The Invisible Worlds of Religion and Economy

Twelve years ago I accepted my Chair at ISS with an inaugural lecture entitled Rats, Cockroaches and People Like Us, in which I discussed the relation between people’s views of humanity and actual human rights. In it I made a plea for an intelligent use of the wide range of religious and spiritual resources available to people all over the world for the sake of human rights. In subsequent years I have expanded this argument by advocating the inclusion of religious resources for development in the broadest sense. Twelve years later it seems that, at least in the Netherlands, this remains a controversial proposal, especially in view of the great changes in the political climate at home and abroad since the dramatic events in 2001

Rats, cockroaches and people like us : views of humanity and human right

Many people appear to believe that there are a growing number of religious conflicts in the world, particularly since the end of the Cold War. On closer examination, however, it seems that the number of conflicts of the type which are today often labelled 'ethnic' or' 'religious' has in fact been growing since the 1950s'. Many such conflicts were already detectable in the period of the Cold War, but at that time, they were usually interpreted within a framework of East-West relations

Relation between the High Density Phase and the Very-High Density Phase of Amorphous Solid Water

It has been suggested that high-density amorphous (HDA) ice is a structurally arrested form of high-density liquid (HDL) water, while low-density amorphous (LDA) ice is a structurally arrested form of low-density liquid (LDL) water. Recent experiments and simulations have been interpreted to support the possibility of a second "distinct" high-density structural state, named very high-density amorphous (VHDA) ice, questioning the LDL-HDL hypothesis. We test this interpretation using extensive computer simulations, and find that VHDA is a more stable form of HDA and that in fact VHDA should be considered as the amorphous ice of the quenched HDL.Comment: 5 pages, 4 fig

Gaussian noise and time-reversal symmetry in non-equilibrium Langevin models

We show that in driven systems the Gaussian nature of the fluctuating force and time-reversibility are equivalent properties. This result together with the potential condition of the external force drastically restricts the form of the probability distribution function, which can be shown to satisfy time-independent relations. We have corroborated this feature by explicitly analyzing a model for the stretching of a polymer and a model for a suspension of non-interacting Brownian particles in steady flow.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to PR

Equipment, measurement and dose—a survey for therapeutic ultrasound

Background Dosimetry for Ultrasound Therapy (DUTy) is a large international project which addresses the development of a metrological infrastructure for the determination of ultrasound exposure and dose to tissue. Methods In order to seek the views of the wider therapy ultrasound community and to review dose and in situ exposure quantities that have been suggested or used previously, a web-based questionnaire containing a range of questions covering the type of ultrasound equipment that is used and the range of applications for which it has been developed was created at www.​surveymonkey.​com. This questionnaire was intended to cover any contemporary therapeutic ultrasound application (including physiotherapy, lithotripsy and drug delivery) and asked specific questions about quantification of in situ exposure and dose, especially as relevant to treatment planning, standardisation and/or regulation. Results This paper summarises the 123 responses submitted between February and September 2014 to the questions on clinical applications, equipment, quality assurance (QA) and measurement and standards, as well as to those relating to an understanding of “dose” in the context of ultrasound. The full set of anonymous responses is available in an additional Excel file. Conclusions The results clearly demonstrate the need not only for further improvements in measuring devices and for measurement guidelines but also for a wider dissemination and higher awareness of existing standards. Whilst it is unlikely that a single definition of dose can be sufficient for all ultrasound treatment modalities, the answers clearly indicate that many aspects would benefit from clear definitions of relevant dose quantities and shed light on the preferred form of such definitions

Evaluation of radiography as a screening method for detection and characterisation of congenital vertebral malformations in dogs

Congenital vertebral malformations (CVM) are common in brachycephalic ‘screw-tailed’ dogs; they can be associated with neurological deficits and a genetic predisposition has been suggested. The purpose of this study was to evaluate radiography as a screening method for congenital thoracic vertebral malformations in brachycephalic ‘screw-tailed’ dogs by comparing it with CT. Forty-nine dogs that had both radiographic and CT evaluations of the thoracic vertebral column were included. Three observers retrospectively reviewed the images independently to detect CVMs. When identified, they were classified according to a previously published radiographic classification scheme. A CT consensus was then reached. All observers identified significantly more affected vertebrae when evaluating orthogonal radiographic views compared with lateral views alone; and more affected vertebrae with the CT consensus compared with orthogonal radiographic views. Given the high number of CVMs per dog, the number of dogs classified as being CVM free was not significantly different between CT and radiography. Significantly more midline closure defects were also identified with CT compared with radiography. Malformations classified as symmetrical or ventral hypoplasias on radiography were frequently classified as ventral and medial aplasias on CT images. Our results support that CT is better than radiography for the classification of CVMs and this will be important when further evidence of which are the most clinically relevant CVMs is identified. These findings are of particular importance for designing screening schemes of CVMs that could help selective breeding programmes based on phenotype and future studies

Mapping the Wigner distribution function of the Morse oscillator into a semi-classical distribution function

The mapping of the Wigner distribution function (WDF) for a given bound-state onto a semiclassical distribution function (SDF) satisfying the Liouville equation introduced previously by us is applied to the ground state of the Morse oscillator. Here we give results showing that the SDF gets closer to the corresponding WDF as the number of levels of the Morse oscillator increases. We find that for a Morse oscillator with one level only, the agreement between the WDF and the mapped SDF is very poor but for a Morse oscillator of ten levels it becomes satisfactory.Comment: Revtex, 27 pages including 13 eps figure