Photon production from an anisotropic quark-gluon plasma

We calculate photon production from a quark-gluon plasma which is anisotropic in momentum space including the Compton scattering and quark/anti-quark annihilation processes. We show that for a quark-gluon plasma which has an oblate momentum-space anisotropy the photon production rate has an angular dependence which is peaked transverse to the beam line. We propose to use the angular dependence of high-energy medium photon production to experimentally determine the degree of momentum-space isotropy of a quark-gluon plasma produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Fermionic Collective Modes of an Anisotropic Quark-Gluon Plasma

We determine the fermionic collective modes of a quark-gluon plasma which is anisotropic in momentum space. We calculate the fermion self-energy in both the imaginary- and real-time formalisms and find that numerically and analytically (for two special cases) there are no unstable fermionic modes. In addition we demonstrate that in the hard-loop limit the Kubo-Martin-Schwinger condition, which relates the off-diagonal components of the real-time fermion self-energy, holds even for the anisotropic, and therefore non-equilibrium, quark-gluon plasma considered here. The results obtained here set the stage for the calculation of the non-equilibrium photon production rate from an anisotropic quark-gluon plasma.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures; v2 typos fixed and one reference adde

Colour Coherence in Photon Induced Reactions

Colour coherence in hard photoproduction is considered using the Monte Carlo event generators PYTHIA and HERWIG. Significant effects in the parton shower are found using multijet observables for direct and resolved photon induced reactions. The particle flow in the interjet region of direct processes shows a strong influence of string fragmentation effects.Comment: 6 pages, LaTeX, 6 eps figures included, to appear in the proceedings of the workshop "Future Physics at HERA

My Sociology: The Challenge of Transforming Classroom Culture from a Focus on Grades to a Focus on Learning

This paper documents the pedagogical remodeling of an Introduction to Sociology course. The challenge is to transform the classroom culture, and ultimately the college culture, from a focus on grades to a focus on learning. This transformation is accomplished through a series of learning activities embodied in My Sociology resources, which have been designed to be not merely learner-centered but ego-centered. Seasoned professors have often commented that students seem to perk up when the lesson is about them. Taking advantage of this energy, the discussion of sociology in this course begins with a treatment of the self, and then branches out systematically to the global perspective. Preliminary experimental model research comparing this pedagogically remodeled teaching strategy to the traditional teaching model has shown the remodeled strategy to be statistically significantly more effective (p \u3c .001) than the traditional model of teaching. This course remodeling can be done with any academic course and can be applied to many specialty areas

Community Partnerships in Urban, Title 1 Elementary Schools: A Mixed-Methods Study

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to identify and describe community partnerships in Urban, Title 1 Elementary Schools. Fifty-one principals from the Southern and Midwestern regions of the United States completed a 19-question on-line survey designed to explore community partnerships in Urban, Title 1 Elementary Schools. Of the 51 principals who completed the survey, 26 agreed to participate in a semi-structured interview. The findings of the study suggest that community partnerships play an essential role in supporting Urban, Title 1 Elementary Schools. Finding community partners can be challenging. Principals who wish to engage community partners should identify the needs of the school prior to seeking community partners or implementing a community partnership program. Community partnerships came from businesses and corporations, faith organizations, or volunteers in the community. The partners primarily provided activities that were student-centered or school-centered. The activities that provided the greatest impact were student-centered activities that were focused on relationship building and promoting a greater understanding of life outside of the classroom. Advisor: Marilyn L. Grad

Guarded Optimism, Cynical Fatalism: An Intertextual Analysis of Selected Victorian Novels and their Modernist Reinterpretations

The Victorian and modern eras are known for being a time of great change. Victorian authors focused their works on the social, political, and religious upheaval that the country was experiencing during the period. They felt a strong sense of pride in their country, and there was always a sense of hope in their writing. These views are what draw the modern author to retell Victorian novels; yet, the modern writer removes the Victorian sense of hope and replaces it with the sense of the disillusionment which engulfed their era. In this paper, I examine the concept of intertextuality, the study of transactions between one work and a subsequent work, and use the theory to compare four sets of Victorian novels and their modern reinterpretation. When addressing the novel pairings, I focus on one central theme important to both novels: mental illness in Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, and Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys; xenophobia in The Coral Island, by R.M. Ballantyne, and Lord of the Flies, by William Golding; domestic servitude in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, and Mary Reilly, by Valerie Martin; and women’s rights in Tess of the d’Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, and The French Lieutenant’s Woman, John Fowles

Factors Relating to the Multicultural Efficacy and Attitudes of Teachers

The study was conducted to examine the relationship between factors of professional development in diversity issues, teachers’ years of experience, and experiences with diversity with teachers’ multicultural attitudes and multicultural self-efficacy. The research was conducted using a sample population from southeast Georgia. A multiple regression was conducted using survey data (Multicultural Efficacy Scale (MES)) collected from Qualtrics. There were 209 responses. Demographic data and multiple regression results are discussed as well as recommendations for future research. Findings indicate no relationship between teachers’ multicultural efficacy and multicultural attitudes and their professional development in diversity issues, years of teaching experience and experiences with diversity

Spatially Resolved [FeII] 1.64 \mu m Emission in NGC 5135. Clues for Understanding the Origin of the Hard X-rays in Luminous Infrared Galaxies

Spatially resolved near-IR and X-ray imaging of the central region of the Luminous Infrared Galaxy NGC 5135 is presented. The kinematical signatures of strong outflows are detected in the [FeII]1.64 \mu m emission line in a compact region at 0.9 kpc from the nucleus. The derived mechanical energy release is consistent with a supernova rate of 0.05-0.1 yr$^{-1}$. The apex of the outflowing gas spatially coincides with the strongest [FeII] emission peak and with the dominant component of the extranuclear hard X-ray emission. All these features provide evidence for a plausible direct physical link between supernova-driven outflows and the hard X-ray emitting gas in a LIRG. This result is consistent with model predictions of starbursts concentrated in small volumes and with high thermalization efficiencies. A single high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) as the major source of the hard X-ray emission although not favoured, cannot be ruled out. Outside the AGN, the hard X-ray emission in NGC 5135 appears to be dominated by the hot ISM produced by supernova explosions in a compact star-forming region, and not by the emission due to HMXB. If this scenario is common to U/LIRGs, the hard X-rays would only trace the most compact (< 100 pc) regions with high supernova and star formation densities, therefore a lower limit to their integrated star formation. The SFR derived in NGC 5135 based on its hard X-ray luminosity is a factor of two and four lower than the values obtained from the 24 \mu m and soft X-ray luminosities, respectively.Comment: Accepted for Publication in ApJ, 18 pages, 2 figure

Effects of Class Size on Selected Program Outcomes for a First-Year Seminar

Massification, the trend toward college classes with hundreds and even thousands of students enrolled for a single course section has been well documented (Mangan, 2016; Hornsby, 2014) and the phenomenon has occurred in some first-year seminars (FYS) (Cheek, 2017) even though the FYS has been defined as small (\u3c25 students) in the literature (Barefoot & Koch, 2015). What role does class size play in realizing the potential of the FYS a high impact practice promoting student success (Kuh, 2008)? The literature on FYS class size includes few true experiments with random sampling. This study examined the effect of class size on program outcomes for a FYS using a quantitative, true experimental design with random assignment of students to two class size conditions. Pre-test/post-test data were collected and analyzed on five benchmarks identified by the Center for Community College Student Engagement: making connections; high expectations and aspirations; clear academic plan and pathway; engaged learning; and academic support network. There were significant differences between pre- and post-test measures within each condition, but the difference between groups was not significant. While this study does not resolve the issue of class size, it adds some insight and suggests additional research examining class size for the FYS. The findings have implications for planning and implementing the FYS