The Disability Cost Narrative: A Roundtable Discussion

The dominance of “cost narratives” in disability law and discourse warranted the inclusion of a scholarly roundtable discussion devoted to the topic. The transcription below captures this discussion among three disability legal scholars: Professors Elizabeth F. Emens, Kaaryn S. Gustafson, and Jasmine E. Harris

What do different beliefs tell us? An examination of factual, opinion-based, and religious beliefs

Children and adults differentiate statements of religious belief from statements of fact and opinion, but the basis of that differentiation remains unclear. Across three experiments, adults and 8–10-year-old children heard statements of factual, opinion-based, and religious belief. Adults and children judged that statements of factual belief revealed more about the world, statements of opinion revealed more about individuals, and statements of religious belief provided information about both. Children—unlike adults—judged that statements of religious belief revealed more about the world than the believer. These results led to three conclusions. First, judgments concerning the relative amount of information statements of religious belief provide about individuals change across development, perhaps because adults have more experience with diversity. Second, recognizing that statements of religious belief provide information about both the world and the believer does not require protracted learning. Third, statements of religious belief are interpreted as amalgams of factual and opinion-based statements.Psycholog

The Development of Reasoning About Beliefs: Fact, Preference, and Ideology

The beliefs people hold about the social and physical world are central to self-definition and social interaction. The current research analyzes reasoning about three kinds of beliefs: those that concern matters of fact (e.g., dinosaurs are extinct), preference (e.g., green is the prettiest color), and ideology (e.g., there is only one God). The domain of ideology is of unique interest because it is hypothesized to contain elements of both facts and preferences. If adults' distinct reasoning about ideological beliefs is the result of prolonged experience with the physical and social world, children and adults should reveal distinct patterns of differentiating kinds of beliefs, and this difference should be particularly pronounced with respect to ideological beliefs. On the other hand, if adults' reasoning about beliefs is a basic component of social cognition, children and adults should demonstrate similar belief representations and patterns of belief differentiation. Two experiments demonstrate that 5–10 year old children and adults similarly judged religious beliefs to be intermediate between factual beliefs (where two disagreeing people cannot both be right) and preferences (where they can). From the age of 5 years and continuing into adulthood, individuals distinguished ideological beliefs from other types of mental states and demonstrated limited tolerance for belief-based disagreements.Psycholog

The Globular Cluster Systems around NGC 3311 and NGC 3309

We present extensive new photometry in (g',i') of the large globular cluster (GC) system around NGC 3311, the central cD galaxy in the Hydra cluster. Our GMOS data cover a 5.5' field of view and reach a limiting magnitude i' = 26, about 0.5 magnitude fainter than the turnover point of the GC luminosity function. We find that NGC 3311 has a huge population of ~16, 000 GCs, closely similar to the prototypical high specific frequency Virgo giant M87. The color-magnitude distribution shows that the metal-poor blue GC sequence and the metal-richer red sequence are both present, with nearly equal numbers of clusters. Bimodal fits to the color distributions confirm that the blue sequence shows the same trend of progressively increasing metallicity with GC mass that has previously been found in many other large galaxies; the correlation we find corresponds to a scaling of GC metallicity with mass of Z ~ M^0.6 . By contrast, the red sequence shows no change of mean metallicity with mass, but it shows an upward extension to much higher than normal luminosity into the UCD-like range, strengthening the potential connections between massive GCs and UCDs. The GC luminosity function, which we measure down to the turnover point at M_I = -8.4, also has a normal form like those in other giant ellipticals. Within the Hydra field, another giant elliptical NGC 3309 is sitting just 100" from the cD NGC 3311. We use our data to solve simultaneously for the spatial structure and total GC populations of both galaxies at once. Their specific frequencies are S_N (NGC 3311) = 12.5 +/- 1.5 and S_N (NGC 3309) = 0.6 +/-0.4. NGC 3311 is completely dominant and entirely comparable with other cD-type systems such as M87 in Virgo.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures. Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal. Version with higher resolution figures is available at http://www.thewehners.net/astro/papers/wehner_n3311_highres.pd

Brane decay of a (4+n)-dimensional rotating black hole: spin-0 particles

In this work, we study the `scalar channel' of the emission of Hawking radiation from a (4+n)-dimensional, rotating black hole on the brane. We numerically solve both the radial and angular part of the equation of motion for the scalar field, and determine the exact values of the absorption probability and of the spheroidal harmonics, respectively. With these, we calculate the particle, energy and angular momentum emission rates, as well as the angular variation in the flux and power spectra -- a distinctive feature of emission during the spin-down phase of the life of the produced black hole. Our analysis is free from any approximations, with our results being valid for arbitrarily large values of the energy of the emitted particle, angular momentum of the black hole and dimensionality of spacetime. We finally compute the total emissivities for the number of particles, energy and angular momentum and compare their relative behaviour for different values of the parameters of the theory.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figure

Brane Decay of a (4+n)-Dimensional Rotating Black Hole. II: spin-1 particles

The present works complements and expands a previous one, focused on the emission of scalar fields by a (4+n)-dimensional rotating black hole on the brane, by studying the emission of gauge fields on the brane from a similar black hole. A comprehensive analysis of the particle, energy and angular momentum emission rates is undertaken, for arbitrary angular momentum of the black hole and dimensionality of spacetime. Our analysis reveals the existence of a number of distinct features associated with the emission of spin-1 fields from a rotating black hole on the brane, such as the behaviour and magnitude of the different emission rates, the angular distribution of particles and energy, the relative enhancement compared to the scalar fields, and the magnitude of the superradiance effect. Apart from their theoretical interest, these features can comprise clear signatures of the emission of Hawking radiation from a brane-world black hole during its spin-down phase upon successful detection of this effect during an experiment.Comment: 35 pages, 19 figures, Latex fil

Brane Decay of a (4+n)-Dimensional Rotating Black Hole. III: spin-1/2 particles

In this work, we have continued the study of the Hawking radiation on the brane from a higher-dimensional rotating black hole by investigating the emission of fermionic modes. A comprehensive analysis is performed that leads to the particle, power and angular momentum emission rates, and sheds light on their dependence on fundamental parameters of the theory, such as the spacetime dimension and angular momentum of the black hole. In addition, the angular distribution of the emitted modes, in terms of the number of particles and energy, is thoroughly studied. Our results are valid for arbitrary values of the energy of the emitted particles, dimension of spacetime and angular momentum of the black hole, and complement previous results on the emission of brane-localised scalars and gauge bosons.Comment: Latex file, JHEP style, 34 pages, 16 figures Energy range in plots increased, minor changes, version published in JHE

Computerised speechreading training for deaf children: A randomised controlled trial

Purpose: We developed and evaluated in a randomised controlled triala computerised speechreading training programme to determine a) whether it is possible to train speechreading in deaf children and b) whether speechreading training results in improvements in phonological and reading skills.Previous studies indicate a relationship between speechreading and reading skill and further suggest this relationshipmay be mediated by improved phonological representations. This is important since many deaf children find learning to read to be very challenging. Method: Sixty-six deaf 5-7 year olds were randomised into speechreading and maths training arms. Each training programme was comprised of10 minutesessionsa day, 4 days a week for 12 weeks. Children were assessed on a battery of language and literacy measures before training, immediately after training, 3 months and 10 months after training. Results: We found no significant benefits for participants who completed the speechreading training, compared to those who completed the maths training, on the speechreading primary outcome measure. However, significantly greater gains were observed in the speechreading training group on one of the secondary measures of speechreading. There was also some evidence of beneficial effects of the speechreading training on phonological representations, however these effects were weaker. No benefits were seen toword reading. Conclusions: Speechreading skill is trainable in deaf children. However, to support early reading, training may need to be longer or embedded in a broader literacy programme. Nevertheless, a training tool that can improve speechreading is likely to be of great interest to professionals working with deaf children

The Experiences of Counselors-in-Training in a School-based Counseling Practicum

Counselor education programs often must choose between providing in vivo faculty supervision or a community-based setting. Programs that combine both elements have shown positive preliminary findings related to counselor development; however, the in-depth experiences of students in such programs have not been explored. This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of counselors-in-training who participated in a school-based counseling practicum with in vivo faculty supervision. Researchers identified six themes, including continuum of support within relationships, operational challenges and concerns, needs and challenges of the community, working with children, expectations and realities, and counselor identity development. Implications for counselor education and research are provided

The Experiences of Counselors-in-Training in a School-based Counseling Practicum

Counselor education programs often must choose between providing in vivo faculty supervision or a community-based setting. Programs that combine both elements have shown positive preliminary findings related to counselor development; however, the in-depth experiences of students in such programs have not been explored. This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of counselors-in-training who participated in a school-based counseling practicum with in vivo faculty supervision. Researchers identified six themes, including continuum of support within relationships, operational challenges and concerns, needs and challenges of the community, working with children, expectations and realities, and counselor identity development. Implications for counselor education and research are provided