Composite reweighting with Imaginary Chemical Potentials in SU(3)

We review the overlap pathology of the Glasgow reweighting method for finite density QCD, and discuss the sampling bias that effects the determination of the ensemble-averaged fugacity polynomial expansion coefficients that form the Grand Canonical Partition function. The expectation of the difference in free energies between canonical partition functions generated with different measures is presented as an indicator of a systematic quark number dependent biasing in the reweighting approach. The advantages of building up an unbiased polynomial expansion for the Grand Canonical Partition function through a series of parallel ensembles generated by reweighting with imaginary chemical potentials are then contrasted with addressing the overlap pathology through a secondary reweighting.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, Lattice2002(nonzerot

Using Mobile Devices to Facilitate Student Questioning in a Large Undergraduate Science Class

Asking scientific questions is the first practice of science and engineering listed in the Next Generation Science Standards. However, getting students to ask unsolicited questions in a large class can be difficult. In this qualitative study, undergraduate students sent SMS text messages to the instructor who received them on his mobile phone and via Google Glass. Using observations, coding of texts, and interviews, the researchers investigated the types and level of questions students asked and the perceptions of the instructor and TAs on how the messages were received. From the findings of this study, it is evident that students asked a wide variety of question types and levels. It would appear that important distinctions between voice and text questions are that: (a) a shy or insecure questioner can remain anonymous; (b) questions can be asked in an interactive, but not interruptive manner; (c) there is no time limit to answering questions; and (d) the record of questions on the instructor\u27s phone can be used to guide revision of lecture notes for future semesters

F. X. Velarde, an English Expressionist

Notable undiscovered architects, like undiscovered composers, are implausible, yet F.X. Velarde OBE, 1897-1960, could be just such a person hiding in plain sight. He is obscure because he confined himself to refining Catholic worship on the eve of Vatican II. His work is an engaging mixture of Modern and Expressionist influences and an example of what has been called medieval modern. The churches he designed in the North West of England are playful and picturesque, often with a toy like quality. He may have been the last British architect to use the sculpted human form in his work. Today his buildings seem fresh and elegant, but also poignant as they evoke the 1950s and so many of them are threatened

The South African commodity plastics filiere : history and future strategy options.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1994.The world chemical industry is one of the most basic and important manufacturing businesses globally. Petrochemicals have played a pivotal role in industrial modernisation. In the 1970s and 1980s South Africa developed an unusually large chemical industry as Import Substitution Industrialisation was conveniently extended into military/strategic apartheid policy. These policies steered the industry away from conventional crude oil and natural gas based feedstocks into a uniquely coal based chemical industry. The shift from oil to coal based petrochemicals also narrowed the slate of petrochemicals available. Pricing is critical in the commodity plastics filiere. Coal based production contributed to a higher cost structure than crude oil based producers and a 'missing link' in the production chain, the petrochemical intermediate naphtha. This facilitated the introduction of a pricing mechanism which concentrated the benefits amongst upstream producers at the expense of downstream plastic converters, stunting growth in this higher value added and more labour intensive sector. Ironically a 'sunk costs' approach and recent developments allow SASOL's to produce coal based petrochemicals at low cost. In a significant change the traditional pillars of the local chemical industry, agricultural and mining chemicals, were supplanted by plastic raw materials as the major sector of the industry during the 1980s despite its coal base. Trade patterns also reflect these developments. A significant shift in employment from blacks to whites in Industrial Chemicals and Refineries accompanied this reordering of the major sectors. Providing mass housing, electrification and other basic wage goods will require industrial policies, embracing the entire filiere, which are significantly different from previous policies. Such policies should facilitate the development of higher value added and more labour intensive sectors within a broadly conceived framework of redistribution of political and economic opportunity. This will require lowering chemical intermediate input costs as well as a range of nurturing and facilitative policies for the filiere. These will help to reduce the current anti-export bias. The process of implementing such policies is as important as the direction itself. To facilitate national reconciliation and empowerment of previously disadvantaged groups transparent tripartite policy making institutions are recommended

Overview of FEED, the Feeding Experiments End-user Database

The Feeding Experiments End-user Database (FEED) is a research tool developed by the Mammalian Feeding Working Group at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center that permits synthetic, evolutionary analyses of the physiology of mammalian feeding. The tasks of the Working Group are to compile physiologic data sets into a uniform digital format stored at a central source, develop a standardized terminology for describing and organizing the data, and carry out a set of novel analyses using FEED. FEED contains raw physiologic data linked to extensive metadata. It serves as an archive for a large number of existing data sets and a repository for future data sets. The metadata are stored as text and images that describe experimental protocols, research subjects, and anatomical information. The metadata incorporate controlled vocabularies to allow consistent use of the terms used to describe and organize the physiologic data. The planned analyses address long-standing questions concerning the phylogenetic distribution of phenotypes involving muscle anatomy and feeding physiology among mammals, the presence and nature of motor pattern conservation in the mammalian feeding muscles, and the extent to which suckling constrains the evolution of feeding behavior in adult mammals. We expect FEED to be a growing digital archive that will facilitate new research into understanding the evolution of feeding anatomy

Real and imaginary chemical potential in 2-color QCD

In this paper we study the finite temperature SU(2) gauge theory with staggered fermions for non-zero imaginary and real chemical potential. The method of analytical continuation of Monte Carlo results from imaginary to real chemical potential is tested by comparison with simulations performed {\em directly} for real chemical potential. We discuss the applicability of the method in the different regions of the phase diagram in the temperature -- imaginary chemical potential plane.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures; a few comments added; version published on Phys. Rev.

Remarks on the multi-parameter reweighting method for the study of lattice QCD at non-zero temperature and density

We comment on the reweighting method for the study of finite density lattice QCD. We discuss the applicable parameter range of the reweighting method for models which have more than one simulation parameter. The applicability range is determined by the fluctuations of the modification factor of the Boltzmann weight. In some models having a first order phase transition, the fluctuations are minimized along the phase transition line if we assume that the pressure in the hot and the cold phase is balanced at the first order phase transition point. This suggests that the reweighting method with two parameters is applicable in a wide range for the purpose of tracing out the phase transition line in the parameter space. To confirm the usefulness of the reweighting method for 2 flavor QCD, the fluctuations of the reweighting factor are measured by numerical simulations for the cases of reweighting in the quark mass and chemical potential directions. The relation with the phase transition line is discussed. Moreover, the sign problem caused by the complex phase fluctuations is studied.Comment: 20 page, 6 figure

The pseudo-Goldstone spectrum of 2-colour QCD at finite density

We examine the spectrum of 2-colour lattice QCD with 4 continuum flavours at a finite chemical potential ($\mu$) for quark-number, on a $12^3 \times 24$ lattice. First we present evidence that the system undergoes a transition to a state with a diquark condensate, which spontaneously breaks quark number at $\mu=m_\pi/2$, and that this transition is mean field in nature. We then examine the 3 states that would be Goldstone bosons at $\mu=0$ for zero Dirac and Majorana quark masses. The predictions of chiral effective Lagrangians give a good description of the behaviour of these masses for $\mu < m_\pi/2$. Except for the heaviest of these states, these predictions diverge from our measurements, once $\mu$ is significantly greater than $m_\pi/2$. However, the qualitative behaviour of these masses, indicates that the physics is very similar to that predicted by these effective Lagrangians, and there is some indication that at least part of these discrepancies is due to saturation, a lattice artifact.Comment: 32 pages LaTeX/Revtex, 8 Postscript figure

Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) analysis is an effective tool for the detection of novel intragenic PLA2G6 mutations: Implications for molecular diagnosis

Phospholipase associated neurodegeneration (PLAN) comprises a heterogeneous group of autosomal recessive neurological disorders caused by mutations in the PLA2G6 gene. Direct gene sequencing detects 85% mutations in infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy. We report the novel use of multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) analysis to detect novel PLA2G6 duplications and deletions. The identification of such copy number variants (CNVs) expands the PLAN mutation spectrum and may account for up to 12.5% of PLA2G6 mutations. MLPA should thus be employed to detect CNVs of PLA2G6 in patients who show clinical features of PLAN but in whom both disease-causing mutations cannot be identified on routine sequencin

Rethinking Pedagogy: Exploring the Potential of Digital Technology in Achieving Quality Education

(First Paragraph) The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) is UNESCO’s Category 1 education Institute in the Asia-Pacific region devoted to education for peace and sustainable development, as enshrined in SDG Target 4.7. UNESCO MGIEP promotes the use of digital learning platforms where teachers and students can co-create and share a highly interactive learning experience. With the rise of the internet, there has been a proliferation of online content and digital resources intended to support teaching and learning, albeit widely varying in quality. Digital education media and resources, if carefully designed and implemented, have a significant potential to be mobilized on a massive scale to support transformative learning for building sustainable, flourishing societies