The Economic Benefits of Closing Educational Achievement Gaps: Promoting Growth and Strengthening the Nation by Improving the Educational Outcomes of Children of Color

This report quantifies the economic benefits of closing one of the most harmful racial and ethnic gaps: the educational achievement gap that exists between black and Hispanic children and native-born white children. Gaps in academic achievement are a function of a host of factors, such as income and wealth inequality, access to child care and preschool programs, nutrition, physical and emotional health, environmental factors, community and family structures,differences in the quality of instruction and school, and educational attainment. This suggests there are a wide range of public policies that could help narrow educational achievement gaps; this report demonstrates that there are enormous payoffs to closing the gaps through public policies. It also outlines effective public policy strategies to achieve this goal, though their details are left to future research. After briefly summarizing the analysis's findings, this report places the educational achievement gaps in context to help explain their significance and the reasons they exist. In particular, the report reviews data on growing inequality, demographic changes, and intensifying global economic competition. This clarifies the need to address educational achievement gaps and helps explain why the benefits of closing gaps are great. The report then describes factors that cause educational achievement gaps and offers public policies that could help close them. The subsequent sections of the report discuss the literature on the importance of academic achievement to economic growth, the methodology used in the analysis, and its detailed findings

Solid-state time-to-pulse-height converter developed

Solid-state circuit produces an output pulse with an amplitude directly proportional to the time interval between two input pulses. It uses selected circuit options to achieve variable mode operation and a tunnel diode controls the charging time of a capacitor in proportion to the time interval being measured

A phenomenological enquiry into how Chemsex impacts on gay men’s experience of intimacy

This study explores the impact chemsex may have on the intimate worlds of its users. Eight participants were interviewed using semi-structured interviews focusing on their experience of chemsex and its impact on their experience of intimacy. The material was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). This research method facilitates a hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry into the unique individual experience, as well as commonalities between participants. Three superordinate themes were identified. The first theme; The Quest for Intimate Connection, highlighted the participants’ need for intimate connection and a sense of belonging within a community. It also illustrated participants’ awareness of the phenomenon of ‘false intimacy’ within the chemsex context. The second theme; Living with Shame, related to the complex feelings of shame experienced by participants, particularly homophobic shame. The third and final superordinate theme was Chemsex Darkness. This theme addressed the negative and damaging ways chemsex impacted the lives of participants, with reduced sexual confidence and functioning being of particular note. The clinical significance of this study demonstrates the complex interaction between chemsex activities and participants’ lives and intimate relations. The recommendation from these findings shows that increased research and therapeutic support for chemsex users is necessary, particularly in relation to the reporting of ‘false intimacy’ and how this may interact with chemsex users making poor health and relational decisions. The study highlights the need for increased support and further research on decreased sexual confidence in chemsex users, particularly prior users who have exited the chemsex community and the implications of ‘sober sex’ in the future. The results imply that greater resources and focus is required to address feelings of shame and inferiority amongst gay men and more particularly, understanding how existential shame may lead to engagement with the chemsex world

Determination of the Equation of State of Dense Matter

Nuclear collisions can compress nuclear matter to densities achieved within neutron stars and within core-collapse supernovae. These dense states of matter exist momentarily before expanding. We analyzed the flow of matter to extract pressures in excess of 10^34 pascals, the highest recorded under laboratory-controlled conditions. Using these analyses, we rule out strongly repulsive nuclear equations of state from relativistic mean field theory and weakly repulsive equations of state with phase transitions at densities less than three times that of stable nuclei, but not equations of state softened at higher densities because of a transformation to quark matter.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figures; final versio