Semi-leptonic decays of heavy mesons and the Isgur-Wise function in quenched lattice QCD

The form factors for the semi-leptonic B->D and B->D* decays are evaluated in quenched lattice QCD at two different values of the coupling, beta=6.0 and 6.2. The action and the operators are fully O(a) non-perturbatively improved. The slope of the Isgur-Wise function is evaluated, and found to be rho^2=0.83^{+15+24}_{-11-1} (quoted errors are statistical and systematic respectively). Ratios of form factors are evaluated and compared to experimental determinations.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure

Conditional Quantum Walk and Iterated Quantum Games

Iterated bipartite quantum games are implemented in terms of the discrete-time quantum walk on the line. Our proposal allows for conditional strategies, as two rational agents make a choice from a restricted set of two-qubit unitary operations. Several frequently used classical strategies give rise to families of corresponding quantum strategies. A quantum version of the Prisoner's Dilemma in which both players use mixed strategies is presented as a specific example. Since there are now quantum walk physical implementations at a proof-of principle stage, this connection may represent a step towards the experimental realization of quantum games.Comment: Revtex 4, 6 pages, 3 figures. Expanded version with one more figure and updated references. Abstract was rewritte

Decision for reconstructive interventions of the upper limb in individuals with tetraplegia: the effect of treatment characteristics

Objective: To determine the effect of treatment characteristics on the\ud decision for reconstructive interventions for the upper extremities (UE) in\ud subjects with tetraplegia. - \ud Setting: Seven specialized spinal cord injury centres in the Netherlands. - \ud Method: Treatment characteristics for UE reconstructive interventions were\ud determined. Conjoint analysis (CA) was used to determine the contribution\ud and the relative importance of the treatment characteristics on the decision\ud for therapy. Therefore, a number of different treatment scenarios using these\ud characteristics were established. Different pairs of scenarios were presented\ud to subjects who were asked to choose the preferred scenario of each set. - \ud Results: forty nine subjects with tetraplegia with a stable C5, C6 or C7\ud lesion were selected. All treatment characteristics significantly influenced\ud the choice for treatment. Relative importance of treatment characteristics\ud were: intervention type (surgery or surgery with FES implant) 13%, number\ud of operations 15%, in patient rehabilitation period 22%, ambulant\ud rehabilitation period 9%, complication rate 15%, improvement of elbow\ud function 10%, improvement of hand function 15%. In deciding for therapy\ud 40% of the subjects focused on one characteristic. - \ud Conclusion: CA is applicable in Spinal Cord Injury medicine to study the\ud effect of health outcomes and non-health outcomes on the decision for\ud treatment. Non-health outcomes which relate to the intensity of treatment\ud are equally important or even more important than functional outcome in the\ud decision for reconstructive UE surgery in subjects with tetraplegia

Heavy --> Light semileptonic decays of pseudoscalar mesons from lattice QCD

We have computed the form factors for B --> pi and D --> K(pi) semileptonic decays on the lattice by using full non-perturbative O(a) improvement, in the quenched approximation. Our results are expressed in terms of few parameters which describe the q^2-dependence and normalization of the form factors.Comment: 28 pages (LaTeX2e), 11 PostScript figures (version to appear in Nucl.Phys.B

Library Adversity, Global Diversity

A poster presented by Eden Ungar, Gus Boyer, Ryan Maynard and Shashi Gollamudi for the class Libraries and Literacies: Plans for the Future of Libraries.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/gsp_projects_2019/1010/thumbnail.jp

Constitutivism

A brief explanation and overview of constitutivism

Censorship and Surveillance in the Digital Age:The Technological Challenges for Academics

The “Snowden leaks” and censorship methods used during the Arab Spring have brought warranted attention to technologically supported censorship and surveillance (Bauman et al. 2014; Deibert and Crete-Nishihata 2012, 344). The public is now aware how digital tools and information are prone to tracing, interception, and suppression. Processes of eavesdropping and information collection (i.e., surveillance) are often interrelated with processes of removal, displacement, and restriction of material or speech (i.e., censorship). Both are often enshrouded in secrecy, leaving censorship and surveillance techniques open to abuses (Setty 2015). Digital censorship and surveillance may also constitute a threat to academic freedom. Technologically supported censorship and surveillance impinge upon scholars’ ability to conduct unobstructed inquiry. The increasing reliance on the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) to collect data or distribute findings has only exacerbated this threat. Digital tools and data allow for: (1) the easier confiscation or destruction of research (Cyranoski 2008, 871; Gellman 2015); (2) the manipulation of information; or (3) the control and prevention of access to information (Fishman 2010). Digital surveillance creates a securitized climate and leads to chilling effects. The field of security studies is certainly not immune to these effects. We aim to systematically explore the methods of digital censorship and surveillance, as well as techniques to resist them. The article is split into three parts. The first section discusses why academia—and especially security studies scholars—should engage in debates on technological information control. The second section outlines how the digital tools used by academics can be subject to censorship, and how this affects the profession. The final section examines what to do against digital censorship and surveillance, and explores whether cryptographic circumvention methods should be included within academic teaching and scholarship. As part of this discussion, we hope to foster a debate about the legal and technical protections for researchers, and engender a critical reflection about digital security

The relevance of stretch intensity and position-a systematic review

Stretching exercises to increase the range of motion (ROM) of joints have been used by sports coaches and medical professionals for improving performance and rehabilitation. The ability of connective and muscular tissues to change their architecture in response to stretching is important for their proper function, repair, and performance. Given the dearth of relevant data in the literature, this review examined two key elements of stretching: stretch intensity and stretch position; and their significance to ROM, delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and inflammation in different populations. A search of three databases, Pub-Med, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Reviews, identified 152 articles, which were subsequently categorized into four groups: athletes (24), clinical (29), elderly (12), and general population (87). The use of different populations facilitated a wider examination of the stretching components and their effects. All 152 articles incorporated information regarding duration, frequency and stretch position, whereas only 79 referred to the intensity of stretching and 22 of these 79 studies were deemed high quality. It appears that the intensity of stretching is relatively under-researched, and the importance of body position and its influence on stretch intensity, is largely unknown. In conclusion, this review has highlighted areas for future research, including stretch intensity and position and their effect on musculo-tendinous tissue, in relation to the sensation of pain, delayed onset muscle soreness, inflammation, as well as muscle health and performance

The twilight of the Liberal Social Contract? On the Reception of Rawlsian Political Liberalism

This chapter discusses the Rawlsian project of public reason, or public justification-based 'political' liberalism, and its reception. After a brief philosophical rather than philological reconstruction of the project, the chapter revolves around a distinction between idealist and realist responses to it. Focusing on political liberalism’s critical reception illuminates an overarching question: was Rawls’s revival of a contractualist approach to liberal legitimacy a fruitful move for liberalism and/or the social contract tradition? The last section contains a largely negative answer to that question. Nonetheless the chapter's conclusion shows that the research programme of political liberalism provided and continues to provide illuminating insights into the limitations of liberal contractualism, especially under conditions of persistent and radical diversity. The programme is, however, less receptive to challenges to do with the relative decline of the power of modern states

Where Two Are Fighting, the Third Wins: Stronger Selection Facilitates Greater Polymorphism in Traits Conferring Competition-Dispersal Tradeoffs

A major conundrum in evolution is that, despite natural selection, polymorphism is still omnipresent in nature: Numerous species exhibit multiple morphs, namely several abundant values of an important trait. Polymorphism is particularly prevalent in asymmetric traits, which are beneficial to their carrier in disruptive competitive interference but at the same time bear disadvantages in other aspects, such as greater mortality or lower fecundity. Here we focus on asymmetric traits in which a better competitor disperses fewer offspring in the absence of competition. We report a general pattern in which polymorphic populations emerge when disruptive selection increases: The stronger the selection, the greater the number of morphs that evolve. This pattern is general and is insensitive to the form of the fitness function. The pattern is somewhat counterintuitive since directional selection is excepted to sharpen the trait distribution and thereby reduce its diversity (but note that similar patterns were suggested in studies that demonstrated increased biodiversity as local selection increases in ecological communities). We explain the underlying mechanism in which stronger selection drives the population towards more competitive values of the trait, which in turn reduces the population density, thereby enabling lesser competitors to stably persist with reduced need to directly compete. Thus, we believe that the pattern is more general and may apply to asymmetric traits more broadly. This robust pattern suggests a comparative, unified explanation to a variety of polymorphic traits in nature.ope