1,097 research outputs found
Dissecting the Discourse of Social Licence to Operate
The term “social licence to operate”, or SLO, has increasingly featured in public discussion about commercial operations in the marine environment. As part of the Sustainable Seas National Challenge, we are studying how this term is being used in New Zealand and its implications for industry-community relations
Discrete Spacetime and Relativistic Quantum Particles
We study a single quantum particle in discrete spacetime evolving in a causal
way. We see that in the continuum limit any massless particle with a two
dimensional internal degree of freedom obeys the Weyl equation, provided that
we perform a simple relabeling of the coordinate axes or demand rotational
symmetry in the continuum limit. It is surprising that this occurs regardless
of the specific details of the evolution: it would be natural to assume that
discrete evolutions giving rise to relativistic dynamics in the continuum limit
would be very special cases. We also see that the same is not true for
particles with larger internal degrees of freedom, by looking at an example
with a three dimensional internal degree of freedom that is not relativistic in
the continuum limit. In the process we give a formula for the Hamiltonian
arising from the continuum limit of massless and massive particles in discrete
spacetime.Comment: 6 page
Causal Fermions in Discrete Spacetime
In this paper, we consider fermionic systems in discrete spacetime evolving
with a strict notion of causality, meaning they evolve unitarily and with a
bounded propagation speed. First, we show that the evolution of these systems
has a natural decomposition into a product of local unitaries, which also holds
if we include bosons. Next, we show that causal evolution of fermions in
discrete spacetime can also be viewed as the causal evolution of a lattice of
qubits, meaning these systems can be viewed as quantum cellular automata.
Following this, we discuss some examples of causal fermionic models in discrete
spacetime that become interesting physical systems in the continuum limit:
Dirac fermions in one and three spatial dimensions, Dirac fields and briefly
the Thirring model. Finally, we show that the dynamics of causal fermions in
discrete spacetime can be efficiently simulated on a quantum computer.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figur
Proxy and self-report agreement on the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale-39
Background and purpose: Health related quality of life outcomes are increasingly used to measure the effectiveness of stroke interventions. People with severe aphasia after stroke may be unable to self-report on such measures, necessitating the use of proxy respondents. We explored the level of agreement between people with aphasia (PWA) and their proxies on the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale (SAQOL-39) and whether this agreement is influenced by demographic variables and proxy levels of depression and carer strain.
Methods: People with chronic aphasia (≥6 months post stroke) were recruited through the UK national charity for PWA. They were interviewed on the SAQOL-39 and their nominated proxies were interviewed on the SAQOL-39, the General Health Questionnaire and the Caregiver Strain Index. Proxy respondents had to be ≥18 years of age, see the person with aphasia at least twice a week and have no known severe mental health problems or cognitive decline.
Results: 50 of 55 eligible pairs (91%) took part in the study. Proxies rated PWA as more severely affected than PWA rated themselves. The SDs of the difference scores were large and the difference was significant for three of the four SAQOL-39 domains and the overall mean (p≤0.01). However, the bias as indicated by effect sizes was small to moderate (0.2–0.5). The strength of the agreement was excellent for the overall SAQOL-39 and the physical domain (intra-class correlation coefficient ICC 0.8), good for the psychosocial and communication domains (0.7) and fair for the energy domain (0.5). Demographic variables and proxy’s mood and carer strain did not affect the level of agreement.
Conclusions: For group comparisons, proxy respondents who are in frequent contact with people with chronic aphasia can reliably report on their health related quality of life, using the SAQOL-39. Although there are significant differences between PWA and proxy responses, the magnitude of this difference is small to moderate
Maltreated children in the Looked After System: a comparison of outcomes for those who go home and those who do not
This project focuses on the consequences of decisions to reunify children who had entered the looked-after system for abuse or neglect. It compares the progress and outcomes of a sample of maltreated children who either went home or remained in the looked-after system
The Impact of Tobacco Control Program Expenditures on Aggregate Cigarette Sales: 1981-1998
Since the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between states and the tobacco industry, states have unprecedented resources for programs to reduce tobacco use. Decisions concerning the use of these funds will, in part, be based on the experiences of states with existing programs. We review the experiences of several states that have adopted comprehensive tobacco control programs. We also report estimates from econometric analyses of the impact of tobacco control expenditures on aggregate tobacco use in all states and in selected states with comprehensive programs for the period from 1981 through 1998. Our analyses clearly show that increases in funding for state tobacco control programs reduce tobacco use.
Quantum equilibration in finite time
It has recently been shown that small quantum subsystems generically
equilibrate, in the sense that they spend most of the time close to a fixed
equilibrium state. This relies on just two assumptions: that the state is
spread over many different energies, and that the Hamiltonian has
non-degenerate energy gaps. Given the same assumptions, it has also been shown
that closed systems equilibrate with respect to realistic measurements. We
extend these results in two important ways. First, we prove equilibration over
a finite (rather than infinite) time-interval, allowing us to bound the
equilibration time. Second, we weaken the non degenerate energy gaps condition,
showing that equilibration occurs provided that no energy gap is hugely
degenerate.Comment: 7 page
Establishing Social Work Practices in England: The Early Evidence
Social Work Practices (SWPs) were established in England in 2009 to deliver social work services to looked after children and care leavers. The introduction of independent social work-led organisations generated controversy focused on issues such as the privatisation of children's services and social workers' conditions of employment. This paper reports early findings from the evaluation of four of these pilots, drawing on interviews with children and young people, staff, and local authority and national stakeholders. The SWPs assumed a variety of organisational forms. The procurement process was demanding, with protracted negotiations over matters such as budgetary control and providing a round-the-clock service. Start-up was facilitated by an established relationship between the SWP provider and the local authority. Once operational, SWPs continued to rely on local authorities for various functions; in most cases, local authorities retained control of placement budgets. Levels of consultation and choice offered to children and young people regarding the move to an SWP varied considerably. Children's understanding about SWPs was generally low except in the pilot where most children retained their original social worker. These early findings show some dilution of the original SWP model, while the pilots' diversity allows the benefits of particular models to emerge
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