Return of the John Birch Society : a progenitor of conspiracy-minded politics rises again in Texas

Ostracized for decades, the John Birch Society, one of the powerful cornerstones of the late 1950s and 1960s extreme conservative movement, is making a comeback in Texas. In early 2017, in the tiny farming town of Holland, new members gather in a church annex to learn about a secret conspiracy to emasculate ordinary Americans by taking their guns, their religion, and their heritage. In sprawling Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city, members listen eagerly as a Southern Baptist pastor (who doubles as a George Washington impersonator) thunders that President Trump was sent from God to save the country. “John Birch Society membership in Texas has doubled in the last three years, and state legislators are joining the group,” says Jan Carter, a 75-year-old retiree who leads the Central Texas Chapter of the John Birch Society. This report is a journey into the singular world of the John Birch Society in Texas, a world riven with far-right, conspiracy-minded ideology. The report examines the sociological, political, and psychological forces that have contributed to the resurgence of the John Birch Society; forces that are underreported in the mainstream media, and forces that helped propel Donald Trump to the White HouseJournalis

Stochastic assembly of sublithographic nanoscale interfaces

We describe a technique for addressing individual nanoscale wires with microscale control wires without using lithographic-scale processing to define nanoscale dimensions. Such a scheme is necessary to exploit sublithographic nanoscale storage and computational devices. Our technique uses modulation doping to address individual nanowires and self-assembly to organize them into nanoscale-pitch decoder arrays. We show that if coded nanowires are chosen at random from a sufficiently large population, we can ensure that a large fraction of the selected nanowires have unique addresses. For example, we show that N lines can be uniquely addressed over 99% of the time using no more than /spl lceil/2.2log/sub 2/(N)/spl rceil/+11 address wires. We further show a hybrid decoder scheme that only needs to address N=O(W/sub litho-pitch//W/sub nano-pitch/) wires at a time through this stochastic scheme; as a result, the number of unique codes required for the nanowires does not grow with decoder size. We give an O(N/sup 2/) procedure to discover the addresses which are present. We also demonstrate schemes that tolerate the misalignment of nanowires which can occur during the self-assembly process

A Glance at the Showmanship of Physics

Teachers should present dramatic demonstrations of scientific principles and involve students in them. They should dispense fewer facts, ask more questions, and stir the intellect. Then the students will puzzle out the answers and remember them, says Professor Julius Sumner Miller of El Camino College in Southern California. Remember this! If you\u27re dead, and the text book is dead, you\u27ll have dead students. The classic example of the intellect being stirred by dramatic demonstrations took place in London when Sir Humphrey Davey gave the Christmas Lectures. Believe it or not, people paid to hear these lectures dealing with natural· physical phenomenon and see the dramatic demonstrations which accompanied them. In the crowd of listeners and watchers was an apprenticed printer whose name was Michael Faraday. Yes, the same Faraday who is mentioned in both Physical Science and Physics texts. His intellect, his curiosity, his imagination was sparked and set into motion by the dramatic showmanship of the Christmas Lectures. People look, but do not see! They listen, but do not hear! This world is an enchanting place that stimulates all our senses, but most of us ignore it,11 says Professor Miller. I became interested in the dramatics of Physics as a high school student. In the first twelve weeks of school we went through three teachers who were more dead than the book. The fourth teacher made Physics alive for us and taught by using various demonstrations and asking searching questions about the commonly known and then proceeding to the new by way of comparison. We soon found that it doesn\u27t take a teachers certificate to be a teacher, because at the beginning of the second semester he was replaced by a dead but certified Physics teacher. This high school experience has been accepted as a challenge to use the tactics of the Christmas Lectures, Professor Miller, and my fourth high school Physics teacher in a future classroom of my own. My self set goal is to be a live teacher with students, and hopefully spark the intellectual of another Faraday . The purpose of this research has not been to prepare a Physics demonstration manual. In the light shed by the Christmas Lectures, Professor Millers statements, and my own high school experience, this research proves only to be a feeble attempt to present some thought provoking questions and dramatic demonstrations of physical, and there by give you A Glance at the Showmanship of Physics

Making the Cut: Psychological Momentum on the PGA Tour

ABSTRACT Title of Document: MAKING THE CUT: PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENTUM ON THE PGA TOUR Kyle Savage, PhD, 2012 Directed By: Professor Seppo E. Iso-Ahola, Kinesiology Psychological Momentum on the PGA Tour was investigated. Psychological Momentum is theorized to be a force that arises from early success in an athletic competition that provides an advantage to the participant. It is defined as "an added or gained psychological power that changes a person's view of himself or others." The present research sought to determine whether early success in golf translated into Psychological Momentum and led to further success upon the golf course. This research proposed that differences among golfers at the elite level cannot be explained by customary statistical variables and is theorized to be psychological in nature. The research was conducted on two levels, in two studies. The first study addressed the presence of Psychological Momentum from week to week, between tournaments, over the course of the PGA Tour season. Cuts made, Top 10, Top 20, and Top 30 finishes were examined to determine if non-random patterns existed. The data supported the construct of Psychological Momentum indicating non-random patterns of successive outcomes for "cuts made," "Top 10 finishes," "Top 20 finishes," and "Top 30 finishes. Discussion focuses on post-hoc analyses of the data grouped into quintiles in order to discern where the differences may exist. The second study addressed Psychological Momentum within tournaments. Each tournament throughout the season was examined to determine how first round performance affected making the cut. Tournaments also were analyzed from round to round to determine how each round affected subsequent rounds, and within each round to determine how nine-hole totals affected subsequent nine-hole totals. Both gross scores and adjusted scores were analyzed. The data revealed mixed results regarding the presence of Psychological Momentum within tournaments. There was strong support for the theory evidenced by first round influence (early success) upon subsequent rounds, as well as its influence upon making the cut. The data were mixed when comparing nine-hole totals within rounds and between rounds. Discussion focuses on the evidence supporting the theory and possible explanations for the data that do not

Factors affecting enrollment and retention at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints St George Institute of Religion

The purpose of this research was to identify those factors that influence the decision of young, single, adult members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ages 18--30 to be involved or not in the institute program; For Institutes to be effective in their charge to involve all young, single adults it would be helpful to understand why potential Institute students do one of the following: (1) Enroll in and complete an institute class. (2) Enroll in and stop attending an institute class. (3) Do not enroll in an institute class; Because the Church Educational System was asked to involve all young, single, adults in the institute program, matriculated and non-matriculated students were included in the study; A survey was administered to a random sample of 225 people in the above categories. One hundred seventy-seven surveys were completed and returned. In addition, a personal interview was conducted with two individuals in each category; It was found that young adults who enrolled and completed an institute class wanted to study the scriptures, follow the counsel of the Prophet, balance secular and spiritual learning, and prepare for the future. They had strong personal religious beliefs and applied it in their lives. Those who enrolled in and stopped attending cited conflict with school or work, and lack of time as their reasons. This group were not as strong in their personal religious beliefs and practices. Over 45% of those who did not enroll listed work and time as their main reaSon Others listed lack of desire or interest. They were not as strong in their personal religious beliefs and practices; It is recommended that an extended schedule of classes would be one way to involve more students. Student leaders could keep in contact with those who stop attending and ecclesiastic leaders could invite and encourage each young, single adult to participate in the Institute program

Some silyl anions

Two attempts to módify the ammonium salts of silyl thiol and silyl selenol were made in an effort to make them easily soluble. Both attempts were unsuccessful. The first was to try to form the potassium salt by using an ion exchange resin; the second was to prepare the methylsilyl derivative in the hope that it would be soluble. The ammonium salt of silyl tellurol was also prepared by an analogous route to the sulphur and selenium compounds.2H₂Te + (SiH₃)₃N → NH₄TeSiH₃ + (SiH3)₃Te ¹.Methyl silyl telluride was prepared from it by adding methyl iodide.CH₃I + NH₄ TeSiH₃ → CH₃TeSiH₃ + NH₄ I ².Lithium silyl oxide, sulphide and selenide was prepared by the reaction of methyl lithium, as a solution in diethyl ether at -64°, with disiloxane, disilyl sulphide and disilyl selenide.CH₃Li + (SiH₃)₂Y → LiYSiH₃ + CH₃SiH₃ ³.Y = (0, S, Se)Similar reactions were carried out with methyl lithium and trisilyl phosphine and trisilyl arsine.CH₃Li + (SiH₃)₃Z→LiZ(SiH₃)₂ + CH₃SiH₃'⁴Z= (P, As)Yields of the lithium derivatives were all of the order of 80% and they were characterised by i.r., raman and n.m.r. spectroscopy. In some cases a reaction with trimethylsilyl chloride was also carried out.Reactions of these compounds, as a solution in diethyl ether, were carried out with a variety of reagents but most were unsuccessful in that the desired products were not isolated. Instead, the main volatile silyl product was generally (SiH₃)₃Z or (SiH₃)₂Y. This was attributed to the side-reactions:SiH₃ - Y - Q +Bθ → SiH₃B + θY - Q ⁵.and (SiH₃)₂Z - Q + Bθ → SiH₃B + SiH₃QZθ ⁶.where Q is any group of interestand Bθ is a base - in this case YSiH₃ or Z(SiH₃)₂This conclusion was confirmed by reactions of the silyl anions and closely related molecules producing exchange situations. Attempts to limit the extent of reactions (5) and (6) consisted of the use of benzene as a solvent, the use of trimethylamine and the absence of solvent. The first two were unsuccessful but the latter worked. It was possible to prepare disilyl phosphine and 1,1,1-trimethyl disiloxane by this method.2LiP(SiH₃)₂ + H₂S -- HP(SiH₃)₂ + Li₂S ⁷.Li0SiH₃ + (CH₃)₃SiCl → (CH₃)₃0SiH₃ + LiCl ⁸

Individual versus group thinking in elaborative thinking exercises

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit