Through a glass darkly: a case for the study of virtual space

This paper begins to examine the similarities and differences between virtual space and real space, as taken from anarchitectural (as opposed to a biological, psychological, geographic, philosophical or information theoretic)standpoint. It continues by introducing a number of criteria, suggested by the authors as being necessary for virtualspace to be used in a manner consistent with our experience of real space. Finally, it concludes by suggesting apedagogical framework for the benefits and associated learning outcomes of the study and examination of thisrelationship. This is accompanied by examples of recent student work, which set out to investigate this relationship

The Effect of Hot Gas in WMAP's First Year Data

By cross-correlating templates constructed from the 2 Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) Extended Source (XSC) catalogue with WMAP's first year data, we search for the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich signature induced by hot gas in the local Universe. Assuming that galaxies trace the distribution of hot gas, we select regions on the sky with the largest projected density of galaxies. Under conservative assumptions on the amplitude of foreground residuals, we find a temperature decrement of -35 $\pm$ 7 $\mu$K ($\sim 5\sigma$ detection level, the highest reported so far) in the $\sim$ 26 square degrees of the sky containing the largest number of galaxies per solid angle. We show that most of the reported signal is caused by known galaxy clusters which, when convolved with the average beam of the WMAP W band channel, subtend a typical angular size of 20--30 arcmins. Finally, after removing from our analyses all pixels associated with known optical and X-ray galaxy clusters, we still find a tSZ decrement of -96 $\pm$ 37 $\mu$K in pixels subtending about $\sim$ 0.8 square degrees on the sky. Most of this signal is coming from five different cluster candidates in the Zone of Avoidance (ZoA), present in the Clusters In the ZoA (CIZA) catalogue. We found no evidence that structures less bound than clusters contribute to the tSZ signal present in the WMAP data.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, matches accepted version in ApJ Letter

Indigenous Participation in Australian Sport: The Perils of the 'Panacea' Proposition

The argument that participation in sport among disadvantaged populations can produce positive outcomes in wide range of areas has been a consistent theme in academic literature. It is argued that sport participation can promote women’s empowerment, sexuality, lifestyle, peacemaking, youth development, poverty reduction and conflict resolution. Similarly, in Australia, participation in sport among Indigenous Australians has been proffered as a ‘panacea’ for many Indigenous problems; from promoting better health and education outcomes, to encouraging community building, good citizenship and entrepreneurship. Parallel to this has been a focus on documenting and analysing sport participation among Indigenous Australians in elite sport which often concludes that Indigenous Australians have an innate and ‘natural ability’ in sports. These two assumptions, first, that sport participation can help realise a wide range of positive social outcomes; and second, that Indigenous Australians are natural athletes, have driven significant public investment in numerous sport focused programs. This paper questions these assumptions and outlines some of the challenges inherent with an emphasis on sport as a solution to Indigenous disadvantage. We highlight how participation in sport has often been tied to ambitious, ill-defined and, in terms of evaluation, often elusive social outcome goals. Second, we also argue that there is limited research to indicate that participation in either elite or grassroots level sport has led to any discernible social progress in addressing inequality. We contrast historical Indigenous participation in a range of sporting codes to demonstrate the influence of factors beyond the ‘natural ability’ and ‘born to play’ propositions. Finally, we outline six ‘perils’ associated with viewing sport as a panacea; including how privileging sport can not only perpetuate disadvantage by reinforcing stereotypes and also contribute to a diversion of attention and resources away from other approaches that have been proven to have a greater positive social impact

Implications of government funding of advocacy for third-sector independence and exploration of alternative advocacy funding models

This paper examines the effect of funding contracts on the capacity of third-sector organizations to effectively advocate. The relationship is not simple or obvious, with some organizations reporting 'mature relationships' with particular (state) departments, and others reporting difficulty with state or federal government jurisdictions. The paper spells out the negative effects of conflating service funding and advocacy. The paper concludes by exploring alternative institutional arrangements for the resourcing of advocacy including the establishment of a Public Interest Fund administered independently of any government department, one not requiring specific service contracts but rather evidence that it is advocating for the broader public good

Single-shot optical conductivity measurement of dense aluminum plasmas

The optical conductivity of a dense femtosecond laser-heated aluminum plasma heated to 0.1-1.5 eV was measured using frequency-domain interferometry with chirped pulses, permitting simultaneous observation of optical probe reflectivity and probe pulse phase shift. Coupled with published models of bound-electron contributions to the conductivity, these two independent experimental data yielded a direct measurement of both real and imaginary components of the plasma conductivity.DOE National Nuclear Security Administration DE-FC52-03NA00156Physic

Paper Session II-B - Life Sciences Shuttle Flights- 15 Years

Fifteen years ago, the first Life Sciences Announcement of Opportunity offered the promises of man-tended microgravity flights. For the experiments involving nonhuman elements, i.e., plants, animals, tissues and cells, the Shuttle Transportation System (STS) flights posed both challenges and rewards. The transition from the 1-G laboratory bench to O-G environment has resulted in new information with each succeeding flight. These rewards are measured both in better understanding in methods and materials to conduct research within the microgravity milieu and interpretation of the data obtained. The engineering systems developed, operational knowledge gained over the past 15 years, and data base of experimental results being developed, can only enhance, support, and stimulate the scientific community\u27s sights toward NASA\u27s next direction - Space Station Freedom

Environmental Dependence of the Fundamental Plane of Galaxy Clusters

Galaxy clusters approximate a planar (FP) distribution in a three-dimensional parameter space which can be characterized by optical luminosity, half-light radius, and X-ray luminosity. Using a high-quality catalog of cluster redshifts, we find the nearest neighbor cluster for those common to an FP study and the cluster catalog. Examining scatter about the FP, we find 99.2% confidence that it is dependent on nearest neighbor distance. Our study of X-Ray clusters finds that those with high central gas densities are systematically closer to neighbor clusters. If we combine results here with those of Fritsch and Buchert, we find an explanation for some of our previous conclusions: Clusters in close proximity to other clusters are more likely to have massive cooling flows because they are more relaxed and have higher central gas densities.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters. Moderate revisions, including more statistical analysis and discussion. Latex, 7 page

Decoherence Rates in Large Scale Quantum Computers and Macroscopic Systems

Markovian regime decoherence effects in quantum computers are studied in terms of the fidelity for the situation where the number of qubits N becomes large. A general expression giving the decoherence time scale in terms of Markovian relaxation elements and expectation values of products of system fluctuation operators is obtained, which could also be applied to study decoherence in other macroscopic systems such as Bose condensates and superconductors. A standard circuit model quantum computer involving three-state lambda system ionic qubits is considered, with qubits localised around well-separated positions via trapping potentials. The centre of mass vibrations of the qubits act as a reservoir. Coherent one and two qubit gating processes are controlled by time dependent localised classical electromagnetic fields that address specific qubits, the two qubit gating processes being facilitated by a cavity mode ancilla, which permits state interchange between qubits. With a suitable choice of parameters, it is found that the decoherence time can be made essentially independent of N.Comment: Minor revisions. To be published in J Mod Opt. One figur