8,402 research outputs found
Architects of time: Labouring on digital futures
Drawing on critical analyses of the internet inspired by Gilles Deleuze and the Marxist autonomia movement, this paper suggests a way of understanding the impact of the internet and digital culture on identity and social forms through a consideration of the relationship between controls exercised through the internet, new subjectivities constituted through its use and new labour practices enabled by it. Following Castells, we can see that the distinction between user, consumer and producer is becoming blurred and free labour is being provided by users to corporations. The relationship between digital technologies and sense of community, through their relationship to the future, is considered for its dangers and potentials. It is proposed that the internet may be a useful tool for highlighting and enabling social connections if certain dangers can be traversed. Notably, current remedies for the lack of trust on the internet are questioned with an alternative, drawing on Zygmunt Bauman and Georg Simmel, proposed which is built on community through a vision of a ‘shared network’
New Regulators for Quantum Field Theories with Compactified Extra Dimensions. I: Fundamentals
In this paper, we propose two new regulators for quantum field theories in
spacetimes with compactified extra dimensions. We refer to these regulators as
the ``extended hard cutoff'' (EHC) and ``extended dimensional regularization''
(EDR). Although based on traditional four-dimensional regulators, the key new
feature of these higher-dimensional regulators is that they are specifically
designed to handle mixed spacetimes in which some dimensions are infinitely
large and others are compactified. Moreover, unlike most other regulators which
have been used in the extra-dimension literature, these regulators are designed
to respect the original higher-dimensional Lorentz and gauge symmetries that
exist prior to compactification, and not merely the four-dimensional symmetries
which remain afterward. This distinction is particularly relevant for
calculations of the physics of the excited Kaluza-Klein modes themselves, and
not merely their radiative effects on zero modes. By respecting the full
higher-dimensional symmetries, our regulators avoid the introduction of
spurious terms which would not have been easy to disentangle from the physical
effects of compactification. As part of our work, we also derive a number of
ancillary results. For example, we demonstrate that in a gauge-invariant
theory, analogues of the Ward-Takahashi identity hold not only for the usual
zero-mode (four-dimensional) photons, but for all excited Kaluza-Klein photons
as well.Comment: 47 pages, LaTeX, 3 figure
Giant Magnetic Moments of Nitrogen Stabilized Mn Clusters and Their Relevance to Ferromagnetism in Mn Doped GaN
Using first principles calculations based on density functional theory, we
show that the stability and magnetic properties of small Mn clusters can be
fundamentally altered by the presence of nitrogen. Not only are their binding
energies substantially enhanced, but also the coupling between the magnetic
moments at Mn sites remains ferromagnetic irrespective of their size or shape.
In addition, these nitrogen stabilized Mn clusters carry giant magnetic moments
ranging from 4 Bohr magnetons in MnN to 22 Bohr magnetons in Mn_5N. It is
suggested that the giant magnetic moments of Mn_xN clusters may play a key role
in the ferromagnetism of Mn doped GaN which exhibit a wide range (10K - 940K)
of Curie temperatures
Maternal antibodies from mothers of children with autism alter brain growth and social behavior development in the rhesus monkey.
Antibodies directed against fetal brain proteins of 37 and 73 kDa molecular weight are found in approximately 12% of mothers who have children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but not in mothers of typically developing children. This finding has raised the possibility that these immunoglobulin G (IgG) class antibodies cross the placenta during pregnancy and impact brain development, leading to one form of ASD. We evaluated the pathogenic potential of these antibodies by using a nonhuman primate model. IgG was isolated from mothers of children with ASD (IgG-ASD) and of typically developing children (IgG-CON). The purified IgG was administered to two groups of female rhesus monkeys (IgG-ASD; n=8 and IgG-CON; n=8) during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. Another control group of pregnant monkeys (n=8) was untreated. Brain and behavioral development of the offspring were assessed for 2 years. Behavioral differences were first detected when the macaque mothers responded to their IgG-ASD offspring with heightened protectiveness during early development. As they matured, IgG-ASD offspring consistently deviated from species-typical social norms by more frequently approaching familiar peers. The increased approach was not reciprocated and did not lead to sustained social interactions. Even more striking, IgG-ASD offspring displayed inappropriate approach behavior to unfamiliar peers, clearly deviating from normal macaque social behavior. Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging analyses revealed that male IgG-ASD offspring had enlarged brain volume compared with controls. White matter volume increases appeared to be driving the brain differences in the IgG-ASD offspring and these differences were most pronounced in the frontal lobes
Theoretical He I Emissivities in the Case B Approximation
We calculate the He I case B recombination cascade spectrum using improved
radiative and collisional data. We present new emissivities over a range of
electron temperatures and densities. The differences between our results and
the current standard are large enough to have a significant effect not only on
the interpretation of observed spectra of a wide variety of objects but also on
determinations of the primordial helium abundance.Comment: Accepted to ApJ
The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: the atmospheric dispersion corrector
We present a conceptual design for the atmospheric dispersion corrector (ADC)
for TMT's Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The severe requirements of this
ADC are reviewed, as are limitations to observing caused by uncorrectable
atmospheric effects. The requirement of residual dispersion less than 1
milliarcsecond can be met with certain glass combinations. The design decisions
are discussed and the performance of the design ADC is described. Alternative
options and their performance tradeoffs are also presented.Comment: SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation 201
The infrared imaging spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: spectrograph design
The Infra-Red Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is one of the three first light
instruments for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and is the only one to
directly sample the diffraction limit. The instrument consists of a parallel
imager and off-axis Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) for optimum use of the
near infrared (0.84um-2.4um) Adaptive Optics corrected focal surface. We
present an overview of the IRIS spectrograph that is designed to probe a range
of scientific targets from the dynamics and morphology of high-z galaxies to
studying the atmospheres and surfaces of solar system objects, the latter
requiring a narrow field and high Strehl performance. The IRIS spectrograph is
a hybrid system consisting of two state of the art IFS technologies providing
four plate scales (4mas, 9mas, 25mas, 50mas spaxel sizes). We present the
design of the unique hybrid system that combines the power of a lenslet
spectrograph and image slicer spectrograph in a configuration where major
hardware is shared. The result is a powerful yet economical solution to what
would otherwise require two separate 30m-class instruments.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figure
Predictors of Student Success in an Entry-Level Baccalaureate Dental Hygiene Program
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to measure the utility of various predictors used by the Old Dominion University Gene W. Hirschfeld School of Dental Hygiene baccalaureate degree dental hygiene program in selecting dental hygiene students who are most likely to graduate and be successful in passing the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination (NBDHE). The following factors were examined: grade point average (GPA); science GPA; final grade in various prerequisite courses; final grade in first-year dental hygiene courses; academic setting where prerequisite courses were completed; multiple attempts to achieve a passing course grade; and admissions criteria points (ACP).
METHODS: The sample selected for study consisted of the academic records of dental hygiene students admitted to the program from 1998 to 2002 (n = 235), who would have been eligible to take the NBDHE from 2000 to 2004. Data were analyzed using multiple logistic regression to determine success as measured by graduation (n = 146). With NBDHE as the criterion variable, data were analyzed using the multiple linear regression to determine successful entry into the profession (n = 130); significance was predetermined at the 0.05 level.
RESULTS: Data analysis revealed that final course grade in oral pathology was a significant predictor of successful graduation (P = 0.0008). Variables that predicted NBDHE success were final course grade in oral pathology, final course grade in oral anatomy and histology, and the ACP rating (P \u3c .0001, P \u3c .0001, and P = .0245, respectively). There was no statistically significant relationship for other variables.
CONCLUSION: Final grades in oral pathology and oral anatomy and histology can significantly predict graduation and NBDHE success at this institution, suggesting that educators look to improving student performance after admission to the program to improve the likelihood of success. Additionally, when this institution\u27s admission variables were combined into a cluster of variables (ACP), they proved significant at predicting success
Situationally edited empathy: an effect of socio-economic structure on individual choice
Criminological theory still operates with deficient models of the offender as agent, and of social influences on the agent’s decision-making process. This paper takes one ‘emotion’, empathy, which is theoretically of considerable importance in influencing the choices made by agents; particularly those involving criminal or otherwise harmful action. Using a framework not of rational action, but of ‘rationalised action’, the paper considers some of the effects on individual psychology of social, economic, political and cultural structure. It is suggested that the climate-setting effects of these structures promote normative definitions of social situations which allow unempathic, harmful action to be rationalised through the situational editing of empathy. The ‘crime is normal’ argument can therefore be extended to include the recognition that the uncompassionate state of mind of the criminal actor is a reflection of the self-interested values which govern non-criminal action in wider society
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