The challenge of the e-Agora metrics: the social construction of meaningful measurements

'How are we progressing towards achieving sustainable development in the EU's desired knowledge society?' Current lists of indicators, indices and assessment tools, which have been developed for measuring and displaying performance at different spatial levels, show that progress has been made. However, there are still a very large number of indicators, perhaps the majority, most specifically those which relate to social and political issues, that are difficult to capture. Issues such as intergenerational equity, aesthetics and governance come into this category. 'How is it possible to measure these and capture their full meaning and represent this back meaningfully to disparate groups of stakeholders in a society?' This paper will discuss these issues, highlighting the need for new methods and an alternative view of how to go about the capture and representation of the types of data with which we need to wor

Exact Groundstates of Rotating Bose Gases close to a Feshbach Resonance

We study the groundstates of rotating Bose gases when interactions are affected by a nearby Feshbach resonance. We show that exact groundstates at high angular momentum can be found analytically for a general and realistic model for the resonant interactions. We identify parameter regimes where the exact groundstates are exotic fractional quantum Hall states, the excitations of which obey non-abelian exchange statistics.Comment: 4 page

Spin 1 inversion: a Majorana tensor force for deuteron alpha scattering

We demonstrate, for the first time, successful S-matrix to potential inversion for spin one projectiles with non-diagonal $S^j_{ll'}$ yielding a $T_{\rm R}$ interaction. The method is a generalization of the iterative-perturbative, IP, method. We present a test case indicating the degree of uniqueness of the potential. The method is adapted, using established procedures, into direct observable to potential inversion, fitting $\sigma$, ${\rm i}T_{11}$, $T_{20}$, $T_{21}$ and $T_{22}$ for d + alpha scattering over a range of energies near 10 MeV. The $T_{\rm R}$ interaction which we find is very different from that proposed elsewhere, both real and imaginary parts being very different for odd and even parity channels.Comment: 7 pages Revtex, 4 ps figure

Investigation of the Coupling Potential by means of S-matrix Inversion

We investigate the inelastic coupling interaction by studying its effect on the elastic scattering potential as determined by inverting the elastic scattering $S$-matrix. We first address the effect upon the real and imaginary elastic potentials of including excited states of the target nucleus. We then investigate the effect of a recently introduced novel coupling potential which has been remarkably successful in reproducing the experimental data for the $^{12}$C+$^{12}$C, $^{12}$C+$^{24}$Mg and $^{16}$O+$^{28}$Si reactions over a wide range of energies. This coupling potential has the effect of deepening the real elastic potential in the surface region, thereby explaining a common feature of many phenomenological potentials. It is suggested that one can relate this deepening to the super-deformed state of the compound nucleus, $^{24}$Mg.Comment: 12 pages with 3 figure

Repository Replication Using NNTP and SMTP

We present the results of a feasibility study using shared, existing, network-accessible infrastructure for repository replication. We investigate how dissemination of repository contents can be ``piggybacked'' on top of existing email and Usenet traffic. Long-term persistence of the replicated repository may be achieved thanks to current policies and procedures which ensure that mail messages and news posts are retrievable for evidentiary and other legal purposes for many years after the creation date. While the preservation issues of migration and emulation are not addressed with this approach, it does provide a simple method of refreshing content with unknown partners.Comment: This revised version has 24 figures and a more detailed discussion of the experiments conducted by u

Beta event-related desynchronization as an index of individual differences in processing human facial expression: further investigations of autistic traits in typically developing adults

The human mirror neuron system (hMNS) has been associated with various forms of social cognition and affective processing including vicarious experience. It has also been proposed that a faulty hMNS may underlie some of the deficits seen in the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). In the present study we set out to investigate whether emotional facial expressions could modulate a putative EEG index of hMNS activation (mu suppression) and if so, would this differ according to the individual level of autistic traits [high versus low Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) score]. Participants were presented with 3 s films of actors opening and closing their hands (classic hMNS mu-suppression protocol) while simultaneously wearing happy, angry, or neutral expressions. Mu-suppression was measured in the alpha and low beta bands. The low AQ group displayed greater low beta event-related desynchronization (ERD) to both angry and neutral expressions. The high AQ group displayed greater low beta ERD to angry than to happy expressions. There was also significantly more low beta ERD to happy faces for the low than for the high AQ group. In conclusion, an interesting interaction between AQ group and emotional expression revealed that hMNS activation can be modulated by emotional facial expressions and that this is differentiated according to individual differences in the level of autistic traits. The EEG index of hMNS activation (mu suppression) seems to be a sensitive measure of the variability in facial processing in typically developing individuals with high and low self-reported traits of autism

A nu=2/5 Paired Wavefunction

We construct a wavefunction, generalizing the well known Moore-Read Pfaffian, that describes spinless electrons at filling fraction nu=2/5 (or bosons at filling fraction nu=2/3) as the ground state of a very simple three body potential. We find, analogous to the Pfaffian, that when quasiholes are added there is a ground state degeneracy which can be identified as zero-modes of the quasiholes. The zero-modes are identified as having semionic statistics. We write this wavefunction as a correlator of the Virasoro minimal model conformal field theory M(5,3). Since this model is non-unitary, we conclude that this wavefunction is a quantum critical state. Nonetheless, we find that the overlaps of this wavefunction with exact diagonalizations in the lowest and first excited Landau level are very high, suggesting that this wavefunction may have experimental relevance for some transition that may occur in that regime.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure