Boston University Glee Club, April 23, 1964

This is the concert program of the Boston University Glee Club performance on Thursday, April 23, 1964 at 8:30 p.m., at the Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Sing to the Lord a New Song (Psalm XCVIII) by Heinrich Schutz, Crucifixus (SSATTB) and Crucifixus (SSAATTBB) by Antonio Lotti, Tenebrac Factae Sunt by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Sixth Chandos Anthem by Georg Frideric Handel, Beautiful Savior by F. Melius Christiansen, Tansen und Springen by Hans Leo Hassler, Weep, O Willow (Southern Mountain Tune) by Sven Lekberg, In Peace and Joy I Now Depart by David Fetler, and O Magnify the Lord With Me from the Bay State Collection. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

The Significance of Future Generations

We find meaning and value in our lives by engaging in everyday projects. But, according to a recent argument by Samuel Scheffler, this value doesn’t depend merely on what the projects are about. In many cases, it depends also on the future generations that will replace us. By imagining the imminent extinction of humanity soon after our own deaths, we can recognize both that much of our current valuing depends on a background confidence in the ongoing survival of humanity and that the survival and flourishing of those future generations matters to us. After presenting Scheffler’s argument, I will explore two twentieth century precursors—Hans Morgenthau and Simone de Beauvoir—before returning to Scheffler to see that his argument can not only show us why future generations matter, but it can also give us hope for immortality and a blueprint for embracing a changing future

Assessing the word recognition skills of german elementary students in silent reading - Psychometric properties of an item pool to generate curriculum-based measurements

Given the high proportion of struggling readers in school and the long-term negative consequences of underachievement for those affected, the question of prevention options arises. The early identification of central indicators for reading literacy is a noteworthy starting point. In this context, curriculum-based measurements have established themselves as reliable and valid instruments for monitoring the progress of learning processes. This article is dedicated to the assessment of word recognition in silent reading as an indicator of adequate reading fluency. The process of developing an item pool is described, from which instruments for learning process diagnostics can be derived. A sample of 4268 students from grades 1–4 processed a subset of items. Each student template included anchor items, which all students processed. Using Item Response Theory, item statistics were estimated for the entire sample and all items. After eliminating unsuitable items (N = 206), a one-dimensional, homogeneous pool of items remained. In addition, there are high correlations with another established reading test. This provides the first evidence that the recording of word recognition skills for silent reading can be seen as an economic indicator for reading skills. Although the item pool forms an important basis for the extraction of curriculum-based measurements, further investigations to assess the diagnostic suitability (e.g., the measurement invariance over different test times) are still pending

The Validity of the Adiabatic Contraction Approximation for Dark Matter Halos

We use high resolution numerical simulations to investigate the adiabatic contraction of dark matter halos with a Hernquist density profile. We test the response of the halos to the growth of additional axisymmetric disk potentials with various central concentrations and the spherically symmetric potential of a softened point mass. Adding the potentials on timescales that are long compared to the dynamical time scale of the halo, the contracted halos have density profiles that are in excellent agreement with analytical predictions based on the conservation of the adiabatic invariant $M(r)r$. This is surprising as this quantity is strictly conserved only for particles on circular orbits and in spherically symmetric potentials. If the same potentials are added on timescales that are short compared to the dynamical timescale, the result depends strongly on the adopted potential. The adiabatic approximation still works for disk potentials. It does, however, fail for the central potential.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Added reference. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Classification of the Judean Desert Documents (Dead Sea Scrolls)

Wellisch, Hans H