the new beam orbit measurement system MOPOS, enables the User to acquire the position of the beam at each beam position monitor (BPM) over a number of consecutive turns. When the multiturn acquisition is synchronised with a perturbation imposed on the beam (for instance a fast kick), useful information about the optics of the SPS and the dynamic behaviour of the beam can be extracted from the data. A measurement of the amplitude and phase of the betatron oscillation at each BPM can be used to compare the theoretical optics functions with the real ones, and possibly to detect localised errors. Differences between two such measurements can be used to study the dependence on a variable parameter (e.g. beam intensity, beam energy, etc) and therefore indirectly measure quantities, like the impedance, distributed along the ring. Finally, due to 90 degrees phase advance lattice, plotting the positions measured at two consecutive BPMs against each other gives information about the behaviour of the beam in the transverse phase space. Results of measurements performed at the CERN SPS are presente

Tracking Study of the Effect of BPM Impedances in the SPS

Following the observation of a Transverse Mode Coupling Instability (TMCI) in the SPS [1, 2], a systematic estimate of the impedance of the various pieces of equipment installed in the machine has started. In this report the contribution of the Beam Position Monitor trapped modes to the global transverse impedance is considered. The trapped modes have been thus calculated with MAFIA and characterized with their resonator parameters. These impedances have been subsequently fed into the MOSES and HEADTAIL codes in order to evaluate the expected TMCI threshold in the SPS and compare it with the experimental observations

Baseline LHC machine parameters and configuration of the 2015 proton run

This paper shows the baseline LHC machine parameters for the 2015 start-up. Many systems have been upgraded during LS1 and in 2015 the LHC will operate at a higher energy than before and with a tighter filling scheme. Therefore, the 2015 commissioning phase risks to be less smooth than in 2012. The proposed starting configuration puts the focus on feasibility rather than peak performance and includes margins for operational uncertainties. Instead, once beam experience and a better machine knowledge has been obtained, a push in $\beta^*$ and performance can be envisaged. In this paper, the focus is on collimation settings and reach in $\beta^*$---other parameters are covered in greater depth by other papers in these proceedings.Comment: submitted for publication in a CERN yellow report (Proceedings of the LHC Performance Workshop - Chamonix 2014

Field inoculation of bread wheat with Rhizophagus irregularis under organic farming: variability in growth response and nutritional uptake of eleven old genotypes and a modern variety.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) promote crop growth and yield by increasing N and P uptake and disease resistance, but the role of field AMF inoculation on the uptake of micronutrients, such as Fe and Zn, and accumulation in plant edible portions is still not clarified. Therefore, we studied the eect of field inoculation with Rhizophagus irregularis in an organic system on 11 old genotypes and a modern variety of bread wheat. Inoculation increased root colonization, root biomass and shoot Zn concentration at early stage and grain Fe concentration at harvest, while it did not modify yield. Genotypes widely varied for shoot Zn concentration at early stage, and for plant height, grain yield, Zn and protein concentration at harvest. Inoculation dierentially modified root AMF community of the genotypes Autonomia B, Frassineto and Bologna. A higher abundance of Rhizophagus sp., putatively corresponding to the inoculated isolate, was only proved in Frassineto. The increase of plant growth and grain Zn content in Frassineto is likely linked to the higher R. irregularis abundance. The AMF role in increasing micronutrient uptake in grain was proved. This supports the introduction of inoculation in cereal farming, if the variable response of wheat genotypes to inoculation is considered

Transverse Instabilities of the LHC Proton Beam in the SPS

The availability from the injectors of the proton beam required for the LHC era has allowed studying its transverse behaviour in the SPS. Profile and beam oscillation measurements evidenced the existence of strong transverse instabilities developing along the batch and inducing an emittance blow-up of increasing importance from the head to the tail of the batch. An intensity threshold, comparable to that observed for the development of the beam induced electron cloud, has been found for the onset of the above phenomena. The results of the measurements and their possible interpretation are presented