Astrophysical and Cosmological Tests of Quantum Theory

We discuss several proposals for astrophysical and cosmological tests of quantum theory. The tests are motivated by deterministic hidden-variables theories, and in particular by the view that quantum physics is merely an effective theory of an equilibrium state. The proposed tests involve searching for nonequilibrium violations of quantum theory in: primordial inflaton fluctuations imprinted on the cosmic microwave background, relic cosmological particles, Hawking radiation, photons with entangled partners inside black holes, neutrino oscillations, and particles from very distant sources.Comment: 25 pages. Amendment to section 7. Contribution to: "The Quantum Universe", special issue of Journal of Physics A, dedicated to Prof. G.-C. Ghirardi on the occasion of his seventieth birthda

Effect of metal clusters on the swelling of gold-fluorocarbon-polymer composite films

We have investigated the phenomenon of swelling due to acetone diffusion in fluorocarbon polymer films doped with different gold concentrations below the percolation threshold. The presence of the gold clusters in the polymer is shown to improve the mixing between the fluorocarbon polymer and the acetone, which is not a good solvent for this kind of polymers. In order to explain the experimental results the stoichiometry and the morphology of the polymer--metal system have been studied and a modified version of the Flory--Huggins model has been developed

Komunikasi Persuasif PT. Pegadaian (Persero) Dalam Meningkatkan Jumlah Nasabah Tabungan Emas, Cabang Panam Kota Pekanbaru Provinsi Riau

Gold is one asset because gold has a value that tends to be stable even will give advantage in time. Therefore some people make gold as a means to save.PT. Pegadaian (Persero) is one of the state-owned companies in Indonesia. The success of PT. Pegadaian can be seen from the many branches of each region in Indonesia and various product service programs that have been launched the PT. Pegadaian, one of which is gold saving. This program invites people to learn to invest where the investment is done by saving based on the provisions of at least Rp.5.000,00 then the customer has been getting gold.PT. Pegadaian (Persero) is usually synonymous with service to the community, especially the middle class down, therefore, the gold savings that issued PT. Pegadaian (Persero) is a program that is addressed to the lower middle class. However, over time and seen from the increasing number of customers saving gold, the gold savings developed into a program that is not only aimed at the middle class but also aimed at the general community. Until now, gold saving has been run throughout PT. Pegadaian Branch and Unit as in PT. Pegadaian Branch of Pekanbaru City Panam Riau Province.The results of this study explain that the increasing number of customers saving gold at PT. Pegadaian (Persero) Pekanbaru Panam Branch, Riau Province, is due to the efforts of PT. Pegadaian in recruiting potential customers. One of the efforts and ways to do is to run a process of persuasive communication. The success of the persuasive process can be seen based on the characteristics of communicators PT. Pegadaian (Persero) in recruiting prospective customers, the form of persuasive message submitted by PT. Pegadaian (Persero) in recruiting potential customers and communication media used by PT. Pegadaian (Persero) in recruiting potential customers

Prediction of Human Phenotype Ontology terms by means of hierarchical ensemble methods

Background The prediction of human gene–abnormal phenotype associations is a fundamental step toward the discovery of novel genes associated with human disorders, especially when no genes are known to be associated with a specific disease. In this context the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) provides a standard categorization of the abnormalities associated with human diseases. While the problem of the prediction of gene–disease associations has been widely investigated, the related problem of gene–phenotypic feature (i.e., HPO term) associations has been largely overlooked, even if for most human genes no HPO term associations are known and despite the increasing application of the HPO to relevant medical problems. Moreover most of the methods proposed in literature are not able to capture the hierarchical relationships between HPO terms, thus resulting in inconsistent and relatively inaccurate predictions. Results We present two hierarchical ensemble methods that we formally prove to provide biologically consistent predictions according to the hierarchical structure of the HPO. The modular structure of the proposed methods, that consists in a “flat” learning first step and a hierarchical combination of the predictions in the second step, allows the predictions of virtually any flat learning method to be enhanced. The experimental results show that hierarchical ensemble methods are able to predict novel associations between genes and abnormal phenotypes with results that are competitive with state-of- the-art algorithms and with a significant reduction of the computational complexity. Conclusions Hierarchical ensembles are efficient computational methods that guarantee biologically meaningful predictions that obey the true path rule, and can be used as a tool to improve and make consistent the HPO terms predictions starting from virtually any flat learning method. The implementation of the proposed methods is available as an R package from the CRAN repository

Carbon balance assessment of a natural steppe of southern Siberia by multiple constraint approach

Steppe ecosystems represent an interesting case in which the assessment of carbon balance may be performed through a cross validation of the eddy covariance measurements against ecological inventory estimates of carbon exchanges (Ehman et al., 2002; Curtis et al., 2002). <br><br> Indeed, the widespread presence of ideal conditions for the applicability of the eddy covariance technique, as vast and homogeneous grass vegetation cover over flat terrains (Baldocchi, 2003), make steppes a suitable ground to ensure a constrain to flux estimates with independent methodological approaches. <br><br> We report about the analysis of the carbon cycle of a true steppe ecosystem in southern Siberia during the growing season of 2004 in the framework of the TCOS-Siberia project activities performed by continuous monitoring of CO<sub>2</sub> fluxes at ecosystem scale by the eddy covariance method, fortnightly samplings of phytomass, and ingrowth cores extractions for NPP assessment, and weekly measurements of heterotrophic component of soil CO<sub>2</sub> effluxes obtained by an experiment of root exclusion. <br><br> The carbon balance of the monitored natural steppe was, according to micrometeorological measurements, a sink of carbon of 151.7±36.9 g C m<sup>−2</sup>, cumulated during the growing season from May to September. This result was in agreement with the independent estimate through ecological inventory which yielded a sink of 150.1 g C m<sup>−2</sup> although this method was characterized by a large uncertainty (±130%) considering the 95% confidence interval of the estimate. Uncertainties in belowground process estimates account for a large part of the error. Thus, in particular efforts to better quantify the dynamics of root biomass (growth and turnover) have to be undertaken in order to reduce the uncertainties in the assessment of NPP. This assessment should be preferably based on the application of multiple methods, each one characterized by its own merits and flaws

Existential Contextuality and the Models of Meyer, Kent and Clifton

It is shown that the models recently proposed by Meyer, Kent and Clifton (MKC) exhibit a novel kind of contextuality, which we term existential contextuality. In this phenomenon it is not simply the pre-existing value but the actual existence of an observable which is context dependent. This result confirms the point made elsewhere, that the MKC models do not, as the authors claim, ``nullify'' the Kochen-Specker theorem. It may also be of some independent interest.Comment: Revtex, 7 pages, 1 figure. Replaced with published versio

Order in de Broglie - Bohm quantum mechanics

A usual assumption in the so-called {\it de Broglie - Bohm} approach to quantum dynamics is that the quantum trajectories subject to typical `guiding' wavefunctions turn to be quite irregular, i.e. {\it chaotic} (in the dynamical systems' sense). In the present paper, we consider mainly cases in which the quantum trajectories are {\it ordered}, i.e. they have zero Lyapunov characteristic numbers. We use perturbative methods to establish the existence of such trajectories from a theoretical point of view, while we analyze their properties via numerical experiments. Using a 2D harmonic oscillator system, we first establish conditions under which a trajectory can be shown to avoid close encounters with a moving nodal point, thus avoiding the source of chaos in this system. We then consider series expansions for trajectories both in the interior and the exterior of the domain covered by nodal lines, probing the domain of convergence as well as how successful the series are in comparison with numerical computations or regular trajectories. We then examine a H\'{e}non - Heiles system possessing regular trajectories, thus generalizing previous results. Finally, we explore a key issue of physical interest in the context of the de Broglie - Bohm formalism, namely the influence of order in the so-called {\it quantum relaxation} effect. We show that the existence of regular trajectories poses restrictions to the quantum relaxation process, and we give examples in which the relaxation is suppressed even when we consider initial ensembles of only chaotic trajectories, provided, however, that the system as a whole is characterized by a certain degree of order.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figure