Medicine and Motherhood: The Silent Loads

This poem articulates the challenging and often misunderstood experience of being a mother in medical school It describes a silent load that often takes a toll on mothers in medicine It describes the feeling of simultaneously being pulled in opposing directions, the pain of missing on special family moments and events The poem offers hope and solidarity for mothers who are enduring this unique experience

The Train of Time

This poem evolved over the course of one year and was first written in a spontaneous effort to cathartically release a spectrum of challenging experiences. It details the struggles, triumphs and reflections associated with being a mother in medical school

Bibliometrics, Research Performance Evaluation, and Beyond: Towards Actionable Intelligence for Science Administrators, Policymakers, and Funders

Abstract Over the last four decades, bibliometric analysis for research assessment has moved from rejection to acceptance. Current uses of these metrics, however, can be helpful or destructive. Evaluation has its place within the realm of accountability for the use of public and private funding, as well as for research portfolio review and strategic planning. On the other hand, when the measures become the goal in and of themselves, researcher behavior may change leading to unintended negative consequences. Mere scoring or ranking is a low-level, one-dimensional application of rich and multivariate publication and citation data. These data, when exploited in many ways and from many angles, can contribute to a much deeper understanding of the activity, direction, and dynamics of contemporary science. That, when combined with peer review, adds an extra depth of understanding and informs decisions, usually hard ones. Beyond evaluation, bibliometric data can describe fruitful collaborations, intensive exchanges, and extreme distributions. Typically, the nature of the distributions suggests a radical approach to the use of research resources, but this must be balanced by social and political necessities as well as consideration for seeding the ground for the next generation. Visualization tools are beginning to appear but are today not yet adequate for practical use by science administrators, policymakers, and funders. Actionable intelligence is what they need -- to make difficult choices, optimize resources, and build a strong science base for the future.</p

Neutron Lifetime Measured with Stored Ultracold Neutrons

The neutron lifetime has been measured by counting the neutrons remaining in a fluid-walled bottle as a function of the duration of storage. Losses of neutrons caused by the wall reflections are eliminated by varying the bottle volume-to-surface ratio. The result obtained is τβ=887.6±3 s

Quasielastic scattering in the interaction of ultracold neutrons with a liquid wall and application in a reanalysis of the Mambo I neutron-lifetime experiment

We develop a theory of ultracold and very cold neutron scattering on viscoelastic surface waves up to second-order perturbation theory. The results are applied to reanalyze the 1989 neutron-lifetime experiment using ultracold neutron storage in a Fomblin-coated vessel by Mampe et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 593 (1989)]. Inclusion of this theory of the quasielastic scattering process in the data analysis shifts the neutron lifetime value from 887.6 ± 3 to 882.5 ± 2.1 s

The Rational Faculty of Desire

This essay is about the relationship between the notions of practical reason, the will, and choice in Kant’s practical philosophy. Although Kant explicitly identifies practical reason and the will, many interpreters argue that he cannot really mean it on the grounds that unless they are distinct, irrational and, especially, immoral action is impossible. Other readers affirm his identification but distinguish the will from choice on the same basis. We argue that proper attention to Kant’s conception of practical reason as a capacity reveals that these distinctions are neither textually grounded nor philosophically necessary. His moral psychology concerns a single capacity, practical reason, which is the will, and whose actualities in this or that individual fall under the title of choice. Practical reason is the will and choice because it is the rational faculty of desire: a rational being’s capacity to be, by means of her representations, the cause of the actuality of their objects. This, we argue, is entailed by his conception of rational action: action not just in accordance with, but in and through the representation of, principles. The possibility of irrational action is explained not by a distinction between capacities but by the finitude, and thereby the fallibility, of human reason

An Improved Experimental Limit on the Electric Dipole Moment of the Neutron

An experimental search for an electric-dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron has been carried out at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), Grenoble. Spurious signals from magnetic-field fluctuations were reduced to insignificance by the use of a cohabiting atomic-mercury magnetometer. Systematic uncertainties, including geometric-phase-induced false EDMs, have been carefully studied. Two independent approaches to the analysis have been adopted. The overall results may be interpreted as an upper limit on the absolute value of the neutron EDM of |d_n| < 2.9 x 10^{-26} e cm (90% CL).Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. The published PRL is slightly more terse (e.g. no section headings) than this version, due to space constraints. Note a small correction-to-a-correction led to an adjustment of the final limit from 3.0 to 2.9 E-26 e.cm compared to the first version of this preprin