Citizens of Character - The Values and Character Dispositions of 14-16 Year Olds in the Hodge Hill Constituency

Citizens of Character explores the attitudes, dispositions, and values of 14-16 year old students in a particular urban environment - the six schools of the Hodge Hill constituency in Birmingham - and the extent to which the education system and the local environment advance or inhibit their sense of self, their values and their character development. These students constituted a heterogeneous group of religious and non-religious individuals. This project goes beyond the normal exploration and measurement of strengths of character in individuals and looks at the factors that build character in families and schools. This research has wider implications for the relationship between character and aspirations, social change, school cultures, citizenship, identity and religion. The study discusses what students understand by character. It set out to ascertain the moral values held by a group of students living in an inner-city area. The study sought to question who or what has influenced their moral values and examined which individuals, institutions and situations might have hindered or promoted their development. Some of the issues and concerns which arose - for example, relations with neighbours, the matter of local and national pride and questions of trust - may seem not to impinge upon character education as such but are relevant in a wider context

Alien Registration- Harding, Robert (Bridgewater, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/26288/thumbnail.jp

The role of beam geometry in population statistics and pulse profiles of radio and gamma-ray pulsars

We present results of a pulsar population synthesis study that incorporates a number of recent developments and some significant improvements over our previous study. We have included the results of the Parkes multi-beam pulsar survey in our select group of nine radio surveys, doubling our sample of radio pulsars. We adopted with some modifications the radio beam geometry of Arzoumanian, Chernoff & Cordes (2002). For the $\gamma$-ray beam, we have assumed the slot gap geometry described in the work of Muslimov & Harding (2003). To account for the shape of the distribution of radio pulsars in the $\dot P-P$ diagram, we continue to find that decay of the magnetic field on a timescale of 2.8 Myr is needed. With all nine surveys, our model predicts that EGRET should have seen 7 radio-quiet (below the sensitivity of these radio surveys) and 19 radio-loud $\gamma$-ray pulsars. AGILE (nominal sensitivity map) is expected to detect 13 radio-quiet and 37 radio-loud $\gamma$-ray pulsars, while GLAST, with greater sensitivity is expected to detect 276 radio-quiet and 344 radio-loud $\gamma$-ray pulsars. When the Parkes multi-beam pulsar survey is excluded, the ratio of radio-loud to radio-quiet $\gamma$-ray pulsars decreases, especially for GLAST. The decrease for EGRET is 45%, implying that some fraction of EGRET unidentified sources are radio-loud $\gamma$-ray pulsars. In the radio geometry adopted, short period pulsars are core dominated. Unlike the EGRET $\gamma$-ray pulsars, our model predicts that when two $\gamma$-ray peaks appear in the pulse profile, a dominant radio core peak appears in between the $\gamma$-ray peaks. Our findings suggest that further improvements are required in describing both the radio and $\gamma$-ray geometries.Comment: 39 pages, 13 eps figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, April 1, 200

Methodological Issues in Spatial Microsimulation Modelling for Small Area Estimation

In this paper, some vital methodological issues of spatial microsimulation modelling for small area estimation have been addressed, with a particular emphasis given to the reweighting techniques. Most of the review articles in small area estimation have highlighted methodologies based on various statistical models and theories. However, spatial microsimulation modelling is emerging as a very useful alternative means of small area estimation. Our findings demonstrate that spatial microsimulation models are robust and have advantages over other type of models used for small area estimation. The technique uses different methodologies typically based on geographic models and various economic theories. In contrast to statistical model-based approaches, the spatial microsimulation model-based approaches can operate through reweighting techniques such as GREGWT and combinatorial optimization. A comparison between reweighting techniques reveals that they are using quite different iterative algorithms and that their properties also vary. The study also points out a new method for spatial microsimulation modellingBayesian prediction approach; combinatorial optimisation; GREGWT; microdata; small area estimation; spatial microsimulation

Thinking skills tests for University admission

The relatively large number of university applicants predicted multiple A-grades in end of school A-level examinations when they apply has led to growing interest by several Universities in special additional tests for admissions purposes. The UK Government is also concerned about access to university courses, and in May 2003 Secretary of State for Education and Skills Charles Clarke requested Professor Steven Schwartz, Vice-Chancellor of Brunel University, to conduct an independent review1. The enquiry’s concerns about widening access to higher education has also led to a search for additional admissions indicators. Tests based on Thinking Skills appear promising for both purposes, and CAA has a major contribution to make in delivering them successfully

New technology for interactive CAL: The origami project

Origami is a three‐year EPSRC project that forms part of a general research programme on human‐computer interaction. The goal of this research is to investigate and implement new methods for human‐computer interaction, and to apply and evaluate their use. The research centres on the DigitalDesk, an ordinary desk augmented with a computer display using projection television and a video camera to monitor inputs. The DigitalDesk allows electronic and printed documents to be combined to give richer presentation and interaction possibilities than are possible with either separate medium. This paper examines the implications of such a system for CAL, and presents two prototype applications that demonstrate the possibilities

Laser-assisted spectroscopy of Au and Na isotopes at ISOLDE

Lasers are a powerful spectroscopic tool that have been exploited for decades to elucidate information about nuclear structure. Presented in this work are two different complementary laser interaction studies. The first is a combined laser spectroscopy and α-decay study of odd-odd isotopes 180,182Au, while the second highlights the recent developments at ISOLDE’s new laser polarisation beamline, culminating in the most precise deduction of the magnetic moments of 26−31Na to date. The investigation of laser-ionized odd-odd isotopes 180,182Au was performed using the Resonant Ionisation Laser Ion Source, Windmill and ISOLTRAP Multi-Reflection Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer. A complex fine structure α-decay pattern of 180Au was deduced providing an insight into the low-lying levels in the daughter nucleus 176Ir. The α-decay branching ratio of bα(180Au) = 0.58(10) % has also been derived, permitting calculation of the reduced α-decay widths and determining the degree of hindrance of respective α-decay branches. From complementary measurements of the hyperfine structure, magnetic moments of μI(180Au) = 0.83(7) μN and μI(182Au) = +1.68(5) μN were deduced. Based on the observed hyperfine structure pattern, a preferred ground state spin I(180Aug) = (1+) is proposed, and the assignment of I(182Aug) = 2+ in this work, is consistent with previous studies. The magnetic moment of 26Na, has been determined for the first time with parts-per-million precision, which is a hundred-fold improvement over the usual precision achievable for such short-lived nuclei. This achievement was possible by applying the ultrasensitive β-detected Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technique to a liquid-state sample at the laser polarization beamline. This result, combined with data from the literature, has further improved the uncertainty of the magnetic moments of 27−31Na to the dozen ppm level. Extending this approach to other isotopic chains would enlarge the palette of β-NMR nuclei to a variety of new isotopes across the nuclear chart