Particle states of Lattice QCD

We determine the degeneracy factor and the average particle mass of particles that produce the Lattice QCD pressure and specific entropy at zero baryon chemical potential. The number of states of the gluons and the quarks are found to converge above $T=$230 MeV to almost constant values, close to the number of states of an ideal Quark-Gluon Phase, while their assigned masses retain high values. The number of states and the average mass of a system containing quarks in interaction with gluons are found to decrease steeply with increase of temperature between $T \sim 150$ and 160 MeV, a region contained within the region of the chiral transition. The minimum value of the number of states within this temperature interval indicates that the states are of hadronic nature.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figure

Use of Mental Imagery in Psychotherapy: A Critical Review

The paper presents arguments in favor of the use of mental imagery for therapeutic purposes. Several existing imagery approaches to psychotherapy are critically examined and suggestions for future inquiry are offered. The intimate relation between imagery and the affective-somatic processes is stressed

The strange-quark chemical potential as an experimentally accessible "order parameter" of the deconfinement phase transition for finite baryon-density

We consider the change of the strange-quark chemical potential in the phase diagram of nuclear matter, employing the Wilson loop and scalar quark condensate order parameters, mass-scaled partition functions and enforcing flavor conservation. Assuming the region beyond the hadronic phase to be described by massive, correlated and interacting quarks, in the spirit of lattice and effective QCD calculations, we find the strange-quark chemical potential to change sign: from positive in the hadronic phase - to zero upon deconfinement - to negative in the partonic domain. We propose this change in the sign of the strange-quark chemical potential to be an experimentally accessible order parameter and a unique, concise and well-defined indication of the quark-deconfinement phase transition in nuclear matter.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures within text, 2 figures(6,B3) as separate files. To be published in J.Phys.G: Nucl.&Part.Phys. G28 (2002

A comparative analysis of the decorated pottery of the second millennium BC Eastern Mediterranean

This project undertakes a comparative analysis of decorated pottery (or the lack thereof) in the complex, urban societies that developed around the Eastern Mediterranean in the second millennium BC: principally those of Egypt, the Levantine coast, and the Aegean. The aim of the analysis is firstly to assess the actual differences in the scale of the presence of decorated pottery between those eastern Mediterranean societies, secondly to study the association of these differences with social shifts and contexts and their implications for the configuration of culture and aesthetics, and ultimately, to arrive at a broader understanding of the roles that the production and consumption of decorated pottery can play as a part of material culture. My approach combines a broad, comparative perspective with detailed examination of select archaeological contexts and deposits, including first hand inspection of relevant pottery assemblages at Knossos. This systematic, comparative investigation of the social significance of those contrasts in practices across the eastern Mediterranean is informed by theories and methods derived from the fields of archaeology, anthropology, technology studies and the history of art and ornament

Model of Centauro and strangelet production in heavy ion collisions

We discuss the phenomenological model of Centauro event production in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. This model makes quantitative predictions for kinematic observables, baryon number and mass of the Centauro fireball and its decay products. Centauros decay mainly to nucleons, strange hyperons and possibly strangelets. Simulations of Centauro events for the CASTOR detector in Pb-Pb collisions at LHC energies are performed. The signatures of these events are discussed in detail.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX+revtex4, 14 eps-figures and 3 table

Reproducibility of prediction models in health services research

The field of health services research studies the health care system by examining outcomes relevant to patients and clinicians but also health economists and policy makers. Such outcomes often include health care spending, and utilization of care services. Building accurate prediction models using reproducible research practices for health services research is important for evidence-based decision making. Several systematic reviews have summarized prediction models for outcomes relevant to health services research, but these systematic reviews do not present a thorough assessment of reproducibility and research quality of the prediction modelling studies. In the present commentary, we discuss how recent advances in prediction modelling in other medical fields can be applied to health services research. We also describe the current status of prediction modelling in health services research, and we summarize available methodological guidance for the development, update, external validation and systematic appraisal of prediction models

The Image and The Unconscious

Verbal language has long been the most widely used source of data for clinical inference; recently, however, an increasing number of therapists have turned to images for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. This paper focusses upon the use of mental imagery in analytically oriented therapies. The first segment presents a brief discussion of some important psycholinguistic questions that bear upon the use of images in psychotherapy. The second part discusses the observations of spontaneous images by analytical therapists and shows the relation of these images to linguistic-rational cognition and to unconscious organization. The third section brings out the unique function of certain images as symbols containing a wealth of affect-laden material and the fourth portion illustrates the potency of these primarily visual symbols with the work of several depth-therapists who have made extensive use of induced imagery