all the f words we used to know

Photos of handwritten list of the 2,000+ F words listed in the 1996 version of Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language (Deluxe Edition), published by Gramercy Books of Random House Press in Avenal, New Jersey. Verb tense conjugations and plural nouns are omitted. An analysis briefly contextualizes this artwork in relation to semiotic theory, contemporary text-based and word-based art and arts practices, social theory, and art education

First Fagnostics: Queering Art Education

This article advocates for a “fagnostic” pedagogy that acknowledges the queer aspects of education in relation to not knowing, of the unknown, of the unknowable, making spaces and opportunities for becoming art educator. The article defines fagnostic, questions the assumptions of heteronormative, binary pedagogies, and considers the possibilities of queering the spaces of art education practice to be more inclusive and culturally sustainable in the 21st century

Test of the proximity theorem for deformed nuclei

We compare a proximity-type potential for two interacting nuclei with the double-folding method. Both spherical and deformed systems are considered. Special "orientation windows" are found for two deformed nuclei giving rise to nuclear cohesion. If the same nucleon-nucleon interaction is utilized, the proximity and the double-folding potentials agree fairly well for a spherical + deformed system. However, deviations are found in the case of two deformed nuclei

Serial and Concurrent Presentations of Stimuli and Their Effects on Items Recalled

The present study examined differences in accuracy of responses to serial and concurrent stimuli in an immediate free recall task for individuals from chemistry and psychology courses. Average accuracy of responses for presentation order, stimulus type, and gender differences were measured. The procedure used Superlab 4.0 and consisted of one practice trial followed by eight recorded trials of serial and concurrent word lists. Counterbalancing was used to try to control learning of one order of presentation over the opposite order. Serial word lists consisted of ten words presented two seconds apart and one at a time. Concurrent lists consisted of ten words presented simultaneously for twenty seconds. No significant main effects of presentation order, stimulus type, or gender were found when calculating a mixed ANOVA. No gender differences in accuracy between the two types of stimuli were expected. There were also no significant effects of the interactions for these variables. However, a medium effect was found for the interaction of presentation order and stimulus type. Increasing the population may lead to a significant effect of the presentation order by stimulus type interaction. Immediate free recall (IFR) is a common method used to try to determine individual differences in the number of stimuli (usually words) that can be stored in working (short-term) memory (Bhatarah, Ward, Smith & Hayes, 2009; Huang, Tomasini & Nikl, 1977; Seiler & Engelkamp, 2003; Ward & Maylor, 2005). Most often, a recall task involves participants presented with a given number of words in a serial presentation. Presentation of this format is a specific word, followed every one or two seconds by each consecutive word, until the list is complete (Bhatarah et al, 2009; Matlin, 1976). Stimuli presentation is either oral or visual depending on the procedure (Baumeister & Luszcz, 1976; Ozubko & Joordens, 2007). IFR is employed promptly following the final stimulus. According to Laming (2009), the recall task regularly occurs for one minute; and at this time, individuals write down or verbally list as many items as they can remember (Russo & Grammatopoulou, 2003; Smith, Jones & Broadbent, 1981). This provides the measurement of recall as number of items remembered, or accuracy of recall. According to current theory, working memory consists of a system that briefly stores and processes information from the environment, from long-term memory, as well as maintaining and altering stimuli that are still currently in the system itself (Gazzaniga, Ivry & Mangun, 2009). The phonological loop is one aspect of the working memory system and its main function is the encoding and rehearsal of stimuli such as words. Verbal stimuli, rehearsed or processed by the phonological loop, may stay in the working memory system, or may be processed and stored in long-term memory. IFR procedures record the number of words processed and subvocally rehearsed in the phonological loop (Campoy, 2008). The words at the beginning of the list tend to be encoded in long-term memory and the most recent words in the list are thought to be present in the short-term store, or working memory. Accuracy of recall, the number of items correctly recalled, using serial presentation of stimuli, spans most of the literature over the past forty years (Campoy, 2008; Haist, Shimamura & Squire, 1992; Joseph, McKay & Joseph, 1982; Matlin, 1976). Students make up the participants in many of the studies by performing serial presentation recall tasks (Bhatarah et al, 2009; Seiler & Engelkamp, 2003; Ward & Tan, 2004). Serial presentation of IFR is used to test accuracy of individuals’ working memory; concurrent presentation, in a similar manner, is useful for the same reason. Very few recall tests include concurrent presentation of stimuli (Harness, Jacot, Scherf, White & Warnick, 2008; Sneed, Brunts, Mueller, 1977). This method presents all the stimulus words simultaneously to the participants. Once the stimulus exposure period ends, individuals perform the recall task as they would in serial presentation formats. Concurrent presentation recall procedures have been used to compare recall accuracy of schizophrenic populations versus healthy subjects (Brebion, David, Bressan & Pilowsky, 2006). It was found that healthy subjects did have increased accuracy in the free recall task. Concurrent lists, presenting all the words at the same time, may lead to many words being processed into the long-term store, or may allow more words to remain in short-term memory. Some studies suggest that concurrent presentation is believed to lead to diminished accuracy of items recalled in comparison to serial presentation. (Hoppe, Stojanovic, Karg Foundation Young Researchers Group 2008/09, & Elger, 2009). Sneed, Brunts, and Mueller (1977) found that concurrent lists of more than two words decreased performance in free recall. Theoretically, this is due to less ability to process single words in a concurrent list because the individual will instead process that list as a „chunk,’ in which case the entirety of the list can be one single stimulus, as well as a few words, or even just one word. Other research has shown that the availability of more words can also lead to increased recall stemming from the ability to make more chunks from a larger set of words, leading to recalling more words in the list (Chen & Cowan, 2005; Miller, 1956). It is also possible that one chunk can even cue the participant for the next chunk in a list, further increasing the likelihood of recalling more words (2005). The present study aims to determine if format of presentation alters the number of items remembered for each individual. If there is a difference between the accuracy of responses to each presentation, this may lead to increased understanding of the working memory model. If concurrent presentation of stimuli leads to an increased number of accurate responses, it is possible that the list presenting all the stimuli simultaneously allows individuals to process more words and move them into long-term memory. Participants will recall eight lists of words in concurrent presentation and eight lists in serial presentation. Counterbalancing of each presentation type, by switching around the order of presentation, should help counteract learning of one presentation over the other, if accuracy of recalled items increases temporally. This study does not employ the use of distractors between serial presentation stimuli. This allows for performance of chunking in both presentations. Participants can also covertly rehearse words from the lists. Covert rehearsal is the process of practicing the words without orally reciting them. Chunking and covert rehearsal are two of the main strategies used to remember words in a recall task (Eagle, 1967). Accuracy will be determined by the number of items recalled that are perfect matches. Differences in accuracy of items recalled for concurrent compared to serial presentation of stimuli for individuals is the focus of this paper. The effects of stimulus type are expected to alter accuracy. However, it is not clear whether concurrent or serial presentation will lead to increased accuracy. Order of presentation will also be reported. It is expected that as individuals proceed through the serial and concurrent presentation tasks, some learning will occur and items remembered will increase over time for both stimuli presentations for all individuals. As mentioned earlier, counterbalancing will control for learning of the presentation types in a specific order. As a quasi-experimental variable, gender differences in accuracy of items recalled shall be examined. There is expected to be no difference between the accuracy scores of men and women

Introduction to The Special Issue: Advances in Methods and Measurement in Family Psychology

This special issue presents a collection of reports that highlight recent advances in methods and measurement and also shed light on the complexity of family psychology. The importance of theory in guiding solid family science is evident throughout these reports. The reports include guides for researchers who incorporate direct observation into their research protocols and the ever-expanding field of tele-health interventions. Advanced analytic approaches are offered in the areas of grid sequence analysis, latent fixed-effects models, and the Factors of Curves Model (FOCUS). These sophisticated analytic approaches may be applied to advance systemic thinking in family psychology. The last set of articles illustrate how complex and innovative methodologies are applied to address important societal issues. Work experiences and marital relationships in African American couples address the importance of spillover effects in contemporary families. The creation of biobehavioral plasticity index has the potential to inform gene x environment contributions to family functioning. Finally, the unique methodological issues that are particularly germane to the diverse nature of stepfamilies and nonresident fathers are addressed. We hope that readers of this special issue will return to these reports as resources and examples of theory-driven methods and measurements

An intelligent, free-flying robot

The ground based demonstration of the extensive extravehicular activity (EVA) Retriever, a voice-supervised, intelligent, free flying robot, is designed to evaluate the capability to retrieve objects (astronauts, equipment, and tools) which have accidentally separated from the Space Station. The major objective of the EVA Retriever Project is to design, develop, and evaluate an integrated robotic hardware and on-board software system which autonomously: (1) performs system activation and check-out; (2) searches for and acquires the target; (3) plans and executes a rendezvous while continuously tracking the target; (4) avoids stationary and moving obstacles; (5) reaches for and grapples the target; (6) returns to transfer the object; and (7) returns to base

Optimization of Lateral Jets for Guiding Supersonic Missiles

This project seeks to improve the guidance of supersonic missiles with lateral jets. This is achieved by quantifying and optimizing the pressure distributions created along the surface of the missile by the jets in different configurations. The jets themselves must be considered as well as turbulent and compressible effects and thermal losses. To explore these effects, flat plate geometry experiments of high-speed jet in cross-flow are considered for validation purpose. Group members are using FLUENT to reproduce experimental results of a jet in crossflow attempting to achieve higher accuracy by use of various solution methods. Two and three dimensional models of air vehicles equipped with jet control created using Creo and corresponding flow simulations generated in Ansys FLUENT

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Bird Harassment on Fish Ponds

The effects of aquaculture decline on piscivorous birds in the Mississippi Delta concern catfish farmers, with possible increases in fish loss and disease transmission. Piscivorous birds quickly habituate to most current methods of harassment (loud noises and visual disturbances) leading to increased depredation and disease. Our study was designed to test the efficacy of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to effectively control piscivorous birds at fish farms. We hypothesized that a UAV would be more efficient at reducing the number of fish-eating birds on fish ponds than current forms of harassment. We conducted pre-treatment bird surveys, harassment observations, and post-treatment surveys at each experimental unit before and after each treatment on the same treatment days on 6 study sites in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. The results of this study indicate that UAV harassment did not reduce piscivorous bird abundance more than human harassment in a 2-year field experiment

Expanding the parameters of academia

This paper draws on qualitative data gathered from two studies funded by the UK Leadership Foundation for Higher Education to examine the expansion of academic identities in higher education. It builds on Whitchurch’s earlier work, which focused primarily on professional staff, to suggest that the emergence of broadly based projects such as widening participation, learning support and community partnership is also impacting on academic identities. Thus, academic as well as professional staff are increasingly likely to work in multi-professional teams across a variety of constituencies, as well as with external partners, and the binary distinction between ‘academic’ and ‘non-academic’ roles and activities is no longer clear-cut. Moreover, there is evidence from the studies of an intentionality about deviations from mainstream academic career routes among respondents who could have gone either way. Consideration is therefore given to factors that influence individuals to work in more project-oriented areas, as well as to variables that affect ways in which these roles and identities develop. Finally, three models of academically oriented project activity are identified, and the implications of an expansion of academic identities are reviewed