Concentration in the Humanities

Concentration in the Humanities is a three-part project that helps Humanities students deal with digital distractions. The Concentration in the Humanities Project will serve as a pilot. Weber State's Composition Program (which one of the grant participants directs) will integrate the pilot's best practices into its curriculum. Concentration in the Humanities will also catalyze campus conversations about the problem of distraction in the digital age and the importance of learning how to focus when attempting to read or write

Cosmic Ray Physics with ACORDE at LHC

The use of large underground high-energy physics experiments, for comic ray studies, have been used, in the past, at CERN, in order to measure, precisely, the inclusive cosmic ray flux in the energy range from 2x10^10 - 2x10^12 eV. ACORDE, ALICE Cosmic Rays DEtector, will act as Level 0 cosmic ray trigger and, together with other ALICE apparatus, will provide precise information on cosmic rays with primary energies around 10^15 - 10^17 eV. This paper reviews the main detector features, the present status, commissioning and integration with other apparatus. Finally, we discuss the ACORDE-ALICE cosmic ray physics program.Comment: Contribution to the 2007 Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics - Manchester, England 19-25 July 2007; 3 pages, 3 figure

Ecological Inference with Entropy Econometrics: using the Mexican Census as a benchmark

Most regional empirical analyses are limited by the lack of data. Researchers have to use information that is structured in administrative or political regions which are not always economically meaningful. The non-availability of geographically disaggregated information prevents to obtain empirical evidence in order to answer some relevant questions in the field of urban and regional economics. The objective of this paper is to suggest an estimation procedure, based on entropy econometrics, which allows for inferring disaggregated information on local income from more aggregated data. In addition to a description of the main characteristics of the proposed technique, the paper illustrates how the procedure works taking as an empirical application the estimation of income for different classes of Mexican municipalities. It would be desirable to apply the suggested technique to a study case where some observable data are available and confront the estimates with the actual observations. For this purpose, we have taken the information contained in the Mexican census as a benchmark for our estimation technique. Assuming that the only available data are the income aggregates per type of municipality and State, we make an exercise of ecological inference and disaggregate these margins to recover individual (local) data.

Preparing Students For Citizenship: The Pedagogical Vision of Yale's Noah Porter, Harvard's Charles Eliot and Princeton's Woodrow Wilson

A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Luke O. Fernandez in May 1997.The dissertation examines the historic role of elite higher education in preparing students for active participation in political life. It does this by examining the pedagogical visions and curricular commitments of Noah Porter (president of Yale from 1871 to 1886), Charles Eliot (president of Harvard from 1869 to 1909) and Woodrow Wilson (president of Princeton from 1902 to 1910). Educational historians have usually cast Eliot as the progressive force in American higher education while painting Porter and Wilson in diminished or even contrary roles. While this dissertation does not take issue with the basic thrust of this history, it focuses on deficiencies in all three of these educators' approaches that served to compromise their commitment to strong civic education. These educators compromised, or threatened to compromise, civic education because they ascribed to ideals and practices which are often at odds with the development of citizenship. The determination of these educators' civic commitments is circumscribed by the dissertation's exclusive focus on a republican definition of citizenship. Republicans equate citizenship with participation in political life and are consequently threatened by rhetorical and economic practices which appear to discourage political participation. The dissertation assesses how dedicated Porter, Eliot, and Wilson were to the ideals of republican citizenship by examining their commitment to forms of communication that foster political discussion, and by examining their attachment to economic practices that republican theorists have found inimical to citizenship. The rhetorical and economic proclivities of Porter, Eliot, and Wilson constitute the main approaches for gauging their civic commitments. However, these two approaches are framed and clarified by describing their sympathy for elite and exclusionary forms of higher education and by delineating their overt exhortations to service and their attempts to integrate their schools into a larger public sphere. All of their civic visions were ultimately compromised but they were compromised in different ways. Eliot's civic commitments were compromised by rhetorical and economic proclivities that were closely tied to his strong sympathies for professionalization . Porter's were threatened by an attraction to cloistered living and by archaic pedagogies. Of the three, Wilson displayed the most abiding civic commitments. But even Wilson's civic commitments were ultimately compromised by his attraction to elite forms of education

Cross-cultural research in internet addiction: a systematic review

Internet addiction (IA) is the most studied behavioral addiction. However, few studies have been conducted that simultaneously include several countries to attain an inter-cultural and international perspective on the phenomenon. The aim of this systematic review is to observe the characteristics of cross-cultural IA studies, in order to explore (i) their classification, (ii) the cultures involved, (iii) the IA issues treated, and (iv) the commonalities and differences among cultures. For this review the PsycINFO scientific database was selected to make searches without restrictions. Out of 23 documents, 8 were selected (34.8%), after applying two research paper selection phases with the following specific inclusion criteria: the paper needs to be (i) an empirical cross-cultural study, (ii) focused on IA or other related online excessive behaviors, and (iii) published in a journal. Between 2008 and 2015, the results show that from 2012 onwards until the present, there has been a continuing increase of papers, mostly cross-national intercontinental studies that usually research IA in its generalized subtype and estimate its prevalence with classic and valid scales, while only one study focuses on video gaming. The continents involved are usually Asia, America and Europe, and the commonalities show that the higher rates of IA exist in Asian countries, in male users who spend a lot of hours online. Differences among countries and risk factors have however also been detected and cultural factors are usually not analyzed. More cross-cultural research on IA and other potentially addictive technologies and online activities is needed, so that we may further explore cultural factors and achieve higher external validity of the findings

Algal culture studies related to a Closed Ecological Life Support System (CELSS)

Studies with algal cultures which relate to closed ecological life support systems (CELSS) are discussed. A description of a constant cell density apparatus for continuous culture of algae is included. Excretion of algal by-products, and nitrogen utilization and excretion are discussed

High–Speed Data Transmission Subsystem of the SEOSAR/PAZ Satellite

This paper analyzes a digital interface and bus system modeling and optimization of the SEOSAR/PAZ Earth Observation satellite. The important part of the satellite is an X–band Synthetic Aperture Radar instrument that integrates 384 Transmit/Receive Modules located in 12 antenna panels 7.5 m away from the central processor and controlled by a synchronous 10 Mbps bidirectional serial protocol. This type of mid–range point–to–multipoint transmission is affected by bit errors due to crosstalk, transmission line attenuation and impedance mismatches. The high–speed data communication network has been designed to optimize the transmission by using a simulation model of the data distribution system which takes into account the worst–case scenario and by developing a lab–scaled prototype which exhibits BER of 10-11 for an interfering signal of 10 Vpp. The result is a point–to–multipoint bidirectional transmission network optimized in both directions with optimal values of loads and equalization resistors. This high–speed data transmission subsystem provides a compact design through a simple solution

Coupled equations for Kähler metrics and Yang-Mills connections

We study equations on a principal bundle over a compact complex manifold coupling a connection on the bundle with a Kahler structure on the base. These equations generalize the conditions of constant scalar curvature for a Kahler metric and Hermite-Yang-Mills for a connection. We provide a moment map interpretation of the equations and study obstructions for the existence of solutions, generalizing the Futaki invariant, the Mabuchi K-energy and geodesic stability. We finish by giving some examples of solutions.Comment: 61 pages; v2: introduction partially rewritten; minor corrections and improvements in presentation, especially in Section 4; added references; v3: To appear in Geom. Topol. Minor corrections and improvements, following comments by referee

Pathological video game playing in Spanish and British adolescents: towards the exploration of Internet Gaming Disorder symptomatology

Research into problematic video gaming has increased greatly over the last decade and many screening instruments have been developed to identify such behaviour. This study re-examined the Problematic Videogame Playing [PVP] Scale. The objectives of the study were to (i) examine its psychometric properties in two European countries, (ii) estimate the prevalence of potential pathological gaming among adolescents in both countries, and (iii) assess the classification accuracy of the PVP Scale based on its symptomatology as a way of exploring its relationship with both the behavioural component model of addiction and the proposed Internet Gaming Disorder. The data were collected via a survey administered to 2,356 adolescents aged between 11 and 18 years from Spain (n=1,132) and Great Britain (n=1,224). Results indicated that the reliability of both versions was adequate, and the factorial and construct validity were good. Findings also showed that the prevalence of pathological gamers estimated with a rigorous cut-off point was 7.7% for Spanish and 14.6% for British adolescents. The scale showed adequate sensitivity, specificity and classification accuracy in both countries, and was able to differentiate between social and potential pathological gamers, and from their addictive symptomatology. The implications of these findings are discussed