Schisms: The Inherent Dangers of Religious Variance Within a Single Faith – An Analysis of Intra-State Conflict in the Modern World

This essay explores the relationship between religious variance within a single faith and the frequency of intra-state conflict. Specifically, an emphasis is placed on Sunni and Shia conflict within the overarching umbrella of Islam. Utilizing the most recent empirical data in conjunction with other scholarly research, it can be hypothesized that the more diverse a state is within a single subset of one particular religion, the more frequent the incidence of intra-state conflict is as well

Expected rates with mini-arrays for air showers

As a guide in the design of mini-arrays used to exploit the Linsley effect in the study of air showers, it is useful to calculate the expected rates. The results can aid in the choice of detectors and their placement or in predicting the utility of existing detector systems. Furthermore, the potential of the method can be appraised for the study of large showers. Specifically, we treat the case of a mini-array of dimensions small enough compared to the distance of axes of showers of interest so that it can be considered a point detector. The input information is taken from the many previous studies of air showers by other groups. The calculations will give: (1) the expected integral rate, F(sigma, rho), for disk thickness, sigma, or rise time, t sub 1/2, with local particle density, rho, as a parameter; (2) the effective detection area A(N) with sigma (min) and rho (min) and rho (min) as parameters; (3) the expected rate of collection of data F sub L (N) versus shower size, N

A mini-array for large air showers

A mini-array that utilizes the Linsley effect is proposed for the measurement of large air showers. An estimate of the detectable shower rates for various shower sizes is made. Details of the detection and data collection systems are also described

Four Decades of the Journal \u3ci\u3eLaw and Human Behavior\u3c/i\u3e: A Content Analysis

Although still relatively young, the journal Law and Human Behavior (LHB) has amassed a publication history of more than 1300 full-length articles over four decades. Yet, no systematic analysis of the journal has been done until now. The current research coded all full-length articles to examine trends over time, predictors of the number of Google Scholar citations, and predictors of whether an article was cited by a court case. The predictors of interest included article organization, research topics, areas of law, areas of psychology, first-author gender, first-author country of institutional affiliation, and samples employed. Results revealed a vast and varied field that has shown marked diversification over the years. First authors have consistently become more diversified in both gender and country of institutional affiliation. Overall, the most common research topics were jury/judicial decision-making and eyewitness/memory, the most common legal connections were to criminal law and mental health law, and the most common psychology connection was to social-cognitive psychology. Research in psychology and law has the potential to impact both academic researchers and the legal system. Articles published in LHB appear to accomplish both

Post-spinel transformations and equation of state in ZnGa2O4: Determination at high-pressure by in situ x-ray diffraction

Room temperature angle-dispersive x-ray diffraction measurements on spinel ZnGa2O4 up to 56 GPa show evidence of two structural phase transformations. At 31.2 GPa, ZnGa2O4 undergoes a transition from the cubic spinel structure to a tetragonal spinel structure similar to that of ZnMn2O4. At 55 GPa, a second transition to the orthorhombic marokite structure (CaMn2O4-type) takes place. The equation of state of cubic spinel ZnGa2O4 is determined: V0 = 580.1(9) A3, B0 = 233(8) GPa, B0'= 8.3(4), and B0''= -0.1145 GPa-1 (implied value); showing that ZnGa2O4 is one of the less compressible spinels studied to date. For the tetragonal structure an equation of state is also determined: V0 = 257.8(9) A3, B0 = 257(11) GPa, B0'= 7.5(6), and B0''= -0.0764 GPa-1 (implied value). The reported structural sequence coincides with that found in NiMn2O4 and MgMn2O4.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, 2 Table

Competencies in Training at the Graduate Student Level: Example of a Pediatric Psychology Seminar Course.

The recently developed competencies in pediatric psychology from the Society of Pediatric Psychology (SPP) Task Force on Competencies and Best Training Practices in Pediatric Psychology provide a benchmark to evaluate training program practices and student progress toward training in level-specific competency goals. Graduate-level training presents a unique challenge for addressing the breadth of competencies required in pediatric psychology while maintaining development of broader clinical psychology training goals. We describe a recurring graduate-level pediatric psychology seminar course that addresses training in a number of the competency cluster areas. The structure of the seminar, examples of classroom topics that correspond with competency cluster areas as well as benchmarks used to evaluate each student\u27s development in the competency area are provided. Specific challenges in developing and maintaining the seminar in this format are identified, and possible solutions are offered. This training format could serve as a model for established pediatric psychology programs to expand their didactic training goals or for programs without formal pediatric psychology training to address competencies outside of clinical placements

Suite of simple metrics reveals common movement syndromes across vertebrate taxa

ecause empirical studies of animal movement are most-often site- and species-specific, we lack understanding of the level of consistency in movement patterns across diverse taxa, as well as a framework for quantitatively classifying movement patterns. We aim to address this gap by determining the extent to which statistical signatures of animal movement patterns recur across ecological systems. We assessed a suite of movement metrics derived from GPS trajectories of thirteen marine and terrestrial vertebrate species spanning three taxonomic classes, orders of magnitude in body size, and modes of movement (swimming, flying, walking). Using these metrics, we performed a principal components analysis and cluster analysis to determine if individuals organized into statistically distinct clusters. Finally, to identify and interpret commonalities within clusters, we compared them to computer-simulated idealized movement syndromes representing suites of correlated movement traits observed across taxa (migration, nomadism, territoriality, and central place foraging)

Radiation Damage Studies of Silicon Photomultipliers

We report on the measurement of the radiation hardness of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) manufactured by Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Italy (1 mm$^2$ and 6.2 mm$^2$), Center of Perspective Technology and Apparatus in Russia (1 mm$^2$ and 4.4 mm$^2$), and Hamamatsu Corporation in Japan (1 mm$^2$). The SiPMs were irradiated using a beam of 212 MeV protons at Massachusetts General Hospital, receiving fluences of up to $3 \times 10^{10}$ protons per cm$^2$ with the SiPMs at operating voltage. Leakage currents were read continuously during the irradiation. The delivery of the protons was paused periodically to record scope traces in response to calibrated light pulses to monitor the gains, photon detection efficiencies, and dark counts of the SiPMs. The leakage current and dark noise are found to increase with fluence. Te leakage current is found to be proportional to the mean square deviation of the noise distribution, indicating the dark counts are due to increased random individual pixel activation, while SiPMs remain fully functional as photon detectors. The SiPMs are found to anneal at room temperature with a reduction in the leakage current by a factor of 2 in about 100 days.Comment: 35 pages, 25 figure