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Undead Pedagogy: How a Zombie Simulation Can Contribute to Teaching International Relations
A global zombie outbreak constitutes a hypothetical event in world politics that could likely lead to the collapse of civilization. At the same time, the very threat of such a global catastrophe offers a unique experimental terrain on which to investigate various possible changes and developments in human interaction in social, economic, and political processes. In this article, we discuss our experience with using a global zombie outbreak-based simulation in International Relations teaching and our attempt at measuring the learning outcomes, taking our point of departure in the existing literature on active learning. Following an outline of the objectives, setup, and parameters of the simulation, we evaluate the results of the survey we conducted of the student participants and discuss the learning outcomes discerned
Carbon formation in catalytic partial oxidation of methane on platinum: Model studies on a polycrystalline Pt foil
A polycrystalline Pt foil has been investigated as model catalyst in methane catalytic partial oxidation to synthesis gas. It is demonstrated that a substantial amount of carbonaceous deposits forms on the Pt foil upon reaction light-off blocking a large fraction of Pt surface atoms. By using in situ Raman spectroscopy and quantitative spectral analysis the evolution and spatial distribution of these carbonaceous compounds with reaction temperature and reaction time have been characterized. The chemical composition of the carbon material changes from highly reactive and strongly disordered directly after reaction light-off to highly ordered, oxidation and steam reforming resistant after several hours time on stream at 800 °C reaction temperature. Remarkably the carbon distribution at the Pt surface was found to be inhomogeneous and related to the nature of the microcrystals forming the polycrystalline foil in a yet unknown manner
Dynamic quantum clustering: a method for visual exploration of structures in data
A given set of data-points in some feature space may be associated with a
Schrodinger equation whose potential is determined by the data. This is known
to lead to good clustering solutions. Here we extend this approach into a
full-fledged dynamical scheme using a time-dependent Schrodinger equation.
Moreover, we approximate this Hamiltonian formalism by a truncated calculation
within a set of Gaussian wave functions (coherent states) centered around the
original points. This allows for analytic evaluation of the time evolution of
all such states, opening up the possibility of exploration of relationships
among data-points through observation of varying dynamical-distances among
points and convergence of points into clusters. This formalism may be further
supplemented by preprocessing, such as dimensional reduction through singular
value decomposition or feature filtering.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure
Lung Cancer Mortality Is Elevated in Coal Mining Areas of Appalachia
Previous research has documented increased lung cancer incidence and mortality in Appalachia. The current study tests whether residence in coal mining areas of Appalachia is a contributing factor. We conducted a national county-level analysis to identify contributions of smoking rates, socioeconomic variables, coal mining intensity and other variables to age-adjusted lung cancer mortality. Results demonstrate that lung cancer mortality for the years 2000-2004 is higher in areas of heavy Appalachian coal mining after adjustments for smoking, poverty, education, age, sex, race and other covariates. Higher mortality may be the result of exposure to environmental contaminates associated with the coal mining industry, although smoking and poverty are also contributing factors. The knowledge of the geographic areas within Appalachia where lung cancer mortality is higher can be used to target programmatic and policy interventions. The set of socioeconomic and health inequalities characteristic of coal mining areas of Appalachia highlights the need to develop more diverse, alternative local economies
Unitarity bounds and RG flows in time dependent quantum field theory
We generalize unitarity bounds on operator dimensions in conformal field
theory to field theories with spacetime dependent couplings. Below the energy
scale of spacetime variation of the couplings, their evolution can strongly
affect the physics, effectively shifting the infrared operator scaling and
unitarity bounds determined from correlation functions in the theory. We
analyze this explicitly for large- double-trace flows, and connect these to
UV complete field theories. One motivating class of examples comes from our
previous work on FRW holography, where this effect explains the range of
flavors allowed in the dual, time dependent, field theory.Comment: 38 page
Isolation, characterization and radioimmunoassay of corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) in human serum - clinical significance and comparison to thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG)
Multilateral Environmental Agreements in the WTO: Silence Speaks Volumes
This study contributes to the debate concerning the appropriate role of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in in WTO dispute settlement. Its distinguishing feature is that it seeks to address this relationship in light of the reason why the parties have chosen to separate their obligations into two bodies of law without providing an explicit nexus between them. The basic conclusion is that legislatorsâ silence concerning this relationship should speak volumes to WTO adjudicating bodies: MEAs should not be automatically understood as imposing legally binding obligations on WTO Members, but could be used as sources of factual information
A note on the realignment criterion
For a quantum state in a bipartite system represented as a density matrix,
researchers used the realignment matrix and functions on its singular values to
study the separability of the quantum state. We obtain bounds for elementary
symmetric functions of singular values of realignment matrices. This answers
some open problems proposed by Lupo, Aniello, and Scardicchio. As a
consequence, we show that the proposed scheme by these authors for testing
separability would not work if the two subsystems of the bipartite system have
the same dimension.Comment: 11 pages, to appear in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and
Theoretica
Toe Brace Designs
In various embodiments, provided are braces for use in supporting the metatarophalangeal joint, reducing or maintaining the intermetatarsal angle, enhancing or maintaining alignment of the hallux, or combinations thereof in a subject having hallux valgus
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