This book examines how critical thinking is regulated in Singapore through the process of what the influential sociologist of education Basil Bernstein termed "pedagogic recontextualization". The ability of critical thinking to speak to alternative possibilities and individual autonomy as well as its assumptions of a liberal arrangement of society is problematized in Singapore’s socio-political climate. By examining how such curricular discourses are taken up and enacted in the classrooms of two schools that cater to very different groups in society, the book foregrounds the role of traditional high-status knowledge in the elaboration of class formation and develops a critical understanding of post-developmental state initiatives linked to the parable of modernization in Singapore. Knowledge, Control and Critical Thinking in Singapore offers chapters on: • Critical Thinking and the Singapore State: Meritocracy, Illiberalism and Neoliberalism • Sacred Knowledge and Elite Dispositions: Recontextualizing Critical Thinking in an Elite School • Power, Knowledge and Symbolic Control: Official Pedagogic Identities and the Politics of Recontextualization This book will appeal to scholars in comparative education studies, curriculum studies and education reform. It will also interest scholars engaged in Asian studies who are struggling to understand issues of education policy formation and implementation, particularly in the areas of critical thinking and other knowledge skills.
This book examines how critical thinking is regulated in Singapore through the process of what the influential sociologist of education Basil Bernstein termed "pedagogic recontextualization". The ability of critical thinking to speak to alternative possibilities and individual autonomy as well as its assumptions of a liberal arrangement of society is problematized in Singapore’s socio-political climate. By examining how such curricular discourses are taken up and enacted in the classrooms of two schools that cater to very different groups in society, the book foregrounds the role of traditional high-status knowledge in the elaboration of class formation and develops a critical understanding of post-developmental state initiatives linked to the parable of modernization in Singapore. Knowledge, Control and Critical Thinking in Singapore offers chapters on: • Critical Thinking and the Singapore State: Meritocracy, Illiberalism and Neoliberalism • Sacred Knowledge and Elite Dispositions: Recontextualizing Critical Thinking in an Elite School • Power, Knowledge and Symbolic Control: Official Pedagogic Identities and the Politics of Recontextualization This book will appeal to scholars in comparative education studies, curriculum studies and education reform. It will also interest scholars engaged in Asian studies who are struggling to understand issues of education policy formation and implementation, particularly in the areas of critical thinking and other knowledge skills.
This book provides a sound mathematical and technical perspective in functional and structural retina models, presents evaluation metrics to assess those models, and provides insights about the models hardware implementation.It begins by introducing the retina anatomy and its workings in a detailed way suitable for an engineering audience, while providing the mathematical analysis of the retina neural response. Moreover, it explores and establishes a framework for the comparison of retina models by organizing a set of metrics for testing and evaluating the different models.The book follows a signal processing perspective, where all models and metrics are discretized in order to be implemented and tested in a digital system, such as a computer or a specialized dedicated hardware device.
This book discusses many of the common scaling properties observed in some nonlinear dynamical systems mostly described by mappings. The unpredictability of the time evolution of two nearby initial conditions in the phase space together with the exponential divergence from each other as time goes by lead to the concept of chaos. Some of the observables in nonlinear systems exhibit characteristics of scaling invariance being then described via scaling laws. From the variation of control parameters, physical observables in the phase space may be characterized by using power laws that many times yield into universal behavior. The application of such a formalism has been well accepted in the scientific community of nonlinear dynamics. Therefore I had in mind when writing this book was to bring together few of the research results in nonlinear systems using scaling formalism that could treated either in under-graduation as well as in the post graduation in the several exact programs but no earlier requirements were needed from the students unless the basic physics and mathematics. At the same time, the book must be original enough to contribute to the existing literature but with no excessive superposition of the topics already dealt with in other text books. The majority of the Chapters present a list of exercises. Some of them are analytic and others are numeric with few presenting some degree of computational complexity.
Algae have been used since ancient times as food, fodder, fertilizer and as source of medicine. Nowadays seaweeds represent an unlimited source of the raw materials used in pharmaceutical, food industries, medicine and cosmetics. They are nutritionally valuable as fresh or dried vegetables, or as ingredients in a wide variety of prepared foods. In particular, seaweeds contain significant quantities of protein, lipids, minerals and vitamins. There is limited information about the role of algae and algal metabolites in medicine. Only a few taxa have been studied for their use in medicine. Many traditional cultures report curative powers from selected alga, in particular tropical and subtropical marine forms. This is especially true in the maritime areas of Asia, where the sea plays a significant role in daily activities. Nonetheless, at present, only a few genera and species of algae are involved in aspects of medicine and therapy. Beneficial uses of algae or algal products include those that may mimic specific manifestations of human diseases, production of antibiotic compounds, or improvement of human nutrition in obstetrics, dental research, thallassotherapy, and forensic medicine.
Seaweed is used in many countries for very different purposes - directly as food, especially in sushi, as a source of phycocolloids, extraction of compounds with antiviral, antibacterial or antitumor activity and as biofertilizers. About four million tons of seaweed are harvested annually worldwide. Of the various species known, less than 20 accoun
Torrefaction of Biomass for Energy Applications: From Fundamentals to Industrial Scale explores the processes, technology, end-use, and economics involved in torrefaction at the industrial scale for heat and power generation. Its authors combine their industry experience with their academic expertise to provide a thorough overview of the topic. Starting at feedstock pretreatment, followed by torrefaction processes, the book includes plant design and operation, safety aspects, and case studies focusing on the needs and challenges of the industrial scale. Commercially available technologies are examined and compared, and their economical evaluation and life cycle assessment are covered as well. Attention is also given to non-woody feedstock, alternative applications, derived fuels, recent advances, and expected future developments. For its practical approach, this book is ideal for professionals in the biomass industry, including those in heat and power generation. It is also a useful reference for researchers and graduate students in the area of biomass and biofuels, and for decision makers, policy makers, and analysts in the energy field. Compares efficiency and performance of different commercially available technologies from the practical aspects of daily operation in an industrial scale plant Presents a cost analysis of the production, logistics, and storage of torrefied biomass Includes case studies addressing challenges that may occur in the daily operation in an industrial scale plant Covers other associated technologies, the densification of torrefied biomass, and non-woody feedstock
This book discusses some scaling properties and characterizes two-phase transitions for chaotic dynamics in nonlinear systems described by mappings. The chaotic dynamics is determined by the unpredictability of the time evolution of two very close initial conditions in the phase space. It yields in an exponential divergence from each other as time passes. The chaotic diffusion is investigated, leading to a scaling invariance, a characteristic of a continuous phase transition. Two different types of transitions are considered in the book. One of them considers a transition from integrability to non-integrability observed in a two-dimensional, nonlinear, and area-preserving mapping, hence a conservative dynamics, in the variables action and angle. The other transition considers too the dynamics given by the use of nonlinear mappings and describes a suppression of the unlimited chaotic diffusion for a dissipative standard mapping and an equivalent transition in the suppression of Fermi acceleration in time-dependent billiards. This book allows the readers to understand some of the applicability of scaling theory to phase transitions and other critical dynamics commonly observed in nonlinear systems. That includes a transition from integrability to non-integrability and a transition from limited to unlimited diffusion, and that may also be applied to diffusion in energy, hence in Fermi acceleration. The latter is a hot topic investigated in billiard dynamics that led to many important publications in the last few years. It is a good reference book for senior- or graduate-level students or researchers in dynamical systems and control engineering, mathematics, physics, mechanical and electrical engineering.
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