The Wichita Teacher Inquiry Group (WTIG) Lessening Structural, Cultural, Indirect and Direct Forms of through Cultural Competence and Transformative Teaching and Learning

Bullying at school is an international phenomenon, and as a result there is a need for teachers to understand bullying behavior at its roots and beyond direct (hitting, kicking, choking) and indirect (gossiping, cyberbullying, silencing one’s voice) forms. If we are really going to lessen bullying at school overtime, we must talk about the unmentionable: Bullying at school is larger than one child pushing, hitting or kicking another. Literature suggests it is quite disappointing that to date there has been no significant impact on bullying at school in the United States (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003; Berger, 2007). Literature also suggests there is little to no national conversation about how direct and indirect forms of bullying at school are connected to ideological beliefs, structural practices and cultural competence. This particular study explored the scholarly literature and educational practices of social justice guru, Paulo Freire and their implications for examining ideology, structural practices, cultural competence, and oppression, namely bullying at school. The teacher-participants in this study became known as the Wichita Teacher Inquiry Group. The six 5th grade teachers, diverse in race, gender and experience, were nominated by their principals to be a part of this year-long endeavor. Fifth grade was selected because bullying behavior is most extensive at the middle school level (Archer & Cote, 2005; Eslea & Rees, 2001; Espelage, Meban, & Swearer, 2004; Pellgegrini & Long, 2002). One of the goals of this study was to help 5th grade students learn an appropriate use of power before they transition to middle school. The principals used social justice oriented teaching as the criteria for nominating a teacher. Social justice teachers’ teaching practices are designed to pose thought-provoking problems for students to devise understandings for discussion. They address “key social justice issues locally and globally - regarding racism, class inequality, gender inequalities, planetary pollution and global warming, war and peace, etc., and seek to integrate such issues as themes into the disciplinary subject matters at hand rather than delivering free-standing lectures on them” (Shor, 2011, p. 1.). The nominated teachers who became the six teacher-participants responded to four surveys, participated in nine cultural circles (focused discussion), and were videotaped while teaching a lesson in their respective classrooms. The teacher-participants came to understand the connection between ideology, structure, culture and oppression in their school contexts as well as how all four can perpetuate direct and indirect bullying behavior. As a result of their experiences with this study, the teacher-participants were convinced that teaching from a social justice orientation, a Freirean perspective in particular, has the potential to lessen structural, cultural, indirect, and direct forms of bullying, because it poses thought-provoking questions and addresses power and inequities as it relates to race, social class, gender and the like. They were also convinced that teaching from a social justice perspective could help them to guard against becoming teacher bullies. This study was expected to allow those teachers who were very effective at teaching from a social justice orientation to share their teaching practices with those who had less experience. In the end, all social justice teachers, veteran and novice were expected to enhance their skills through this work. Future research should consider further investigation on how ideological beliefs, structural practices and cultural competence can perpetuate direct and indirect forms of bullying so that teacher education programs can address this before preservice teachers earn a license to teach

Perfect topological charge for asymptotically free theories

The classical equations of motion of the perfect lattice action in asymptotically free $d=2$ spin and $d=4$ gauge models possess scale invariant instanton solutions. This property allows the definition of a topological charge on the lattice which is perfect in the sense that no topological defects exist. The basic construction is illustrated in the $d=2$ O(3) non--linear $\sigma$--model and the topological susceptibility is measured to high precision in the range of correlation lengths $\xi \in (2 - 60)$. Our results strongly suggest that the topological susceptibility is not a physical quantity in this model.Comment: Contribution to Lattice'94, 3 pages PostScript, uuencoded compresse

A differential correction algorithm for exponential curve fitting / CAC No. 92

Includes bibliographies

Early complications after living donor nephrectomy: analysis of the Swiss Organ Living Donor Health Registry.

We evaluated the prospectively collected data about the incidence of early peri- and postoperative complications, and potential risk factors for adverse outcomes after living kidney donation in Switzerland. Peri- and postoperative events were prospectively recorded on a questionnaire by the local transplant teams of all Swiss transplant centres and evaluated by the Swiss Organ Living Donor Health Registry. Complications were classified according to the Clavien grading system. A total of 1649 consecutive donors between 1998 and 2015 were included in the analysis. There was no perioperative mortality observed. The overall complication rate was 13.5%. Major complications defined as Clavien ≥3 occurred in 2.1% of donors. Obesity was not associated with any complications. Donor age >70years was associated with major complications (odds ratio [OR] 3.99) and genitourinary complications (urinary tract infection OR 5.85; urinary retention OR 6.61). There were more major complications observed in donors with laparoscopic surgery versus open surgery (p = 0.048), but an equal overall complication rate (p = 0.094). We found a low rate of major and minor complications, independent of surgical technique, after living donor nephrectomy. There was no elevated complication rate in obese donors. In contrast, elderly donors >70 years had an elevated risk for perioperative complications

Phase structure and critical temperature of two-flavor QCD with a renormalization group improved gauge action and clover improved Wilson quark action

We study the finite-temperature phase structure and the transition temperature of QCD with two flavors of dynamical quarks on a lattice with the temporal size $N_t=4$, using a renormalization group improved gauge action and the Wilson quark action improved by the clover term. The region of a parity-broken phase is identified, and the finite-temperature transition line is located on a two-dimensional parameter space of the coupling ($\beta=6/g^2$) and hopping parameter $K$. Near the chiral transition point, defined as the crossing point of the critical line of the vanishing pion mass and the line of finite-temperature transition, the system exhibits behavior well described by the scaling exponents of the three-dimensional O(4) spin model. This indicates a second-order chiral transition in the continuum limit. The transition temperature in the chiral limit is estimated to be $T_c = 171(4)$ MeV.Comment: Typographical errors fixed. RevTeX, 19 pages, 17 PS figure

Deconfinement transition and string tensions in SU(4) Yang-Mills Theory

We present results from numerical lattice calculations of SU(4) Yang-Mills theory. This work has two goals: to determine the order of the finite temperature deconfinement transition on an $N_t = 6$ lattice and to study the string tensions between static charges in the irreducible representations of SU(4). Motivated by Pisarski and Tytgat's argument that a second-order SU($\infty$) deconfinement transition would explain some features of the SU(3) and QCD transitions, we confirm older results on a coarser, $N_t = 4$, lattice. We see a clear two-phase coexistence signal, characteristic of a first-order transition, at $8/g^2 = 10.79$ on a $6\times 20^3$ lattice, on which we also compute a latent heat of $\Delta\epsilon\approx 0.6 \epsilon_{SB}$. Computing Polyakov loop correlation functions we calculate the string tension at finite temperature in the confined phase between fundamental charges, $\sigma_1$, between diquark charges, $\sigma_2$, and between adjoint charges $\sigma_4$. We find that $1 < \sigma_2/\sigma_1 < 2$, and our result for the adjoint string tension $\sigma_4$ is consistent with string breaking.Comment: 10 pages with included figures. For version 2: New calculation and discussion of latent heat added; 2 new figures and 1 new table. Typo in abstract corrected for v3. To appear in Physical Review

Vacuum structure of CP^N sigma models at theta=pi

We show that parity symmetry is not spontaneously broken in the CP^N sigma model for any value of N when the coefficient of the $\theta$--term becomes $\theta=\pi$ (mod $2\pi$). The result follows from a non-perturbative analysis of the nodal structure of the vacuum functional $\psi_0(z)$. The dynamical role of sphalerons turns out to be very important for the argument. The result introduces severe constraints on the possible critical behavior of the models at $\theta=\pi$ (mod $2\pi$).Comment: 8 pages, revtex, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Fixed Point Action and Topology in the CP^3 Model

We define a fixed point action in two-dimensional lattice ${\rm CP}^{N-1}$ models. The fixed point action is a classical perfect lattice action, which is expected to show strongly reduced cutoff effects in numerical simulations. Furthermore, the action has scale-invariant instanton solutions, which enables us to define a correct topological charge without topological defects. Using a parametrization of the fixed point action for the ${\rm CP}^{3}$ model in a Monte Carlo simulation, we study the topological susceptibility.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, typeset using REVTEX, Sec. 6 rewritten (additional numerical results), to be published in Phys.Rev.

Equation of state for pure SU(3) gauge theory with renormalization group improved action

A lattice study of the equation of state for pure SU(3) gauge theory using a renormalization-group (RG) improved action is presented. The energy density and pressure are calculated on a $16^3\times 4$ and a $32^3\times 8$ lattice employing the integral method. Extrapolating the results to the continuum limit, we find the energy density and pressure to be in good agreement with those obtained with the standard plaquette action within the error of 3-4%.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, revte

Boundary Limitation of Wavenumbers in Taylor-Vortex Flow

We report experimental results for a boundary-mediated wavenumber-adjustment mechanism and for a boundary-limited wavenumber-band of Taylor-vortex flow (TVF). The system consists of fluid contained between two concentric cylinders with the inner one rotating at an angular frequency $\Omega$. As observed previously, the Eckhaus instability (a bulk instability) is observed and limits the stable wavenumber band when the system is terminated axially by two rigid, non-rotating plates. The band width is then of order $\epsilon^{1/2}$ at small $\epsilon$ ($\epsilon \equiv \Omega/\Omega_c - 1$) and agrees well with calculations based on the equations of motion over a wide $\epsilon$-range. When the cylinder axis is vertical and the upper liquid surface is free (i.e. an air-liquid interface), vortices can be generated or expelled at the free surface because there the phase of the structure is only weakly pinned. The band of wavenumbers over which Taylor-vortex flow exists is then more narrow than the stable band limited by the Eckhaus instability. At small $\epsilon$ the boundary-mediated band-width is linear in $\epsilon$. These results are qualitatively consistent with theoretical predictions, but to our knowledge a quantitative calculation for TVF with a free surface does not exist.Comment: 8 pages incl. 9 eps figures bitmap version of Fig