Stickability, transformability and transmittability: alternative, pull-out programs within schools - what the literature says about effective practice and provision for disenfranchised young people

This paper draws on the findings of a recent and extensive literature review to examine the efficacy of pull-out education programs (alternative programs) in schools in relation to student learning, well-being, and pathways. It synthesises the research on alternative education programs and their contribution to student outcomes using three main conceptual categories: how sustainable these programs are their stickability; how effective these programs are in achieving their stated purpose of improving and enhancing vulnerable students’ learning, well-being, and pathways, their transformability; and how these programs may be used successfully in other locations and contexts— their transmittability. It concludes with recommendations for future practice, suggesting that school systems should prioritise prevention and early intervention in providing support to vulnerable students in ways that take account of students’ own reasons for why they are disengaged from schooling.

Effective Cell-Centred Time-Domain Maxwell's Equations Numerical Solvers

This research work analyses techniques for implementing a cell-centred finite-volume time-domain (ccFV-TD) computational methodology for the purpose of studying microwave heating. Various state-of-the-art spatial and temporal discretisation methods employed to solve Maxwell's equations on multidimensional structured grid networks are investigated, and the dispersive and dissipative errors inherent in those techniques examined. Both staggered and unstaggered grid approaches are considered. Upwind schemes using a Riemann solver and intensity vector splitting are studied and evaluated. Staggered and unstaggered Leapfrog and Runge-Kutta time integration methods are analysed in terms of phase and amplitude error to identify which method is the most accurate and efficient for simulating microwave heating processes. The implementation and migration of typical electromagnetic boundary conditions. from staggered in space to cell-centred approaches also is deliberated. In particular, an existing perfectly matched layer absorbing boundary methodology is adapted to formulate a new cell-centred boundary implementation for the ccFV-TD solvers. Finally for microwave heating purposes, a comparison of analytical and numerical results for standard case studies in rectangular waveguides allows the accuracy of the developed methods to be assessed.