Masson\u27s Assault on Truth: A Critique

In his book, The Assault on Truth, j. M. Masson (I) proposes to challenge the very foundations of psychoanalysis by showing how Freud \u27s abandonment of the so-called seduction theory of the etiology of neurosis was erroneously predicated. Masson\u27s argument, in essence, may be summarized as follows. Freud, while studying with the eminent neurologist Charcot in Paris (from October 1885 to February 1886), found himself exposed to the prevalent horrors of ch ild abuse, which were copiously detailed in the French medical literature at the time, and which were very probably demonstrated to him at the Paris morgue. The impression of these revelations would contribute profoundly to Freud\u27s formulation of his seduction theory of the etiology of the neuroses in a trio of papers published in 1896

Applicability of Boussinesq approximation in a turbulent fluid with constant properties

The equations of motion describing buoyant fluids are often simplified using a set of approximations proposed by J. Boussinesq one century ago. To resume, they consist in assuming constant fluid properties, incompressibility and conservation of calories during heat transport. Assuming fulfilment of the first requirement (constant fluid properties), we derive a set of 4 criteria for assessing the validity of the two other requirements in turbulent Rayleigh-B\'enard convection. The first criterion $\alpha \Delta \ll 1$ simply results from the incompressibility condition in the thermal boundary layer ($\alpha$ and $\Delta$ are the thermal expansion coefficient and the temperature difference driving the flow). The 3 other criteria are proportional or quadratic with the density stratification or, equivalently with the temperature difference resulting from the adiabatic gradient across the cell $\Delta_{h}$. Numerical evaluations with air, water and cryogenic helium show that most laboratory experiments are free from such Boussinesq violation as long as the first criterion is fulfilled. In ultra high Rayleigh numbers ($Ra>10^{16}$) experiments in He, one of the stratification criteria, scaling with $\alpha \Delta_{h}$, could be violated. This criterion garanties that pressure fluctuations have a negligible influence both on the density variation and on the heat transfer equation through compression/expansion cycles. Extrapolation to higher $Ra$ suggests that strong violation of Boussinesq approximation could occur in atmospheric convection.Comment: Submitted to Phys.Fluids (oct 2007

Predicting Smoking Behaviors Among Junior High School Students in Ghana

Despite the rising rate of smoking in sub-Sahara African countries, measures to control the tobacco epidemic have been limited to developed countries. The purpose of the present study was to recommend predictive models for determining predictors of smoking tendencies among junior high school students in Ghana. The 2009 Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) served as the data source. The GYTS is a school-based survey designed to enhance the ability of countries to monitor tobacco use among youth and to guide the implementation and evaluation of tobacco control and prevention programs. Logit model and forward selection were used to choose predictive variables for smoking tendencies and behaviors. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve, Area under the curve (AUC) and C-Index were validation tools used to assess the predictive power of recommended models. Results showed promising potential for different predictive models: where students smoked, having friends who smoked, having people smoke in their presence, chewing tobacco products, and a student's sex significantly predicted their smoking tendencies

Aid-Financed Public Investments and the Dutch Disease: Evidence from Tanzania

In this paper we discuss the impact of scaling-up aid in Tanzania using an economy-wide dynamic CGE model. The major conclusions coming out from this work is that productivity effects matter. If additional aid and consequently increased public spending has a positive impact on productivity this would spur GDP growth and reduce the risk of an appreciating real exchange rate. In a way this resembles previous results in the aid-growth literature that aid has a positive impact on growth in a country with good economic policies assuming that good policies have a positive impact on productivity. Presenting various scenarios on the impact of additional aid a sustained GDP growth rate of around 7 percent would be possible to achieve in a modest scaling-up aid scenario without any significant changes in the real exchange rate.Aid:Dutch:Disease:Tanzania

The relative effectiveness of single-sex and coeducational schools in Thailand

This paper provides evidence regarding the relative effects of single-sex and coeducational school in enhancing eighth grade mathematics achievement in Thailand. It uses pre and post eighth grade test scores to estimate value added equations for single-sex and coeducational schools. The preliminary conclusions are the following. First, girls in single-sex schools do significantly better than their coeducational school counterparts, while boys in coeducational schools do better. Thus there is not a unique single-sex/coeducational school effect on enhancing achievement, but this effect interacts strongly according to the sex of the student. Second, it is expected that selection biases are mitigated in"value added"formulations of achievement functions (as opposed to"level"formulations), and they are still significant in Thailand. Third, even after measured inputs and school practices are held constant, a single sex school advantage for females and a coeducational school advantage for males persist. Finally, peer"quality"effects in single-sex and coeducational schools appear to account for most of the difference between the two types of schools and their relative effectiveness for male and female students.Gender and Education,Teaching and Learning,Adolescent Health,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Primary Education

Long time simulation of a beam in a periodic focusing channel via a two-scale PIC-method

We study the two-scale asymptotics for a charged beam under the action of a rapidly oscillating external electric field. After proving the convergence to the correct asymptotic state, we develop a numerical method for solving the limit model involving two time scales and validate its efficiency for the simulation of long time beam evolution

Graphene with Structure-Induced Spin-Orbit Coupling: Spin-Polarized States, Spin Zero Modes, and Quantum Hall Effect

Spin splitting of the energy spectrum of single-layer graphene on Au/Ni(111) substrate has been recently reported. I show that eigenstates of spin-orbit coupled graphene are polarized in-plane and perpendicular to electron momentum $\bf k$; the magnitude of spin polarization $\bf S$ vanishes when $k \to 0$. In a perpendicular magnetic field $\bf B$, $\bf S$ is parallel to $\bf B$, and two zero modes emerge in the Landau level spectrum. Singular $\bf B$-dependence of their magnetization suggests existence of a novel magnetic instability. They also manifest themselves in a new unconventional quantum Hall effect.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur