The Big Brown Bear

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Construction and Validation of Nepali Teachers’ Self-Efficacy and Classroom Management Practices Instruments Through the E-Delphi Technique

This study presents the processes applied in developing and validating Nepali Classroom Management Practices (CMPS) and Nepali Teachers’ Self-Efficacy (NTSE) instruments. The instruments were developed using the e-Delphi technique. To find the consensus benchmark of the responses, the study used a five-point Likert scale and used Microsoft Excel to analyze responses. The items that achieved a 75% consensus were accepted. Following the interviews and two rounds of questionnaire administration, 28 items from the initial 35 for NTSE and 24 items from the initial 52 for CMP were found to have a high consensus among the experts. Therefore, 28-items NTSE and 24-items CMP instruments were developed to measure Nepali public school teachers’ self-efficacy and their classroom management practices. The pilot study results demonstrated that there was strong internal consistency of items with the value of the overall Cronbach’s alpha in both scales α= .86 (NTSE α = .77 and CMP α = .83). These scales can be used for educational research projects in Nepal and then be contextualized to use in other countries

Bayesian Probabilities and the Histories Algebra

We attempt a justification of a generalisation of the consistent histories programme using a notion of probability that is valid for all complete sets of history propositions. This consists of introducing Cox's axioms of probability theory and showing that our candidate notion of probability obeys them. We also give a generalisation of Bayes' theorem and comment upon how Bayesianism should be useful for the quantum gravity/cosmology programmes.Comment: 10 pages, accepted by Int. J. Theo. Phys. Feb 200

Adolescent behavior and PTSD 6–7 years after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

Behavioral problems and psychopathologies were reported in children exposed to the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks in New York City within 2–3 y post-disaster. Little is known of subsequent 9/11 related behavioral and emotional problems. We assessed risk factors for behavioral difficulties and probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 489 adolescent enrollees ages 11–18 y of age in the World Trade Center Health Registry cohort using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and DISC Predictive Scales (DPS), respectively, as reported by the adolescents. Associations between parental PTSD and adolescent PTSD and behavioral problems were studied in a subset of 166 adolescent-parent pairs in which the parent was also a Registry enrollee. Nearly one-fifth (17.4%) of the adolescents, all of whom were 5–12 y old at the time of the attacks, scored in the abnormal (5.7%) or borderline (11.7%) range of total SDQ. Problems were more frequent in minority, low-income, and single-parent adolescents. Abnormal and borderline SDQ scores were significantly associated with direct WTC exposures and with WTC-related injury or death of a family member. Adolescent PTSD was significantly associated with WTC exposure and with fear of one's own injury or death, and with PTSD in the parent (OR = 5.6; 95% CI 1.1–28.4). This adolescent population should be monitored for persistence or worsening of these problems. Co-occurrence of parent and child mental health symptoms following a disaster may have implications for healthcare practitioners and for disaster response planners

Tribological characteristics of Pongamia oil methyl ester

The tribological characteristics of biodiesel PME (Pongamia oil methyl ester) is analysed in this work. Three blends B20, B50 and B80 of pongamia methyl ester with diesel were prepared. Tribological studies were performed with these blends using fourball tribotester and reciprocating wear tester to analyse the friction and wear behavior at various operating parameters. It was observed that wear and frictional torque reduced with increase in biodiesel content. The frictional torque was found to decrease with time. Thus, higher blends have a lower coefficient of friction than lower blends. Wear in the steel ball for the B50 blend is 25% less than that for the B20 blend and the wear appears to stabilize for concentrations greater than B50. Reciprocating wear test on cylinder liner-piston ring suggested that PME could offer better lubricity between the sliding surfaces than that of pure diesel. SEM anlaysis of the worn surfaces suggested that the surface lubricated with PME blends were less affected during the wear process when compared to those with pure diesel

Information and The Brukner-Zeilinger Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: A Critical Investigation

In Brukner and Zeilinger's interpretation of quantum mechanics, information is introduced as the most fundamental notion and the finiteness of information is considered as an essential feature of quantum systems. They also define a new measure of information which is inherently different from the Shannon information and try to show that the latter is not useful in defining the information content in a quantum object. Here, we show that there are serious problems in their approach which make their efforts unsatisfactory. The finiteness of information does not explain how objective results appear in experiments and what an instantaneous change in the so-called information vector (or catalog of knowledge) really means during the measurement. On the other hand, Brukner and Zeilinger's definition of a new measure of information may lose its significance, when the spin measurement of an elementary system is treated realistically. Hence, the sum of the individual measures of information may not be a conserved value in real experiments.Comment: 20 pages, two figures, last version. Section 4 is replaced by a new argument. Other sections are improved. An appendix and new references are adde

Consistency of the Shannon entropy in quantum experiments

The consistency of the Shannon entropy, when applied to outcomes of quantum experiments, is analysed. It is shown that the Shannon entropy is fully consistent and its properties are never violated in quantum settings, but attention must be paid to logical and experimental contexts. This last remark is shown to apply regardless of the quantum or classical nature of the experiments.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX2e/REVTeX4. V5: slightly different than the published versio

An accurate determination of the Avogadro constant by counting the atoms in a 28Si crystal

The Avogadro constant links the atomic and the macroscopic properties of matter. Since the molar Planck constant is well known via the measurement of the Rydberg constant, it is also closely related to the Planck constant. In addition, its accurate determination is of paramount importance for a definition of the kilogram in terms of a fundamental constant. We describe a new approach for its determination by "counting" the atoms in 1 kg single-crystal spheres, which are highly enriched with the 28Si isotope. It enabled isotope dilution mass spectroscopy to determine the molar mass of the silicon crystal with unprecedented accuracy. The value obtained, 6.02214084(18) x 10^23 mol^-1, is the most accurate input datum for a new definition of the kilogram.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Quasi-probability representations of quantum theory with applications to quantum information science

This article comprises a review of both the quasi-probability representations of infinite-dimensional quantum theory (including the Wigner function) and the more recently defined quasi-probability representations of finite-dimensional quantum theory. We focus on both the characteristics and applications of these representations with an emphasis toward quantum information theory. We discuss the recently proposed unification of the set of possible quasi-probability representations via frame theory and then discuss the practical relevance of negativity in such representations as a criteria for quantumness.Comment: v3: typos fixed, references adde