Poverty Simulation Participation: Transformative Learning Outcomes Among Family and Consumer Sciences Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent participating in a poverty simulation effectively increase a student’s understanding of life in poverty among human development and family sciences (HDFS) and teacher education students in family and consumer sciences (FCS). Using a mixed-method design, a convenience sample of junior and senior undergraduate students (N=57) in FCS from a Midwestern state university participated in a modified version of a poverty simulation. Using a pre-post questionnaire, the quantitative results indicated overall scores moved in a favorable direction in attitude improvement toward the poor and the qualitative responses provided support for the poverty simulation as an effective instructional tool. The results concluded encouragement of more positive attitudes among the HDFS and teacher education students, providing future child care specialists, social service agents and educators with an empathic and interaction basis for working with clients and students who are experiencing poverty

Explosive Burning of Oxygen and Silicon

Astronom

E-Process - Its Components And Their Neutron Excesses

NSF GP-18335, GP-32051NASA NGR-44-006-159Astronom

E-Process - Its Components And Their Neutron Excesses

NSF GP-18335, GP-32051NASA NGR-44-006-159Astronom

Two-Dimensional Hydrodynamics of Pre-Core Collapse: Oxygen Shell Burning

By direct hydrodynamic simulation, using the Piecewise Parabolic Method (PPM) code PROMETHEUS, we study the properties of a convective oxygen burning shell in a SN 1987A progenitor star prior to collapse. The convection is too heterogeneous and dynamic to be well approximated by one-dimensional diffusion-like algorithms which have previously been used for this epoch. Qualitatively new phenomena are seen. The simulations are two-dimensional, with good resolution in radius and angle, and use a large (90-degree) slice centered at the equator. The microphysics and the initial model were carefully treated. Many of the qualitative features of previous multi-dimensional simulations of convection are seen, including large kinetic and acoustic energy fluxes, which are not accounted for by mixing length theory. Small but significant amounts of carbon-12 are mixed non-uniformly into the oxygen burning convection zone, resulting in hot spots of nuclear energy production which are more than an order of magnitude more energetic than the oxygen flame itself. Density perturbations (up to 8%) occur at the `edges' of the convective zone and are the result of gravity waves generated by interaction of penetrating flows into the stable region. Perturbations of temperature and electron fraction at the base of the convective zone are of sufficient magnitude to create angular inhomogeneities in explosive nucleosynthesis products, and need to be included in quantitative estimates of yields. Combined with the plume-like velocity structure arising from convection, the perturbations will contribute to the mixing of nickel-56 throughout supernovae envelopes. Runs of different resolution, and angular extent, were performed to test the robustness of theseComment: For mpeg movies of these simulations, see http://www.astrophysics.arizona.edu/movies.html Submitted to the Astrophysical Journa

Contestable adulthood: variability and disparity in markers for negotiating the transition to adulthood

Recent research has identified a discreet set of subjective markers that are seen as characterizing the transition to adulthood. The current study challenges this coherence by examining the disparity and variability in young people’s selection of such criteria. Four sentence-completion cues corresponding to four differentcontexts in which adult status might be contested were given to 156 British 16- to 17-year-olds. Their qualitative responses were analyzed to explore patterns whilst capturing some of their richness and diversity. An astonishing amount of variability emerged, both within and between cued contexts.The implications of this variability for how the transition to adulthood is experienced are explored. The argument is made that markers of the transition to adulthood are not merely reflective of the bio–psycho–social development of young people. Rather, adulthood here is seen as an essentially contested concept,located within the discursive interactional environment in which young people participate

SN1987A - a Testing Ground for the KARMEN Anomaly

We show, that SN1987A can serve as an astrophysical laboratory for testing the viability of the assertion that a new massive neutral fermion is implied by the KARMEN data. We show that a wide range of the parameters characterizing the proposed particle is ruled out by the above constraints making this interpretation very unlikely.Comment: 12 pages, 1 eps figure embedded, to appear in Phys. Lett.

Rapid neutron capture in supernova explosions

Rapid neutron capture in supernova explosion

Multidimensional Modeling of Type I X-ray Bursts. I. Two-Dimensional Convection Prior to the Outburst of a Pure Helium Accretor

We present multidimensional simulations of the early convective phase preceding ignition in a Type I X-ray burst using the low Mach number hydrodynamics code, MAESTRO. A low Mach number approach is necessary in order to perform long-time integration required to study such phenomena. Using MAESTRO, we are able to capture the expansion of the atmosphere due to large-scale heating while capturing local compressibility effects such as those due to reactions and thermal diffusion. We also discuss the preparation of one-dimensional initial models and the subsequent mapping into our multidimensional framework. Our method of initial model generation differs from that used in previous multidimensional studies, which evolved a system through multiple bursts in one dimension before mapping onto a multidimensional grid. In our multidimensional simulations, we find that the resolution necessary to properly resolve the burning layer is an order of magnitude greater than that used in the earlier studies mentioned above. We characterize the convective patterns that form and discuss their resulting influence on the state of the convective region, which is important in modeling the outburst itself.Comment: 47 pages including 18 figures; submitted to ApJ; A version with higher resolution figures can be found at http://astro.sunysb.edu/cmalone/research/pure_he4_xrb/ms.pd