Dialogue based interfaces for universal access.

Conversation provides an excellent means of communication for almost all people. Consequently, a conversational interface is an excellent mechanism for allowing people to interact with systems. Conversational systems are an active research area, but a wide range of systems can be developed with current technology. More sophisticated interfaces can take considerable effort, but simple interfaces can be developed quite rapidly. This paper gives an introduction to the current state of the art of conversational systems and interfaces. It describes a methodology for developing conversational interfaces and gives an example of an interface for a state benefits web site. The paper discusses how this interface could improve access for a wide range of people, and how further development of this interface would allow a larger range of people to use the system and give them more functionality

Identifying the curvaton within MSSM

We consider inflaton couplings to MSSM flat directions and the thermalization of the inflaton decay products, taking into account gauge symmetry breaking due to flat direction condensates. We then search for a suitable curvaton candidate among the flat directions, requiring an early thermally induced start for the flat direction oscillations to facilitate the necessary curvaton energy density dominance. We demonstrate that the supersymmetry breaking $A$-term is crucial for achieving a successful curvaton scenario. Among the many possible candidates, we identify the ${\bf u_1dd}$ flat direction as a viable MSSM curvaton.Comment: 9 pages. Discussion on the evaporation of condensate added, final version published in JCA

The beta-decay of 22Al

In an experiment performed at the LISE3 facility of GANIL, we studied the decay of 22Al produced by the fragmentation of a 36Ar primary beam. A beta-decay half-life of 91.1 +- 0.5 ms was measured. The beta-delayed one- and two-proton emission as well as beta-alpha and beta-delayed gamma decays were measured and allowed us to establish a partial decay scheme for this nucleus. New levels were determined in the daughter nucleus 22Mg. The comparison with model calculations strongly favours a spin-parity of 4+ for the ground state of 22Al

Geographic origin as a determinant of left ventricular mass and diastolic function - the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

Aims: Eastern Finns have higher risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and carotid intima-media thickness than western Finns although current differences in CHD risk factors are minimal. Left ventricular (LV) mass and diastolic function predict future cardiovascular events but their east-west differences are unknown. We examined the association of eastern/western baseline origin with LV mass and diastolic function. Methods : The study population included 2045 subjects of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study with data from the baseline survey (1980) and the latest follow-up (2011) when echocardiography was performed at the age of 34-49 years. Results: Subjects with eastern baseline origin had in 2011 higher LV mass (139 +/- 1.0 vs. 135 +/- 1.0 g, p=0.006) and E/e-ratio indicating weaker LV diastolic function (4.86 +/- 0.03 vs. 4.74 +/- 0.03, p=0.02) than western subjects. Results were independent of age, sex, area of examination and CHD risk factors such as blood pressure and BMI (LV mass indexed with height: pPeer reviewe

The transformative potential of reflective diaries for elite English cricketers

The sport of cricket has a history of its players suffering from mental health issues. The psychological study of cricket and, in particular, the attendant demands of participating at an elite level has not previously received rigorous academic attention. This study explored ten elite male cricketers’ experiences of keeping a daily reflective diary for one month during the competitive season. The aim was to assess how valuable qualitative diaries are in this field. Participants were interviewed regarding their appraisal of the methodology as a self‐help tool that could assist coping with performance pressures and wider life challenges. Three outcomes were revealed: first, that diary keeping was an effective opportunity to reflect upon the past and enhance one’s self (both as an individual and a performer); second, that diary keeping acted as a form of release that allowed participants to progress; and third, that diary keeping allowed participants to discover personal patterns of success that increased the likeliness of optimum performance

Supersymmetric Thermalization and Quasi-Thermal Universe: Consequences for Gravitinos and Leptogenesis

Motivated by our earlier paper \cite{am}, we discuss how the infamous gravitino problem has a natural built in solution within supersymmetry. Supersymmetry allows a large number of flat directions made up of {\it gauge invariant} combinations of squarks and sleptons. Out of many at least {\it one} generically obtains a large vacuum expectation value during inflation. Gauge bosons and Gauginos then obtain large masses by virtue of the Higgs mechanism. This makes the rate of thermalization after the end of inflation very small and as a result the Universe enters a {\it quasi-thermal phase} after the inflaton has completely decayed. A full thermal equilibrium is generically established much later on when the flat direction expectation value has substantially decareased. This results in low reheat temperatures, i.e., $T_{\rm R}\sim {\cal O}({\rm TeV})$, which are compatible with the stringent bounds arising from the big bang nucleosynthesis. There are two very important implications: the production of gravitinos and generation of a baryonic asymmetry via leptogenesis during the quasi-thermal phase. In both the cases the abundances depend not only on an effective temperature of the quasi-thermal phase (which could be higher, i.e., $T\gg T_{\rm R}$), but also on the state of equilibrium in the reheat plasma. We show that there is no ``thermal gravitino problem'' at all within supersymmetry and we stress on a need of a new paradigm based on a ``quasi-thermal leptogenesis'', because in the bulk of the parameter space the {\it old} thermal leptogenesis cannot account for the observed baryon asymmetry.Comment: 53 pages. Final version published in JCA

Resonant decay of flat directions

We study preheating, i.e., non-perturbative resonant decay, of flat direction fields, concentrating on MSSM flat directions and the right handed sneutrino. The difference between inflaton preheating and flaton preheating, is that the potential is more constraint in the latter case. The effects of a complex driving field, quartic couplings in the potential, and the presence of a thermal bath are important and cannot be neglected. Preheating of MSSM flat directions is typically delayed due to out-of-phase oscillations of the real and imaginary components and may be preceded by perturbative decay or $Q$-ball formation. Particle production due to the violation of adiabaticity is expected to be inefficient due to back reaction effects. For a small initial sneutrino VEV, $\lesssim m_N/h$ with $m_N$ the mass of the right handed sneutrino and $h$ a yakawa coupling, there are tachyonic instabilities. The $D$-term quartic couplings do not generate an effective mass for the tachyonic modes, making it an efficient decay channel. It is unclear how thermal scattering affects the resonance.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure

Large Nongaussianity from Nonlocal Inflation

We study the possibility of obtaining large nongaussian signatures in the Cosmic Microwave Background in a general class of single-field nonlocal hill-top inflation models. We estimate the nonlinearity parameter f_{NL} which characterizes nongaussianity in such models and show that large nongaussianity is possible. For the recently proposed p-adic inflation model we find that f_{NL} ~ 120 when the string coupling is order unity. We show that large nongaussianity is also possible in a toy model with an action similar to those which arise in string field theory.Comment: 27 pages, no figures. Added references and some clarifying remark

Non-Gaussianity in braneworld and tachyon inflation

We calculate the bispectrum of single-field braneworld inflation, triggered by either an ordinary scalar field or a cosmological tachyon, by means of a gradient expansion of large-scale non-linear perturbations coupled to stochastic dynamics. The resulting effect is identical to that for single-field 4D standard inflation, the non-linearity parameter being proportional to the scalar spectral index in the limit of collapsing momentum. If the slow-roll approximation is assumed, braneworld and tachyon non-Gaussianities are subdominant with respect to the post-inflationary contribution. However, bulk physics may considerably strengthen the non-linear signatures. These features do not change significantly when considered in a non-commutative framework.Comment: 17 pages; v2: added references and previously skipped details in the derivation of the result; v3: improved discussio

Curvaton Dynamics in Brane-worlds

We study the curvaton dynamics in brane-world cosmologies. Assuming that the inflaton field survives without decay after the end of inflation, we apply the curvaton reheating mechanism to Randall-Sundrum and to its curvature corrections: Gauss-Bonnet, induced gravity and combined Gauss-Bonnet and induced gravity cosmological models. In the case of chaotic inflation and requiring suppression of possible short-wavelength generated gravitational waves, we constraint the parameters of a successful curvaton brane-world cosmological model. If density perturbations are also generated by the curvaton field then, the fundamental five-dimensional mass could be much lower than the Planck massComment: 47 pages, 1 figure, references added, to be published in JCA