1,295 research outputs found
Denying humanness to victims: How gang members justify violent behavior
The high prevalence of violent offending amongst gang-involved youth has been established in the literature. Yet the underlying psychological mechanisms that enable youth to engage in such acts of violence remain unclear. 189 young people were recruited from areas in London, UK, known for their gang activity. We found that gang members, in comparison to non-gang youth, described the groups they belong to as having recognized leaders, specific rules and codes, initiation rituals, and special clothing. Gang members were also more likely than non-gang youth to engage in violent behavior and endorse moral disengagement strategies (i.e., moral justification, euphemistic language, advantageous comparison, displacement of responsibility, attribution of blame, and dehumanization). Finally, we found that dehumanizing victims partially mediated the relationship between gang membership and violent behavior. These findings highlight the effects of groups at the individual level and an underlying psychological mechanism that explains, in part, how gang members engage in violence
Exploring the dynamics of compliance with community penalties
In this paper, we examine how compliance with community penalties has been theorized hitherto and seek to develop a new dynamic model of compliance with community penalties. This new model is developed by exploring some of the interfaces between existing criminological and socio-legal work on compliance. The first part of the paper examines the possible definitions and dimensions of compliance with community supervision. Secondly, we examine existing work on explanations of compliance with community penalties, supplementing this by drawing on recent socio-legal scholarship on private individualsâ compliance with tax regimes. In the third part of the paper, we propose a dynamic model of compliance, based on the integration of these two related analyses. Finally, we consider some of the implications of our model for policy and practice
concerning community penalties, suggesting the need to move
beyond approaches which, we argue, suffer from compliance myopia; that is, a short-sighted and narrowly focused view of the issues
Spatially-resolved potential measurement with ion crystals
We present a method to measure potentials over an extended region using
one-dimensional ion crystals in a radio frequency (RF) ion trap. The
equilibrium spacings of the ions within the crystal allow the determination of
the external forces acting at each point. From this the overall potential, and
also potentials due to specific trap features, are calculated. The method can
be used to probe potentials near proximal objects in real time, and can be
generalized to higher dimensions.Comment: 7 pages (double spaced), 3 figure
Good images, effective messages? Working with students and educators on academic practice understanding
Work at Northumbria University has focussed on activity that extends opportunities for students to engage directly with the skills development necessary for sound academic practice. This has included highly visual campaigns on the "Plagiarism trap", providing access to Turnitin plagiarism detection software, guides and sessions to highlight use of associated referencing tools. Sessions on a variety of topics, such as supporting study skills and reading originality reports, have been provided for students on taught, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. This provision has included students working on collaborative partners' sites and also those on research programmes. Alongside the activities with students, "designing out" approaches have been embedded in staff development within the educator community at Northumbria. Formative use of Turnitin is integrated throughout programmes and academic practice development is formally recognised within the University Learning and Teaching Strategy's focus on information literacy. This article outlines and reviews these activities in a critical institutional context and evaluates responses from a variety of students and educators to determine how effective these measures have been
Strong quantum violation of the gravitational weak equivalence principle by a non-Gaussian wave-packet
The weak equivalence principle of gravity is examined at the quantum level in
two ways. First, the position detection probabilities of particles described by
a non-Gaussian wave-packet projected upwards against gravity around the
classical turning point and also around the point of initial projection are
calculated. These probabilities exhibit mass-dependence at both these points,
thereby reflecting the quantum violation of the weak equivalence principle.
Secondly, the mean arrival time of freely falling particles is calculated using
the quantum probability current, which also turns out to be mass dependent.
Such a mass-dependence is shown to be enhanced by increasing the
non-Gaussianity parameter of the wave packet, thus signifying a stronger
violation of the weak equivalence principle through a greater departure from
Gaussianity of the initial wave packet. The mass-dependence of both the
position detection probabilities and the mean arrival time vanish in the limit
of large mass. Thus, compatibility between the weak equivalence principle and
quantum mechanics is recovered in the macroscopic limit of the latter. A
selection of Bohm trajectories is exhibited to illustrate these features in the
free fall case.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
Probability in Orthodox Quantum Mechanics: Probability as a Postulate Versus Probability as an Emergent Phenomenon
The role of probability in quantum mechanics is reviewed, with a discussion
of the ``orthodox'' versus the statistical interpretive frameworks, and of a
number of related issues. After a brief summary of sources of unease with
quantum mechanics, a survey is given of attempts either to give a new
interpretive framework assuming quantum mechanics is exact, or to modify
quantum mechanics assuming it is a very accurate approximation to a more
fundamental theory. This survey focuses particularly on the issues of whether
probabilities in quantum mechanics are postulated or emergent.Comment: Latex; Submitted to the Proceedings of the Ischia Conference on
``Chance in Physics: Foundations and Perspectives'
Case management and Think First completion
âThe final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Probation Journal, Vol 53 Issue 3, 2006, Copyright The Trade Union and Professional Association for Family Court and Probation Staff, by SAGE Publications Ltd at: http://prb.sagepub.com/ " DOI: 10.1177/0264550506066771This article considers the findings of a small-scale study of the practice of case managers supervising offenders required to attend the Think First Group. It explores the interface between one-to-one and group-based work within multi-modal programmes of supervision and seeks to identify those practices that support individuals in completing a group.Peer reviewe
Fluorescence during Doppler cooling of a single trapped atom
We investigate the temporal dynamics of Doppler cooling of an initially hot
single trapped atom in the weak binding regime using a semiclassical approach.
We develop an analytical model for the simplest case of a single vibrational
mode for a harmonic trap, and show how this model allows us to estimate the
initial energy of the trapped particle by observing the fluorescence rate
during the cooling process. The experimental implementation of this temperature
measurement provides a way to measure atom heating rates by observing the
temperature rise in the absence of cooling. This method is technically
relatively simple compared to conventional sideband detection methods, and the
two methods are in reasonable agreement. We also discuss the effects of RF
micromotion, relevant for a trapped atomic ion, and the effect of coupling
between the vibrational modes on the cooling dynamics.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev.
On the quantum analogue of Galileo's leaning tower experiment
The quantum analogue of Galileo's leaning tower experiment is revisited using
wave packets evolving under the gravitational potential. We first calculate the
position detection probabilities for particles projected upwards against
gravity around the classical turning point and also around the point of initial
projection, which exhibit mass dependence at both these points. We then compute
the mean arrival time of freely falling particles using the quantum probability
current, which also turns out to be mass dependent. The mass dependence of both
the position detection probabilities and the mean arrival time vanish in the
limit of large mass. Thus, compatibility between the weak equivalence principle
and quantum mechanics is recovered in the macroscopic limit of the latter.Comment: Latex, 12 pages, 1 figure, uses IOP style, clarifications and
references adde
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