The implementation of Music Life Skills in Schools for Specific Purposes

This mixed methods study explores the implementation of Music Life Skills in Schools for Specific Purposes (SSPs) in New South Wales, focusing on the perceptions of educators and their programming methods, in order to determine the suitability of this program for students with intellectual disabilities and/or developmental disorders. Case studies of two schools were conducted. Participants were students with special needs and their classroom teacher. In these settings, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with teachers and observations of music lessons. Additional questionnaire data were collected from educators at a selection of SSPs. Data were analysed through open and axial coding. Three common themes emerged from the data: experience and perceptions of educators; programming and teaching strategies; and student responsiveness. The findings of this study contribute to the limited body of research in regard to Music Life Skills and programs available for students with disabilities in Australia. Recommendations are made for further study, including implementation of Music Life Skills in other contexts, such as the inclusive setting

Dark Matter searches using gravitational wave bar detectors: quark nuggets and newtorites

Many experiments have searched for supersymmetric WIMP dark matter, with null results. This may suggest to look for more exotic possibilities, for example compact ultra-dense quark nuggets, widely discussed in literature with several different names. Nuclearites are an example of candidate compact objects with atomic size cross section. After a short discussion on nuclearites, the result of a nuclearite search with the gravitational wave bar detectors Nautilus and Explorer is reported. The geometrical acceptance of the bar detectors is 19.5 $\rm m^2$ sr, that is smaller than that of other detectors used for similar searches. However, the detection mechanism is completely different and is more straightforward than in other detectors. The experimental limits we obtain are of interest because, for nuclearites of mass less than $10^{-5}$ g, we find a flux smaller than that one predicted considering nuclearites as dark matter candidates. Particles with gravitational only interactions (newtorites) are another example. In this case the sensitivity is quite poor and a short discussion is reported on possible improvements.Comment: published on Astroparticle Physics Sept 25th 2016 replaced fig 1

Quark nuggets search using 2350 Kg gravitational waves aluminum bar detectors

The gravitational wave resonant detectors can be used as detectors of quark nuggets, like nuclearites (nuclear matter with a strange quark). This search has been carried out using data from two 2350 Kg, 2 K cooled, aluminum bar detectors: NAUTILUS, located in Frascati (Italy), and EXPLORER, that was located in CERN Geneva (CH). Both antennas are equipped with cosmic ray shower detectors: signals in the bar due to showers are continuously detected and used to characterize the antenna performances. The bar excitation mechanism is based on the so called thermo-acoustic effect, studied on dedicated experiments that use particle beams. This mechanism predicts that vibrations of bars are induced by the heat deposited in the bar from the particle. The geometrical acceptance of the bar detectors is 19.5 $\rm m^2$ sr, that is smaller than that of other detectors used for similar searches. However, the detection mechanism is completely different and is more straightforward than in other detectors. We will show the results of ten years of data from NAUTILUS (2003-2012) and 7 years from EXPLORER (2003-2009). The experimental limits we obtain are of interest because, for nuclearites of mass less than $10^{-4}$ grams, we find a flux smaller than that one predicted considering nuclearites as dark matter candidates.Comment: presented to the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference Rio de Janeiro 201

Entropy production and fluctuation theorems under feedback control: the molecular refrigerator model revisited

We revisit the model of a Brownian particle in a heat bath submitted to an actively controlled force proportional to the velocity that leads to thermal noise reduction (cold damping). We investigate the influence of the continuous feedback on the fluctuations of the total entropy production and show that the explicit expression of the detailed fluctuation theorem involves different dynamics and observables in the forward and backward processes. As an illustration, we study the analytically solvable case of a harmonic oscillator and calculate the characteristic function of the entropy production in a nonequilibrium steady state. We then determine the corresponding large deviation function which results from an unusual interplay between 'boundary' and 'bulk' contributions.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures. References 9,10,13,14,15 added. A few changes in the text. Accepted for publication in J. Stat. Mec

Analysis of 3 years of data from the gravitational wave detectors EXPLORER and NAUTILUS

We performed a search for short gravitational wave bursts using about 3 years of data of the resonant bar detectors Nautilus and Explorer. Two types of analysis were performed: a search for coincidences with a low background of accidentals (0.1 over the entire period), and the calculation of upper limits on the rate of gravitational wave bursts. Here we give a detailed account of the methodology and we report the results: a null search for coincident events and an upper limit that improves over all previous limits from resonant antennas, and is competitive, in the range h_rss ~1E-19, with limits from interferometric detectors. Some new methodological features are introduced that have proven successful in the upper limits evaluation.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

Is it possible to experimentally verify the fluctuation relation? A review of theoretical motivations and numerical evidence

The theoretical motivations to perform experimental tests of the stationary state fluctuation relation are reviewed. The difficulties involved in such tests, evidenced by numerical simulations, are also discussed.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figures. Extended version of a presentation to the discussion "Is it possible to experimentally verify the fluctuation theorem?", IHP, Paris, December 1, 2006. Comments are very welcom

Effect of cosmic rays on the resonant gravitational wave detector NAUTILUS at temperature T=1.5 K

The interaction between cosmic rays and the gravitational wave bar detector NAUTILUS is experimentally studied with the aluminum bar at temperature of T=1.5 K. The results are compared with those obtained in the previous runs when the bar was at T=0.14 K. The results of the run at T = 1.5 K are in agreement with the thermo-acoustic model; no large signals at unexpected rate are noticed, unlike the data taken in the run at T = 0.14 K. The observations suggest a larger efficiency in the mechanism of conversion of the particle energy into vibrational mode energy when the aluminum bar is in the superconductive status.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Accepted by Physics Letters

Increasing the bandwidth of resonant gravitational antennas: The case of Explorer

Resonant gravitational wave detectors with an observation bandwidth of tens of hertz are a reality: the antenna Explorer, operated at CERN by the ROG collaboration, has been upgraded with a new read-out. In this new configuration, it exhibits an unprecedented useful bandwidth: in over 55 Hz about its frequency of operation of 919 Hz the spectral sensitivity is better than 10^{-20} /sqrt(Hz) . We describe the detector and its sensitivity and discuss the foreseable upgrades to even larger bandwidths.Comment: 4 pages- 4 figures Acceted for publication on Physical Review Letter

All-sky upper limit for gravitational radiation from spinning neutron stars

We present results of the all-sky search for gravitational-wave signals from spinning neutron stars in the data of the EXPLORER resonant bar detector. Our data analysis technique was based on the maximum likelihood detection method. We briefly describe the theoretical methods that we used in our search. The main result of our analysis is an upper limit of ${\bf 2\times10^{-23}}$ for the dimensionless amplitude of the continuous gravitational-wave signals coming from any direction in the sky and in the narrow frequency band from 921.00 Hz to 921.76 Hz.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Proceedings of 7th Gravitational Wave Data Analysis Workshop, December 17-19, 2002, Kyoto, Japa

Study of the coincidences between the gravitational wave detectors EXPLORER and NAUTILUS in 2001

We report the result from a search for bursts of gravitational waves using data collected by the cryogenic resonant detectors EXPLORER and NAUTILUS during the year 2001, for a total measuring time of 90 days. With these data we repeated the coincidence search performed on the 1998 data (which showed a small coincidence excess) applying data analysis algorithms based on known physical characteristics of the detectors. With the 2001 data a new interesting coincidence excess is found when the detectors are favorably oriented with respect to the Galactic Disk