The sufficiency economy and community sustainability in rural Northeastern Thailand

Thailand is promoting a sufficiency economy (SE) emphasizing community solidarity, mixed farming and sustainable agriculture. We analyze to what extent the SE philosophy is part of the daily lives of communities in Isan, NE Thailand. We interviewed rural household representatives and community leaders on education,employment, community dynamics, aspirations, concerns and social-sufficiency. The majority observed that community values and interaction were essential and were satisfied with living standards and community. However, most want their children to proceed to university meaning many may not return to agriculture limiting the ability of SE values to be transferred to the next generation.NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia

Social Security in Independent Ireland, 1922-52

The raison d'être of this work is to provide an historical analysis of the rise and subsequent co-ordination and consolidation of the Irish welfare state by focusing on income maintenance legislation in independent Ireland up to 1952. Originally undertaken as a project in social history, the completed work is a synthesis of social, economic, political and administrative history, discussion of all these areas being necessary to understand fully the timing, pace and extent of social welfare legislation

Freedom on the Net 2014 - Tightening the Net: Governments Expand Online Controls (Summary)

Internet freedom around the world has declined for the fourth consecutive year, with a growing number of countries introducing online censorship and monitoring practices that are simultaneously more aggressive and more sophisticated in their targeting of individual users. This booklet is a summary of findings for the 2014 edition of "Freedom on the Net.

Enhancing academic self-efficacy and performance among fourth year psychology students: Findings from a short educational intervention

Academic self-efficacy is the degree to which students believe they are capable of learning or accomplishing an academic task within a specific area of education. High academic self-efficacy has been associated with positive education outcomes such as enhanced learning, motivation, self-determination, and ultimately academic performance. The current study designed, implemented and evaluated an educational intervention to enhance the academic self-efficacy and performance of 21 psychology students enrolled in a group supervised Honours course, the outcome being a thesis dissertation. Students completed pre-intervention surveys in class half way through the course and then another survey after the 8-week intervention. Measures of self-efficacy (based on student responses) were similar over the two assessments. Furthermore, self-efficacy did not predict academic outcomes as determined by two independent examiners’ final marks on their thesis. Findings are discussed in relation to limitations of the data and challenges faced when implementing interventions aimed to enhance academic self-efficacy

Using Common Formative Assessments to Guide Fluency Instruction

In the Spring of 2013, first-grade literacy data were reviewed and we concluded that changes needed to occur with teacher instructional methods to ensure growth in student reading fluency. We collaborated to find what effect common formative assessments would have on teachers’ abilities to help students meet reading fluency benchmarks. Data were collected on 52 first-grade students within three classroom settings. Throughout this process, teachers monitored student progress toward proficiency in reading fluency, in particular rate, through the use of common formative assessments, teacher observation notes and teacher collaboration. After the data collection period, results showed that the use of common formative assessments had a positive effect on students’ reading fluency. We plan to use the data to guide reading intervention groups in the future and will continue to collaborate during weekly PLCs to adjust instruction to meet our students’ needs

Advantages of 3D time-of-flight range imaging cameras in machine vision applications

Machine vision using image processing of traditional intensity images is in wide spread use. In many situations environmental conditions or object colours or shades cannot be controlled, leading to difficulties in correctly processing the images and requiring complicated processing algorithms. Many of these complications can be avoided by using range image data, instead of intensity data. This is because range image data represents the physical properties of object location and shape, practically independently of object colour or shading. The advantages of range image processing are presented, along with three example applications that show how robust machine vision results can be obtained with relatively simple range image processing in real-time applications

Observation of coherent delocalized phonon-like modes in DNA under physiological conditions

Underdamped terahertz-frequency delocalized phonon-like modes have long been suggested to play a role in the biological function of DNA. Such phonon modes involve the collective motion of many atoms and are prerequisite to understanding the molecular nature of macroscopic conformational changes and related biochemical phenomena. Initial predictions were based on simple theoretical models of DNA. However, such models do not take into account strong interactions with the surrounding water, which is likely to cause phonon modes to be heavily damped and localized. Here we apply state-of-the-art femtosecond optical Kerr effect spectroscopy, which is currently the only technique capable of taking low-frequency (GHz to THz) vibrational spectra in solution. We are able to demonstrate that phonon modes involving the hydrogen bond network between the strands exist in DNA at physiologically relevant conditions. In addition, the dynamics of the solvating water molecules is slowed down by about a factor of 20 compared with the bulk

Tradição na épica grega arcaica

O que foi legado a Homero é fonte de um desacordo sempre crescente entre os estudiosos modernos, não apenas referente ao “o que” de sua herança mas até mesmo ao “como”. Dicotomias mais antigas estabeleceram uma forte distinção entre os elementos recorrentes na poesia homérica e os toques individuais, rotulando o primeiro de “tradição” e o segundo de “inovação”. Estudos mais recentes, entretanto, têm mostrado a inter-relação essencial e constante desses dois conceitos: há uma individualidade constante na formação e no desenvolvimento mesmo das características mais comuns, ao passo que os elementos aparentemente mais inovadores da poesia homérica mostram a influência da padronização e tipicidade que viemos a esperar. Em outras palavras, a tradição é sempre inovadora, e a inovação é sempre tradicional. Ainda assim, essa reciprocidade parece ter sido ignorada em dois ramos importantes da pesquisa homérica moderna, os quais podemos chamar de Neoanálise e de orientalismo: ambas essas escolas de pensamento compartilham pressuposições sobre o contexto textual e tradicional de Homero que são insustentáveis. Esse artigo remeterá a alguns exemplos famosos dessas duas abordagens, e sugere um contra-argumento “tradicional” a ambos.What was handed down to Homer is the source of ever-increasing disagreement amongst modern scholars, not only as to the “what” of his inheritance but even the “how”. Older dichotomies drew a sharp distinction between the repeated elements in Homeric poetry and the individual touches, labelling the former “tradition” and the latter “innovation”. More recent scholarship, however, has shown the essential and constant interrelation of these two concepts: there is constant individuality in the formation and deployment of even the most common of features, whilst the most apparentely  innovative elements of Homeric poetry show the influence of standardisation and typicality we have come to expect. In other words, tradition is always innovative, and innovation is always traditional