1,764 research outputs found
Rear-surface integral method for calculating thermal diffusivity: finite pulse time correction and two-layer samples
We study methods for calculating the thermal diffusivity of solids from laser
flash experiments. This experiment involves subjecting the front surface of a
small sample of the material to a heat pulse and recording the resulting
temperature rise on the opposite (rear) surface. Recently, a method was
developed for calculating the thermal diffusivity from the rear-surface
temperature rise, which was shown to produce improved estimates compared with
the commonly used half-time approach. This so-called rear-surface integral
method produced a formula for calculating the thermal diffusivity of
homogeneous samples under the assumption that the heat pulse is instantaneously
absorbed uniformly into a thin layer at the front surface. In this paper, we
show how the rear-surface integral method can be applied to a more physically
realistic heat flow model involving the actual heat pulse shape from the laser
flash experiment. New thermal diffusivity formulas are derived for handling
arbitrary pulse shapes for either a homogeneous sample or a heterogeneous
sample comprising two layers of different materials. Presented numerical
experiments confirm the accuracy of the new formulas and demonstrate how they
can be applied to the kinds of experimental data arising from the laser flash
experiment.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, accepted versio
Sensitivity to speech rhythm explains individual differences in reading ability independently of phonological awareness
This study considered whether sensitivity to speech rhythm can predict concurrent variance in reading attainment after individual differences in age, vocabulary and phonological awareness have been controlled. Five to six-year-old English-speaking children completed a battery of phonological processing assessments and reading assessments, along with a simple word stress manipulation task. The results showed that performance on the stress manipulation measure predicted a significant amount of variance in reading attainment after age, vocabulary, and phonological processing had been taken into account. These results suggest that stress sensitivity is an important, yet neglected aspect of English-speaking children?s phonological representations, which needs to be incorporated into theoretical accounts of reading development
Challenging dyke ascent models using novel laboratory experiments: Implications for reinterpreting evidence of magma ascent and volcanism
Volcanic eruptions are fed by plumbing systems that transport magma from its source to the surface, mostly fed by dykes. Here we present laboratory experiments that model dyke ascent to eruption using a tank filled with a crust analogue (gelatine, which is transparent and elastic) that is injected from below by a magma analogue (dyed water). This novel experimental setup allows, for the first time, the simultaneous measurement of fluid flow, sub-surface and surface deformation during dyke ascent. During injection, a penny-shaped fluid-filled crack is formed, intrudes, and traverses the gelatine slab vertically to then erupt at the surface. Polarised light shows the internal stress evolution as the dyke ascends, and an overhead laser scanner measures the surface elevation change in the lead-up to dyke eruption. Fluorescent passive-tracer particles that are illuminated by a laser sheet are monitored, and the intruding fluid's flow dynamics and gelatine's sub-surface strain evolution is measured using particle image velocimetry and digital image correlation, respectively. We identify 4 previously undescribed stages of dyke ascent. Stage 1, early dyke growth: the initial dyke grows from the source, and two fluid jets circulate as the penny-shaped crack is formed. Stage 2, pseudo-steady dyke growth: characterised by the development of a rapidly uprising, central, single pseudo-steady fluid jet, as the dyke grows equally in length and width, and the fluid down-wells at the dyke margin. Sub-surface host strain is localised at the head region and the tail of the dyke is largely static. Stage 3, pre-eruption unsteady dyke growth: an instability in the fluid flow appears as the central fluid jet meanders, the dyke tip accelerates towards the surface and the tail thins. Surface deformation is only detected in the immediate lead-up to eruption and is characterised by an overall topographic increase, with axis-symmetric topographic highs developed above the dyke tip. Stage 4 is the onset of eruption, when fluid flow is projected outwards and focused towards the erupting fissure as the dyke closes. A simultaneous and abrupt decrease in sub-surface strain occurs as the fluid pressure is released. Our results provide a comprehensive physical framework upon which to interpret evidence of dyke ascent in nature, and suggest dyke ascent models need to be re-evaluated to account for coupled intrusive and extrusive processes and improve the recognition of monitoring signals that lead to volcanic eruptions in nature
Should Society Allow Research Ethics Boards to Be Run As For-Profit Enterprises?
Background to the debate: An important mechanism for protecting human research participants is the prior approval of a clinical study by a research ethics board, known in the United States as an institutional review board (IRB). Traditionally, IRBs have been run by volunteer committees of scientists and clinicians working in the academic medical centers where the studies they review are being carried out. However, for-profit organizations are increasingly being hired to conduct ethics reviews. Proponents of for-profit IRBs argue that these IRBs are just as capable as academic IRBs at providing high-quality ethics reviews. Critics argue that for-profit IRBs have a conflict of interest because they generate their income from clients who have a direct financial interest in obtaining approval
The role of parental achievement goals in predicting autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting
Although autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting are linked to numerous positive and negative child outcomes respectively, fewer studies have focused on their determinants. Drawing on achievement goal theory and self-determination theory, we propose that parental achievement goals (i.e., achievement goals that parents have for their children) can be mastery, performance-approach or performance-avoidance oriented and that types of goals predict mothers' tendency to adopt autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviors. A total of 67 mothers (aged 30-53 years) reported their goals for their adolescent (aged 13-16 years; 19.4 % girls), while their adolescent evaluated their mothers' behaviors. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that parental performance-approach goals predict more controlling parenting and prevent acknowledgement of feelings, one autonomy-supportive behavior. In addition, mothers who have mastery goals and who endorse performance-avoidance goals are less likely to use guilt-inducing criticisms. These findings were observed while controlling for the effect of maternal anxiety
Assessing direct contributions of morphological awareness and prosodic sensitivity to children’s word reading and reading comprehension
We examined the independent contributions of prosodic sensitivity and morphological awareness to word reading, text reading accuracy, and reading comprehension. We did so in a longitudinal study of English-speaking children (N = 70). At 5 to 7 years of age, children completed the metalinguistic measures along with control measures of phonological awareness and vocabulary. Children completed the reading measures two years later. Morphological awareness, but not prosodic sensitivity made a significant independent contribution to word reading, text reading accuracy and reading comprehension. The effects of morphological awareness on reading comprehension remained after controls for word reading. These results suggest that morphological awareness needs to be considered seriously in models of reading development and that prosodic sensitivity might have primarily indirect relations to reading outcomes.
Keywords: Morphological Awareness; Prosody; Word Reading; Reading Comprehension
A longitudinal study of factors explaining attitude change towards gambling among adolescents
Background and aims:
No previous study has investigated changes in attitudes toward gambling from under legal
gambling age to legal gambling age. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate attitudinal changes during this transition and to identify predictors of corresponding attitude change.
Methods:
In all 1239 adolescents from a national representative sample participated in two survey waves (Wave 1; 17.5 years; Wave 2; 18.5 years).
Results:
From Wave 1 to Wave 2 the sample became more acceptant toward gambling. A regression analysis showed
that when controlling for attitudes toward gambling at Wave 1 males developed more acceptant attitudes than
females. Neuroticism was inversely related to development of acceptant attitudes toward gambling from Wave 1 to
Wave 2, whereas approval of gambling by close others at Wave 1 was positively associated with development of
more acceptant attitudes. Continuous or increased participation in gambling was related to development of more acceptant attitudes from Wave 1 to Wave 2. Conclusions:
Attitudes toward gambling became more acceptant when
reaching legal gambling age. Male gender, approval of gambling by close others and gambling participation predicted development of positive attitudes toward gambling whereas neuroticism was inversely related to development of positive attitudes toward gambling over time
Written language skills in children with specific language impairment
Background. Young children are often required to carry out writing tasks in an educational context. However, little is known about the patterns of writing skills that children with Specific Language Impairment (CwSLI) have relative to their typically developing peers
- …