Parties, promiscuity and politicisation: business-political networks in Poland

Research on post-communist political economy has begun to focus on the interface between business and politics. It is widely agreed that informal networks rather than business associations dominate this interface, but there has been very little systematic research in this area. The literature tends to assume that a politicised economy entails business-political networks that are structured by parties. Theoretically, this article distinguishes politicisation from party politicisation and argues that the two are unlikely to be found together in a post-communist context. Empirically, elite survey data and qualitative interviews are used to explore networks of businesspeople and politicians in Poland. Substantial evidence is found against the popular idea that Polish politicians have business clienteles clearly separated from each other according to party loyalties. Instead, it is argued that these politicians and businesspeople are promiscuous. Since there seems to be little that is unusual about the Polish case, this conclusion has theoretical, methodological, substantive and policy implications for other post-communist countries

Sample-size dependence of the ground-state energy in a one-dimensional localization problem

We study the sample-size dependence of the ground-state energy in a one-dimensional localization problem, based on a supersymmetric quantum mechanical Hamiltonian with random Gaussian potential. We determine, in the form of bounds, the precise form of this dependence and show that the disorder-average ground-state energy decreases with an increase of the size $R$ of the sample as a stretched-exponential function, $\exp( - R^{z})$, where the characteristic exponent $z$ depends merely on the nature of correlations in the random potential. In the particular case where the potential is distributed as a Gaussian white noise we prove that $z = 1/3$. We also predict the value of $z$ in the general case of Gaussian random potentials with correlations.Comment: 30 pages and 4 figures (not included). The figures are available upon reques

Search for antihelium in cosmic rays

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) was flown on the space shuttle Discovery during flight STS-91 in a 51.7 degree orbit at altitudes between 320 and 390 km. A total of 2.86 * 10^6 helium nuclei were observed in the rigidity range 1 to 140 GV. No antihelium nuclei were detected at any rigidity. An upper limit on the flux ratio of antihelium to helium of < 1.1 * 10^-6 is obtained.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, 9 .eps figure

Search for CP violation in D0 and D+ decays

A high statistics sample of photoproduced charm particles from the FOCUS (E831) experiment at Fermilab has been used to search for CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed decay modes D+ to K-K+pi+, D0 to K-K+ and D0 to pi-pi+. We have measured the following CP asymmetry parameters: A_CP(K-K+pi+) = +0.006 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.005, A_CP(K-K+) = -0.001 +/- 0.022 +/- 0.015 and A_CP(pi-pi+) = +0.048 +/- 0.039 +/- 0.025 where the first error is statistical and the second error is systematic. These asymmetries are consistent with zero with smaller errors than previous measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

High-time Resolution Astrophysics and Pulsars

The discovery of pulsars in 1968 heralded an era where the temporal characteristics of detectors had to be reassessed. Up to this point detector integration times would normally be measured in minutes rather seconds and definitely not on sub-second time scales. At the start of the 21st century pulsar observations are still pushing the limits of detector telescope capabilities. Flux variations on times scales less than 1 nsec have been observed during giant radio pulses. Pulsar studies over the next 10 to 20 years will require instruments with time resolutions down to microseconds and below, high-quantum quantum efficiency, reasonable energy resolution and sensitive to circular and linear polarisation of stochastic signals. This chapter is review of temporally resolved optical observations of pulsars. It concludes with estimates of the observability of pulsars with both existing telescopes and into the ELT era.Comment: Review; 21 pages, 5 figures, 86 references. Book chapter to appear in: D.Phelan, O.Ryan & A.Shearer, eds.: High Time Resolution Astrophysics (Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springer, 2007). The original publication will be available at http://www.springerlink.co

The management of diabetic ketoacidosis in children

The object of this review is to provide the definitions, frequency, risk factors, pathophysiology, diagnostic considerations, and management recommendations for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in children and adolescents, and to convey current knowledge of the causes of permanent disability or mortality from complications of DKA or its management, particularly the most common complication, cerebral edema (CE). DKA frequency at the time of diagnosis of pediatric diabetes is 10%–70%, varying with the availability of healthcare and the incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the community. Recurrent DKA rates are also dependent on medical services and socioeconomic circumstances. Management should be in centers with experience and where vital signs, neurologic status, and biochemistry can be monitored with sufficient frequency to prevent complications or, in the case of CE, to intervene rapidly with mannitol or hypertonic saline infusion. Fluid infusion should precede insulin administration (0.1 U/kg/h) by 1–2 hours; an initial bolus of 10–20 mL/kg 0.9% saline is followed by 0.45% saline calculated to supply maintenance and replace 5%–10% dehydration. Potassium (K) must be replaced early and sufficiently. Bicarbonate administration is contraindicated. The prevention of DKA at onset of diabetes requires an informed community and high index of suspicion; prevention of recurrent DKA, which is almost always due to insulin omission, necessitates a committed team effort

Cosmic-ray positron fraction measurement from 1 to 30 GeV with AMS-01

A measurement of the cosmic ray positron fraction e+/(e+ + e-) in the energy range of 1-30 GeV is presented. The measurement is based on data taken by the AMS-01 experiment during its 10 day Space Shuttle flight in June 1998. A proton background suppression on the order of 10^6 is reached by identifying converted bremsstrahlung photons emitted from positrons