4,157 research outputs found
The Objectivity of Ordinary Life
Metaethics tends to take for granted a bare Democritean world of atoms and the void, and then worry about how the human world that we all know can possibly be related to it or justified in its terms. I draw on Wittgenstein to show how completely upside-down this picture is, and make some moves towards turning it the right way up again. There may be a use for something like the bare-Democritean model in some of the sciences, but the picture has no standing as the basic objective truth about the world; if anything has that standing, it is ordinary life. I conclude with some thoughts about how the notion of bare, âthinâ perception of non-evaluative reality feeds a number of philosophical pathologies, such as behaviourism, and show how a âthickerâ, more value-laden, understanding of our perceptions of the world can be therapeutic against them
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Black and minority ethnic traineesâ experiences of physical education initial teacher training
The official published version can be accessed at the link below.This report draws together the findings of research that aimed to explore black and minority ethnic (BME) traineesâ experiences of Physical Education (PE) initial teacher training (ITT). Although the numbers of BME trainees opting to enter teaching have improved considerably over the last few years, PE remains one of three specific subject areas where they remain significantly under-represented. Current figures suggest that PE attracts approximately 3% of trainees from BME backgrounds, compared with 11% for new entrants into teaching overall. The relative lack of success in attracting BME trainees into PE teaching compared to other subject areas suggests that the subculture of the subject may be a compounding factor. Over the last decade or so, a number of studies have explored the impact of ethnicity on teachersâ professional socialisation and their experiences as teachers in school, but none have focused on experiences within specific subject cultures. The centrality of the body in PE, and the link between this and the perceived low status of the subject, are influencing factors highlighted in the broader literature, including sports studies. For example, research exploring racism and the under-representation of BME participants in sport has highlighted the prevalence of stereotypical attitudes about their physicality and abilities held by coaches, administrators and spectators. Other research has suggested that some minority ethnic groups favour higher status, better paid, careers in areas such as law or medicine rather than teaching. As yet, there has been little attention to âraceâ and ethnicity within PEITT, although studies have shown the impact of gender on traineesâ developing professional identities, and how teachersâ gendered bodies are important âtoolsâ of their work. In addition, there has been little research that has acknowledged traineesâ multiple identities, or the complex ways in which âraceâ, ethnicity, class and gender and other identity markers intersect to impact on the professional socialisation process. The research on which this report is based sought to fill some of these gaps in our understandings of BME traineesâ experiences of PEITT, and to identify strategies that might help in their recruitment and retention in the longer term. The research was funded through a small Recruitment and Retention Challenge Grant from the Teacher Development Agency (TDA). These grants form part of the TDAâs wider policy agenda to widen the diversity of new intakes opting into teaching. Higher education institutions have been encouraged, through targets and financial support and incentives, to develop specific strategies aimed at widening the diversity of their cohorts. Examples of such strategies include the provision of specialist admission help for BME prospective trainees; opportunities to gain experience in schools; open days and âtasterâ events; advertising in the ethnic minority media, and the development of good practice guides and staff training to help ITT providers address issues of âraceâ and ethnicity. 5 The impetus for this research resulted, in part, from presentations and discussions at a one day PEITT Network1 staff seminar on diversity held in October, 2007. The quantitative research conducted by the Association for Physical Education (AfPE) and the Ethnic Minority Foundation (EMF) presented here, showed the extent of the national under-representation of BME students in PEITT. Although the day focused on addressing reasons for BME under representation and strategies that might be used for improving recruitment, we felt it was also important to learn about the qualitative experiences of trainees that have been attracted into PEITT. Understanding the experiences of our current BME trainees might offer useful insights into how we might recruit and retain future such trainees. Our choice of qualitative research was supported by a national study published shortly after the network day, investigating the links between gender, ethnicity and degree attainment (Higher Education Academy, HEA, 2008), which specifically calls for further qualitative studies of studentsâ experiences of different subject areas.Funding from the Training and Development Agency (TDA
Analysis of two-player quantum games in an EPR setting using geometric algebra
The framework for playing quantum games in an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR)
type setting is investigated using the mathematical formalism of Clifford
geometric algebra (GA). In this setting, the players' strategy sets remain
identical to the ones in the classical mixed-strategy version of the game,
which is then obtained as proper subset of the corresponding quantum game. As
examples, using GA we analyze the games of Prisoners' Dilemma and Stag Hunt
when played in the EPR type setting.Comment: 20 pages, no figure, revise
Quench characteristics of a Cu-Stabilized 2G HTS conductor
The prospect of medium/high field superconducting magnets using 2G HTS tapes is approaching to reality with continued enhancement in the performance of these conductors. Direct measurements of 1d adiabatic quench initiation and propagation of a Cu-stabilized 2G conductor have been carried out with spatial-temporal recording of temperature and voltage following the deposition of various local heat pulses to the conductor at different temperatures between 40K and 64K carrying different transport currents. It was found that the stabilizer-free 2G tape maintains the unique characteristics previously measured in non-stabilized tape of increasing MPZ with transport current and higher quench energy at lower temperatures. The minimum quench energy, minimum propagation zone (MPZ) length are determined as a function of temperature and transport current. The change in MPZ size is investigated with measured temperature dependent E-J characteristics. The results add more detail to help understand the unique characteristics of increasing MPZ with transport current and lower temperatures
Seasonal temperature acclimatization in a semi-fossorial mammal and the role of burrows as thermal refuges.
Small mammals in habitats with strong seasonal variation in the thermal environment often exhibit physiological and behavioral adaptations for coping with thermal extremes and reducing thermoregulatory costs. Burrows are especially important for providing thermal refuge when above-ground temperatures require high regulatory costs (e.g., water or energy) or exceed the physiological tolerances of an organism. Our objective was to explore the role of burrows as thermal refuges for a small endotherm, the pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis), during the summer and winter by quantifying energetic costs associated with resting above and below ground. We used indirect calorimetry to determine the relationship between energy expenditure and ambient temperature over a range of temperatures that pygmy rabbits experience in their natural habitat. We also measured the temperature of above- and below-ground rest sites used by pygmy rabbits in eastern Idaho, USA, during summer and winter and estimated the seasonal thermoregulatory costs of resting in the two microsites. Although pygmy rabbits demonstrated seasonal physiological acclimatization, the burrow was an important thermal refuge, especially in winter. Thermoregulatory costs were lower inside the burrow than in above-ground rest sites for more than 50% of the winter season. In contrast, thermal heterogeneity provided by above-ground rest sites during summer reduced the role of burrows as a thermal refuge during all but the hottest periods of the afternoon. Our findings contribute to an understanding of the ecology of small mammals in seasonal environments and demonstrate the importance of burrows as thermal refuge for pygmy rabbits
N-player quantum games in an EPR setting
The -player quantum game is analyzed in the context of an
Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) experiment. In this setting, a player's
strategies are not unitary transformations as in alternate quantum
game-theoretic frameworks, but a classical choice between two directions along
which spin or polarization measurements are made. The players' strategies thus
remain identical to their strategies in the mixed-strategy version of the
classical game. In the EPR setting the quantum game reduces itself to the
corresponding classical game when the shared quantum state reaches zero
entanglement. We find the relations for the probability distribution for
-qubit GHZ and W-type states, subject to general measurement directions,
from which the expressions for the mixed Nash equilibrium and the payoffs are
determined. Players' payoffs are then defined with linear functions so that
common two-player games can be easily extended to the -player case and
permit analytic expressions for the Nash equilibrium. As a specific example, we
solve the Prisoners' Dilemma game for general . We find a new
property for the game that for an even number of players the payoffs at the
Nash equilibrium are equal, whereas for an odd number of players the
cooperating players receive higher payoffs.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figure
Testing the gravitational theory with short-period stars around our Galactic Center
Motion of short-period stars orbiting the supermassive black hole in our
Galactic Center has been monitored for more than 20 years. These observations
are currently offering a new way to test the gravitational theory in an
unexplored regime: in a strong gravitational field, around a supermassive black
hole. In this proceeding, we present three results: (i) a constraint on a
hypothetical fifth force obtained by using 19 years of observations of the two
best measured short-period stars S0-2 and S0-38 ; (ii) an upper limit on the
secular advance of the argument of the periastron for the star S0-2 ; (iii) a
sensitivity analysis showing that the relativistic redshift of S0-2 will be
measured after its closest approach to the black hole in 2018.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of the 52nd Rencontres de Moriond,
Gravitation Sessio
Instrument manual for the retarding ion mass spectrometer on Dynamics Explorer-1
The retarding ion mass spectrometer (RIMS) for Dynamics Explorer-1 is an instrument designed to measure the details of the thermal plasma distribution. It combines the ion temperature determining capability of the retarding potential analyzer with the compositional capabilities of the mass spectrometer and adds multiple sensor heads to sample all directions relative to the spacecraft ram direction. This manual provides a functional description of the RIMS, the instrument calibration, and a description of the commands which can be stored in the instrument logic to control its operation
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