Part-time Special Education Predicts Students’ Reading Self-concept Development

The academic self-concept changes from childhood to early adulthood in relation to experiences of capability in different school tasks and comparison with peers. Students in special education have a lower academic self-concept than their peers do, but it is unclear how part-time special education affects self-concept development. In Finnish schools, part-time special education is learning support that is usually provided for 1–2 h/week in small groups. The main aim of this study was exploring the effects of participation in part-time special education and gender on the level and change in three academic self-concept domains (General School, Mathematics and Reading) between the ages of 11 and 13 years (N = 669). Use of the multilevel growth curve model revealed negative linear development in all three self-concept domains from Grades 5 to 7, but participation in part-time special education had a statistically significant positive effect on the development of the Reading self-concept

The connection between the radio jet and the gamma-ray emission in the radio galaxy 3C 120

We present the analysis of the radio jet evolution of the radio galaxy 3C 120 during a period of prolonged gamma-ray activity detected by the Fermi satellite between December 2012 and October 2014. We find a clear connection between the gamma-ray and radio emission, such that every period of gamma-ray activity is accompanied by the flaring of the mm-VLBI core and subsequent ejection of a new superluminal component. However, not all ejections of components are associated with gamma-ray events detectable by Fermi. Clear gamma-ray detections are obtained only when components are moving in a direction closer to our line of sight.This suggests that the observed gamma-ray emission depends not only on the interaction of moving components with the mm-VLBI core, but also on their orientation with respect to the observer. Timing of the gamma-ray detections and ejection of superluminal components locate the gamma-ray production to within almost 0.13 pc from the mm-VLBI core, which was previously estimated to lie about 0.24 pc from the central black hole. This corresponds to about twice the estimated extension of the broad line region, limiting the external photon field and therefore suggesting synchrotron self Compton as the most probable mechanism for the production of the gamma-ray emission. Alternatively, the interaction of components with the jet sheath can provide the necessary photon field to produced the observed gamma-rays by Compton scattering.Comment: Already accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

The Parsec-scale Structure, Kinematics, and Polarization of Radio-Loud Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies

Several narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) have now been detected in gamma rays, providing firm evidence that at least some of this class of active galactic nuclei (AGN) produce relativistic jets. The presence of jets in NLS1s is surprising, as these sources are typified by comparatively small black hole masses and near- or super-Eddington accretion rates. This challenges the current understanding of the conditions necessary for jet production. Comparing the properties of the jets in NLS1s with those in more familiar jetted systems is thus essential to improve jet production models. We present early results from our campaign to monitor the kinematics and polarization of the parsec-scale jets in a sample of 15 NLS1s through multifrequency observations with the Very Long Baseline Array. These observations are complemented by fast-cadence 15 GHz monitoring with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory 40m telescope and optical spectroscopic monitoring with with the 2m class telescope at the Guillermo Haro Astrophysics Observatory in Cananea, Mexico.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. To appear in the Proceedings of the IAU Symposium No. 313: "Extragalactic jets from every angle," Galapagos, Ecuador, 15-19 September 2014, F. Massaro, C. C. Cheung, E. Lopez, and A. Siemiginowska (Eds.), Cambridge University Pres

Historical re-enactment: narrativity, affect and the sublime

The Karelian Evacuation Trail is an annual reenactment event which commemorates the uprooting of the Finno-Karelian population from their homeland in present-day Russia, and their resettlement in residual Finland in the aftermath of World War II. Initiated in 2006 by the Society of Children Displaced by the War, the Trail has since been held annually, each time in a different municipality in Southern Finland. In the Evacuation Trail, plot lines derived from family traditions and national literature act as a Gestalt, within which the empirical phenomena gained via sensorial stimuli are perceived. The embodied experience generates a sublime effect and a grounding sense of community among the participants. Based on my case study, I argue that inter-subjective co-creation through embodied performance provides a more inclusive alternative to the institution of 'branded authorship' prevalent in modernist historiography. It is particularly well suited for representing postmodern collectivities, traumatised by major displacements and destabilised by social change and the far-reaching 'dispersal' and 'disembodiment' of contemporary media

Catching the Radio Flare in CTA 102 III. Core-Shift and Spectral Analysis

The temporal and spatial spectral evolution of the jets of AGN can be studied with multi-frequency, multi-epoch VLBI observations. The combination of both, morphological and spectral parameters can be used to derive source intrinsic physical properties such as the magnetic field and the non-thermal particle density. In the first two papers of this series, we analyzed the single-dish light curves and the VLBI kinematics of the blazar CTA 102 and suggested a shock-shock interaction between a traveling and a standing shock wave as a possible scenario to explain the observed evolution of the component associated to the 2006 flare. In this paper we investigate the core-shift and spectral evolution to test our hypothesis of a shock-shock interaction. We used 8 multi-frequency VLBA observations to analyze the temporal and spatial evolution of the spectral parameters during the flare. We observed CTA 102 between May 2005 and April 2007 using the VLBA at six different frequencies spanning from 2 - 86 GHz. After the calibrated VLBA images were corrected for opacity, we performed a detailed spectral analysis. From the derived values we estimated the magnetic field and the density of the relativistic particles. The detailed analysis of the opacity shift reveals that the position of the jet core is proportional to nu^-1 with some temporal variations. The value suggests possible equipartition between magnetic field energy and particle kinetic energy densities at the most compact regions. From the variation of the physical parameters we deduced that the 2006 flare in CTA 102 is connected to the ejection of a new traveling feature (t=2005.9) and the interaction between this shock wave and a stationary structure around 0.1 mas from the core. The source kinematics together with the spectral and structural variations can be described by helical motions in an over-pressured jet.Comment: 35 pages, 46 figure

MOJAVE: monitoring of jets in active galactic nuclei with VLBA experiments. V. Multi-epoch VLBA images

We present images from a long-term program (MOJAVE: Monitoring of Jets in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with VLBA Experiments) to survey the structure and evolution of parsec-scale jet phenomena associated with bright radio-loud active galaxies in the northern sky. The observations consist of 2424 15 GHz Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) images of a complete flux-density-limited sample of 135 AGNs above declination –20°, spanning the period 1994 August to 2007 September. These data were acquired as part of the MOJAVE and 2 cm Survey programs, and from the VLBA archive. The sample-selection criteria are based on multi-epoch parsec-scale (VLBA) flux density, and heavily favor highly variable and compact blazars. The sample includes nearly all the most prominent blazars in the northern sky, and is well suited for statistical analysis and comparison with studies at other wavelengths. Our multi-epoch and stacked-epoch images show 94% of the sample to have apparent one-sided jet morphologies, most likely due to the effects of relativistic beaming. Of the remaining sources, five have two-sided parsec-scale jets, and three are effectively unresolved by the VLBA at 15 GHz, with essentially all of the flux density contained within a few tenths of a milliarcsecond