Class Formation Research Articles

On the application of Krylov subspace spectral methodologies to poroacoustic shock formation in an exponential class of inhomogeneous gases

In this communication, the propagation of poroacoustic acceleration waves in a class of inhomogeneous gases whose ambient mass density varies exponentially is considered. Employing the tools of singular surface theory, we first determine the evolution of both the jump amplitudes and the locations/velocities of their associated wave-fronts, along with a variety of related analytical results. We then turn to what have become known as Krylov subspace spectral (KSS) methods to numerically simulate the evolution of the full waveforms under consideration. These simulations are not only performed quite efficiently, since KSS allows the use of “large” CFL numbers, but also quite accurately, in the sense of capturing theoretically-predicted features of the solution profiles, since KSS customizes the computation of the components (of a solution) corresponding to the different frequencies involved. The presentation concludes with a discussion of possible acoustics-related follow-on studies.

Microporosity evolution in polymer‐derived SiOC glasses pyrolyzed in different atmospheres

AbstractPolymer‐derived ceramics (PDCs) are a class of advanced materials obtained by pyrolysis in a controlled atmosphere of an organosilicon polymer. Their functional as well as mechanical properties originate from the peculiar nanostructures developed during the pyrolysis. Herein, we investigate the formation of transient microporosity in a model PDC (methyl‐silsesquioxane) obtained in Ar, Ar–5%H2, CO2, and air. It is shown that a common evolution can be detected up to 700°C. At this temperature, the structure of the material in terms of chemical bonds is marginally changed (only redistribution reactions take place), but the medium‐range order is clearly modified moving the system to a more disordered state (detected by small angle x‐ray scattering [SAXS]) and causing the formation of a large amount of open micropores sized at about 1.2–1.7 nm. In the 700–800°C range, the proper ceramization starts causing the formation of a new class of small (around 1 nm) open micropores. These partially annihilate at 900°C in Ar and Ar–H2 (i.e., in the second part of the ceramization process), whereas they totally collapse in CO2 due to the formation of a more silica‐like SiOC (less polymerized and viscous). Finally, SAXS points out the persistence of relatively large closed nanovoids of about 1 nm at 1250°C for the samples treated in Ar and Ar–H2. These might explain anomalies in terms of density, elastic modulus, and thermal conductivity of this class of ceramics as reported in the literature.

Bioethics curriculum for undergraduate medical students: an evaluation study utilizing mixed methods approach

BackgroundThe undergraduate bioethics curriculum introduced in a private medical college in Pakistan in 1988 and revised in 2009 has evolved over time to incorporate globally relevant innovations, including integration of bioethics spirally within an existing problem-based learning curricular framework. The present evaluation study shares the results of this integrated bioethics curriculum delivered for 10 years across the five-year undergraduate medical curriculum. The study assessed the effectiveness of the curriculum in terms of student achievement, appropriateness of course contents and efficiency of instructional methods.MethodsThe study utilized a mixed method sequential explanatory design. The quantitative method was used in the first phase to gather data by utilizing a structured online questionnaire. This was followed by the second phase of qualitative methods to explain the findings of the first phase and enrich the data gathered. This phase was based on focus group discussions and document review.ResultsStudent and faculty responses showed the curriculum contents to be relevant, informative, and appropriate as per learning objectives and student achievement. Multi-modal instructional methods used were stated to be effective and engaging; small group teaching and shorter sessions suggested to be preferable for fostering discussion and maintaining student engagement and attention. Large class formats were stated to be less effective. Students affirmed the contribution of bioethics education to their personal and professional development and ethical positioning. The majority of students agreed that the curriculum contributed to their knowledge acquisition (60.3—71.2%), skill development (59.41—60.30%) and demonstration of ethical/professional behavior (62.54—67.65%). The ranges indicate agreement with related sets of questions.Participants suggested that the curriculum could be further strengthened by better integration in clinical years, role modelling and providing opportunities for application in clinical health care settings. Moreover, topics like ethical issues related to the use of social media, public health ethics and ethics and law were suggested as additions to the existing curriculum. These findings have regional and global relevance for the development and assessment of effective bioethics curricula.ConclusionAn effective bioethics curriculum for undergraduate medical education should run longitudinally across the 5 year curriculum and be integrated in the modules and clerkships. Basic acquisition of knowledge and skills takes place in Years 1 & 2 with reinforcement and application in Years 3–5. Learning embedded in an integrated curriculum can help students recognize, critically analyze and address ethical dilemmas. Involvement and commitment of the clinical faculty is essential for reinforcing the ethical principles and concepts learnt in the earlier years.

A study of the teaching of action research in an online setting

ABSTRACT The combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid improvement in virtual communication provided the opportunity to examine the efficacy of teaching a graduate seminar on action research (AR) in an online setting. The research questions were: 1) In what ways did the online setting affect the students’ ability to collaborate in doing their AR projects? 2) What levels of trust were developed among the students and between the students and the instructor, and what factors affected the development of trust? The weekly three-hour classes included mini-lectures and interactive activities. The class was divided into small groups that met separate from the class sessions to discuss coursework and projects. Data (student interviews, coursework, and recordings of class sessions) were analyzed using standard qualitative methods. It was found that the course format led to all participants being engaged during all sessions. This helped the class to evolve into a functioning community of practice. The highly interactive nature of the course enabled students to collaborate as they learned to engage in AR. Students indicated the class format and attitude of the instructor helped engender trust. Overall, the data indicate the graduate seminar on AR was successfully transformed to an online setting.

Unraveling the white working-class conundrum: A closer look at its utility and pitfalls

The term “white working-class” has emerged as a focal point in recent discourse, igniting fervent debates around its usage and purpose. Critics like Gillborn have contended that the term, often wielded by right-leaning academics and commentators, artificially segregates the working-class. In this article I seek to understand this, and other criticisms raised in relation to the rise of populism, which have been aimed at the usage and purpose of the term “white working-class”. By weighing these criticisms against one another and acknowledging the intersectionality inherent in class formation, I propose a more specific and limited application of the term that I think better aligns with scholarly pursuits and helps to mitigate some of these critics core concerns around the term’s overgeneralisation in-particular. Thus, while I also acknowledge that the term “white working-class” ignites debate, it can also unveil intricate social realities, as evidence from Skeggs and Reay suggest. It must ultimately be employed judiciously to avoid sidelining the struggles of other marginalised groups within the class. Balancing its use with caution is essential to harness its potential without undermining the broader context of class-based issues that affect individuals from all backgrounds.

Occupational Segmentation and Cohesion: Examining the Linkages

Essentially occupation is a productive endeavor. It expresses man’s desire to pursue work to further his life. Remaining productive makes life meaningful. It earns him a return that makes it possible to care for all needs within limits it may permit. Occupation therefore is any activity that is the prime means of livelihood for which a considerable part of time is spent in a day. Ever since man began organized living, he used to engage in occupations. It has become the basis for collective life. They complement each other in functional dependence to satisfy the plethora of human needs. The occupation performed by each individual depends on their health, intellect, knowledge, skill, and attitude. Some may not be sufficiently healthy to take on arduous tasks, some may not have sufficient intellect when compared with others and hence thrive on mechanical, or routine activities, and some may not have a proper attitude at all to utilize knowledge or skill desirably. Whatever it be occupations develop functional dependence and serve to connect through their mutual interactions. It forms the basis of social cohesion. By Involving individuals in productive tasks, occupations contribute to establishing social order thereby minimizing conflict. Therefore, occupational specializations are not sources of conflict. On the contrary, they act as instruments of unity. The advent of technology has resulted in newer forms of occupational stratification leading to the formation of classes within social class. As a result, occupational attributes have substituted the key features for class composition. Classes today are occupational classes. They signify wealth, status, power, authority, and lifestyle which are the main attributes of class. This paper discusses occupational segmentation as a basis of social cohesion.

CLASS AND CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS ACCORDING TO E. P. THOMPSON

ABSTRACTIn this article, I extract a theory of class from E. P. Thompson's historical works of the 1960s and 1970s, focusing especially on his 1963 magnum opus The Making of the English Working Class, the articles later collected in the 1991 volume Customs in Common: Studies in Traditional Popular Culture, and the essays “The Peculiarities of the English” and “Eighteenth‐Century English Society: Class Struggle without Class?” In the first section, I argue, following Ellen Meiksins Wood, that Thompson developed a genuinely historical materialist theory of class formation as a “structured process” that moves from class struggle to class consciousness, a theory that complicates the frequent description of Thompson as a “voluntarist.” In the second section, I take a more critical position toward Thompson's understanding of class, discussing a tension between this notion of class as structured process and his numerous invocations of class as a form of “lived experience” whose diversity and unpredictability exceed theorization. This tension aside, Thompson claims that, in the case of the nineteenth‐century English working class, to which he dedicated so much research, lived experience coincided with the more general structured process he posits. In the third section, therefore, I more fully elaborate on this specific process of class formation as Thompson portrays it, identifying and discussing three intertwined threads: (1) a movement from a past‐oriented defense of traditional institutions to a future‐oriented demand for reforms, (2) the development of oppositional, class‐specific pedagogical institutions and practices, and (3) the creation of a distinct class culture (which Thompson closely aligns with the achievement of class consciousness) that is aware both of itself and of its antagonism with other classes.

The Social Origins of Capital: Trajectories of Accumulation at the Rural–Urban Interface in Pakistani Punjab

Recent scholarship on class formation in South Asia has drawn attention to consequential processes of capital accumulation taking place in provincial towns and in the countryside. This “provincial capital” finds its genesis in the commercialisation of agriculture, is often smaller in scale than big capital, is rooted in the locality, depends more on informal than formal institutions, and holds diverse assets across the rural–urban divide. While the significance of this segment of capital is well established in the literature on India, it has hardly been investigated in Pakistan. In response to this dearth of studies, this article charts the “making of a provincial capitalist class” in two areas of the Pakistani Punjab. It traces the origins of this class in how the distinct landownership structures and caste composition of the two areas interacted with the commercialisation of agriculture in the colonial period. Yet their paths were by no means pre-determined as the exit of Hindu mercantile castes created a vacuum that was filled by peasant castes diversifying off-farm in one of these areas and large landlords and non-landed artisanal castes in the other. This highlights the widening of the social circle from which capital has emerged.

Exploring autonomy support and learning preference in higher education: introducing a flexible and personalized learning environment with technology

Learner autonomy is particularly important in higher education, where students are fully responsible for their own learning. Despite this, there is a lack of research on aspects of autonomy support in higher education compared with that of primary and secondary education. To address this gap, this study explored autonomy support and learning preference in higher education, introducing a flexible and individualized learning environment with technology after the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was conducted among 849 Japanese university students to gather their perceptions about autonomous support, learning preferences (face-to-face or distance), use of learning strategies, and academic performance (grade point average). Correlations were identified between certain variables: for example, perceived autonomy support, class format preference, and grade point average. The scores of different scales were compared among the subject groups. Autonomy support provided by instructors included explaining the lesson’s outline to students. A few teachers provided opportunities for students to select learning methods, teaching materials, and assignment content; yet, few instructors seemed to truly understand students’ learning needs. Although many participants took face-to-face courses, students’ learning preferences were evenly split between face-to-face and distance learning courses. Students who strongly preferred face-to-face learning performed well regardless of instructional format. Students with a little preference for distance education performed well, especially in distance education courses. Students with no preference performed the worst. This study suggests that a learning environment that provides students with options to suit their diverse learning preferences is beneficial and that introducing “hybrid-flexible” courses and feedback for students’ learning strategies has the potential to promote learner autonomy in higher education.

United we stand, divided we fall. Union organization and political activism among Jewish woodworkers in early-twentieth-century Buenos Aires

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the formation of the working class in Argentina, specifically within the Jewish East-European sector of the furniture industry during the early twentieth century. It examines Jewish immigration, their integration into the timber sector of Buenos Aires, and diverse labour relationships. Through an analysis of social and labour conflicts, the paper aims to study how Yiddish-speaking workers integrated into a highly cosmopolitan working class, put, at the same time, into a broader perspective of Jewish immigration into the Global South. By doing so, we hope to enhance our understanding of the significant role played by Jewish workers in the trajectory of the Argentine working class.

The effects of a training package to teach note taking on the formation of equivalence classes.

Effective note taking may enhance learning outcomes for students and serve as a directly observable form of mediation within a test context. Frampton et al. (2023) used stimulus fading to teach note taking in the form of a graphic organizer (GO) during matching-to-sample baseline relations training (MTS-BRT). Moderately high yields were observed with young adults despite the use of linear series training, abstract stimuli, and five-member classes. The present study taught the same note taking strategy using an intervention package including video illustration, voice-over instructions, and feedback to eight college students. Participants were taught to construct the GO during MTS-BRT with three three-member classes of familiar stimuli. Then the effects of MTS-BRT alone with three five-member classes of abstract stimuli was evaluated. Participants efficiently completed training with familiar stimuli and passed the posttest on the first attempt. With the abstract stimuli, participants engaged in GO construction during MTS-BRT and the six participants that demonstrated high levels of fidelity to the trained note taking strategy passed the posttest on the first attempt. These results replicate findings from Frampton et al. while using a more efficient intervention package. Benefits of teaching overt mediation responses are discussed as well as future directions for translation to applied contexts.

An Adaptive Two-Class Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization for Energy-Efficient Hybrid Flow Shop Scheduling Problems with Additional Resources

Energy-efficient scheduling problems with additional resources are seldom studied in hybrid flow shops. In this study, an energy-efficient hybrid flow shop scheduling problem (EHFSP) with additional resources is studied in which there is asymmetry in the machine. An adaptive two-class teaching-learning-based optimization (ATLBO) which has multiple teachers is proposed to simultaneously minimize the makespan and the total energy consumption. After two classes are formed, a teacher phase is first executed, which consists of teacher self-learning and teacher training. Then, an adaptive learner phase is presented, in which the quality of two classes is used to adaptively decide the learner phase or the reinforcement search of the temporary solution set. An adaptive formation of classes is also given. Extensive experiments were conducted and the computational results show that the new strategies are effective and that ATLBO was able to provide better results than comparative algorithms reported in the literature in at least 54 of 68 instances.

Pedagogical effectiveness and improvement of the process of fostering a culture of safe behavior in primary school children

Introduction. The authors propose to comprehend the reasons for the relevance of the problem of forming a safety culture in pedagogical theory and practice and the need to build educational programs, directions that take into account the reality of modern childhood, the specific conditions of a person's growing up during this period, implementing all available options for the formation and accumulation of life experience by the child, in which the culture of safe behavior occupies one of the leading places. The purpose of the work is to identify the validity of the inclusion of the subjects of the system of additional education for children in the process of forming a culture of safe behavior of younger schoolchildren and to formulate the idea of the dissertation research. Materials and methods. In November-December 2023, a pilot study was conducted to establish the level of formation of basic concepts related to safe behavior in children who have reached primary school age. The methods of survey, content analysis, and conversation were used. The theoretical basis of the study is the concept of uncertainty as a condition of growing up in a changing world (A.G. Asmolov), the activity approach, the principle of complementarity in relation to pedagogical systems (N. Bohr), culturological and subject-object approaches to the study of childhood. The results are presented by the authors in full, and they testify to the well-known effectiveness of the work of preschool educational organizations and schools in the field of forming children's ideas about human safety in the environment. In preschool age, parents are active participants in this process for most children. In the course of the conversations, it was found that children form an indicative basis for activities based on a list of specific situations that may develop in everyday life, but its reproduction is difficult if it is not supported by the child's experience. The absence of situations of experience, teaching safe behavior only in the format of game activities in constructed situations with the use of any visuals, including information and communication technologies (rollers, videos, etc.), or in the format of classes using the explanatory and illustrative method do not allow us to draw conclusions about the formation of safe behavior skills in preschool children. Discussion and conclusion. The authors present a discussion of debatable issues related to the bias in favor of the theory of programs for the education of a culture of safe behavior, with insufficient operationality of the concepts of «danger» and «risk» for the purposes of education. Based on the results of the pilot study and theoretical analysis of some existing approaches, the inclusion in this process of subjects of additional education that carry out activities in the field of physical culture and sports, as a natural environment for the life of children, with pedagogical conditions for modeling situations of controlled danger in order to form real skills and experience of risk in children, is substantiated. This is the idea behind the intended dissertation research.

Higher Education Teaching Reform: Integration of the Online and Offline Teaching

The traditional teaching mode of large class sizes and face-to-face instruction originated during the industrial era has struggled to meet the talent development demands in the post-industrial era and cater to students' requirements in the information and digital age. The online teaching emerged as a complement to traditional teaching and gained widespread promotion as a substitute for in-person teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even after the pandemic, the online teaching has further developed alongside traditional methods, but opinions about its effectiveness vary. Both the online and offline (face-to-face) teaching have their distinct pros and cons. To meet the requirements for contemporary talent development, the integration of online and offline teaching courses strategically combines the strengths of each approach while mitigating their weaknesses. This integrated teaching approach transcends the limitations of traditional colleges and universities instruction, particularly in general courses with large class formats. It enables educators to devote greater attention to students, stimulates students’ innate drive for learning and promotes the normalization of learning in their daily routines.

The Great Accounting Escape: A Teaching Tool for Relevant Costing and Short-Term Decisions

ABSTRACT This teaching case creates an Escape Room experience for managerial accounting students to reinforce relevant costing and short-term decision concepts. Within the Escape Room, students analyze five short-term decisions within 50 minutes to “escape” for the weekend. Specifically, students identify relevant information, perform the necessary calculations, and evaluate their results to make a recommendation on how to improve firm profitability. The Escape Room seeks to build a greater understanding of relevant costing by creating a narrative, linking the five short-term decisions, and formatting every decision using an input-process-output (IPO) framework. The Escape Room also uses gamification elements to promote engagement and interest in learning these concepts. Students agree that the Escape Room increases engagement and fosters an understanding of relevant costing and short-term decision concepts. We see one of the strongest benefits of the Escape Room is its ability to scale across class formats and provide automatic feedback to students. Data Availability: Data are available upon request.

Reduction of DHHC5-mediated beclin 1 S-palmitoylation underlies autophagy decline in aging.

Autophagy is a lysosome-dependent degradation pathway essential for cellular homeostasis, which decreases with age. However, it is unclear how aging induces autophagy decline. Here we show the role of protein S-palmitoylation in autophagy. We identify the palmitoyl acyltransferase DHHC5 as a regulator of autophagy by mediating the palmitoylation of beclin 1, which in turn promotes the formation of ATG14L-containing class III phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase complex I and its lipid kinase activity by promoting the hydrophobic interactions between beclin 1 and adapter proteins ATG14L and VPS15. In aging brains of human and nonhuman primate, the levels of DHHC5 exhibit a marked decrease in expression. We show that DHHC5 deficiency in neurons leads to reduced cellular protein homeostasis in two established murine models of Alzheimer's disease, which exaggerates neurodegeneration in an autophagy-dependent manner. These findings identify reduction of DHHC5-mediated beclin 1 S-palmitoylation as an underlying mechanism by which aging induces autophagy decline.

Comparing the stimulus-pairing yes/no procedure to match-to-sample to establish equivalence classes with adults

ABSTRACT In a recent study, Gallant et al. (2021) found that both match-to-sample (MTS) and the stimulus-pairing yes/no procedure (SPYN) resulted in a high likelihood of equivalence class formation. Due to this ceiling effect, however, any potential differential effects of the SPYN and MTS trial formats could not be identified. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of MTS and SPYN using procedures that were less likely to result in class formation. A pretest-train-posttest sequence was used. During the pretest and posttest, both MTS and SPYN trials were used to assess all trained and derived relations. Class members consisted of abstract visual stimuli. We also assessed the degree to which class-consistent responding would generalize to a card sorting task. During training of baseline relations, half of the participants were exposed only to MTS or only SPYN trials. Posttest results showed that the trial format used to train the baseline relations had no differential effects on class formation; however, participants exposed to MTS training mastered the baseline relations in fewer trials and required less time than those in the SPYN group. Implications of these results and suggestions for future studies are discussed.

History of the formation and development of the middle class in the PRC in Chinese historiography

In 1949 after the formation of the PRC started systemic changes, which could not but be reflected in social life. The social structure itself began to change, which had a significant impact on the whole society. Since the 1980s social mobility increased in Chinese society, and Chinese and foreign researchers started to pay more attention to the middle class as a new social group. In the Chinese academic world the concept of the middle class was accepted only in the 21st century, since the sociology within which the study of the middle class is carried out did not originate in China until the 1920s and then for a long time until the 1980s was under the strict control of the state. Active study of the issue of the emergence and development of the middle class in China began only in the 1980s, and Chinese scientists have made a significant contribution to it. Modern China is in the process of active social transformation, and the growing middle class has become an important social and political force. The historiography of the issue of the formation and development of the Chinese middle class, described in this article, will expand the understanding of the middle class in China, because it is the driving force behind the development of the country, and it is important to understand its political views, psychology and behavior, as well as analyze the trends in the transformation of the modern social system.

Technology anxiety (technostress) and academic burnout from online classes in university students

Pandemic moments have generated mental and emotional problems in students at all levels. These have been affected by the format of virtual classes, the mandatory confinement and the little physical relationship due to the existing restrictions, generating academic burnout and anxiety in university students. In this context, the objective was to know the existing relationship between burnout and anxiety in students of the FIS-UNCP, the 15-question Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Questionnaire (MBI-SS) was used with the dimensions: Emotional Exhaustion, Cynicism and Loss of Academic Efficacy and 5 questions to know the level of technological anxiety or technostress, with a population of 328 university students of 10 semesters, through the questionnaire in Office Forms. The research design was non-experimental, transectional, with a qualitative-quantitative approach and descriptive-explanatory levels. The descriptive data analysis was made based on the scale, allowing the identification of students with burnout and the structural equation modeling facilitated the establishment of the relationship between the variables. The study showed that 26 students (7.93%) suffer from academic burnout. At the same time, it has been demonstrated that there is a positive and significant relationship between emotional exhaustion and lack of academic efficacy, with technological anxiety with path values of 0.701 and 0.345 respectively, the p-values allowed demonstrating hypotheses 1 and 3 formulated. At the level of the structural model, it allows anticipating future results, since the coefficient of determination (R2) calculated was 0.838.

Turing patterns on rotating spiral growing domains.

We investigate the emergence of Turing patterns in a system growing as a rotating spiral in two dimensions, utilizing the photosensitivity of the chlorine dioxide-iodine-malonic acid (CDIMA) reaction to control the growth process. We observe the formation of single and multiple (double and triple) stationary spiral patterns as well as transitional patterns. From numerical simulations of the Lengyel-Epstein model with an additional term to account for the effects of illumination on the reaction, we analyze the relationship between the final morphologies and the radial and angular growth velocities, identify conditions conducive to the formation of transitional structures, examine the importance of the size of the initial nucleation site in determining the spiral's multiplicity, and evaluate the stability and robustness of these Turing patterns. Our results indicate how inclusion of rotational degrees of freedom in the growth process may lead to the formation of a diverse new class of patterns in chemical and biological systems.