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Enjoying the operatic voice: A neuropsychoanalytic exploration of the operatic reception experience
This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.There has been a long-standing and mutually-informing association between psychoanalysis, literature and the arts. Surprisingly, given the oral/aural basis of the âtalking cureâ, music has largely been overlooked by psychoanalysis. On the other hand, neuroscientific research investigating music reception and production has been increasing steadily in range and scope over the years. However, in order to avoid confounding factors, empirical studies have focused primarily on non-vocal music. Operatic vocal music has not featured prominently in either field. Yet the multidimensional, multi-layered nature of opera, which fuses together a number of different arts, would appear to provide fertile soil for both disciplines. This thesis aims to fill that gap, providing a stepping stone for further research. The individual strengths of psychoanalysis and neuroscience are leveraged separately at first, according to a âcomplementaristâ approach, and then jointly as the inter-discipline of neuropsychoanalysis. By combining various theories of mind with current knowledge about music processing in the brain, a more comprehensive understanding of the reception experience can be achieved. As a result, a neuropsychoanalytic theory can be formulated to account for the operatic reception experience in subjective as well as objective terms. According to this theoretical formulation, the bittersweet enjoyment of operatic vocal music, which can literally move an operaphile to tears, lies in a numberof subjective dynamics that are unique to the reception of opera, rather than in any distinct objective neural processes, which are common to the reception of all music. These subjective dynamics, which are recruited during neural processing, are triggered by the equally unique features of the operatic voice, in combination with a number of auxiliary elements that are specific to opera
Analyzing the structure of basic quantum knowledge for instruction
In order to support students in the development of expertise in quantum
mechanics, we asked which concepts and structures can act as organizing
principles of the non-relativistic theory. The research question has been
addressed in a multi-step process based on the analysis of categorization
studies, on a content analysis of a sample of undergraduate textbooks and on
the results of existing research on learning difficulties. The answer consists
in seven concept maps, intended as models of the organizing principles of
quantum knowledge needed to account for the results of measurement and time
evolution. By means of these instruments, it is possible to visualize and
explore the different facets of the interplay between the vector structure of
the quantum states and the operator structure of the observables, and to
highlight the educational significance of the relations between observables.
The maps can be used by instructors as a support for helping students build a
well-organized knowledge structure and by researchers as a basis for the design
of investigations into student understanding. While this framework may be
adapted to different approaches and interpretive stances, it provides
indications in favor of a spin-first approach over a waves-first one. At high
school level, a simplified version of the framework has been used as a basis
for the design of a teaching-learning sequence.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, Submitted to the American Journal of
Physic
Physics student ideas on quantum state and its formal representations
Developing a quantum way of thinking is a core and challenging task for physics students. The concept of quantum state, whose physical meaning is connected to the formal structure of the theory, plays an important role in the construction of a quantum perspective and in student difficulties elicited by research. A questionnaire and interview protocol were devised to explore student understanding of the state concept in connection to the properties of its formal representations and to quantum behavior. Results of a calibration of research instruments performed on 6 physics students from different universities are here presented
Modeling and Representing Conceptual Change in the Learning of Successive Theories: The Case of the Classical-Quantum Transition
Most educational literature on conceptual change concerns the process by
which introductory students acquire scientific knowledge. However, with modern
developments in science and technology, the social significance of learning
successive theories is steadily increasing, thus opening new areas of interest
to discipline-based education research, e.g., quantum logic, quantum
information and communication. Here we present an initial proposal for modeling
the transition from the understanding of a theory to the understanding of its
successor and explore its generative potential by applying it to a concrete
case: the classical-quantum transition in physics. In pursue of such task, we
make coordinated use of contributions not only from research on conceptual
change in education, but also on the history and philosophy of science, on the
teaching and learning of quantum mechanics, on mathematics education. By means
of analytical instruments developed for characterizing conceptual trajectories
at different representational levels, we review empirical literature in the
search for the connections between theory change and cognitive demands. The
analysis shows a rich landscape of changes and new challenges that are absent
in the traditionally considered cases of conceptual change. In order to fully
disclose the educational potential of the analysis, we visualize categorical
changes by means of dynamic frames, identifying recognizable patterns that
answer to students' need of comparability between the older and the new
paradigm. Finally, we show how the frame representation can be used to suggest
pattern-dependent strategies to promote the understanding of the new content,
and may work as a guide to curricular design.Comment: Submitted to Science & Educatio
Camphor: benefits and risks of a widely used natural product
The main aspects of the non-clinical profile of D-camphor, a natural product widely used as a common remedy for several symptoms, are reviewed. The pharmacodynamics and toxicity of this substance are analyzed, with regard to all the literature available, in order to assess a risk profile and better understand the positive and negative results connected with its use. The general conclusion is that the main risks of camphor as a medicinal product are mainly due to a somehow diffused attitude of considering it as ânot a real medicineâ, and to its consequent sometimes not sufficiently careful administration
Promoting the transition to quantum thinking: development of a secondary school course for addressing knowledge revision, organization, and epistemological challenges
We describe the development of a course of quantum mechanics for secondary
school designed to address the challenges related to the revision of classical
knowledge, to the building of a well-organized knowledge structure on the
discipline, and to the development of a plausible and reliable picture of the
quantum world. The course is based on a systemic approach to conceptual change,
which relies on its analysis in the transition from classical to quantum
mechanics, and coordinates cognitive and epistemic aspects. We show how our
approach drives the derivation of design principles, how these principles guide
the development of the instructional sequence and of its strategies, how their
implementation requires the blending of different research perspectives and
learning systems. The first challenge is addressed through a path of revision
of classical concepts and constructs which leverages prior knowledge according
to the dynamics of each notion in theory change. The second by adopting a
framework that promotes the construction of a unifying picture of quantum
measurement across contexts. The third by designing the course around a
modelling process that engages students in epistemic practices of the
theoretical physicist, such as generating and/or running thought experiments,
and mathematical modelling in a purely theoretical setting. All is aimed to
help students accept the quantum description of the world as a plausible
product of their own inquiry. This process is assisted by the discussion of the
facets of the foundational debate that are triggered by each of the suggested
interpretive choices, with the goal to promote an awareness of its cultural
significance, of the limits the chosen stance, of the open issues. Data on the
cycles of refinement illustrate how a set of activities have been made
effective in addressing the challenges at a local level
University students' reasoning on physical information encoded in quantum state at a point in time
Learning quantum mechanics entails adopting a new reference frame for the physical interpretation of the world. The quantum perspective is intrinsically connected with math, which becomes a sort of referent for physical meaning, requiring the employment of new formal structures and a new interpretation of familiar ones. Research evidences that students have difficulty both with concepts and with the use of formalism in qualitative tasks. We administered a 15-item questionnaire focused on incompatibility of observables and related formal structures to 40 physics students of three Italian universities. Semi-structured interviews were scheduled on a subset of students. Results concerning translation processes between math and physical meaning show that most students only look at the square modulus in order to reason on physical information encoded in quantum state, thus neglecting phase relations and their connection with incompatibility
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