Long-Distance Dominance of the CP Asymmetry in B->X_{s,d}+gamma Decays

We show that in the Standard Model the parametrically leading (by a factor 1/alpha_s) contribution to the inclusive CP asymmetry in B->X_{s,d}+gamma decays arises from a long-distance effect in the interference of the electromagnetic dipole amplitude with the amplitude for an up-quark penguin transition accompanied by soft gluon emission. This contribution is governed by a single hadronic parameter Lambda_{17}^u related to a matrix elements of a non-local operator. In view of current experimental data, a future precision measurement of the flavor-averaged CP asymmetry in B->X_s+gamma will signal the presence of new physics only if a value below -2% is found. A cleaner probe of new physics is offered by the difference of the CP asymmetries in charged versus neutral B-meson decays.Comment: 4 page

Purposive Communication is Not Enough: Exploring English Language Learning from the perspectives of English majors in a Philippine Higher Education Institution

The structural changes brought by the K to 12 basic education program significantly impact not only ELT and ELL in basic education, but ELT and ELL in higher education as well. English language courses in the higher education general education domain were phased out, or for the majority of HEIs in the Philippines, reduced to a course called Purposive Communication. Using data from students who had taken Purposive Communication in their year 1 in the university, this paper argues that Purposive Communication is not enough to reinforce all the English language skills expected for higher education students to perform during and after their time in the university. This paper invokes policy implementers to consider the inclusion of additional English-language courses in higher education to provide avenues for students to practice their communication skills in English and address the country’s declining proficiency in using the English language

A CORPUS-BASED ANALYSIS OF PREPOSITIONS OF TIME AND LOCATION IN FILIPINO STUDENTS’ WRITTEN ESSAYS

One of the gremlins in ESL pedagogy are prepositions, specifically at, in, and on that direct nominal groups to general or specific moments and locations.  In the Filipino language, at, in, and on is equivalent to only one preposition: sa.  This makes the prepositions of time and location at, in, and on difficult for Filipino students to learn, and more difficult for Filipino teachers to teach.  Using a corpus of written essays in English, this study described the ways Filipino students use prepositions of time and location at, in, and on.  The analysis revealed that there is limited room for diversity and localization and idiosyncrasy in Filipino students’ utility of prepositions of time and location at, in, and on.  Results of the study, however, may be used as models in teaching prepositions of time and location at, in, and on to further strengthen Filipino students’ proficiency in using these lexical items in written communication.Keywords: Philippine English, prepositions of time and location, corpus-based analysi

On the dynamics of initially correlated open quantum systems: theory and applications

We show that the dynamics of any open quantum system that is initially correlated with its environment can be described by a set of (or less) completely positive maps, where d is the dimension of the system. Only one such map is required for the special case of no initial correlations. The same maps describe the dynamics of any system-environment state obtained from the initial state by a local operation on the system. The reduction of the system dynamics to a set of completely positive maps allows known numerical and analytic tools for uncorrelated initial states to be applied to the general case of initially correlated states, which we exemplify by solving the qubit dephasing model for such states, and provides a natural approach to quantum Markovianity for this case. We show that this set of completely positive maps can be experimentally characterised using only local operations on the system, via a generalisation of noise spectroscopy protocols. As further applications, we first consider the problem of retrodicting the dynamics of an open quantum system which is in an arbitrary state when it becomes accessible to the experimenter, and explore the conditions under which retrodiction is possible. We also introduce a related one-sided or limited-access tomography protocol for determining an arbitrary bipartite state, evolving under a sufficiently rich Hamiltonian, via local operations and measurements on just one component. We simulate this protocol for a physical model of particular relevance to nitrogen-vacancy centres, and in particular show how to reconstruct the density matrix of a set of three qubits, interacting via dipolar coupling and in the presence of local magnetic fields, by measuring and controlling only one of them.Comment: 19 pages. Comments welcom

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROGRAMS TEACHERS AND MTB MLE IMPLEMENTATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

According to the new The K to 12 Basic Education Program implemented in the Philippines in 2013, modifications in pre-service education for aspiring teachers shall be applied to conform to the requirements of both K to 12 and its auxiliary program for the first three levels called Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) that mandates the utility of students’ mother tongue(s) as medium of instruction. The agencies in charge for these modifications are the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education. Their task involves ensuring that the Teacher Education curriculum offered in different higher education institutions in the Philippines will meet the necessary quality standards for new teachers. However, since the implementation of MTB-MLE as a national policy in the School Year 2012-2013, no national guideline has been issued to higher education institutions regarding the said modifications.This paper locates voices of tertiary instructors employed in elementary education programs in four selected universities across the Philippines during the implementation of the MTB-MLE policy. This study specifically sought to determine the interventions applied by university administrations to their elementary education programs to ensure that their adult learners’ knowledge and skills are aligned with the national policies even without direct guidelines from any macro agents. Central to this paper are the perceptions of the informants regarding the interventions applied by their university administrations to their elementary education programs

Flexicurity outside the employment relationship? Re-engineering social security for the new economy

The existing social insurance model was devised during the Beveridge era, which was premised on ‘male breadwinners’ and full-time employment. Since then, flexible labour markets have resulted in the erosion of the standard employment relationship and a rise in self-employment and other entrepreneurial forms of work. “Atypical” work, including zero hour contracts and agency work, have fragmented the labour contract and denied workers employment status. When coupled with forced self-employment in the gig economy, it is arguably the case that flexible labour markets demand equally flexible protections if the new ‘entrepreneurial’ workers are to fulfil their productive capacities. And yet, the social insurance system has not adapted to these changes. The concept of ‘flexicurity’ has been utilised with varying degrees of success in different European countries to make adaptations to production and labour market systems. The aim of this chapter is to re-examine social security aspects of this formula in order to re-calibrate the scope of social protection in developed economies in order to benefit all labour market participants. The chapter examines the legal and philosophical nature of social insurance as a species of social rights based on universal human rights that guarantee participation in the production and distribution of society’s welfare. The transformation of social and employment policy to manage the risks in the new economy will require a re-configuration of the institutions of social protection to re-align techniques of intervention with the nature of the risks they are intended to cover

Draft Genome Sequence of Bacillus safensis RP10, Isolated from Soil in the Atacama Desert, Chile.

Genome analysis of Bacillus safensis RP10, a strain from the soil of Atacama Desert in northern Chile, reflects a bacterium adapted to live in soil containing high levels of heavy metals, high salt conditions, and low carbon and energy sources

PAssive Thermal Coating Observatory Operating in Low Earth Orbit (PATCOOL)

The PATCOOL is a NASA sponsored, University of Florida developed 3U CubeSat meant to investigate the feasibility of using a cryogenic selective surface coating as a new, more efficient way of passively cooling components in space. Initial tests on the ground demonstrate that this coating should provide a much higher reflectance of the Sun's irradiant power than any existing coating, while still providing far-infrared power emission. The ultimate validation of this technology requires on-orbit testing. PATCOOL hosts a 4-sample housing, with the samples shaped as thin cylinders (coin-like). Two samples are coated with state-of-the-art material, while the other pair uses the new coating to be evaluated. The temperatures of all samples during the mission (minimum 72 hours of data collection) are measured via thermistors. The samples are connected via thin Kevlar strings to the housing, to minimize heat transfer. The housing is designed to shield the samples from Earth's thermal radiation, and the CubeSat is attitude stabilized and controlled via a gravity gradient boom, magnetorquers and a reaction wheel set. Thermal Desktop simulations show PATCOOL's ability to thermally isolate the samples from heat exchanges other than with Sun and deep space, thanks to its thermal design and the chosen attitude profil

Passive Thermal Coating Observatory Operating in Low-Earth Orbit (PATCOOL) Cubesat Design to Test Passive Thermal Coatings in Space

The PATCOOL is a NASA sponsored, University of Florida developed 3U Cu-beSat meant to investigate the feasibility of using a cryogenic selective surface coating as a new, more efficient way of passively cooling components in space. Initial tests on the ground demonstrate that this coating should provide a much higher reflectance of the Suns irradiant power than any existing coating, while still providing far-infrared power emission. The ultimate validation of this tech-nology requires on-orbit testing. PATCOOL hosts a 4-sample housing, with the samples shaped as thin cylinders (coin-like). Two samples are coated with state-of-the-art material, while the other pair uses the new coating to be evaluated. The temperatures of all samples during the mission (minimum 72 hours of data col-lection) are measured via thermistors. The samples are connected via thin Kevlar strings to the housing, to minimize heat transfer. The housing is designed to shield the samples from Earths thermal radiation, and the CubeSat is attitude stabilized and controlled via a gravity gradient boom, magnetorquers and a reaction wheel set. Thermal Desktop simulations show PATCOOLs ability to thermally isolate the samples from heat exchanges other than with Sun and deep space, thanks to its thermal design and the chosen attitude profile

Politician’s Equity Holdings and Corporate Social Responsibility

This study examines the relationship between politician’s equity holdings and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of companies. Politician equity holdings reflect not only the self-interested investment activity of firms, but also a potential source of benefit to the firm as politicians naturally pursue their self-interest through pro-firm legislative and regulatory activity. These investments come at the cost, however, of increased public scrutiny and political monitoring over the firm’s activities. Using politician equity holding data and CSR data for a sample of S&P 1500 firms, we find evidence that firms respond to politician equity holdings through both increased CSR strengths and concerns, suggesting that both social pressure and politician interventions are motivating firm CSR behavior. These findings are robust to the use of alternative models which account for potential endogeneity concerns