Dissolving Yablo’s Hostage Crisis: In Defence of Defiance

Yablo suggests a ‘hostage crisis’ occurs when an unproblematic statement ϕ entails, and is therefore hostage to, a problematic statement ψ. Yablo proposes a technical solution to this kind of problem by diminishing ϕ to ϕ*, where ϕ* does not entail ψ and thus is not hostage to it. I argue that Yablo’s proposal is unnecessary because the original, undiminished ϕ does not in fact entail ψ. This is what Yablo calls a ‘defiant’ position. I defend defiance by arguing that ϕ and ψ are of different metaphysical weights, which I show through an analysis of their use of quantification

2-vertex Lorentzian Spin Foam Amplitudes for Dipole Transitions

We compute transition amplitudes between two spin networks with dipole graphs, using the Lorentzian EPRL model with up to two (non-simplicial) vertices. We find power-law decreasing amplitudes in the large spin limit, decreasing faster as the complexity of the foam increases. There are no oscillations nor asymptotic Regge actions at the order considered, nonetheless the amplitudes still induce non-trivial correlations. Spin correlations between the two dipoles appear only when one internal face is present in the foam. We compute them within a mini-superspace description, finding positive correlations, decreasing in value with the Immirzi parameter. The paper also provides an explicit guide to computing Lorentzian amplitudes using the factorisation property of SL(2,C) Clebsch-Gordan coefficients in terms of SU(2) ones. We discuss some of the difficulties of non-simplicial foams, and provide a specific criterion to partially limit the proliferation of diagrams. We systematically compare the results with the simplified EPRLs model, much faster to evaluate, to learn evidence on when it provides reliable approximations of the full amplitudes. Finally, we comment on implications of our results for the physics of non-simplicial spin foams and their resummation.Comment: 27 pages + appendix, many figures. v2: one more numerical result, plus minor amendment

Concentrated Ground Plane Booster Antenna Technology for Multiband Operation in Handset Devices

The current demand in the handset antenna field requires multiband antennas due to the existence of multiple communication standards and the emergence of new ones. At the same time, antennas with reduced dimensions are strongly required in order to be easily integrated. In this sense, the paper proposes a compact radiating system that uses two non-resonant elements to properly excite the ground plane to solve the abovementioned shortcomings by minimizing the required Printed Circuit Board (PCB) area while ensuring a multiband performance. These non-resonant elements are called here ground plane boosters since they excite an efficient mode of the ground plane. The proposed radiating system comprises two ground plane boosters of small dimensions of 5 mm x 5 mm x 5 mm. One is in charge of the low frequency region (0.824-0.960 GHz) and the other is in charge of the high frequency region (1.710-2.170 GHz). With the aim of achieving a compact configuration, the two boosters are placed close to each other in a corner of the ground plane of a handset device (concentrated architecture). Several experiments related to the coupling between boosters have been carried out in two different platforms (barphone and smartphone), and the best position and the required matching network are presented. The novel proposal achieves multiband performance at GSM850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS

Towards an empirical methodology for the measurement of the quality entrepreneur: the case of sevillian entrepreneurs

Since the process of globalization increased its importance during the nineties, the entrepreneur's role in regional economic development is considered essential. This economic agents, besides their financial and entrepreneurial functions, carry out a 'booster' function that is manifested in the adoption of a series of strategic decisions (new investment projects, innovation in new products and processes, technological and marketing cooperation ...). The quality in the performance of these booster tasks, which depends basically on the psychological and sociological characteristics of entrepreneurs, is essential to increase the competitiveness of the regional economy and, through it, the employment and well-being levels. Local development policies have been implementing since the early eighties a wide variety of measures to promote entrepreneurship, without sufficiently favourable results. Those measures have tended to address the entrepreneur's financial and managerial functions, and not the booster one, which is where the entrepreneurial spirit lies. In this sense, the authorities -if they are to improve that entrepreneurial spirit with measures that raise the quality of the booster function- should previously have an appropriate diagnosis on the qualities of entrepreneurs in the area. The main objective of this paper is to elaborate an empiric methodology that allows measuring the quality of the entrepreneur's booster function. That is to say, it tries to establish the stages and instruments that are critical to globally value the qualities of entrepreneurs in a given region. Among the instruments, it is essential the elaboration of an index of entrepreneurial quality starting from partial indicators of several qualities. And among the stages, it is highlighted the possibility to establish an entrepreneurial typology with respect to quality levels, and a profile of each type of entrepreneur. As an example, this methodology is applied to determine the quality level of Sevillian (southern Spain) entrepreneurs, thus showing its validity

Searching for short baseline anomalies with the LAr-TPC detector at shallow depths

The ICARUS Collaboration has operated successfully the Liquid Argon time projection chamber (LAr-TPC), a novel and continuously sensitive bubble chamber like neutrino detector in the GranSasso Laboratory and an underground neutrino beam coming from the CERN-SPS. ICARUS may now be moved at the 8 GeV FNAL-Booster for a search of LSND-like neutrino-electron anomalies at a shallow depth and shorter distance from the target, where three experiments will simultaneously study neutrinos at three different locations. New and substantial modifications are described in order to make ICARUS operable in the presence of such a large cosmic ray muon background

Peons and Progressives: Race and Boosterism in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, 1904-1941

The Texas borderlands have come to be increasingly important in the historical literature and in public opinion for the way that the region shapes national thought on race, borders, and ethnicity. With this increasing importance, it is pressing to examine the history of these issues in the region so that they may be accurately and insightfully deployed. This article contributes to the existing scholarship with a close discursive analysis of race in the booster materials, 1904-1941. The booster materials forge a notion of race relations that borrows from tropes common across the West but is also informed by Jim Crow and the unique demands of the region. The booster materials forward a notion of race that is largely unique in Western boosterism, positing only two major characters, Mexicans and white Northerners. The figure of ‘the Mexican’ is drawn more as a part of nature than human society in that it shares the fundamental characteristics of the land, animals, and rivers of the region. Nature in the region is depicted as an adventitious, disorderly, and wasteful body that calls out for northern discipline. The ‘Northerners’ are figured as the ones who, through applying discipline to the natural resources of the area (land, water, and Mexicans) can bring reason, fertility, and profitable connection to the national economy. The consequences of this racial division are further explored in the article as they play out in schooling, religion, justice, beauty, leisure, and sport

Policy Implementation Permenkes No.2562/Menkes/XII/2011 about Delivery Guarantee in North Konawe, Province of Southeast Sulawesi

The implementation of Jampersal policy in North Konawe has been running good. The target programs in North Konawe District also have appropriate regulations. The Service procedures have been implemented as expected. Likewise, the types of services provided. The procedure has the appropriate funding procedures. The Society of North Konawe greatly benefit for antenatal care, childbirth and postpartum. However, there are still some obstacles in the implementation. Keywords: the public policy of delivery guarantee, policy implementation, obstacle factor

BNL Future Plans

I discuss the prospects for a fixed target physics program at the AGS in the RHIC era.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 12 Postscript figures. To be published in the proceedings of the Workshop on Kaon, Muon, Neutrino Physics and Future, KEK, 31 Oct. - 1 Nov 199

Prospects for the measurement of muon-neutrino disappearance at the FNAL-Booster

Neutrino physics is nowadays receiving more and more attention as a possible source of information for the long-standing problem of new physics beyond the Standard Model. The recent measurement of the mixing angle $\theta_{13}$ in the standard mixing oscillation scenario encourages us to pursue the still missing results on leptonic CP violation and absolute neutrino masses. However, puzzling measurements exist that deserve an exhaustive evaluation. The NESSiE Collaboration has been setup to undertake conclusive experiments to clarify the muon-neutrino disappearance measurements at small $L/E$, which will be able to put severe constraints to models with more than the three-standard neutrinos, or even to robustly measure the presence of a new kind of neutrino oscillation for the first time. To this aim the use of the current FNAL-Booster neutrino beam for a Short-Baseline experiment has been carefully evaluated. This proposal refers to the use of magnetic spectrometers at two different sites, Near and Far. Their positions have been extensively studied, together with the possible performances of two OPERA-like spectrometers. The proposal is constrained by availability of existing hardware and a time-schedule compatible with the CERN project for a new more performant neutrino beam, which will nicely extend the physics results achievable at the Booster. The possible FNAL experiment will allow to clarify the current $\nu_{\mu}$ disappearance tension with $\nu_e$ appearance and disappearance at the eV mass scale. Instead, a new CERN neutrino beam would allow a further span in the parameter space together with a refined control of systematics and, more relevant, the measurement of the antineutrino sector, by upgrading the spectrometer with detectors currently under R&D study.Comment: 76 pages, 52 figure