Local Thermal Equilibrium in Quantum Field Theory on Flat and Curved Spacetimes

The existence of local thermal equilibrium (LTE) states for quantum field theory in the sense of Buchholz, Ojima and Roos is discussed in a model-independent setting. It is shown that for spaces of finitely many independent thermal observables there always exist states which are in LTE in any compact region of Minkowski spacetime. Furthermore, LTE states in curved spacetime are discussed and it is observed that the original definition of LTE on curved backgrounds given by Buchholz and Schlemmer needs to be modified. Under an assumption related to certain unboundedness properties of the pointlike thermal observables, existence of states which are in LTE at a given point in curved spacetime is established. The assumption is discussed for the sets of thermal observables for the free scalar field considered by Schlemmer and Verch.Comment: 16 pages, some minor changes and clarifications; section 4 has been shortened as some unnecessary constructions have been remove

Audience synchronies in live concerts illustrate the embodiment of music experience

A study of 132 audience members of three classical public concerts (all three staged the same chamber music pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven, Brett Dean, and Johannes Brahms) had the goal of analyzing the physiological and motor responses of audiences. It was assumed that the music would induce synchronous physiology and movement in listeners (induction synchrony). In addition to hypothesizing that such synchronies would be present, we expected that they were linked to participants' aesthetic experiences, their affect and personality traits, which were assessed by questionnaires before and after the concerts. Clear evidence was found of physiological synchrony (heart rate, respiration rate, skin conductance response) as well as movement synchrony of the audiences, whereas breathing behavior was not synchronized. Thus the audiences of the three concerts resonated with the music, their music perception was embodied. There were links between the bodily synchrony and aesthetic experiences: synchrony, especially heart-rate synchrony, was higher when listeners felt moved emotionally and inspired by a piece, and were immersed in the music. Personality traits were also associated with the individual contributions to induction synchrony

Solar Atlas for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean

International audienceSouthern and eastern Mediterranean regions are prone to production of electricity by solar systems. The solar resource is the "fuel" of such systems and its availability is a key economic parameter in system design. Even though the southern and eastern Mediterranean region is served by several commercial data providers, in a public domain, so far only coarse resolution (100 km) data or data with limited temporal coverage is available. For more rapid development of policies and to attract the industrial interest in this region a more enhanced and easy to access free information is needed. The project will bring high resolution (1 km), long term coverage of at least 15 years data on the available solar resources for the region covering the countries Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Palestine National Authority, Mauretania and Turkey. The resource data will be derived from Earth Observation satellite data, based on published and transparent methodologies and the data will be validated with existing ground measurements in the region. The database will be provided by SOLEMI and Helioclim-3 (SoDa) sources - Global Horizontal Irradiation (GHI) and Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI). The data will be made available via a distributed information system which will ensure the ease of access to the data. The free access to the data will include historical, annual and monthly averages, and more detailed data products and services will remain the domain of commercial data providers. This paper will show the first prototype of the user interface for an easy web access to the solar radiation as well as ancillary geographical data. With the presentation of this paper we aim to encourage potential users to give us feedback on the further development

The Kahler Cone as Cosmic Censor

M-theory effects prevent five-dimensional domain-wall and black-hole solutions from developing curvature singularities. While so far this analysis was performed for particular models, we now present a model-independent proof that these solutions do not have naked singularities as long as the Kahler moduli take values inside the extended Kahler cone. As a by-product we obtain information on the regularity of the Kahler-cone metric at boundaries of the Kahler cone and derive relations between the geometry of moduli space and space-time.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure. Improved discussion of the relation between Kahler moduli and five-dimensional scalars. No changes in the conclusion

MESoR - Management and exploitation of solar resource knowledge

CD-ROMKnowledge of the solar resource is essential for the planning and operation of solar energy systems. A number of data bases giving information on solar resources have been developed over the past years. The result is a fragmentation of services each having each own mechanism of access and all are giving different results due to different methods, input data and base years. The project MESoR, co-funded by the European Commission, reduces the associated uncertainty by setting up standard benchmarking rules and measures for comparing the data bases, user guidance to the application of resource data and unifying access to various data bases

Temporary exclusion of ill children from childcare centres in Switzerland: practice, problems and potential solutions.

BACKGROUND: In childcare centres, temporary exclusion of ill children, if their illness poses a risk of spread of harmful diseases to others, is a central approach to fight disease transmission. However, not all ill children need to be excluded. Previous studies suggested that childcare centre staff have difficulties in deciding whether or not to exclude an ill child, even when official ill-child guidelines are used. We aimed to describe, quantify and analyse these ambiguities and discuss potential solutions. METHODS: For this cross-sectional study, we sent postal surveys to 488 childcare centre directors in the Swiss Canton of Zurich, where no official ill-child guideline is in place. We asked for exclusion criteria for ill children and ambiguities faced when dealing with ill children. We checked whether existing guidelines provided solutions to the ambiguities identified. RESULTS: 249/488 (51%) directors responded to the survey. The most common exclusion criteria were fever (87.4%) and contagiousness (52.2%). Ambiguities were mostly caused by conjunctivitis (23.7%) and use of antipyretic drugs (22.9%). Roughly one third of the ambiguities identified could have been resolved with existing guidelines, another third if existing guidelines contained additional information. For the last third, clear written directives are difficult to formulate. CONCLUSIONS: Written recommendations may help to clarify when an ill child should temporarily be excluded. However, such a guideline should cover the topics antipyretic drugs and teething and have room for modification to local circumstances. Collaboration with a paediatrician may be of additional benefit