Comments on "The Role of the Central Asian Mountains on the Midwinter Suppression of North Pacific Storminess" - Reply

We thank Chang and Lin for their thoughtful and constructive comments on our study (Park et al. 2010). In Park et al. (2010), we did not explicitly state that the topography-forced stationary waves are the direct cause for the reduced downstream transient eddy kinetic energy (EKE). The response of stationary waves to topography may saturate even with a relatively small mountain (Cook and Held 1992); furthermore, their magnitudes are much smaller than thermally forced stationary waves (Chang 2009; Held et al. 2002). Instead, we suggest that quasistationary waves generated by the central Asian mountains may strongly affect North Pacific storminess by changing the year-to-year variability of westerly winds over the eastern Eurasian continent. Observational analyses indicate that the midwinter suppression of North Pacific storminess does not occur every year. Some years experience stronger and more meridionally confined zonal winds over the western North Pacific, leading to stronger midwinter suppression (Harnik and Chang 2004; Nakamura and Sampe 2002)

The Satisfaction Degree of Government Schools\u27 Principals in Irbid Governorate about the Performance of Educational Counselor in the Light of Spreading Coronavirus (COVID-19)

This study aimed to show the satisfaction degree of government schools\u27 principals in Irbid governorate about the performance of educational counselor in the light of spreading Coronavirus, and if there were significant statistical differences due to the variables (gender, years of experience and qualification) on principals\u27 estimations for their satisfaction degree about the performance of educational counselor in the light of spreading Coronavirus. The researchers used the descriptive methodology, and the sample of the study consisted of (226) principals. To achieve the above, a questionnaire consisted of (33) items was built. The results showed that the satisfaction degree of government schools\u27 principals in Irbid governorate about the performance of educational counselor in the light of spreading Coronavirus was moderate. Furthermore the results reveal that there were no significant statistical differences in principals\u27 estimations for their satisfaction degree about the performance of educational counselor in the light of spreading Coronavirus due to the variables of the study (gender, years of experience and qualification). The researchers recommended a set of recommendations including: Holding specialized training courses for educational counselors to inform them about Online counseling

Birth of a Closed Universe of Negative Spatial Curvature

We propose a modified form of the spontaneous birth of the universe by quantum tunneling. It proceeds through topology change and inflation, to eventually become a universe with closed spatial sections of negative curvature and nontrivial global topology.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. Revised version with better comments on assumed topology chang

RADBIOMOD: A simple program for utilising biological modelling in radiotherapy plan evaluation

Abstract not availableJoe H. Chang, Christopher Gehrke, Ramachandran Prabhakar, Suki Gill, Morikatsu Wada, Daryl Lim Joon, Vincent Kho

Non-photonic electron-hadron azimuthal correlation for AuAu, CuCu and pp collisions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV

We present preliminary STAR results of azimuthal correlations between non-photonic electrons and hadrons in AuAu, CuCu and pp at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV. Comparison of the e-h correlations from these colliding systems allows one to study the system-size dependence of heavy quark jet-medium interactions. We also report on the relative charm and bottom contributions to non-photonic electrons extracted from correlations measured in pp collisions. Our results, when combined with $R_{AA}$ measurements of non-photonic electrons, constrain the charm and bottom energy loss in the dense medium.Comment: 4 pages 3 figures - To appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennessee. v4 has beautified figures for the CuCu and AuAu e-h correlations, no other chang

Solar System: Sifting through the debris

A quadrillion previously unnoticed small bodies beyond Neptune have been spotted as they dimmed X-rays from a distant source. Models of the dynamics of debris in the Solar System's suburbs must now be reworked.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure; Nature News and Views on Chang et al. 2006, Nature, 442, 660-66

The relevance of the ‘h’ and ‘g’ index to economics in the context of a nation-wide research evaluation scheme: The New Zealand case

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of the citation-based ‘h’ and ‘g’ indexes as a means for measuring research output in economics. This study is unique in that it is the first to utilize the ‘h’ and ‘g’ indexes in the context of a time limited evaluation period and to provide comprehensive coverage of all academic economists in all university-based economics departments within a nation state. For illustration purposes we have selected New Zealand’s Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) as our evaluation scheme. In order to provide a frame of reference for ‘h’ and ‘g’ index output measures, we have also estimated research output using a number of journal-based weighting schemes. In general, our findings suggest that ‘h’ and ‘g’ index scores are strongly associated with low-powered journal ranking schemes and weakly associated with high powered journal weighting schemes. More specifically, we found the ‘h’ and ‘g’ indexes to suffer from a lack of differentiation: for example, 52 percent of all participants received a score of zero under both measures, and 92 and 89 percent received scores of two or less under ‘h’ and ‘g’, respectively. Overall, our findings suggest that ‘h’ and ‘g’ indexes should not be incorporated into a PBRF-like framework