Responding to Johnson, Saunders, and Lovano-Kerr

The papers presented by Johnson, Saunders, and Lovano-Kerr are varied in content, but united in the sense of originating within two linked dilemmas. The first dilemma asks whether art educators are to embrace and actively work towards incorporating one currently popular political stance into the education process, or whether we are to devise, as far as we can, a curriculum formed from a synthesis of positions. The second asked whether, in using words like “enculturation” and “social transmission, we mean to the world of the school,” or “to the world at large. These are well-worn dilemmas. Their continuing presence is evidence of past failure to address them successfully, and of their persistence as matters frustrating to the field

Inactivation of pathogens on food and contact surfaces using ozone as a biocidal agent

This study focuses on the inactivation of a range of food borne pathogens using ozone as a biocidal agent. Experiments were carried out using Campylobacter jejuni, E. coli and Salmonella enteritidis in which population size effects and different treatment temperatures were investigate

A comparison of UK equity and property duration

This paper considers the duration of property and equity. A general formula for duration of asset classes is derived. It is shown that calculations which assume, usually implicitly, that the flow-through of inflation to cash flow is zero, produce misleadingly high durations for property and equities. These are typically in the range 15 to 25 years. Simulations using the formulae show that property has some bond-like characteristics. The results indicate that, for realistic flow-through rates, equities have a higher duration than property. The flow-through rate is the most important variable in the estimation of equities. Using historical data, equity duration is estimated at 8.65 years and property’s at 3.15 years. These are substantially lower than those commonly cited. If these values can be substantiated, and if higher values are used in practice, portfolio immunisation strategies may need to be reconsidered

Conference as Ritual: Structures for the Unsavage Mind

Anthropologists like Victor Turner and Edward Bruner focus their attention on the experience of experiencing. Their approach is to make an initial distinction between behavior, which is noted in other people, and experience, which is personally felt. It is a germane distinction, for anthropologists of their persuasion are more inclined to describe how it felt to be there, rather than what went on. Their stance is closer to phenomenology than to ethnography, and their efforts are concentrated on what gave the occasion its special flavor, its extraordinary character. Their approach suits my present purpose admirably, since my question is, What makes an NAEA conference special

Categories of insight and their correlates: An exploration of relationships among classic-type insight problems, rebus puzzles, remote associates and esoteric analogies.

A central question in creativity concerns how insightful ideas emerge. Anecdotal examples of insightful scientific and technical discoveries include Goodyear's discovery of the vulcanization of rubber, and Mendeleev's realization that there may be gaps as he tried to arrange the elements into the Periodic Table. Although most people would regard these discoveries as insightful, cognitive psychologists have had difficulty in agreeing on whether such ideas resulted from insights or from conventional problem solving processes. One area of wide agreement among psychologists is that insight involves a process of restructuring. If this view is correct, then understanding insight and its role in problem solving will depend on a better understanding of restructuring and the characteristics that describe it. This article proposes and tests a preliminary classification of insight problems based on several restructuring characteristics: the need to redefine spatial assumptions, the need to change defined forms, the degree of misdirection involved, the difficulty in visualizing a possible solution, the number of restructuring sequences in the problem, and the requirement for figure-ground type reversals. A second purpose of the study was to compare performance on classic spatial insight problems with two types of verbal tests that may be related to insight, the Remote Associates Test (RAT), and rebus puzzles. In doing so, we report on the results of a survey of 172 business students at the University of Waikato in New Zealand who completed classic-type insight, RAT and rebus problems

Enabling spontaneous analogy through heuristic change

Despite analogy playing a central role in theories of problem solving, learning and education, demonstrations of spontaneous analogical transfer are rare. Here, we present a theory of heuristic change for spontaneous analogical transfer, tested in four experiments that manipulated the experience of failure to solve a source problem prior to attempting a target problem. In Experiment 1, participants solved more source problems that contained an additional financial constraint designed to signal the inappropriateness of moves that maximized progress towards the goal. This constraint also led to higher rates of spontaneous analogical transfer to a superficially similar problem. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the effects of this constraint extend to superficially and structurally different analogs. Experiment 4 generalized the finding to a non-analogous target problem that also benefitted from inhibiting maximizing moves. The results indicate that spontaneous transfer can arise through experience during the solution of a source problem that alters the heuristic chosen for solving both analogical and non-analogical target problems

Investigation of mid-infrared AlInSb LEDs with an n-i-p structure

We report on the investigation on mid-infrared AlInSb LEDs with an n-i-p structure. Compared to the conventional AlInSb LEDs with a p-i-n structure, a better current spreading corresponding to a uniform current distribution in the active region is expected in the n-i-p structure because of a high electron mobility in the n-type AlInSb material. The output optical power of laterally injected LEDs were investigated as a function of the device geometry by COMSOL simulations and confirmed by experimental results

Self-consistent theory of turbulent transport in the solar tachocline. III. Gravity waves

To understand the fundamental physical processes important for the evolution of solar rotation and distribution of chemical species, we provide theoretical predictions for particle mixing and momentum transport in the stably stratified tachocline. By envisioning that turbulence is driven externally in the tachocline (e.g. by plume penetration), we compute the amplitude of turbulent flow, turbulent particle diffusivities, and eddy viscosity, by incorporating the effect of a strong radial differential rotation and stable stratification. We identify the different roles that the shear flow and stable stratification play in turbulence regulation and transport. Particle transport is found to be severely quenched due to stable stratification as well as radial differential rotation, especially in the radial direction with an effectively more efficient horizontal transport. The eddy viscosity is shown to become negative for parameter values typical of the tachocline, suggesting that turbulence in the stably stratified tachocline leads to a non-uniform radial differential rotation. Similar results also hold in the radiative interiors of stars, in general

Tailored second line therapy in asthmatic children with the arginine-16 genotype

The arginine-16 beta-2 receptor genotype confers increased susceptibility to exacerbations in asthmatic children taking regular long acting beta-2 agonists. We therefore evaluated using montelukast as an alternative to salmeterol as tailored second line asthma controller therapy in children expressing this susceptible genotype. 62 persistent asthmatic children with the homozygous arginine-16 genotype were randomized to receive salmeterol 50ug bid or montelukast 5/10mg od as add on to inhaled fluticasone for 1 year. School absences (the primary outcome) were reduced with montelukast arm compared to salmeterol: difference in score = 0.40 (95%CI 0.07-0.87) p=0.005. Albuterol use was also reduced with montelukast compared with salmeterol: difference in score = 0.47 (95%CI 0.16-0.79) p<0.0001. Greater improvements occurred in both symptom and quality of life scores with montelukast vs salmeterol, while there was no difference in FEV1. Montelukast may be suitable as tailored second line controller therapy instead of salmeterol in asthmatic children expressing the susceptible arginine-16 genotype - moving towards a personalised medicine approach to management