62,531 research outputs found
Examining collusion and voting biases between countries during the Eurovision song contest since 1957
The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is an annual event which attracts millions
of viewers. It is an interesting activity to examine since the participants of
the competition represent a particular country's musical performance that will
be awarded a set of scores from other participating countries based upon a
quality assessment of a performance. There is a question of whether the
countries will vote exclusively according to the artistic merit of the song, or
if the vote will be a public signal of national support for another country.
Since the competition aims to bring people together, any consistent biases in
the awarding of scores would defeat the purpose of the celebration of
expression and this has attracted researchers to investigate the supporting
evidence for biases. This paper builds upon an approach which produces a set of
random samples from an unbiased distribution of score allocation, and extends
the methodology to use the full set of years of the competition's life span
which has seen fundamental changes to the voting schemes adopted.
By building up networks from statistically significant edge sets of vote
allocations during a set of years, the results display a plausible network for
the origins of the culture anchors for the preferences of the awarded votes.
With 60 years of data, the results support the hypothesis of regional collusion
and biases arising from proximity, culture and other irrelevant factors in
regards to the music which that alone is intended to affect the judgment of the
contest.Comment: to be published in JASS
Equivalent variational approaches to biaxial liquid crystal dynamics
Within the framework of liquid crystal flows, the Qian & Sheng (QS) model for
Q-tensor dynamics is compared to the Volovik & Kats (VK) theory of biaxial
nematics by using Hamilton's variational principle. Under the assumption of
rotational dynamics for the Q-tensor, the variational principles underling the
two theories are equivalent and the conservative VK theory emerges as a
specialization of the QS model. Also, after presenting a micropolar variant of
the VK model, Rayleigh dissipation is included in the treatment. Finally, the
treatment is extended to account for nontrivial eigenvalue dynamics in the VK
model and this is done by considering the effect of scaling factors in the
evolution of the Q-tensor.Comment: 8 pages. Third versio
Electron-Positron colliders
An electron-positron linear collider in the energy range between 500 and 1000
GeV is of crucial importance to precisely test the Standard Model and to
explore the physics beyond it. The physics program is complementary to that of
the Large Hadron Collider. Some of the main physics goals and the expected
accuracies of the anticipated measurements at such a linear collider are
discussed. A short review of the different collider designs presently under
study is given including possible upgrade paths to the multi-TeV region.
Finally a framework is presented within which the realisation of such a project
could be achieved as a global international project.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures, Proceedings of the XX International Symposium
on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies, Rome, Italy, 23-28 July,
200
Understanding the assembly of Kepler's compact planetary systems
The Kepler mission has recently discovered a number of exoplanetary systems,
such as Kepler-11 and Kepler-32, in which ensembles of several planets are
found in very closely packed orbits (often within a few percent of an AU of one
another). These compact configurations present a challenge for traditional
planet formation and migration scenarios. We present a dynamical study of the
assembly of these systems, using an N-body method which incorporates a
parametrized model of planet migration in a turbulent protoplanetary disc. We
explore a wide parameter space, and find that under suitable conditions it is
possible to form compact, close-packed planetary systems via traditional
disc-driven migration. We find that simultaneous migration of multiple planets
is a viable mechanism for the assembly of tightly-packed planetary systems, as
long as the disc provides significant eccentricity damping and the level of
turbulence in the disc is modest. We discuss the implications of our preferred
parameters for the protoplanetary discs in which these systems formed, and
comment on the occurrence and significance of mean-motion resonances in our
simulations.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ
Ages of D/d,n/He sup 3 and T/d,n/He sup 4 neutrons in water and tungsten-water mixtures
Ages for D-D and D-T neutrons in water and tungsten-water mixture
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