Research at Two Small Canadian Universities: The Views of Faculty

Faculty members at two small Canadian universities were sent a questionnaire in which they were asked about research activities and preferences, views of themselves as researchers, and views about factors which they felt either constrained or facilitated research activities. Respondents were highly committed to research, though gave teaching an equally high priority. Views of influences were similar across universities, with non-teaching commitments, teaching commitments, availability of graduate students, and availability of library holdings seen as most detrimental. Personal motivation and university research offices were seen as positive influences. We consider how faculty views might affect university policy and suggest, among other things, that universities might want to develop a formal policy in which individual faculty be allowed to specialize to some extent in research or teaching.Les professeurs des deux petites universités canadiennes ont répondu à un questionnaire portant sur leurs activités et préférences de recherche, leurs représentations d'eux-mêmes comme chercheurs et leurs perceptions des facteurs qui aident ou gênent les activités de recherches. Les professeurs accordent une grande priorité à la recherche ainsi qu'à l'enseignement. Peu de différences sont observées dans les perceptions des professeurs des deux universités. Les plus grands obstacles sont les fonctions de participation à l'université, les charges d'enseignement, la disponibilité des étudiants des deuxième et troisième cycles et la disponibilité des livres à la bibliothèque. La motivation des chercheurs et les bureaux de l'administration de la recherche sont perçus de manière positive. Les auteurs traitent par la suite de la façon dont les représentations des professeurs peuvent affecter les politique universitaires. Ils suggèrent, par exemple, que les universités puissent autoriser les professeurs à consacrer plus de temps à la recherche ou à l'enseignement

Anterior Talofibular Ligament and Superior Extensor Ankle Retinaculum Thicknesses: Relationship with Balance

Purpose This study determined if anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL)/superior extensor ankle retinaculum (SEAR) thicknesses are related to dynamic balance in individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI). Materials and Methods The subjects were 14 males and 15 females (age=24.52±3.46 years). Ankle instability was assessed using the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) with a cut off score of 25 to define two groups. SonoSite MTurbo (Fugifilm Sonosite, Inc.) musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSKUS) unit was used to assess ATFL and SEAR thicknesses. Dynamic balance was measured with the Y Balance Test (YBT) and two NeuroCom balance tests. Results There were no significant differences in the average ATFL thickness between stable and unstable ankles in those subjects with CAI (0.25±0.03 cm and 0.21±0.05 cm, respectively) or in the SEAR thickness (0.09±0.04 cm and 0.10±0.03 cm, respectively). There were also no significant differences in the right and left ATFL thicknesses (0.23±0.07 cm and 0.21±0.04 cm, respectively) or the SEAR thicknesses (0.09±0.01 cm and 0.09±0.01 cm, respectively) in those without CAI. There were no differences between limbs in composite scores on YBT in those with CAI (p=0.35) and those without CAI (p=0.33). There was a moderate correlation between the left SEAR thickness and the large forward/backward perturbations on the NeuroCom (Natus) motor control test (r=0.51, p=0.006 and r=0.54, p=0.003, respectively). Conclusion There were no differences in the ATFL/SEAR thicknesses or balance measures between or within the groups, likely because CAI is multi-factorial and related to mechanisms other than tissue changes alone. More sensitive technology and a better definition of the measurement process may provide more definitive results

Investigation of electrically active defects in InGaAs quantum wire intermediate-band solar cells using deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) technique

InGaAs quantum wire (QWr) intermediate-band solar cell based nanostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy are studied. The electrical and interface properties of these solar cell devices, as determined by current–voltage (I–V) and capacitance–voltage (C-V) techniques, were found to change with temperature over a wide range of 20–340 K. The electron and hole traps present in these devices have been investigated using deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). The DLTS results showed that the traps detected in the QWr-doped devices are directly or indirectly related to the insertion of the Si δ-layer used to dope the wires. In addition, in the QWr-doped devices, the decrease of the solar conversion efficiencies at low temperatures and the associated decrease of the integrated external quantum efficiency through InGaAs could be attributed to detected traps E1QWR_D, E2QWR_D, and E3QWR_D with activation energies of 0.0037, 0.0053, and 0.041 eV, respectively

Investigating variation in replicability

Although replication is a central tenet of science, direct replications are rare in psychology. This research tested variation in the replicability of 13 classic and contemporary effects across 36 independent samples totaling 6,344 participants. In the aggregate, 10 effects replicated consistently. One effect – imagined contact reducing prejudice – showed weak support for replicability. And two effects – flag priming influencing conservatism and currency priming influencing system justification – did not replicate. We compared whether the conditions such as lab versus online or US versus international sample predicted effect magnitudes. By and large they did not. The results of this small sample of effects suggest that replicability is more dependent on the effect itself than on the sample and setting used to investigate the effect

Stimulus control in a discrimination based on a distinctive feature

Six pigeons were instrumentally trained to discriminate between two displays that differed only by the presence of a distinctive feature on the positive or food-correlated display. In accordance with previous studies, subjects learned the discrimination and, in the presence of the positive display, directed most of their responses to the distinctive feature, although responses to the common feature were also reinforced. Subsequent generalization tests revealed that on the positive display, both common and distinctive features produced decremental gradients, contradicting Farthing's (1971) statement that the common feature acquires a control function opposite that of the distinctive feature. Procedural differences probably caused the discrepancy in results; within a display, Farthing presented common and distinctive features successively; the present study used simultaneous presentations of common and distinctive stimuli