The human story behind Everettian quantum mechanics

Hugh Everett III was an unappealing character with a remarkable mind. His Princeton doctoral thesis on the foundations of physics transformed our understanding of quantum-mechanical reality, and he made original contributions to military operations research and to game theory. His domestic life was less inspiring; he died young after a lifetime of over-indulgence in food, alcohol, tobacco and sex, leaving behind a somewhat dysfunctional family with which he had little emotional connection

Fast, Scalable, and Interactive Software for Landau-de Gennes Numerical Modeling of Nematic Topological Defects

Numerical modeling of nematic liquid crystals using the tensorial Landau-de Gennes (LdG) theory provides detailed insights into the structure and energetics of the enormous variety of possible topological defect configurations that may arise when the liquid crystal is in contact with colloidal inclusions or structured boundaries. However, these methods can be computationally expensive, making it challenging to predict (meta)stable configurations involving several colloidal particles, and they are often restricted to system sizes well below the experimental scale. Here we present an open-source software package that exploits the embarrassingly parallel structure of the lattice discretization of the LdG approach. Our implementation, combining CUDA/C++ and OpenMPI, allows users to accelerate simulations using both CPU and GPU resources in either single- or multiple-core configurations. We make use of an efficient minimization algorithm, the Fast Inertial Relaxation Engine (FIRE) method, that is well-suited to large-scale parallelization, requiring little additional memory or computational cost while offering performance competitive with other commonly used methods. In multi-core operation we are able to scale simulations up to supra-micron length scales of experimental relevance, and in single-core operation the simulation package includes a user-friendly GUI environment for rapid prototyping of interfacial features and the multifarious defect states they can promote. To demonstrate this software package, we examine in detail the competition between curvilinear disclinations and point-like hedgehog defects as size scale, material properties, and geometric features are varied. We also study the effects of an interface patterned with an array of topological point-defects.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 1 youtube link. The full catastroph

A Quantitative Study of Java Software Buildability

Researchers, students and practitioners often encounter a situation when the build process of a third-party software system fails. In this paper, we aim to confirm this observation present mainly as anecdotal evidence so far. Using a virtual environment simulating a programmer's one, we try to fully automatically build target archives from the source code of over 7,200 open source Java projects. We found that more than 38% of builds ended in failure. Build log analysis reveals the largest portion of errors are dependency-related. We also conduct an association study of factors affecting build success

Looks Can Be Deceiving—A Comparison of Initial Public Offering Procedures Under Japanese and U.S. Securities Laws

In order to examine the divergent administration of statutes that are by their terms similar, the initial public offering procedures that a non-sovereign domestic issuer follows in the US and Japan are described

Folly in the Garden: The Religious Satire of Erasmus and Voltaire

In his introductory editorial comments on Erasmus\u27 letters, literary critic Robert M. Adams commented that Like Voltaire, with whom it\u27s commonplace to compare him, Erasmus was a prodigious correspondent. Erasmus and Voltaire shared much more than an affinity for writing letters. A list of their similarities reads much like one of those supposedly eerie lists of coincidences between the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. The dates of their respective births remain uncertain. Both may have been illegitimate during times when ancestry mattered a great deal, and neither was born noble. Both rose above their beginnings by means of education and ability and became internationally celebrated figures. Both wrote eloquently. Neither was English, but both adored England. Both traveled widely and consorted with the elite of the European political and intellectual community; and when favor turned to displeasure, both sought refuge in Switzerland. Both typified, in their lives and work, the major values and goals of the times in which they lived. Both died somewhat disillusioned. And, most importantly for this study, both Erasmus and Voltaire wrote remarkable satire. Whimsical and critical, touching and biting, comical and compelling, the satirical writings of Erasmus and Voltaire are among the best the Western tradition has to offer. And while both wrote for an audience in a specific time and place, their words and themes remain timeless. In fact, they shared many topics and satirical targets in commons; but while the satire of Erasmus and Voltaire criticized many of the same things, it is marked with distinctions of motivation and purpose that can be explained with reference to the authors\u27 personal world view and the dominant attitudes of the times in which they lived. This comparative study seeks to offer such an explanation. Chapter one, in addition to providing a general outline for the paper as well as a few more introductory remarks, will be devoted to finding a useful definition of satire. Chapter two will provide brief biographies of Erasmus and Voltaire, as well as general overviews of the periods in European hisotry in which they lived: the Renaissance adn the Enlightenment. The second chapter will be concerned specifically with identifying the two writers as individuals whose lives embodied many of the major values and goals of their respective time periods. Chapters three and four will introduce and present several of Erasmus and Voltaire\u27s most important and well-known satirical pieces. These chapters will highlight some of the most significant objects of the authors\u27 satire, especially those which they had in common. Chapter Five will be a topical treatment of the satirical objects highlighted in Chapter Four and will be focused on fleshing out the notion that the differences in the ways Erasmus and Voltaire approache similar topics can be explained by persona and time period distinctions. The final chapter will disucss the importance of the satire of Erasmus and Voltaire for contemporary readers as well. As indicated by the title of the paper, this study will concentrate on the religious satire of Erasmus and Voltaire. Not only does this concentration make a broad topic somewhat more manageable, but it also has analytical importance as well. The periods of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment constitute significant moments in the history of Christianity, moments marked by radical change in the western world\u27s experience with and attitude toward the Christian religion. Two themes that will be touched upon in Chapters two and five is the extent to which Renaissance attitudes toward Christianity were characterized, more or less, by reform while those of the Enlightenment were marked, more or less, by rejection and the ways in which the religious satire of Erasmus and Voltaire reflect those attitudes. These two men are among the most prominent in European history, Whether one agrees or not with the sorts of things Erasmus and Voltaire spent their lives advocating, one cannot help but be fascinated by the lies they live; and whether one likes or not the satire of Erasmus and Voltaire, one cannot help but be impressed by the learning, brilliance , and wit that produced it. It is in this spirit of respect and fascination that this paper is written

Prescribable mHealth apps identified from an overview of systematic reviews

AbstractMobile health apps aimed towards patients are an emerging field of mHealth. Their potential for improving self-management of chronic conditions is significant. Here, we propose a concept of “prescribable” mHealth apps, defined as apps that are currently available, proven effective, and preferably stand-alone, i.e., that do not require dedicated central servers and continuous monitoring by medical professionals. Our objectives were to conduct an overview of systematic reviews to identify such apps, assess the evidence of their effectiveness, and to determine the gaps and limitations in mHealth app research. We searched four databases from 2008 onwards and the Journal of Medical Internet Research for systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of stand-alone health apps. We identified 6 systematic reviews including 23 RCTs evaluating 22 available apps that mostly addressed diabetes, mental health and obesity. Most trials were pilots with small sample size and of short duration. Risk of bias of the included reviews and trials was high. Eleven of the 23 trials showed a meaningful effect on health or surrogate outcomes attributable to apps. In conclusion, we identified only a small number of currently available stand-alone apps that have been evaluated in RCTs. The overall low quality of the evidence of effectiveness greatly limits the prescribability of health apps. mHealth apps need to be evaluated by more robust RCTs that report between-group differences before becoming prescribable. Systematic reviews should incorporate sensitivity analysis of trials with high risk of bias to better summarize the evidence, and should adhere to the relevant reporting guideline.</jats:p

What is the effect of a formalised trauma tertiary survey procedure on missed injury rates in multi-trauma patients? Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background: Missed injury is commonly used as a quality indicator in trauma care. The trauma tertiary survey (TTS) has been proposed to reduce missed injuries. However a systematic review assessing the effect of the TTS on missed injury rates in trauma patients found only observational studies, only suggesting a possible increase in early detection and reduction in missed injuries, with significant potential biases. Therefore, more robust methods are necessary to test whether implementation of a formal TTS will increase early in-hospital injury detection, decrease delayed diagnosis and decrease missed injuries after hospital discharge. Methods/Design: We propose a cluster-randomised, controlled trial to evaluate trauma care enhanced with a formalised TTS procedure. Currently, 20 to 25% of trauma patients routinely have a TTS performed. We expect this to increase to at least 75%. The design is for 6,380 multi-trauma patients in approximately 16 hospitals recruited over 24 months. In the first 12 months, patients will be randomised (by hospital) and allocated 1:1 to receive either the intervention (Group 1) or usual care (Group 2). The recruitment for the second 12 months will entail Group 1 hospitals continuing the TTS, and the Group 2 hospitals beginning it to enable estimates of the persistence of the intervention. The intervention is complex: implementation of formal TTS form, small group education, and executive directive to mandate both. Outcome data will be prospectively collected from (electronic) medical records and patient (telephone follow-up) questionnaires. Missed injuries will be adjudicated by a blinded expert panel. The primary outcome is missed injuries after hospital discharge; secondary outcomes are maintenance of the intervention effect, in-hospital missed injuries, tertiary survey performance rate, hospital and ICU bed days, interventions required for missed injuries, advanced diagnostic imaging requirements, readmissions to hospital, days of work and quality of life (EQ-5D-5 L) and mortality. Discussion: The findings of this study may alter the delivery of international trauma care. If formal TTS is (cost-) effective this intervention should be implemented widely. If not, where already partly implemented, it should be abandoned. Study findings will be disseminated widely to relevant clinicians and health funders.Griffith Health, School of MedicineFull Tex