Static response and Love numbers of Schwarzschild black holes

We derive the quadratic action for the physical degrees of freedom of massless spin-0, spin-1, and spin-2 perturbations on a Schwarzschild-(A)dS background in arbitrary dimensions. We then use these results to compute the static response of asymptotically flat Schwarzschild black holes to external fields. Our analysis reproduces known facts about black hole Love numbers-in particular that they vanish for all types of perturbation in four spacetime dimensions-but also leads to new results. For instance, we find that neutral Schwarzschild black holes polarize in the presence of an electromagnetic background in any number of spacetime dimensions except four. Moreover, we calculate for the first time black hole Love numbers for vector-type gravitational perturbations in higher dimensions and find that they generically do not vanish. Along the way, we shed some light on an apparent discrepancy between previous results in the literature, and clarify some aspects of the matching between perturbative calculations of static response on a Schwarzschild background and the point-particle effective theory.</p

Baby Boomers’ and Seniors’ Domestic Travel Motivations: An Examination of Citizens in Tainan, Taiwan

The literature on the travel market has focused on the motivations and activities of different market segments, destination attributes, evaluation of well-being, travel behaviour and characteristics, and demographic information. Some work has been undertaken on seniors’ travel motivations but the majority of this worked reported for North America. Few comparisons have been made between baby boomers’ and seniors’ travel motivations and preferences for domestic trip. This study investigated the domestic travel motivations of baby boomer (age 50 to 60) and senior (age 61 and over) citizens in Tainan, Taiwan. The study objectives were: (1) to present demographic information on senior and baby boomer domestic travelers; (2) to examine the travel motivations, destination attributes, and well-being of senior and baby boomer travelers; (3) to determine the differences in travel-related characteristics between senior and baby boomer travelers; and (4) to investigate whether those who travel more domestically also travel more internationally. A total of 184 citizens (100 baby boomers and 84 seniors) in Tainan, Taiwan, participated in this study. The data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics, t-tests, cross-tabulations, chi-squared tests and correlation analyses. The open-ended questions were recorded and analyzed for themes. The demographic data revealed that marital status, employment status, education, income and major source of income were significantly different between baby boomer and senior respondents, as were travel motivations. The destination attributes sought and evaluations of well-being were not significantly different between the groups. Some differences were found in travel behaviours and characteristics reported by baby boomer and senior respondents, especially in the likelihood of traveling with an organized party, spending of money on traveling, joining an all-inclusive package tour, willingness to spend extra money on recreation, perceiving that seniors should stay at home or in silver town, and perceiving that travel improves their quality of life. In addition, traveling on overnight international trips influences the frequency of taking domestic trips for both groups. This study contributes to the tourism literature by comparing baby boomer and senior respondents’ travel motivations and preferences in domestic trips. The findings provided new insights into the understanding of tourist motivations, destination attributes, positive/negative affects and tourists’ behaviors, particularly as experienced in domestic trip taken by baby boomers and seniors in Tainan, Taiwan

Imaging and Imagining Taiwan: Identity representation and cultural politics

Since the 1990s the issue of identity has been one of the most prominent and hotly-debated topics in Taiwan Studies. A rich corpus of literature has been produced in various fields in the attempt to address this problematic issue, examining questions of Taiwanese identity from political, social and cultural perspectives. Imaging and Imagining Taiwan takes a fresh approach to this important topic, examining Taiwanese identity from a visual perspective and exploring the ways in which the island is presented and imagined. In contrast to those studies that seek to address the issue of identity from an essentialist position, Imaging and Imagining Taiwan offers a new contextualization of identity, investigating the ways in which Taiwan has been represented in films, fine art, advertising, sport, and social spaces at different periods in history. Covering a diverse range of topics, the book aims to capture the fluidity, changeability, fragmentation and dynamism of Taiwanese identity as an imaginary and encompassing whole. Through seven case studies the book focuses on the ways in which Taiwan is represented, how this relates to identity politics, and how the island is imaged and imagined visually, socially, and symbolically. The essays comprising this collection are grouped into three sections, each of which focuses on a particular approach to the topic of Taiwanese identity. The first of these —Colonial Representation —deals with colonial subjectivity and traumatic experience. The second, entitled Imaging Difference, examines cultural practices in film, TV advertisements and fine art, and explores the boundaries between the inside and the outside, the difference marked by the process of othering, and the anxiety and alienation of the excluded. The third section—Identity and Place—focuses on the relationship between identity and the social construction of place, and examines the role of place-making in the new Taiwanese nation-building process. Interrogating the complex issue of Taiwanese identity from various standpoints, the seven contributors write from a range of disciplinary backgrounds (Literature, History, Film Studies, Linguistics, Anthropology and Cultural Studies) and geographical contexts (Taiwan, Europe and America). This combination of fresh perspectives and a range of disciplinary approaches offers a set of diverse yet complementary insights into how Taiwan has been envisioned and imagined, and how the Taiwanese have positioned and identified themselves at different times. By combining different themes and disciplinary approaches together in one publication, Imaging and Imagining Taiwan brings both nuance and depth to the discussion of the representation of Taiwanese identity. The book articulates and examines the complexity of identity, avoiding essentialist approaches to the topic, instead illustrating identity's multi-faceted nature and dynamic messiness. Thus, the book argues, the politics of identity is not only a politics of representation, but also a politics of positioning, whereby identity is formulated both by the construction of sameness and the inscription of difference. The interdisciplinary approach adopted by this book makes the discussion of Taiwanese identity of interest to those both studying and working in a range of subject disciplines, not limited to Taiwan Studies, but also in History, Film, Linguistics, Literary Studies, Nationalism Studies, and Urban Studies

Analysis of Polder Polarization Measurements During Astex and Eucrex Experiments

Polarization is more sensitive than intensity to cloud microstructure such as the particle size and shape, and multiple scattering does not wash out features in polarization as effectively as it does in the intensity. Polarization measurements, particularly in the near IR, are potentially a valuable tool for cloud identification and for studies of the microphysics of clouds. The POLDER instrument is designed to provide wide field of view bidirectional images in polarized light. During the ASTEX-SOFIA campaign on June 12th, 1992, over the Atlantic Ocean (near the Azores Islands), images of homogeneous thick stratocumulus cloud fields were acquired. During the EUCREX'94 (April, 1994) campaign, the POLDER instrument was flying over the region of Brittany (France), taking observations of cirrus clouds. This study involves model studies and data analysis of POLDER observations. Both models and data analysis show that POLDER can be used to detect cloud thermodynamic phases. Model results show that polarized reflection in the Lamda =0.86 micron band is sensitive to cloud droplet sizes but not to cloud optical thickness. Comparison between model and data analysis reveals that cloud droplet sizes during ASTEX are about 5 microns, which agrees very well with the results of in situ measurements (4-5 microns). Knowing the retrieved cloud droplet sizes, the total reflected intensity of the POLDER measurements then can be used to retrieve cloud optical thickness. The close agreement between data analysis and model results during ASTEX also suggests the homogeneity of the cloud layer during that campaign

Clear Cell Cancer of the Uterine Corpus: The Association of Clinicopathologic Parameters and Treatment on Disease Progression

This paper presents a single-institution experience regarding the clinicopathologic features and treatment strategies used in uterine clear cell cancer (UCC), a rare, aggressive histologic subtype of uterine cancer with poor prognosis and discusses parameters associated with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). A retrospective chart review was performed on all patients (n = 80) diagnosed with UCC and treated between 1994 and 2009 at a single academic institution. Data on demographics, FIGO stage, treatment regimens, and recurrences were collected. Patients with early-stage UCC had an excellent survival regardless of adjuvant therapy. Advanced-stage patients had a worse survival. Vaginal apex brachytherapy was associated with an increased OS (P = 0.02) but not PFS (P = 0.10). The use of platinum-based chemotherapy in combination with vaginal apex brachytherapy did not significantly improve survival. Innovative therapies still need to be identified for this uncommon uterine cancer

Near-Zone Symmetries of Kerr Black Holes

We study the near-zone symmetries of a massless scalar field on four-dimensional black hole backgrounds. We provide a geometric understanding that unifies various recently discovered symmetries as part of an SO(4,2) group. Of these, a subset are exact symmetries of the static sector and give rise to the ladder symmetries responsible for the vanishing of Love numbers. In the Kerr case, we compare different near-zone approximations in the literature, and focus on the implementation that retains the symmetries of the static limit. We also describe the relation to spin-1 and 2 perturbations.Comment: 4+3 pages, 1 figur

Working and Learning Together: The Lived Experiences of Further Education Teachers Engaging with Joint Practice Development as a Model of Collaborative Enquiry for Professional Learning

This thesis narrates the lived experiences of a practitioner-led participatory action research study that explores the implementation of Joint Practice Development (JPD) (Gregson et al., 2013) to collaborate with further education (FE) college teachers in professional learning. Inspired by the work of Fielding et al. (2005) and Hargreaves (2012) and recommended by Coffield (2017), the JPD model provides teacher-centred, collaborative professional learning at the heart of this thesis. Little is known about how JPD is integrated in practice in the FE context. Consequently, this research contributes to a small body of collaborative professional learning studies in FE and offers particular insights arising from the rich accounts of the experience of six FE teachers’ engagement and my own as a JPD facilitator and member of the learning community. The study takes an interpretivist approach and represents the holistic view that human beings are able to construct and reconstruct meaning through social interactions (Dewey, 1938/1997). Through narrative inquiry-based research methods (Connelly and Clandinin, 1990; Kim, 2015), interviews, JPD workshops, artefacts, field notes and a research diary are used to record and interpret the experiences of both myself and participants working, learning and reflecting together to develop and enhance aspects of teaching, learning and assessment. A three-dimensional narrative inquiry framework is used to interpret and narrate the messy trajectories of building this learning community together as we move and meld participants’ and researcher’s perspectives into one coherent research account. The finding of this study suggests that top down and one off continuing professional development (CPD) rarely meets teachers’ professional learning needs. JPD provides an alternative democratic approach to cultivate, nurture and sustain professional learning communities that care and value teachers’ professionalism and support them to take ownership of their learning in situated contexts. Additionally, the social and emotional dimensions of collaborative professional learning vital to JPD lays the foundation for trusting relationships that encourage reflective dialogues and reflexivity. A reconceptualised model of JPD is developed building on the initial framework designed by Gregson et al. (2015b). There is much scope for FE sector organisations to integrate policy that supports and encourages teacher-led, collaborative approaches to professional learning. Further research is welcomed which explores experiences of collaborative professional learning such as JPD both in the FE context and other education contexts including Higher Education and schools

Establishment of Epstein-Barr Virus Growth-transformed Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines

Infection of B cells with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) leads to proliferation and subsequent immortalization, resulting in establishment of lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL) in vitro. Since LCL are latently infected with EBV, they provide a model system to investigate EBV latency and virus-driven B cell proliferation and tumorigenesis1. LCL have been used to present antigens in a variety of immunologic assays2, 3. In addition, LCL can be used to generate human monoclonal antibodies4, 5 and provide a potentially unlimited source when access to primary biologic materials is limited6, 7

Release of Ciprofloxacin-HCl and Dexamethasone Phosphate by Hyaluronic Acid Containing Silicone Polymers

Nguyen, D., Hui, A., Weeks, A., Heynen, M., Joyce, E., Sheardown, H., & Jones, L. (2012). Release of Ciprofloxacin-HCl and Dexamethasone Phosphate by Hyaluronic Acid Containing Silicone Polymers. Materials, 5(12), 684–698. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma5040684The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the covalent incorporation of hyaluronic acid (HA) into conventional hydrogel and hydrogels containing silicone as models for contact lens materials on the uptake and release of the fluoroquinolone antibiotic ciprofloxacin and the anti-inflammatory steroid dexamethasone phosphate. A 3 mg/mL ciprofloxacin solution (0.3% w/v) and a 1 mg/mL dexamethasone phosphate solution (0.1%) was prepared in borate buffered saline. Three hydrogel material samples (pHEMA; pHEMA TRIS; DMAA TRIS) were prepared with and without the covalent incorporation of HA of molecular weight (MW) 35 or 132 kDa. Hydrogel discs were punched from a sheet of material with a uniform diameter of 5 mm. Uptake kinetics were evaluated at room temperature by soaking the discs for 24 h. Release kinetics were evaluated by placing the drug-loaded discs in saline at 34 °C in a shaking water bath. At various time points over 6–7 days, aliquots of the release medium were assayed for drug amounts. The majority of the materials tested released sufficient drug to be clinically relevant in an ophthalmic application, reaching desired concentrations for antibiotic or anti-inflammatory activity in solution. Overall, the silicone-based hydrogels (pHEMA TRIS and DMAA TRIS), released lower amounts of drug than the conventional pHEMA material (p < 0.001). Materials with HA MW132 released more ciprofloxacin compared to materials with HA MW35 and lenses without HA (p < 0.02). Some HA-based materials were still releasing the drug after 6 days.This study is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) 20/20 Network for the Development of Advanced Ophthalmic Materials. AH is supported by NSERC Canada, the Canadian Optometric Education Trust Fund (COETF), and a Vistakon® Research Grant and Ezell Fellowship, both administered by the American Optometric Foundation (AOF)