Sets of Priors Reflecting Prior-Data Conflict and Agreement

In Bayesian statistics, the choice of prior distribution is often debatable, especially if prior knowledge is limited or data are scarce. In imprecise probability, sets of priors are used to accurately model and reflect prior knowledge. This has the advantage that prior-data conflict sensitivity can be modelled: Ranges of posterior inferences should be larger when prior and data are in conflict. We propose a new method for generating prior sets which, in addition to prior-data conflict sensitivity, allows to reflect strong prior-data agreement by decreased posterior imprecision.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, In: Paulo Joao Carvalho et al. (eds.), IPMU 2016: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, Eindhoven, The Netherland

Negotiations of minority ethnic rugby league players in the Cathar country of France

This article is based on new empirical, qualitative research with minority ethnic rugby league players in the southwest of France. Drawing on similar research on rugby league in the north and the south of England, the article examines how rugby league, traditionally viewed as a white, working-class male game (Collins, 2006; Denham, 2004; Spracklen, 1995, 2001) has had to re-imagine its symbolic boundaries as they are constituted globally and locally to accommodate the needs of players from minority ethnic backgrounds. In particular, the article examines the sense in which experiences of minority ethnic rugby league players in France compare with those of their counterparts in England (Spracklen, 2001, 2007), how rugby league is used in France to construct identity, and in what sense the norms associated with the imaginary community of rugby league are replicated or challenged by the involvement of minority ethnic rugby league players in France. Questions about what it means to be (provincial, national) French (Kumar, 2006) are posed, questions that relate to the role of sport in the construction of Frenchness, and in particular the role of rugby league (and union). © Copyright ISSA and SAGE Publications

Unquenching the scalar glueball

Computations in the quenched approximation on the lattice predict the lightest glueball to be a scalar in the 1.5-1.8 GeV region. Here we calculate the dynamical effect the coupling to two pseudoscalars has on the mass, width and decay pattern of such a scalar glueball. These hadronic interactions allow mixing with the $q \overline q$ scalar nonet, which is largely fixed by the well-established K_0^*(1430). This non-perturbative mixing means that, if the pure gluestate has a width to two pseudoscalar channels of ~100 MeV as predicted on the lattice, the resulting hadron has a width to these channels of only ~30 MeV with a large eta-eta component. Experimental results need to be reanalyzed in the light of these predictions to decide if either the f_0(1500) or an f_0(1710) coincides with this dressed glueball.Comment: 12 pages, LaTex, 3 Postscript figure

A comparison of local phosphorescence detection and fluid dynamic gauging methods for studying the removal of cohesive fouling layers: Effect of layer roughness

The performance of industrial cleaning in place (CIP) procedures is critically important for food manufacture. CIP has yet to be optimised for many processes, in part since the mechanisms involved in cleaning are not fully understood. Laboratory tests have an important role in guiding industrial trials, and this paper introduces and compares two experimental techniques developed for studying CIP mechanisms: local phosphorescence detection (LPD), and scanning fluid dynamic gauging (sFDG). To illustrate the comparison, each technique is used to investigate the influence of soil topology on the cleaning of pre-gelatinised starch-based layers from 316 stainless steel substrates by aqueous NaOH solutions at ambient temperature. The roughness of the soil surface is varied by incorporating zinc sulphide particles with different particle size distributions (range 1 - 80 μm) into the starch suspensions. The soil roughness increased with the use of larger particles, increasing the 3D arithmetic mean roughness (Sa) of the dry layers (range 0.37 - 3.33 μm). Rough layers were cleaned more readily than those containing small inclusions, with a good correlation between the cleaning rates observed during LPD and FDG measurements. The LPD technique, which is an instrumented CIP test, gives a better indication of the cleaning time, while sFDG measurements provide further insight into the removal mechanisms.NOTICE: this is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Food Bioproducts Processing. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Food Bioproducts Proc., 92, 46-53 DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fbp.2013.07.01

Spin Physics at e^+e^- Colliders

A large number of measurements with polarized beams and/or spin analysis of final state particles has been performed at the e^+e^- colliders LEP and SLC, providing important information on the dynamics of high energy interactions. In this paper three subjects, for which the role of spin studies was particularly relevant, will be covered: the measurements of the electroweak couplings, the study of fragmentation dynamics and the search for physics beyond the Standard Model.Comment: 11 pages, Invited talk given at the International Workshop on Symmetry and Spin - Prague, Czech Republic, August 30 - September 5, 199

Exploring the Partonic Structure of Hadrons through the Drell-Yan Process

The Drell-Yan process is a standard tool for probing the partonic structure of hadrons. Since the process proceeds through a quark-antiquark annihilation, Drell-Yan scattering possesses a unique ability to selectively probe sea distributions. This review examines the application of Drell-Yan scattering to elucidating the flavor asymmetry of the nucleon's sea and nuclear modifications to the sea quark distributions in unpolarized scattering. Polarized beams and targets add an exciting new dimension to Drell-Yan scattering. In particular, the two initial-state hadrons give Drell-Yan sensitivity to chirally-odd transversity distributions.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, to appear in J. Phys. G, resubmission corrects typographical error

The impact of hyperhidrosis on patients' daily life and quality of life : A qualitative investigation

Background: An understanding of the daily life impacts of hyperhidrosis and how patients deal with them, based on qualitative research, is lacking. This study investigated the impact of hyperhidrosis on the daily life of patients using a mix of qualitative research methods. Methods: Participants were recruited through hyperhidrosis patient support groups such as the Hyperhidrosis Support Group UK. Data were collected using focus groups, interviews and online surveys. A grounded theory approach was used in the analysis of data transcripts. Data were collected from 71 participants, out of an initial 100 individuals recruited. Results: Seventeen major themes capturing the impacts of hyperhidrosis were identified; these covered all areas of life including daily life, psychological well-being, social life, professional /school life, dealing with hyperhidrosis, unmet health care needs and physical impact. Conclusions: Psychosocial impacts are central to the overall impacts of hyperhidrosis, cutting across and underlying the limitations experienced in other areas of life.Peer reviewe

HEP Applications Evaluation of the EDG Testbed and Middleware

Workpackage 8 of the European Datagrid project was formed in January 2001 with representatives from the four LHC experiments, and with experiment independent people from five of the six main EDG partners. In September 2002 WP8 was strengthened by the addition of effort from BaBar and D0. The original mandate of WP8 was, following the definition of short- and long-term requirements, to port experiment software to the EDG middleware and testbed environment. A major additional activity has been testing the basic functionality and performance of this environment. This paper reviews experiences and evaluations in the areas of job submission, data management, mass storage handling, information systems and monitoring. It also comments on the problems of remote debugging, the portability of code, and scaling problems with increasing numbers of jobs, sites and nodes. Reference is made to the pioneeering work of Atlas and CMS in integrating the use of the EDG Testbed into their data challenges. A forward look is made to essential software developments within EDG and to the necessary cooperation between EDG and LCG for the LCG prototype due in mid 2003.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics Conference (CHEP03), La Jolla, CA, USA, March 2003, 7 pages. PSN THCT00

Spin alignment of vector meson in e+e- annihilation at Z0 pole

We calculate the spin density matrix of the vector meson produced in e+e- annihilation at Z^0 pole. We show that the data imply a significant polarization for the antiquark which is created in the fragmentation process of the polarized initial quark and combines with the fragmenting quark to form the vector meson. The direction of polarization is opposite to that of the fragmenting quark and the magnitude is of the order of 0.5. A qualitative explanation of this result based on the LUND string fragmentation model is given.Comment: 15 pages, 2 fgiures; submitted to Phys. Rev.

New Constraints on Dispersive Form Factor Parameterizations from the Timelike Region

We generalize a recent model-independent form factor parameterization derived from rigorous dispersion relations to include constraints from data in the timelike region. These constraints dictate the convergence properties of the parameterization and appear as sum rules on the parameters. We further develop a new parameterization that takes into account finiteness and asymptotic conditions on the form factor, and use it to fit to the elastic \pi electromagnetic form factor. We find that the existing world sample of timelike data gives only loose bounds on the form factor in the spacelike region, but explain how the acquisition of additional timelike data or fits to other form factors are expected to give much better results. The same parameterization is seen to fit spacelike data extremely well.Comment: 24 pages, latex (revtex), 3 eps figure