The utopian function of film music

In this article I apply Ernst Bloch's utopian philosophy to film music

Role of switching-on and -off effects in the vacuum instability

We find exact differential mean numbers of fermions and bosons created from the vacuum due to a composite electric field of special configuration. This configuration imitates a finite switching-on and -off regime and consists of fields that switch-on exponentially from the infinitely remote past, remains constant during a certain interval $T$ and switch-off exponentially to the infinitely remote future. We show that calculations in the slowly varying field approximation are completely predictable in the framework of a locally constant field approximation. Beyond the slowly varying field approximation, we study effects of fast switching-on and -off in a number of cases when the size of the dimensionless parameter $\sqrt{eE}T$ is either close or exceeds the threshold value that determines the transition from a regime sensitive to on-off parameters to the slowly varying regime for which these effects are secondary.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. Minor revisions and reference added; matches published versio

Peculiarities of pair creation by a peak electric field

Exact, numerical, and asymptotic calculations concerning the vacuum instability by the so-called peak electric field are explored in detail. Peculiarities discussed in this article are complementary to those published recently by us in Eur. Phys. J. C, 76, p. 447 (2016), in which the effect was studied in the framework of QED with t -electric potential steps. To discuss features beyond the asymptotic regime, we present numerical details of exact and asymptotic expressions inherent to the peak field and discuss differential and total quantities. The results show wider distributions, with respect to the longitudinal momentum, as the phases k1 and k2 of the electric field decrease and larger distributions as the amplitude E increases. Moreover, the total density of pairs created decreases as k1 and k2 increase, its dependence being proportional to k1 –1 and k2 –1. The latter result is more accurate as k1 and k2 decrease and confirms, in particular, our asymptotic estimates obtained previously

An Inquiry-Based Approach to a Pedagogical Laboratory for Primary School Teacher Education

In questo articolo vengono presentati e di- scussi alcuni risultati relativi alla sperimen- tazione di due esperienze di didattica laboratoriale della fisica, una basata su me- todi di indagine scientifica e l’altra su meto- dologie didattiche più “tradizionali”, svolte durante l’A.A. 2014-15 con studenti del CdL in Scienze della Formazione Primaria del- l’Università di Palermo. I dati, analizzati tra- mite metodi quantitativi, sono stati ricavati dalla somministrazione prima, durante e do- po le attività laboratoriali, di un questionario finalizzato a comprendere gli stili di insegna- mento preferiti dagli studenti, la motivazio- ne di questi all’apprendimento/insegna- mento delle scienze e le loro idee sulle dif- ficoltà che un insegnante di scuola prima- ria/dell’infanzia incontra nel progettare e sperimentare in classe attività didattiche di tipo scientifico. Dopo una breve descrizione dei metodi di analisi utilizzati, i risultati della sperimentazione vengono discussi e commentati.In this paper we discuss some results of the trial of two pedagogical physics workshops, held during the academic year 2014-15 with students of the Undergraduate Program for Elementary/ Kindergarten Teacher Education at the University of Palermo. One of the workshops was Inquiry Based, while the other was performed by using “traditional” teaching methods. The data, analyzed by using quantitative methods, were obtained by the administration before, during and after the workshop activities of a questionnaire aimed at understanding what are the teaching styles preferred by students, the student motivation in learning and teaching science, and their ideas about the difficulties a teacher meets when designing and trialing with real pupils science-based pedagogical activities. After a short description of the analysis methods we used in our study, the results of the trial are discussed and commented

“some kind of thing it aint us but yet its in us”: David Mitchell, Russell Hoban, and metafiction after the millennium

This article appraises the debt that David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas owes to the novels of Russell Hoban, including, but not limited to, Riddley Walker. After clearly mapping a history of Hoban’s philosophical perspectives and Mitchell’s inter-textual genre-impersonation practice, the article assesses the degree to which Mitchell’s metatextual methods indicate a nostalgia for by-gone radical aesthetics rather than reaching for new modes of its own. The article not only proposes several new backdrops against which Mitchell’s novel can be read but also conducts the first in-depth appraisal of Mitchell’s formal linguistic replication of Riddley Walker

Coldness and Cruelty as Performance in Deleuze's Proust

This book is an encounter between Deleuze the philosopher, Proust the novelist, and Beckett the writer creating interdisciplinary and inter-aesthetic bridges between them, covering textual, visual, sonic and performative phenomena, ..

`In pursuit of the Nazi mind?' the deployment of psychoanalysis in the allied struggle against Germany

This paper discusses how psychoanalytic ideas were brought to bear in the Allied struggle against the Third Reich and explores some of the claims that were made about this endeavour. It shows how a variety of studies of Fascist psychopathology, centred on the concept of superego, were mobilized in military intelligence, post-war planning and policy recommendations for ‘denazification’. Freud's ideas were sometimes championed by particular army doctors and government planners; at other times they were combined with, or displaced by, competing, psychiatric and psychological forms of treatment and diverse studies of the Fascist ‘personality’. This is illustrated through a discussion of the treatment and interpretation of the deputy leader of the Nazi Party, Rudolf Hess, after his arrival in Britain in 1941

Does lower cognitive ability predict greater prejudice?

Historically, leading scholars proposed a theoretical negative association between cognitive abilities and prejudice. Until recently, however, the field has been relatively silent on this topic, citing concerns with potential confounds (e.g., education levels). Instead, researchers focused on other individual-difference predictors of prejudice, including cognitive style, personality, negativity bias, and threat. Yet there exists a solid empirical paper trail demonstrating that lower cognitive abilities (e.g., abstract-reasoning skills and verbal, nonverbal, and general intelligence) predict greater prejudice. We discuss how the effects of lower cognitive ability on prejudice are explained (i.e., mediated) by greater endorsement of right-wing socially conservative attitudes. We conclude that the field will benefit from a recognition of, and open discussion about, differences in cognitive abilities between those lower versus higher in prejudice. To advance the scientific discussion, we propose the Cognitive Ability and Style to Evaluation model, which outlines the cognitive psychological underpinnings of ideological belief systems and prejudice