Exploring narratives of the motivation of School Governors

Communities are increasingly atomised in post-modern times where individuation and anomie are increasing, and a deeper understanding is required of why individuals give their time to community involvement. The thesis explores an example of community engagement by investigating the motivation of school governors and how this role is part of lives and learning. The historical context is outlined and the case is made for the beneficial and desirable effects of community involvement through reference to classical authors. By looking at current societal circumstances through contemporary authors as well as factors relating to feminism and by delving into individual responses to questions about why they volunteer, the research is necessarily interdisciplinary, and draws on different references to history, sociology, psychology and politics. The research used a qualitative methodology and the significance of this form of enquiry is considered. During 2012 and 2013 auto/biographical qualitative interviews were conducted with four school governors. An additional longitudinal element was added as they were re-interviewed after one year. The resulting narratives were analysed for themes and issues and the author's own reflexive narrative is included as one of the four to locate herself in the work. Different ways of accessing auto/biographical information were explored and crystallisation of the results was employed. The vital role of motivation is explored across the micro, meso and macro levels of engagement. The central argument is that a psychosocial interpretation is needed to start to understand what prompts individuals to put themselves forward for such a community role. Drawing on the work of Winnicott (1971), a unique combination of psychological factors relating to family background, upbringing and inherited values could be seen to be work agentically in conjunction with societal structures and mores to move an individual to this voluntary work. Reflecting Mills’ (2000) treatise on the role of human agency in determining history, the different narratives showed the interface between these psychological and sociological elements and exhibited a clear need for recognition as outlined by Honneth (1995). The results show the necessity to explore motivation with volunteers to encourage a successful involvement through identifying unique motivational factors and attending to those aspects which enhance self-esteem and self-respect. The conclusions indicate lessons for the recruitment and retention of school governors which are relatable to volunteering generally

Precoder-Aided Iterative Detection Assisted Multilevel Coding and Three-Dimensional EXIT-Chart Analysis

A novel three-dimensional (3D) EXIT chart is developed for investigating the iterative behaviour of Multilevel Coding (MLC) invoking Multistage Decoding (MSD). The extrinsic information transfer characteristics of both the symbol-to-bit demapper used and those of the differentprotection constituent decoders suggest that potential improvements can be achieved by appropriately designing the demapper. The proposed 3D EXIT chart is then invoked for studying the precoder-aided multilevel coding scheme employing both MSD and Parallel Independent Decoding (PID) for communicating over AWGN and uncorrelated Rayleigh fading channels with the aid of 8PSK modulation. At BER=10?5, the precoder was capable of enhancing the achievable Eb/N0 performance by 0.5dB to 2.5dB over AWGN and Rayleigh channels, respectively

Assessing statistical significance of periodogram peaks

The least-squares (or Lomb-Scargle) periodogram is a powerful tool which is used routinely in many branches of astronomy to search for periodicities in observational data. The problem of assessing statistical significance of candidate periodicities for different periodograms is considered. Based on results in extreme value theory, improved analytic estimations of false alarm probabilities are given. They include an upper limit to the false alarm probability (or a lower limit to the significance). These estimations are tested numerically in order to establish regions of their practical applicability.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, 1 table; To be published in MNRA

Downlink Steered Space-Time Spreading Assisted Generalised Multicarrier DS-CDMA Using Sphere-Packing-Aided Multilevel Coding

This paper presents a novel generalised Multi-Carrier Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (MC DS-CDMA) system invoking smart antennas for improving the achievable performance in the downlink, as well as employing multi-dimensional Sphere Packing (SP) modulation for increasing the achievable diversity product. In this contribution, the MC DS-CDMA transmitter considered employs multiple Antenna Arrays (AA) and each of the AAs consists of several antenna elements. Furthermore, the proposed system employs both time- and frequency- (TF) domain spreading for extending the achievable capacity, when combined with a novel user-grouping technique for reducing the effects of Multiuser Interference (MUI). Moreover, in order to further enhance the system’s performance, we invoke a MultiLevel Coding (MLC) scheme, whose component codes are determined using the so-called equivalent capacity based constituent-code rate-calculation procedure invoking a 4-dimensional bit-to-SP-symbol mapping scheme. Our results demonstrate an approximately 3.8 dB Eb/N0 gain over an identical throughput scheme dispensing with SP modulation at a BER of 10?5

Luby Transform Coding Aided Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation for the Wireless Internet

Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation using Iterative Decoding (BICM-ID) is amalgamated with Luby Transform (LT) coding. The resultant joint design of the physical and data link layer substantially improves the attainable Bit Error Rate (BER) performance. A Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) combined with a novel Log-Likelihood Ratio (LLR) based packet reliability estimation method is proposed for the sake of detecting and disposing of erroneous packets. Subsequently, bit-by-bit LT decoding is proposed, which facilitates a further BER improvement at a lower number of BICM-ID iterations. Finally, we revisit the pseudo random generator function used for designing the LT generator matrix

Standards dynamics and industrial organization in the mobile telecom sector

Purpose - The purpose of this mainly conceptual paper is to analyze key changes in the institutional setting for standardization and to discuss what they indicate about further developments of the mobile sector. The intention is that this conceptual analysis will complement and contextualize the analysis of Nordic players found in the other papers of this special issue. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is concerned with issues of industrial organization. The paper presents a treatment of industrial dynamics in them mobile telecom sector and the changing role of standards in it. We approach the substantial changes in the mobile telecom sector, focusing on the correspondence of the changes in the standards system to overall industry dynamics. Empirical information from the Symbian case is used to illustrate the hypothesis of standardization process and of the industry at large. Findings - The paper identifies changing patterns in the organization of technological standardization which represents a microcosm of the larger reorganization of the sector. Nordic actors, whose present position owes much to success in linking capabilities to sequential mobile standards. The paper draws out implications of the limits to "intergenerational leveraging" in standards. Originality/value - The major contribution of the paper is to focus on changes in the organization of the standardization process in order to discuss the industrial dynamics of an industry which is undergoing a period of rapid change. Its reference to industrial dynamics perspective allows it to link the literature on dominant design to the field of standards research

Presenting SEM models: journal and conference considerations

SEM is a versatile statistical technique for research across disciplines. The materials presented in SEM studies offer differing degrees of detail. This creates difficulties in assessing the validity and the applications of such SEM studies. This paper provides a working checklist of SEM required quality indicators. This checklist and five additional fixes are designed to assist SEM researchers and to help the reviewing of SEM studies offered for publication

Strategies for managing the structural and dynamic consequences of project complexity

In this paper we propose a theoretical framework that highlights the most important consequences of complexity for the form and evolution of projects, and use it to develop a typology of project complexity. This framework also enables us to deepen the understanding of how knowledge production and flexibility strategies enable project participants to address complexity. Based on this understanding, we advance a number of propositions regarding the strategies that can be most effective for different categories of complexity. We hope these results will help integrate various strands in the research on project complexity, and provide a roadmap for further research on the strategies for addressing it

Modelling Management Consulting in India: towards Management Consulting Theory

This point-in-time, management consulting firm (MCF), empirical, global literature-supported quantitative study, engages a small but acceptable dataset. It builds a significant MCF-to-client-firm sustainable business positioning model to assist the client-firm (CF). The model's total effects highlight where MCF-to-CF improvements can likely produce greatest impact pathways onto CF outcomes. A new Management-Consulting-Theory is presented. Management Consulting Theory enlists current MCF competencies, and uses these to help create a collaborative suite of optimizable MCF-to-CF values and competitive intelligences capabilities. When suitably focused, this engaged system of MCF competencies, and its CF-absorbed MCF-to-CF capabilities enhancements, can jointly influence the enhancement of a CF sustainable business positioning - ideally one that remains adaptive, and also promotes an ongoing CF sustainable (competitive) business positioning

The Value-Expectations Model: A Service Industry Relationship for Targeting Customers

This study builds an equation relating business service expectation options (measured as expectation intention and expectation extension) against three multi-dimensional customer perceived value dimensions (measured as performance, service and satisfaction). The model is suitable for investigation of customer perceived service value under structural equation modeling approaches