Anyons, group theory and planar physics

Relativistic and nonrelativistic anyons are described in a unified formalism by means of the coadjoint orbits of the symmetry groups in the free case as well as when there is an interaction with a constant electromagnetic field. To deal with interactions we introduce the extended Poincar\'e and Galilei Maxwell groups.Comment: 22 pages, journal reference added, bibliography update

Getting Your Work Published: An AFS Professional Development Lunchtime Roundtable

This document reports on a professional development workshop for graduate students and new professionals in the field of folklore studies sponsored by the AFS at its 2005 annual meeting in Atlanta. The roundtable leaders were: Harris M. Berger and Giovanna P. Del Negro – Texas A&M University; incoming co-editors, Journal of American Folklore and Judy McCulloh – Executive Editor, University of Illinois Press.The Folk and Traditional Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts provided funding for this workshop

Disease Activity and Progression in Multiple Sclerosis: New Evidences and Future Perspectives

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, debilitating, autoimmune-mediated, inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS), in which a combination of inflammation, demyelination and axonal degeneration takes place with extreme highly interpersonal variability [...]

The Advantages of Probabilistic Survey Questions

In monetary policymaking, central bankers have long pointed out the importance of measuring the expectations of financial market participants, households, and firms —especially with regard to inflation and the central bank’s so-called “reaction function” to changes in the economic outlook. In addition to model- and market-implied measures, there has been a growing interest in and reliance on survey-based measures of subjective expectations. This article describes two major innovative survey initiatives conducted by the New York Fed to measure policy-relevant expectations of households and market participants: the Survey of Consumer Expectations, and the Survey of Primary Dealers and Survey of Market Participants. A key feature of these surveys is its use of a probabilistic question format to elicit the likelihood respondents assign to different future events. We discuss the advantages of using probabilistic questions, illustrate their value in more fully measuring beliefs and uncertainty, and document the pervasiveness and importance of heterogeneity in beliefs among our survey respondents

Modeling of the 2001 lava flow at Etna volcano by a Cellular Automata approach

The 2D Cellular Automata model, MAGFLOW, simulates lava flows and an algorithm based on the Monte Carlo approach solves the anisotropic flow direction problem. The model was applied to reproduce a lava flow formed during the 2001 Etna eruption. This eruption provided the opportunity to verify the ability of MAGFLOW to simulate the path of lava flows which was made possible due to the availability of the necessary data for both modeling and subsequent validation. MAGFLOW reproduced quite accurately the spread of flow. A good agreement was highlighted between the simulated and observed length on steep slopes, whereas the area covered by the lava flow tends to be overestimated. The major inconsistencies found in the comparison between simulated and observed lava flow due to neglecting the effects of ephemeral vent formation

Discrete derivatives and symmetries of difference equations

We show on the example of the discrete heat equation that for any given discrete derivative we can construct a nontrivial Leibniz rule suitable to find the symmetries of discrete equations. In this way we obtain a symmetry Lie algebra, defined in terms of shift operators, isomorphic to that of the continuous heat equation.Comment: submitted to J.Phys. A 10 Latex page

Approaching the seismogenic source of the Calabria 8 September 1905 earthquake: New geophysical, geological and biochemical data from the S. Eufemia Gulf (S Italy)

Recognizing the seismogenic source of major historical earthquakes, particularly when these have occurred offshore, is a long-standing issue across the Mediterranean Sea and elsewhere. The destructive earthquake (M ~7) that struck western Calabria (southern Italy) on the night of 8 September 1905 is one such case. having various authors proposed a seismogenic source, with apparently diverse hypotheses and without achieving a unique solution. To gain novel insight into the crustal volume where the 1905 earthquake took place and to seek a more robust solution for the seismogenic source associated with this destructive event, we carried out a well-targeted multidisciplinary survey within the Gulf of S. Eufemia (SE Tyrrhenian Sea), collecting geophysical data, oceanographic measurements, and biological, chemical and sedimentary samples. We identified three main tectonic features affecting the sedimentary basin in the Gulf of S. Eufemia: 1) a NE-SW striking, ca. 13-km-long, normal fault, here named S. Eufemia Fault; 2) a WNW-striking polyphased fault system; and 3) a likely E-W trending lineament. Among these, the normal fault shows evidence of activity witnessed by the deformed recent sediments and by its seabed rupture along which, locally, fluid leakage occurs. Features in agreement with the anomalous distribution of prokaryotic abundance and biopolymeric C content, resulted from the shallow sediments analyses. The numerous seismogenic sources proposed in the literature during the past 15 years make up a composite framework of this sector of western Calabria, that we tested against a) the geological evidence from the newly acquired dataset, and b) the regional seismotectonic models. Such assessment allows us to propose the NE-SW striking normal fault as the most probable candidate for the seismogenic source of the 1905 earthquake. Re-appraising a major historical earthquake as the 1905 one enhances the seismotectonic picture of western Calabria. Further understanding of the region and better constraining the location of the seismogenic source may be attained through integrated interpretation of our data together with a) on-land field evidence, and b) seismological modeling