Quantum Mechanics from Symmetry and Statistical Modelling

A version of quantum theory is derived from a set of plausible assumptions related to the following general setting: For a given system there is a set of experiments that can be performed, and for each such experiment an ordinary statistical model is defined. The parameters of the single experiments are functions of a hyperparameter, which defines the state of the system. There is a symmetry group acting on the hyperparameters, and for the induced action on the parameters of the single experiment a simple consistency property is assumed, called permissibility of the parametric function. The other assumptions needed are rather weak. The derivation relies partly on quantum logic, partly on a group representation of the hyperparameter group, where the invariant spaces are shown to be in 1-1 correspondence with the equivalence classes of permissible parametric functions. Planck's constant only plays a role connected to generators of unitary group representations

Collusion through Joint R&D: An Empirical Assessment

This paper tests whether upstream R&D cooperation leads to downstream collusion. We consider an oligopolistic setting where firms enter in research joint ventures (RJVs) to lower production costs or coordinate on collusion in the product market. We show that a sufficient condition for identifying collusive behavior is a decline in the market share of RJV-participating firms, which is also necessary and sufficient for a decrease in consumer welfare. Using information from the US National Cooperation Research Act, we estimate a market share equation correcting for the endogeneity of RJV participation and R&D expenditures. We find robust evidence that large networks between direct competitors – created through firms being members in several RJVs at the same time – are conducive to collusive outcomes in the product market which reduce consumer welfare. By contrast, RJVs among non-competitors are efficiency enhancing

Craft, Community and the Material Culture of Place and Politics, 19th–20th Century

Book Review: Craft, Community and the Material Culture of Place and Politics, 19th-20th century Edited by Janice Helland, Beverley Lemire and Alena Buis Ashgate, February 2014; 245pp. 46 b&w illustrations; hardback £60.00 ISBN: 978-1-4094-6207-

How to Listen to Pachamama’s Testimonio: Lessons from Indigenous Voices

This article analyzes the collective, open-access, and modifiable publication El Vivir Bien como respuesta a la Crisis Global as a posthumanist testimonio or ecotestimonio intending to give voice to the biotic community of the Andes. Written by Quechua and Aymara people and presented to the United Nations by the Plurinational State of Bolivia, this document targets the global ecological, financial, and social crises from the perspective of Indigenous knowledges. This document also exemplifies the worldwide reemergence of Indigenous voices that are confronting the global ecological crisis and its environmental injustices through the revitalization of Indigenous worldviews and practices. This ecotestimonio conveys, among many timely lessons, the Indigenous teaching that humans must listen carefully to the non-human world to learn from Pachamama how to interrelate as humans and with non-humans to collaborate in ensuring the continuing vitality of the community of life. If we listen carefully to Pachamama’s testimony, as Indigenous voices urge, doubt must be cast upon the viability of ideas celebrated by hegemonic Western modern discourses like development, progress, or ‘ economic growth. Instead, these voices invite us to rethink the place, functions, and responsibilities of humans as members of the web of life

Anaphora Resolution in Near-Native Speakers of Italian

This study presents data from an experiment on the interpretation of intrasentential anaphora in Italian by native Italian speakers and by English speakers who have learned Italian as adults and have reached a near-native level of proficiency in this language. The two groups of speakers were presented with complex sentences consist-ing of a main clause and a subordinate clause, in which the subor-dinate clause had either an overt pronoun or a null subject pronoun. In half of the sentences the main clause preceded the subordinate clause (forward anaphora) and in the other half the subordinate clause preceded the main clause (backward anaphora). Participants performed in a picture verification task in which they had to indi-cate the picture(s) that corresponded to the meaning of the subor-dinate clause, thus identifying the possible antecedents of the null or overt subject pronouns. The patterns of responses of the two groups were very similar with respect to the null subject pronouns in both the forward and backward anaphora conditions. Compared to native monolingual speakers, however, the near-natives had a significantly higher preference for the subject of the matrix clause as a possible antecedent of overt subject pronouns, particularly in the backward anaphora condition. The results indicate that near-native speakers have acquired the syntactic constraints on pronom-inal subjects in Italian, but may have residual indeterminacy in the interface processing strategies they employ in interpreting pronom-inal forms

Towards environmental design in hydropower reservoirs - Developing a handbook for mitigation measures in regulated lakes

Due to their ability to store large amounts of water, reservoirs are the supporting beam in the Norwegian hydropower system. Norway has approximately 1200 lakes that are regulated for hydropower usage, but despite the large number, there is relatively little public awareness of environmental impacts in lakes regulated for hydropower, at least compared to the focus on regulated salmon rivers. The Handbook for environmental design in regulated salmon rivers was published in 2013 and has become an important tool for local and national authorities, as well as hydropower companies in Norway. The aim of this report is to investigate the feasibility of developing a handbook for environmental design related to fish in reservoirs, similar to the one for salmon rivers. Given the large variation among Norwegian hydropower reservoirs, it is not realistic to create a first handbook for environmental design that will be useful for all reservoir types. Hence, it would be useful to narrow the scope and identify some reservoirs that are of particular interest and start with method development targeting these reservoirs. In this report, we have focused on environmental measures targeting brown trout populations, as this well-studied species is the most common in Norwegian hydropower reservoirs. The first phase of the environmental design methodology is the diagnosis phase, which aims to identify key bottlenecks for fish populations. Based on many years of fish monitoring in Norwegian reservoirs, several ecological bottlenecks are already known. An aspect that is not included in the salmon handbook, but of high importance for a future handbook for reservoirs, is collecting information on lake productivity. Unlike the anadromous salmon, experiencing abundant food recourses in their oceanic stage, resident species are highly influenced by the food availability in the lake. Hence, when looking for bottlenecks in reservoirs, an additional population-regulating factor to habitat-related and hydrological conditions may be food limitation. We suggest that the diagnosis phase for environmental design for reservoirs should consist of two parts: one based on data on fish populations and their main prey, and the other on hydrological and habitat data. In addition, the hydropower system must be described to understand potential environmental impacts. In contrast to data on fish populations and their main prey, habitat mapping and hydrological analyses have been lacking in most reservoir surveys. In many cases, appropriate habitat mapping is done in the adjacent spawning streams, but habitat mapping is rarely done within lakes. We believe it is realistic to identify bottlenecks and undertake a full diagnosis phase of environmental design based on today’s knowledge. However, there is a need to implement standardized surveys to ensure that sufficient data is collected in all reservoir monitoring. In this report, we have suggested available sampling methodology that we believe should be part of such standardized surveys. The second phase of environmental design is to identify design solutions. To our knowledge, no one has so far performed a full environmental design project in a reservoir. However, there are a number of different mitigation measures that have been used in Norwegian reservoirs and could be further developed for a future handbook. To obtain information about the type of already tested measures, we performed a survey among all County Governors in Norway. The results show that there is limited experience with mitigation measures in reservoirs. Of > 1200 Norwegian reservoirs, only 37 were reported to have known mitigation measures targeting brown trout, and a few targeting other species. Further, almost all measures targeting reservoir fishes have been implemented in the surrounding streams and rivers. These measures are more similar to the environmental design already developed for salmon rivers. For development of a handbook for reservoirs, it is important to develop environmental design methodology within the reservoir itself, i.e. in the lake habitats. The County Governors reported 14 cases of measures targeting trout within a reservoir, covering habitat-related measures, altered pattern of water level fluctuations and creation of “lake in reservoir”. We find these examples particularly interesting and relevant for a future handbook for environmental design in reservoirs. Although we have some examples of existing mitigation measures to learn from, it is important to identify optimal ways to balance the need of the fish populations with the need for power production. We believe that the most important knowledge gap to fill prior to development of an environmental design handbook for reservoirs is to develop tools that can assist balanced decisions between the environmental needs and the power production, similar to those already developed for the salmon handbook. The best way forward for environmental design in hydropower reservoirs is to establish a multidisciplinary research project, where scientists, power producers and managers can work together, focusing on one or two reservoirs in detail and use this as a pilot.© Norwegian Research Centre for Hydropower Technology (HydroCen) 20XX. The publication may freely be cited with source acknowledgemen

Maintenance of weight loss and aerobic capacity one year aft er the end of a lifestyle intervention focusing on nutritional guidance and/or exercise

The aims of this study were to: 1) investigate to what extent participants in a lifestyle intervention program, including nutritional guidance and two weekly intensive running sessions, maintain improvements in aerobic capacity and health parameters one year after the end of an intervention; and 2) identify common determinants for those participants who succeeded in weight loss maintenance. A total of 51 participants completed the 33-week intervention. One year after the end of the intervention period (1YA) 34 participants completed anthropometric measurements, 12 (8 women) in the training group (TG) and 22 (13 women) in the nutritional guidance and training group (NTG). A total of 13 participants (9 women) in the TG and 11 participants (7 women) in the NTG completed a 3000 m running test. There were no significant differences in body mass index, 3000 m running time or waist circumference between the groups 1YA. There was however, substantial variation in both groups as to what extent participants had maintained their weight loss. Higher self-efficacy and self-control in relation to food and exercise characterized those who best maintained their weight loss