My grade, my right: linking academic entitlement to academic performance

The identifcation of determinants and correlates of academic entitlement is of particular interest for researchers and (academic) tutors alike. Whilst personality traits have been linked to academic entitlement in the past, the relative importance of familial influence remains unclear. Hence, to address this deficit, this study utilizes a sample of business and psychology undergraduates (N=170) in the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, the impact of academic entitlement on students’ misestimation of coursework grades was assessed in a subsample of psychology undergraduates (N=92). Multiple regression analyses revealed honesty–humility as the strongest predictor of academic entitlement, indicating lower entitlement of more honest students. In contrast, familial influences were unrelated to academic entitlement. Interestingly, higher entitled expectations were associated with larger overestimation of grades. Our findings indicate honesty–humility as an important driver of academic entitlement, whilst entitled expectations appear to be associated with misperceptions of students' own academic performance

A Quantum Mechanical Model of Spherical Supermembranes

We present a quantum mechanical model of spherical supermembranes. Using superfields to represent the cartesian coordinates of the membrane, we are able to exactly determine its supersymmetric vacua. We find there are two classical vacua, one corresponding to an extended membrane and one corresponding to a point-like membrane. For the ${\mathcal N} = 2$ case, instanton effects then lift these vacua to massive states. For the ${\mathcal N} = 4$ case, there is no instanton tunneling, and the vacua remain massless. Similarities to spherical supermembranes as giant gravitons and in Matrix theory on pp-waves is discussed.Comment: 9 page

A case of isolated eyelid cysticercosis masquerading as a dermoid cyst: histopathology to the rescue

Cysticercosis is a parasitic infection caused by larval form of Taenia Solium. The commonest site of cysticercosis is central nervous system followed by muscles, subcutaneous tissue and eyes. But only a handful of cases of eyelid cysticercosis have been reported in the literature. We report a case of isolated eyelid cysticercosis in a three year old female child who presented with swelling on the right upper eyelid which was clinically diagnosed as dermoid cyst because of its exclusive site of presentation. Histopathology of excised eyelid swelling revealed the diagnosis of cysticercosis

Development of a Virtual Laboratory for the Study of Complex Human Behavior

The study of human perception has evolved from examining simple tasks executed in reduced laboratory conditions to the examination of complex, real-world behaviors. Virtual environments represent the next evolutionary step by allowing full stimulus control and repeatability for human subjects, and a testbed for evaluating models of human behavior. Visual resolution varies dramatically across the visual field, dropping orders of magnitude from central to peripheral vision. Humans move their gaze about a scene several times every second, projecting taskcritical areas of the scene onto the central retina. These eye movements are made even when the immediate task does not require high spatial resolution. Such “attentionally-driven” eye movements are important because they provide an externally observable marker of the way subjects deploy their attention while performing complex, real-world tasks. Tracking subjects’ eye movements while they perform complex tasks in virtual environments provides a window into perception. In addition to the ability to track subjects’ eyes in virtual environments, concurrent EEG recording provides a further indicator of cognitive state. We have developed a virtual reality laboratory in which head-mounted displays (HMDs) are instrumented with infrared video-based eyetrackers to monitor subjects’ eye movements while they perform a range of complex tasks such as driving, and manual tasks requiring careful eye-hand coordination. A go-kart mounted on a 6DOF motion platform provides kinesthetic feedback to subjects as they drive through a virtual town; a dual-haptic interface consisting of two SensAble Phantom extended range devices allows free motion and realistic force-feedback within a 1^3 m volume (Refer to PDF file for exact formulas)

Electromagnetic transition from the 4+^+ to 2+^+ resonance in 8^8Be measured via the radiative capture in 4^4He+4^4He

An earlier measurement on the 4$^+$ to 2$^+$ radiative transition in $^8$Be provided the first electromagnetic signature of its dumbbell-like shape. However, the large uncertainty in the measured cross section does not allow a stringent test of nuclear structure models. The present paper reports a more elaborate and precise measurement for this transition, via the radiative capture in the $^4$He+$^4$He reaction, improving the accuracy by about a factor of three. The {\it ab initio} calculations of the radiative transition strength with improved three-nucleon forces are also presented. The experimental results are compared with the predictions of the alpha cluster model and {\it ab initio} calculations.Comment: 5 pages and 7 figures, Submitted to Physical Review Letter

The vulnerability of public spaces: challenges for UK hospitals under the 'new' terrorist threat

This article considers the challenges for hospitals in the United Kingdom that arise from the threats of mass-casualty terrorism. Whilst much has been written about the role of health care as a rescuer in terrorist attacks and other mass-casualty crises, little has been written about health care as a victim within a mass-emergency setting. Yet, health care is a key component of any nation's contingency planning and an erosion of its capabilities would have a significant impact on the generation of a wider crisis following a mass-casualty event. This article seeks to highlight the nature of the challenges facing elements of UK health care, with a focus on hospitals both as essential contingency responders under the United Kingdom's civil contingencies legislation and as potential victims of terrorism. It seeks to explore the potential gaps that exist between the task demands facing hospitals and the vulnerabilities that exist within them

The changing nature of risk and risk management: the challenge of borders, uncertainty and resilience

No abstract available

Improved control strategy of DFIG-based wind turbines using direct torque and direct power control techniques

This paper presents different control strategies for a variable-speed wind energy conversion system (WECS), based on a doubly fed induction generator. Direct Torque Control (DTC) with Space-Vector Modulation is used on the rotor side converter. This control method is known to reduce the fluctuations of the torque and flux at low speeds in contrast to the classical DTC, where the frequency of switching is uncontrollable. The reference for torque is obtained from the maximum power point tracking technique of the wind turbine. For the grid-side converter, a fuzzy direct power control is proposed for the control of the instantaneous active and reactive power. Simulation results of the WECS are presented to compare the performance of the proposed and classical control approaches.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Nitroimidazoles: Part XIX. Structure-activity relationships

A variety of nitroimidazoles, mostly 1,2-disubstituted-5-nitroderivatives were examined for in vitro activity against E. histolytica and in early hepatic infection of infected golden hamsters. Many preparations carried a functionalised N atom at position 2. In vivo activity was found widely among 1-alkyl-5-nitroimidazoles carrying a substituted imidazolidinone (1) or imidazole (2). Out of these derivatives, l-methyl-sulphonyl-3-(1-methyl-5-nitro-2-imidazolyl)-2-irnidazolidinone(la;C 10213-Go) was found to be the best and to be superior to marketed nitroimidazoles against hepatic and caecal infections of E. histolytica ip the golden hamster and T. foetus infections in mice, and has been developed as a drug for treatment of amoebiasis, giardiasis and trichomoniasis

XAFS study of copper(II) diethylenetriamine complexes having different coordination geometries

XAFS of three Cu(II) diethylenetriamine complexes (in crystalline form) having different coordination geometries have been investigated. First complex has distorted tetragonal pyramidal, second has distorted square planar and third has distorted square pyramidal geometry. The difference in coordination geometries has been inferred from the differences in pre-edge peak, rising part of edge and in shape of white line, which are seen clearly in the derivative XANES spectra. The distortion in geometry has been correlated with the intensity of peaks in derivative spectra. These inferences have been corroborated from EXAFS analysis where the different paths have been used in the theoretical fits in R space to show contributions of different scatterers at different distances