Democracy with Chinese Characteristics: A Political Proposal for the Post-Communist Era

Interviews Professor Wang, a political philosopher at Beijing University about the political reforms in China. Explanation on a democratic political system with Chinese characteristics; Confucian tradition of respect for a ruling intellectual elite; Relevance of Confucian scholar Huang Zongxi's proposal for reform.published_or_final_versio

Aspects of short range correlations in a relativistic model

In the present work short range correlations are introduced for the first time in a relativistic approach to the equation of state of the infinite nuclear matter in the framework of the Hartree-Fock approximation using an effective Hamiltonian derived from the $\sigma-\omega$ Walecka model. The unitary correlation method is used to introduce short range correlations. The effect of the correlations in the ground state properties of the nuclear matter is discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Short range correlations in relativistic nuclear matter models

Short range correlations are introduced using unitary correlation method in a relativistic approach to the equation of state of the infinite nuclear matter in the framework of the Hartree-Fock approximation. It is shown that the correlations give rise to an extra node in the ground-state wave-function in the nucleons, contrary to what happens in non-relativistic calculations with a hard core. The effect of the correlations in the ground state properties of the nuclear matter and neutron matter is studied. The nucleon effective mass and equation of state (EOS) are very sensitive to short range correlations. In particular, if the pion contact term is neglected a softening of the EOS is predicted. Correlations have also an important effect on the neutron matter EOS which presents no binding but only a very shallow minimum contrary to the Walecka model.Comment: 8pages, 4 figure

Specifying and Verifying Concurrent Algorithms with Histories and Subjectivity

We present a lightweight approach to Hoare-style specifications for fine-grained concurrency, based on a notion of time-stamped histories that abstractly capture atomic changes in the program state. Our key observation is that histories form a partial commutative monoid, a structure fundamental for representation of concurrent resources. This insight provides us with a unifying mechanism that allows us to treat histories just like heaps in separation logic. For example, both are subject to the same assertion logic and inference rules (e.g., the frame rule). Moreover, the notion of ownership transfer, which usually applies to heaps, has an equivalent in histories. It can be used to formally represent helping---an important design pattern for concurrent algorithms whereby one thread can execute code on behalf of another. Specifications in terms of histories naturally abstract granularity, in the sense that sophisticated fine-grained algorithms can be given the same specifications as their simplified coarse-grained counterparts, making them equally convenient for client-side reasoning. We illustrate our approach on a number of examples and validate all of them in Coq.Comment: 17 page

HST measures of Mass Accretion Rates in the Orion Nebula Cluster

The present observational understanding of the evolution of the mass accretion rates (Macc) in pre-main sequence stars is limited by the lack of accurate measurements of Macc over homogeneous and large statistical samples of young stars. Such observational effort is needed to properly constrain the theory of star formation and disk evolution. Based on HST/WFPC2 observations, we present a study of Macc for a sample of \sim 700 sources in the Orion Nebula Cluster, ranging from the Hydrogen-burning limit to M\ast \sim 2M\odot. We derive Macc from both the U-band excess and the H{\alpha} luminosity (LH{\alpha}), after determining empirically both the shape of the typical accretion spectrum across the Balmer jump and the relation between the accretion luminosity (Lacc) and LH{\alpha}, that is Lacc/L\odot = (1.31\pm0.03)\cdotLH{\alpha}/L\odot + (2.63\pm 0.13). Given our large statistical sample, we are able to accurately investigate relations between Macc and the parameters of the central star such as mass and age. We clearly find Macc to increase with stellar mass, and decrease over evolutionary time, but we also find strong evidence that the decay of Macc with stellar age occurs over longer timescales for more massive PMS stars. Our best fit relation between these parameters is given by: log(Macc/M\odot\cdotyr)=(-5.12 \pm 0.86) -(0.46 \pm 0.13) \cdot log(t/yr) -(5.75 \pm 1.47)\cdot log(M\ast/M\odot) + (1.17 \pm 0.23)\cdot log(t/yr) \cdot log(M\ast/M\odot). These results also suggest that the similarity solution model could be revised for sources with M\ast > 0.5M\odot. Finally, we do not find a clear trend indicating environmental effects on the accretion properties of the sources.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Complex Independent Component Analysis of Frequency-Domain Electroencephalographic Data

Independent component analysis (ICA) has proven useful for modeling brain and electroencephalographic (EEG) data. Here, we present a new, generalized method to better capture the dynamics of brain signals than previous ICA algorithms. We regard EEG sources as eliciting spatio-temporal activity patterns, corresponding to, e.g., trajectories of activation propagating across cortex. This leads to a model of convolutive signal superposition, in contrast with the commonly used instantaneous mixing model. In the frequency-domain, convolutive mixing is equivalent to multiplicative mixing of complex signal sources within distinct spectral bands. We decompose the recorded spectral-domain signals into independent components by a complex infomax ICA algorithm. First results from a visual attention EEG experiment exhibit (1) sources of spatio-temporal dynamics in the data, (2) links to subject behavior, (3) sources with a limited spectral extent, and (4) a higher degree of independence compared to sources derived by standard ICA.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures. Added final journal reference, fixed minor typo

Corotating light cylinders and Alfv\'en waves

Exact relativistic force free fields with cylindrical symmetry are explored. Such fields are generated in the interstellar gas via their connection to pulsar magnetospheres both inside and outside their light cylinders. The possibility of much enhanced interstellar fields wound on cylinders of Solar system dimensions is discussed but these are most likely unstable.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted by MNRA

Control of polymorphism in coronene by the application of magnetic fields

Coronene, a polyaromatic hydrocarbon, has been crystallized for the first time in a different polymorph using a crystal growth method that utilizes magnetic fields to access a unit cell configuration that was hitherto unknown. Crystals grown in magnetic field of 1 T are larger, have a different appearance to those grown in zero field and retain their structure in ambient conditions. We identify the new form, beta-coronene, as the most stable at low temperatures. As a result of the new supramolecular configuration we report significantly altered electronic, optical and mechanical properties.Comment: 32 pages, 17 figure

A robust method for fitting peculiar velocity field models

We present a new method for fitting peculiar velocity models to complete flux limited magnitude-redshifts catalogues, using the luminosity function of the sources as a distance indicator.The method is characterised by its robustness. In particular, no assumptions are made concerning the spatial distribution of sources and their luminosity function. Moreover, selection effects in redshift are allowed. Furthermore the inclusion of additional observables correlated with the absolute magnitude -- such as for example rotation velocity information as described by the Tully-Fisher relation -- is straightforward. As an illustration of the method, the predicted IRAS peculiar velocity model characterised by the density parameter beta is tested on two samples. The application of our method to the Tully-Fisher MarkIII MAT sample leads to a value of beta=0.6 \pm 0.125, fully consistent with the results obtained previously by the VELMOD and ITF methods on similar datasets. Unlike these methods however, we make a very conservative use of the Tully-Fisher information. Specifically, we require to assume neither the linearity of the Tully-Fisher relation nor a gaussian distribution of its residuals. Moreover, the robustness of the method implies that no Malmquist corrections are required. A second application is carried out, using the fluxes of the IRAS 1.2 Jy sample as the distance indicator. In this case the effective depth of the volume in which the velocity model is compared to the data is almost twice the effective depth of the MarkIII MAT sample. The results suggest that the predicted IRAS velocity model, while successful in reproducing locally the cosmic flow, fails to describe the kinematics on larger scales.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures, MNRAS in pres

Anomaly mediated neutrino-photon interactions at finite baryon density

We propose new physical processes based on the axial vector anomaly and described by the Wess-Zumino-Witten term that couples the photon, Z-boson, and the omega-meson. The interaction takes the form of a pseudo-Chern-Simons term, $\sim \epsilon_{\mu\nu\rho\sigma}\omega^\mu Z^\nu F^{\rho\sigma}$. This term induces neutrino-photon interactions at finite baryon density via the coupling of the Z-boson to neutrinos. These interactions may be detectable in various laboratory and astrophysical arenas. The new interactions may account for the MiniBooNE excess. They also produce a competitive contribution to neutron star cooling at temperatures >10^9 K. These processes and related axion--photon interactions at finite baryon density appear to be relevant in many astrophysical regimes.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; references adde