An initial-boundary value problem for the Korteweg-de Vries equation on the negative quarter-plane

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The Age-shift: observations on social policy, ageism and the dynamics of the adult lifecourse

Through a critical engagement with policy trends, we ask how shifts in ideologies of ageing might influence the possibilities available to adults as they grow older. Of particular interest are the implications for how people are being encouraged to think about the adult lifecourse. We address these questions by looking at policy development, taking the 2000–2005 period in the UK as a case example, and by comparing this period to wider regional and international trends. Finally, we assess the implications of contemporary policy, from a psychodynamic point of view, for the maintenance of a viable identity in later life and for intergenerational relationships

CMB Constraints on Principal Components of the Inflaton Potential

We place functional constraints on the shape of the inflaton potential from the cosmic microwave background through a variant of the generalized slow roll approximation that allows large amplitude, rapidly changing deviations from scale-free conditions. Employing a principal component decomposition of the source function G'~3(V'/V)^2 - 2V''/V and keeping only those measured to better than 10% results in 5 nearly independent Gaussian constraints that maybe used to test any single-field inflationary model where such deviations are expected. The first component implies < 3% variations at the 100 Mpc scale. One component shows a 95% CL preference for deviations around the 300 Mpc scale at the ~10% level but the global significance is reduced considering the 5 components examined. This deviation also requires a change in the cold dark matter density which in a flat LCDM model is disfavored by current supernova and Hubble constant data and can be tested with future polarization or high multipole temperature data. Its impact resembles a local running of the tilt from multipoles 30-800 but is only marginally consistent with a constant running beyond this range. For this analysis, we have implemented a ~40x faster WMAP7 likelihood method which we have made publicly available.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.D. Optimized WMAP7 likelihood code and principal component functions of the GSR source function available at http://background.uchicago.edu/wmap_fast

Material Flow Analysis: Outcome Focus (MFA:OF) for Elucidating the Role of Infrastructure in the Development of a Liveable City

Engineered infrastructures (i.e., utilities, transport & digital) underpin modern society. Delivering services via these is especially challenging in cities where differing infrastructures form a web of interdependencies. There must be a step change in how infrastructures deliver services to cities, if those cities are to be liveable in the future (i.e., provide for citizen wellbeing, produce less CO2 & ensure the security of the resources they use). Material Flow Analysis (MFA) is a useful methodology for understanding how infrastructures transfer resources to, within and from cities and contribute to the city’s metabolism. Liveable Cities, a five-year research programme was established to identify & test radical engineering interventions leading to liveable cities of the future. In this paper, the authors propose an outcome-focussed variation on the MFA methodology (MFA: OF), evidenced through work on the resource flows of Birmingham, UK. These flows include water, energy, food & carbon-intensive materials (e.g., steel, paper, glass), as well as their associated waste. The contribution MFA: OF makes to elucidating the interactions & interdependencies between the flows is highlighted and suggestions are made for how it can contribute to the (radical) rethinking of the engineered infrastructure associated with such flow

Effects of Weightlessness on Human Fluid and Electrolyte Physiology

The changes that occur in human fluid and electrolyte physiology during the acute and adaptive phases of adaptation to spaceflight are summarized. A number of questions remain to be answered. At a time when plasma volume and extracellular fluid volume are contracted and salt and water intake is unrestricted. ADH does not correct the volume deficit and serum sodium decreases. Change in secretion or activity of a natriuretic factor during spaceflight is one possible explanation. Recent identification of a polypeptide hormone produced in cardiac muscle cells which is natiuretic, is hypotensive, and has an inhibitory effect on renin and aldosterone secretion has renewed interest in the role of a natriuretic factor. The role of this atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) in both long- and short-term variation in extracellular volumes and in the inability of the kidney to bring about an escape from the sodium-retaining state accompanying chronic cardiac dysfunction makes it reasonable to look for a role of ANF in the regulation of sodium during exposure to microgravity. Prostaglandin-E is another hormone that may antagonize the action of ADH. Assays of these hormones will be performed on samples from crew members in the future

Baby Boomers & adult Ageing: Issues for Social and Public policy

This paper provides a critical assessment of academic and policy approaches to population ageing with an emphasis on the baby boomer cohort and constructions of late-life identity. It is suggested that policy towards an ageing population has shifted in focus, away from particular social hazards and towards an attempt to re-engineer the meaning of legitimate ageing and social participation in later life. Three themes are identified: constructing the baby boomers as a force for social change, a downward drift of the age associated with 'older people' and a shift away from defining ageing identities through consumption, bacl towards work and production. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for future social and public policy

WMAP 3yr data with the CCA: anomalous emission and impact of component separation on the CMB power spectrum

The Correlated Component Analysis (CCA) allows us to estimate how the different diffuse emissions mix in CMB experiments, exploiting also complementary information from other surveys. It is especially useful to deal with possible additional components. An application of CCA to WMAP maps assuming that only the canonical Galactic emissions are present, highlights the widespread presence of a spectrally flat "synchrotron" component, largely uncorrelated with the synchrotron template, suggesting that an additional foreground is indeed required. We have tested various spectral shapes for such component, namely a power law as expected if it is flat synchrotron, and two spectral shapes that may fit the spinning dust emission: a parabola in the logS - log(frequency) plane, and a grey body. Quality tests applied to the reconstructed CMB maps clearly disfavour two of the models. The CMB power spectra, estimated from CMB maps reconstructed exploiting the three surviving foreground models, are generally consistent with the WMAP ones, although at least one of them gives a significantly higher quadrupole moment than found by the WMAP team. Taking foreground modeling uncertainties into account, we find that the mean quadrupole amplitude for the three "good" models is less than 1 sigma below the expectation from the standard LambdaCDM model. Also the other reported deviations from model predictions are found not to be statistically significant, except for the excess power at l~40. We confirm the evidence for a marked North-South asymmetry in the large scale (l < 20) CMB anisotropies. We also present a first, albeit preliminary, all-sky map of the "anomalous" component.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures, submitted to MNRAS, references adde

Biochemical responses of the Skylab crewman

The biochemical investigations of the Skylab crewmen were designed to study the physiological changes that were observed on flight crews returning from previous space flight missions as well as to study those changes expected to result from prolonged weightless exposure. These studies can be divided into two broad categories. One category included routine blood studies similar to those used in clinical medical practice. The second included research-type endocrine analyses used to investigate more thoroughly the metabolic/endocrine responses to the space flight environment. The premission control values indicated that all Skylab crewmen were healthy and were free from biochemical abnormalities. The routine results during and after flight showed slight but significant changes in electrolytes, glucose, total protein, osmolality, uric acid, cholesterol, and creatinine. Plasma hormal changes included adrenocorticotrophic hormone, cortisol, angiotensin I, aldosterone, insulin, and thyroxine. The 24-hour urine analyses results revealed increased excretion of cortisol, catecholamines, antidiuretic hormone, and aldosterone as well as excretion of significant electrolyte and uric acid during the Skylab flights

Exceptional Properties of Second and Third Order Ordinary Differential Equations of Maximal Symmetry

AbstractThe Riccati transformation is used in the reduction of order of second and third order ordinary differential equations of maximal symmetry. The sl(2,R) subalgebra is preserved under this transformation. The Riccati transformation is itself associated with the symmetry that is annihilated in the reduction of order. The solution symmetries and the intrinsically contact symmetries become nonlocal symmetries under the Riccati transformation. We investigate the fate and origins of the contact symmetries arising from the Riccati transformation. The exceptional properties of the second and third order equations of maximal symmetry are indicated. In the context of generalised symmetries we express the solution symmetries, contact symmetries, and the sl(2,R) elements in terms of a Jacobian. We show that a basis for the solution set of equations of maximal symmetry is given in terms of the solution set of a second order ordinary differential equation