Post-Racial Ideology and Implicit Racial Bias

This study assesses college students from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and their attitudes and opinions toward people of color, specifically looking at racial/ethnic identity and campus social climate. With 362 respondents from the University of New Hampshire who answered our online survey, it looked at the participants’ post-racial ideologies and the participant’s racial/ethnic identity. This study finds that there is a correlation between racial identity and post-racial beliefs. The study found that 82 percent of the student respondents did not believe that we, as a society, lived in a post-racial America. It was also discovered that the student respondents who did believe we live in a post-racial society (eighteen percent) were almost primarily White participants. The research also shows that in comparison to students of color, White students are more likely to believe that there is little to no racial prejudice or discrimination on UNH’s campus. While this data gives important insight into the racial attitudes at UNH, having a more diverse demographic and a larger sample size would improve the research

Quantum Decoherence During Inflation from Gravitational Nonlinearities

We study the inflationary quantum-to-classical transition for the adiabatic curvature perturbation $\zeta$ due to quantum decoherence, focusing on the role played by squeezed-limit mode couplings. We evolve the quantum state $\Psi$ in the Schr\"odinger picture, for a generic cubic coupling to additional environment degrees of freedom. Focusing on the case of minimal gravitational interactions, we find the evolution of the reduced density matrix for a given long-wavelength fluctuation by tracing out the other (mostly shorterwavelength) modes of $\zeta$ as an environment. We show that inflation produces phase oscillations in the wave functional $\Psi[\zeta(\mathbf{x})]$, which suppress off-diagonal components of the reduced density matrix, leaving a diagonal mixture of different classical configurations. Gravitational nonlinearities thus provide a minimal mechanism for generating classical stochastic perturbations from inflation. We identify the time when decoherence occurs, which is delayed after horizon crossing due to the weak coupling, and find that Hubble-scale modes act as the decohering environment. We also comment on the observational relevance of decoherence and its relation to the squeezing of the quantum state.Comment: 32 pages, 10 figures. Comments welcom

The botany and proximate analyses of some edible species of the New Zealand flora : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science in Plant Biology at Massey University

1. The edible organs of some New Zealand plant species have been assessed at light microscope level for their botanical basis, and for their nutritional basis by proximate analysis and Plasma Emission Spectrometry. 2. The species investigated, listed by Colenso (1880) as the most valued plant foods of the pre-European Maori, were: Pteridium esculentum (rhizome), Corynocarpus laevigatus (kernel), Elaeocarpus dentatus, (pericarp), Sonchus asper (herb), Calystegia sepium (rhizome), Cyathea medullaris (frond stipe), Cordyline australis (leaf bases, root), Rhopalostylis sapida (apical shoot), Typha orientalis (pollen and rhizome), Beilschmiedia tawa (kernel), Marattia salicina (rhizomal scale), Porphyra columbina (frond), Auricularia polytricha (basidiocarp), Arthropodium cirratum (rhizome), Bolboschoenus fluviatilis (rhizomal tuber), Gastrodia cunninghamii (rhizome) and Asplenium bulbiferum (immature frond). 3. Specimens were collected at the appropriate traditional seasons (except for Gastrodia cunninghamii) and samples prepared by freeze-drying and milling. Samples were also prepared of the cooked organs of Corynocarpus laevigatus, Elaeocarpus dentatus, Sonchus asper, Cyathea medullaris, Beilschmiedia tawa and Porphyra columbina. 4. Analytical determinations were made for lipid, by extraction with di-ethyl ether; nitrogen, by micro-Kjeldahl method and colorimetric measurement of ammonia using indophenol; protein, by Bradford procedure using Coomassie Brilliant Blue and colorimetry; dietary fibre, by Englyst procedure using enzymatic digestion and colorimetry; soluble sugar, by acid hydrolysis and colorimetry; and starch, by enzymatic digestion and colorimetry. 5. Botanical investigations were made following histological procedures and microtechnique using paraffin wax embedding and staining with safranin and fast green; and by differential staining of hand-cut sections using Sudan Blue, iodine and Coomassie Brilliant Blue. 6. Analytical determinations were made for 23 trace, minor and major constituent elements, using inductively-coupled argon plasmas in a simultaneous emission spectrometer. 7. Proximate analyses showed high levels of lipid in Corynocarpus laevigatus, Cyathea medullaris, and Sonchus asper, of protein in Corynocarpus laevigatus, Sonchus asper, Rhopalostylis sapida, Typha orientalis (pollen) and Asplenium bulbiferum; of dietary fibre in Auricularia polytricha, Beilschmiedia tawa, Marattia salicina (root) and Porphyra columbina (uncooked); of soluble sugar in Cyathea medullaris, Cordyline australis (leaf bases and root), Typha orientalis (rhizomes and pollen) and Pteridium esculentum; and of starch in Corynocarpus laevigatus, Elaeocarpus dentatus, Marattia salicina, Calystegia sepium and Gastrodia cunninghamii. 8. High levels of essential minerals and trace elements were measured in many samples, and some excess levels of toxic metals were recorded. 9. The nutritional and ethnobotanical aspects of a pre-European Maori diet were related to the analytical and botanical findings of the investigation

Turkey's global strategy: Turkey and Iran

As the neighbouring state most comparable to Turkey in geographic, demographic and socio-economic size, relations with Iran differ from all other neighbourly relations, as Iran is considered Turkey’s equal. As such, the relationship is also fi lled with historical legacies that have shaped public and elite perceptions. First, there is the legacy stemming from the century-old rivalry of the two former empires (Ottoman and Persian) whose competition was territorial, political, cultural as well as religious. Furthermore, the parallel decline of imperial strength – both in Constantinople and in Tehran - gave rise to a shared struggle against the encroachment of outside powers, mainly Russia and the West. The second legacy derives from the experience as modern nation-states and is rather amicable. It originates in Turkish and Iranian affi nity to modernise in the face of superior enemies, guiding the two countries in their transition to modernity. Notably, Reza Shah’s only visit abroad took him to Turkey in 1934 to inspect his western neighbour’s reforms and social engineering. After World War II, the two states were nominal allies of the Western bloc though the institutional arrangement – the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) – was effectively dormant. Instead, Iran’s natural resource wealth soon enabled the country to eclipse Turkey’s developmental level and Iran’s reassertion of infl uence resurrected Turkish memories of a threat from the East

A pedagogy for work-based learning at level 5 for foundation degree studies in architectural technology and construction management

The central Government agenda towards widening participation in Higher Education and its target of 50 % of adults to be involved by 2010 is amongst the drivers towards innovative and changing modes of learning and teaching. A by product of this is the number of students adopting a part-time route toward academic qualification. The ramifications of this involve limited time for personal attendance at teaching institutions and a requirement for directed learning within the framework of the workplace. The interpretation both nationally and internationally of work based learning appears to be inconsistent. The research involved in this paper concludes with a recommendation to identify that model appropriate for students studying toward the awards of Foundation Degree in Architectural Technology and Construction Management at Northumbria University

Staphylococcus food poisoning: recommendations for its prevention and control

Mr. Dewberry, a Fellow of the Society of Health and of the Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, served with The historic Mediterranean Fever Commission in Malta in 1904-05 and may be the last survivor of that celebrated group. In this article he puts forward several recommendations for the prevention and control of staphylococcus food poisoning. Staphylococcus bacterium is commonly found in nature and the organisms are widespread among healthy persons, being present on the skin, in the throat and in the nasal passages. In the majority of the outbreaks occurring in England and Wales due to the enterotoxin, the incriminated vehicle has been a protein foodstuff (meat), which has been cooked the day previous to its being consumed. There appears to be only one effective way of controlling this type of food poisoning and that is to prevent pathogenic staphylococci from producing the enterotoxin in cooked protein foods. In this regard, guidance in treating stored food, including the maximum temperatures at which to keep cold or hot cooked protein foods is provided. In essence, since enterotoxin is odourless, colourless and tasteless, one cannot depend on the appearance, taste or smell of cooked protein food.peer-reviewe