Structure of solutions of the Skyrme model on three-sphere. Numerical results

The hedgehog Skyrme model on three-sphere admits very rich spectrum of solitonic solutions which can be encompassed by a strikingly simple scheme. The main result of this paper is the statement of the tripartite structure of solutions of the model and the discovery in what configurations these solutions appear. The model contains features of more complicated models in General Relativity and as such can give insight into them.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures in, with emai

Plasmonic Hot Spots in Triangular Tapered Graphene Microcrystals

Recently, plasmons in graphene have been observed experimentally using scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy. In this paper, we develop a simplified analytical approach to describe the behavior in triangular samples. Replacing Coulomb interaction by a short-range one reduces the problem to a Helmholtz equation, amenable to analytical treatment. We demonstrate that even with our simplifications, the system still exhibits the key features seen in the experiment.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Communication Disability in Fiji:Community Cultural Beliefs and Attitudes

Purpose: Beliefs about communication disability vary according to the cultural context, and influence people’s attitudes and help-seeking behaviour. Little is known about Fijians with communication disability or the communities in which they live, and specialist services for people with communication disability are yet to be established in Fiji. An understanding of Fijian beliefs about the causes of communication disability and attitudes towards people with communication disability may inform future service development. Method: An interpretivist qualitative research paradigm and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework informed this project’s design. Scenarios of adults and children with communication disability were presented to 144 participants, randomly sampled across multiple public spaces in two Fiji cities. Thematic analysis of responses to 15 survey questions revealed participant beliefs about the causes and attitudes towards people with communication disability. Results: Three clusters describing perceived causes emerged from the analysis - internal, external, and supernatural. Major clusters across child and adult scenarios were similar; however, response categories within the scenarios differed. Community attitudes to people with communication disability were predominantly negative. These community attitudes influenced individual participants’ beliefs about educational and employment opportunities for Fijians with communication disability. Conclusion: Determination and acknowledgement of individuals’ belief systems informs development of culturally appropriate intervention programmes and health promotion activities. Implications: Speech-language pathologists and other professionals working with Fijian communities should acknowledge community belief systems and develop culturally-specific health promotion activities, assessments, and interventions

Infrared nano-spectroscopy and imaging of collective superfluid excitations in conventional and high-temperature superconductors

We investigate near-field infrared spectroscopy and superfluid polariton imaging experiments on conventional and unconventional superconductors. Our modeling shows that near-field spectroscopy can measure the magnitude of the superconducting energy gap in Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer-like superconductors with nanoscale spatial resolution. We demonstrate how the same technique can measure the c-axis plasma frequency, and thus the c-axis superfluid density, of layered unconventional superconductors with a similar spatial resolution. Our modeling also shows that near-field techniques can image superfluid surface mode interference patterns near physical and electronic boundaries. We describe how these images can be used to extract the collective mode dispersion of anisotropic superconductors with sub-diffractional spatial resolution.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

The Quasar Pair Q 1634+267 A, B and the Binary QSO vs. Dark Lens Hypotheses

Deep HST/NICMOS H (F160W) band observations of the z=1.96 quasar pair Q 1634+267A,B reveal no signs of a lens galaxy to a 1 sigma threshold of approximately 22.5 mag. The minimum luminosity for a normal lens galaxy would be a 6L_* galaxy at z > 0.5, which is 650 times greater than our detection threshold. Our observation constrains the infrared mass-to-light ratio of any putative, early-type, lens galaxy to (M/L)_H > 690h_65 (1200h_65) for Omega_0=0.1 (1.0) and H_0=65h_65 km/s/Mpc. We would expect to detect a galaxy somewhere in the field because of the very strong Mg II absorption lines at z=1.1262 in the Q 1634+267 A spectrum, but the HST H-band, I-band (F785LP) and V-band (F555W) images require that any associated galaxy be very under-luminous less than 0.1 L^*_H (1.0 L^*_I) if it lies within less than 40 h^{-1} (100 h^{-1}) kpc from Q 1634+267 A,B. While the large image separation (3.86 arcsec) and the lack of a lens galaxy strongly favor interpreting Q 1634+267A,B as a binary quasar system, the spectral similarity remains a puzzle. We estimate that at most 0.06% of randomly selected quasar pairs would have spectra as similar to each other as the spectra of Q 1634+267 A and B. Moreover, spectral similarities observed for the 14 quasar pairs are significantly greater than would be expected for an equivalent sample of randomly selected field quasars. Depending on how strictly we define similarity, we estimate that only 0.01--3% of randomly drawn samples of 14 quasar pairs would have as many similar pairs as the observational sample.Comment: 24 pages, including 4 figures, LaTex, ApJ accepted, comments from the editor included, minor editorial change

Educational aspirations in inner city schools

The research aimed to assess the nature and level of pupils’ educational aspirations and to elucidate the factors that influence these aspirations. A sample of five inner city comprehensive secondary schools were selected by their Local Authority because of poor pupil attendance, below average examination results and low rates of continuing in full-time education after the age of 16. Schools were all ethnically mixed and co-educational. Over 800 pupils aged 12-14 completed a questionnaire assessing pupils’ experience of home, school and their peers. A sub-sample of 48 pupils selected by teachers to reflect ethnicity and ability levels in individual schools also participated in detailed focus group interviews. There were no significant differences in aspirations by gender or year group, but differences between ethnic groups were marked. Black African, Asian Other and Pakistani groups had significantly higher educational aspirations than the White British group, who had the lowest aspirations. The results suggest the high aspirations of Black African, Asian Other and Pakistani pupils are mediated through strong academic self-concept, positive peer support, a commitment to schooling and high educational aspirations in the home. They also suggest that low educational aspirations may have different mediating influences in different ethnic groups. The low aspirations of White British pupils seem to relate most strongly to poor academic self-concept and low educational aspirations in the home, while for Black Caribbean pupils disaffection, negative peers and low commitment to schooling appear more relevant. Interviews with pupils corroborated the above findings and further illuminated the factors students described as important in their educational aspirations. The results are discussed in relation to theories of aspiration which stress its nature as a cultural capacity