SU(2)xSU(2) nonlocal quark model with confinement

The nonlocal version of the SU(2)xSU(2) symmetric four-quark interaction of the NJL type is considered. Each of the quark lines contains the form factors. These form factors remove the ultraviolet divergences in quark loops. The additional condition on quark mass function m(p) ensures the absence of the poles in the quark propagator(quark confinement). The constituent quark mass m(0) is expressed thought the cut-off parameter Lambda, m(0)=Lambda=340 MeV in the chiral limit. These parameters are fixed by the experimental value of the weak pion decay and allow us to describe the mass of the light scalar meson, strong decay rho -> pi pi and D/S ratio in the decay a_1 -> rho pi in satisfactory agreement with experimental data.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure

Interethnic Interactions: Expectancies, Emotions, and Behavioral Intentions

Two studies examine Hispanic and non-Hispanic White people's responses to interethnic interactions. Consistent with previous findings regarding White/Black interactions, participants who had negative expectations about intergroup interactions reported more anger and anxiety about interethnic interactions. These negative emotional responses, in turn, were associated with negative behavioral intentions such as the desire to avoid interethnic interactions and the externalization of blame if an interethnic interaction did not go well. Across the studies, White participants who were angry about interethnic interactions wanted to avoid these interactions, whereas anxiety was the key predictor of avoidance for the Hispanic participants. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for developing models of intergroup interactions and designing approaches to improve these interactions

Singlet VA \tilde V correlator within the instanton vacuum model

The correlator of singlet axial-vector and vector currents in the external electromagnetic field is studied within the instanton liquid model of QCD vacuum. In the chiral limit we calculate the longitudinal w_L^0 and transversal w_T^0 with respect to axial-vector index invariant amplitudes at arbitrary momentum transfer q. It is demonstrated how the anomalous longitudinal part of the correlator is renormalized at low momenta due to the presence of the U_A(1) anomaly.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Millisecond accuracy video display using OpenGL under Linux

To measure people’s reaction times to the nearest millisecond, it is necessary to know exactly when a stimulus is displayed. This article describes how to display stimuli with millisecond accuracy on a normal CRT monitor, using a PC running Linux. A simple C program is presented to illustrate how this may be done within X Windows using the OpenGL rendering system. A test of this system is reported that demonstrates that stimuli may be consistently displayed with millisecond accuracy. An algorithm is presented that allows the exact time of stimulus presentation to be deduced, even if there are relatively large errors in measuring the display time

Friction in mid-latitude cyclones: an Ekman-PV mechanism

The mechanism by which the atmospheric boundary layer reduces the intensity of mid-latitude cyclones is investigated. It is demonstrated that two alternative theories, Ekman pumping and the baroclinic potential vorticity (PV) mechanism, in fact act in union to maximize the spin-down. Ekman pumping aids the ventilation of PV from the boundary layer, and shapes the resulting PV anomaly into one of increased static stability. PV inversion techniques are used to demonstrate how this anomaly reduces the coupling between the upper- and lower-levels within the cyclone, reducing the growth rate

The UTMOST Survey for Magnetars, Intermittent pulsars, RRATs and FRBs I: System description and overview

We describe the ongoing `Survey for Magnetars, Intermittent pulsars, Rotating radio transients and Fast radio bursts' (SMIRF), performed using the newly refurbished UTMOST telescope. SMIRF repeatedly sweeps the southern Galactic plane performing real-time periodicity and single-pulse searches, and is the first survey of its kind carried out with an interferometer. SMIRF is facilitated by a robotic scheduler which is capable of fully autonomous commensal operations. We report on the SMIRF observational parameters, the data analysis methods, the survey's sensitivities to pulsars, techniques to mitigate radio frequency interference and present some early survey results. UTMOST's wide field of view permits a full sweep of the Galactic plane to be performed every fortnight, two orders of magnitude faster than previous surveys. In the six months of operations from January to June 2018, we have performed $\sim 10$ sweeps of the Galactic plane with SMIRF. Notable blind re-detections include the magnetar PSR J1622$-$4950, the RRAT PSR J0941$-$3942 and the eclipsing pulsar PSR J1748$-$2446A. We also report the discovery of a new pulsar, PSR J1705$-$54. Our follow-up of this pulsar with the UTMOST and Parkes telescopes at an average flux limit of $\leq 20$ mJy and $\leq 0.16$ mJy respectively, categorizes this as an intermittent pulsar with a high nulling fraction of $< 0.002$Comment: Submitted to MNRAS, comments welcom

Trouble in Paradise - A disabled person's right to the satisfaction of a self-defined need:Some conceptual and practical problems

This paper questions the usefulness of the rights-based approach to ameliorating the social situation of disabled people in Britain and advances two criticisms. First, that rights and self-de? ned needs have been under-theorised by disability theorists to the extent that they have insuf? ciently appreciated the problems that these approaches pose. The paper suggests that rights to appropriate resources to satisfy self-de? ned needs will generate vast numbers of competing rights claims and that the resulting tendency of rights to con? ict has been under-appreciated. Secondly, that there has been little consideration of how these con? icts might be reconciled. The ? rst two sections of the paper look at the concepts of ascribed and self-de? ned needs, respectively, whilst the ? nal one looks at some of the problems of the rights approach and some of the dif? culties of making self-de? ned need the basis of rights claims

Object-Based Image Classification of Summer Crops with Machine Learning Methods

The strategic management of agricultural lands involves crop field monitoring each year. Crop discrimination via remote sensing is a complex task, especially if different crops have a similar spectral response and cropping pattern. In such cases, crop identification could be improved by combining object-based image analysis and advanced machine learning methods. In this investigation, we evaluated the C4.5 decision tree, logistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM) and multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network methods, both as single classifiers and combined in a hierarchical classification, for the mapping of nine major summer crops (both woody and herbaceous) from ASTER satellite images captured in two different dates. Each method was built with different combinations of spectral and textural features obtained after the segmentation of the remote images in an object-based framework. As single classifiers, MLP and SVM obtained maximum overall accuracy of 88%, slightly higher than LR (86%) and notably higher than C4.5 (79%). The SVM+SVM classifier (best method) improved these results to 89%. In most cases, the hierarchical classifiers considerably increased the accuracy of the most poorly classified class (minimum sensitivity). The SVM+SVM method offered a significant improvement in classification accuracy for all of the studied crops compared to the conventional decision tree classifier, ranging between 4% for safflower and 29% for corn, which suggests the application of object-based image analysis and advanced machine learning methods in complex crop classification task