The creative element in secondary school children’s writing

In Part One, the nature and development of the type of expressive English writing found in many junior and some secondary schools, frequently called 'creative writing', is examined. Views and definitions of creative writing, the psychological foundations behind child-centred school activities, and ways of helping the development of creative writing, are discussed within the context of personal growth rather than mere development of a skill. Current psychological opinion and experiment on the nature of creative behaviour in relation to general intellectual ability is considered, and there are reviews of anecdotal as well as more scientific approaches to problems of developing and marking English writing. Two investigations are reported in Part Two. The first is into the development of creative writing ability. Writing was sampled from the 1965 intake of five secondary schools at the beginning, middle and end of the children's first two years. The work of random samples of 10 children from each school was assessed by a team of five judges to form a multiple impression mark for each of the 50 children. A statistically significant improvement over the first-two individual years, and a highly significant improvement over the first two years was found. However, differences in the quality of writing between 4 of the 5 school samples were found to be statistically insignificant after analyses of co-variance over any of the three periods. The girls' grammar sample had a significant superiority in a first year and the two-year period analyses over both the other grammar samples and the two secondary modern samples. Quantitative developments are also investigated. The second investigation examines the effect of varied and strong sensory stimulation, and the absence of it, on the writing of three groups, each consisting of 24 11+ secondary modern boys who were taught in. different ways, samples of writing being drawn at the beginning and end of a 12-week period. A statistically significant difference was found between Groups III and II: the experimental Group III achieving the best results, and the sensorily ‘deprived' but more intelligent Group I doing better than the third Group II, which had been less adequately stimulated than Group III, Recommendations for further research are made

Finite Element and Pullout Test Performance of Welded Wire Mats

This paper reports on the pullout test performance of welded-wire reinforcing mats. A 126-foot high mechanically stabilized earth wall was constructed at Kennecott Utah Copper. In the lower half of the wall, single lengths of 50-foot long welded-wire mats were used. In the top half of the wall, two lengths of 50-foot mats were overlapped 10 feet to create 90-foot mats. This 10-foot lap zone was investigated in this study. The finite element program Plaxis was used to investigate several pullout test parameters: overburden pressure, gap width, boundary effects, and horizontal spacing of transverse elements from the pullout box face. Physical pullout tests were performed in a scale pullout box to compare test configurations with single and multiple layers of mats, and test configurations with single and multiple lap zones. Finally, a Plaxis model of the scale pullout box was created to compare the finite element and pullout test results

Lattice effects in the La2−x_{\rm 2-x}Srx_{\rm x}CuO4_{\rm 4} compounds

Systematic Raman studies on several cuprates (YBa$_{\rm 2}$Cu$_{\rm 3}$O$_{\rm x}$, YBa$_{\rm 2}$Cu$_{\rm 4}$O$_{\rm 8}$ or Bi$_{\rm 2}$Sr$_{\rm 2}$CaCu$_{\rm 2}$O$_{\rm 8}$) have shown that at optimal doping the compounds are at the edge of lattice instability; once this level is exceeded, by means of doping or applying external hydrostatic pressure, the changes in the transition temperature are accompanied by spectral modifications. There are strong indications that the reduction in T$_{\rm c}$ is correlated with a separation into nanoscale phases, which involve the oxygen atoms of the CuO$_{\rm 2}$ planes. In this work, modifications with doping in the Raman spectra of the La$_{\rm 2-x}$Sr$_{\rm x}$CuO$_{\rm 4}$ compound are presented, which show that spin or charge ordering is coupled with lattice distortions in the whole doping region.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Design manual: Oxygen Thermal Test Article (OTTA)

The characteristics of a cryogenic tank for storing liquid hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, methane, or helium for an extended period of time with minimum losses are discussed. A description of the tank and control module, assembly drawings and details of major subassemblies, specific requirements controlling development of the system, thermal concept considerations, thermal analysis methods, and a record of test results are provided. The oxygen thermal test article thermal protection system has proven that the insulation system for cryogenic vessels is effective

Art. XXII.—Notes on Akkadian

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Translation of an Assyrian Parable

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A Resonant soft x-ray powder diffraction study to determine the orbital ordering in A-site ordered SmBaMn2O6

Soft X-ray resonant powder diffraction has been performed at the Mn L2,3 edges of A-site ordered SmBaMn2O6. The energy and polarization dependence of the (1/2 1/2 0) reflection provide direct evidence for a (x2-z2)/(y2-z2) type orbital ordering in contrast to the single layer manganite. The temperature dependence of the reflection indicates an orbital reorientation transition at 210 K, below which the charge and orbital ordered MnO2 sheets show AAAA type of stacking. The concurring reduction of the ferromagnetic super exchange correlations leads to further charge localization

High resolution characterisation of microstructural evolution in Rbx_{x}Fe2−y_{2-y}Se2_{2} crystals on annealing

The superconducting and magnetic properties of phase-separated A$_x$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_2$ compounds are known to depend on post-growth heat treatments and cooling profiles. This paper focusses on the evolution of microstructure on annealing, and how this influences the superconducting properties of Rb$_x$Fe$_2-y$Se$_2$ crystals. We find that the minority phase in the as-grown crystal has increased unit cell anisotropy (c/a ratio), reduced Rb content and increased Fe content compared to the matrix. The microstructure is rather complex, with two-phase mesoscopic plate-shaped features aligned along {113} habit planes. The minority phase are strongly facetted on the {113} planes, which we have shown to be driven by minimising the volume strain energy introduced as a result of the phase transformation. Annealing at 488K results in coarsening of the mesoscopic plate-shaped features and the formation of a third distinct phase. The subtle differences in structure and chemistry of the minority phase(s) in the crystals are thought to be responsible for changes in the superconducting transition temperature. In addition, scanning photoemission microscopy has clearly shown that the electronic structure of the minority phase has a higher occupied density of states of the low binding energy Fe3d orbitals, characteristic of crystals that exhibit superconductivity. This demonstrates a clear correlation between the Fe-vacancy-free phase with high c/a ratio and the electronic structure characteristics of the superconducting phase.Comment: 6 figures v2 is exactly the same as v1. The typesetting errors in the abstract have been correcte

Correlated decay of triplet excitations in the Shastry-Sutherland compound SrCu2_2(BO3_3)2_2

The temperature dependence of the gapped triplet excitations (triplons) in the 2D Shastry-Sutherland quantum magnet SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ is studied by means of inelastic neutron scattering. The excitation amplitude rapidly decreases as a function of temperature while the integrated spectral weight can be explained by an isolated dimer model up to 10~K. Analyzing this anomalous spectral line-shape in terms of damped harmonic oscillators shows that the observed damping is due to a two-component process: one component remains sharp and resolution limited while the second broadens. We explain the underlying mechanism through a simple yet quantitatively accurate model of correlated decay of triplons: an excited triplon is long-lived if no thermally populated triplons are near-by but decays quickly if there are. The phenomenon is a direct consequence of frustration induced triplon localization in the Shastry--Sutherland lattice.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure