Identifying sources of error in cross-national questionnaires: Application of an error source typology to cognitive interview data

This article evaluates a Cross National Error Source Typology that was developed as a tool for making cross-national questionnaire design more effective. Cross-national questionnaire design has a number of potential error sources that are either not present or are less common in single nation studies. Tools that help to identify these error sources better inform the survey researcher when improving a source questionnaire that serves as the basis for translation. This article outlines the theoretical and practical development of the typology and evaluates an attempt to apply it to cross-national cognitive interviewing findings from the European Social Survey

The BFKL Equation at Next-to-Leading Order and Beyond

On the basis of a renormalization group analysis of the kernel and of the solutions of the BFKL equation with subleading corrections, we propose and calculate a novel expansion of a properly defined effective eigenvalue function. We argue that in this formulation the collinear properties of the kernel are taken into account to all orders, and that the ensuing next-to-leading truncation provides a much more stable estimate of hard Pomeron and of resummed anomalous dimensions.Comment: LaTex, 12 pages, 1 eps figur

Realizing Health Reform's Potential: Women and the Affordable Care Act of 2010

Outlines the 2010 healthcare reform provisions that will benefit women, including subsidized and improved coverage and bans on lifetime caps, rescissions, and rating on gender. Analyzes how each will address women's growing exposure to healthcare costs

The X(3872) boson: Molecule or charmonium

It has been argued that the mystery boson X(3872) is a molecule state consisting of primarily D0-D0*bar + D0bar-D*0. In contrast, apparent puzzles and potential difficulties have been pointed out for the charmonium assignment of X(3872). We examine several aspects of these alternatives by semiquantitative methods since quantitatively accurate results are often hard to reach on them. We find that some of the observed properties of X(3872), in particualr, the binding and the production rates are incompatible with the molecule interpretation. Despite puzzles and obstacles, X(3872) may fit more likely to the excited triplet P_1 charmonium than to the molecule after mixing of cc-bar with DD*-bar +Dbar-D* is taken into account. One simple experimental test is pointed out for distinguishing between a charmonium and an isospin-mixed molecule in the neutral B decay.Comment: A few sentences of comment are added. One minor rewording in the Introduction. Two trivial typos are correcte

Influence of convective transport on tropospheric ozone and its precursors in a chemistry-climate model

The impact of convection on tropospheric O₃ and its precursors has been examined in a coupled chemistry-climate model. There are two ways that convection affects O₃. First, convection affects O₃ by vertical mixing of O₃ itself. Convection lifts lower tropospheric air to regions where the O₃ lifetime is longer, whilst mass-balance subsidence mixes O₃-rich upper tropospheric (UT) air downwards to regions where the O₃ lifetime is shorter. This tends to decrease UT O₃ and the overall tropospheric column of O₃. Secondly, convection affects O₃ by vertical mixing of O₃ precursors. This affects O₃ chemical production and destruction. Convection transports isoprene and its degradation products to the UT where they interact with lightning NO_x to produce PAN, at the expense of NO_x. In our model, we find that convection reduces UT NO_x through this mechanism; convective down-mixing also flattens our imposed profile of lightning emissions, further reducing UT NO_x. Over tropical land, which has large lightning NO_x emissions in the UT, we find convective lofting of NO_x from surface sources appears relatively unimportant. Despite UT NO_x decreases, UT O₃ production increases as a result of UT HO_x increases driven by isoprene oxidation chemistry. However, UT O₃ tends to decrease, as the effect of convective overturning of O₃ itself dominates over changes in O₃ chemistry. Convective transport also reduces UT O₃ in the mid-latitudes resulting in a 13% decrease in the global tropospheric O₃ burden. These results contrast with an earlier study that uses a model of similar chemical complexity. Differences in convection schemes as well as chemistry schemes – in particular isoprene-driven changes are the most likely causes of such discrepancies. Further modelling studies are needed to constrain this uncertainty range

Single spin asymmetries in DIS

We consider possible mechanisms for single spin asymmetries in inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) processes with unpolarized leptons and transversely polarized nucleons. Tests for the effects of non-zero \bfk_\perp, for the properties of spin dependent quark fragmentations and for quark helicity conservation are suggested.Comment: 5 pages, LaTeX, no figures. Revised version, to be published in Phys. Rev. D. Some equations and statements added to clarify text and notation

Scanning tunneling microscopy of lnAs/GaSb superlattices: Subbands, interface roughness, and interface asymmetry

Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy is used to characterize InAs/GaSb superlattices, grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. Roughness at the interfaces between InAs and GaSb layers is directly observed in the images, and a quantitative spectrum of this roughness is obtained. Electron subbands in the InAs layers are resolved in spectroscopy. Asymmetry between the interfaces of InAs grown on GaSb compared with GaSb grown on In As is seen in voltage-dependent imaging. Detailed spectroscopic study of the interfaces reveals some subtle differences between the two in terms of their valence-band onsets and conduction-band state density. These differences are interpreted in a model in which the GaSb on InAs interface has an abrupt InSb-like structure, but at the InAs on GaSb interface some Sb grading occurs into the InAs overlayer