The Influence of Social Class on Children\u27s Perceptions of Parents

The purpose of this thesis was to examine children\u27s perceptions of parens as these are related to the child\u27s social class background. Four pictures from the Tasks of Emotional Development Test were administered individually to a sample of 60 fourth grade children from two Ogden, Utah, Public schools, These picture tasks were intended to encourage subjects to project their perceptions toward parents specific to the pictorial situation. The findings of this study seemed to indicate a tendency toward differences between middle and lower class children in their perceptions of parents. Middle class children were shown to obtain higher maturity scores in their perceptions of three pictorial tasks plus higher total maturity scores than children of the lower class. Lower class children obtained higher maturity scores for one picture task (acceptance of limits from adults). Differences between boys and girls in their perceptions toward parents were not found to be supported by the statistical data. only one picture (Separation from mother) showed a significant difference between boys and girls at the .05 level

Microstructural Evolution and Phase Formation in Rapidly Solidified Ni-25.3 At. Pct Si Alloy

The drop-tube technique was used to solidify droplets of the Ni-25.3 at. pct Si alloy at high cooling rates. XRD, SEM, and TEM analysis revealed that the metastable phase, Ni25Si9, formed as the dominant phase in all ranges of the droplets, with γ-Ni31Si12 and β 1-Ni3Si also being present. Three different microstructures were observed: the regular and anomalous eutectic structures and near single-phase structure containing small inclusions of a second phase, termed here as heteroclite structure. Both eutectic structures comprise alternating lamellae of Ni25Si9 and β 1-Ni3Si, which, we conjecture, is a consequence of an unobserved eutectic reaction between the Ni25Si9 and β 1-Ni3Si phases. The matrix of the heteroclite structure is also identified as the metastable phase Ni25Si9, in which twined growth is observed in the TEM. As the cooling rate is increased (particle size decreased), the proportion of droplets displaying the entire heteroclite structure tends to increase, with its fraction increasing from 13.91 pct (300 to 500 µm) to 40.10 pct (75 to 106 µm). The thermodynamic properties of the Ni25Si9 phase were also studied by in-situ heating during XRD analysis and by DTA. This showed the decomposition of Ni25Si9 to β 1 and γ-Ni31Si12 for temperatures in excess of 790 K (517 °C)

Literacy practices of primary education children in Andalusia (Spain): a family-based perspective

Primary school children develop literacy practices in various domains and situations in everyday life. This study focused on the analysis of literacy practices of children aged 8–12 years from the perspec- tive of their families. 1,843 families participated in the non-experimental explanatory study. The children in these families speak Spanish as a first language and are schooled in this language. The instrument used was a self-report questionnaire about children’s home-literacy practices. The data obtained were analysed using categorical principal components analysis (CATPCA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results show the complex relationship between literacy practices developed by children in the domains of home and school and the limited development of a literacy-promoting ‘third space’. In conclusion, the families in our study had limited awareness of their role as literacy- promoting agents and thought of literacy learning as restricted to formal or academic spaces

Inshopping in rural communities : consumers' and retailers' perceptions

The ever changing nature of the retail industry, and the additional challenges of doing business in a rural area, mean that retailers in rural communities face a unique situation that makes them especially vulnerable to outshopping by rural consumers. Therefore the purpose of this study was to investigate factors which ultimately affect inshopping behavior. Based on Ajzen's (1988) Theory of Planned Behavior, this study examined the roles of community attachment, satisfaction with local retailers, and local retailer loyalty on inshopping as both an intention and a behavior through a consumer survey in three rural Oregon communities. Retailers in those communities were also interviewed in order to gain a better understanding of the challenges that rural retailers face and the threat that outshopping poses to their businesses' success. Retailers answered questions about their specific business, their communities, and their customers. Path analysis using maximum likelihood estimation was used to test the proposed model. The results of the path analysis showed that (1) community attachment is positively related to local retailer loyalty, (2) satisfaction with local retailers is positively related to local retailer loyalty, (3) satisfaction with local retailers is positively related to inshopping intention, (4) local retailer loyalty is positively related to inshopping intention, and (5) inshopping intention is positively related to current inshopping behavior. Although the direct influence of community attachment on inshopping intention was not found to be significant, community attachment was indirectly related to inshopping intention through local retailer loyalty. The retailer interviews revealed that retailers viewed their communities positively overall, but often described them as economically depressed. The limited population base in rural communities was viewed as the biggest challenge faced by these retailers. Outshopping was viewed as somewhat of a problem, but as an unavoidable reality of doing business in a rural community. Rural consumers were thought to differ from consumers in general because they generally shop with a purpose in mind and rarely shop for purely recreational purposes. Retailers also observed that there appear to be several groups of consumers. Some emphasize shopping locally, while others are more focused on price and selection. Based on the integrated findings from the consumer surveys and the retailer interviews practical implications are presented. The results of the consumer surveys in this study suggest that elements involving both the community and the retailer influence local retailer loyalty and ultimately inshopping by rural consumers. This has implications for rural retailers and rural communities who wish to reduce market leakage in order to improve the economic vitality of their communities. The retailer interview results show that outshopping is a concern for rural retailers, but a phenomenon they often feel is inevitable. Retailers pointed to the fact that they are not be able to meet the needs of many outshoppers because these consumers have different needs and desires than their own customer base. However, they also indicated that many rural consumers may not accurately perceive the retail offerings in their own communities. The limitations of this study include the use of a convenience sample which resulted in a highly educated sample with a high income. This restricts the generalizability of the findings. Additionally the nature of the final sample prevented comparisons between communities from taking place and means that it is impossible to tell if the findings of this study are unique to the community in which most of the consumer surveys were collected

Lamella structure formation in drop-tube processed Ni-25.3 at.% Si alloy

Rapid solidification experiments have been performed on an Ni-25.3 at.% Si alloy using drop tube techniques. The dominant phase formed is found to be Ni25Si9, with Ni31Si12 and β1-Ni3Si also being present. SEM and TEM analysis revealed a novel eutectic structure consisting of lamellar of metastable Ni25Si9 and β1-Ni3Si, the width of these being around 200 nm and 20 nm respectively. This result indicates that there is a possible eutectic reaction for the Ni25Si9 and β1-Ni3Si phases existing in the metastable phase diagram

Moral reasoning and homosexuality: the acceptability of arguments about lesbian and gay issues

In the political arena, lesbian and gay issues have typically been contested on grounds of human rights, but with variable success. Using a moral developmental framework, the purpose of this study was to explore preferences for different types of moral arguments when thinking about moral dilemmas around lesbian and gay issues. The analysis presented here comprised data collected from 545 students at UK universities, who completed a questionnaire, part of which comprised a moral dilemma task. Findings of the study showed that respondents do not apply moral reasoning consistently, and do not (clearly) favour human rights reasoning when thinking about lesbian and gay issues. Respondents tended to favour reasoning supporting existing social structures and frameworks, therefore this study highlights the importance of structural change in effecting widespread attitude change in relation to lesbian and gay rights issues. The implications of the findings for moral education are also discussed.</p

Cluster Evolution in the ROSAT North Ecliptic Pole Survey

The deepest region of the ROSAT All-Sky Survey, at the North Ecliptic Pole, has been studied to produce a complete and unbiased X-ray selected sample of clusters of galaxies. This sample is used to investigate the nature of cluster evolution and explore potential implications for large-scale structure models. The survey is 99.6% optically identified. Spectroscopic redshifts have been measured for all the extragalactic identifications. In this Letter, first results on cluster evolution are presented based on a comparison between the number of the observed clusters in the North Ecliptic Pole survey and the number of expected clusters assuming no-evolution models. At z>0.3 there is a deficit of clusters with respect to the local universe which is significant at > 4.7sigma. The evolution appears to commence at L_{0.5-2.0} > 1.8x10^{44} erg s^{-1} in our data. The negative evolution goes in the same direction as the original EMSS result, the results from the 160 deg^{2} survey by Vikhlinin et al. (1998) and the recent results from the RDCS (Rosati et al. 2000). At lower redshifts there is no evidence for evolution, a result in agreement with these and other cluster surveys.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

The WARPS survey: III. The discovery of an X-ray luminous galaxy cluster at z=0.833 and the impact of X-ray substructure on cluster abundance measurements

The WARPS team reviews the properties and history of discovery of ClJ0152.7-1357, an X-ray luminous, rich cluster of galaxies at z=0.833. At L_X = 8 x 10^44 h^(-2) erg/s (0.5-2.0 keV) ClJ0152.7-1357 is the most X-ray luminous cluster known at redshifts z>0.55. The high X-ray luminosity of the system suggests that massive clusters may begin to form at redshifts considerably greater than unity. This scenario is supported by the high degree of optical and X-ray substructure in ClJ0152.7-1357, which is similarly complex as that of other X-ray selected distant clusters and consistent with the picture of cluster formation by mass infall along large-scale filaments. X-ray emission from ClJ0152.7-1357 was detected already in 1980 with the EINSTEIN IPC. However, because the complex morphology of the emission caused its significance to be underestimated, the corresponding source was not included in the EMSS cluster sample and hence not previously identified. Simulations of the EMSS source detection and selection procedure suggest a general bias of the EMSS against X-ray luminous clusters with pronounced substructure. If highly unrelaxed, merging clusters are common at high redshift, they could create a bias in some samples as the morphological complexity of mergers may cause them to fall below the flux limit of surveys that assume a unimodal spatial source geometry. Conversely, the enhanced X-ray luminosity of mergers might cause them to, temporarily, rise above the flux limit. Either effect could lead to erroneous conclusions about the evolution of the comoving cluster space density. A high fraction of morphologically complex clusters at high redshift would also call into question the validity of cosmological studies that assume that the systems under investigation are virialized.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures; revised to focus on possible detection biases caused by substructure in clusters; accepted for publication in ApJ; uses emulateapj.sty; eps files of figures 1 and 2 can be obtained from ftp://hubble.ifa.hawaii.edu/pub/ebeling/warp

Galaxy clusters at high redshift and evolution of brightest cluster galaxies

Identification of high redshift clusters is important for studies of cosmology and cluster evolution. Using photometric redshifts of galaxies, we identify 631 clusters from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) Wide field, 202 clusters from the CHFT Deep field, 187 clusters from the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) and 737 clusters from the Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic survey (SWIRE) field. The redshifts of these clusters are in the range of 0.1<z<1.6. Merging these cluster samples gives 1644 clusters in the four survey fields, of which 1088 are newly identified and more than half are from the large SWIRE field. Among 228 clusters of z>1, 191 clusters are newly identified, and most of them from the SWIRE field. With this large sample of high redshift clusters, we study the color evolution of the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). The colors r'-z' and r^+-m_{3.6\mu m} of the BCGs are consistent with a stellar population synthesis model in which the BCGs are formed at redshift z_f>2 and evolved passively. The colors g'-z' and B-m_{3.6\mu m} of the BCGs at redshifts z>0.8 are systematically bluer than the passive evolution model for galaxy formed at z_f~2, indicating star formation in high redshift BCGs.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables; added reference, corrected typos; Table 2 is available at http://zmtt.bao.ac.cn/wzl/CV_wen.ht

The Spatial Clustering of ROSAT All-Sky Survey AGN: I. The cross-correlation function with SDSS Luminous Red Galaxies

We investigate the clustering properties of ~1550 broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at =0.25 detected in the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) through their measured cross-correlation function with ~46,000 Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. By measuring the cross-correlation of our AGN sample with a larger tracer set of LRGs, we both minimize shot noise errors due to the relatively small AGN sample size and avoid systematic errors due to the spatially varying Galactic absorption that would affect direct measurements of the auto-correlation function (ACF) of the AGN sample. The measured ACF correlation length for the total RASS-AGN sample (=1.5 x 10^(44) erg/s) is r_0=4.3^{+0.4}_{-0.5} h^(-1) Mpc and the slope \gamma=1.7^{+0.1}_{-0.1}. Splitting the sample into low and high L_X samples at L_(0.5-10 keV)=10^(44) erg/s, we detect an X-ray luminosity dependence of the clustering amplitude at the ~2.5 \sigma level. The low L_X sample has r_0=3.3^{+0.6}_{-0.8} h^(-1) Mpc (\gamma=1.7^{+0.4}_{-0.3}), which is similar to the correlation length of blue star-forming galaxies at low redshift. The high L_X sample has r_0=5.4^{+0.7}_{-1.0} h^(-1) Mpc (\gamma=1.9^{+0.2}_{-0.2}), which is consistent with the clustering of red galaxies. From the observed clustering amplitude, we infer that the typical dark matter halo (DMH) mass harboring RASS-AGN with broad optical emission lines is log (M_DMH/(h^(-1) M_SUN)) =12.6^{+0.2}_{-0.3}, 11.8^{+0.6}_{-\infty}, 13.1^{+0.2}_{-0.4} for the total, low L_X, and high L_X RASS-AGN samples, respectively.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal, 713, 558 (2010), 16 pages, 11 figures, 4 table