Contextual Teaching with Computer-Assisted Instruction

Computer technology has made substantial contributions to education and educators are now confronted with determining how to best incorporate it as a teaching tool. Educators have also long struggled with how to make what is learned in school more useful in other contexts. This review of recent literature was undertaken in an attempt to determine if computer-assisted instruction is compatible with contextual teaching and learning approaches. The four computer-assisted assets of flexibility, format, interactivity and navigational methods were examined because they yield the most interpretive evidence of compatibility with contextual teaching and learning approaches and their characteristics. It was concluded that all four of the assets identified were compatible and should be included within contextual approaches

The Current Status of Technology Education

Technology education has experienced significant changes over the past decade. This article will address the history of technology education and the current status of technology education. Specifically, the article will discuss the historical changes within technology education and how those changes have lead to current initiatives such as the Standards for Technological Literacy

The concept of solidarity: emerging from the theoretical shadows?

The concept of solidarity has been relatively neglected by social scientists since Durkheim's pioneering work in the late 19th century. The discipline of politics has been guilty of overlooking this 'subjective' element of community life, but recent works by Stjernø and Brunkhorst reflect a growing awareness of the theoretical significance of the concept. Whereas early liberal attempts to theorise solidarity took the nation state to be the appropriate community for its realisation, the emergence of globalisation raises the possibility of human solidarity developing in the global community. Traditional forms of solidarity have been dissipated by the social changes accompanying globalisation, but they were often locked into the defence of particular interests. New forms may be emerging to rekindle the broader vision of human solidarity. Recent work by writers such as Habermas, Honneth, Rorty and Touraine focuses on widening and deepening democratic participation and/or the articulation of our ethical obligations in various ways. It is argued here that these perspectives need to be supplemented by a radical humanist approach grounded in a normative theory of human self-realisation

Realism and the wave-function

Realism -- the idea that the concepts in physical theories refer to 'things' existing in the real world -- is introduced as a tool to analyze the status of the wave-function. Although the physical entities are recognized by the existence of invariant quantities, examples from classical and quantum physics suggest that not all the theoretical terms refer to the entities: some terms refer to properties of the entities, and some terms have only an epistemic function. In particular, it is argued that the wave-function may be written in terms of classical non-referring and epistemic terms. The implications for realist interpretations of quantum mechanics and on the teaching of quantum physics are examined.Comment: No figure

Discrete coherent and squeezed states of many-qudit systems

We consider the phase space for a system of $n$ identical qudits (each one of dimension $d$, with $d$ a primer number) as a grid of $d^{n} \times d^{n}$ points and use the finite field $GF(d^{n})$ to label the corresponding axes. The associated displacement operators permit to define $s$-parametrized quasidistribution functions in this grid, with properties analogous to their continuous counterparts. These displacements allow also for the construction of finite coherent states, once a fiducial state is fixed. We take this reference as one eigenstate of the discrete Fourier transform and study the factorization properties of the resulting coherent states. We extend these ideas to include discrete squeezed states, and show their intriguing relation with entangled states between different qudits.Comment: 11 pages, 3 eps figures. Submitted for publicatio

Isometric group actions on Banach spaces and representations vanishing at infinity

Our main result is that the simple Lie group $G=Sp(n,1)$ acts properly isometrically on $L^p(G)$ if $p>4n+2$. To prove this, we introduce property ({\BP}_0^V), for $V$ be a Banach space: a locally compact group $G$ has property ({\BP}_0^V) if every affine isometric action of $G$ on $V$, such that the linear part is a $C_0$-representation of $G$, either has a fixed point or is metrically proper. We prove that solvable groups, connected Lie groups, and linear algebraic groups over a local field of characteristic zero, have property ({\BP}_0^V). As a consequence for unitary representations, we characterize those groups in the latter classes for which the first cohomology with respect to the left regular representation on $L^2(G)$ is non-zero; and we characterize uniform lattices in those groups for which the first $L^2$-Betti number is non-zero.Comment: 28 page

How Good Is the Samaritan, and Why?

What is the extent and nature of religious prosociality? If religious prosociality exists, is it parochial and extended selectively to co-religionists, or is it generalized regardless of the recipient? Further, is it driven by preferences to help others or by expectations of reciprocity? We examined how much of a $0.30 bonus Mechanical Turk workers would share with the other player whose religion was prominently displayed during two online resource allocation games. In one game (but not the other), the recipient could choose to reciprocate. Results from both games showed that the more central religion was in participants’ lives, the more of the bonus they shared, regardless of whether they were giving to atheists or Christians. Furthermore, this effect was most clearly related to self-reported frequency of “thinking about religious ideas”, rather than belief in God or religious practice/experience. Our findings provide evidence of generalized religious prosociality and illuminate its basis

Architecturally diverse proteins converge on an analogous mechanism to inactivate Uracil-DNA glycosylase

Uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG) compromises the replication strategies of diverse viruses from unrelated lineages. Virally encoded proteins therefore exist to limit, inhibit or target UDG activity for proteolysis. Viral proteins targeting UDG, such as the bacteriophage proteins ugi, and p56, and the HIV-1 protein Vpr, share no sequence similarity, and are not structurally homologous. Such diversity has hindered identification of known or expected UDG-inhibitory activities in other genomes. The structural basis for UDG inhibition by ugi is well characterized; yet, paradoxically, the structure of the unbound p56 protein is enigmatically unrevealing of its mechanism. To resolve this conundrum, we determined the structure of a p56 dimer bound to UDG. A helix from one of the subunits of p56 occupies the UDG DNA-binding cleft, whereas the dimer interface forms a hydrophobic box to trap a mechanistically important UDG residue. Surprisingly, these p56 inhibitory elements are unexpectedly analogous to features used by ugi despite profound architectural disparity. Contacts from B-DNA to UDG are mimicked by residues of the p56 helix, echoing the role of ugi’s inhibitory beta strand. Using mutagenesis, we propose that DNA mimicry by p56 is a targeting and specificity mechanism supporting tight inhibition via hydrophobic sequestration

Mind the gap? The persistence of pathological discourses in urban regeneration policy

Urban regeneration policy has historically framed policy problems using a discourse that pathologises areas and spatial communities. Since 2001 in England, and 2002 in Scotland a structural change in policy has occurred where citywide partnerships are now meant overcome structural spatial inequalities, countering pathological explanations. This paper uses historical and discourse analysis to evaluate one of the major community regeneration strategies developed by the Scottish Executive in 2002: Better Communities in Scotland: Closing the Gap. It seeks to ask whether structural change in policy was paralleled by discursive change; what discursive path dependence is evidenced? The text is placed in the historic context of UK urban renewal policies dating back to the launch of the Urban Programme in 1968 and particularly the policy discourse created by the influential Conservative government policy of 1988 New Life for Urban Scotland and the wider discourses of poverty and neighbourhood renewal policy created by Labour governments since 1997. The close textual analysis of the text shows that Better Communities in Scotland continues to pathologise spatial communities. Although this suggests a degree of historical path dependency, the historic breadth of the analysis also problematises simple historical determinism