Fault reconstruction using a LPV sliding mode observer for a class of LPV systems

This paper proposes a new sliding mode observer for fault reconstruction, applicable for a class of linear parameter varying (LPV) systems. Observer schemes for actuator and sensor fault reconstruction are presented. For the actuator fault reconstruction scheme, a virtual system comprising the system matrix and a fixed input distribution matrix is used for the design of the observer. The fixed input distribution matrix is instrumental in simplifying the synthesis procedure to create the observer gains to ensure a stable closed-loop reduced order sliding motion. The ‘output error injection signals’ from the observer are used as the basis for reconstructing the fault signals. For the sensor fault observer design, augmenting the LPV system with a filtered version of the faulty measurements allows the sensor fault reconstruction problem to be posed as an actuator fault reconstruction scenario. Simulation tests based on a high-fidelity nonlinear model of a transport aircraft have been used to demonstrate the proposed actuator and sensor FDI schemes. The simulation results show their efficacy.     

A community of practice as an inclusive model to support children with social,emotional and behavioural difficulties in school contexts

Many school children throughout the world who exhibit antisocial or destructive behaviour or have social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) do not receive the support they need. As a result, they are caught up in a cycle of vulnerability. Systemic collaborative support is needed to counter this. Although in some cases teachers and other professionals join forces, interventions are usually affected by individual professionals outside the framework of inclusive education. This literature review paper explores the support children with SEBD in school contexts receive. The findings of the thematic document analysis highlight the vulnerability of children with SEBD, the success or otherwise of attempts made by various approaches and intervention programmes to provide support to these children, and the barriers to inclusive support. We argue the merits of adopting a Community of Practice as an inclusive model to support school children with SEBD. This kind of inclusive model strengthens constructive partnerships that provide these children with opportunities to acquire the social capital they need to engage meaningfully at schools and in their future life.     

Envisioning a critical social pedagogy of learning and work in a contemporary culture of cyclical lifelong learning

In Canada, current federal learning-and-work policy is focused on individual learner-worker development using an iteration of lifelong learning as cyclical. This policy aims to enhance the social as an effect of enhancing the economic. In this neoliberal milieu, cyclical lifelong learning has become not only a norm but also a culture and an attitude. Still, a current Canadian phenomenon indicates that increasing numbers of young adults are disengaging from participation in such learning that the federal government considers being a preventive measure. In discussing their withdrawal from what might be perceived as cyclical lifelong learning for control, I consider a particularly challenging case: the predicament of young adults in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. To help us think about adequately addressing the dislocation they experience in life and work, I offer a Freire-informed vision of a critical social pedagogy of learning and work. This pedagogy calls for re-engendering the social in lifelong learning by revitalizing critical social concerns with historical awareness, hope, possibility, ethics, justice, democratic vision, learner freedom, critique, and intervention.     

Sources of difficulty in assessment: example of PISA science items

ABSTRACT

The understanding of what makes a question difficult is a crucial concern in assessment. To study the difficulty of test questions, we focus on the case of PISA, which assesses to what degree 15-year-old students have acquired knowledge and skills essential for full participation in society. Our research question is to identify PISA science item characteristics that could influence the item’s proficiency level. It is based on an a-priori item analysis and a statistical analysis. Results show that only the cognitive complexity and the format out of the different characteristics of PISA science items determined in our a-priori analysis have an explanatory power on an item’s proficiency levels. The proficiency level cannot be explained by the dependence/independence of the information provided in the unit and/or item introduction and the competence. We conclude that in PISA, it appears possible to anticipate a high proficiency level, that is, students’ low scores for items displaying a high cognitive complexity. In the case of a middle or low cognitive complexity level item, the cognitive complexity level is not sufficient to predict item difficulty. Other characteristics play a crucial role in item difficulty. We discuss anticipating the difficulties in assessment in a broader perspective.     

Experiments of two-level training in Hungarian higher education

An experiment designed to train engineering students to two levels of terminal achievement within single institutions is reported. The operative engineers (formerly high level technicians) qualify after three years whilst research and development engineers (fully qualified engineers) take five years. Organisational and curricular problems necessarily created by such integrated schemes are described and discussed. Social attitudes in society in general and in the student body in particular make the task of directing students towards the shorter form of training complex and difficult. From the experience gained so far it can confidently be asserted that the experiments in two-level training have been successful.Note by the Editor: This article is an abbreviated version prepared by the Editor of a 90-page UNESCO (copyright) report with the same title, Document ED. 75/WS/64, dated October 1975. We are grateful to the authors and to UNESCO for permission to print this summary of the report.     

The influence of teaching experience and professional development on Greek teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion

On the assumption that the successful implementation of any inclusive policy is largely dependent on educators being positive about it, a survey was undertaken into the attitudes of Greek teachers to inclusion. The 155 respondents were general education primary teachers drawn from one region of Northern Greece, with a proportion deliberately selected from schools identified as actively implementing inclusive programmes. The analysis revealed positive attitudes towards the general concept of inclusion but variable views on the difficulty of accommodating different types of disabilities in mainstream classrooms. Teachers who had been actively involved in teaching pupils with SEN held significantly more positive attitudes than their counterparts with little or no such experience. The analysis also demonstrated the importance of substantive long‐term training in the formation of positive teacher attitudes towards inclusion. The paper concludes with recommendations for developing critical professional development courses that can result in attitudinal change and the formulation of genuinely inclusive practices.     

Simulating Oppression: Digital Gaming,Race and the Education of African American Children

Educational game designers and educators are using digital games as a platform for teaching academic content, including multicultural curriculum. However, it is unclear how well digital game-based learning can coexist with the goals of multicultural education for the purpose of meeting the needs of African American children. In this essay, we raise serious questions about the use of digital games to teach about social oppression in ways that privilege the psychological well-being of African American children. We argue that digital games that intend to recreate histories of racial oppression can be harmful to African American children if they reproduce popular and problematic notions of indigenous lives and experiences. We illuminate some of the dangers of such digital games through a preliminary exploration of one digital game designed to teach about facets of African American enslavement. Our essay concludes with recommendations for culturally relevant digital game-based learning design and instruction.     

The Goals of a Voluntary Integration Program and the Problems of Access: A Closer Look at a Magnet School Application Brochure

The article incorporates a critical theoretical and methodological framework to study a large urban district's implementation of a court-ordered voluntary integration program through magnet school choice. Drawing on the interview data from parents and district staff, the author analyzes the data as they relate to the district's magnet school application brochure, Opportunities for Success, and how the application is designed to support the voluntary integration program. The article first presents a short historical grounding for the district's voluntary integration program and how it influences the choice options for parents. Next, it discusses how the district implemented and organized the voluntary integration program and produced the magnet school application text. It then introduces data on parents' interactions with the magnet school brochure and application. The article concludes with a discussion of what can be learned from studying the texts of a voluntary integration program, what it tells us about racial and class privilege and diverse families' access to magnet school programs, and how text analysis can help us see where, in the institutional processes of school choice, further resegregation is likely to take place.     

Un inventaire des notions impliquées dans un enseignement général de mathématique à l'école secondaire

Sans résumé