Ludin’s Kopftuch (headdress): A problem of religious freedom in German schools

Fereshta Ludin is a German citizen and devout “Muslimin”. She has been denied leave to wear her “Kopftuch” in the classroom. She has lost her case in the courtrooms of the states where appeals were lodged to lift the ban. She may consequently not teach at any public school in Germany. We argue that Ludin is entitled to wear the “Kopftuch” on grounds of her right to religious freedom and that the attempt to deny her this entitlement constitutes a breach of individual rights. Following the South African philosopher, Denise Meyerson, we maintain that the domain of religion constitutes an area of intractable dispute, and that the state is not entitled to limit liberty in this domain because it cannot justify limitations in a neutrally acceptable way. Meyerson’s arguments rest on the acceptability of Rawls’s notion of public reason. We test Ludin’s case against Jeremy Waldron’s objections to the use of deliberative discipline of public reason in cultural disputes and against his alternative to the politics of identity. Meyerson’s approach offers protection of religious dissent in a way Waldron’s cannot. One significant reason for this is Waldron’s insistence on the elimination of identity claims from the conversation between cultures seeking accommodation with one another in the liberal pluralist state. However, bracketing identity claims eliminates what is peculiar about Ludin’s case. This we bring out by drawing on views of Sawitri Sahorsa and Melissa Williams. We argue that Ludin’s dilemma is twofold: her status as “metic” – as a member of a minority at the margins of mainstream German culture, and her status as “Muslimin” – as one believed to be suffering sexual discrimination in her own culture, hang together in a way that challenges the integration policies of the German state and embarrasses German feminism

Avalanche Dynamics in Evolution, Growth, and Depinning Models

The dynamics of complex systems in nature often occurs in terms of punctuations, or avalanches, rather than following a smooth, gradual path. A comprehensive theory of avalanche dynamics in models of growth, interface depinning, and evolution is presented. Specifically, we include the Bak-Sneppen evolution model, the Sneppen interface depinning model, the Zaitsev flux creep model, invasion percolation, and several other depinning models into a unified treatment encompassing a large class of far from equilibrium processes. The formation of fractal structures, the appearance of $1/f$ noise, diffusion with anomalous Hurst exponents, Levy flights, and punctuated equilibria can all be related to the same underlying avalanche dynamics. This dynamics can be represented as a fractal in $d$ spatial plus one temporal dimension. We develop a scaling theory that relates many of the critical exponents in this broad category of extremal models, representing different universality classes, to two basic exponents characterizing the fractal attractor. The exact equations and the derived set of scaling relations are consistent with numerical simulations of the above mentioned models.Comment: 27 pages in revtex, no figures included. Figures or hard copy of the manuscript supplied on reques

Effectiveness of integrating a pragmatic pathway for prescribing liraglutide 3.0mg in weight management services (STRIVE study): a multicentre, open-label, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial

Summary. Background: An effective prescribing pathway for liraglutide 3 mg, an approved obesity pharmacotherapy, may improve treatment access. This trial compared a targeted prescribing pathway for liraglutide 3 mg with multiple stopping rules in specialist weight management services (SWMS) to standard SWMS care. Methods: This phase four, two-year, multicentre, open-label, parallel-group, real-world randomized clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03036800) enrolled adults with BMI ≥35 kg/m2 plus prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, hypertension or sleep apnoea from five SWMS in Ireland and UK. Participants were randomly allocated (2:1, stratified by centre and BMI) to SWMS care plus a targeted prescribing pathway for once daily subcutaneous liraglutide 3 mg (intervention) with stopping rules at 16 (≥5% weight loss, WL), 32 (≥10% WL) and 52 weeks (≥15% WL) or to SWMS care alone (control) through an online randomization service. The primary outcome was WL ≥15% at 52 weeks, assessed by complete cases analysis. All randomized participants were included in safety analysis. Findings From November 28, 2017 to February 28, 2020, 434 participants were screened, and 392 randomized (260 intervention; 132 control), while 294 (201 intervention; 93 control) included in the 52 weeks complete case analysis. More intervention than control participants achieved WL ≥15% at 52 weeks [51/201 (25.4%) vs 6/93 (6.5%); odds ratio 5.18; 95% CI 2.09, 12.88; p < 0.0001]. More adverse events occurred in the intervention (238/260, 91.5%; two deaths) than control (89/132, 67.4%; no deaths) group. Interpretation: A targeted prescribing pathway for liraglutide 3 mg helps more people achieve ≥15% WL at 52 weeks than standard care alone

Measurement of W Polarisation at LEP

The three different helicity states of W bosons produced in the reaction e+ e- -> W+ W- -> l nu q q~ at LEP are studied using leptonic and hadronic W decays. Data at centre-of-mass energies \sqrt s = 183-209 GeV are used to measure the polarisation of W bosons, and its dependence on the W boson production angle. The fraction of longitudinally polarised W bosons is measured to be 0.218 \pm 0.027 \pm 0.016 where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation

Measurement of W Polarisation at LEP

The three different helicity states of W bosons produced in the reaction e+ e- -> W+ W- -> l nu q q~ at LEP are studied using leptonic and hadronic W decays. Data at centre-of-mass energies \sqrt s = 183-209 GeV are used to measure the polarisation of W bosons, and its dependence on the W boson production angle. The fraction of longitudinally polarised W bosons is measured to be 0.218 \pm 0.027 \pm 0.016 where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation

Neutral-Current Four-Fermion Production in e+e- Interactions at LEP

Neutral-current four-fermion production, e+e- -> ffff is studied in 0.7/fb of data collected with the L3 detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies root(s)=183-209GeV. Four final states are considered: qqvv, qqll, llll and llvv, where l denotes either an electron or a muon. Their cross sections are measured and found to agree with the Standard Model predictions. In addition, the e+e- -> Zgamma* -> ffff process is studied and its total cross section at the average centre-of-mass energy 196.6GeV is found to be 0.29 +/- 0.05 +/- 0.03 pb, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction of 0.22 pb. Finally, the mass spectra of the qqll final states are analysed to search for the possible production of a new neutral heavy particle, for which no evidence is found

Bose-Einstein Correlations of Neutral and Charged Pions in Hadronic Z Decays

Bose-Einstein correlations of both neutral and like-sign charged pion pairs are measured in a sample of 2 million hadronic Z decays collected with the L3 detector at LEP. The analysis is performed in the four-momentum difference range 300 MeV < Q < 2 GeV. The radius of the neutral pion source is found to be smaller than that of charged pions. This result is in qualitative agreement with the string fragmentation model

Z Boson Pair-Production at LEP

Events stemming from the pair-production of Z bosons in e^+e^- collisions are studied using 217.4 pb^-1 of data collected with the L3 detector at centre-of-mass energies from 200 GeV up to 209 GeV. The special case of events with b quarks is also investigated. Combining these events with those collected at lower centre-of-mass energies, the Standard Model predictions for the production mechanism are verified. In addition, limits are set on anomalous couplings of neutral gauge bosons and on effects of extra space dimensions

Study of the e+e- -> Ze+e- process at LEP

The cross section of the process e+e- -> Ze+e is measured with 0.7fb^-1 of data collected with the L3 detector at LEP. Decays of the Z boson into quarks and muons are considered at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 183GeV up to 209GeV. The measurements are found to agree with Standard Model predictions, achieving a precision of about 10% for the hadronic channel

Lambda and Sigma0 Pair Production in Two-Photon Collisions at LEP

Strange baryon pair production in two-photon collisions is studied with the L3 detector at LEP. The analysis is based on data collected at e+e- centre-of-mass energies from 91 GeV to 208 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 844 pb-1. The processes gamma gamma -> Lambda Anti-lambda and gamma gamma -> Sigma0 Anti-sigma0 are identified. Their cross sections as a function of the gamma gamma centre-of-mass energy are measured and results are compared to predictions of the quark-diquark model