Approaches to Faith, Guest Editorial Preface

Springer. We find in contemporary culture starkly contrasting estimates of the value of faith. On the one hand, for many people, faith is a virtue or positive human value, something associated with understanding, hope, and love, something to be inculcated, maintained, and cherished. On the other hand, for many people, faith is a vice, something associated with dogmatism, arrogance, and close-mindedness, something to be avoided at all costs. The papers included in this special (double) issue on approaches to faith explore questions about faith in a variety of settings through a diverse range of examples, both secular and religious. The attempt to deepen our understanding of faith in the context of ordinary human relationships (e.g., between parents and children, friends, generals and their armies, business partners, citizens and the state), a commitment to ideals, or the pursuit of significant goals is clearly of general philosophical interest, as is the examination of potential connections between faith and topics such as trust or reliance

An optical heterodyne densitometer

Researchers are developing an optical heterodyne densitometer with the potential to measure optical density over an unprecedented dynamic range with high accuracy and sensitivity. This device uses a Mach-Zender interferometer configuration with heterodyne detection to make direct comparisons between optical and RF attenuators. Researchers expect to attain measurements of filter transmittance down to 10 to the minus 12th power with better than 1 percent uncertainty. In addition, they intend to extend the technique to the problem of measuring low levels of light scattering from reflective and transmissive optics

Understanding Hope: A Review of Measurement and Construct Validity Research

Hope has been discussed by philosophers, theologians, educators, and scientists, to name but a few groups of people, over the preceding two millennia. During the last 15 years, C. R. Snyder and his colleagues at the University of Kansas have developed a theory and associated measures of the hope construct that have received extensive, detailed attention both within and outside the field of psychology. In this chapter, we describe Snyder\u27s hope model and some of the research findings that have supported the validity of this construct. Beginning with a conceptual definition of hope, we move to relevant findings about the usefulness of hope in the lives of individuals in various life arenas. We describe measures developed for assessing hope in children and adults, as well as current issues associated with the validity of hope measurement. Finally, we discuss future directions for further investigation of hope

Photoheliograph study for the Apollo telescope mount

Photoheliograph study for Apollo telescope moun

Gender Differences in Isokinetic Strength after 60 and 90 d Bed Rest

Recent reports suggest that changes in muscle strength following disuse may differ between males and females. PURPOSE: To examine potential gender differences in strength changes following 60 and 90 d of experimental bed rest. METHODS: Isokinetic extensor and flexor strength of the knee (60deg and 180deg/s, concentric only), ankle (30deg/s, concentric and eccentric), and trunk (60deg/s, concentric only) were measured following 60 d (males: n=4, 34.5+/-9.6 y; females: n=4, 35.5+/-8.2 y) and 90 d (males: n=10, 31.4+/-4.8 y; females: n=5, 37.6+/-9.9 y) of 6-degree head-down-tilt bed rest (BR; N=23). Subjects were fed a controlled diet (55%/15%/ 30%, CHO/PRO/FAT) that maintained body weight within 3% of the weight recorded on Day 3 of bed rest. After a familiarization session, testing was conducted 6 d before BR and 2 d after BR completion. Peak torque and total work were calculated for the tests performed. To allow us to combine data from both 60- and 90-d subjects, we used a mixed-model statistical analysis in which time and gender were fixed effects and bed rest duration was a random effect. Log-transformations of strength measures were utilized when necessary in order to meet statistical assumptions. RESULTS: Main effects were seen for both time and gender (p<0.05), showing decreased strength in response to bed rest for both males and females, and males stronger than females for most strength measures. Only one interaction effect was observed: females exhibited a greater loss of trunk extensor peak torque at 60 d versus pre-BR, relative to males (p=0.004). CONCLUSION: Sixty and 90 d of BR induced significant losses in isokinetic muscle strength of the locomotor and postural muscles of the knee, ankle, and trunk. Although males were stronger than females for most of the strength measures that we examined, only changes in trunk extensor peak torque were greater for females than males at day 60 of bed res

Equidistribution in All Dimensions of Worst-Case Point Sets for the TSP

Given a set S of n points in the unit square [0, 1]d , an optimal traveling salesman tour of S is a tour of S that is of minimum length. A worst-case point set for the Traveling Salesman Problem in the unit square is a point set S(n) whose optimal traveling salesman tour achieves the maximum possible length among all point sets S ⊂ [0, 1]d , where |S| = n. An open problem is to determine the structure of S(n) . We show that for any rectangular parallelepiped R contained in [0, 1]d , the number of points in S(n) ∩ R is asymptotic to n times the volume of R. Analogous results are proved for the minimum spanning tree, minimum-weight matching, and rectilinear Steiner minimum tree. These equidistribution theorems are the first results concerning the structure of worst-case point sets like S(n)

Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov Model and Simulation of Attractive and Repulsive Bose-Einstein Condensates

We describe a model of dynamic Bose-Einstein condensates near a Feshbach resonance that is computationally feasible under assumptions of spherical or cylindrical symmetry. Simulations in spherical symmetry approximate the experimentally measured time to collapse of an unstably attractive condensate only when the molecular binding energy in the model is correct, demonstrating that the quantum fluctuations and atom-molecule pairing included in the model are the dominant mechanisms during collapse. Simulations of condensates with repulsive interactions find some quantitative disagreement, suggesting that pairing and quantum fluctuations are not the only significant factors for condensate loss or burst formation. Inclusion of three-body recombination was found to be inconsequential in all of our simulations, though we do not consider recent experiments [1] conducted at higher densities