Taking Comfort in Points:The Appeal of the Norwegian Model in Sweden

Purpose: The "Norwegian model" has become widely used for assessment and resource allocation purposes. This paper investigates why this model has becomes so widespread and influential. Approach: A theoretical background is outlined in which the reduction of "uncertainty" is highlighted as a key feature of performance measurement systems. These theories are then drawn upon when revisiting previous studies of the Norwegian model, its use, and reactions to it, in Sweden.Findings: The empirical examples, which concern more formal use on the level of universities as well as responses from individual researchers, shows how particular parts—especially the "publication indicator"—are employed in Swedish academia. The discussion posits that the attractiveness of the Norwegian model largely can be explained by its ability to reduce complexity and uncertainty, even in fields where traditional bibliometric measurement is less applicable. Research limitations: The findings presented should be regarded as examples that can be used for discussion, but one should be careful to interpret these as representative for broader sentiments and trends.Implications: The sheer popularity of the Norwegian model, leading to its application in contexts for which it was not designed, can be seen as a major challenge for the future.Originality: This paper offers a novel perspective on the Norwegian model by focusing on its general "appeal", rather than on its design, use or(mis)-use.

Comparative Analysis of International School Education Evaluation Systems:A Case Study of the IB and A-Level

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the International Baccalaureate(IB)and the General Certificate of Education Advanced Level(A-Level),two international educational assessment systems.The study explores their similarities and differences in educational philosophy,curriculum design,assessment methods,and student experience.Findings indicate that the IB curriculum emphasizes holistic education and interdisciplinary learning,while the A-Level curriculum focuses more on subject depth and specialization.In terms of assessment methods,the IB combines internal and external evaluations,whereas the A-Level primarily relies on final examinations.Regarding student experience,IB students typically perceive a broader range of learning opportunities,while A-Level students gain in-depth knowledge in specific subject areas.The study offers valuable insights for educators and policymakers to improve educational practices and support the personalized development of students.

Guidelines to assessment of speech synthesis systems for Chinese

National assessment of speech synthesis systems for Chinese has been regularly carried out since 1994 in China. New guidelines to the assessment activities which aim at promoting the assessment work to be standardizable, automatizable (partially) and accessible to the public by computer network were set up in 1997. Two modules. the phonetic module and the linguistic module, are evaluated individually. The phonetic module is evaluated by using speech intelligibility tests at three levels:syllable, word and sentence, and speech natu-ralness tests (in MOS). As for the linguistic module, the text processing ability, which includes word segmentation, polyphonic characters, numerals, years, symbols and metrological units, is examined automatically.

Assessment methods of speech synthesis systems for Chinese

A national assessment of the performance of speech synthesis systems for Chinese has been carried out yearly since 1994. The quality of synthetic speech of five different systems were evaluated and diagnosed by using speech intelligibility tests. 16 college students (8 male, 8 female) with no experience with synthetic speech were the listeners, they were asked to do open response task by pencilpaper. In addition, speech naturalness was mea-sured by Mean Opinion

Advances in the development of power supplies for the Internet of Everything

The Internet of Everything(IoE),which aims to realize information exchange and communications for anything with the Internet,has revolutionized our modern world.Serving as the driving force for devices in the IoE network,power supply systems play a fundamental role in the development of the IoE.However,due to the complexity,multifunctionality and wide-scale deployment of diverse applications,power supply systems face great challenges,including distribution,connection,charging technologies,and management.In this review,some challenges and advances in the development of both power supply systems and their units are presented.In the overall system-level field,establishing sustainable and maintenancefree power supply systems through wireless connections,efficient power management and integrated energy harvesting and storage systems is highlighted.Additionally,the main performance metrics of power supply units are discussed,including energy density,service life,and self-power ability.In addition,some directions of power quality assessment for both the system and unit levels of power supply systems are presented,aiming to provide insight into the future development of high-performance power supply systems for the IoE.