Improving the representational strategies of children in a music-listening and playing task: an intervention-based study.

This intervention-based study focuses on the relation between music and its graphic representation from a meta-representational point of view. It aims to determine whether middle school students show an increase in meta-representational competence (MRC) after an educational intervention. Three classes of 11 to 14-year-old students participated in the teaching experiment: one experimental class (E) and two control classes (C). An intervention on MRC was carried out on the E class during the hours that were allocated for the regular music lessons, while students from the C classes followed the regular music curriculum. E and C classes were given the same pretest and posttest, which measured students' MRC by means of six representational criteria. One month after the posttest, all classes completed a retention test. The results reveal an overall effect in favour of the E group, despite the negative results for two representational criteria. Moreover, the overall gain, to a great extent, was due to a decrease in the score of the C classes, while the gains in the E class were rather small. Theoretical, methodological and educational implications are discussed

Correlation measurements in high-multiplicity events

Requirements for correlation measurements in high--multiplicity events are discussed. Attention is focussed on detection of so--called hot spots, two--particle rapidity correlations, two--particle momentum correlations (for quantum interferometry) and higher--order correlations. The signal--to--noise ratio may become large in the high--multiplicity limit, allowing meaningful single--event measurements, only if the correlations are due to collective behavior.Comment: MN 55455, 20 pages, KSUCNR-011-92 and TPI-MINN-92/47-T (revised). Revised to correct typo in equation (30), and to fill in a few steps in calculations. Now published as Phys. Rev. C 47 (1993) 232

Signaling in Secret: Pay-for-Performance and the Incentive and Sorting Effects of Pay Secrecy

Key Findings: Pay secrecy adversely impacts individual task performance because it weakens the perception that an increase in performance will be accompanied by increase in pay; Pay secrecy is associated with a decrease in employee performance and retention in pay-for-performance systems, which measure performance using relative (i.e., peer-ranked) criteria rather than an absolute scale (see Figure 2 on page 5); High performing employees tend to be most sensitive to negative pay-for- performance perceptions; There are many signals embedded within HR policies and practices, which can influence employees’ perception of workplace uncertainty/inequity and impact their performance and turnover intentions; and When pay transparency is impractical, organizations may benefit from introducing partial pay openness to mitigate these effects on employee performance and retention

Hydrodynamical assessment of 200 AGeV collisions

We are analyzing the hydrodynamics of 200 A GeV S+S collisions using a new approach which tries to quantify the uncertainties arising from the specific implementation of the hydrodynamical model. Based on a previous phenomenological analysis we use the global hydrodynamics model to show that the amount of initial flow, or initial energy density, cannot be determined from the hadronic momentum spectra. We additionally find that almost always a sizeable transverse flow deve- lops, which causes the system to freeze out, thereby limiting the flow velocity in itself. This freeze-out dominance in turn makes a distinction between a plasma and a hadron resonance gas equation of state very difficult, whereas a pure pion gas can easily be ruled out from present data. To complete the picture we also analyze particle multiplicity data, which suggest that chemical equilibrium is not reached with respect to the strange particles. However, the over- population of pions seems to be at most moderate, with a pion chemical potential far away from the Bose divergence.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figs in separate uuencoded file, for LateX, epsf.tex, dvips, TPR-94-5 and BNL-(no number yet

Is there a role for glucocorticoid receptor beta in asthma?

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are routinely used as anti-inflammatory drugs in the treatment of asthma. They act through binding to glucocorticoid receptor α (GRα), which represses numerous genes encoding pro-inflammatory mediators. A hormone binding deficient GR isoform named GRβ has been isolated in humans. When overexpressed by transfection, GRβ may function as a dominant negative modulator of GRα. However, to act as such, GRβ has to be more abundant than GRα, and conflicting data have been obtained concerning the relative levels of the two isoforms in cell lines and freshly isolated cells. Moreover, the dominant negative effect was not confirmed by independent laboratories. In GC-resistant asthmatics, GRβ was expressed by an increased number of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), airway T cells, and cells found in skin biopsies of tuberculin responses. However, the relative amounts of GRα and GRβ in these cells were not determined. In GC-dependent asthmatics, PBMCs expressed GRα predominantly. No cells containing higher levels of GRβ than GRα have yet been reported in asthmatics. Even if the existence of such cells is demonstrated, the role of GRβ in asthma will remain a matter of controversy because functional studies have given discrepant data

Do Search for Dibaryonic De - Excitations in Relativistic Nuclear Reactions

Some odd characteristics are observed in the single particle distributions obtained from $He + Li$ interactions at $4.5 AGeV/c$ momenta which are explained as the manifestation of a new mechanism of strangeness production via dibaryonic de-excitations. A signature of the formation of hadronic and baryonic clusters is also reported. The di-pionic signals of the dibaryonic orbital de-excitations are analyzed in the frame of the MIT - bag Model and a Monte Carlo simulation.The role played by the dibaryonic resonances in relativistic nuclear collisions could be a significant one. Key words: Relativistic nuclear interactions negative pions, negative kaons, di-pions , streamer chamber, dibaryons, MIT - bag model PACS codes: 25.75.+r,14.40.Aq,14.20.Pt,12.40.AsComment: 17 pages,LATEX, preprint ICTP -243 1993,figures available by reques

Constraints on new interactions from neutron scattering experiments

Constraints for the constants of hypothetical Yukawa-type corrections to the Newtonian gravitational potential are obtained from analysis of neutron scattering experiments. Restrictions are obtained for the interaction range between 10^{-12} and 10^{-7} cm, where Casimir force experiments and atomic force microscopy are not sensitive. Experimental limits are obtained also for non-electromagnetic inverse power law neutron-nucleus potential. Some possibilities are discussed to strengthen these constraints.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure

The Presampler for the Forward and Rear Calorimeter in the ZEUS Detector

The ZEUS detector at HERA has been supplemented with a presampler detector in front of the forward and rear calorimeters. It consists of a segmented scintillator array read out with wavelength-shifting fibers. We discuss its desi gn, construction and performance. Test beam data obtained with a prototype presampler and the ZEUS prototype calorimeter demonstrate the main function of this detector, i.e. the correction for the energy lost by an electron interacting in inactive material in front of the calorimeter.Comment: 20 pages including 16 figure

Bordetella pertussis Clones Identified by Multilocus Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Analysis

Multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) of 316 Bordetella pertussis isolates collected over 40 years from Australia and 3 other continents identified 66 MLVA types (MTs), including 6 predominant MTs. Typing of genes encoding acellular vaccine antigens showed changes that may be vaccine driven in 2 MTs prevalent in Australia