Strong fragmentation of low-energy electromagnetic excitation strength in 117^{117}Sn

Results of nuclear resonance fluorescence experiments on $^{117}$Sn are reported. More than 50 $\gamma$ transitions with $E_{\gamma} < 4$ MeV were detected indicating a strong fragmentation of the electromagnetic excitation strength. For the first time microscopic calculations making use of a complete configuration space for low-lying states are performed in heavy odd-mass spherical nuclei. The theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the data. It is concluded that although the E1 transitions are the strongest ones also M1 and E2 decays contribute substantially to the observed spectra. In contrast to the neighboring even $^{116-124}$Sn, in $^{117}$Sn the $1^-$ component of the two-phonon $[2^+_1 \otimes 3^-_1]$ quintuplet built on top of the 1/2$^+$ ground state is proved to be strongly fragmented.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Search for the electric dipole excitations to the 3s1/2⊗[21+⊗31−]3s_{1/2} \otimes [2^{+}_{1} \otimes 3^{-}_{1}] multiplet in 117^{117}Sn

The odd-mass $^{117}$Sn nucleus was investigated in nuclear resonance fluorescence experiments up to an endpoint energy of the incident photon spectrum of 4.1 MeV at the bremsstrahlung facility of the Stuttgart University. More than 50 mainly hitherto unknown levels were found. From the measurement of the scattering cross sections model independent absolute electric dipole excitation strengths were extracted. The measured angular distributions suggested the spins of 11 excited levels. Quasi-particle phonon model calculations including a complete configuration space were performed for the first time for a heavy odd-mass spherical nucleus. These calculations give a clear insight in the fragmentation and distribution of the $E1$, $M1$, and $E2$ excitation strength in the low energy region. It is proven that the $1^{-}$ component of the two-phonon $[2^{+}_{1} \otimes 3^{-}_{1}]$ quintuplet built on top of the $1/2^{+}$ ground state is strongly fragmented. The theoretical calculations are consistent with the experimental data.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Open Education and the emancipation of academic labour

I have previously argued that open education is a liberal project with a focus on the freedom of things rather than the freedom of people (Winn, Joss. 2012. “Open Education: From the Freedom of Things to the Freedom of People.” In Towards Teaching in Public: Reshaping the Modern University, edited by Michael Neary, Howard Stevenson, and Les Bell, 133– 147. London: Continuum). Furthermore, I have argued that despite an implicit critique of private property with its emphasis on ‘the commons’, the literature on open education offers no corresponding critique of academic labour (Neary, Mike, and Joss Winn. 2012. “Open Education: Common(s), Commonism and the New Common Wealth.” Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization 12 (4): 406–422). In this paper, I develop my critical position that an emancipatory form of education must work towards the emancipation of teachers and students from labour, the dynamic, social, creative source of value in capitalism. In making this argument, I first establish the fundamental characteristics of academic labour. I then offer a ‘form-analytic’ critique of open access, followed by a corresponding critique of its legal form. Finally, I critically discuss the potential of ‘open cooperatives’ as a transitional organisational form for the production of knowledge through which social relations become ‘transparent in their simplicity’ (Marx, Karl. 1976. Capital, Vol. 1. London: Penguin Classics, 172)

Nonfinancial sector debt and the U.S. Great Moderation: Evidence from flow-of-funds data

In the mid‐1980s, two shifts occurred in the US economy: the strong decline of macroeconomic volatility and the strong increase of borrowing by the nonfi-nancial sector above the level of output growth until 2007. Since access to credit may decrease output fluctuations, we hypothesize that during the Great Moderation borrowing by the nonfinancial sector in excess of gross domestic product (GDP) growth moderated GDP fluctuations. We estimate Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models over 1954– 2008 to measure output growth volatility and run Vector Autoregressive (VAR) models and a counterfactual simulation in order to analyse the relation of credit growth in excess of output growth and output growth volatility