Critical Digital Pedagogies in Modern Languages – a Tutorial Collection

This introduction sets out the context for this special collection of self-learning online tutorials exploring critical pedagogies in Modern Languages. Previous research has demonstrated that, while some areas within the Modern Languages (such as language pedagogy) have a long history of engagement with digital mediation through approaches such as CALL, MALL and TELL, broader experience with digital culture and technology within the field is characterised by uncertainty, scepticism and sometimes anxiety. This is particularly apparent in the area of digital literacy acquisition – a survey we carried out in 2019 demonstrated significant interest in acquiring digital literacies appropriate to Modern Languages education and research, but also doubts about which literacies needed to be acquired and how to acquire them. This collection consists of practical and open educational resources for use in the Modern Languages, but it also represents an interrogation of the affordances and limitations generated by digital mediation. In this introduction we highlight some of the challenges that the collection had to overcome, and in so doing, we hope to foster wider discussion about how digital learning resources can be better integrated into Modern Languages education and research across languages, across educational levels and across digital platforms

The Effects of School-Based Management on the Worklife of Elementary Teachers: A Case Study

This case study was a qualitative investigation to describe the nature of teachers\u27 involvement in school based management (SBM), and to describe how this involvement affected teachers\u27 worklives. The review of related literature provided the historical background that led to SBM restructuring, examined what the literature has revealed on SBM, and investigated organizational commitment in the context of SBM. A semi-structured interview was the instrument used to gather the data. The participants of this case study were a random sample of teachers, a sample of teachers selected by their principals, and the principals currently employed at each of the three elementary schools in a single county school district in Florida. A total of 33 educators were interviewed and their responses were tape recorded to assist in the authentication of the transcribed data. The data were then compiled and analyzed. Themes and patterns were identified and placed into a matrix for purposes of assessing the interrelationships of responses offered in the context of the three elementary schools. The analysis and interpretation of data revealed that restructuring with SBM was implemented to a minimal degree at the elementary schools of Florida County. The results showed that the effects of restructuring were varied and included both positive and negative findings. For some teachers, involvement enhanced commitment to the organization and spurred them on to further efforts, while for most respondents restructuring activities were perceived as impositions that made it difficult to balance classroom and SBM responsibilities. Respondents also revealed that they doubted the potential of SBM as a means to improve the quality of education at Florida County Schools or as a process for producing significant academic achievements. Recommendations were made for practical application and for future research

Effects of rotation in the energy spectrum of C60C_{60}

In this paper, motivated by the experimental evidence of rapidly rotating $C_{60}$ molecules in fullerite, we study the low-energy electronic states of rotating fullerene within a continuum model. In this model, the low-energy spectrum is obtained from an effective Dirac equation including non-Abelian gauge fields that simulate the pentagonal rings of the molecule. Rotation is incorporated into the model by solving the effective Dirac equation in the rotating referential frame. The exact analytical solution for the eigenfunctions and energy spectrum is obtained, yielding the previously known static results in the no rotation limit. Due to the coupling between rotation and total angular momentum, that appears naturally in the rotating frame, the zero modes of static $C_{60}$ are shifted and also suffer a Zeeman splitting whithout the presence of a magnetic field

Asymptotic modeling of Helmholtz resonators\\ including thermoviscous effects

We systematically employ the method of matched asymptotic expansions to model Helmholtz resonators, with thermoviscous effects incorporated starting from first principles and with the lumped parameters characterizing the neck and cavity geometries precisely defined and provided explicitly for a wide range of geometries. With an eye towards modeling acoustic metasurfaces, we consider resonators embedded in a rigid surface, each resonator consisting of an arbitrarily shaped cavity connected to the external half-space by a small cylindrical neck. The bulk of the analysis is devoted to the problem where a single resonator is subjected to a normally incident plane wave; the model is then extended using “Foldy’s method” to the case of multiple resonators subjected to an arbitrary incident field. As an illustration, we derive critical-coupling conditions for optimal and perfect absorption by a single resonator and a model metasurface, respectively

de Finetti reductions for correlations

When analysing quantum information processing protocols one has to deal with large entangled systems, each consisting of many subsystems. To make this analysis feasible, it is often necessary to identify some additional structure. de Finetti theorems provide such a structure for the case where certain symmetries hold. More precisely, they relate states that are invariant under permutations of subsystems to states in which the subsystems are independent of each other. This relation plays an important role in various areas, e.g., in quantum cryptography or state tomography, where permutation invariant systems are ubiquitous. The known de Finetti theorems usually refer to the internal quantum state of a system and depend on its dimension. Here we prove a different de Finetti theorem where systems are modelled in terms of their statistics under measurements. This is necessary for a large class of applications widely considered today, such as device independent protocols, where the underlying systems and the dimensions are unknown and the entire analysis is based on the observed correlations.Comment: 5+13 pages; second version closer to the published one; new titl

Regular string-like braneworlds

In this work, we propose a new class of smooth thick string-like braneworld in six dimensions. The brane exhibits a varying brane-tension and an $AdS$ asymptotic behavior. The brane-core geometry is parametrized by the Bulk cosmological constant, the brane width and by a geometrical deformation parameter. The source satisfies the dominant energy condition for the undeformed solution and has an exotic asymptotic regime for the deformed solution. This scenario provides a normalized massless Kaluza-Klein mode for the scalar, gravitational and gauge sectors. The near-brane geometry allows massive resonant modes at the brane for the $s$ state and nearby the brane for $l=1$.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures. Some modifications to match the published version in EPJ

Detection and Quantification of Grass and Olea Airborne Pollen Allergens in Outdoor Air Samples and its Correlation with Pollen Counts

Detection and Quantification of Grass and Olea Airborne Pollen Allergens in Outdoor Air Samples and its Correlation with Pollen Counts R Ferro1*, R Ribeiro1*, MR Martins1,2, AT Caldeira1,3, E Caeiro6, CM Antunes1,5 & R Brandão2,4 and the HIALINE working group7 1Dep. of Chemistry, University of Evora, Portugal; 2Mediterranean Inst. Crop and Environment Sciences, Univ.Evora, Portugal; 3Centro Química, University of Évora, Portugal; 4Dep. Biology, University of Evora; 5Center for NeuroSciences and Cell Biology-University of Coimbra, Portugal; 6Soc.Portuguesa Alergol.Imunologia Clínica , Portugal 7 M. Thibaudon, France, M. Smith, United Kingdom, C. Galan, Spain R. Albertini, Italy, L. Grewling, Poland, G. Reese, Germany, A. Rantio-Lehtimäki, Finland, S. Jäger and U. Berger, Austria, M. Sofiev, Finland, I. Sauliene, Lithuania, L. Cecchi, Italy Presenting author: [email protected] tel: +351 266760889 Introduction: Allergic respiratory diseases broken out after an exposure to airborne pollen, as asthma and allergic rhinitis, are deeply increasing and they represent one of the major public health problems nowadays, affecting about 40% of European population. In Portugal, grass and Olea europaea pollen are certainly one of the main sources of athmospheric aeroallergens and as such, one of the main causes of respiratory allergy. For these reasons, it is useful the development of new strategies for prevention and treatment of these pathologies. The execution of aerobiological analysis including pollen calendars and/or immunoassays for the detection and quantification of allergens which could forecast the allergenic potential of the athmosphere are quite relevant since they would contribute to develop prevention measures of allergic respiratory diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the putative correlation between the concentration of some of the major allergens of and with their pollen counts. Methodology: On a meteorological platform at the town center of Evora (south Portugal), ambient air was sampled at 800L/min with a Chemvol high-volume cascade impactor equipped with stages PM>10µm, 10 µm>PM>2.5µm. The polyurethane impacting substrate was extracted with 0.1M NH4HCO3, pH8.1, supplemented with 0.1% BSA. The major pollen allergens from grass Phleum p 5 and olive Ole e 1 were determined with allergen specific ELISA´s. Airborne pollen of and Olea europaea simultaneously monitored with a Burkard Seven Day Recording Volumetric Spore Trap* , between the 30th of April and the 8th of July of 2009. Both samplers were placed side-by-side with air input at the same level. Results: During the pollen season of 2009, high values of grass pollen were recorded between May 2th and June 1 th. It was also observed that the air content of Phl p5 or Ole e1 aeroallergens were directly correlated with airborne pollen counts of Poaceae and Oleaceae, respectively. Conclusions: These results suggest that the directly quantification of aeroallergens may contribute, together with pollen counts of air samples, to define the allergic risk with higher precision. Acknowledgments: This study is integrated in the european project HIALINE (Executive Agency for Health and Consumers under grant agreement No 2008 11 07

Managing IS projects in SMEs – Tailoring the PRINCE2TM1 methodology

The history of information systems project management is littered with many well documented disasters, and even more that have not been recorded in the literature for a range of political and commercial reasons. Such failures in the public sector gave rise to the development and deployment of the PRINCE2 project management methodology, which is now used extensively in the public sector and increasingly in the private sector also. PRINCE2 is, however, a ‘big beast’ – a large and quite complex set of concepts, tools, processes and techniques – which can appear rather daunting when undertaking fairly small scale projects in small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper examines how two companies have adapted the PRINCE2 project management methodology to control information systems (IS) projects in organisations of circa 200 employees, on projects of about 12 months duration. The first case study (Aeroengine Bearings UK Ltd) is implementing a product life cycle management (PLM) system to control and integrate shop floor engineering and design information. In the second case study, a financial services company specialising in electronic funds collection (Allpay.net) has used PRINCE2 to project manage the implementation of a bespoke middleware product that integrates its back office systems that provide customised payment statements to individual clients. Both these business projects were undertaken via the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme, which supports university academics working with industry on strategic projects. Field of Research: project management, information systems, SMEs, knowledge transfe