33,381 research outputs found

    The Role of Morality and Religiosity in Ethnic and Homophobic Prejudice Among Teachers

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    The role of moral disengagement strategies and religiosity related to ethnic and homophobic prejudice were investigated in a sample of 550 Italian secondary school teachers (76.4% female, age range: 20–70; M=46.18) who completed the teachers’ attitudes towards the representation of homosexuality in flm and television scale; the Italian version of the moral disengagement scale; the subtle and blatant prejudice scales; and three items to evaluate their religiosity. Evidence suggests that moral disengagement processes matter for subtle ethnic prejudice, but not for blatant ethnic prejudice or homophobic prejudice. Results based on a structural equation model show that teachers who are more prone to use moral disengagement mechanisms have higher levels of subtle ethnic prejudice, while teachers who are older and more religious have higher levels of homophobic prejudice. The results of a multiple group structural equation model showed that high versus low levels of religiosity among teachers did not moderate the strength of these associations. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed

    Neuropsychological constraints to human data production on a global scale

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    Which are the factors underlying human information production on a global level? In order to gain an insight into this question we study a corpus of 252–633 mil. publicly available data files on the Internet corresponding to an overall storage volume of 284–675 Terabytes. Analyzing the file size distribution for several distinct data types we find indications that the neuropsychological capacity of the human brain to process and record information may constitute the dominant limiting factor for the overall growth of globally stored information, with real-world economic constraints having only a negligible influence. This supposition draws support from the observation that the files size distributions follow a power law for data without a time component, like images, and a log-normal distribution for multimedia files, for which time is a defining qualia. Author summary: The generation of new information is limited by two key factors, by the incurring economic costs and by the capacity of the human brain to process and store data and information; the controlling agent needs to retain an overall understanding even when data is generated by semiautomatic processes. These processes are reflected in the statistical properties of the data files publicly available on the Internet. Collecting a corpus of 252–633 mil. files we find that the statistics of the file size distribution are consistent with the supposition that data production on a global level is shaped and limited by the neuropsychological information processing capacity of the brain, with economic and hardware constraints having a negligible influence

    Dynamics of finite-sized light spheres in turbulence

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    We report experimental results on the Lagrangian dynamics of finite-size light particles in turbulence. Using an orthogonal camera setup and 3D particle tracking, we study the velocity and acceleration statistics of rigid light spheres in a water tunnel with nearly homogeneous and isotropic turbulence. The Reynolds number (ReY) is varied from 180 to 300, and the study covers a range of size ratios (4 < D/η < 16) for marginally light spheres. We find that the normalised acceleration PDF decreases in intermittency with increasing size ratio - in qualitative agreement with the predictions of the Faxén corrected model. We also present preliminary results on the rotational dynamics of large light spheres in turbulence

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Role of inter-hemispheric connections in functional brain networks

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    Today the human brain can be modeled as a graph where nodes represent different regions and links stand for statistical interactions between their activities as recorded by different neuroimaging techniques. Empirical studies have lead to the hypothesis that brain functions rely on the coordination of a scattered mosaic of functionally specialized brain regions (modules or sub-networks), forming a web-like structure of coordinated assemblies (a network of networks. NoN). The study of brain dynamics would therefore benefit from an inspection of how functional sub-networks interact between them. In this paper, we model the brain as an interconnected system composed of two specific sub-networks, the left (L) and right (R) hemispheres, which compete with each other for centrality, a topological measure of importance in a networked system. Specifically, we considered functional scalp EEG networks (SEN) derived from high-density electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings and investigated how node centrality is shaped by interhemispheric connections. Our results show that the distribution of centrality strongly depends on the number of functional connections between hemispheres and the way these connections are distributed. Additionally, we investigated the consequences of node failure on hemispherical centrality, and showed how the abundance of inter-hemispheric links favors the functional balance of centrality distribution between the hemispheres

    1ST MEASUREMENT OF GAMMA(D(S)(+)-]MU+NU)/GAMMA(D(S)(+)-]PHI-PI+)

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    Complete Author List: ACOSTA D, ATHANAS M, MASEK G, PAAR H, BEAN A, GRONBERG J, KUTSCHKE R, MENARY S, MORRISON RJ, NAKANISHI S, NELSON HN, NELSON TK, RICHMAN JD, RYD A, TAJIMA H, SCHMIDT D, SPERKA D, WITHERELL MS, PROCARIO M, YANG S, BALEST R, CHO K, DAOUDI M, FORD WT, JOHNSON DR, LINGEL K, LOHNER M, RANKIN P, SMITH JG, ALEXANDER JP, BEBEK C, BERKELMAN K, BESSON D, BROWDER TE, CASSEL DG, CHO HA, COFFMAN DM, DRELL PS, EHRLICH R, GALIK RS, GARCIASCIVERES M, GEISER B, GITTELMAN B, GRAY SW, HARTILL DL, HELTSLEY BK, JONES CD, JONES SL, KANDASWAMY J, KATAYAMA N, KIM PC, KREINICK DL, LUDWIG GS, MASUI J, MEVISSEN J, MISTRY NB, NG CR, NORDBERG E, OGG M, PATTERSON JR, PETERSON D, RILEY D, SALMAN S, SAPPER M, WORDEN H, WURTHWEIN F, AVERY P, FREYBERGER A, RODRIGUEZ J, STEPHENS R, YELTON J, CINABRO D, HENDERSON S, KINOSHITA K, LIU T, SAULNIER M, SHEN F, WILSON R, YAMAMOTO H, ONG B, SELEN M, SADOFF AJ, AMMAR R, BALL S, BARINGER P, COPPAGE D, COPTY N, DAVIS R, HANCOCK N, KELLY M, KWAK N, LAM H, KUBOTA Y, LATTERY M, NELSON JK, PATTON S, PERTICONE D, POLING R, SAVINOV V, SCHRENK S, WANG R, ALAM MS, KIM IJ, NEMATI B, ONEILL JJ, SEVERINI H, SUN CR, ZOELLER MM, CRAWFORD G, DAUBENMIER CM, FULTON R, FUJINO D, GAN KK, HONSCHEID K, KAGAN H, KASS R, LEE J, MALCHOW R, MORROW F, SKOVPEN Y, SUNG M, WHITE C, WHITMORE J, WILSON P, BUTLER F, FU X, KALBFLEISCH G, LAMBRECHT M, ROSS WR, SKUBIC P, SNOW J, WANG PL, WOOD M, BORTOLETTO D, BROWN DN, FAST J, MCILWAIN RL, MIAO T, MILLER DH, MODESITT M, SCHAFFNER SF, SHIBATA EI, SHIPSEY IPJ, WANG PN, BATTLE M, ERNST J, KROHA H, ROBERTS S, SPARKS K, THORNDIKE EH, WANG CH, DOMINICK J, SANGHERA S, SHELKOV V, SKWARNICKI T, STROYNOWSKI R, VOLOBOUEV I, ZADOROZHNY P, ARTUSO M, HE D, GOLDBERG M, HORWITZ N, KENNETT R, MONETI GC, MUHEIM F, MUKHIN Y, PLAYFER S, ROZEN Y, STONE S, THULASIDAS M, VASSEUR G, ZHU G, BARTELT J, CSORNA SE, EGYED Z, JAIN V, SHELDON P, AKERIB DS, BARISH B, CHADHA M, CHAN S, COWEN DF, EIGEN G, MILLER JS, OGRADY C, URHEIM J, WEINSTEIN A

    Preservice Teachers' Development of Effective Approaches to Text-based Discussion

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    Text-based discussion is a dialogic instructional practice to promote reading comprehension among students. To enact this practice, a teacher engages students in authentic conversation about text as students read it, to assist them in building understanding of text ideas as they are encountered. Text-based discussion has the potential to promote the development of both low-level and high-level comprehension skills among students, yet teachers need support in learning to enact it. Research has indicated that text-based discussion is not well-represented in classrooms today, likely because not many teachers have access to this support. Recently, some teacher educators have focused on teaching preservice teachers (PSTs) to enact text-based discussions during teacher preparation programs, in an attempt to increase the presence of the practice in classrooms. Practice-based methods courses have been developed which attempt to provide preservice teachers with the knowledge and skill needed to enact text-based discussions successfully. This study investigated the ways in which six preservice teachers’ enactments of text-based discussion developed over the course of their one-year student teaching placements, after completing one such methods course in which they learned to enact the practice. Data were collected at three time points during student teaching, and included transcripts of enactments of text-based discussion, lesson plans, interview transcripts, and assessments of lesson quality using the Instructional Quality Instrument (Junker et al., 2004). Analysis of the data suggested that the PSTs entered student teaching with the ability to enact text-based discussions with a moderate level of success, and that the quality of the discussions continued to improve over the course of the school year. The methods course seemed to support PSTs in learning to link student comments and press students for accuracy and reasoning. PSTs were more successful in eliciting student linking and recall of explicit text information than in eliciting elaborated responses from students; the participation structure enforced by the PST seemed to influence the extent to which students provided elaborated responses. This study supports the use of practice-based methods courses to teach PSTs to enact text-based discussions, and uncovers several areas that are in need of additional focus during these courses

    Measurement of the D+/- production asymmetry in 7 TeV pp collisions

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    The asymmetry in the production cross-section \sigma of D+/- mesons, A_P = (\sigma(D+) - \sigma(D-))/(\sigma(D+) + \sigma(D-)), is measured in bins of pseudorapidity \eta and transverse momentum p_T within the acceptance of the LHCb detector. The result is obtained with a sample of D+ -> K_S pi+ decays corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb^-1, collected in pp collisions at a centre of mass energy of 7 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. When integrated over the kinematic range 2.0 K_S pi+ decay is negligible. No significant dependence on \eta or p_T is observed

    Study of the decay D-s(+)-> K(+)K(-)e(+)v(e)

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    Using 214 fb(-1) of data recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEPII electron-positron collider, we study the decay D-s(+) -> K+ K- e(+) v(e). Except for a small S-wave contribution, the events with K+K- masses in the range 1.01-1.03 GeV/c(2) correspond to phi mesons. For D-s(+) ->phi e(+) v(e) decays, we measure the relative normalization of the Lorentz invariant form factors at q(2) = 0, r(V) V(0)/A1(0) = 1.849 +/- 0.060 +/- 0.095, r(2) = A(2)(0)/A(1)(0) = 0.763 +/- 0.071 +/- 0.065 and the pole mass of the axial-vector form factors m(A) =(2.28(-0.18)(+0.230) +/- 0.18) GeV/c(2). Within the same K+K- mass range, we also measure the relative branching fraction B(D-s(+) -> K+ K- e(+) v(e))/B(D-s(+) -> K+ K (-)pi(+)) = 0.558 +/- 0.007 +/- 0.016, from which we obtain the total branching fraction B(D-s(+) -> phi e(+) v(e)) = 2.61 +/- 0.03 +/- 0.08 +/- 0.15) x 10(-2). By comparing this value with the predicted decay rate, we extract A(1)(0) = 0.607 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.019 +/- 0.018. The stated uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and from external inputs
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