10,732 research outputs found
Quantum Fluctuations Driven Orientational Disordering: A Finite-Size Scaling Study
The orientational ordering transition is investigated in the quantum
generalization of the anisotropic-planar-rotor model in the low temperature
regime. The phase diagram of the model is first analyzed within the mean-field
approximation. This predicts at a phase transition from the ordered to
the disordered state when the strength of quantum fluctuations, characterized
by the rotational constant , exceeds a critical value . As a function of temperature, mean-field theory predicts a range of
values of where the system develops long-range order upon cooling, but
enters again into a disordered state at sufficiently low temperatures
(reentrance). The model is further studied by means of path integral Monte
Carlo simulations in combination with finite-size scaling techniques,
concentrating on the region of parameter space where reentrance is predicted to
occur. The phase diagram determined from the simulations does not seem to
exhibit reentrant behavior; at intermediate temperatures a pronounced increase
of short-range order is observed rather than a genuine long-range order.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, RevTe
PMS67 HEALTH GAINS FOREGONE DUETO THE SUSTAINED DELAY OF ADEQUATE UTILIZATION OF EVIDENCE BASED TREATMENTS: THE CASE OF BISPHOSPHONATES FOR THE TREATMENT OF OSTEOPOROSIS
Kant's philosophy of the aesthetic and the philosophy of praxis
This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2012 Association for Economic and Social Analysis.This essay seeks to reconstruct the terms for a more productive engagement with Kant than is typical within contemporary academic cultural Marxism, which sees him as the cornerstone of a bourgeois model of the aesthetic. The essay argues that, in the Critique of Judgment, the aesthetic stands in as a substitute for the missing realm of human praxis. This argument is developed in relation to Kant's concept of reflective judgment that is in turn related to a methodological shift toward inductive and analogical procedures that help Kant overcome the dualisms of the first two Critiques. This reassessment of Kant's aesthetic is further clarified by comparing it with and offering a critique of Terry Eagleton's assessment of the Kantian aesthetic as synonymous with ideology
Marx, the labour theory of value and the transformation problem
This article reconsiders what Marx says about the transformation problem in Chapter IX of Capital Volume III, in the light of Marx's claim, made in Capital Volume I, that the value of a commodity is determined by the socially necessary labour time that goes into its production. The article criticises the traditional way of thinking about the transformation problem, according to which what Marx is doing in Chapter IX is considering the transformation of values into prices ('prices of production'). I argue that Marx's prices of production may be thought of as modified values. The discussion in Chapter IX is usually seen as a supplement to the labour theory of value. On this view its purpose is to explain how and why the prices of commodities sometimes deviate from their values. Against this view, the paper argues that Marx's remarks in Chapter IX can be seen as an elaboration on or development of the labour theory of value. It is a refinement of the account offered in Capital Volume I, which takes into consideration what Marx had in mind there when he introduced the notion of socially necessary as opposed to actual labour-time. The paper draws attention to the importance of Marx's distinction between the individual value of a commodity (determined by actual labour-time) and its social value (determined by socially necessary labour-time). It also draws attention to the methodological difficulties that are generated by any attempt to read Marx in this way
Exchange Monte Carlo for Molecular Simulations with Monoelectronic Hamiltonians
We introduce a general Monte Carlo scheme for achieving atomistic simulations
with monoelectronic Hamiltonians including the thermalization of both nuclear
and electronic degrees of freedom. The kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm is used to
obtain the exact occupation numbers of the electronic levels at canonical
equilibrium, and comparison is made with Fermi-Dirac statistics in infinite and
finite systems. The effects of a nonzero electronic temperature on the
thermodynamic properties of liquid silver and sodium clusters are presented
Nigerian scam e-mails and the charms of capital
So-called '419' or 'advance-fee' e-mail frauds have proved remarkably successful. Global losses to these scams are believed to run to billions of dollars. Although it can be assumed that the promise of personal gain which these e-mails hold out is part of what motivates victims, there is more than greed at issue here. How is it that the seemingly incredible offers given in these unsolicited messages can find an audience willing to treat them as credible? The essay offers a speculative thesis in answer to this question. Firstly, it is argued, these scams are adept at exploiting common presuppositions in British and American culture regarding Africa and the relationships that are assumed to exist between their nations and those in the global south. Secondly, part of the appeal of these e-mails lies in the fact that they appear to reveal the processes by which wealth is created and distributed in the global economy. They thus speak to their readers’ attempts to map or conceptualise the otherwise inscrutable processes of that economy. In the conclusion the essay looks at the contradictions in the official state response to this phenomena
Effects of C1-inhibitor and rSP-C surfactant on oxygenation and histology in rats with lavage-induced acute lung injury
The Change Laboratory in Higher Education:research-intervention using activity theory
In this chapter we discuss the Change Laboratory as an intervention-research methodology in higher education. We trace its theoretical origins in dialectical-materialism and activity theory, consider the recommendations made by its main proponents, and discuss its use in a range of higher education settings. We suggest that the Change Laboratory offers considerable potential for higher education research, though tensions between Change Laboratory design recommendations and typical higher education contexts require consideration
Pattern formation driven by nematic ordering of assembling biopolymers
The biopolymers actin and microtubules are often in an ongoing
assembling/disassembling state far from thermal equilibrium. Above a critical
density this leads to spatially periodic patterns, as shown by a scaling
argument and in terms of a phenomenological continuum model, that meets also
Onsager's statistical theory of the nematic--to--isotropic transition in the
absence of reaction kinetics.
This pattern forming process depends much on nonlinear effects and a common
linear stability analysis of the isotropic distribution of the filaments is
often misleading. The wave number of the pattern decreases with the
assembling/disassembling rate and there is an uncommon discontinuous transition
between the nematic and the periodic state.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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