Measuring Up 2006: The National Report Card on Higher Education

Measures the performance of the U.S. and of each state in providing education and training beyond high school. Compares national and state higher education performance with other nations

Improved Mass Constraints in the MSSM from Vacuum Stability

Using a simple numerical method, we compute the stability of the MSSM vacuum with respect to tunneling. The stability criterion is then used to put restrictions on the mass parameters. These restrictions are necessary conditions for the vacuum stability and compliment the existing sufficiency conditions obtained analytically.Comment: LaTex. 15 pages. 4 postscript figures (uses epsf). Some minor corrections. Enlarged data set. Figures showing data have been improve

Editorial in Contention

Contention is everywhere nowadays, permeating the fabric of society and constituting an important element of many different social relationships. It is also a central topic across a wide range of social scientific disciplines. Following the most contentious decade in over a century, scholarship on the topic of “contention” is booming. Nonetheless, we still lack a conceptual approach to “contention” as a general academic term beyond the bounds of the study of “contentious politics.” What is the meaning of contention? Drawing on a decade of editorial and research work on contention, this article surveys the profound breadth and variety of academic research on the topic, ranging from politics, psychology, and sociology to material culture, criminology, and beyond. We outline the common conceptual thread across these various areas, where “contention” generally indicates conflictual collective contests concerning competing claims

Generalised space-time and duality

In this paper we consider the previously proposed generalised space-time and investigate the structure of the field theory upon which it is based. In particular, we derive a SO(D,D) formulation of the bosonic string as a non-linear realisation at lowest levels of the semi-direct product of E11 with the first fundamental representation l1. We give a Hamiltonian formulation of this theory and carry out its quantisation. We argue that the choice of representation of the quantum theory breaks the manifest SO(D,D) symmetry but that the symmetry is manifest in a non-commutative field theory. We discuss the implications for the conjectured E11 symmetry and the role of the l1 representation.Comment: 17 pages, a few typographical errors correcte

Implementation of a Blind Quality Control Program in a Forensic Laboratory

A blind quality control (QC) program was successfully developed and implemented in the Toxicology, Seized Drugs, Firearms, Latent Prints (Processing and Comparison), Forensic Biology, and Multimedia (Digital and Audio/Video) sections at the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC). The program was put into practice based on recommendations set forth in the 2009 National Academy of Sciences report and is conducted in addition to accreditation required annual proficiency tests. The blind QC program allows HFSC to test its entire quality management system and provides a real‐time assessment of the laboratory’s proficiency. To ensure the blind QC cases mimicked real casework, the workflow for each forensic discipline and their evidence submission processes were assessed prior to implementation. Samples are created and submitted by the HFSC Quality Division to whom the expected answer is known. Results from 2015 to 2018 show that of the 973 blind samples submitted, 901 were completed, and only 51 were discovered by analysts as being blind QC cases. Implementation data suggests that this type of program can be employed at other forensic laboratories

The Meaning of Contention

Contention is everywhere nowadays, permeating the fabric of society and constituting an important element of many different social relationships. It is also a central topic across a wide range of social scientific disciplines. Following the most contentious decade in over a century, scholarship on the topic of “contention” is booming. Nonetheless, we still lack a conceptual approach to “contention” as a general academic term beyond the bounds of the study of “contentious politics.” What is the meaning of contention? Drawing on a decade of editorial and research work on contention, this article surveys the profound breadth and variety of academic research on the topic, ranging from politics, psychology, and so- ciology to material culture, criminology, and beyond. We outline the common conceptual thread across these various areas, where “contention” generally indicates conflictual collective contests con- cerning competing claims

Duality Transformations Away From Conformal Points

Target space duality transformations are considered for bosonic sigma models and strings away from RG fixed points. A set of consistency conditions are derived, and are seen to be nontrivially satisfied at one-loop order for arbitrary running metric, antisymmetric tensor and dilaton backgrounds. Such conditions are sufficiently stringent to enable an independent determination of the sigma model beta functions at this order.Comment: 11 pages, plain TeX. Uses harvmac.te

Gauge Invariant Geometric Variables For Yang-Mills Theory

In a previous publication [1], local gauge invariant geometric variables were introduced to describe the physical Hilbert space of Yang-Mills theory. In these variables, the electric energy involves the inverse of an operator which can generically have zero modes, and thus its calculation is subtle. In the present work, we resolve these subtleties by considering a small deformation in the definition of these variables, which in the end is removed. The case of spherical configurations of the gauge invariant variables is treated in detail, as well as the inclusion of infinitely heavy point color sources, and the expression for the associated electric field is found explicitly. These spherical geometries are seen to correspond to the spatial components of instanton configurations. The related geometries corresponding to Wu-Yang monopoles and merons are also identified.Comment: 21 pp. in plain TeX. Uses harvmac.te

Clinical features and risk factors of oedematous Mycobacterium ulcerans lesions in an Australian population: beware cellulitis in an endemic area

IntroductionOedematous lesions are a less common but more severe form of Mycobacterium ulcerans disease. Misdiagnosis as bacterial cellulitis can lead to delays in treatment. We report the first comprehensive descriptions of the clinical features and risk factors of patients with oedematous disease from the Bellarine Peninsula of south-eastern Victoria, Australia.MethodsData on all confirmed Mycobacterium ulcerans cases managed at Barwon Health, Victoria, were collected from 1/1/1998–31/12/2012. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to assess associations with oedematous forms of Mycobacterium ulcerans disease.ResultsSeventeen of 238 (7%) patients had oedematous Mycobacterium ulcerans lesions. Their median age was 70 years (IQR 17–82 years) and 71% were male. Twenty-one percent of lesions were WHO category one, 35% category two and 41% category three. 16 (94%) patients were initially diagnosed with cellulitis and received a median 14 days (IQR 9–17 days) of antibiotics and 65% required hospitalization prior to Mycobacterium ulcerans diagnosis. Fever was present in 50% and pain in 87% of patients. The WCC, neutrophil count and CRP were elevated in 54%, 62% and 75% of cases respectively. The median duration of antibiotic treatment was 84 days (IQR 67–96) and 94% of cases required surgical intervention. On multivariable analysis, there was an increased likelihood of a lesion being oedematous if on the hand (OR 85.62, 95% CI 13.69–535.70; P<0.001), elbow (OR 7.83, 95% CI 1.39–43.96; p<0.001) or ankle (OR 7.92, 95% CI 1.28–49.16; p<0.001), or if the patient had diabetes mellitus (OR 9.42, 95% CI 1.62–54.74; p = 0.02).ConclusionsIn an Australian population, oedematous Mycobacterium ulcerans lesions present with similar symptoms, signs and investigation results to, and are commonly mistakenly diagnosed for, bacterial limb cellulitis. There is an increased likelihood of oedematous lesions affecting the hand, elbow or ankle, and in patients with diabetes