5,274 research outputs found
The World-View Approach to Critical Thinking
The material In this paper will be useful to teachers interested In presenting controversial Issues In their classroom. The Worldvlew Approach to Critical Thinking is about teaching students the Interpretive process, which involves learning critical thinking skills by the use of controversial topics. The premise of the approach is that beliefs (worldviews) are an Integral part of the Interpretive process. It involves three major concepts: a) the dividing of science Into two major categories: Empirical and Historical, b) the effects of the worldview on Interpretation, and c) how to evaluate different worldvlews for their validity. Finally, an attitude of openness needs to be a part 01 the classroom atmosphere
Discovery of a New Dusty B[e] Star in the Small Magellanic Cloud
We present new optical spectroscopic and archival Spitzer IRAC photometric
observations of a B-type star in the SMC cluster NGC 346, NGC 346:KWBBe 200. We
detect numerous Fe II, [O I], and [Fe II] lines, as well as strong P-Cygni
profile H I emission lines in its optical spectrum. The star's near-IR color
and optical to IR SED clearly indicate the presence of an infrared excess,
consistent with the presence of gas and warm, T ~800 K, circumstellar dust.
Based on a crude estimate of the star's luminosity and the observed
spectroscopic line profile morphologies, we find that the star is likely to be
a B-type supergiant. We suggest that NGC 346:KWBBe 200 is a newly discovered
B[e] supergiant star, and represents the fifth such object to be identified in
the SMC.Comment: 12 pages, accepted by Ap
Evidence of slow-light effects from rotary drag of structured beams
Self-pumped slow light, typically observed within laser gain media, is created by an intense pump field. By observing the rotation of a structured laser beam upon transmission through a spinning ruby window, we show that the slowing effect applies equally to both the dark and bright regions of the incident beam. This result is incompatible with slow-light models based on simple pulse-reshaping arising from optical bleaching. Instead, the slow-light effect arises from the long upper-state lifetime of the ruby and a saturation of the absorption, from which the Kramers–Kronig relation gives a highly dispersive phase index and a correspondingly high group index
Spatial Control of Photoemitted Electron Beams using a Micro-Lens-Array Transverse-Shaping Technique
A common issue encountered in photoemission electron sources used in electron
accelerators is the transverse inhomogeneity of the laser distribution
resulting from the laser-amplification process and often use of frequency up
conversion in nonlinear crystals. A inhomogeneous laser distribution on the
photocathode produces charged beams with lower beam quality. In this paper, we
explore the possible use of microlens arrays (fly-eye light condensers) to
dramatically improve the transverse uniformity of the drive laser pulse on UV
photocathodes. We also demonstrate the use of such microlens arrays to generate
transversely-modulated electron beams and present a possible application to
diagnose the properties of a magnetized beam.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1609.0166
Cold Acclimation in Genetically Related (Sibling) Deciduous and Evergreen Peach (Prunus persica [L.] Batsch) (II. A 60-Kilodalton Bark Protein in Cold-Acclimated Tissues of Peach Is Heat Stable and Related to the Dehydrin Family of Proteins)
Near-infrared line identification in type Ia supernovae during the transitional phase
We present near-infrared synthetic spectra of a delayed-detonation
hydrodynamical model and compare them to observed spectra of four normal type
Ia supernovae ranging from day +56.5 to day +85. This is the epoch during which
supernovae are believed to be undergoing the transition from the photospheric
phase, where spectra are characterized by line scattering above an optically
thick photosphere, to the nebular phase, where spectra consist of optically
thin emission from forbidden lines. We find that most spectral features in the
near-infrared can be accounted for by permitted lines of Fe II and Co II. In
addition, we find that [Ni II] fits the emission feature near 1.98 {\mu}m,
suggesting that a substantial mass of 58Ni exists near the center of the ejecta
in these objects, arising from nuclear burning at high density. A tentative
identification of Mn II at 1.15 {\mu}m may support this conclusion as well.Comment: accepted to Ap
Familiarity with speech affects cortical processing of auditory distance cues and increases acuity
Several acoustic cues contribute to auditory distance estimation. Nonacoustic cues, including familiarity, may also play a role. We tested participants' ability to distinguish the distances of acoustically similar sounds that differed in familiarity. Participants were better able to judge the distances of familiar sounds. Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings collected while participants performed this auditory distance judgment task revealed that several cortical regions responded in different ways depending on sound familiarity. Surprisingly, these differences were observed in auditory cortical regions as well as other cortical regions distributed throughout both hemispheres. These data suggest that learning about subtle, distance-dependent variations in complex speech sounds involves processing in a broad cortical network that contributes both to speech recognition and to how spatial information is extracted from speech. © 2012 Wisniewski et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Disk-Loss and Disk Renewal Phases in Classical Be Stars II. Detailed Analysis of Spectropolarimetric Data
In Wisniewski et al. 2010, paper I, we analyzed 15 years of spectroscopic and
spectropolarimetric data from the Ritter and Pine Bluff Observatories of 2 Be
stars, 60 Cygni and {\pi} Aquarii, when a transition from Be to B star
occurred. Here we anaylize the intrinsic polarization, where we observe
loop-like structures caused by the rise and fall of the polarization Balmer
Jump and continuum V-band polarization being mismatched temporally with
polarimetric outbursts. We also see polarization angle deviations from the
mean, reported in paper I, which may be indicative of warps in the disk, blobs
injected at an inclined orbit, or spiral density waves. We show our ongoing
efforts to model time dependent behavior of the disk to constrain the
phenomena, using 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer codes.Comment: 2 pages, 6 figures, IAU Symposium 27
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