Class Inequalities in Educational Attainment among the Adult Population in the Republic of Ireland

Substantial increases in participation rates at secondary and third level in recent years have often been assumed to be associated with increased equality of opportunity. However, there is little evidence from elsewhere that expansion per se, except when it takes the form of saturation of the demand from higher classes, leads to a reduction in class inequalities. In exploring the factors that contribute to trends over time, or to a distinctive position in comparison with other countries, we have drawn on the recent literature to argue that the crucial factors are those which affect decisions to continue in education. We have also operated on the assumption that students and their parents rationally consider the costs and benefits associated with educational choices. The most recent evidence relating to the adult population provides no support for the existence of any trend towards equality of educational opportunity. It is, rather consistent with the class reproduction perspective that stresses the ability of privileged classes to maintain their advantages.

Damping of the woodwind instrument reed material Arundo donax L

The viscoelastic properties (E', G', tanΦ, δ) of Arundo donax (AD) and a polypropylene-beech fiber composite (PPC) were measured from RT to 580K for various frequencies and strains. E' of AD varies between 5250-6250MPa depending on ageing at RT while E'(RT)=2250MPa of PPC is signifcantly lower. E' of the AD is higher than E' of PPC in the whole investigated temperature range with the exception of AD after a heat treatment up to 575K. Damping spectra exhibit peaks around 340K (Q=234kJ/mol) and 415K for the PPC related to relaxations in the crystalline part of polypropylene and the relaxation at melting temperature. For AD damping peaks were found at 350K (Q=320kJ/mol) related to the glass-rubber transition of lignin, at 420K due to a reorganization in the amorphous phase of lignin, at 480K related to micro-Brownian motions in the non-crystalline region of cell-wall polymers and reduction of the crystallinity of cellulose, and at 570K due to the polymeric compounds of wood and/or a decomposition of lignin. The course of E' and tanΦ of AD and PPC is comparable from 20-200Hz, whereas tanΦ of AD is lower than tanΦ of PPC while E' of AD is higher than E' of PPC.Fil: Weidenfeller, Bernd. Technische Universitat Clausthal; AlemaniaFil: Lambri, Osvaldo Agustin F.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Ingeniería y Agrimensura; ArgentinaFil: Bonifacich, Federico Guillermo. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Ingeniería y Agrimensura; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Arlic, Uwe. Technische Universitat Clausthal; AlemaniaFil: Gargicevich, Damian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Ingeniería y Agrimensura; Argentin

Cascadedness in Chinese written word production

In written word production, is activation transmitted from lexical-semantic selection to orthographic encoding in a serial or cascaded fashion? Very few previous studies have addressed this issue, and the existing evidence comes from languages with alphabetic orthographic systems. We report a study in which Chinese participants were presented with coloured line drawings of objects and were instructed to write the name of the colour while attempting to ignore the object. Significant priming was found when on a trial, the written response shared an orthographic radical with the written name of the object. This finding constitutes clear evidence that task-irrelevant lexical codes activate their corresponding orthographic representation, and hence suggests that activation flows in a cascaded fashion within the written production system. Additionally, the results speak to how the time interval between processing of target and distractor dimensions affects and modulates the emergence of orthographic facilitation effects

Effects of conflict in cognitive control:Evidence from mouse tracking

It has long been debated whether the “congruency sequence effect (CSE)” in conflict tasks such as Flanker could reflect adaptive control. The current study used “mouse tracking” to tackle the issue in a combination of three conflict tasks (i.e., Flanker, Simon, and Spatial Stroop tasks). Congruency effects from previous and current trials emerged in latencies as well as curvature of movement trajectories in all three tasks. Critically, movement initiation times were affected only by congruency on previous but not on current trials. A further analysis showed that even when initiation time on the previous trials was taken into account, a subtle but highly significant effect of conflict arising from trial N–1 on initiation times remained. Although not necessarily implying “conflict adaptation,” i.e., a dynamic up- and downregulation of cognitive control in response to a recent conflict, our finding indicates a specific sensitivity to the presence or absence of recent “conflict” in the cognitive environment