42,064 research outputs found
A Bayesian Variable Selection Approach to Major League Baseball Hitting Metrics
Numerous statistics have been proposed for the measure of offensive ability
in major league baseball. While some of these measures may offer moderate
predictive power in certain situations, it is unclear which simple offensive
metrics are the most reliable or consistent. We address this issue with a
Bayesian hierarchical model for variable selection to capture which offensive
metrics are most predictive within players across time. Our sophisticated
methodology allows for full estimation of the posterior distributions for our
parameters and automatically adjusts for multiple testing, providing a distinct
advantage over alternative approaches. We implement our model on a set of 50
different offensive metrics and discuss our results in the context of
comparison to other variable selection techniques. We find that 33/50 metrics
demonstrate signal. However, these metrics are highly correlated with one
another and related to traditional notions of performance (e.g., plate
discipline, power, and ability to make contact)
Phonon-induced quadrupolar ordering of the magnetic superconductor TmNiBC
We present synchrotron x-ray diffraction studies revealing that the lattice
of thulium borocarbide is distorted below T_Q = 13.5 K at zero field. T_Q
increases and the amplitude of the displacements is drastically enhanced, by a
factor of 10 at 60 kOe, when a magnetic field is applied along [100]. The
distortion occurs at the same wave vector as the antiferromagnetic ordering
induced by the a-axis field. A model is presented that accounts for the
properties of the quadrupolar phase and explains the peculiar behavior of the
antiferromagnetic ordering previously observed in this compound.Comment: submitted to PR
Tip Splittings and Phase Transitions in the Dielectric Breakdown Model: Mapping to the DLA Model
We show that the fractal growth described by the dielectric breakdown model
exhibits a phase transition in the multifractal spectrum of the growth measure.
The transition takes place because the tip-splitting of branches forms a fixed
angle. This angle is eta dependent but it can be rescaled onto an
``effectively'' universal angle of the DLA branching process. We derive an
analytic rescaling relation which is in agreement with numerical simulations.
The dimension of the clusters decreases linearly with the angle and the growth
becomes non-fractal at an angle close to 74 degrees (which corresponds to eta=
4.0 +- 0.3).Comment: 4 pages, REVTex, 3 figure
EFFECTS OF SURFACE ON OXYGEN UPTAKE, POWER OUTPUT, AND HEART RATE DURING UPHILL CYCLING
An alternative to stationary cycling is to use an actual bicycle on a treadmill. While eliminating differences between bicycles, this method may limit inferential conclusions to overground cycling. The current study examined physiological and biomechanical responses while cycling uphill overground versus over treadmill. Thirteen subjects rode uphill at 6.4 km ⋅ hr-1 on a 2.5 X 3.0 m treadmill and an asphalt paved road nine min at 8-12% grade. Power output (PO), cadence (CAD), VO2, and HR, were obtained via telemetry. Mean data from minutes 3 to 6 were analyzed via Two-way (surface by time) Repeated Measures ANOVA. Mean VO2, HR, and PO were higher for treadmill riding than overground (p0.05). No interactions were found. Results of the current study indicate that cycling on a treadmill impose different demands than overground cycling even when the equipment is the same
Ab-initio computation of neutron-rich oxygen isotopes
We compute the binding energy of neutron-rich oxygen isotopes and employ the
coupled-cluster method and chiral nucleon-nucleon interactions at
next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order with two different cutoffs. We obtain
rather well-converged results in model spaces consisting of up to 21 oscillator
shells. For interactions with a momentum cutoff of 500 MeV, we find that 28O is
stable with respect to 24O, while calculations with a momentum cutoff of 600
MeV result in a slightly unbound 28O. The theoretical error estimates due to
the omission of the three-nucleon forces and the truncation of excitations
beyond three-particle-three-hole clusters indicate that the stability of 28O
cannot be ruled out from ab-initio calculations, and that three-nucleon forces
and continuum effects play the dominant role in deciding this question.Comment: 5 pages + eps, 3 figure
Quantum Geometry and Diffusion
We study the diffusion equation in two-dimensional quantum gravity, and show
that the spectral dimension is two despite the fact that the intrinsic
Hausdorff dimension of the ensemble of two-dimensional geometries is very
different from two. We determine the scaling properties of the quantum gravity
averaged diffusion kernel.Comment: latex2e, 10 pages, 4 figure
Shadow organising: emerging stakeholder collaboration in higher education to enhance quality
Much research is currently addressing how to establish, maintain and govern stakeholder collaboration in higher education. In this article, the concept of shadow organising, i.e. stakeholder imitation of formal educational provision, is introduced to illustrate bottom-up, proactive ways to connect multiple autonomous organisations and stakeholder groups within and outside universities (such as professional bodies, employers and student unions). The article exemplifies the concept of shadow organising by analysing emerging stakeholder collaboration in legal education. The case illustrates the collaborative but informal efforts of a range of supporting actors. The results show that the actors are connected to each other through concrete and practical actions, instead of agreements, regulations or partnerships, which have stabilised into a widespread latticework of interlinked activities: training law students, hiring law graduates, supervising learning processes and instituting quality control. Simultaneously, however, actors maintain their distinctive roles, identities and mandates without initiating official collaboration or a common discussion of objectives and rationales
Role of Activity in Human Dynamics
The human society is a very complex system; still, there are several
non-trivial, general features. One type of them is the presence of power-law
distributed quantities in temporal statistics. In this Letter, we focus on the
origin of power-laws in rating of movies. We present a systematic empirical
exploration of the time between two consecutive ratings of movies (the
interevent time). At an aggregate level, we find a monotonous relation between
the activity of individuals and the power-law exponent of the interevent-time
distribution. At an individual level, we observe a heavy-tailed distribution
for each user, as well as a negative correlation between the activity and the
width of the distribution. We support these findings by a similar data set from
mobile phone text-message communication. Our results demonstrate a significant
role of the activity of individuals on the society-level patterns of human
behavior. We believe this is a common character in the interest-driven human
dynamics, corresponding to (but different from) the universality classes of
task-driven dynamics.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures. Accepted by EP
Shell-Model Effective Operators for Muon Capture in ^{20}Ne
It has been proposed that the discrepancy between the partially-conserved
axial-current prediction and the nuclear shell-model calculations of the ratio
in the muon-capture reactions can be solved in the case of ^{28}Si by
introducing effective transition operators. Recently there has been
experimental interest in measuring the needed angular correlations also in
^{20}Ne. Inspired by this, we have performed a shell-model analysis employing
effective transition operators in the shell-model formalism for the transition
. Comparison of
the calculated capture rates with existing data supports the use of effective
transition operators. Based on our calculations, as soon as the experimental
anisotropy data becomes available, the limits for the ratio can be
extracted.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures include
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