14,604 research outputs found
Application of nonextensive statistics to particle and nuclear physics
We present an overview of possible imprints of non-extensitivity in particle
and nucler physics. Special emphasis is put on the intrinsic fluctuations
present in the system under consideration as the possible source of
nonextensivity. The possible connection of nonextensivity and the self
organized criticality apparently being observed in some cosmic rays and
hadronic experiments will also be discussed.Comment: Contribution to International School and Conference on "Non Extensive
Thermodynamics and physical applications", Villasimius-Capo Boi (Cagliari),
Italy, 23-30 March 200
Game saturation of intersecting families
We consider the following combinatorial game: two players, Fast and Slow,
claim -element subsets of alternately, one at each turn,
such that both players are allowed to pick sets that intersect all previously
claimed subsets. The game ends when there does not exist any unclaimed
-subset that meets all already claimed sets. The score of the game is the
number of sets claimed by the two players, the aim of Fast is to keep the score
as low as possible, while the aim of Slow is to postpone the game's end as long
as possible. The game saturation number is the score of the game when both
players play according to an optimal strategy. To be precise we have to
distinguish two cases depending on which player takes the first move. Let
and denote the score of
the saturation game when both players play according to an optimal strategy and
the game starts with Fast's or Slow's move, respectively. We prove that
holds
Third World gap year projects: Youth transitions and the mediation of risk
This is the post-print version of the final published article. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2008 Pion.In recent years in the UK there has been a great expansion in the number of young people travelling to Third World countries between school and university in order to participate as volunteers on structured gap year projects. Travel to such places is commonly perceived as âriskyâ, and takes young people outside the protective cocoon of UK health and safety legislation. One of the functions played by the providers of gap year projects is to mediate risk. On the basis of analysis of promotional literature, interviews with organisers of gap year projects, and focus groups of returned volunteers, in this paper I argue that the various strategies of risk mediation undertaken by gap year providers serve to reconcile modernising tendencies in UK society toward risk control and structure with postmodern inclinations towards individualisation and uncertainty
When the working day is through: The end of work as identity?
This article seeks to present a counter-case to the âend of work thesisâ advocated by writers such as Beck, Sennett and Bauman. It argues that work remains a significant locus of personal identity and that the depiction by these writers of endemic insecurity in the workplace is inaccurate and lacks empirical basis. The article draws upon case study data to illustrate how, across a range of workplaces, work remains an importance source of identity, meaning and social affiliation
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