18,001 research outputs found
Performance assessment and league tables. Comparing like with like
We formulate performance assessment as a problem of causal analysis and outline an approach based on the missing data principle for its solution. It is particularly relevant in the context of so-called league tables for educational, health-care and other public-service institutions. The proposed solution avoids comparisons of institutions that have substantially different clientele (intake).Caliper matching, causal analysis, multiple imputation, non-ignorable assignment, performance indicators, potential outcomes
Estimating the Effect of Unearned Income on Labor Supply, Earnings, Savings and Consumption: Evidence from a Survey of Lottery Players
Estimating the effect of unearned income on labor supply, earnings, savings and consumption: Evidence from a survey of lottery players
income;labour supply;savings;consumption
Spatial Degrees of Freedom in Everett Quantum Mechanics
Stapp claims that, when spatial degrees of freedom are taken into account,
Everett quantum mechanics is ambiguous due to a "core basis problem." To
examine an aspect of this claim I generalize the ideal measurement model to
include translational degrees of freedom for both the measured system and the
measuring apparatus. Analysis of this generalized model using the Everett
interpretation in the Heisenberg picture shows that it makes unambiguous
predictions for the possible results of measurements and their respective
probabilities. The presence of translational degrees of freedom for the
measuring apparatus affects the probabilities of measurement outcomes in the
same way that a mixed state for the measured system would. Examination of a
measurement scenario involving several observers illustrates the consistency of
the model with perceived spatial localization of the measuring apparatus.Comment: 34 pp., no figs. Introduction, discussion revised. Material
tangential to main point remove
Evidence for Cosmic Acceleration is Robust to Observed Correlations Between Type Ia Supernova Luminosity and Stellar Age
Type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) are powerful standardizable candles for
constraining cosmological models and provided the first evidence of the
accelerated expansion of the universe. Their precision derives from empirical
correlations, now measured from SNe Ia, between their luminosities,
light-curve shapes, colors and most recently with the stellar mass of their
host galaxy. As mass correlates with other galaxy properties, alternative
parameters have been investigated to improve SN Ia standardization though none
have been shown to significantly alter the determination of cosmological
parameters. We re-examine a recent claim, based on 34 SN Ia in nearby passive
host galaxies, of a 0.05 mag/Gyr dependence of standardized SN Ia luminosity on
host age which if extrapolated to higher redshifts, would be a bias up to 0.25
mag, challenging the inference of dark energy. We reanalyze this sample of
hosts using both the original method and a Bayesian hierarchical model and find
after a fuller accounting of the uncertainties the significance of a dependence
on age to be and after the removal of a single
poorly-sampled SN Ia. To test the claim that a trend seen in old stellar
populations can be applied to younger ages, we extend our analysis to a larger
sample which includes young hosts. We find the residual dependence of host age
(after all standardization typically employed for cosmological measurements) to
be consistent with zero for 254 SNe Ia from the Pantheon sample, ruling out the
large but low significance trend seen in passive hosts.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ
Measurement and Compensation of Horizontal Crabbing at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring Test Accelerator
In storage rings, horizontal dispersion in the rf cavities introduces
horizontal-longitudinal (xz) coupling, contributing to beam tilt in the xz
plane. This coupling can be characterized by a "crabbing" dispersion term
{\zeta}a that appears in the normal mode decomposition of the 1-turn transfer
matrix. {\zeta}a is proportional to the rf cavity voltage and the horizontal
dispersion in the cavity. We report experiments at the Cornell Electron Storage
Ring Test Accelerator (CesrTA) where xz coupling was explored using three
lattices with distinct crabbing properties. We characterize the xz coupling for
each case by measuring the horizontal projection of the beam with a beam size
monitor. The three lattice configurations correspond to a) 16 mrad xz tilt at
the beam size monitor source point, b) compensation of the {\zeta}a introduced
by one of two pairs of RF cavities with the second, and c) zero dispersion in
RF cavities, eliminating {\zeta}a entirely. Additionally, intrabeam scattering
(IBS) is evident in our measurements of beam size vs. rf voltage.Comment: 5 figures, 10 page
Holes in the walls: primordial black holes as a solution to the cosmological domain wall problem
We propose a scenario in which the cosmological domain wall and monopole
problems are solved without any fine tuning of the initial conditions or
parameters in the Lagrangian of an underlying filed theory. In this scenario
domain walls sweep out (unwind) the monopoles from the early universe, then the
fast primordial black holes perforate the domain walls, change their topology
and destroy them. We find further that the (old vacuum) energy density released
from the domain walls could alleviate but not solve the cosmological flatness
problem.Comment: References added; Published in Phys. Rev.
Open Questions in Classical Gravity
We discuss some outstanding open questions regarding the validity and
uniqueness of the standard second order Newton-Einstein classical gravitational
theory. On the observational side we discuss the degree to which the realm of
validity of Newton's Law of Gravity can actually be extended to distances much
larger than the solar system distance scales on which the law was originally
established. On the theoretical side we identify some commonly accepted but
actually still open to question assumptions which go into the formulating of
the standard second order Einstein theory in the first place. In particular, we
show that while the familiar second order Poisson gravitational equation (and
accordingly its second order covariant Einstein generalization) may be
sufficient to yield Newton's Law of Gravity they are not in fact necessary. The
standard theory thus still awaits the identification of some principle which
would then make it necessary too. We show that current observational
information does not exclusively mandate the standard theory, and that the
conformal invariant fourth order theory of gravity considered recently by
Mannheim and Kazanas is also able to meet the constraints of data, and in fact
to do so without the need for any so far unobserved non-luminous or dark
matter.Comment: UCONN-93-1, plain TeX format, 22 pages (plus 7 figures - send
requests to [email protected]). To appear in a special issue of
Foundations of Physics honoring Professor Fritz Rohrlich on the occasion of
his retirement, L. P. Horwitz and A. van der Merwe Editors, Plenum Publishing
Company, N.Y., Fall 199
Evolution of Primordial Black Hole Mass Spectrum in Brans-Dicke Theory
We investigate the evolution of primordial black hole mass spectrum by
including both accretion of radiation and Hawking evaporation within
Brans-Dicke cosmology in radiation, matter and vacuum-dominated eras. We also
consider the effect of evaporation of primordial black holes on the expansion
dynamics of the universe. The analytic solutions describing the energy density
of the black holes in equilibrium with radiation are presented. We demonstrate
that these solutions act as attractors for the system ensuring stability for
both linear and nonlinear situations. We show, however, that inclusion of
accretion of radiation delays the onset of this equilibrium in all radiation,
matter and vacuum-dominated eras.Comment: 18 pages, one figur
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