Context, Yes - And Theory, Yes

I admire Carrie Menkel-Meadow\u27s article very much.\u27 It reveals her deep and broad knowledge of the field of conflict resolution. It also represents an important and valid emphasis on the necessity of a rich knowledge of specific contexts for applied work in those contexts. However, the article implicitly constructs a false opposition between contextual knowledge and theoretical knowledge; in reality, both are needed. I understand that practitioners and theorists commonly misunderstand one another because of their different orientations and social roles. In this article, I will discuss these differences and then briefly consider the integration of theory and practice

Context, Yes - And Theory, Yes

I admire Carrie Menkel-Meadow\u27s article very much.\u27 It reveals her deep and broad knowledge of the field of conflict resolution. It also represents an important and valid emphasis on the necessity of a rich knowledge of specific contexts for applied work in those contexts. However, the article implicitly constructs a false opposition between contextual knowledge and theoretical knowledge; in reality, both are needed. I understand that practitioners and theorists commonly misunderstand one another because of their different orientations and social roles. In this article, I will discuss these differences and then briefly consider the integration of theory and practice

A Study of Willingness to Participate in the Development of a Global Human Community

The need for the development of a global human community has been outlined in recent literature. This study examined the willingness of individuals to endorse and act upon values embodied in a global community. A sample of U.S. adults was asked to indicate commitment to values embodied in the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, through a formulated message. Participants were also asked of actions they can take to support these values, barriers to such action, and related questions. Results were looked at through different demographic and attitudinal factors. Over half of all participants, regardless of demographic group, were interested in making the commitment encapsulated in our message. There is a strong need to better understand and link actions to the development of a global human community. Better ways to connect people with others who can better support their actions are needed

The effects of cooperation and competition upon group process

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Group Psychology, 1948.Vita.Includes bibliographical references (leaves [107]-[109]).by Morton Deutsch.Ph.D

Bang-bang control of fullerene qubits using ultra-fast phase gates

Quantum mechanics permits an entity, such as an atom, to exist in a superposition of multiple states simultaneously. Quantum information processing (QIP) harnesses this profound phenomenon to manipulate information in radically new ways. A fundamental challenge in all QIP technologies is the corruption of superposition in a quantum bit (qubit) through interaction with its environment. Quantum bang-bang control provides a solution by repeatedly applying `kicks' to a qubit, thus disrupting an environmental interaction. However, the speed and precision required for the kick operations has presented an obstacle to experimental realization. Here we demonstrate a phase gate of unprecedented speed on a nuclear spin qubit in a fullerene molecule (N@C60), and use it to bang-bang decouple the qubit from a strong environmental interaction. We can thus trap the qubit in closed cycles on the Bloch sphere, or lock it in a given state for an arbitrary period. Our procedure uses operations on a second qubit, an electron spin, in order to generate an arbitrary phase on the nuclear qubit. We anticipate the approach will be vital for QIP technologies, especially at the molecular scale where other strategies, such as electrode switching, are unfeasible

The item versus the object in memory: on the implausibility of overwriting as a mechanism for forgetting in short-term memory

The nature of forgetting in short-term memory remains a disputed topic, with much debate focussed upon whether decay plays a fundamental role (Berman et al., 2009; Altmann and Schunn, 2012; Barrouillet et al., 2012; Neath and Brown, 2012; Oberauer and Lewandowsky, 2013; Ricker et al., 2014) but much less focus on other plausible mechanisms. One such mechanism of long-standing in auditory memory is overwriting (e.g., Crowder and Morton, 1969) in which some aspects of a representation are “overwritten” and rendered inaccessible by the subsequent presentation of a further item. Here, we review the evidence for different forms of overwriting (at the feature and item levels) and examine the plausibility of this mechanism both as a form of auditory memory and when viewed in the context of a larger hearing, speech and language understanding system

Solid state quantum memory using the 31P nuclear spin

The transfer of information between different physical forms is a central theme in communication and computation, for example between processing entities and memory. Nowhere is this more crucial than in quantum computation, where great effort must be taken to protect the integrity of a fragile quantum bit. Nuclear spins are known to benefit from long coherence times compared to electron spins, but are slow to manipulate and suffer from weak thermal polarisation. A powerful model for quantum computation is thus one in which electron spins are used for processing and readout while nuclear spins are used for storage. Here we demonstrate the coherent transfer of a superposition state in an electron spin 'processing' qubit to a nuclear spin 'memory' qubit, using a combination of microwave and radiofrequency pulses applied to 31P donors in an isotopically pure 28Si crystal. The electron spin state can be stored in the nuclear spin on a timescale that is long compared with the electron decoherence time and then coherently transferred back to the electron spin, thus demonstrating the 31P nuclear spin as a solid-state quantum memory. The overall store/readout fidelity is about 90%, attributed to systematic imperfections in radiofrequency pulses which can be improved through the use of composite pulses. We apply dynamic decoupling to protect the nuclear spin quantum memory element from sources of decoherence. The coherence lifetime of the quantum memory element is found to exceed one second at 5.5K.Comment: v2: Tomography added and storage of general initial state

Emergent behavior in particle-laden microfluidic systems informs strategies for improving cell and particle separations

Colloidal particles placed in an energy landscape interact with each other, giving rise to complex dynamic behavior that affects the ability to process and manipulate suspensions of these particles. Propagating across scales ranging from the local behavior of 10's of particles to non-local behavior encompassing >10[superscript 6] particles, these particle interactions are pervasive and challenging to describe quantitatively, especially in the confined environments typical of microfluidic devices. To better understand the effects of particle interactions in this context, we have performed experiments and simulations involving a simple microfluidic device in which hydrodynamic and electrostatic forces are leveraged to concentrate and separate particle mixtures. These investigations reveal the mechanisms underlying the dynamic patterns formed by micron-scale particles as they impinge on a dielectrophoretic force barrier: their tendency to aggregate and recirculate under constant operating conditions, and to reorganize when the operating conditions are changed. The emergent behaviors of these ensembles of interacting particles exhibit features of dynamical frustration and cooperativity that suggest non-intuitive strategies for concentrating and sorting suspensions. Finally, we present a simple analytic model based on hydrodynamic coupling that captures important features of strongly interacting particle suspensions.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant EB005753)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Instrument Development for Biological Research (Grant DBI-0852654)Singapore-MIT Allianc

The effects of caffeine on rugby passing accuracy while performing the Reactive Agility Test

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: H. N. Assi, and L. Bottoms, ‘The effects of caffeine on rugby passing accuracy while performing the Reactive Agility Test’, Science & Sports, Vol. 29 (5): 275-281, October 2014, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scispo.2014.07.012. This manuscript version is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.Aim.—Caffeine has been observed to improve performance of high-intensity and endurance exercise, but its effects on passing accuracy and reactive agility seen in intermittent high intensity team sports such as rugby and hockey are unclear. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of ingesting caffeine on passing accuracy and agility speed before and after a simulated rugby protocol (SRP). Methods.—Nine male amateur rugby union players volunteered to participate in the study. The first visit participants undertook the multistage fitness test to estimate maximal oxygen consumption levels. On the second and third visits, a passing accuracy test (PAT) was undertaken which involved a modified reactive agility speed test that pressured the participants to pass into a target at the end of each run pre and post the 40-minute SRP. Participants ingested either 6 mg.kg.bw−1 of caffeine (CAF) or a placebo (PL) 60 minutes prior to the start of the SRP. Results.—CAF maintained sprint speed after the SRP whereas it decreased during PL trial. However, there were no effect of CAF on PAT scores (P > 0.05) nor was there an effect on RPE (P > 0.05). The results of the study lend some support to findings illustrating beneficial effect of caffeine ingestion before a simulated rugby protocol.Peer reviewe

Changing outcomes following pelvic exenteration for locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancer

Background Pelvic exenteration for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) and locally recurrent rectal cancer (LRRC) is technically challenging but increasingly performed in specialist centres. The aim of this study was to compare outcomes of exenteration over time. Methods This was a multicentre retrospective study of patients who underwent exenteration for LARC and LRRC between 2004 and 2015. Surgical outcomes, including rate of bone resection, flap reconstruction, margin status and transfusion rates, were examined. Outcomes between higher- and lower-volume centres were also evaluated. Results Some 2472 patients underwent pelvic exenteration for LARC and LRRC across 26 institutions. For LARC, rates of bone resection or flap reconstruction increased from 2004 to 2015, from 3.5 to 12.8 per cent, and from 12.0 to 29.4 per cent respectively. Fewer units of intraoperative blood were transfused over this interval (median 4 to 2 units; P = 0.040). Subgroup analysis showed that bone resection and flap reconstruction rates increased in lower- and higher-volume centres. R0 resection rates significantly increased in low-volume centres but not in high-volume centres over time (low-volume: from 62.5 to 80.0 per cent, P = 0.001; high-volume: from 83.5 to 88.4 per cent, P = 0.660). For LRRC, no significant trends over time were observed for bone resection or flap reconstruction rates. The median number of units of intraoperative blood transfused decreased from 5 to 2.5 units (P < 0.001). R0 resection rates did not increase in either low-volume (from 51.7 to 60.4 per cent; P = 0.610) or higher-volume (from 48.6 to 65.5 per cent; P = 0.100) centres. No significant differences in length of hospital stay, 30-day complication, reintervention or mortality rates were observed over time. Conclusion Radical resection, bone resection and flap reconstruction rates were performed more frequently over time, while transfusion requirements decreased