3-D immersive screen experiments

We are currently piloting a range of computer simulated science experiments as 3-D virtual environments. These are rendered on a PC in 3-D and use photographs of specic parts of the actual apparatus as textures to add realism to the simulation. In particular, photographs are used to represent the consequential views of an experiment. These particular views may also be animated depending on the state of the experiment. The work combines the photographic approach of the Interactive Screen Experiments (ISEs) with the advantages of a fully simulated 3-D environment where the user can interact with the apparatus in a more natural and intuitive way. The potential advantages are that users can quickly adapt to the environment and in particular the controls. They gain realistic views of the physicality of the experiment as they are not just seeing it from a particular viewpoint, but from wherever they see t to place themselves within the experiment's scene. They are immersed in the experiment in a way that mitigates some of the objections to online as opposed to real laboratory experimentation. It is also the case that the results of an initial calibration or setup carry over into the main part of the experiment. This is perceived as an extremely important teaching element of Physics practicals as the user learns that care in setting up an experiment is an essential part of being able to get good results. Furthermore there is no need to represent scales, read-outs or controls as separate parts of the interface; these can all be rendered at their correct physical positions within the experiment. The rst of these experiments based on the use of a diffraction grating has been fully implemented and has been evaluated with a Physics A level class. The application and its evaluation will be presented. A more complicated experiment using a spectrometer has also been modelled which raises issues of complexity. These issues will also be discussed

Galilean symmetry in generalized abelian Schr\"odinger-Higgs models with and without gauge field interaction

We consider a generalization of nonrelativistic Schr\"odinger-Higgs Lagrangian by introducing a nonstandard kinetic term. We show that this model is Galilean invariant, we construct the conserved charges associated to the symmetries and realize the algebra of the Galilean group. In addition, we study the model in the presence of a gauge field. We also show that the gauged model is Galilean invariant. Finally, we explore relations between twin models and their solutions.Comment: 13 pages, version to be published in MPL

The Page-R{\'e}nyi parking process

In the Page parking (or packing) model on a discrete interval (also known as the discrete R{\'e}nyi packing problem or the unfriendly seating problem), cars of length two successively park uniformly at random on pairs of adjacent places, until only isolated places remain. We give a probabilistic proof of the (known) fact that the proportion of the interval covered by cars goes to 1-exp(-2) , when the length of the interval goes to infinity. We obtain some new consequences, and also study a version of this process defined on the infinite line

A coherence theorem for pseudonatural transformations

We prove coherence theorems for bicategories, pseudofunctors and pseudonatural transformations. These theorems boil down to proving the coherence of some free $(4,2)$-categories. In the case of bicategories and pseudofunctors, existing rewriting techniques based on Squier's Theorem allow us to conclude. In the case of pseudonatural transformations this approach only proves the coherence of part of the structure, and we use a new rewriting result to conclude. To this end, we introduce the notions of white-categories and partial coherence

Predicting Levels of Latino Depression: Acculturation, Acculturative Stress, and Coping

Past research has noted that aspects of living in the United States place Latinos at risk for experiencing psychological problems. However, the specific features of the adaptation process that contribute to depression remain unclear. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the ability of acculturation, acculturative stress, and coping to predict membership into low, medium, and high groups of depression among Latinos. Within a group of 148 Latino adults from the community, a multinomial logistic regression revealed that an Anglo orientation, English competency pressures, and active coping differentiated high from low depression and that a Latino orientation and, to some extent, the pressure to acculturate distinguished medium from low depression. These results highlight a pattern of characteristics that function as risk and protective factors in relation to level of symptom severity. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for Latino mental health, including considerations for intervention and prevention

Anomalous Magnetic and Electric Dipole Moments of the Tau

This paper reviews the theoretical predictions for and the experimental measurements of the anomalous magnetic and electric dipole moments of the tau lepton. In particular, recent analyses of the \eettg process from the L3 and OPAL collaborations are described. The most precise results, from L3, for the anomalous magnetic and electric dipole moments respectively are: \atau = 0.004 \pm 0.027 \pm 0.023 and \dtau = (0.0 \pm 1.5 \pm 1.3)\times 10^{-16}{e{\cdot}\mathrm{cm}}.Comment: Invited talk at the TAU'98 Workshop, 14-17 September 1998, Santander, Spai

LOOKING FOR THE SILVER BULLET A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO THE DEBATE ON ESM REFORM. Bertelsmann Stiftung Policy Paper 211, 4 December 2017

The debate about the future of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has taken a centre stage in the discussion about the future of economic and monetary union (EMU). This is partly due to the possible departure of the IMF from European programmes and to the idea to make the ESM a permanent backstop for banking union. But this is also because changing the ESM treaty is seen by many as a quick-fix alternative to a proper overhaul of EMU architecture that would include EU Treaty change. Here, the cart is put often before the horse: Discussions on the precise vehicle of a reform (in this case the ESM) take priority over properly assessing the need of a tool itself. The question how to reform the ESM is not the most fundamental one facing EMU today; but ESM reform can nevertheless contribute to making EMU more stable. This paper argues that the discussion on ESM reform in fact subsumes four separate policy debates. These debates are only loosely linked functionally, but are often being connected politically