12,218 research outputs found
Achieving an "enlightened" publications policy at the University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow has led the way in open access developments since 2001. This article charts the progress of open access at Glasgow through the development of the DAEDALUS Project in 2002 to the launch of the University's repository, Enlighten. Key factors leading to the recent announcement of a mandate for the deposit of research publications are discussed, including the impact of the Research Assessment Exercise and the need for a central publications database at Glasgow
Measurements of CP violation in B mixing through decays at LHCb
B mesons provide an ideal laboratory for measurements of CP violation and
searches for CP violation beyond the Standard Model. Recent measurements of the
mixing phases of the and mesons, and , using
decays to final states are presented. In view of future improved
measurements, a good understanding of pollution from sub-leading penguin
topologies in these decays is needed. Those can be probed using suppressed
decays like and .
Recent results using these decay modes are presented.Comment: Proceedings for EPS-HEP 2015. Updated introductio
Implementing electronic theses at the University of Glasgow: Cultural challenges
Many UK university libraries are actively engaged in the process of introducing electronic theses to their institutions. This article describes the strategies that have been adopted by staff at Glasgow University Library in trying to implement electronic theses and the challenge that have been faced. The article concludes that a number of lessons have been learned from the experience and presents further strategies that have subsequently been developed. External developments, which may help speed up the transition to electronic theses, are also detailed
Organizing Dark Matter: W.A.G.E. as Alternative Worker Organization
Since its founding in 2008, W.A.G.E. (Working Artists and the Greater Economy) has worked to reform the economic habits of US art institutions and of the artists upon whose cultural work these institutions are dependent. Inside a decade, W.A.G.E. went from a small grassroots collective to an internationally recognized, yet lean, organization, which not only advocates for labour standards in the nonprofit art sector, but also develops practical tools to begin the work of doing better by equality in the art world. This chapter positions W.A.G.E. as an example of what Immanuel Ness terms “new forms of worker organization.” Informed by W.A.G.E.-authored texts, media coverage of W.A.G.E., and interviews with the group’s core organizer and programmer, the chapter surveys W.A.G.E.’s strategies for organizing “dark matter,” a concept that Gregory Sholette has repurposed from physics as a metaphor for the majority of artists and activities that populate the art world and uphold and subsidize its most visible and commercially successful figures. W.A.G.E. is explored in five registers: its practice of parrhesia, algorithm of fairness, strategy of certification, post-horizontalist form of organization, and platformization of labour politics. While W.A.G.E. has been tackling dilemmas specific to the nonprofit arts, its strategies hold wider relevance to confronting the challenge of organizing workers who are outside of an employment relationship, who lack access to unions, and for whom the opportunity to be self-expressive or the promise of exposure may be regarded as compensation enough
Simultaneously constraining the astrophysics of reionisation and the epoch of heating with 21CMMC
The cosmic 21 cm signal is set to revolutionise our understanding of the
early Universe, allowing us to probe the 3D temperature and ionisation
structure of the intergalactic medium (IGM). It will open a window onto the
unseen first galaxies, showing us how their UV and X-ray photons drove the
cosmic milestones of the epoch of reionisation (EoR) and epoch of heating
(EoH). To facilitate parameter inference from the 21 cm signal, we previously
developed 21CMMC: a Monte Carlo Markov Chain sampler of 3D EoR simulations.
Here we extend 21CMMC to include simultaneous modelling of the EoH, resulting
in a complete Bayesian inference framework for the astrophysics dominating the
observable epochs of the cosmic 21 cm signal. We demonstrate that second
generation interferometers, the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionisation Array (HERA) and
Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be able to constrain ionising and X-ray
source properties of the first galaxies with a fractional precision of order
-10 per cent (1). The ionisation history of the Universe can be
constrained to within a few percent. Using our extended framework, we quantify
the bias in EoR parameter recovery incurred by the common simplification of a
saturated spin temperature in the IGM. Depending on the extent of overlap
between the EoR and EoH, the recovered astrophysical parameters can be biased
by .Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables. Accepted to MNRAS (matches online
version). Movies showing the imprint of the astrophysical parameters on the
21cm signal can be found at http://homepage.sns.it/mesinger/21CMMC.htm
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Potential of activated microglia as a source of dysregulated extracellular microRNAs contributing to neurodegeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common form of motor neuron degeneration in adults, and several mechanisms underlying the disease pathology have been proposed. It has been shown that glia communicate with other cells by releasing extracellular vesicles containing proteins and nucleic acids, including microRNAs (miRNAs), which play a role in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Dysregulation of miRNAs is commonly observed in ALS patients, together with inflammation and an altered microglial phenotype. However, the role of miRNA-containing vesicles in microglia-to-neuron communication in the context of ALS has not been explored in depth. This review summarises the evidence for the presence of inflammation, pro-inflammatory microglia and dysregulated miRNAs in ALS, then explores how microglia may potentially be responsible for this miRNA dysregulation. The possibility of pro-inflammatory ALS microglia releasing miRNAs which may then enter neuronal cells to contribute to degeneration is also explored. Based on the literature reviewed here, microglia are a likely source of dysregulated miRNAs and potential mediators of neurodegenerative processes. Therefore, dysregulated miRNAs may be promising candidates for the development of therapeutic strategies
Moped and motor scooter licensing and training: current approaches and future challenges
Unlike some European countries, there have been few motor scooters and mopeds on Australian roads and licensing and training of these riders has received little attention. However, recent increases in the sales of scooters (many of which are officially mopeds) have stimulated interest in how these vehicles can be best managed in Australia. This paper reviews local and international approaches to moped and motor scooter licensing and training, and seeks to assess their relevance to the current Australian situation. A number of challenges to developing a coherent licensing and training system are identified and discussed: lack of information regarding moped and motor scooter safety and about the safety outcomes of current licensing and training systems, the absence of official definitions of scooters worldwide, the significant growth in this market, whether different licensing and training requirements should apply to tourists, and the status of similar vehicles
Constraints on reionisation from the z=7.5 QSO ULASJ1342+0928
The recent detection of ULASJ1342+0928, a bright QSO at , provides a
powerful probe of the ionisation state of the intervening intergalactic medium,
potentially allowing us to set strong constraints on the epoch of reionisation
(EoR). Here we quantify the presence of Ly damping wing absorption from
the EoR in the spectrum of ULASJ1342+0928. Our Bayesian framework
simultaneously accounts for uncertainties on: (i) the intrinsic QSO emission
(obtained from reconstructing the Ly profile from a covariance matrix
of emission lines) and (ii) the distribution of HII regions during reionisation
(obtained from three different 1.6 Gpc simulations spanning the range
of plausible EoR morphologies). Our analysis is complementary to that in the
discovery paper (Ba\~nados et al.) and the accompanying method paper (Davies et
al.) as it focuses solely on the damping wing imprint redward of Ly
(\AA), and uses a different methodology for (i) and
(ii). We recover weak evidence for damping wing absorption. Our intermediate
EoR model yields a volume-weighted neutral hydrogen fraction at of
(68 per cent). The
constraints depend weakly on the EoR morphology. Our limits are lower than
those presented previously, though they are consistent at ~1-1.5. We
attribute this difference to: (i) a lower amplitude intrinsic Ly
profile obtained from our reconstruction pipeline, driven by correlations with
other high-ionisation lines in the spectrum which are relatively weak; and (ii)
only considering transmission redward of Ly when computing the
likelihood, which reduces the available constraining power but makes the
results less model-dependent. Our results are consistent with previous
estimates of the EoR history, and support the picture of a moderately extended
EoR.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to MNRAS, comments welcom
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