Epicycles and Poincar\'{e} Resonances in General Relativity

The method of geodesic deviations provides analytic approximations to geodesics in arbitrary background space-times. As such the method is a useful tool in many practical situations. In this note we point out some subtleties in the application of the method related to secular motions, in first as well as in higher order. In particular we work out the general second-order contribution to bound orbits in Schwarzschild space-time and show that it provides very good analytical results all the way up to the innermost stable circular orbit.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figure

Treatment of Herpes Zoster

Resolution of acute pain related to herpes zoster is accelerated with any of the following: oral acyclovir (Zovirax) 800 mg five times daily for seven days; valacyclovir (Valtrex) 1,000 mg three times daily for seven days; or famciclovir (Famvir) 750 mg once daily, 500 mg twice daily, or 250 mg three times daily for seven days. (Strength of recommendation: A) Oral corticosteroids given during the acute phase of the illness have not been shown to reduce the incidence or severity of postherpetic neuralgia. (Strength of recommendation: B) There is no evidence to support the use of tricyclic antidepressants or anticonvulsants for the management of herpes zoster. (Strength of recommendation: B

PENGARUH PENDIDIKAN DAN PELATIHAN, DISIPLIN KERJA SERTA MOTIVASI KERJA TERHADAP KINERJA PEGAWAI DI BADAN KEPEGAWAIAN DAERAH KABUPATEN KOTAWARINGIN TIMUR

Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mendeskripsi dan menganalisis pengaruh pendidikan dan pelatihan, disiplin kerja, motivasi kerja baik secara parsial maupun simultan terhadap kinerja pegawai di Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Kabupaten Kotawaringin Timur. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini menggunakan metode kuantitatif dengan menggunakan sampel sebanyak 36 orang pegawai yang ada di Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Kabupaten Kotawaringin Timur. Teknik pengambilan sampel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini menggunakan sampling jenuh, teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan kuesioner / angket dengan cara memberikan seperangkat pertanyaan kepada responden, analisis data menggunakan regresi linear berganda. Hasil uji secara parsial variabel Pendidikan dan Pelatihan (X1) diperoleh nilai signifikansi sebesar 0,771 > 0,05 dan nilai thitung 0,293 < ttabel  2,036, dengan demikian Pendidikan dan Pelatihan tidak berpengaruh signifikan terhadap kinerja pegawai, variabel Disiplin Kerja (X2) diperoleh nilai signifikansi sebesar 0,002 < 0,05 dan nilai thitung 3,457 > ttabel 2,036, dengan demikian disiplin kerja berpengaruh signifikan terhadap kinerja pegawai, variabel Motivasi Kerja (X3) diperoleh nilai signifikansi sebesar 0,122 > 0,05 dan nilai thitung 1,590  < ttabel 2,036,  dengan demikian motivasi kerja tidak berpengaruh signifikan terhadap kinerja pegawai. Hasil uji secara simultan diperoleh nilai signifikansi sebesar 0,000 < 0,05 dan nilai Fhitung 11,999 > Ftabel 2,90, dengan demikian Pendidikan dan Pelatihan, Disiplin Kerja, dan Motivasi Kerja secara simultan (bersama-sama) berpengaruh siginikan terhadap Kinerja Pegawai dengan kontribusi sebesar 52,9% sedangkan sisanya sebear 47,1% dipengaruhi oleh variabel lain di luar variabel yang tidak diteliti

Twisted N=8, D=2 super Yang-Mills theory as example of a Hodge-type cohomological theory

It is shown that the dimensional reduction of the N_T=2, D=3 Blau-Thompson model to D=2, i.e., the novel topological twist of N=8, D=2 super Yang-Mills theory, provides an example of a Hodge-type cohomological theory. In that theory the generators of the topological shift, co-shift and gauge symmetry, together with a discrete duality operation, are completely analogous to the de Rham cohomology operators and the Hodge *-operation.Comment: 8 pages, Late

Motions and world-line deviations in Einstein-Maxwell theory

We examine the motion of charged particles in gravitational and electro-magnetic background fields. We study in particular the deviation of world lines, describing the relative acceleration between particles on different space-time trajectories. Two special cases of background fields are considered in detail: (a) pp-waves, a combination of gravitational and electro-magnetic polarized plane waves travelling in the same direction; (b) the Reissner-Nordstr{\o}m solution. We perform a non-trivial check by computing the precession of the periastron for a charged particle in the Reissner-Nordstr{\o}m geometry both directly by solving the geodesic equation, and using the world-line deviation equation. The results agree to the order of approximation considered.Comment: 23 pages, no figure

Control of hierarchical polymer mechanics with bioinspired metal-coordination dynamics.

In conventional polymer materials, mechanical performance is traditionally engineered via material structure, using motifs such as polymer molecular weight, polymer branching, or block copolymer design. Here, by means of a model system of 4-arm poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels crosslinked with multiple, kinetically distinct dynamic metal-ligand coordinate complexes, we show that polymer materials with decoupled spatial structure and mechanical performance can be designed. By tuning the relative concentration of two types of metal-ligand crosslinks, we demonstrate control over the material's mechanical hierarchy of energy-dissipating modes under dynamic mechanical loading, and therefore the ability to engineer a priori the viscoelastic properties of these materials by controlling the types of crosslinks rather than by modifying the polymer itself. This strategy to decouple material mechanics from structure is general and may inform the design of soft materials for use in complex mechanical environments. Three examples that demonstrate this are provided

Considerations on Super Poincare Algebras and their Extensions to Simple Superalgebras

We consider simple superalgebras which are a supersymmetric extension of \fspin(s,t) in the cases where the number of odd generators does not exceed 64. All of them contain a super Poincar\'e algebra as a contraction and another as a subalgebra. Because of the contraction property, some of these algebras can be interpreted as de Sitter or anti de Sitter superalgebras. However, the number of odd generators present in the contraction is not always minimal due to the different splitting properties of the spinor representations under a subalgebra. We consider the general case, with arbitrary dimension and signature, and examine in detail particular examples with physical implications in dimensions $d=10$ and $d=4$.Comment: 16 pages, AMS-LaTeX. Version to appear in the Reviews in Mathematical Physic

Chiral superfields in N = 2 supergravity

The transformation laws of chiral (scalar) superfields with arbitrary Weyl weight w are determined for the U(2) superconformal theory. A superconformally invariant density is given for fields with w = 2. For w = 1 it is possible to have smaller irreducible multiplets. The full restriction upon which the chiral superfield becomes reducible is exhibited. These results define a complete calculus for the construction of invariant actions with chiral superfields. As an example we find the action for the vector gauge multiplet