52 research outputs found
Energy as a Social and Commercial Determinant of Health: A Qualitative Study of Australian Policy
ePublished: 7 December 2022Background: This paper considers energy as a social and commercial determinant of health. Stable access to clean and sustainable energy is integral for human wellbeing yet public health rarely considers its importance. Methods: Using NVivo qualitative analysis software we analysed all Australian federal, state and territory strategic energy policies covering varying periods between 2016-2030. We defined strategic policy as including the goals, objectives and strategies of the department regarding a specific area of policy responsibility. This criterion excluded documents such as operational guidelines. 36 energy-related policies were analyzed. Results: While the nature of energy supply is crucial to determining the impact of human and environmental health, our analysis showed that health and wellbeing are only rarely considered in policy. We developed a conceptual framework to guide our work linking energy policy with health. Australia’s continued reliance on fossil fuels evident in the policies poses health risks, especially as climate change threatens physical and mental health. Yet health considerations were mainly absent from the policies. However, some jurisdictions (South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory [ACT]) had policies encouraging a fast move to renewables. Energy pricing was a key focus in each jurisdiction and had become highly politicalized in the past decade. Little attention was paid to equity considerations in the policies. Conclusion: Energy policy would be more health promoting if public health perspectives were considered during its development. On the basis of our policy analysis and literature review we conclude with recommendations for healthy energy policy.Fran Baum, Michael P. McGreevy, Colin M. MacDougall, Mark Henle
Quasi-1D dynamics and nematic phases in the 2D Emery model
We consider the Emery model of a
Cu-O plane of the high temperature superconductors. We show that in a
strong-coupling limit, with strong Coulomb repulsions between electrons on
nearest-neighbor O sites, the electron-dynamics is strictly one dimensional,
and consequently a number of asymptotically exact results can be obtained
concerning the electronic structure. In particular, we show that a nematic
phase, which spontaneously breaks the point- group symmetry of the square
lattice, is stable at low enough temperatures and strong enough coupling.Comment: 8 pages, 5 eps figures; revised manuscript with more detailed
discussions; two new figures and three edited figuresedited figures; 14
references; new appendix with a detailed proof of the one-dimensional
dynamics of the system in the strong coupling limi
Parity-Violating Interaction Effects I: the Longitudinal Asymmetry in pp Elastic Scattering
The proton-proton parity-violating longitudinal asymmetry is calculated in
the lab-energy range 0--350 MeV, using a number of different, latest-generation
strong-interaction potentials--Argonne V18, Bonn-2000, and Nijmegen-I--in
combination with a weak-interaction potential consisting of rho- and
omega-meson exchanges--the model known as DDH. The complete scattering problem
in the presence of parity-conserving, including Coulomb, and parity-violating
potentials is solved in both configuration- and momentum-space. The predicted
parity-violating asymmetries are found to be only weakly dependent upon the
input strong-interaction potential adopted in the calculation. Values for the
rho- and omega-meson weak coupling constants and
are determined by reproducing the measured asymmetries at 13.6 MeV, 45 MeV, and
221 MeV.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Revising the Local Bubble Model due to Solar Wind Charge Exchange X-ray Emission
The hot Local Bubble surrounding the solar neighborhood has been primarily
studied through observations of its soft X-ray emission. The measurements were
obtained by attributing all of the observed local soft X-rays to the bubble.
However, mounting evidence shows that the heliosphere also produces diffuse
X-rays. The source is solar wind ions that have received an electron from
another atom. The presence of this alternate explanation for locally produced
diffuse X-rays calls into question the existence and character of the Local
Bubble. This article addresses these questions. It reviews the literature on
solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) X-ray production, finding that SWCX accounts
for roughly half of the observed local 1/4 keV X-rays found at low latitudes.
This article also makes predictions for the heliospheric O VI column density
and intensity, finding them to be smaller than the observational error bars.
Evidence for the continued belief that the Local Bubble contains hot gas
includes the remaining local 1/4 keV intensity, the observed local O VI column
density, and the need to fill the local region with some sort of plasma. If the
true Local Bubble is half as bright as previously thought, then its electron
density and thermal pressure are 1/square-root(2) as great as previously
thought, and its energy requirements and emission measure are 1/2 as great as
previously thought. These adjustments can be accommodated easily, and, in fact,
bring the Local Bubble's pressure more in line with that of the adjacent
material. Suggestions for future work are made.Comment: 9 pages, refereed, accepted for publication in the proceedings of the
"From the Outer Heliosphere to the Local Bubble: Comparisons of New
Observations with Theory" conference and in Space Science Review
Effects of T- and P-odd weak nucleon interaction in nuclei: renormalizations due to residual strong interaction, matrix elements between compound states and their correlations with P-violating matrix elements
Manifestations of P-,T-odd weak interaction between nucleons in nucleus are
considered. Renormalization of this interaction due to residual strong
interaction is studied. Mean squared matrix elements of P-,T-odd weak
interaction between compound states are calculated. Correlators between
P-,T-odd and P-odd, T-even weak interaction matrix elements between compound
states are considered and estimates for these quantities are obtained.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. C; 21 pages, REVTEX 3, no figure
Meson Cloud of the Nucleon in Polarized Semi-Inclusive Deep-Inelastic Scattering
We investigate the possibility of identifying an explicit pionic component of
the nucleon through measurements of polarized baryon fragments
produced in deep-inelastic leptoproduction off polarized protons, which may
help to identify the physical mechanism responsible for the breaking of the
Gottfried sum rule. The pion-exchange model predicts highly correlated
polarizations of the and target proton, in marked contrast with
the competing diquark fragmentation process. Measurement of asymmetries in
polarized production may also reveal the presence of a kaon cloud in
the nucleon.Comment: 23 pages REVTeX, 7 uuencoded figures, accepted for publication in
Zeit. Phys.
Optimal designs for rational function regression
We consider optimal non-sequential designs for a large class of (linear and
nonlinear) regression models involving polynomials and rational functions with
heteroscedastic noise also given by a polynomial or rational weight function.
The proposed method treats D-, E-, A-, and -optimal designs in a
unified manner, and generates a polynomial whose zeros are the support points
of the optimal approximate design, generalizing a number of previously known
results of the same flavor. The method is based on a mathematical optimization
model that can incorporate various criteria of optimality and can be solved
efficiently by well established numerical optimization methods. In contrast to
previous optimization-based methods proposed for similar design problems, it
also has theoretical guarantee of its algorithmic efficiency; in fact, the
running times of all numerical examples considered in the paper are negligible.
The stability of the method is demonstrated in an example involving high degree
polynomials. After discussing linear models, applications for finding locally
optimal designs for nonlinear regression models involving rational functions
are presented, then extensions to robust regression designs, and trigonometric
regression are shown. As a corollary, an upper bound on the size of the support
set of the minimally-supported optimal designs is also found. The method is of
considerable practical importance, with the potential for instance to impact
design software development. Further study of the optimality conditions of the
main optimization model might also yield new theoretical insights.Comment: 25 pages. Previous version updated with more details in the theory
and additional example
Flux Phase as a Dynamic Jahn-Teller Phase: Berryonic Matter in the Cuprates?
There is considerable evidence for some form of charge ordering on the
hole-doped stripes in the cuprates, mainly associated with the low-temperature
tetragonal phase, but with some evidence for either charge density waves or a
flux phase, which is a form of dynamic charge-density wave. These three states
form a pseudospin triplet, demonstrating a close connection with the E X e
dynamic Jahn-Teller effect, suggesting that the cuprates constitute a form of
Berryonic matter. This in turn suggests a new model for the dynamic Jahn-Teller
effect as a form of flux phase. A simple model of the Cu-O bond stretching
phonons allows an estimate of electron-phonon coupling for these modes,
explaining why the half breathing mode softens so much more than the full
oxygen breathing mode. The anomalous properties of provide a coupling
(correlated hopping) which acts to stabilize density wave phases.Comment: Major Revisions: includes comparisons with specific cuprate phonon
modes, 16 eps figures, revte
The Nucleon's Virtual Meson Cloud and Deep Inelastic Lepton Scattering
We address the question whether the nucleon's antiquark sea can be attributed
entirely to its virtual meson cloud and, in essence, whether there exists a
smooth transition between hadronic and quark-gluon degrees of freedom. We take
into account contributions from and mesons and compare with the
nucleon's antiquark distributions which serve as a non-perturbative input to
the QCD evolution equations. We elucidate the different behavior in the flavor
singlet and non-singlet channels and study the dependence of our results on the
scale . The meson-nucleon cut-offs that we determine give not only an
indication on the size of the region within which quarks are confined in a
nucleon, but we find that the scale of these form factors is closely related to
the four-momentum transfer, , where gluons are resolved by a high energy
probe, and that large meson loop momenta, GeV,
contribute significantly to the sea quark distributions. While the agreement of
our calculations with data-based parametrizations is satisfactory and scale
independent for the flavor breaking share of the nucleon's antiquark sea, the
flavor singlet component is quite poorly described. This hints the importance
of gluon degrees of freedom.Comment: 34 pages, RevTeX, 6 figures optionally included using epsfig.st
Boundary spanning in higher education leadership: identifying boundaries and practices in a British university
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