The Structure of a Quantum World

I argue that the fundamental space of a quantum mechanical world is the wavefunction's space. I argue for this using some very general principles that guide our inferences to the fundamental nature of a world, for any fundamental physical theory. I suggest that ordinary three-dimensional space exists in such a world, but is non-fundamental; it emerges from the fundamental space of the wavefunction

New “Unbundling” Rules: Will the FCC Finally Open Up Cable Broadband?

This iBrief discusses a recent Court of Appeals decision remanding FCC rules on the unbundling of Internet services by telephone exchange carriers. These rules ordered many Internet service providers to share their equipment with competitors, so that consumers could choose their providers instead of having to accept all services from the company who installed the physical Internet connection. Cable Internet providers are not included in these rules. This iBrief predicts that cable broadband operators will soon be governed by the same unbundling provisions as other ISPs

Modelling the spreading of wilding conifers

In many parts of the Canterbury high country, conifer seeds are spreading on the wind from exisiting plantations and shelterbelts, leading to a serious weed problem. Environment Canterbury set the task at MISG to model this spread, and thus provide a basis for prioritising control operations on a limited budget. The study group provided increased understanding of topographic and climatic factors involved in seed dispersal, and of the distribution of the resulting seed rain. In addition a simulation framework was developed for comparing the effectiveness of different control strategies

Light element abundances in He-rich stars

We present an abundance analysis of light elements in He-rich stars. The analysis is based on both low and high resolution observations collected at ESO, La Silla, Chile in the optical region and includes 6 standards and 21 He-rich stars. Light-element abundances display a diverse pattern: they range from under-solar up to above-solar values.Comment: 4 pages, no figure, to appear in: Proc. of the 26th workshop of the European Working Group on CP stars, eds. P. North, A. Schnell and J. Ziznovsky, Contrib. Astr. Obs. Skalnate Pleso Vol. 27, No

Manager Perceptions of the Impact of Consolidation on the U.K. Independent Television Production Industry

This paper explores the impact that consolidation has had on the UK’s Independent Television Production Industry over the past decade and how this process had affected the running of different sized production companies. In-depth interviews with a number of influential professionals revealed five themes: the management of small companies, post acquisition, had not changed; economies of scale can be attributed to an increase in scale; medium sized companies would find it increasingly difficult to compete; the emergence of the Super Indie had not stifled creativity in the industry; a key driver in the consolidation process is that of individual gain. Key words: Independent Television Production, Industry Consolidation, Key Drivers, Super Indies, United Kingdom

Evolution of Magnetic Fields in Stars Across the Upper Main Sequence: II. Observed distribution of the magnetic field geometry

We re-discuss the evolutionary state of upper main sequence magnetic stars using a sample of Ap and Bp stars with accurate Hipparcos parallaxes and definitely determined longitudinal magnetic fields. We confirm our previous results obtained from the study of Ap and Bp stars with accurate measurements of the mean magnetic field modulus and mean quadratic magnetic fields that magnetic stars of mass M < 3 M_sun are concentrated towards the centre of the main-sequence band. In contrast, stars with masses M > 3 M_sun seem to be concentrated closer to the ZAMS. The study of a few known members of nearby open clusters with accurate Hipparcos parallaxes confirms these conclusions. Stronger magnetic fields tend to be found in hotter, younger and more massive stars, as well as in stars with shorter rotation periods. No evidence is found for any loss of angular momentum during the main-sequence life. The magnetic flux remains constant over the stellar life time on the main sequence. An excess of stars with large obliquities beta is detected in both higher and lower mass stars. The obliquity angle distribution as inferred from the distribution of r-values appears random at the time magnetic stars become observable on the H-R diagram. After quite a short time spent on the main sequence, the obliquity angle beta tends to reach values close to either 90 deg or 0 deg for M < 3 M_sun. The evolution of the obliquity angle beta seems to be somewhat different for low and high mass stars. While we find a strong hint for an increase of beta with the elapsed time on the main sequence for stars with M > 3 M_sun, no similar trend is found for stars with M < 3 M_sun. However, the predominance of high values of beta at advanced ages in these stars is notable.Comment: 16 pages, 22 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in A