Consistent couplings between spin-2 and spin-3 massless fields

We solve the problem of constructing consistent first-order cross-interactions between spin-2 and spin-3 massless fields in flat spacetime of arbitrary dimension n > 3 and in such a way that the deformed gauge algebra is non-Abelian. No assumptions are made on the number of derivatives involved in the Lagrangian, except that it should be finite. Together with locality, we also impose manifest Poincare invariance, parity invariance and analyticity of the deformations in the coupling constants.Comment: LaTeX file. 29 pages, no figures. Minor corrections. Accepted for publication in JHE

Managed Aquifer Recharge as a Tool to Enhance Sustainable Groundwater Management in California

A growing population and an increased demand for water resources have resulted in a global trend of groundwater depletion. Arid and semi-arid climates are particularly susceptible, often relying on groundwater to support large population centers or irrigated agriculture in the absence of sufficient surface water resources. In an effort to increase the security of groundwater resources, managed aquifer recharge (MAR) programs have been developed and implemented globally. MAR is the approach of intentionally harvesting and infiltrating water to recharge depleted aquifer storage. California is a prime example of this growing problem, with three cities that have over a million residents and an agricultural industry that was valued at 47 billion dollars in 2015. The present-day groundwater overdraft of over 100 km3 (since 1962) indicates a clear disparity between surface water supply and water demand within the state. In the face of groundwater overdraft and the anticipated effects of climate change, many new MAR projects are being constructed or investigated throughout California, adding to those that have existed for decades. Some common MAR types utilized in California include injection wells, infiltration basins (also known as spreading basins, percolation basins, or recharge basins), and low-impact development. An emerging MAR type that is actively being investigated is the winter flooding of agricultural fields using existing irrigation infrastructure and excess surface water resources, known as agricultural MAR. California therefore provides an excellent case study to look at the historical use and performance of MAR, ongoing and emerging challenges, novel MAR applications, and the potential for expansion of MAR. Effective MAR projects are an essential tool for increasing groundwater security, both in California and on a global scale. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the most common MAR types and applications within the State of California and neighboring semi-arid regions

Evidence for Neutrino Oscillations from Muon Decay at Rest

A search for nu_bar_mu to nu_bar_e oscillations has been conducted at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility using nu_bar_mu from mu+ decay at rest. The nu_bar_e are detected via the reaction (nu_bar_e,p) -> (e+,n), correlated with the 2.2 MeV gamma from (n,p) -> (d,gamma). The use of tight cuts to identify e+ events with correlated gamma rays yields 22 events with e+ energy between 36 and 60 MeV and only 4.6 (+/- 0.6) background events. The probability that this excess is due entirely to a statistical fluctuation is 4.1E-08. A chi^2 fit to the entire e+ sample results in a total excess of 51.8 (+18.7) (-16.9) (+/- 8.0) events with e+ energy between 20 and 60 MeV. If attributed to nu_bar_mu -> nu_bar_e oscillations, this corresponds to an oscillation probability (averaged over the experimental energy and spatial acceptance) of 0.0031 (+0.0011) (-0.0010) (+/- 0.0005).Comment: 57 pages, 34 figures, revtex, additional information available at http://nu1.lampf.lanl.gov/~lsnd

Facilitating child witness interviews\u27 understanding of evidential requirements through prosecutor instruction

Prosecutors report that the evidential usefulness of child witness statements about abuse is often limited by unnecessary interview content and excessive length. Prior research indicates that this limitation may be attributed to a mismatch between interviewers\u27 and prosecutors\u27 understandings of the legal requirements of an interview. The aim of this study is to examine whether differences in the evidential qualities that are perceived as important by prosecutors and interviewers can be reduced through simple instruction. Five prosecutors and 33 interviewers completed a written exercise wherein participants were required to identify what aspects of information required follow-up in five hypothetical narrative accounts of abuse. Twenty of the interviewers had (prior to completing the exercise) received prosecutor instruction on the requirements of interviews in terms of the elements and particulars of sexual offences, and the manner in which necessary information is best elicited in an interview (from a legal perspective). The responses to the exercise of interviewers who had and had not received prosecutor instruction were compared. The results indicated that interviewers who had received instruction were more consistent with prosecutors in their responses to the exercise. The importance of these findings, and directions for future research, are discussed

Framework, principles and recommendations for utilising participatory methodologies in the co-creation and evaluation of public health interventions

Background: Due to the chronic disease burden on society, there is a need for preventive public health interventions to stimulate society towards a healthier lifestyle. To deal with the complex variability between individual lifestyles and settings, collaborating with end-users to develop interventions tailored to their unique circumstances has been suggested as a potential way to improve effectiveness and adherence. Co-creation of public health interventions using participatory methodologies has shown promise but lacks a framework to make this process systematic. The aim of this paper was to identify and set key principles and recommendations for systematically applying participatory methodologies to co-create and evaluate public health interventions. Methods: These principles and recommendations were derived using an iterative reflection process, combining key learning from published literature in addition to critical reflection on three case studies conducted by research groups in three European institutions, all of whom have expertise in co-creating public health interventions using different participatory methodologies. Results: Key principles and recommendations for using participatory methodologies in public health intervention co-creation are presented for the stages of: Planning (framing the aim of the study and identifying the appropriate sampling strategy); Conducting (defining the procedure, in addition to manifesting ownership); Evaluating (the process and the effectiveness) and Reporting (providing guidelines to report the findings). Three scaling models are proposed to demonstrate how to scale locally developed interventions to a population level. Conclusions: These recommendations aim to facilitate public health intervention co-creation and evaluation utilising participatory methodologies by ensuring the process is systematic and reproducible

An introductory view on archaeoastronomy

Archaeoastronomy is still a marginalised topic in academia and is described by the Sophia Centre, the only UK institution offering a broader MA containing this field, as ‘the study of the incorporation of celestial orientation, alignments or symbolism in human monuments and architecture’. By many it is associated with investigating prehistoric monuments such as Stonehenge and combining astronomy and archaeology. The following will show that archaeoastronomy is far more than just an interdisciplinary field linking archaeology and astronomy. It merges aspects of anthropology, ethno-astronomy and even educational research, and is possibly better described as cultural astronomy. In the past decades it has stepped away from its quite speculative beginnings that have led to its complete rejection by the archaeology community. Overcoming these challenges it embraced full heartedly solid scientific and statistical methodology and achieved more credibility. However, in recent times the humanistic influences of a cultural context motivate a new generation of archaeoastronomers that are modernising this subject; and humanists might find it better described as post-modern archaeoastronomy embracing the pluralism of today’s academic approach to landscape and ancient people

Optimal design of water treatment processes

Predicted water shortages assign water treatment a leading role in improving water resources management. One of the main challenges associated with the processes remains early stage design of techno-economically optimised purification. This work addresses the current gap by undertaking a whole-system approach of flowsheet synthesis for the production of water at desired purity at minimum overall cost. The optimisation problem was formulated as a mixed-integer non-linear programming model. Two case studies were presented which incorporated the most common commercial technologies and the major pollution indicators, such as chemical oxygen demand, dissolved organic carbon, total suspended solids and total dissolved solids. The results were analysed and compared to existing guidelines in order to examine the applicability of the proposed approach

Evidence for nu_mu -> nu_e Neutrino Oscillations from LSND

A search for nu_mu -> nu_e oscillations has been conducted with the LSND apparatus at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility. Using nu_mu from pi^+ decay in flight, the nu_e appearance is detected via the charged-current reaction C(nu_e,e^-)X. Two independent analyses observe a total of 40 beam-on high-energy electron events (60 < E_e < 200 MeV) consistent with the above signature. This number is significantly above the 21.9 +- 2.1 events expected from the nu_e contamination in the beam and the beam-off background. If interpreted as an oscillation signal, the observed oscillation probability of (2.6 +- 1.0 +- 0.5) x 10^{-3} is consistent with the previously reported nu_mu_bar -> nu_e_bar oscillation evidence from LSND.Comment: 10 pages (LaTeX), 3 figures (PostScript), submitted to Phys.Rev.Lett. Additional information at http://nu1.lampf.lanl.gov/~lsn