A practitioner's guide to 'Imagine', the systemic and prospective sustainability analysis

The purpose of the Mediterranean Action Plans Coastal Area Management Programme is to help Mediterranean countries implement a sustainable management process for their coastal areas. This in particular implies thinking collectively about possible futures by taking into account past developments and the present situation of the area in question. To do so and right from the very start, the Blue Plan has assisted teams involved in the CAMPs to use the systemic and prospective approach so as to highlight priorities, forecast negative developments and suggest action to be taken to establish sustainable development in the Mediterranean's coastal areas. What do we mean by sustainable development? The Blue Plan adheres to a definition that is a blend of what you find in the Bruntland Report and at the FAO, 'sustainable development is one that respects the environment, is technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable, making it possible to meet the needs of present generations without jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. In this framework the 'Imagine' analysis of systemic and prospective sustainability now proposes a set of tools and methods (a methodological corpus) to describe, assess and examine the level of sustainability of an eco-socio system in the past, present and future by means of indicators and a participatory process that considers local actors to be experts at their level

Measurement of the LT-asymmetry in \pi^0 electroproduction at the energy of the \Delta (1232) resonance

The reaction p(e,e'p)pi^0 has been studied at Q^2=0.2 (GeV/c)^2 in the region of W=1232 MeV. From measurements left and right of q, cross section asymmetries \rho_LT have been obtained in forward kinematics \rho_LT(\theta_\pi^0=20deg) = (-11.68 +/- 2.36_stat +/- 2.36_sys)$ and backward kinematics \rho_LT(\theta_\pi^0=160deg) =(12.18 +/- 0.27_stat +/- 0.82_sys). Multipole ratios \Re(S_1+^* M_1+)/|M_1+|^2 and \Re(S_0+^* M_1+)/|M_1+|^2 were determined in the framework of the MAID2003 model. The results are in agreement with older data. The unusally strong negative \Re(S_0+^* M_1+)/|M_1+|^2 required to bring also the result of Kalleicher et al. in accordance with the rest of the data is almost excluded.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables. Changed content. Accepted for publication in EPJ

A Covariant Path Amplitude Description of Flavour Oscillations: The Gribov-Pontecorvo Phase for Neutrino Vacuum Propagation is Right

An extended study is performed of geometrical and kinematical assumptions used in calculations of the neutrino oscillation phase. The almost universally employed `equal velocity' assumption, in which all neutrino mass eigenstates are produced at the same time, is shown to underestimate, by a factor of two, the neutrino propagation contribution to the phase. Taking properly into account, in a covariant path amplitude calculation, the incoherent nature of neutrino production as predicted by the Standard Model, results in an important source propagator contribution to the phase. It is argued that the commonly discussed Gaussian `wave packets' have no basis within quantum mechanics and are the result of a confused amalgam of quantum and classical wave concepts.Comment: 39 pages, 1 table, 1 figure. Subject matter similar to hep-ph/0110064, hep-ph/0110066. More pedagogical presentation addressing referee criticism of earlier paper

The pion-nucleon scattering lengths from pionic deuterium

We use the framework of effective field theories to discuss the determination of the S-wave \pi N scattering lengths from the recent high-precision measurements of pionic deuterium observables. The theoretical analysis proceeds in several steps. Initially, the precise value of the pion-deuteron scattering length a_{\pi d} is extracted from the data. Next, a_{\pi d} is related to the S-wave \pi N scattering lengths a_+ and a_-. We discuss the use of this information for constraining the values of these scattering lengths in the full analysis, which also includes the input from the pionic hydrogen energy shift and width measurements, and throughly investigate the accuracy limits for this procedure. In this paper, we also give a detailed comparison to other effective field theory approaches, as well as with the earlier work on the subject, carried out within the potential model and multiple scattering framework.Comment: The replacement includes an erratum, which is published in Eur. Phys. J.

Spatially Dependent Quantum Interference Effects in the Detection Probability of Charged Leptons Produced in Neutrino Interactions or Weak Decay Processes

Feynman's path amplitude formulation of quantum mechanics is used to analyse the production of charged leptons from charged current weak interaction processes. For neutrino induced reactions the interference effects predicted are usually called `neutrino oscillations'. Similar effects in the detection of muons from pion decay are here termed `muon oscillations'. Processes considered include pion decay (at rest and in flight), and muon decay and nuclear $\beta$-decay at rest. In all cases studied, a neutrino oscillation phase different from the conventionally used one is found. A concise critical review is made of previous treatments of the quantum mechanics of neutrino and muon oscillations.Comment: 45 pages, 1 table, 3 figures. Supersedes hep-ph/0110064. Consistent use of MRS matrix to describe charged lepton-neutrino couplings. Unphysical `lepton flavour eigenstates' removed from the formalis

Near-threshold production of omega mesons in the pn -> d omega reaction

The first measurement of the p n -> d omega total cross section has been achieved at mean excess energies of Q = 28 and 57 MeV by using a deuterium cluster-jet target. The momentum of the fast deuteron was measured in the ANKE spectrometer at COSY-Juelich and that of the slow "spectator" proton p(sp) from the p d -> p(sp) d omega reaction in a silicon telescope placed close to the target. The cross sections lie above those measured for p p -> p p omega but seem to be below theoretical predictions.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures; second approach to describe the background has been added; results changed insignificantly, EPJ in pres

Youth Homelessness

CCH estimates that, over the course of a year, more than 25,000 youth in Illinois experience homelessness. Homeless youth are between the ages of 14 and 21 who have left home because of serious family problems, are not in a safe and stable living situation, and cannot be reunited with their families

Estopped by Grand Playsaunce: Flann O'Brien's Post-colonial Lore

This article seeks to extend our understanding of the Irish writer Flann O'Brien (Myles na gCopaleen, Brian O'Nolan) by reading him from a Law and Literature perspective. I suggest that O'Nolan's painstaking and picky mind, with its attention to linguistic nuance, was logically drawn to the languages of law. In this he confirmed the character that he showed as a civil servant of the cautious, book-keeping Irish Free State. The Free State, like other post-colonial entities, was marked at once by a rhetoric of rupture from the colonial dispensation and by a degree of legal and political continuity. I suggest that O'Nolan's writing works away at both these aspects of the state, alternating between critical and utopian perspectives. After establishing an initial context, I undertake a close reading of O'Nolan's parodies of actual legal procedure, focusing on questions of language and censorship. I then consider his critical work on the issue of Irish sovereignty, placing this in its post-colonial historical context. Finally I describe O'Nolan's treatment of Eamon de Valera's 1937 Constitution. I propose that his attention to textual detail prefigures in comic form the substantial rereadings of the Constitution that have been made in the last half-century

Exotic Baryons and Monopole Excitations in a Chiral Soliton Model

We compute the spectra of exotic pentaquarks and monopole excitations of the low--lying ${1/2}^+$ and ${3/2}^+$ baryons in a chiral soliton model. Once the low--lying baryon properties are fit, the other states are predicted without any more adjustable parameters. This approach naturally leads to a scenario in which the mass spectrum of the next to lowest--lying $J^\pi={1/2}^+$ states is fairly well approximated by the ideal mixing pattern of the $\mathbf{8}\oplus\bar{\mathbf{10}}$ representation of flavor SU(3). We compare our results to predictions obtained in other pictures for pentaquarks and speculate about the spin--parity assignment for $\Xi(1690)$ and $\Xi(1950)$Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, 6 table

Bostonia Magazine. Volume 58

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs