"Antiscepticism and Easy Justification" - Ch 5 of Seemings and Epistemic Justification

In this chapter I investigate epistemological consequences of the fact that seeming-based justification is elusive, in the sense that the subject can lose this justification simply by reflecting on her seemings. I argue that since seeming-based justification is elusive, the antisceptical bite of phenomenal conservatism is importantly limited. I also contend that since seeming-based justification has this feature, phenomenal conservatism isn’t actually afflicted by easy justification problems

Longitudinal Effects of the Family Support Program Chancenreich on Parental Involvement and the Language Skills of Preschool Children

When they enter primary school children already vary significantly in their language skills, depending at least in part on their family’s social background. In particular, the home learning environment plays a significant role in children’s development. For that reason, early intervention programs have been developed to obviate learning difficulties and to promote health, children’s development, and educational equality. The family support program Chancenreich aims to encourage the interaction and relationship between parents and children through two different course formats. The present study examines the longitudinal effects of attending the Chancenreich program and different course formats on (a) parents attending further educational services for children after completing the program, (b) children’s vocabulary and level of grammar development at the age of 5 and (c) the children’s vocabulary development between the ages of 3 and 5. Furthermore, we examine the relationship between family characteristics and the attendance rates of different course formats of the Chancenreich program at the first and second point of measurement. The study follows a longitudinal design with two points of measurements (T1: Mage = 41 months, T2: Mage = 68 months), and a sample size of 121 parents and their children at T2 in the intervention group and 41 parents and their children in the comparison group. Findings indicate that attendance of the Chancenreich program’s courses is related to child and family characteristics and to later patterns of course participation after completing the program. Further, both children’s level of vocabulary skills (PPVT) at the age of 5 and their development between the ages of 3 and 5 benefit from the parental participation in parenting skills training at the age of 3. Implications and future research on the effectiveness of family support programs are discussed

Vibronic "Rabi resonances" in harmonic and hard-wall ion-traps for arbitrary laser intensity and detuning

We investigate laser-driven vibronic transitions of a single two-level atomic ion in harmonic and hard wall traps. In the Lamb-Dicke regime, for tuned or detuned lasers with respect to the internal frequency of the ion, and weak or strong laser intensities, the vibronic transitions occur at well isolated "Rabi Resonances", where the detuning-adapted Rabi frequency coincides with the level spacing of the vibrational modes. These vibronic resonances are characterized as avoided crossings of the dressed levels (eigenvalues of the full Hamiltonian). Their peculiarities due to symmetry constraints and trapping potential are also examined.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Tomada de decisão baseada em dados na educação infantil: Evidência do programa Pre-K da North Carolina

The purpose of this study is to shed light on the use of data in early education settings—specifically, North Carolina’s Pre-K program. In this mixed-methods study, we draw upon in-depth interviews and survey data to examine (1) the types of data available to educators in Pre-K, (2) the ways in which data are intended to be used, (3) how data are reportedly used, and (4) the facilitators and inhibitors of effective data-driven decision making. Our findings reveal that Pre-K settings are data-rich environments, often with informal data collected through developmental screening tools and formative assessment systems. We find that engagement with and use of these data for instruction is variable. Finally, we find data sharing between grades is inconsistent, but an important factor predicting data sharing is co-location of Pre-K programs within elementary school buildings. We consider our findings in the context of existing academic literature and discuss the implications for policy and practice. Este estudio se centra en el uso de datos en entornos de educación in de la primera infancia, específicamente en el programa de Pre-K de North Carolina en los Estados Unidos. En este estudio de métodos mixtos, nos basamos en entrevistas en profundidad y datos de encuestas para examinar (1) los tipos de datos disponibles para educadores en Pre-K, (2) las formas en que se pretende utilizar los datos, (3) ) cómo se utilizan los datos, y (4) los facilitadores e inhibidores de la toma de decisiones efectiva basada en datos. Nuestros hallazgos revelan que los ajustes de Pre-K son entornos ricos en datos, a menudo con datos informales recopilados a través de evaluación de desarrollo y sistemas de evaluación formativa. Encontramos que la participación y el uso de estos datos para la instrucción es variable. Finalmente, encontramos que el intercambio de datos entre los grados es inconsistente, pero un factor importante que predice el intercambio de datos es la ubicación de los programas de Pre-K dentro de los edificios de las escuelas primarias. Consideramos nuestros hallazgos en el contexto de la literatura académica existente y discutimos las implicaciones para la política y la práctica.Este estudo enfoca o uso de dados em ambientes de educação infantil - especificamente, o programa Pre-K da North Carolina nos EUA. Neste estudo de métodos mistos, utilizamos entrevistas em profundidade e dados de pesquisa para examinar (1) os tipos de dados disponíveis para os educadores no Pré-K, (2) as maneiras pelas quais os dados se destinam a ser usados, (3) ) como os dados são usados, e (4) os facilitadores e inibidores de tomadas de decisões eficazes baseadas em dados. Nossas descobertas revelam que as configurações pré-K são ambientes ricos em dados, muitas vezes com dados informais coletados por meio de triagem de desenvolvimento e por meio de sistemas de avaliação formativa. Achamos que o envolvimento e o uso desses dados para instrução é variável. Finalmente, nós achamos que o compartilhamento de dados entre as notas é inconsistente, mas um fator importante que prediz o compartilhamento de dados é a localização dos programas pré-K nos edifícios das escolas elementares. Consideramos nossas descobertas no contexto da literatura acadêmica existente e discutimos as implicações para políticas e práticas

Boson Sampling as Canonical Transformation: A semiclassical approach in Fock space

We show that a theory of complex scattering between many-body (Fock) states can be constructed such that its classical limit is a canonical transformation thus encoding quantum interference in the semiclassical form of the associated unitary operator. Based on this idea, we study the different coherent effects expected under different choices of the many-body states and provide different representations of the associated transition probabilities. In this way, we derive exact relations and representations of the scattering process that can be used to attack timely problems related with Boson Sampling.Comment: submitted to Ann. Phy

Atomic multipole relaxation rates near surfaces

The spontaneous relaxation rates for an atom in free space and close to an absorbing surface are calculated to various orders of the electromagnetic multipole expansion. The spontaneous decay rates for dipole, quadrupole and octupole transitions are calculated in terms of their respective primitive electric multipole moments and the magnetic relaxation rate is calculated for the dipole and quadrupole transitions in terms of their respective primitive magnetic multipole moments. The theory of electromagnetic field quantization in magnetoelectric materials is used to derive general expressions for the decay rates in terms of the dyadic Green function. We focus on the decay rates in free space and near an infinite half space. For the decay of atoms near to an absorbing dielectric surface we find a hierarchy of scaling laws depending on the atom-surface distance z.Comment: Updated to journal version. 16 page

Grief Experiences in Family Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

The main objective of this study was to analyse the experience of grief and feelings of loss in family caregivers of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as the perceived overload from taking on the primary caregiver role. Twenty family caregivers of children with ASD participated. The family members were assessed using an ad-hoc semi-structured interview that addressed the families' reactions to the diagnosis, implications for daily functioning, and concerns for the immediate and long-term future of their relatives with ASD. The results indicate that family caregivers of children with ASD endure intense and continuous sorrow and grief due to the impact that having and caring for a child with these characteristics has on all aspects of their lives. These data highlight the importance of creating support and intervention programmes and services focused on the feelings and manifestations of ambiguous grief that occur in these family members, in order to improve their well-being and quality of life and reduce caregiver role overload

Ab initio calculations of structural and electronic properties of CdTe clusters

We present results of a study of small stoichiometric $Cd_{n}Te_{n}$ ($1{\leq}n{\leq}6$) clusters and few medium sized non-stoichiometric $Cd_{m}Te_{n}$ [($m,n= 13, 16, 19$); ($m{\neq}n$)] clusters using the Density Functional formalism and projector augmented wave method within the generalized gradient approximation. Structural properties {\it viz.} geometry, bond length, symmetry and electronic properties like HOMO-LUMO gap, binding energy, ionization potential and nature of bonding {\it etc.} have been analyzed. Medium sized non-stoichiometric clusters were considered as fragments of the bulk with T{$_{d}$} symmetry. It was observed that upon relaxation, the symmetry changes for the Cd rich clusters whereas the Te rich clusters retain their symmetry. The Cd rich clusters develop a HOMO-LUMO gap due to relaxation whereas there is no change in the HOMO-LUMO gap of the Te rich clusters. Thus, the symmetry of a cluster seems to be an important factor in determining the HOMO-LUMO gap.Comment: 8 pages 16 figure

Weak and Strong coupling regimes in plasmonic-QED

We present a quantum theory for the interaction of a two level emitter with surface plasmon polaritons confined in single-mode waveguide resonators. Based on the Green's function approach, we develop the conditions for the weak and strong coupling regimes by taking into account the sources of dissipation and decoherence: radiative and non-radiative decays, internal loss processes in the emitter, as well as propagation and leakage losses of the plasmons in the resonator. The theory is supported by numerical calculations for several quantum emitters, GaAs and CdSe quantum dots and NV centers together with different types of resonators constructed of hybrid, cylindrical or wedge waveguides. We further study the role of temperature and resonator length. Assuming realistic leakage rates, we find the existence of an optimal length at which strong coupling is possible. Our calculations show that the strong coupling regime in plasmonic resonators is accessible within current technology when working at very low temperatures (<4K). In the weak coupling regime our theory accounts for recent experimental results. By further optimization we find highly enhanced spontaneous emission with Purcell factors over 1000 at room temperature for NV-centers. We finally discuss more applications for quantum nonlinear optics and plasmon-plasmon interactions.Comment: published as Phys. Rev. B 87, 115419 (2013

Left ventricular aneurysm as a coronary risk factor independent of overall left ventricular function

Patients with left ventricular aneurysm (LVA) have been shown to have a higher mortality rate than those with normal left ventricular function. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not LVA, in patients with coronary artery disease, is a risk factor independent of left ventricular function. Thirty-nine patients with angiographically demonstrated segmental dyskinesis (LVA group) were retrospectively compared to 28 patients with segmental akinesis and ejection fraction less than 60% (control group). There was no significant difference in age, ejection fraction, severity of coronary artery disease, cardiac index, or frequency of cardiac surgery between the two groups. Compared to control subjects, the LVA group had a significantly higher left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and greater tendency to have apical involvement. Although electrocardiography, echocardiography, and radioventriculography were each highly specific, their sensitivities were only 40% to 60%. Follow-up data were available for a mean of 33 months after catheterization. No significant benefit from aneurysmectomy could be demonstrated. There was an insignificant trend in the LVA group toward more severe congestive heart failure and less angina. There was no significant difference in the reinfarction rate, incidence of ventricular tachycardia, or embolism. Mortality rate was 38% in the LVA group and 32% in the control group (p = 0.59). We conclude that LVA is not an independent risk factor for congestive heart failure, angina, ventricular tachycardia, reinfarction, embolism, or death.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26322/1/0000409.pd