Quantum fluctuations of the electroweak sphaleron: Erratum and Addendum

We correct an error in our treatment of the tadpole contribution to the fluctuation determinant of the sphaleron, and also a minor mistake in a previous estimate. Thereby the overall agreement between the two existing exact computations and their consistency with the estimate is improved considerably.Comment: 4 pages, Dortmund preprint DO-TH-93/19E

The impact of sleep disruption on mouse physiology, behavior, and welfare

Laboratory mice are nocturnal, spending most of their daylight hours asleep. But they live in the diurnal world of human investigators and husbandry staff, who primarily work during this rest period. In humans, lack of sleep or sleep that occurs outside the normal circadian sleep period (as in shift work) has adverse effects. These include increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, metabolic disorder, mood disorders, type II diabetes, and obesity. However, it is unknown if mice experience sleep disruption due to these human activities, and, if so, what the adverse effects may be. This is an important question, not only to ensure good welfare for laboratory mice, but also to improve experimental validity. If researchers are inadvertently inducing physiological or cognitive changes in mice through sleep disruption, we may be confounding experimental results in unpredictable fashions. This is particularly relevant to biomedical research, as only eleven percent of drug trials that pass the animal testing stage go on to pass human trials. Part of this discrepancy may be due to sleep disruption-induced changes in mice. In Chapter 2, we tested two different disruption times, one during the day (their rest period) and one at night (their active period). These changes in disruption time produced no differences in overall amounts of sleep, though there were changes in sleep timing based on sex and type of mouse. These results suggest that disturbance timing does affect sleep, but that response isn’t uniform across strains or sexes. However, it is possible that our brief welfare checks may have been too predictable and inconsequential to induce true sleep disruption. In light of these results, our next experiment (Chapter 3) involved testing more extensive and unpredictable disruptions, as well as using both physiological and behavioral measures, as well as sleep monitoring. In this project, mice were exposed to either a week of predictable disruptions, or a week of those same disruptions, consolidated at the beginning and the end of the day. After 4 days of disruption, we performed a biopsy punch procedure on them to assess wound healing, with mice being assigned to an analgesia or control group. Again, overall sleep did not change for mice in response to disruption. They did, however, display a decrease in activity levels, likely due to the stress of handling and restraint for manual analgesia injection. Additionally, male mice who received analgesia spent more time sleeping than their female counterparts, suggesting that an adequate dose for males may not be sufficient for pain relief in females

Social pedagogical perspectives on fidelity to a manual: Professional principles and dilemmas in everyday expertise

Manualised interventions, in use across the UK for decades and increasingly in use in Denmark, aim to support change through professional practitioners following detailed prescriptions of what they must do to affect a particular change in the target group. Social pedagogy, a strong professional tradition in Denmark and an emerging profession in the UK, takes an approach that responds to the individual’s experience of the immediate situation, seeks to nurture relational opportunities and to empower people to fully participate in their lives and society. Harbo’s research reveals that this approach can be at odds with manualised interventions for a variety of reasons. A social pedagogically informed programme has been developed in London that uses a clear ethical stance and key theories as its foundation, and upon which structures have been developed, but no manual. This article explores the use of these manualised and non-manualised interventions in Denmark and the UK and the roles of social pedagogues in supporting change through programmatic interventions. Harbo’s doctoral research findings on practice surrounding the highly prescriptive manual Aggression Replacement Training in Denmark (Harbo, 2019) is explored alongside Kemp’s reflections on the social pedagogically informed Family Learning Intervention Programme in England, examining the tensions and synergies that emerge around each programme when they meet reality and the individual characteristics of day-to-day situations. The perspectives presented emerge from practice research and reflections, and as such are based in an experiential research tradition. Finally, we draw together our learning and openings for further research and policy development

Coherent states for polynomial su(1,1) algebra and a conditionally solvable system

In a previous paper [{\it J. Phys. A: Math. Theor.} {\bf 40} (2007) 11105], we constructed a class of coherent states for a polynomially deformed $su(2)$ algebra. In this paper, we first prepare the discrete representations of the nonlinearly deformed $su(1,1)$ algebra. Then we extend the previous procedure to construct a discrete class of coherent states for a polynomial su(1,1) algebra which contains the Barut-Girardello set and the Perelomov set of the SU(1,1) coherent states as special cases. We also construct coherent states for the cubic algebra related to the conditionally solvable radial oscillator problem.Comment: 2 figure

The Use of Cognitive Ability Measures As Explanatory Variables In Regression Analysis

Cognitive ability measures are often taken as explanatory variables in regression analysis, e.g., as a factor affecting a market outcome such as an individual’s wage, or a decision such as an individual’s education acquisition. Cognitive ability is a latent construct; its true value is unobserved. Nonetheless, researchers often assume that a test score, constructed via standard psychometric practice from individuals’ responses to test items, can be safely used in regression analysis. We examine problems that can arise, and suggest that an alternative approach, a “mixed effects structural equations” (MESE) model, may be more appropriate in many circumstances

Supersymmetry of a Nonstationary Pauli Equation

The supersymmetry of the electron in both the nonstationary magnetic and electric fields in a two-dimensional case is studied. The supercharges which are the integrals of motion and their algebra are established. Using the obtained algebra the solutions of nonstationary Pauli equation are generated.Comment: 12 pages, Late

Construction of classical superintegrable systems with higher order integrals of motion from ladder operators

We construct integrals of motion for multidimensional classical systems from ladder operators of one-dimensional systems. This method can be used to obtain new systems with higher order integrals. We show how these integrals generate a polynomial Poisson algebra. We consider a one-dimensional system with third order ladders operators and found a family of superintegrable systems with higher order integrals of motion. We obtain also the polynomial algebra generated by these integrals. We calculate numerically the trajectories and show that all bounded trajectories are closed.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, to appear in j.math.phys

Tactical unmanned aerial vehicles in a proposed joint infrastructure to counter theater ballistic missiles

Proliferation of tactical ballistic missile (IBM) systems throughout the Third World represents a serious threat to American national interests. As demonstrated during operation Desert Storm in Iraq, countering this threat is a very difficult problem. A joint, multi-level infrastructure to counter the TBM threat is vital to American security. This thesis considers the joint infrastructure and tactics necessary to counter the TBM threat. During peacetime, infrastructure assets monitor TBM forces of potential adversaries noting: operating routines, command control and communication (C3) architecture, fixed launch sites and logistics and storage areas. If hostilities arise, the infrastructure expands with theater-level search assets and weapons systems to localize and destroy the enemy IBM force, especially mobile launchers, before they fire on friendly forces or civilians. Emphasis is on use of tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to locate and positively identify mobile transporter erector launchers (TELs) during the early stages of hostilities. The model proposed uses a tactical UAV to search a segment of road for transiting TELs. Given length of road segment searched and search platform velocity, probability of the UAV over flying the TEL is calculated. Having overflown the TEL, probability of detection and recognition as a target of interest is calculated based on sensor characteristics and searcher flight profile.http://archive.org/details/tacticalunmanned1094531569NANAU.S. Navy (U.S.N.) author

Inspiralling compact binaries in quasi-elliptical orbits: The complete third post-Newtonian energy flux

The instantaneous contributions to the 3PN gravitational wave luminosity from the inspiral phase of a binary system of compact objects moving in a quasi elliptical orbit is computed using the multipolar post-Minkowskian wave generation formalism. The necessary inputs for this calculation include the 3PN accurate mass quadrupole moment for general orbits and the mass octupole and current quadrupole moments at 2PN. Using the recently obtained 3PN quasi-Keplerian representation of elliptical orbits the flux is averaged over the binary's orbit. Supplementing this by the important hereditary contributions arising from tails, tails-of-tails and tails squared terms calculated in a previous paper, the complete 3PN energy flux is obtained. The final result presented in this paper would be needed for the construction of ready-to-use templates for binaries moving on non-circular orbits, a plausible class of sources not only for the space based detectors like LISA but also for the ground based ones.Comment: 40 pages. Minor changes in text throughout. Minor typos in Eqs. (3.3b), (7.7f), (8.19d) and (8.20) corrected. Matches the published versio