991 research outputs found
The Ideal of a Catholic Education in a Secularized Society
This paper argues that the progressive, revisionist reaction within Catholic education and schooling, as well as within Catholicism at large, to the challenge of modernity is a mistake. In view of modernityâs malaises, it advocates instead the affirmation or reaffirmation of the ideal of traditional Catholicism as the only authentic response for Catholics to modern progress. In order to justify the distinctiveness of a traditional Catholic identity and educational project, the paper offers an outline of a distinctively Thomistic educational philosophy. Its defense of the (re)affirmation of the ideal of traditional Catholic education and schooling in secularized society is neither ultra-conservative nor romantic
Automated supervised classification of variable stars I. Methodology
The fast classification of new variable stars is an important step in making
them available for further research. Selection of science targets from large
databases is much more efficient if they have been classified first. Defining
the classes in terms of physical parameters is also important to get an
unbiased statistical view on the variability mechanisms and the borders of
instability strips. Our goal is twofold: provide an overview of the stellar
variability classes that are presently known, in terms of some relevant stellar
parameters; use the class descriptions obtained as the basis for an automated
`supervised classification' of large databases. Such automated classification
will compare and assign new objects to a set of pre-defined variability
training classes. For every variability class, a literature search was
performed to find as many well-known member stars as possible, or a
considerable subset if too many were present. Next, we searched on-line and
private databases for their light curves in the visible band and performed
period analysis and harmonic fitting. The derived light curve parameters are
used to describe the classes and define the training classifiers. We compared
the performance of different classifiers in terms of percentage of correct
identification, of confusion among classes and of computation time. We describe
how well the classes can be separated using the proposed set of parameters and
how future improvements can be made, based on new large databases such as the
light curves to be assembled by the CoRoT and Kepler space missions.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysics (reference AA/2007/7638) Number of pages: 27 Number of figures:
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Introduction: responsibility for action and belief
This paper is a presentation of a special issue of Philosophical Explorations, whose origin is a meeting held in Valencia in 2008. The issue includes contributions by David Widerker, Derk Pereboom, Timothy O'Connor, Thomas Pink, Dana Nelkin, Helen Steward, Maria Alvarez, Christopher Hookway, and Pascal Engel. The paper contains a map of the main positions in the debate about free action, free will, and moral responsibility, as well as a reference to some central issues in this traditional and yet lively debate. The discussion about responsibility and related notions, such as agency and freedom, has recently been extended from decisions and actions to beliefs, to give rise to new research perspectives, both in epistemology and in the metaphysics of freedom and responsibility for actions. The papers included in this special issue are valuable contributions to the research about freedom and responsibility in both action and belief
Charginos and Neutralinos Production at 3-3-1 Supersymmetric Model in Scattering
The goal of this article is to derive the Feynman rules involving charginos,
neutralinos, double charged gauge bosons and sleptons in a 3-3-1 supersymmetric
model. Using these Feynman rules we will calculate the production of a double
charged chargino with a neutralino and also the production of a pair of single
charged charginos, both in an electron- electron process.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 2 table
Macromolecular structure phasing by neutron anomalous diffraction.
In this report we show for the first time that neutron anomalous dispersion can be used in a practical manner to determine experimental phases of a protein crystal structure, providing a new tool for structural biologists. The approach is demonstrated through the use of a state-of-the-art monochromatic neutron diffractometer at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in combination with crystals of perdeuterated protein that minimise the level of hydrogen incoherent scattering and enhance the visibility of the anomalous signal. The protein used was rubredoxin in which cadmium replaced the iron at the iron-sulphur site. While this study was carried out using a steady-state neutron beam source, the results will be of major interest for capabilities at existing and emerging spallation neutron sources where time-of-flight instruments provide inherent energy discrimination. In particular this capability may be expected to offer unique opportunities to a rapidly developing structural biology community where there is increasing interest in the identification of protonation states, protein/water interactions and protein-ligand interactions - all of which are of central importance to a wide range of fundamental and applied areas in the biosciences
Differentiation between decomposed remains of human origin and bigger mammals
This study is a follow-up study in the search for a human specific marker in the decomposition where the VOC-profile of decomposing human, pig, lamb and roe remains were analyzed using a thermal desorber combined with a gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer in a laboratory environment during 6 months. The combination of 8 previously identified human and pig specific compounds (ethyl propionate, propyl propionate, propyl butyrate, ethyl pentanoate, 3-methylthio-1-propanol, methyl(methylthio)ethyl disulfide, diethyl disulfide and pyridine) was also seen in these analyzed mammals. However, combined with 5 additional compounds (hexane, heptane, octane, N-(3-methylbutyl)- and N-(2-methylpropyl)acetamide) human remains could be separated from pig, lamb and roe remains. Based on a higher number of remains analyzed, as compared with the pilot study, it was no longer possible to rely on the 5 previously proposed esters to separate pig from human remains. From this follow-up study reported, it was found that pyridine is an interesting compound specific to human remains. Such a human specific marker can help in the training of cadaver dogs or in the development of devices to search for human remains. However, further investigations have to verify these results.</p
Who violates expectations when? How firmsâ growth and dividend reputations affect investorsâ reactions to acquisitions
Research summary: We investigate the role of a firmâs dividend and growth reputations in
shaping investorsâ interpretations of acquisitions as a negative or positive expectation
violation. While our findings reveal that both an acquiring firmâs dividend and growth
reputations trigger positive investor reactions, they also show that investors react negatively
to an acquisition of a target firm with a strong growth reputation when the acquiring firm has
a strong dividend reputation. We also find that investors are inclined to give managers âthe
benefit of the doubtâ to the extent that an acquiring firm strategically frames an acquisition
announcement in such a way that it provides assurance to investors that the acquisition is
meant to exceed investorsâ expectations about shareholder value creation.
Managerial summary: We study why investors respond to some acquisitions positively and
others negatively. We find that the way acquiring and target firms have created shareholder
value in the past, and the information conveyed in the acquisition announcements are
important determinants of investorsâ differential reactions to acquisitions. Our findings show
that while investors generally react positively to acquisitions by firms known for creating
value either through dividends or growth, their reactions become negative when a firm
known for value creation through dividends acquires a target known for value creation
through growth. We further find that managers can favorably influence investor reactions by
making it salient in the acquisition announcement how the acquisition is intended to exceed
investorsâ value creation expectations from the acquiring firm
Beneficial effects of Trichoderma harzianum T-22 in tomato seedlings infected by Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV)
The study of the biochemical and molecular mechanisms deriving from the host-pathogen-antagonist interaction is essential to understand the
dynamics of infectious processes and can be useful for the development of new strategies to control phytopathogens, particularly viruses, against which chemical treatments have no effect. In this work, we demonstrate the ability of the rhizospheric fungus Trichoderma harzianum strain T-22 (T22) to induce defense responses in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) against Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV, family Bromoviridae, genus Cucumovirus) strain Fny. A granule formulation containing T22 was used for treating the plants before, simultaneously or after the CMV inoculation, in order to study the molecular and biochemical aspects of the interaction between T22 and tomato against the virus. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the genes encoding for ROS scavenging enzymes were investigated. Histochemical analysis revealed a different increase in the superoxide anion (O2 ) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content in plants infected by CMV alone or in the presence of T22, confirming the involvement of ROS in plant defense responses. Gene expression analysis suggested a definite improvement in oxidative stress when plants were treated with T22 after inoculation with CMV. In conclusion, our data indicate that Trichoderma harzianum T-22 stimulates the induction of tomato defense responses against
CMV, an action that implies the involvement of ROS, pointing towards its use as a treatment rather than as a preventive measure
Selectron Studies at e-e- and e+e- Colliders
Selectrons may be studied in both e-e- and e+e- collisions at future linear
colliders. Relative to e+e-, the e-e- mode benefits from negligible backgrounds
and \beta threshold behavior for identical selectron pair production, but
suffers from luminosity degradation and increased initial state radiation and
beamstrahlung. We include all of these effects and compare the potential for
selectron mass measurements in the two modes. The virtues of the e-e- collider
far outweigh its disadvantages. In particular, the selectron mass may be
measured to 100 MeV with a total integrated luminosity of 1 fb^-1, while more
than 100 fb^-1 is required in e+e- collisions for similar precision.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure
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