666 research outputs found
The Impact of Sensitive Research on the Researcher: Preparedness and Positionality
There is currently limited research exploring the impact of undertaking sensitive or challenging research on the researcher, although some textbooks explore researcher preparedness. This article presents a discussion of the findings from a research project which engaged with the seldom heard voices of researchers themselves. The aim was to explore researchers’ experiences of undertaking research on sensitive topics, or with marginalized groups, as this can expose researchers to emotionally disturbing situations throughout data collection and analysis, which can be psychologically challenging. Although ethical codes of practice include discussion around protection of both the researcher and the participant, in practice, the ethics approval process rarely considers the impact of the proposed research on the researcher. Their experiences are therefore seldom acknowledged or heard, resulting in potential distress for the researcher. Semistructured interviews were undertaken with social science researchers from a range of discipline backgrounds and at different points in their research careers (n = 10). This article explores two themes emerging from the data: preparedness and positionality. It considers what these themes mean in terms of supporting researchers who encounter challenging research data, and issues related to supporting researcher reflexivity and the requirements for institutional support offered to researchers will also be considered
Revisit relic gravitational waves based on the latest CMB observations
According to the CMB observations, Mielczarek (\cite{Mielczarek}) evaluated
the reheating temperature, which could help to determine the history of the
Universe. In this paper, we recalculate the reheating temperature using the new
data from WMAP 7 observations. Based on that, we list the approximate solutions
of relic gravitational waves (RGWs) for various frequency bands. With the
combination of the quantum normalization of RGWs when they are produced and the
CMB observations, we obtain the relation between the tensor-to-scalar ratio
and the inflation index for a given scalar spectral index . As a
comparison, the diagram in the slow-roll inflation model is also
given. Thus, the observational limits of from CMB lead to the constraints
on the value of . Then, we illustrate the energy density spectrum of
RGWs with the quantum normalization for different values of and the
corresponding . For comparison, the energy density spectra of RGWs with
parameters based on slow-roll inflation are also discussed. We find that the
values of affect the spectra of RGWs sensitively in the very high
frequencies. Based on the current and planed gravitational wave detectors, we
discuss the detectabilities of RGWs.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Class. Quantum Gra
Perfectionism and self-conscious emotions in British and Japanese students: Predicting pride and embarrassment after success and failure
Regarding self-conscious emotions, studies have shown that different forms of perfectionism show different relationships with pride, shame, and embarrassment depending on success and failure. What is unknown is whether these relationships also show cultural variations. Therefore, we conducted a study investigating how self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism predicted pride and embarrassment after success and failure comparing 363 British and 352 Japanese students. Students were asked to respond to a set of scenarios where they imagined achieving either perfect (success) or flawed results (failure). In both British and Japanese students, self-oriented perfectionism positively predicted pride after success and embarrassment after failure whereas socially prescribed perfectionism predicted embarrassment after success and failure. Moreover, in Japanese students, socially prescribed perfectionism positively predicted pride after success and self-oriented perfectionism negatively predicted pride after failure. The findings have implications for our understanding of perfectionism indicating that the perfectionism–pride relationship not only varies between perfectionism dimensions, but may also show cultural variations
Prospects in Constraining the Dark Energy Potential
We generalize to non-flat geometries the formalism of Simon et al. (2005) to
reconstruct the dark energy potential. This formalism makes use of quantities
similar to the Horizon-flow parameters in inflation, can, in principle, be made
non-parametric and is general enough to be applied outside the simple, single
scalar field quintessence. Since presently available and forthcoming data do
not allow a non-parametric and exact reconstruction of the potential, we
consider a general parametric description in term of Chebyshev polynomials. We
then consider present and future measurements of H(z), Baryon Acoustic
Oscillations surveys and Supernovae type 1A surveys, and investigate their
constraints on the dark energy potential. We find that, relaxing the flatness
assumption increases the errors on the reconstructed dark energy evolution but
does not open up significant degeneracies, provided that a modest prior on
geometry is imposed. Direct measurements of H(z), such as those provided by BAO
surveys, are crucially important to constrain the evolution of the dark energy
potential and the dark energy equation of state, especially for non-trivial
deviations from the standard LambdaCDM model.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures. 2 references correcte
Probing for cosmological parameters with LAMOST measurement
In this paper we study the sensitivity of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object
Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) project to the determination of
cosmological parameters, employing the Monte Carlo Markov Chains (MCMC) method.
For comparison, we first analyze the constraints on cosmological parameters
from current observational data, including WMAP, SDSS and SN Ia. We then
simulate the 3D matter power spectrum data expected from LAMOST, together with
the simulated CMB data for PLANCK and the SN Ia from 5-year Supernovae Legacy
Survey (SNLS). With the simulated data, we investigate the future improvement
on cosmological parameter constraints, emphasizing the role of LAMOST. Our
results show the potential of LAMOST in probing for the cosmological
parameters, especially in constraining the equation-of-state (EoS) of the dark
energy and the neutrino mass.Comment: 7 pages and 3 figures. Replaced with version accepted for publication
in JCA
Fine-tuning implications for complementary dark matter and LHC SUSY searches
The requirement that SUSY should solve the hierarchy problem without undue
fine-tuning imposes severe constraints on the new supersymmetric states. With
the MSSM spectrum and soft SUSY breaking originating from universal scalar and
gaugino masses at the Grand Unification scale, we show that the low-fine-tuned
regions fall into two classes that will require complementary collider and dark
matter searches to explore in the near future. The first class has relatively
light gluinos or squarks which should be found by the LHC in its first run. We
identify the multijet plus E_T^miss signal as the optimal channel and determine
the discovery potential in the first run. The second class has heavier gluinos
and squarks but the LSP has a significant Higgsino component and should be seen
by the next generation of direct dark matter detection experiments. The
combined information from the 7 TeV LHC run and the next generation of direct
detection experiments can test almost all of the CMSSM parameter space
consistent with dark matter and EW constraints, corresponding to a fine-tuning
not worse than 1:100. To cover the complete low-fine-tuned region by SUSY
searches at the LHC will require running at the full 14 TeV CM energy; in
addition it may be tested indirectly by Higgs searches covering the mass range
below 120 GeV.Comment: References added. Version accepted for publication in JHE
Probing the IGM/Galaxy Connection IV: The LCO/WFCCD Galaxy Survey of 20 Fields Surrounding UV Bright Quasars
We publish the survey for galaxies in 20 fields containing ultraviolet bright
quasars (with z_em 0.1 to 0.5) that can be used to study the association
between galaxies and absorption systems from the low-z intergalactic medium
(IGM). The survey is magnitude limited (R~19.5 mag) and highly complete out to
10' from the quasar in each field. It was designed to detect dwarf galaxies (L
~ 0.1 L*) at an impact parameter rho 1Mpc (z=0.1) from a quasar. The complete
sample (all 20 fields) includes R-band photometry for 84718 sources and
confirmed redshifts for 2800 sources. This includes 1198 galaxies with 0.005 <
z < (z_em - 0.01) at a median redshift of 0.18, which may associated with IGM
absorption lines. All of the imaging was acquired with cameras on the Swope 40"
telescope and the spectra were obtained via slitmask observations using the
WFCCD spectrograph on the Dupont 100" telescope at Las Campanas Observatory
(LCO). This paper describes the data reduction, imaging analysis, photometry,
and spectral analysis of the survey. We tabulate the principal measurements for
all sources in each field and provide the spectroscopic dataset online.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal Supplements; 20 pages, only 6
figures shown in this version. See
http://www.ucolick.org/~xavier/WFCCDOVI/index.html for a full-length
manuscript and other supportive materia
Primordial Black Holes, Eternal Inflation, and the Inflationary Parameter Space after WMAP5
We consider constraints on inflation driven by a single, minimally coupled
scalar field in the light of the WMAP5 dataset, as well as ACBAR and the
SuperNova Legacy Survey. We use the Slow Roll Reconstruction algorithm to
derive optimal constraints on the inflationary parameter space. The scale
dependence in the slope of the scalar spectrum permitted by WMAP5 is large
enough to lead to viable models where the small scale perturbations have a
substantial amplitude when extrapolated to the end of inflation. We find that
excluding parameter values which would cause the overproduction of primordial
black holes or even the onset of eternal inflation leads to potentially
significant constraints on the slow roll parameters. Finally, we present a more
sophisticated approach to including priors based on the total duration of
inflation, and discuss the resulting restrictions on the inflationary parameter
space.Comment: v2: version published in JCAP. Minor clarifications and references
adde
High Redshift Metals I.: The Decline of C IV at z > 5.3
We present the results from our search for C IV in the intergalactic medium
at redshifts z=5.3-6.0. We have observed four z~6 QSOs with Keck/NIRSPEC in
echelle mode. The data are the most sensitive yet taken to search for C IV at
these redshifts, being 50% complete at column densities log(N_{CIV})=13.4. We
find no C IV systems in any of the four sightlines. Taking into account our
completeness, this translates into a decline in the number density of C IV
absorbers in the range 13.0 < log(N_{CIV}) < 15.0 of at least a factor 4.4 (95%
confidence) from z~2-4.5, where the number density is relatively constant. We
use our lack of detections to set limits on the slope and normalization of the
column density distribution at z=5.3-6.0. The rapid evolution of C IV at these
redshifts suggests that the decrease in the number density may largely be due
to ionization effects, in which case many of the metals in the z~4.5 IGM could
already be in place at z~5.3, but in a lower ionization state. The lack of weak
systems in our data, combined with the presence of strong C IV absorbers along
at least one other sightline, further suggests that there may be large-scale
variations in the enrichment and/or ionization state of the z~6 IGM, or that C
IV absorbers at these redshifts are associated with rare, UV-bright
star-forming galaxies.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Ap
The Little Review on Leptogenesis
This is a brief review on the scenario of baryogenesis through leptogenesis.
Leptogenesis is an appealing scenario that may relate the observed baryon
asymmetry in the Universe to the low-energy neutrino data. In this review talk,
particular emphasis is put on recent developments on the field, such as the
flavourdynamics of leptogenesis and resonant leptogenesis near the electroweak
phase transition. It is illustrated how these recent developments enable the
modelling of phenomenologically predictive scenarios that can directly be
tested at the LHC and indirectly in low-energy experiments of lepton-number and
lepton-flavour violation.Comment: 15 pages, based on a plenary presentation given at the DISCRETE'08
Symposium, 11-16 December 2008, Valencia, Spai
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