Culture, Lifestyle and the Information Revolution in the Middle East and Muslim World

For over two decades, the 'information revolution' in the Middle East has been framed overwhelmingly in terms of media, more of it, and in comparisons to mass media - from the advent of any-to-any communication to ad hoc conceptualizations such as 'crowd-sourcing' or 'citizen journalism' - that register the multiplication of voices, channels and eroding boundaries in spheres of communication. The record has expanded more than conceptualizations of its sociologies in media and communications studies. It’s time for other questions that elicit additional and more basic features of Internet practices from choices that shape individual repertoires and participation to continuities between users and producers to how actual practices scale up, which actually link micro and macro processes. To elicit these broader sociologies, and move beyond the limited social physics of 'impact' of the Internet on culture and lifestyles, I draw on the related sociologies of reference group and network theory, on Science-Technology-Society studies and sociolinguistics to bring disruption of existing institutions, on the one hand, and cooptation by them, on the other, into more unified theory of the play of information revolution in culture and lifestyles on the Internet

Incompressible Quantum Liquids and New Conservation Laws

In this letter we investigate a class of Hamiltonians which, in addition to the usual center-of-mass (CM) momentum conservation, also have center-of-mass position conservation. We find that regardless of the particle statistics, the energy spectrum is at least q-fold degenerate when the filling factor is $p/q$, where $p$ and $q$ are coprime integers. Interestingly the simplest Hamiltonian respecting this type of symmetry encapsulates two prominent examples of novel states of matter, namely the fractional quantum Hall liquid and the quantum dimer liquid. We discuss the relevance of this class of Hamiltonian to the search for featureless Mott insulators.Comment: updated version, to be published by PR

Before You Tie the Knot: Mapping Pedagogy, Learning Outcomes, and Effect Size in Premarital Education

Human services educators are continually seeking ways to make instruction more effective and engaging. This study evaluated the AIAI-FTFD (Attention, Interact, Apply, Invite – Fact, Think, Feel, Do) Start-to-Finish Teaching Model for educators in an ongoing premarital educational program to determine the model’s effectiveness in implementing the concept of “teaching as an intervention” in human services educational programming. The AIAI-FTFD Model is designed to first, assist instructors to engage the audience’s attention, then introduce the information being taught with the purpose to facilitate interaction between the instructor and participants, next elicit application of the material to personal contexts, and finally, offer an invitation to participants to commit to practice the skills learned. This implementation science study assessed the targeted cognitive, emotional, and behavioral learning outcomes generated by using the AIAI-FTFD Model while completing the Before You Tie the Knot (BYTK) premarital education program online. A self-reported quantitative evaluation design was utilized to assess key objectives in the sample (n = 97). Clearly evident effect sizes were found in perceived knowledge and confidence gain in the ability to implement the skills covered in the training. Implications for how the AIAI-FTFD Model can facilitate change and learning in educational settings are discussed

Feedback from Naturalistic Driving Improves Treatment Compliance in Drivers with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

As part of a study in drivers with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), we conducted a randomized clinical trial to assess whether individualized feedback can increase compliance with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy. After completing 3.5 months of naturalistic driving monitoring, OSA drivers were randomized either to receive an intervention, which was feedback regarding their own naturalistic driving record and CPAP compliance, or to receive no such intervention. In the week immediately after the intervention date, drivers receiving feedback (n=30) improved their CPAP usage by an average of 35.8 minutes per night (p=0.008; 95% CI=9.6, 62.0) to a mean level of 296 minutes. By contrast, CPAP usage in the non-feedback group (n=36) decreased an average of 27.5 minutes per night (p=0.022; 95% CI=4.0, 51.0) to a mean level of 236 minutes. The mean group-specific changes were higher (better) in the feedback group than in the non-feedback group during the first, second, and third weeks of follow-up (p0.25 in all cases). Our study suggests that CPAP compliance can be increased using individualized feedback, but that follow-up feedback sessions or reminders may be necessary for sustained improvement

Pembelajaran Tari Di SMP N 3 Mlati Dan SMA N 1 Seyegan (Studi Kasus: Sosialisasi Tari Peksi Eka Kapti Di Kabupaten Sleman)

Tari Peksi Eka Kapti merupakan tari yang terinspirasi dari satwa identitas Kabupaten Sleman yaitu Burung Punglor. Tarian ini diciptakan pada tahun 2014 oleh Mila Rosinta.Tari Peksi Eka Kapti adalah aktualisasi seekor burung sebagai simbol keseimbangan ekosistem dalam konteks satu kekuatan dan kebersamaan. Tarian ini diharapkan bisa diapresiasi masyarakat khususnya pelajar SD, SMP, dan SMK/SMA agar ikut berperan serta dalam upaya melestarikan aset identitas Kabupaten Sleman sebagai pembelajaran atau ekstra kurikuler di sekolah maupun di sanggar. Oleh sebab itu Pemerintah Kabupaten Sleman membuat sebuah program pengenalan dan pelestarian identitas daerah salah satunya dengan membuat sebuah karya tari yang inspirasinya dari Burung Punglor.Permasalahan yang ingin dikaji dalam penelitian ini adalah bagaimana pembelajaran tari di SMP N 3 Mlati dan SMA N 1 Seyegan (Studi Kasus: Sosialisasi Tari Peksi Eka Kapti di Kabupaten Sleman). Untuk membantu menemukan jawaban dari permasalahan adalah dengan menggunakan pendekatan multidisiplin sosiologi dan pendekatan koreografi. Tari Peksi Eka Kapti diajarkan di SMP N 3 Mlati dan SMA N 1 Seyegan sebagai sebuah ekstra kurikuler atau pengembangan diri sekolah dengan menggunakan metode-metode pengajaran yang cukup baik yaitu metode analisis, global, imitasi dan campuran yang diharapkan bahwa siswa yang berlatih bisa mencapai kualitas seperti yang dicontohkan. Strategi pembelajaran yang dilakukan kedua sekolah tersebut sama yaitu guru atau pengajar bercerita tentang tarian tersebut, memutar dokumentasi, mempraktekkan dan menjelaskan motif maupun transisi pada tarian (tahap penyampaian materi), memperkenalkan tehnik penjiwaan, pendalaman materi dan tahap yang terakhir adalah ujian hasil pembelajaran tari

Double-Peaked Low-Ionization Emission Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei

We present a new sample of 116 double-peaked Balmer line Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Double-peaked emission lines are believed to originate in the accretion disks of AGN, a few hundred gravitational radii (Rg) from the supermassive black hole. We investigate the properties of the candidate disk emitters with respect to the full sample of AGN over the same redshifts, focusing on optical, radio and X-ray flux, broad line shapes and narrow line equivalent widths and line flux-ratios. We find that the disk-emitters have medium luminosities (~10^44erg/s) and FWHM on average six times broader than the AGN in the parent sample. The double-peaked AGN are 1.6 times more likely to be radio-sources and are predominantly (76%) radio quiet, with about 12% of the objects classified as LINERs. Statistical comparison of the observed double-peaked line profiles with those produced by axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric accretion disk models allows us to impose constraints on accretion disk parameters. The observed Halpha line profiles are consistent with accretion disks with inclinations smaller than 50 deg, surface emissivity slopes of 1.0-2.5, outer radii larger than ~2000 Rg, inner radii between 200-800Rg, and local turbulent broadening of 780-1800 km/s. The comparison suggests that 60% of accretion disks require some form of asymmetry (e.g., elliptical disks, warps, spiral shocks or hot spots).Comment: 60 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in AJ. For high quality figures and full tables, please see http://astro.princeton.edu/~iskra/disks.htm

Stabilized finite elements for compressible turbulent Navier-Stokes

In this research a stabilized finite element approach is utilized in the development of a high-order flow solver for compressible turbulent flows. The Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and modified Spalart-Almaras (SA) turbulence model are discretized using the streamline/upwind Petrov-Galerkin (SUPG) scheme. A fully implicit methodology is used to obtain steady state solutions or to drive unsteady problems at each time step. Order of accuracy is assessed for inviscid and viscous flows in two and three dimensions via the method of manufactured solutions. Proper treatment of curved surface geometries is of vital importance in high-order methods, especially when high aspect ratio elements are used in viscous flow regions. In two dimensions, analytic surface representations are used to ensure proper surface point placement, and an algebraic mesh smoothing procedure is applied to prevent invalid elements in high aspect ratio meshes. In dealing with complex three-dimensional geometries, high-order curved surfaces are generated via a Computational Analysis PRogramming Interface (CAPRI), while the interior meshes are deformed through a linear elasticity solver. In addition, the effects of curved elements on solution accuracy are evaluated. Finally, several test cases in two and three dimensions are presented and compared with benchmark results and/or experimental data

Integrable multiparametric quantum spin chains

Using Reshetikhin's construction for multiparametric quantum algebras we obtain the associated multiparametric quantum spin chains. We show that under certain restrictions these models can be mapped to quantum spin chains with twisted boundary conditions. We illustrate how this general formalism applies to construct multiparametric versions of the supersymmetric t-J and U models.Comment: 17 pages, RevTe

Universal construction of order parameters for translation-invariant quantum lattice systems with symmetry-breaking order

For any translation-invariant quantum lattice system with a symmetry group G, we propose a practical and universal construction of order parameters which identify quantum phase transitions with symmetry-breaking order. They are defined in terms of the fidelity between a ground state and its symmetry-transformed counterpart, and are computed through tensor network representations of the ground-state wave function. To illustrate our scheme, we consider three quantum systems on an infinite lattice in one spatial dimension, namely, the quantum Ising model in a transverse magnetic field, the quantum spin-1/2 XYX model in an external magnetic field, and the quantum spin-1 XXZ model with single-ion anisotropy. All these models have symmetry group Z(2) and exhibit broken-symmetry phases. We also discuss the role of the order parameters in identifying factorized states