Documentary criminology: Girl Model as a case study

Visual and cultural criminology are integrated with documentary filmmaking to develop a theoretically grounded, practice-based approach called ‘documentary criminology’. The first section establishes the need for documentary filmmaking in criminology and outlines methodological opportunities. The second section examines theoretically the aesthetics and substance of documentary criminology. The third section takes the film Girl Model (Redmon and Sabin, 2011) as a case study to demonstrate how documentary criminology embedded in lived experience (in this case, the experience of scouts that recruit young Russian girls, purportedly for the modelling industry) can depict sensuous immediacy. The final section contrasts the aesthetic and ethical consequences of documentary criminology within Carrabine’s (2012, 2014) concept of ‘just’ images to a documentary filmmaking approach that remains interpretively open-ended. Readers can access Girl Model at https://vimeo.com/29694894 with the password industry

Variation of the Fine-Structure Constant and Laser Cooling of Atomic Dysprosium

Radio-frequency electric-dipole transitions between nearly degenerate, opposite parity levels of atomic dysprosium (Dy) were monitored over an eight-month period to search for a variation in the fine-structure constant, $\alpha$. The data provide a rate of fractional temporal variation of $\alpha$ of $(-2.4\pm2.3)\times10^{-15}$ yr$^{-1}$ or a value of $(-7.8 \pm 5.9) \times 10^{-6}$ for $k_\alpha$, the variation coefficient for $\alpha$ in a changing gravitational potential. All results indicate the absence of significant variation at the present level of sensitivity. We also present initial results on laser cooling of an atomic beam of dysprosium.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, fixed typos in section 5, updated result

Investigation of the Gravitational Potential Dependence of the Fine-Structure Constant Using Atomic Dysprosium

Radio-frequency E1 transitions between nearly degenerate, opposite parity levels of atomic dysprosium were monitored over an eight month period to search for a variation in the fine-structure constant. During this time period, data were taken at different points in the gravitational potential of the Sun. The data are fitted to the variation in the gravitational potential yielding a value of $(-8.7 \pm 6.6) \times 10^{-6}$ for the fit parameter $k_\alpha$. This value gives the current best laboratory limit. In addition, our value of $k_{\alpha}$ combined with other experimental constraints is used to extract the first limits on k_e and k_q. These coefficients characterize the variation of m_e/m_p and m_q/m_p in a changing gravitational potential, where m_e, m_p, and m_q are electron, proton, and quark masses. The results are $k_e = (4.9 \pm 3.9) \times 10^{-5}$ and $k_q = (6.6 \pm 5.2) \times 10^{-5}$.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Josephson effect between superconducting nanograins with discrete energy levels

We investigate the Josephson effect between two coupled superconductors, coupled by the tunneling of pairs of electrons, in the regime that their energy level spacing is comparable to the bulk superconducting gap, but neglecting any charging effects. In this regime, BCS theory is not valid, and the notion of a superconducting order parameter with a well-defined phase is inapplicable. Using the density matrix renormalization group, we calculate the ground state of the two coupled superconductors and extract the Josephson energy. The Josephson energy is found to display a reentrant behavior (decrease followed by increase) as a function of increasing level spacing. For weak Josephson coupling, a tight-binding approximation is introduced, which illustrates the physical mechanism underlying this reentrance in a transparent way. The DMRG method is also applied to two strongly coupled superconductors and allows a detailed examination of the limits of validity of the tight-binding model

Frequency Dependent Viscosity Near the Critical Point: The Scale to Two Loop Order

The recent accurate measurements of Berg, Moldover and Zimmerli of the viscoelastic effect near the critical point of xenon has shown that the scale factor involved in the frequency scaling is about twice the scale factor obtained theoretically. We show that this discrepancy is a consequence of using first order perturbation theory. Including two loop contribution goes a long way towards removing the discrepancy.Comment: No of pages:7,Submitted to PR-E(Rapid Communication),No of EPS files:

Quantization of maximally-charged slowly-moving black holes

We discuss the quantization of a system of slowly-moving extreme Reissner-Nordstrom black holes. In the near-horizon limit, this system has been shown to possess an SL(2,R) conformal symmetry. However, the Hamiltonian appears to have no well-defined ground state. This problem can be circumvented by a redefinition of the Hamiltonian due to de Alfaro, Fubini and Furlan (DFF). We apply the Faddeev-Popov quantization procedure to show that the Hamiltonian with no ground state corresponds to a gauge in which there is an obstruction at the singularities of moduli space requiring a modification of the quantization rules. The redefinition of the Hamiltonian a la DFF corresponds to a different choice of gauge. The latter is a good gauge leading to standard quantization rules. Thus, the DFF trick is a consequence of a standard gauge-fixing procedure in the case of black hole scattering.Comment: Corrected errors in the gauge-fixing procedur

Prediction of genetic values for feed intake from individual body weight gain and total feed intake of the pen

Records of individual feed intake (FI) and BW gain (GN) were obtained from the Germ Plasm Evaluation (GPE) program at US Meat Animal Research Center (USU.S. Meat Animal Research Center). Animals were randomly assigned to pens. Only pens with 6 to 9 steers (n = 289) were used for this study (data set 1). Variance components and genetic parameters were estimated using data set 1. Estimated genetic values (EGV) for FI were calculated by 5 methods using single and 2-trait analyses: 1) individual FI and individual GN, 2) individual FI alone, 3) 2-trait with individual GN but with FI missing, 4) individual GN and pen total FI, and 5) pen total FI alone. Analyses were repeated but with some of the same records assigned artificially to 36 pens of 5 and 4 paternal half sibs per pen (data sets 2 and 3). Models included year as a fixed factor and birth and weaning weights, age on test, and days fed as covariates. Estimates of heritability were 0.42 ± 0.16 and 0.34 ± 0.17 for FI and GN. The estimate of the genetic correlation was 0.57 ± 0.23. Empirical responses to selection were calculated as the average EGV for the top and bottom 10% based on rank for each method but with EGV from method 1 substituted for the EGV on which ranking was based. With data set 1, rank correlations between EGV from method 1 and EGV from methods 2, 3, 4, and 5 were 0.99, 0.53, 0.32, and 0.15, respectively. Empirical responses relative to method 1 agreed with the rank correlations. Accuracy of EGV for method 4 (0.44) was greater than for method 3 (0.35) and for method 5 (0.29). Accuracies for methods 4 and 5 were greater than indicated by empirical responses and correlations with EGV from method 1. Comparisons of the 5 methods were similar for data sets 2 and 3. With data set 2, rank correlations between EGV from method 1 and EGV from methods 3, 4, and 5 were 0.47, 0.64, and 0.62. Average accuracies of 56, 75, and 75% relative to method 1 (0.67) generally agreed with the empirical responses to selection. As expected, accuracy using pen total FI and GN to obtain EGV for FI was greater than using GN alone. With data set 1, empirical response to selection with method 4 was one-third of that for method 1, although average accuracy was 65% of that for method 1. With assignment of 5 paternal half sibs to artificial pens, using pen total FI and individual GN was about 81% as effective for selection as using individual FI and GN to obtain EGV for FI and was substantially more effective than use of GN alone

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy of Plasmid DNA

We present scanning tunneling microscope (STM) images of uncoated deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) electrochemically mounted on highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) and imaged in air. Images of linear abnormalities inherent to HOPG surfaces that can be confused with DNA are also presented. Scanning tunneling spectroscopic (STS) images generated by superimposing a small, high frequency ac bias onto the de tunnel bias and recording the ac current signal were taken simultaneously with the topographic images. These spectroscopic images reveal contrast due to local conductivity variations and can be used to differentiate DNA molecules from graphite artifacts

Scaling of the superfluid density in high-temperature superconductors

A scaling relation \rho_s \simeq 35\sigma_{dc}T_c has been observed in the copper-oxide superconductors, where \rho_s is the strength of the superconducting condensate, T_c is the critical temperature, and \sigma_{dc} is the normal-state dc conductivity close to T_c. This scaling relation is examined within the context of a clean and dirty-limit BCS superconductor. These limits are well established for an isotropic BCS gap 2\Delta and a normal-state scattering rate 1/\tau; in the clean limit 1/\tau \ll 2\Delta, and in the dirty limit 1/\tau > 2\Delta. The dirty limit may also be defined operationally as the regime where \rho_s varies with 1/\tau. It is shown that the scaling relation \rho_s \propto \sigma_{dc}T_c is the hallmark of a BCS system in the dirty-limit. While the gap in the copper-oxide superconductors is considered to be d-wave with nodes and a gap maximum \Delta_0, if 1/\tau > 2\Delta_0 then the dirty-limit case is preserved. The scaling relation implies that the copper-oxide superconductors are likely to be in the dirty limit, and that as a result the energy scale associated with the formation of the condensate is scaling linearly with T_c. The a-b planes and the c axis also follow the same scaling relation. It is observed that the scaling behavior for the dirty limit and the Josephson effect (assuming a BCS formalism) are essentially identical, suggesting that in some regime these two effects may be viewed as equivalent. This raises the possibility that electronic inhomogeneities in the copper-oxygen planes may play an important role in the nature of the superconductivity in the copper-oxide materials.Comment: 8 pages with 5 figures and 1 tabl

The Oil and Gas Boom: Basic Information About Oil and Gas Activities for Extension Professionals

This article provides basic information for Extension professionals about oil and gas exploration and extraction. Information about hydraulic fracturing, land application of drilling mud, potential community outcomes, and Extension education opportunities are discussed. Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS), Community and Rural Development, and Agriculture Extension state and field staff can use this basic information to help plan successful programming. The issues associated with oil and gas activity have potential impacts on audiences of Extension education. A companion article frames these topics as a public issue for Extension