Ten myths about character, virtue and virtue education – plus three well-founded misgivings

Initiatives to cultivate character and virtue in moral education at school continue to provoke sceptical responses. Most of those echo familiar misgivings about the notions of character, virtue and education in virtue – as unclear, redundant, old-fashioned, religious, paternalistic, anti-democratic, conservative, individualistic, relative and situation dependent. I expose those misgivings as ‘myths’, while at the same time acknowledging three better-founded historical, methodological and practical concerns about the notions in question

A New Approach to Measuring Moral Virtues: The Multi-Component Gratitude Measure

Empirical explorations of moral virtues have increased dramatically recently. This paper introduces a new method of assessing moral virtue using gratitude as an example; a virtue that continues to be a topic of great interest in psychology, philosophy and education. We argue, and demonstrate empirically, that to comprehensively examine a moral virtue, it is necessary to explore its cognitive, affective, attitudinal (including motivational), and behavioural aspects. We have created the 'Multi-Component Gratitude Measure' (MCGM) comprised of four components, each designed to assess a distinct dimension of the virtue of gratitude: (a) conceptions (or understandings) of gratitude; (b) grateful emotions; (c) attitudes towards gratitude; and (d) gratitude-related behaviours. In contrast to existing measures, the MCGM aims to comprehensively examine the major components that constitute this complex moral construct. In two studies we illustrate the value of assessing these four components of gratitude and how individuals can differ in the number and ‘type’ of components they exemplify. Importantly, we demonstrate how well-being increases linearly with the number of components a person possesses, as measured by three distinct measures of well-being. We discuss individual differences in gratitude experience and what this means for personal flourishing as well as future measurement of moral constructs

An Explorative Study of Virtues in Ethical Consumption from a Confucian Perspective in an Urban-Rural-Fringe in China

The concept of ethical consumption has garnered considerable attention in recent years. Yet, it remains somewhat ‘mystical’ in the existing Western literature. The present unique cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary study offers clarification on the conception of ethical consumption from three aspects: First, this paper reflects on the nature of the concept of ethical consumption and identifies its relatively large common core as an open-textured, ‘naturalistic’ concept; conceptualizing the ideal of ethical consumption in virtue ethical language

My character: enhancing future mindedness in young people: a feasibility study

The aim of the My Character project was to develop a better understanding of how interventions designed to develop character might enhance moral formation and futuremindedness in young people. Futuremindedness can be defined as an individual’s capacity to set goals and make plans to achieve them. Establishing goals requires considerable moral reflection, and the achievement of worthwhile aims requires character traits such as courage and the capacity to delay gratification. The research team developed two new educational interventions – a website and a hard-copy journal – with the specific aim of developing future-mindedness. After development, the website and journal were piloted over a one-year period by over 1,000 11–14 year olds in six schools across England. Various research methods, including group interviews and case studies, were implemented to assess impact. In addition, a pilot RCT was conducted to assess the feasibility of using experimental methods to measure character. The main findings from the research are that: - Students benefit from opportunities in school to think about future-mindedness; this can be successfully taught through character education. - Harnessing new technology, such as the Internet, offers exciting opportunities for character education. - It is beneficial to investigate the impact of new character education resources in order to bring greater clarity about ‘what works’. The most useful approach is a mixed methods one that allows for triangulation of evidence. - It is possible to run RCTs and other experimental research in schools to assess developmental projects of this kind, but applying the method in schools and creating suitable outcome measures present challenges for researchers. - A positive indicator of the success is that five out of the six pilot schools have embedded My Character into their curriculum. In addition, many new schools, both in Britain and internationally, have started to use the website and / or journal. This report describes the research, analyses the impact of My Character and concludes with recommendations for policy makers, practitioners and researchers embarking on similar projects. These recommendations include: i) advocating that schools create space in the curriculum to teach future-mindedness through character education; ii) enhancing traditional character education teaching methods with opportunities brought by Internet technologies; iii) evaluating character education interventions using triangulated evidence drawn from a mixture of research methods

Knightly virtues : enhancing virtue literacy through stories : research report

There is a growing consensus in Britain on the importance of character, and on the belief that the virtues that contribute to good character are part of the solution to many of the challenges facing modern society. Parents, teachers and schools understand the need to teach basic moral virtues to pupils, such as honesty, self-control, fairness, and respect, while fostering behaviour associated with such virtues today. However, until recently, the materials required to help deliver this ambition have been missing in Britain. The Knightly Virtues Programme, devised by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, aims to help solve this challenge. The programme, designed for 9 to 11 year olds, draws on selected classic stories to help teach moral character in schools. This approach has proved to be popular with children and teachers, with more than 5,000 pupils from one hundred schools having participated in the programme so far. Fifty-five of these schools (including thirty Catholic and Church of England) and 3,272 pupils (1,517 of which attended a Church school) were directly involved in different stages of the research. Based at the University of Birmingham, the Jubilee Centre houses leading academics dedicated to researching the various ways in which good character, which underpins the building blocks of society, can be developed. Recent research from the Centre has shown that the qualities that make up character can be learnt and taught, and suggests that we need a new emphasis on their importance in schools and in professional education. This report from the Centre into the use of classic literature within schools sets out the ways in which the Knightly Virtues Programme is able to develop the virtue literacy of school pupils, and the extent to which an understanding and awareness of good moral character can make positive changes to behaviour. The impact of the programme has been tested using several rigorous research methods, detailed in this report alongside their findings, which provide substantial empirical evidence for the effectiveness of using stories to develop virtue literacy

On the correlation between cosmic ray intensity and cloud cover

Various aspects of the connection between cloud cover (CC) and cosmic rays (CR) are analysed. Many features of this connection indicate that there is no direct causal connection between low cloud cover (LCC) and CR in spite of the evident long-term correlation between them. However, most of these features are indirect. If only some part of the LCC is connected and varies with CR, then its value, obtained from the joint analysis of their 11-year variations, and averaged over the globe, should be most likely less than 20%. The most significant argument against a causal connection of CR and LCC is the anticorrelation between LCC and the medium cloud cover (MCC). The scenario of the parallel influence of the solar activity on the global temperature and CC on one side and CR on the other, which can lead to the observed correlations, is discussed and advocated.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, acknowledgements replace

Re-identification of individuals from images using spot constellations : a case study in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus)

The long-term monitoring of Arctic charr in lava caves is funded by the Icelandic Research Fund, RANNÍS (research grant nos. 120227 and 162893). E.A.M. was supported by the Icelandic Research Fund, RANNÍS (grant no. 162893) and NERC research grant awarded to M.B.M. (grant no. NE/R011109/1). M.B.M. was supported by a University Research Fellowship from the Royal Society (London). C.A.L. and B.K.K. were supported by Hólar University, Iceland. The Titan Xp GPU used for this research was donated to K.T. by the NVIDIA Corporation.The ability to re-identify individuals is fundamental to the individual-based studies that are required to estimate many important ecological and evolutionary parameters in wild populations. Traditional methods of marking individuals and tracking them through time can be invasive and imperfect, which can affect these estimates and create uncertainties for population management. Here we present a photographic re-identification method that uses spot constellations in images to match specimens through time. Photographs of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) were used as a case study. Classical computer vision techniques were compared with new deep-learning techniques for masks and spot extraction. We found that a U-Net approach trained on a small set of human-annotated photographs performed substantially better than a baseline feature engineering approach. For matching the spot constellations, two algorithms were adapted, and, depending on whether a fully or semi-automated set-up is preferred, we show how either one or a combination of these algorithms can be implemented. Within our case study, our pipeline both successfully identified unmarked individuals from photographs alone and re-identified individuals that had lost tags, resulting in an approximately 4 our multi-step pipeline involves little human supervision and could be applied to many organisms.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Bactrial osteomyelitis and arthritis in Icelandic children 1996-2005

Neðst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn Skoða/Opna(view/open)Objective: The main objective was to determine the incidence and causative pathogens of osteomyelitis and septic arthritis in Icelandic children, as well as presenting symptoms and diagnosis. Methods: A nationwide retrospective review was done of all children <18 year old, 1996-2005. Subjects were divided into three equal age groups, 0-5, 6-11 and 12-17 years old. Cultures were reviewed and postive and negative cases compared. Results: Over the study period 220 cases were identified, 161 osteomyelitis and 59 septic arthritis cases. The incidence increased significantly over the period (p=0.019), mostly in the youngest age group (p<0.001) with osteomyelitis. Incidence of cases with a pathogen identified was unchanged over the period while culture negative cases increased significantly (p<0.001). Median age for osteomyelitis (6,1 years) was higher than in cases of septic arthitis (1,8 years) (p=0.003). A pathogen was identified in 59% of cases with osteomyelitis and 44% with septic arthritis. S. aureus was most common (65% and 27%, respectively) and K. kingae was second most common pathogen (7% and 11%, respectively). Methicillin resistant S. aureus was not identified. The tibia and knee were the predominant sites for osteomyelitis and septic arthritis respectively. Conclusions: An increased incidence was found in the youngest age group with osteomyelitis, especially in cases without a pathogen identified. The most commonly cultured pathogen was S. aureus, followed by K. kingae. A more sensitive technique to identify pathogens might be indicated in culture negative cases.Tilgangur: Markmið rannsóknarinnar var að kanna nýgengi, sýkingarvalda, einkenni og greiningaraðferðir beina- og liðasýkinga í börnum á Íslandi. Efniviður og aðferðir: Rannsóknin var afturskyggn og náði til barna yngri en 18 ára sem lögðust inn vegna sýkinganna á tímabilinu 1996-2005. Upplýsingum var safnað úr sjúkraskrám. Tilfellum var skipt í þrjá jafna aldurshópa, 0-5 ára, 6-11 ára og 12-17 ára. Niðurstöður ræktana voru metnar og einnig breytingar á nýgengi á tímabilinu. Niðurstöður: Á tímabilinu greindust 220 tilfelli, 161 með beinasýkingu og 59 með liðasýkingu. Nýgengi jókst marktækt á tímabilinu (p=0,019). Nýgengisaukningin var nær eingöngu bundin við beinasýkingar hjá yngsta aldurshópnum. Nýgengi þar sem ræktun var jákvæð breyttist ekki en nýgengi með neikvæða ræktun jókst marktækt (p<0,001). Miðgildi aldurs sjúklinga með beinasýkingar (6,1 ára) var hærri en þeirra með liðasýkingar (1,8 ára) (p=0,003). Í 59% beinasýkinga og 44% liðasýkinga greindist baktería, S. aureus var algengust (65% beinasýkinga og 27% liðasýkinga), því næst K. kingae (7% beinasýkinga og 11% liðasýkinga). Methicillin- ónæmir S. aureus greindust ekki. Sköflungur (20%) og hnéliður (47%) voru algengustu staðir sýkinganna. Ályktanir: Rannsóknin varpar ljósi á mikilvæga þætti beina- og liðasýkinga á Íslandi. Nýgengið vex í yngsta aldurshópnum, einkum þar sem ræktun er neikvæð. Algengasti orsakavaldur er S. aureus,svo K. kingae. Meðalaldur, kynjahlutfall og staðsetning sýkinga er sambærilegt við erlendar rannsóknir. Þörf er á næmari sýklafræðilegum greiningaraðferðum hjá þeim sem eru með neikvæðar ræktanir

Decoupling limits of N=4 super Yang-Mills on R x S^3

We find new decoupling limits of N=4 super Yang-Mills (SYM) on R x S^3 with gauge group SU(N). These decoupling limits lead to decoupled theories that are much simpler than the full N=4 SYM but still contain many of its interesting features. The decoupling limits correspond to being in a near-critical region, near a point with zero temperature and critical chemical potentials. The new decoupling limits are found by generalizing the limits of hep-th/0605234 to include not only the chemical potentials for the SU(4) R-symmetry of N=4 SYM but also the chemical potentials corresponding to the SO(4) symmetry. In the decoupled theories it is possible to take a strong coupling limit in a controllable manner since the full effective Hamiltonian is known. For planar N=4 SYM on R x S^3 all the decoupled theories correspond to fully integrable spin chains. We study the thermodynamics of the decoupled theories and find the Hagedorn temperature for small and large values of the effective coupling. We find an alternative formulation of the decoupling limits in the microcanonical ensemble. This leads to a characterization of certain regimes of weakly coupled N=4 SYM in which there are string-like states. Finally, we find a similar decoupling limit for pure Yang-Mills theory, which for the planar limit leads to a fully integrable decoupled theory.Comment: 48 pages, 1 figure; added references, published versio