Digital Commons Network^™

Demythifying Multicultural Education: Social Semiotics As A Tool Of Critical Pedagogy, Stephanie Urso Spina

Publications and Research

This article discusses the assumptions and curricular implications of a social semiotic approach to education. Semiotics refers to the meaning we make with language as well as other objects. events, and actions. Social semiotics emphasizes the social, cultural, historic, and political contexts that shape that meaning. A social semiotic approach to education can help teachers and teacher educators to deconstruct the reproduction of class, politicize the ideology of colonialism, and overcome the inequities they engender. By providing a way to challenge selectively reproduced cultural politics, social semiotics provides a way to reconstruct and democratize schools and society.

Global Attractors From The Explosion Of Singular Cycles, Carlos Arnoldo Morales, Maria José Pacífico, Enrique Ramiro Pujals

Publications and Research

Abstract:

In this paper we announce recent results on the existence and bifurcations of hyperbolic systems leading to non-hyperbolic global attractors.

Résumé:

Nous présentons dans cette Note des résultats récents concernant l’existence et les bifurcations d’un nouvel attracteur global chaotique.

Study Of Volcanic Sediments By Microbeam-Pixe Technique, Nazrul I. Khandaker, M. Ahmed, M. A. Garwan

Publications and Research

Single mineral grains in a suite of Cretaceous (85–90 Ma) volcanic sedimentary rocks were analyzed using the microbeam-PIXE technique to understand fundamental geological processes responsible for micro-scale variation in elemental composition across mineral zones, twinning, cleavage planes, fractures and grain boundaries. Distributions of major and trace elements show distinct geochemical features indicative of a specific geological setting and a subsequent diagenetic process in these volcanic sediments. Examples of mineral zoning, microstructures of variable chemistry and post-depositional fluid flow are discussed using the data on feldspar group of minerals.

Stochastic Approximation Methods For Systems Over An Infinite Horizon, Harold J. Kushner, Felisa Vázquez-Abad

Publications and Research

The paper develops efficient and general stochastic approximation (SA) methods for improving the operation of parametrized systems of either the continuous- or discrete-event dynamical systems types and which are of interest over a long time period. For example, one might wish to optimize or improve the stationary (or average cost per unit time) performance by adjusting the systems parameters. The number of applications and the associated literature are increasing at a rapid rate. This is partly due to the increasing activity in computing pathwise derivatives and adapting them to the average-cost problem. Although the original motivation and the examples come …

On Epidemiology And Geographic Information Systems: A Review And Discussion Of Future Directions, K. C. Clarke, S. L. Mclafferty, B. J. Tempalski

Publications and Research

Geographic information systems are powerful automated systems for the capture, storage, retrieval, analysis, and display of spatial data. While the systems have been in development for more than 20 years, recent software has made them substantially easier to use for those outside the field. The systems offer new and expanding opportunities for epidemiology because they allow an informed user to choose between options when geographic distributions are part of the problem. Even when used minimally, these systems allow a spatial perspective on disease. Used to their optimum level, as tools for analysis and decision making, they are indeed a new …

The Invention Of "African Rhythm", Kofi Agawu

Publications and Research

"African ryhthm" was invented in the 1950s when, thanks to pioneering research by the Reverend A. M. Jones, Alan Merriam, Gilbert Rouget, Erich von Hornbostel, and John Blacking, among others, "African music" was construed as an essentially rhythmic phenomenon. Three decades and a sizable body of empirical research later, it is easy to see that an overriding ideology of difference (between "Africa" and the "West") motivated these early efforts. This essay reinvents "African rhythm" not by denying its own ideological construction but by engaging in an imaginary dialogue with earlier researchers in an effort to concretize that which was missing …

Performance Indices For On-Ice Hockey Statistics, William (Bill) H. Williams

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Careers In Chemical Information And Science Librarianship, Philip Barnett

Publications and Research

The ceaseless growth of chemical information has created a need for chemical professionals who can organize and disseminate this vast knowledge. If you like to read, enjoy being in a library, or like to work with information on computers, you may want to consider a career in chemical information. While only a small fraction of chemists choose this nontraditional career, they have found fulfillment in many different roles. Chemical information scientists and librarians using the powerful computerized databases now available either provide chemists and other research scientists the information they need, or teach researchers and students how to use these …

How Much Does Poor Reading Lower Math Scores?, William (Bill) H. Williams, Sandra P. Clarkson Ph.D

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Working Conditions And Psychological Distress In First-Year Women Teachers: Qualitative Findings, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Elizabeth A. Santiago

Publications and Research

With few exceptions (e.g., Blase, 1986), most of the research on the effects of teachers' working conditions has been quantitative in design. The power of qualitative research inheres in its struggle to get under the teacher's skin and see the world as the teacher sees it. The study described in this paper examines the writings of newly appointed teachers who, as part of a quantitative study, were asked to write anything they wanted about their jobs. Four themes that characterized the working lives of teachers emerged: (a) being happy with one's job, (b) interpersonal tensions and lack of support among …

The Child's Understanding Of Functional Relations In The Domain Of Liquid Quantity, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Four liquid comparison tasks were designed to assess children's knowledge of functional relations, one-directional compositions of functional relations (greater + greater yield greater) and countervailing compositions (greater + lesser yield ?) in 4- to 7-year-olds. On one task, in which height indexed quantity, children of every age group performed well. Success on the other comparison tasks was related to operative level, as mdexed by conservation performance, and age. More advanced pre-operational children evidenced a degree of success on the one-directional composition task. Consistent with Schonfeld (1990), the results suggested that at more advanced operative levels: (1) the understanding of increasingly …

Contaminación De Las Aguas, Aldemaro Romero Jr., Ana Mayayo

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Biological Olympiads In The Ussr, Vyacheslav Dushenkov

Publications and Research

Biological Olympiads are the sort of intellectual competition widely spread nowadays, especially among high school students. Olympiads, often an integral part of the curriculum, stimulate the pupils' interest in acquiring knowledge and help to evaluate the level of their knowledge. Biological Olympiads in this country differ greatly from the science Olympiad in the USA. First of all, they include only biological material and can be compared only with USA Science Olympiad events such as "A is for Anatomy," "Bio-Process Lab," "Designer Genes" or "Don't Bug Me." Secondly, it is a personal competition with no official teams. Current Olympiads start at …

Does Music Theory Need Musicology?, Kofi Agawu

Publications and Research

Understood as a search for "the abstract principles embodied in music and the sounds of which it consists," music theory casts a wide net: it calls for a comparative sample and insists on a systematic methodology. As " the scholarly study of music, wherever it is found historically or geographically," musicology casts an even wider net. In practice, however, it has not been possible to transcend historical and geographical boundaries. (How often have you read an article on contemporary rock in JAMS or on Asian music in 19th-Century Music?) Obviously, any attempt to explore the juncture between music theory …

Las Consecuencias Ambientales De La Guerra, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Desechos Sólidos, Aldemaro Romero Jr., Ana Mayayo

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

El Agua: El Recurso Peor Manejado, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Parque Nacional Sierra La Culata, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

¿Sirve El Ozono Para Combatir El Cólera?, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Participación Privada En La Conservación Ambiental, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Es Hora De Vender Gasolina Sin Plomo En Venezuela, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Natural And Technological Disasters: Causes, Effects And Preventive Measures, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Eco ’92: Poco Pan Y Mucho Circo, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

International Conservation Leadership And The Challenges Of The Nineties, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Producción En Venezuela De Gases Que Destruyen La Capa De Ozono, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Un Asunto De Calidad De Vida, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

How To Find Biographical Information, John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

Finding biographical information can sometimes be a challenge, especially if there is no full-length book about the person. This pathfinder offers guidance on locating information in collective biographies, periodicals, and local history sources.

Generating Unbiased Ratio And Regression Estimators, William (Bill) H. Williams

Publications and Research

Standard ratio and regression are only conditionally unbiased. The paper uses split sample techniques to develop unbiased versions.

Kähler-Chern-Simons Theory And Symmetries Of Anti-Self-Dual Gauge Fields, V. Parameswaran Nair, Jeremy Schiff

Publications and Research

Kähler-Chern-Simons theory, which was proposed as a generalization of ordinary Chern-Simons theory, is explored in more detail. The theory describes anti-self-dual in-stantons on a four-dimensional Kähler manifold. The phase space is the space of gauge potentials, whose symplectic reduction by the constraints of anti-self-duality leads to the moduli space of instantons. We show that infinitesimal Bäcklund transformations, previously related to "hidden symmetries" of instantons, are canonical transformations generated by the anti-self-duality constraints. The quantum wave functions naturally lead to a generalized Wess-Zumino-Witten action, which in turn has associated chiral current algebras. The dimensional reduction of the anti-self-duality equations leading to …

Relativistic Wave Equation For Anyons, R. Jackiw, V. Parameswaran Nair

Publications and Research

Construction of one-particle states as unitary representations of the Poincare algebra in 2 + 1 dimensions shows that an anyon has one polarization state. However, for nonzero spin manifestly linear and covariant realizations of Lorentz transformations require more than one field component, and an infinite number is needed when the value of spin is not an integer or half-integer. We discuss the relation between these two aspects of Poincare symmetry. In particular, we construct a relativistic equation for anyons where the number of physical polarizations is reduced to one by virtue of a gauge symmetry or equivalent constraint.