Condensation of a Strongly Interacting Parton Plasma into a Hadron Gas in High Energy Nuclear Collisions

We examine the effects of color screening on the transition of a parton plasma into a hadron gas at RHIC energies. It is found that as expected, color screening posed itself as a significant barrier for hadronization. Parton-hadron conversion would therefore be delayed and prolonged when compared to that occuring in a vacuum. Due to the on-going expansion, the resulting hadron densities are lowered. Parton equilibration is also shown to be seriously disrupted in the process.Comment: 4 pages, 2 embedded EPS figures, talk presented at Quark Matter'99, Torino, Ital

Secret Sharing LDPC Codes for the BPSK-constrained Gaussian Wiretap Channel

The problem of secret sharing over the Gaussian wiretap channel is considered. A source and a destination intend to share secret information over a Gaussian channel in the presence of a wiretapper who observes the transmission through another Gaussian channel. Two constraints are imposed on the source-to-destination channel; namely, the source can transmit only binary phase shift keyed (BPSK) symbols, and symbol-by-symbol hard-decision quantization is applied to the received symbols of the destination. An error-free public channel is also available for the source and destination to exchange messages in order to help the secret sharing process. The wiretapper can perfectly observe all messages in the public channel. It is shown that a secret sharing scheme that employs a random ensemble of regular low density parity check (LDPC) codes can achieve the key capacity of the BPSK-constrained Gaussian wiretap channel asymptotically with increasing block length. To accommodate practical constraints of finite block length and limited decoding complexity, fixed irregular LDPC codes are also designed to replace the regular LDPC code ensemble in the proposed secret sharing scheme.Comment: submitted to IEEE Trans. on Information Forensics and Security, special issues on using the physical layer for securing the next generation of communication system

The Measurement and Evaluation of Professional League of Legends Teams for Optimal Strategy

With ever improving streaming technologies and accessibility to video games, it comes asno surprise that competitive gaming or eSports have blown up in recent time. League ofLegends, former gaming startup Riot Games' sole intellectual property, has the title mostpopular eSport in the world with a thriving competitive scene and international competitionthat rivals traditional sports leagues such as the MLB, the NBA and the NFL [Sta, 2013].With the high stakes involved in the burgeoning eSports industry, it is imperative that theseorganizations develop methods that can dierentiate players based on their skill throughtheir in-game performance metrics and determine potential acquisitions. Additionally, wewant to leverage the data within Riot Games' databases on how the general playerbaseapproaches the game to determine what how in game performance metrics change as playerskill increases. The end goal of this analysis is to create a method to gauge team performanceand assess weak links in strategy

Perceived Social Support among Chinese American Hemodialysis Patients

Social support is linked to improved health outcomes both in Western and Asian societies and is a vital factor in a patient\u27s adjustment to end-stage renal disease and its treatment regimen. This study explored perceived social support among 46 Chinese American hemodialysis patients in San Francisco\u27s Chinatown using the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire plus open-ended questions. Findings unexpectedly revealed low levels of perceived social support and lack of tangible support especially in elder patients. We can no longer assume that traditional family cultural values are providing adequate social support for this population

Multiview System for Tracking a Fast Moving Object Against Complex Backgrounds

Tracking the real world coordinate of a fast moving object against a complex background is very challenging. When designing a multi-view system for this purpose, one key consideration is the arrangement of the cameras such that the object can be constantly and accurately tracked. This paper discusses a novel cameras arrangement, which can provide redundancy for fault tolerance, yet do not require installing more cameras nor relying aerial views of the scene. Using a table tennis match as example, experiment results show that the multi-view system with this cameras arrangement has a promising potential for tracking a table tennis ball in a real match scene

Self and Others: The Work of \u27Care\u27 in Foucault\u27s Care of the Self

Recent discussions on Foucault\u27s work on the care of the self have centred on its apparent excessive individualist focus. Ella Myers for example argues that the practices of the care of the self do not correct the depoliticizing effects of disciplinary power and biopower. Amy Allen takes Foucault to task for his account of the care of the self because the relations with others in Foucault\u27s account are inadequate for the formation of an ethical subject. In this paper I offer an alternative interpretation of Foucault account of the care of the self. I argue that the social and reciprocal dimension in Foucault\u27s account of \u27the care of the self\u27 is more substantive than Foucault\u27s critics permit and self-cultivation in the care of the self need not foreclose possibilities for associative politics