A Dependence of Hadron Production in Inelastic Muon Scattering and Dimuon Production by Protons

The A dependence of the production of hadrons in inelastic muon scattering and of the production of dimuons in high $Q^2$ proton interactions are simply related. Feynman x distributions and z scaling distributions in nuclei are compared with energy loss models. Suggestions for new data analyses are presented.Comment: 14pp +13 figures, UPR report 607T (available from ftp://dept.physics.upenn.edu/muhad

Positioning adolescents in literacy teaching and learning

Secondary literacy instruction often happens to adolescents rather than with them. To disrupt this trend, we collaborated with 12th-grade “literacy mentors” to reimagine literacy teaching and learning with 10th-grade mentees in a public high school classroom. We used positioning theory as an analytic tool to (a) understand how mentors positioned themselves and how we positioned them and (b) examine the literacy practices that enabled and constrained the mentor position. We found that our positioning of mentors as collaborators was taken up in different and sometimes unexpected ways as a result of the multiple positions available to them and institutional-level factors that shaped what literacy practices were and were not negotiable. We argue that future collaborations with youth must account for the rights and duties of all members of a classroom community, including how those rights and duties intersect, merge, or come into conflict within and across practices.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by a Faculty Research Award from the School of Education at Boston University. (Faculty Research Award from the School of Education at Boston University)Accepted manuscrip

Providing Feedback Following Leadership Walkrounds is Associated with Better Patient Safety Culture, Higher Employee Engagement and Lower Burnout

Background There is a poorly understood relationship between Leadership WalkRounds (WR) and domains such as safety culture, employee engagement, burnout and work-life balance. Methods This cross-sectional survey study evaluated associations between receiving feedback about actions taken as a result of WR and healthcare worker assessments of patient safety culture, employee engagement, burnout and work-life balance, across 829 work settings. Results 16 797 of 23 853 administered surveys were returned (70.4%). 5497 (32.7% of total) reported that they had participated in WR, and 4074 (24.3%) reported that they participated in WR with feedback. Work settings reporting more WR with feedback had substantially higher safety culture domain scores (first vs fourth quartile Cohen’s d range: 0.34–0.84; % increase range: 15–27) and significantly higher engagement scores for four of its six domains (first vs fourth quartile Cohen’s d range: 0.02–0.76; % increase range: 0.48–0.70). Conclusion This WR study of patient safety and organisational outcomes tested relationships with a comprehensive set of safety culture and engagement metrics in the largest sample of hospitals and respondents to date. Beyond measuring simply whether WRs occur, we examine WR with feedback, as WR being done well. We suggest that when WRs are conducted, acted on, and the results are fed back to those involved, the work setting is a better place to deliver and receive care as assessed across a broad range of metrics, including teamwork, safety, leadership, growth opportunities, participation in decision-making and the emotional exhaustion component of burnout. Whether WR with feedback is a manifestation of better norms, or a cause of these norms, is unknown, but the link is demonstrably potent

The challenge of remanufactured products: the role of returns policy and channel structure to reduce consumers' perceived risk

While remanufactured products represent an increasingly researched phenomenon in the literature, not much is known about consumers' understanding and acceptance of such products. This study explores this issue in the context of the theory of perceived risk (TPR), investigating return policy leniency and distribution channel choice as potential factors to foster remanufactured products' sales

Eigenvalue Separation in Some Random Matrix Models

The eigenvalue density for members of the Gaussian orthogonal and unitary ensembles follows the Wigner semi-circle law. If the Gaussian entries are all shifted by a constant amount c/Sqrt(2N), where N is the size of the matrix, in the large N limit a single eigenvalue will separate from the support of the Wigner semi-circle provided c > 1. In this study, using an asymptotic analysis of the secular equation for the eigenvalue condition, we compare this effect to analogous effects occurring in general variance Wishart matrices and matrices from the shifted mean chiral ensemble. We undertake an analogous comparative study of eigenvalue separation properties when the size of the matrices are fixed and c goes to infinity, and higher rank analogues of this setting. This is done using exact expressions for eigenvalue probability densities in terms of generalized hypergeometric functions, and using the interpretation of the latter as a Green function in the Dyson Brownian motion model. For the shifted mean Gaussian unitary ensemble and its analogues an alternative approach is to use exact expressions for the correlation functions in terms of classical orthogonal polynomials and associated multiple generalizations. By using these exact expressions to compute and plot the eigenvalue density, illustrations of the various eigenvalue separation effects are obtained.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures include

Physical Acoustics

Contains reports on two research projects.U. S. Navy (Office of Naval Research) under Contract Nonr-1841(42

Repassivation of Pits in Aluminum Thin Films

The effect of metal film thickness on repassivation of pits in sputter-deposited Al thin films was investigated in chloride solutions. The repassivation potential and the critical current density, which is the pit current density below which pits stop growing, were determined for pits in Al thin films ranging from 100 Ǻ to 43 μm in thickness. The repassivation potential first decreased as thickness increased from 100 to 4350 Ǻ, and then increased as the film thickness increased further. This behavior was found to be a consequence of the pit current-density/potential relationship. The critical current density, a more informative parameter, decreased for increasing metal film thickness, even when the repassivation potential increased. The critical current density is the minimum current density needed to maintain the critical pit environment and prevent repassivation. The repassivation potential for a given metal film thickness is the potential at which the pit current density drops below the critical value. Mass-transport and ohmic resistance both increase as the metal film thickness increases, but the former enhances pit stability and the latter destabilizes pitting in this system. Pit repassivation, and thus stability, are strongly influenced by mass-transport considerations for pits in very thin pits, even though dissolution at low potentials is not under pure mass-transport control. Ohmic effects become increasingly important as the film thickness increases.J.R.S. was supported by the NASA-Langley Research Center La^2ST Program and the NSF under DMR-9357463

Influence of Dichromate Ions on Corrosion Processes on Pure Magnesium

The corrosion behavior of Mg is of interest because of its growing use as an alloy in the transportation industry and also because it is a major component of some intermetallic phases in Al alloys, such as the deleterious S (Al2CuMg)-phase found in AA2024-T3. Pure Mg corrodes rapidly in a chloride-containing solution and even dissolves in water if the surface hydroxide is damaged by scratching the surface, for example. Uniform dissolution is drastically reduced in NaCl solutions (from 0.01 to 0.5 M) with the addition of very dilute concentrations of dichromate (10-4 M). However, it is replaced by a strong localized attack in the form of fast filiform-like attack. On a large-grained sample with a defined defect structure, the attack can be seen to propagate at twin boundaries. Orientation imaging microscopy analysis found that corrosion was limited to planes near {0001} orientations with propagation being in prismatic directions. Auger electron spectroscopy analysis shows that interaction of chromate with the Mg hydroxide results in incorporation of reduced chromium ions in the hydroxide surface layer. Formation of a more resistant surface film could explain the very local nature of the corrosion in this case. The interaction between dichromate ions and Mg hydroxide can also explain the higher corrosion resistance of S-phase particles in chloride solutions containing dilute dichromate, although differences in the surface film formed compared to pure Mg are observed. Sputter-etching of the surface in order to assess the depth of the attack revealed that very hard or isolating corrosion products difficult to sputter are produced along the filiform path and that chromium compounds are not integrated in the corrosion products. Focused ion beam sectioning followed by scanning electron microscopy investigation of the sectioned area, demonstrates the presence of a continuous protective surface film. Adhesion between the Mg hydroxide and the metal is lost at the location of the corrosion filament, suggesting that the mechanism of propagation is similar to filiform corrosion under a coating. The depth of attack is a couple of micrometers with large cracks present within the corroded area that could induce severe surface damage.This work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under contract no. F49620-96-1-0479

Variational formulation of ideal fluid flows according to gauge principle

On the basis of the gauge principle of field theory, a new variational formulation is presented for flows of an ideal fluid. The fluid is defined thermodynamically by mass density and entropy density, and its flow fields are characterized by symmetries of translation and rotation. The rotational transformations are regarded as gauge transformations as well as the translational ones. In addition to the Lagrangians representing the translation symmetry, a structure of rotation symmetry is equipped with a Lagrangian $\Lambda_A$ including the vorticity and a vector potential bilinearly. Euler's equation of motion is derived from variations according to the action principle. In addition, the equations of continuity and entropy are derived from the variations. Equations of conserved currents are deduced as the Noether theorem in the space of Lagrangian coordinate \ba. Without $\Lambda_A$, the action principle results in the Clebsch solution with vanishing helicity. The Lagrangian $\Lambda_A$ yields non-vanishing vorticity and provides a source term of non-vanishing helicity. The vorticity equation is derived as an equation of the gauge field, and the $\Lambda_A$ characterizes topology of the field. The present formulation is comprehensive and provides a consistent basis for a unique transformation between the Lagrangian \ba space and the Eulerian \bx space. In contrast, with translation symmetry alone, there is an arbitrariness in the ransformation between these spaces.Comment: 34 pages, Fluid Dynamics Research (2008), accepted on 1st Dec. 200

Nuclear transparencies for nucleons, knocked-out under various semi-inclusive conditions

Using hadron dynamics we calculate nuclear transparencies for protons, knocked-out in high-$Q^2$, semi-inclusive reactions. Predicted transparencies are, roughly half a standard deviation above the NE18 data. The latter contain the effects of binned proton missing momenta and mass, and of finite detector acceptances. In order to test sensitivity we compare computed transparencies without restrictions and the same with maximal cuts for missing momenta and the electron energy loss. We find hardly any variation, enabling a meaningful comparison with data and predictions based on hadron dynamics. Should discrepancies persist in high-statistics data, the above may with greater confidence be attributed to exotic components in the description of the outgoing proton.Comment: 13 pages + 3 figsin appended PS file, report # WIS-94/43/Oct-P