1,444 research outputs found
Pupils' perceptions of citizenship education and good citizenship: an empirical case study and critical analysis of one interpretation of citizenship education in an 'outstanding school'
Citizenship education has been a statutory part of the National Curriculum in English Secondary Schools since 2002. The majority of research papers that have examined citizenship education, plus a key report from Ofsted (2010), have examined it from the perspective of teachers, policy makers or academics. The empirical research seeks to address this imbalance by accessing the views of the pupils themselves, views that I would argue were crucial to the shaping of future educational policy pertaining to citizenship education, in the context of a case study in one particular school. This research, therefore, presents a critical analysis of one interpretation of citizenship education in an 'outstanding school'. It aims to explore young people's views on citizenship education and 'good citizenship' and, further, illustrate why their perceptions can, and indeed should, influence future debate and direction on education policy in this statutory subject
Poor Perception of Body Weight Category amongst the Overweight and Obese with Chronic Hepatitis C: A Target for Intervention
Obesity in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is associated with adverse hepatic and metabolic outcomes. This prospective study evaluates the agreement between self-perceived body weight (BW) status and measured body mass index (BMI) category and factors associated with its underestimation in CHC. Body size perception was measured with the Contour Drawing Rating Scale. Two hundred and seventy-three patients with CHC (overweight 45%, obese 18%) participated in this study. Although both overweight and obese demonstrated good body size perception, agreement between perceived BW and measured BMI categories was poor (κ = 0.315, 95% CI 0.231–0.399); 33% of overweight/obese respondents considered themselves normal or underweight. Male gender (OR 2.84) and overweight (OR 2.42) or obese BMI (OR 14.19) were associated with underestimation of BW category. Targeted interventions are needed to improve body weight perception, thereby enhancing the uptake of health advice on management of excess body weight in CHC
Self-reported mind wandering reflects executive control and selective attention
Mind wandering is ubiquitous in everyday life and has a pervasive and profound impact on task-related performance. A range
of psychological processes have been proposed to underlie these performance-related decrements, including failures of executive control, volatile information processing, and shortcomings in selective attention to critical task-relevant stimuli. Despite
progress in the development of such theories, existing descriptive analyses have limited capacity to discriminate between
the theories. We propose a cognitive-model based analysis that simultaneously explains self-reported mind wandering and
task performance. We quantitatively compare six explanations of poor performance in the presence of mind wandering. The
competing theories are distinguished by whether there is an impact on executive control and, if so, how executive control acts
on information processing, and whether there is an impact on volatility of information processing. Across two experiments
using the sustained attention to response task, we fnd quantitative evidence that mind wandering is associated with two
latent factors. Our strongest conclusion is that executive control is impaired: increased mind wandering is associated with
reduced ability to inhibit habitual response tendencies. Our nuanced conclusion is that executive control defcits manifest in
reduced ability to selectively attend to the information value of rare but task-critical events
The Three-Dimensional Circumstellar Environment of SN 1987A
We present the detailed construction and analysis of the most complete map to
date of the circumstellar environment around SN 1987A, using ground and
space-based imaging from the past 16 years. PSF-matched difference-imaging
analyses of data from 1988 through 1997 reveal material between 1 and 28 ly
from the SN. Careful analyses allows the reconstruction of the probable
circumstellar environment, revealing a richly-structured bipolar nebula. An
outer, double-lobed ``Peanut,'' which is believed to be the contact
discontinuity between red supergiant and main sequence winds, is a prolate
shell extending 28 ly along the poles and 11 ly near the equator. Napoleon's
Hat, previously believed to be an independent structure, is the waist of this
Peanut, which is pinched to a radius of 6 ly. Interior to this is a cylindrical
hourglass, 1 ly in radius and 4 ly long, which connects to the Peanut by a
thick equatorial disk. The nebulae are inclined 41\degr south and 8\degr east
of the line of sight, slightly elliptical in cross section, and marginally
offset west of the SN. From the hourglass to the large, bipolar lobes, echo
fluxes suggest that the gas density drops from 1--3 cm^{-3} to >0.03 cm^{-3},
while the maximum dust-grain size increases from ~0.2 micron to 2 micron, and
the Si:C dust ratio decreases. The nebulae have a total mass of ~1.7 Msun. The
geometry of the three rings is studied, suggesting the northern and southern
rings are located 1.3 and 1.0 ly from the SN, while the equatorial ring is
elliptical (b/a < 0.98), and spatially offset in the same direction as the
hourglass.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJ Supplements. 38 pages in
apjemulate format, with 52 figure
SN 1987A's Circumstellar Envelope, II: Kinematics of the Three Rings and the Diffuse Nebula
We present several different measurements of the velocities of structures
within the circumstellar envelope of SN 1987A, including the inner, equatorial
ring (ER), outer rings (ORs), and the diffuse nebulosity at radii < 5 pc, based
on CTIO 4m and HST data. A comparison of STIS and WFPC2 [N II]6583 loci for the
rings show that the ER is expanding in radius at 10.5+-0.3 km/s, with the
northern OR expanding along the line of sight at about 26 km/s, and for the
southern OR, about 23 km/s. Similar results are found with CTIO 4m data.
Accounting for inclination, the best fit to all data show both ORs with an
expansion from the SN of 26 km/s. The ratio of the ER to OR velocities is
nearly equal to the ratio of ER to OR radii, so the rings are roughly
homologous, all having kinematic ages corresponding to about 20,000 yr before
the SN explosion. This makes previously reported, large compositional
differences between the ER and ORs difficult to understand. Additionally, a
grid of longslit 4m/echelle spectra centered on the SN shows two velocity
components over a region roughly coextensive with the outer circumstellar
envelope extending about 5 pc (20 arcsec) from the SN. One component is
blueshifted and the other redshifted from the SN centroid by about 10 km/s
each. These features may represent a bipolar flow expanding from the SN, in
which the ORs are propelled 10-15 km/s faster than that of the surrounding
envelope into which they propogate. The kinematic timescale for the entire
nebula is at least about 350,000 yr. The kinematics of these various structures
constrain possible models for the evolution of the progenitor and its formation
of a mass loss nebula.Comment: 25 pages AASTeX text plus 12 figures. ApJ, in pres
Magnetic Field Effects on the Head Structure of Protostellar Jets
We present the results of 3-D SPMHD numerical simulations of
supermagnetosonic, overdense, radiatively cooling jets. Two initial magnetic
configurations are considered: (i) a helical and (ii) a longitudinal field. We
find that magnetic fields have important effects on the dynamics and structure
of radiative cooling jets, especially at the head. The presence of a helical
field suppresses the formation of the clumpy structure which is found to
develop at the head of purely hydrodynamical jets. On the other hand, a cooling
jet embedded in a longitudinal magnetic field retains clumpy morphology at its
head. This fragmented structure resembles the knotty pattern commonly observed
in HH objects behind the bow shocks of HH jets. This suggests that a strong
(equipartition) helical magnetic field configuration is ruled out at the jet
head. Therefore, if strong magnetic fields are present, they are probably
predominantly longitudinal in those regions. In both magnetic configurations,
we find that the confining pressure of the cocoon is able to excite
short-wavelength MHD K-H pinch modes that drive low-amplitude internal shocks
along the beam. These shocks are not strong however, and it likely that they
could only play a secondary role in the formation of the bright knots observed
in HH jets.Comment: 14 pages, 2 Gif figures, uses aasms4.sty. Also available on the web
page http://www.iagusp.usp.br/preprints/preprint.html. To appear in The
Astrophysical Journal Letter
Observations and simulations of recurrent novae: U Sco and V394 CrA
Observations and analysis of the Aug. 1987 outburst of the recurrent nova V394 CrA are presented. This nova is extremely fast and its outburst characteristics closely resemble those of the recurrent nova U Sco. Hydrodynamic simulations of the outbursts of recurrent novae were performed. Results as applied to the outbursts of V394 CrA and U Sco are summarized
RF spectroscopy in a resonant RF-dressed trap
We study the spectroscopy of atoms dressed by a resonant radiofrequency (RF)
field inside an inhomogeneous magnetic field and confined in the resulting
adiabatic potential. The spectroscopic probe is a second, weak, RF field. The
observed line shape is related to the temperature of the trapped cloud. We
demonstrate evaporative cooling of the RF-dressed atoms by sweeping the
frequency of the second RF field around the Rabi frequency of the dressing
field.Comment: 7 figures, 8 pages; to appear in J. Phys.
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