Recognizing and Drawing IC-planar Graphs

IC-planar graphs are those graphs that admit a drawing where no two crossed edges share an end-vertex and each edge is crossed at most once. They are a proper subfamily of the 1-planar graphs. Given an embedded IC-planar graph $G$ with $n$ vertices, we present an $O(n)$-time algorithm that computes a straight-line drawing of $G$ in quadratic area, and an $O(n^3)$-time algorithm that computes a straight-line drawing of $G$ with right-angle crossings in exponential area. Both these area requirements are worst-case optimal. We also show that it is NP-complete to test IC-planarity both in the general case and in the case in which a rotation system is fixed for the input graph. Furthermore, we describe a polynomial-time algorithm to test whether a set of matching edges can be added to a triangulated planar graph such that the resulting graph is IC-planar

SPARTICUS: Small Particles in Cirrus Science and Operations Plan

From a mass-weighted perspective, cirrus clouds exert an enormous influence on the radiative energy budget of the earth?s climate system. Owing to their location in the cold upper troposphere, cirrus can significantly reduce the outgoing longwave radiation while, at the same time, remaining relatively transmissive to solar energy. Thus, cirrus clouds are the only cloud genre that can exert a direct radiative warming influence on the climate system (Ackerman et al. 1988). It is not surprising, therefore, that general circulation models (GCMs) are especially sensitive to the presence of cirrus in the model atmosphere. Lohmann and Roeckner (1995), for instance, show that the climate sensitivity can vary by as much as 40% due to the properties of cirrus varying between transparent and opaque limits. Lohmann and Roeckner (1995) also identify a key feedback by cirrus that is often overlooked; on longer time scales cloud heating in the upper troposphere can act to maintain and modulate the general circulation of the atmosphere through accelerating the subtropical and polar jet streams. Understanding these mechanisms and representing them in models is complicated by the fact that cirrus properties vary over an enormous dynamic range compared to most other clouds

Observing Spontaneous Strong Parity Violation in Heavy-Ion Collisions

We discuss the problem of observing spontaneous parity and CP violation in collision systems. We discuss and propose observables which may be used in heavy-ion collisions to observe such violations, as well as event-by-event methods to analyze the data. Finally, we discuss simple monte-carlo models of these CP violating effects which we have used to develop our techniques and from which we derive rough estimates of sensitivities to signals which may be seen at RHIC

A glassy contribution to the heat capacity of hcp 4^4He solids

We model the low-temperature specific heat of solid $^4$He in the hexagonal closed packed structure by invoking two-level tunneling states in addition to the usual phonon contribution of a Debye crystal for temperatures far below the Debye temperature, $T < \Theta_D/50$. By introducing a cutoff energy in the two-level tunneling density of states, we can describe the excess specific heat observed in solid hcp $^4$He, as well as the low-temperature linear term in the specific heat. Agreement is found with recent measurements of the temperature behavior of both specific heat and pressure. These results suggest the presence of a very small fraction, at the parts-per-million (ppm) level, of two-level tunneling systems in solid $^4$He, irrespective of the existence of supersolidity.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

CMB constraints on noncommutative geometry during inflation

We investigate the primordial power spectrum of the density perturbations based on the assumption that spacetime is noncommutative in the early stage of inflation. Due to the spacetime noncommutativity, the primordial power spectrum can lose rotational invariance. Using the k-inflation model and slow-roll approximation, we show that the deviation from rotational invariance of the primordial power spectrum depends on the size of noncommutative length scale L_s but not on sound speed. We constrain the contributions from the spacetime noncommutativity to the covariance matrix for the harmonic coefficients of the CMB anisotropies using five-year WMAP CMB maps. We find that the upper bound for L_s depends on the product of sound speed and slow-roll parameter. Estimating this product using cosmological parameters from the five-year WMAP results, the upper bound for L_s is estimated to be less than 10^{-27} cm at 99.7% confidence level.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, References added, Accepted for publication in EPJC (submitted version

Single Electron Elliptic Flow Measurements in Au+Au Collisions from STAR

Recent measurements of elliptic flow (v_2) and the nuclear modification factor (R_{CP}) of strange mesons and baryons in the intermediate p_T domain in Au+Au collisions demonstrate a scaling with the number of constituent-quarks. This suggests hadron production via quark coalescence from a thermalized parton system. Measuring the elliptic flow of charmed hadrons, which are believed to originate rather from fragmentation than from coalescence processes, might therefore change our view of hadron production in heavy ion collisions. While direct v_2 measurements of charmed hadrons are currently not available, single electron v_2 at sufficiently high transverse momenta can serve as a substitute. At transverse momenta above 2 GeV/c, the production of single electrons from non-photonic sources is expected to be dominated by the decay of charmed hadrons. Simulations show a strong correlation between the flow of the charmed hadrons and the flow of their decay electrons for p_T > 2 GeV/c. We will present preliminary STAR results from our single electron v_2 measurements from Au+Au collisions at RHIC energies.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures Proceedings of the Hot Quarks 2004 Conference, July 18-24 2004, Taos Valley, New Mexico, USA to be published in Journal of Physics

Privacy in crowdsourcing:a systematic review

The advent of crowdsourcing has brought with it multiple privacy challenges. For example, essential monitoring activities, while necessary and unavoidable, also potentially compromise contributor privacy. We conducted an extensive literature review of the research related to the privacy aspects of crowdsourcing. Our investigation revealed interesting gender differences and also differences in terms of individual perceptions. We conclude by suggesting a number of future research directions.</p

Abnormal ECG Findings in Athletes: Clinical Evaluation and Considerations.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Pre-participation cardiovascular evaluation with electrocardiography is normal practice for most sporting bodies. Awareness about sudden cardiac death in athletes and recognizing how screening can help identify vulnerable athletes have empowered different sporting disciplines to invest in the wellbeing of their athletes. RECENT FINDINGS: Discerning physiological electrical alterations due to athletic training from those representing cardiac pathology may be challenging. The mode of investigation of affected athletes is dependent on the electrical anomaly and the disease(s) in question. This review will highlight specific pathological ECG patterns that warrant assessment and surveillance, together with an in-depth review of the recommended algorithm for evaluation

Ultra high temperature ceramic composite materials

Ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) are materials that have been demonstrated to withstand temperatures up to around 3000°C, thermal fluxes of ~17 MWm-2 and gas velocities of around Mach 0.6. Thus, they offer potential for use in applications such as leading edges and engine parts for hypervelocity vehicles. Under the Domain 8 of the MCM-ITP (Materials and Components for Missiles – Innovation and Technology Partnership) programme, research has been carried out investigating UHTC composites consisting of carbon fibre (Cf) preforms impregnated with HfB2 powders. Whilst the initial impregnation route resulted in preforms with high and uniform powder loadings, this was not true for large samples. As a result, the mechanical properties showed a high degree of scatter. Nevertheless, samples with higher final densities showed higher strengths. Thus a new impregnation route has been developed that results in both higher and more homogeneous powder loading. This has led to higher strengths and even greater temperature and ablation resistance with the only penalty being an increase in component mass. A prototype jet vane has been successfully produced

New Constraints (and Motivations) for Abelian Gauge Bosons in the MeV-TeV Mass Range

We survey the phenomenological constraints on abelian gauge bosons having masses in the MeV to multi-GeV mass range (using precision electroweak measurements, neutrino-electron and neutrino-nucleon scattering, electron and muon anomalous magnetic moments, upsilon decay, beam dump experiments, atomic parity violation, low-energy neutron scattering and primordial nucleosynthesis). We compute their implications for the three parameters that in general describe the low-energy properties of such bosons: their mass and their two possible types of dimensionless couplings (direct couplings to ordinary fermions and kinetic mixing with Standard Model hypercharge). We argue that gauge bosons with very small couplings to ordinary fermions in this mass range are natural in string compactifications and are likely to be generic in theories for which the gravity scale is systematically smaller than the Planck mass - such as in extra-dimensional models - because of the necessity to suppress proton decay. Furthermore, because its couplings are weak, in the low-energy theory relevant to experiments at and below TeV scales the charge gauged by the new boson can appear to be broken, both by classical effects and by anomalies. In particular, if the new gauge charge appears to be anomalous, anomaly cancellation does not also require the introduction of new light fermions in the low-energy theory. Furthermore, the charge can appear to be conserved in the low-energy theory, despite the corresponding gauge boson having a mass. Our results reduce to those of other authors in the special cases where there is no kinetic mixing or there is no direct coupling to ordinary fermions, such as for recently proposed dark-matter scenarios.Comment: 49 pages + appendix, 21 figures. This is the final version which appears in JHE