Pore fluid constraints on deep ocean temperature and salinity during the Last Glacial Maximum

Pore water records of δ^(18)O and [Cl] from ODP Site 1063A on the Bermuda Rise constrain the change in seawater δ^(18)O and salinity from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the Holocene to be 0.75±0.05‰ and 2.5±0.1% respectively. Coupled with a measured benthic foraminiferal δ^(18)O change, this result means that bottom waters were 4.6±0.8°C cooler than the Holocene at the LGM and therefore at or near the seawater freezing point. Coupled δ^(18)O and chlorinity results give an extrapolated mean ocean LGM to Holocene change in δ^(18)O of 0.95±0.09‰. These data also constrain the past southern source deep‐water salinity to be 35.76±0.04 psu, which is within error of the mean deep ocean value for this time

Is empathy the missing link in teaching business ethics? A course-based educational intervention with undergraduate business students

Past approaches to teaching ethics have been rooted primarily within the cognitive developmental tradition, with the focus on developing moral reasoning. Recent studies in cognitive neuroscience and social psychology have challenged this emphasis, highlighting the primacy of the emotion in driving moral decision-making. This study proposed that empathy may be an appropriate construct for integrating both processes, and that an moral education intervention that focused on empathetic perspective-taking based on Martin Hoffman\u27s work may prove effective in both advancing moral reasoning and empathy. This approach was applied using a quasi-experimental design with undergraduate business students (N = 181) within a semester-long business ethics course. It was predicted that the class section receiving the empathetic perspective-taking intervention would show more growth on both perspective-taking (Interpersonal Reactivity Index, PT subscale) and moral reasoning (Defining Issues Test-2) measures than the comparison groups receiving the principled moral reasoning approach. Results from repeated measures ANOVAs by group indicated statistically significant differences for the comparison group increases on moral reasoning (DIT-2 N2 score); no difference was seen in the intervention group on either moral reasoning or perspective-taking. The results, however, did indicated a significant difference by gender for the intervention group on one of the subscales, Empathetic Concern, with women increasing and men decreasing in empathetic concern. A discussion of the results offers specific suggestions for integrating empathy into business ethics courses, balancing moral reasoning with emotional engagement and addressing issues related to gender. Also, this study suggests the need for skill-based, context specific measures of empathy

alpha^2 corrections to parapositronium decay: a detailed description

We present details of our recent calculation of alpha^2 corrections to the parapositronium decay into two photons. These corrections are rather small and our final result for the parapositronium lifetime agrees well with the most recent measurement. Implications for orthopositronium decays are briefly discussed.Comment: 18 pages, late

An analytical form of the dispersion function for local linear gyrokinetics in a curved magnetic field

Starting from the equations of collisionless linear gyrokinetics for magnetised plasmas with an imposed inhomogeneous magnetic field, we present the first known analytical, closed-form solution for the resulting velocity-space integrals in the presence of resonances due to both parallel streaming and constant magnetic drifts. These integrals are written in terms of the well-known plasma dispersion function (Faddeeva & Terentev 1954; Fried & Conte 1961), rendering the subsequent expressions simpler to treat analytically and more efficient to compute numerically. We demonstrate that our results converge to the well-known ones in the straight-magnetic-field and two-dimensional limits, and show good agreement with the numerical solver by G\"urcan (2014). By way of example, we calculate the exact dispersion relation for a simple electrostatic, ion-temperature-gradient-driven instability, and compare it with approximate kinetic and fluid models.Comment: 35 pages, 13 figure

Search for an exotic three-body decay of orthopositronium

We report on a direct search for a three-body decay of the orthopositronium into a photon and two penetrating particles, o-Ps -> gamma + X1 + X2. The existence of this decay could explain the discrepancy between the measured and the predicted values of the orthopositronium decay rate. From the analysis of the collected data a single candidate event is found, consistent with the expected background. This allows to set an upper limit on the branching ratio < 4.4 \times 10^{-5} (at the 90% confidence level), for the photon energy in the range from 40 keV < E_gamma< 400 keV and for mass values in the kinematical range 0 gamma + X1 + X2 decay mode as the origin of the discrepancy.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Recoil corrections in the hydrogen isoelectronic sequence

A version of the Bethe-Salpeter equation appropriate for calculating recoil corrections in highly charged hydrogenlike ions is presented. The nucleus is treated as a scalar particle of charge Z, and the electron treated relativistically. The known recoil corrections of order $m^2/M(Z\alpha)^4$ are derived in both this formalism and in NRQED

The "recoil" correction of order mα6m \alpha^6 to hyperfine splitting of positronium ground state

The "recoil" correction of order $m \alpha^6$ to the hyperfine splitting of positronium ground state was found. The formalism employed is based on the noncovariant perturbation theory in QED. Equation for two-particle component of full (many-body) wave function is used, in which effective Hamiltonian depends on the energy of a system. The effective Hamiltonian is not restricted to the nonrelativistic region, so there is no need in any regularization. To evaluate integrals over loop momenta, they are divided into "hard" and "soft" parts, coming from large and small momenta respectively. Soft contributions were found analytically, and hard ones are evaluated by numerical integration. Some soft terms due to the retardation cancel each other. To calculate the "hard" contributions, a great number of noncovariant graphs is replaced by only a few covariant ones. The hard contribution was found in two ways. The first way is to evaluate contributions of separate graphs, using the Coulomb gauge. The second one is to calculate full hard contribution as a whole using the Feynman gauge. The final result for the "recoil" correction is 0.381(6) m\al^6 and agrees with those of previous papers. Diagram-to-diagram comparison with the revised results of Adkins&Sapirstein was done. All the results agree, so the "recoil" correction is now firmly established. This means a considerable disagreement with the experimental data.Comment: 28 pages, latex including latex figure

Scale invariance and critical balance in electrostatic drift-kinetic turbulence

The equations of electrostatic drift kinetics are observed to possess a symmetry associated with their intrinsic scale invariance. Under the assumptions of spatial periodicity, stationarity, and locality, this symmetry implies a particular scaling of the turbulent heat flux with the system's parallel size, from which its scaling with the equilibrium temperature gradient can be deduced under some additional assumptions. This macroscopic transport prediction is then confirmed numerically for a reduced model of electron-temperature-gradient-driven turbulence. The system realises this scaling through a turbulent cascade from large to small perpendicular spatial scales. The route of this cascade through wavenumber space (i.e., the relationship between parallel and perpendicular scales in the inertial range) is shown to be determined by a balance between nonlinear-decorrelation and parallel-dissipation timescales. This type of "critically balanced" cascade, which maintains a constant energy flux despite the presence of parallel dissipation throughout the inertial range (as well as order-unity dissipative losses at the outer scale) is expected to be a generic feature of plasma turbulence. The outer scale of the turbulence, on which the turbulent heat flux depends, is determined by the breaking of drift-kinetic scale invariance due to the existence of large-scale parallel inhomogeneity (the parallel system size).Comment: 44 pages, 15 figure

Promoting Meaningful Partnerships with Lived Experience Experts in High Quality Research: Considerations for Funders

For the past several years, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Casey Family Programs, and the William T. Grant Foundation have funded and worked in close partnership with more than 50 individuals representing a broad array of experts, stakeholders, and people with lived experience to develop a 21st Century Research Agenda for a Child and Family Well-Being System, which comprises the most pressing research gaps that span each aspect of child welfare system involvement, including: community-based family support and maltreatment prevention, child protective services involvement and prevention of family separation, and out-of-home care and post-permanency services. Partnering organizations include Black Administrators in Child Welfare (BACW), the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA), Child Trends Hispanic Institute, the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), Social Current, and the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW).As part of this effort, a team of six lived experience experts (i.e., individuals with lived experience with the child welfare system—including two young adults with foster care histories, two birth parents, a grandparent/kinship caregiver, and a foster caregiver) have been equal partners in project leadership, serving in various roles related to project development and dissemination, and serving as full voting members of the project's Steering Committee. This type of sustained collaboration is essential for forward movement.Given the unprecedented nature and scale of this partnership, we commissioned a brief describing the partnership process and outlining guidance for funders in supporting meaningful partnerships between researchers and lived experience stakeholders

Family Minds: A randomized controlled trial of a group intervention to improve foster parents’ reflective functioning

Family Minds is a brief group psychoeducational parenting intervention designed to increase the reflective functioning (RF) and mentalization skills of foster parents. RF is important for foster parents who have to build relationships with children whose adverse experiences increase their risk for psychosocial challenges. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) for Family Minds was conducted in Texas with 89 foster parents. The main aims of this study were to examine whether the intervention could significantly increase the RF/mentalization skills of the foster parents and decrease their parenting stress. After 6 weeks, compared with the control group, intervention foster parents improved their RF via a lowering of pre-mentalizing and also significantly decreased parenting stress related to parent–child dysfunctional interactions. Other measures of RF and parenting stress showed no significant differences between groups. Foster child behavior was not significantly different between groups, although data at 6 months showed a possible lowering of internalizing symptoms for children of intervention parents. This RCT provides some encouraging evidence that Family Minds may increase RF in foster parents, improve parental sensitivity and their ability to emotionally regulate, decrease parenting stress related to challenging interactions with their foster children, and possibly decrease children's internalizing behavior