Terms Of Relativity Research Articles

A Case for Incorporating Aboriginal Perspectives in Education

In general, education in Australia is dominated by an out-of-date worldview that encourages fragmentation and actively excludes the philosophical views of its Aboriginal Australian students. Despite growing support for the principles and practice of equal opportunity and multi-culturalism, for Aboriginal Australians to benefit from education they are left with little choice but to participate in teaching programs that devalue or ignore their cultural identity. To meet the needs of students, education must undergo a philosophical transformation that makes the structure and content of academic programs more culturally sensitive and flexible. All students need to develop cross-cultural skills, including ways of thinking in terms of interconnectedness and cultural relativity within the dominant culture. Students need to be prepared to work within differing cultural paradigms and to have an understanding of the philosophical diversity of Australia's cultural context.

Evidence for a cosmological oscillation of the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151

Abstract Long-term observations of global oscillations of the Sun revealed the existence of the phasecoherent periodicity P 0 = 160.0101 ± 0.0001 min seen in the Doppler shift of a photospheric spectral line. The true nature of the phenomenon is yet unknown. But the most intriguing aspect seems to be the recent discovery of the same periodicity in luminosity variations of several AGNs which makes the puzzle of the “ubiquitous” P 0-oscillation much more mysterious. The present analysis of all available data on the rapid variability of the nucleus of NGC 4151 fully confirms the AGN P 0-oscillation (with a mean amplitude ≈ 0.01 mag). It is argued that this oscillation must have a cosmological origin - due to, e.g., its independence of the AGN redshift. In terms of general relativity the P 0-oscillation is treated as a characteristic time scale of metric fluctuations of the Universe. The conclusion is made that this new astrophysical phenomenon severely contradicts today's cosmological model of the Universe b...

Modularity in moral judgment by police officers

Classical theories of moral judgment (e.g., Piaget, 1965; Kohlberg, 1983) were tested against a modularity hypothesis in police officers. Patrol and investigation officers were compared in a series of experiments using functional measurement in which policemen were asked to make judgments, from both objective and subjective perspectives, about the severity of acts involving verbal or physical aggression. Information in the incidents included justification for the act, intent on the part of the harmdoer and harm caused to the victim. Differences were found between patrol and investigation officers in their responses to moral dilemmas, confirming the importance of professional experience in moral judgment. Individual police officers were also found to switch moral codes according to the perspective from which they made their judgments, lending support to the modularity hypothesis. Findings are discussed in terms of both moral relativity and moral modularity.

Biological gestational age and its calendar assessment with ultrasound. Part 2: Biological-calendar scales for prediction of birth-date.

Evaluation of enzymatic and sonographic assessments has been done in terms of relativity of gestational length. The principle of relativity means that it is not the calendar time but the biological one that qualifies the results of both the diagnostic procedures and treatments. The described biological-calendar scale comprises and links both the enzymatic and ultrasonographic data. The shifting of the end of the biological scale to the end of the calendar scale enables the appropriate evaluation of both the child's maturation for labor, as well as the pregnancy duration from the last menstrual period until the end of normal births range. It is why almost all ultrasound scales heretofore useful only for 50% of deliveries (as usually encompassing range of 40 weeks) have to be lengthened.

Using masculine generics: Does generic he increase male bias in the user's imagery?

Previous research has shown that experimenter-presented masculine generics can create male bias in the gender content of subjects' imagery. The present study tests experimentally whether subjects' own use of masculine generics has a similar effect on their imagery. College student subjects were induced to complete sentence fragments using masculine or unbiased generics, then asked to describe their imagery for each sentence and to give a first name to fit the person they visualized for each sentence. These dependent measures were coded for gender, and as predicted, analysis of variance showed that male bias was higher in the masculine generic condition than in the unbiased condition. Also as predicted, male subjects were more male-biased overall than were female subjects. The findings are discussed in terms of linguistic relativity (the proposition that language can shape thought), prototypicality (the most typical he is probably a man), and activation of multiple meanings (he has male-specific and gender-neutral denotations, and both may be activated even when the gender-neutral meaning is intended).

Quantum relativity theory and quantum space-time

A quantum relativity theory formulated in terms of Davis' quantum relativity principle is outlined. The first task in this theory as in classical relativity theory is to model space-time, the arena of natural processes. It is shown that the quantum space-time models of Banai introduced in another paper is formulated in terms of Davis' quantum relativity. The recently proposed classical relativistic quantum theory of Prugovecki and his corresponding classical relativistic quantum model of space-time open the way to introduce, in a consistent way, the quantum space-time model (the quantum substitute of Minkowski space) of Banai proposed in the paper mentioned. The goal of quantum mechanics of quantum relativistic particles living in this model of space-time is to predict the rest mass system properties of classically relativistic (massive) quantum particles (“elementary particles”). The main new aspect of this quantum mechanics is that provides a true mass eigenvalue problem, and that the excited mass states of quantum relativistic particles can be interpreted as elementary particles. The question of field theory over quantum relativistic model of space-time is also discussed. Finally it is suggested that “quarks” should be considered as quantum relativistic particles.

Polytropic spheres with isothermal cores

The paper deals with massive fluid spheres with an isothermal core (having finite central density) and a polytropic envelope in terms of the General Relativity. The matching of the solutions in the core and envelope has been done using Bondi's condition,H=0 and also without it. The study reveals that since this condition does not correspond to any particular physical situation the maximum values of fractional core size, fractional core mass and the redshift do not occur atH=0, but that they occur at some other point. Within the permissible physical conditions (dP/dρ≤1) the maximum values ofMcore/M,Rcore/R and the surface redshift, for an isothermal coreP=ρ/3, are respectively 0.473, 0.554, and 0.565. Using the conditionH=0, it has been shown that for isothermal cores corresponding to the equation of the stateP≥0.6ρ, the configurations are pulsationally unstable.

Relations of Classroom Structures and Teacher Behaviors to Social Orientation, Self-Esteem, and Classroom Climate Among Anglo American and Mexican American Children

This investigation examines the relationship of classroom structure and teacher behaviors to cooperative, competitive, and individualistic social orientation, self-esteem, and classroom climate among Mexican American and Anglo Anerican children. Fifteen teachers were systematically observed in their classrooms, and 107 children (77 Anglo and 30 Mexican American, ages 7–11) were tested on the social orientation choice card (SOCC), Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, and Anderson's My Class Inventory. Results indicate that (a) the teachers frequently used cooperative group classroom structures, (b) teacher behaviors and classroom structures were related to social orientation and self-esteem of children in a culturally relative pattern, and (c) teacher behaviors were significantly related to positive classroom climates for both cultural groups. Results are discussed in terms of cultural relativity of the interrelations among the school and child variables, implications for desegregation, and the possible antecedents of the observed cultural differences.

A symmetric and an asymmetric model for the equal-sensation function in olfaction

Data from various intramodel matching experiments in olfaction were analyzed with regard to a symmetric and an asymmetric model for the equal-sensation function. The asymmetric model was discussed in relation to the symmetric model. In all, 11 equal-sensation functions were investigated, and of these 9 were with different pairs of odorants. The following odorants were investigated: hydrogen sulfide, pyridine, dimethyl disulfide, and five odorants obtained by different combustion procedures of animal manure. It was found that the equal-sensation function can be written in the following asymmetric form: $$\varphi _i = b_{ik} \lambda \cdot \varphi _k ^{b_{ik} } ,\psi _i = \psi _k $$ or symmetric form: $$\varphi _i = C^{I - b_{ik} } \cdot \varphi _k ^{b_{ik} } ,\psi _i = \psi _k ,$$ where ϕi and ϕk are stimuli expressed in multiples of respective absolute thresholds, λ and C are general constants invariant of experimental matching method and matched attribute (perceived unpleasantness or intensity). The constants λ and C were calculated both for group data and individual data. The asymmetric form of the equal-sensation function was interpreted in terms of relativity and the symmetric form in terms of measurement.

The speed of light in a moving medium

The Fizeau experiment is analysed in terms of special relativity on the hypothesis that light in a material medium is alternately emitted and absorbed. It is found that if dispersion is neglected this ‘extinction’ theory leads to the same result as the more usual theory, contrary to a recent conclusion of Ockert. The theories differ in their predictions when dispersion is included, and the results of an experiment by Zeeman are shown to favour the usual theory.

On a Generalized Lorentz Transformation

AbstractThe generalized Lorentz group of Romain [1] is reconstructed and analysed as to both its mathematical structure and its possible physical interpretations. Apart from the “formal” interpretation intended by the author, the generalized group is shown to posses a “realistic” interpretation referring to a hypothetical situation and also a nontrivial interpretation in terms of general relativity referring to the presence of a scalar gravitational potential.

Relativistic Theory of the Behavior of Clocks

The clock paradox is studied both from the point of view of special and general relativity. A solution for the case of a space ship moving in a straight line path with arbitrary acceleration is given in terms of special relativity. It is pointed out that an appeal to general relativity is not necessary as long as a single clock in the accelerator frame is considered, but that general relativistic considerations are necessary if two clocks separated by an appreciable distance are introduced into the accelerated frame. A solution for this case is given.