Move Over, There's Room Enough: Performance Making Diploma: training for learning disabled adults

In its second year, the Performance Making Diploma at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (Central), won the Guardian University Award for Student Diversity and Widening Participation 2015. A one-year, part-time diploma, the first cohort has graduated and many have undertaken their first venture in professional work. This Points and Practice piece is an edited version of an email interview between Sally Mackey and Liselle Terret. Together with Nick Llewellyn from Access All Areas, Liselle created the Diploma

On the Exponentials of Some Structured Matrices

In this note explicit algorithms for calculating the exponentials of important structured 4 x 4 matrices are provided. These lead to closed form formulae for these exponentials. The techniques rely on one particular Clifford Algebra isomorphism and basic Lie theory. When used in conjunction with structure preserving similarities, such as Givens rotations, these techniques extend to dimensions bigger than four.Comment: 19 page

Das Erlöschen des Glaubens: The Fate of Belief in the Study of Roman Religion

This essay traces the development of a consensus against belief as a category relevant to the study of ancient religion, taking Roman religion as a case in point. The anti-belief position began with Christian disparagement of traditional worship and continued with late-20th-century cultural relativism. After dismantling arguments that belief is unique to western cultures, I introduce the cognitive theory of intentionality. On this theory, all mental states represent or are about objects and circumstances in the world. I distinguish two broad mental state types: the practical, such as desire, which represents circumstances as we would have them be, and the doxastic, such as belief, which represents circumstances as we take them to be. Insofar as the Romans represented circumstances as obtaining, they had beliefs. Three payoffs follow from this approach. First, beliefs often underlie emotions, because emotions amount to our evaluations of circumstances we take to obtain. So, when Romans record emotions in connection with religious events, researchers are licensed to ask about the beliefs at the root of those emotions. Second, beliefs (along with practical states) underlie action, because in order to act, agents require a cognitive map of the space of possibilities for action. This is provided in part by belief. So, when Romans record religious action, researchers are licensed to inquire into the beliefs that demarcated the parameters of the action. Finally, in representing objects and circumstances, beliefs represent them in a certain way. This puts beliefs at the foundations of social reality, for it is only by virtue of being represented as a pontifex that any Roman ever counted as a pontifex, and it is only by virtue of being represented as a sacrificium that any act of animal slaughter ever counted as a sacrificium. Thus, far from being an irrelevant category for researchers, belief turns out to be central to Roman religious cognition, religious action, and religious reality

A compilation, tabulation and analysis of spelling errors of seventh grade pupils

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Concerted [4 + 2] and Stepwise (2 + 2) Cycloadditions of Tetrafluoroethylene with Butadiene: DFT and DLPNO-UCCSD(T) Explorations.

Tetrafluoroethylene and butadiene form the 2 + 2 cycloadduct under kinetic control, but the Diels-Alder cycloadduct is formed under thermodynamic control. Borden and Getty showed that the preference for 2 + 2 cycloaddition is due to the necessity for syn-pyramidalization of the two CF2 groups in the 4 + 2 transition state. We have explored the full potential energy surface for the concerted and stepwise reactions of tetrafluoroethylene and butadiene with density functional theory, DFT (B3LYP and M06-2X), DLPNO-UCCSD(T), and CASSCF-NEVPT2 methods and with the distortion/interaction-activation strain model to explain the energetics of different pathways. The 2 + 2 cycloadduct is formed by an anti-transition state followed by two rotations and a final bond formation transition state. Energetics are compared to the reaction of maleic anhydride and ethylene

Forest Conversion and Degradation in Papua New Guinea 1972-2002

Quantifying forest change in the tropics is important because of the role these forests play in the conservation of biodiversity and the global carbon cycle. One of the world's largest remaining areas of tropical forest is located in Papua New Guinea. Here we show that change in its extent and condition has occurred to a greater extent than previously recorded. We assessed deforestation and forest degradation in Papua New Guinea by comparing a land-cover map from 1972 with a land-cover map created from nationwide high-resolution satellite imagery recorded since 2002. In 2002 there were 28,251,967 ha of tropical rain forest. Between 1972 and 2002, a net 15 percent of Papua New Guinea's tropical forests were cleared and 8.8 percent were degraded through logging. The drivers of forest change have been concentrated within the accessible forest estate where a net 36 percent were degraded or deforested through both forestry and nonforestry processes. Since 1972, 13 percent of upper montane forests have also been lost. We estimate that over the period 1990–2002, overall rates of change generally increased and varied between 0.8 and 1.8 percent/yr, while rates in commercially accessible forest have been far higher—having varied between 1.1 and 3.4 percent/yr. These rates are far higher than those reported by the FAO over the same period. We conclude that rapid and substantial forest change has occurred in Papua New Guinea, with the major drivers being logging in the lowland forests and subsistence agriculture throughout the country with comparatively minor contributions from forest fires, plantation establishment, and mining

An augmented moment method for stochastic ensembles with delayed couplings: I. Langevin model

By employing a semi-analytical dynamical mean-field approximation theory previously proposed by the author [H. Hasegawa, Phys. Rev. E {\bf 67}, 041903 (2003)], we have developed an augmented moment method (AMM) in order to discuss dynamics of an $N$-unit ensemble described by linear and nonlinear Langevin equations with delays. In AMM, original $N$-dimensional {\it stochastic} delay differential equations (SDDEs) are transformed to infinite-dimensional {\it deterministic} DEs for means and correlations of local as well as global variables. Infinite-order DEs arising from the non-Markovian property of SDDE, are terminated at the finite level $m$ in the level-$m$ AMM (AMM$m$), which yields $(3+m)$-dimensional deterministic DEs. Model calculations have been made for linear and nonlinear Langevin models. The stationary solution of AMM for the linear Langevin model with N=1 is nicely compared to the exact result. The synchronization induced by an applied single spike is shown to be enhanced in the nonlinear Langevin ensemble with model parameters locating at the transition between oscillating and non-oscillating states. Results calculated by AMM6 are in good agreement with those obtained by direct simulations.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, changed the title with re-arranged figures, accepted in Phys. Rev. E with some change

Empowering Women Through the Use of Technology: A Scoping Review

The achievement of gender equity and equality has been a long-time goal of many international entities. The main indicator for the goal of women’s empowerment, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has been to: “enhanc[e] the use of enabling technology by increasing the proportion of women and girls who have access” (United Nations [UN], p. 20). While information and communication technologies (ICTs) were initially thought to be neutral in terms of access and opportunity, emerging trends now indicate that the use of technology within society has significant social implications, specifically related to gender as a determinant of health. Using the Arksey and O’Malley (2005) methodology for scoping reviews, the following question was answered: What is the impact of ICT on the level of women’s empowerment worldwide? Using the stated research question, the primary objective of this scoping review was to identify the extent, range, and scope of evidence involving the impact and influence of ICTs on women’s empowerment. The major themes that emerged from this review included: (a) the means in which ICTs have assisted in building the capacity and tools of women, (b) the manner in which ICTs have been used as an intervention in supporting empowerment; and (c) the approach in which ICTs can act as potential barriers and facilitators to women’s attainment of agency. The evidence from this scoping review supports the innovative use of current and emerging technologies within health care to connect with, engage, and empower women both within the acute and community settings. The extant evidence explores how ICT has played a role in the promotion and support of women’s empowerment as well as supporting the development of health care policies and relevant programs