Rolling the tachyon in super BSFT

We investigate the rolling of the tachyon on the unstable D9 brane in Type IIA string theory by studying the BSFT action. The action is known for linear profiles of the tachyon, which is the expected asymptotic behavior of the tachyon as it approaches the closed string vacuum, as recently described by Sen. We find that the action does indeed seem consistent with the general Sen description, in that it implies a constant energy density with diminishing pressure. However, the details are somewhat different from an effective field theory of Born-Infeld type. For instance, the BSFT action implies there are poles for certain rolling velocities, while a Born-Infeld action would have a cut. We also find that solutions with pressure diminishing from either the positive or negative side are possible.Comment: 8 pages LaTeX; v2, references adde

A Midrash On Water

(Excerpt) Jews and Christians share a common foundation of Scripture. It is within this common, sacred text that we shall find the source of Grace upon Grace: Living Water. It requires little religious imagination to link the use of water as a purification rite in the Biblical world to the use of the mikveh in the early rabbinic period, and ultimately to the transformative ritual of Baptism as an essential sacramental rite in Christianity. My task this evening is not to trace that course of ritual development, but rather to consider the many and varied texts of Scripture from within which we find water, Mayim, as a central metaphor for God\u27s presence and human struggle. I offer a midrash-an open interpretation of Biblical texts on water, a Jewish understanding of the religious significance of water, for our ongoing interfaith conversation on ritual and liturgy. Midrash is a form of rabbinic literature in which the text is used liked a prism and understanding, like light from many different sources, allowed to shine through the angles of glass, and if we are both lucky and skillful we shall see the bright colors of the spectrum suspended like a rainbow in front of our eyes. Midrash is a discipline of reading and rereading classic sacred texts, always allowing for our reality as readers and the overflowing surplus meaning of scripture to find their own new horizons of understanding

Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects: Definition and Determination of Damages After the Cosmos 954 Incident

This Note examines the conflicting provisions of the Liability Convention in the context of the Cosmos 954 incident to determine whether the damages that Canada claimed would be recoverable under the Convention. The analysis will illustrate the need for change in the Liability Convention\u27s definition of the measure of damages. Finally, this Note presents a proposal that would render the provisions more consistent with the spirit and the purpose of the Liability Convention

CAP reform and world trade negotiations

In March 1999 the European Council in Berlin agreed on reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Dr Joseph McMahon of the Queen’s University of Belfast examines these reforms in relation to the European Community’s Agenda 2000 proposals and the next round of WTO negotiations and argues that they may not go far enough. Article by Dr Joseph A. McMahon published in Amicus Curiae - Journal of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and its Society for Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London

Book Review of Daniel G. Baldyga\u27s: How to Settle Your Own Insurance Claim

How to Settle tries to exploit the same vein mined in spectacular fashion by Norman F. Dacey, who parlayed deep dissatisfaction with the probate system and popular resentment of lawyers into a runaway best-seller. It would seem, up to this point anyway, that people more readily worry about the inevitability of death and its legal consequences than the possibility of personal injury caused by the legal fault of another. Nonetheless, How to Settle does merit some attention, at least within the confines of a specialized journal and under circumstances unlikely to promote a sales backlash, so that all its shortcomings cannot be said to have passed unnoticed

Britain and the Bomb: Nuclear Diplomacy, 1964- 1970 (Book Review) by David James Gill

Review of Britain and the Bomb: Nuclear Diplomacy, 1964- 1970 by David James Gill

On the Analytic Structure of Commutative Nilmanifolds

In the classification theorems of Vinberg and Yakimova for commutative nilmanifolds, the relevant nilpotent groups have a very surprising analytic property. The manifolds are of the form $G/K = N \rtimes K/K$ where, in all but three cases, the nilpotent group $N$ has irreducible unitary representations whose coefficients are square integrable modulo the center $Z$ of $N$. Here we show that, in those three "exceptional" cases, the group $N$ is a semidirect product $N_1 \rtimes \mathbb{R}$ or $N_1 \rtimes \mathbb{C}$ where the normal subgroup $N_1$ contains the center $Z$ of $N$ and has irreducible unitary representations whose coefficients are square integrable modulo $Z$. This leads directly to explicit harmonic analysis and Fourier inversion formulae for commutative nilmanifolds

Applying Problem Based Learning to Improve Student Engagement in an Engineering Economics Course

Maintaining high levels of student engagement and interest is a widespread challenge in teaching Engineering Economics courses. To address this challenge at Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, a series of problem-based homework assignments focused on personal investing and tax return preparation have been developed and integrated into the Global Business Economics and Communication course. This transition in course structure has resulted in significant improvements in student engagement as measured by class attendance, homework completion rates, and course evaluation statistics. This transition also increased polarization of students’ academic performance which may be addressed through further development of the problem-based learning course content.Cockrell School of Engineerin