Teaching bioethics in science: Does it make a difference?

Presents research that evaluated the extent to which a biotechnology course enabled female secondary students to develop the skills to analyze bioethical issues. The emergent significance of the study lies in the recognition of the value systems that underpin the ethical decision-making processes of teenage girls

Virtual teaching or virtually teaching? Does Internet-based teaching require multiple metaphors of mind?

At the time of writing the abstract of this paper, I (a teacher-researcher) am becoming increasingly mindful of the need to examine the epistemological standpoint governing my teaching role in an innovative Internet-based virtual learning environment. I have a growing concern about the epistemology governing the interactive learning activities of a postgraduate coursework unit for professional teachers learning at a distance. The 'constructivist' metaphor of mind ('knowing as thinking'), which shapes my pedagogy, might be marginalising unduly my teaching role. This is evidenced by my predominantly 'episodic' teaching actions in the Discussion Room (DR) of the Internet site; actions which involve writing fortnightly summative perspectives on learners' discursive activities. By modelling the absence of a dominating voice (or being silent) have I abandoned unwittingly the important teaching role of modelling the discursive practices that I value? Perhaps it might be fruitful to adopt an alternative metaphor ('knowing as co-participation') arising from a 'constructionist' epistemology in which mind is regarded as being distributed socially

Arcs, braids and webs: Exploring constructed narratives in a web-based distance education unit

Different media tell their tales in different ways. Interactive educational sites on the World Wide Web combine some of the linearity of text with the dialogical nature of a conversation. In such an unfamiliar context, metaphors and narratives tend to be used by both the students and tutors in the unit to make sense of their learning experiences. Such narratives are to some extent imposed by the constraints and potentials of the medium, and to some extent by the values and choices of the web developer, but they are also co-constructed throughout the unit by the interactions and negotiations of the tutors and students. I wish to explore, using several different metaphors, my own narrative intentions as the unit developer, and the intersections and renegotiations of that narrative with those co-constructed with my co-tutor and with the students. I will suggest that the most useful unit of analysis and evaluation for such a project is not the learning of the individual, nor even a dyadic relationship (although these are an important part of the unit), but the story - recognising always that stories are constructed rather than found

Analysis of the vector form factors fKπ+(Q2)f^+_{K\pi}(Q^2) and fKπ−(Q2)f^-_{K\pi}(Q^2) with light-cone QCD sum rules

In this article, we calculate the vector form factors $f^+_{K\pi}(Q^2)$ and $f^-_{K\pi}(Q^2)$ within the framework of the light-cone QCD sum rules approach. The numerical values of the $f^+_{K\pi}(Q^2)$ are compatible with the existing theoretical calculations, the central value of the $f^+_{K\pi}(0)$, $f^+_{K\pi}(0)=0.97$, is in excellent agreement with the values from the chiral perturbation theory and lattice QCD. The values of the $|f^-_{K\pi}(0)|$ are very large comparing with the theoretical calculations and experimental data, and can not give any reliable predictions. At large momentum transfers with $Q^2> 5GeV^2$, the form factors $f^+_{K\pi}(Q^2)$ and $|f^-_{K\pi}(Q^2)|$ can either take up the asymptotic behavior of $\frac{1}{Q^2}$ or decrease more quickly than $\frac{1}{Q^2}$, more experimental data are needed to select the ideal sum rules.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures, revised version, to appear in Eur. Phys. J.

On a biphononic origin of the 1125 cm^(-1) absorption band in cuprous oxide

We report on the IR spectroscopic studies in both reflection (50-900 cm^{-1}) and transmission (900-3000 cm^{-1}) mode of the vibration spectrum of the cuprous oxide. A detailed analysis based on a comparison of the temperature dependences of the absorption band at 1125 cm^{-1} and of IR and Raman active fundamental vibrations results in assignment of the former to a biphonon.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures (to appear in Phys.Lett. A

Effects of small surface tension in Hele-Shaw multifinger dynamics: an analytical and numerical study

We study the singular effects of vanishingly small surface tension on the dynamics of finger competition in the Saffman-Taylor problem, using the asymptotic techniques described in [S. Tanveer, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 343, 155 (1993)]and [M. Siegel, and S. Tanveer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 419 (1996)] as well as direct numerical computation, following the numerical scheme of [T. Hou, J. Lowengrub, and M. Shelley,J. Comp. Phys. 114, 312 (1994)]. We demonstrate the dramatic effects of small surface tension on the late time evolution of two-finger configurations with respect to exact (non-singular) zero surface tension solutions. The effect is present even when the relevant zero surface tension solution has asymptotic behavior consistent with selection theory.Such singular effects therefore cannot be traced back to steady state selection theory, and imply a drastic global change in the structure of phase-space flow. They can be interpreted in the framework of a recently introduced dynamical solvability scenario according to which surface tension unfolds the structually unstable flow, restoring the hyperbolicity of multifinger fixed points.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev

Hadronic top-quark pair production in association with a hard jet at next-to-leading order QCD: Phenomenological studies for the Tevatron and the LHC

We report on the calculation of the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the production of top--antitop-quark pairs in association with a hard jet at the Tevatron and at the LHC. Results for integrated and differential cross sections are presented. We find a significant reduction of the scale dependence. In most cases the corrections are below 20% indicating that the perturbative expansion is well under control. Moreover, the forward--backward charge asymmetry of the top-quark, which is analyzed at the Tevatron, is studied at next-to-leading order. We find large corrections suggesting that the definition of the observable has to be refined.Comment: 37 pages, version to be publishe

Heavy-quark mass dependence in global PDF analyses and 3- and 4-flavour parton distributions

We study the sensitivity of our recent MSTW 2008 NLO and NNLO PDF analyses to the values of the charm- and bottom-quark masses, and we provide additional public PDF sets for a wide range of these heavy-quark masses. We quantify the impact of varying m_c and m_b on the cross sections for W, Z and Higgs production at the Tevatron and the LHC. We generate 3- and 4-flavour versions of the (5-flavour) MSTW 2008 PDFs by evolving the input PDFs and alpha_S determined from fits in the 5-flavour scheme, including the eigenvector PDF sets necessary for calculation of PDF uncertainties. As an example of their use, we study the difference in the Z total cross sections at the Tevatron and LHC in the 4- and 5-flavour schemes. Significant differences are found, illustrating the need to resum large logarithms in Q^2/m_b^2 by using the 5-flavour scheme. The 4-flavour scheme is still necessary, however, if cuts are imposed on associated (massive) b-quarks, as is the case for the experimental measurement of Z b bbar production and similar processes.Comment: 40 pages, 11 figures. Grids can be found at http://projects.hepforge.org/mstwpdf/ and in LHAPDF V5.8.4. v2: version published in EPJ

Dark matter and Colliders searches in the MSSM

We study the complementarity between dark matter experiments (direct detection and indirect detections) and accelerator facilities (the CERN LHC and a $\sqrt{s}= 1$ TeV $e^+e^-$ Linear Collider) in the framework of the constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). We show how non--universality in the scalar and gaugino sectors can affect the experimental prospects to discover the supersymmetric particles. The future experiments will cover a large part of the parameter space of the MSSM favored by WMAP constraint on the relic density, but there still exist some regions beyond reach for some extreme (fine tuned) values of the supersymmetric parameters. Whereas the Focus Point region characterized by heavy scalars will be easily probed by experiments searching for dark matter, the regions with heavy gauginos and light sfermions will be accessible more easily by collider experiments. More informations on both supersymmetry and astrophysics parameters can be thus obtained by correlating the different signals.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, corrected typos and reference adde

The Fluorescence Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is a hybrid detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. It combines a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level together with a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the atmosphere above the array. The fluorescence detector comprises 24 large telescopes specialized for measuring the nitrogen fluorescence caused by charged particles of cosmic ray air showers. In this paper we describe the components of the fluorescence detector including its optical system, the design of the camera, the electronics, and the systems for relative and absolute calibration. We also discuss the operation and the monitoring of the detector. Finally, we evaluate the detector performance and precision of shower reconstructions.Comment: 53 pages. Submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section