Derivation of the Planck Spectrum for Relativistic Classical Scalar Radiation from Thermal Equilibrium in an Accelerating Frame

The Planck spectrum of thermal scalar radiation is derived suggestively within classical physics by the use of an accelerating coordinate frame. The derivation has an analogue in Boltzmann's derivation of the Maxwell velocity distribution for thermal particle velocities by considering the thermal equilibrium of noninteracting particles in a uniform gravitational field. For the case of radiation, the gravitational field is provided by the acceleration of a Rindler frame through Minkowski spacetime. Classical zero-point radiation and relativistic physics enter in an essential way in the derivation which is based upon the behavior of free radiation fields and the assumption that the field correlation functions contain but a single correlation time in thermal equilibrium. The work has connections with the thermal effects of acceleration found in relativistic quantum field theory.Comment: 23 page

Legal determinants of external finance revisited : the inverse relationship between investor protection and societal well-being

This paper investigates relationships between corporate governance traditions and quality of life as measured by a number of widely reported indicators. It provides an empirical analysis of indicators of societal health in developed economies using a classification based on legal traditions. Arguably the most widely cited work in the corporate governance literature has been the collection of papers by La Porta et al. which has shown, inter alia, statistically significant relationships between legal traditions and various proxies for investor protection. We show statistically significant relationships between legal traditions and various proxies for societal health. Our comparative evidence suggests that the interests of investors may not be congruent with the interests of wider society, and that the criteria for judging the effectiveness of approaches to corporate governance should not be restricted to financial metrics

Self-Optimising Reactive Extractions: Towards the Efficient Development of Multi-Step Continuous Flow Processes

Downstream purification of products and intermediates is essential for the development of continuous flow processes. Described herein, is a study on the use of a modular and reconfigurable continuous flow platform for the self-optimisation of reactive extractions and multi-step reaction-extraction processes. The selective extraction of one amine from a mixture of two similar amines was achieved with an optimum separation of 90%, and in this case, the black-box optimisation approach was superior to global polynomial modelling. Furthermore, this methodology was utilised to simultaneously optimise the continuous flow synthesis and work-up of N-benzyl-α-methylbenzylamine with respect to four variables, resulting in a significantly improved purity

Revisiting Ruddick: Feminism, pacifism and non-violence

This article explores feminist contentions over pacifism and non-violence in the contextof the Greenham Common Peace Camp in the 1980s and later developments offeminist Just War Theory. We argue that Sara Ruddick’s work puts feminist pacifism, its radical feminist critics and feminist just war theory equally into question. Although Ruddick does not resolve the contestations within feminism over peace, violence and the questions of war, she offers a productive way of holding the tension between them. In our judgment, her work is helpful not only for developing a feminist political response to the threats and temptations of violent strategies but also for thinking through the question of the relation between violence and politics as such

Blackbody Radiation and the Scaling Symmetry of Relativistic Classical Electron Theory with Classical Electromagnetic Zero-Point Radiation

It is pointed out that relativistic classical electron theory with classical electromagnetic zero-point radiation has a scaling symmetry which is suitable for understanding the equilibrium behavior of classical thermal radiation at a spectrum other than the Rayleigh-Jeans spectrum. In relativistic classical electron theory, the masses of the particles are the only scale-giving parameters associated with mechanics while the action-angle variables are scale invariant. The theory thus separates the interaction of the action variables of matter and radiation from the scale-giving parameters. Classical zero-point radiation is invariant under scattering by the charged particles of relativistic classical electron theory. The basic ideas of the matter -radiation interaction are illustrated in a simple relativistic classical electromagnetic example.Comment: 18 page

Biomass-modulated fire dynamics during the last glacial-interglacial transition at the central pyrenees (Spain)

Understanding long-term fire ecology is essential for current day interpretation of ecosystem fire responses. However palaeoecology of fire is still poorly understood, especially at high-altitude mountain environments, despite the fact that these are fire-sensitive ecosystems and their resilience might be affected by changing fire regimes. We reconstruct wildfire occurrence since the Lateglacial (14.7. cal. ka BP) to the Mid-Holocene (6. cal. ka BP) and investigate the climate-fuel-fire relationships in a sedimentary sequence located at the treeline in the Central Spanish Pyrenees. Pollen, macro- and micro-charcoal were analysed for the identification of fire events (FE) in order to detect vegetation post-fire response and to define biomass-fire interactions. mean fire intervals (mfi) reduced since the Lateglacial, peaking at 9-7.7. cal. ka BP while from 7.7 to 6. cal. ka BP no fire is recorded. We hypothesise that Early Holocene maximum summer insolation, as climate forcing, and mesophyte forest expansion, as a fuel-creating factor, were responsible for accelerating fire occurrence in the Central Pyrenees treeline. We also found that fire had long-lasting negative effects on most of the treeline plant communities and that forest contraction from 7.7. cal. ka BP is likely linked to the ecosystem's threshold response to high fire frequencies.This research has been funded by the projects DINAMO (CGL2009-07992) (funding EGPF — grant ref. BES-2010-038593 and MSC), DINAMO2 (CGL2012-33063), ARAFIRE (2012 GA LC 064), GRACCIE-CONSOLIDER (CSD2007-00067). GGR was funded by the Juan de la Cierva Program (grant ref. JCI2009-04345) and JAE-Doc CSIC Program, LLM was supported by a postdoctoral MINT fellowship funded by the Institute for the Environment (Brunel University), AMC is a Ramón y Cajal fellow (ref: RYC-2008-02431), APS holds a grant funded by the Aragon Government (ref. 17030G/5423/480072/14003) and JAE holds a grant funded by the Basque Country Government (BFI-2010-5)

How do nutrients change flowering in prairies?

Farmers today apply more synthetic fertilizers to farm fields than ever before – but not all of these nutrients are used by crops: some fertilizer escapes through the air, soil, or water. Nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium flow off farm fields when it rains, billow into the air when fields are plowed, and drift with the wind to other areas. Extra nutrients are also released to the air when people burn fossil fuels. We wanted to find out: what happens when these extra nutrients land on wild prairie ecosystems? How do its wild plants respond? Do they all just grow better? Or could there be any negative side effects? To answer these questions, we systematically added nutrients to experimental patches of prairie. We found that these added nutrients (specifically nitrogen) made early-season plants thrive while reducing the amount of late-season plants, but only in some prairie types. This change could have serious implications for the way prairie ecosystems function

Shareholder protection, income inequality and social health:a proposed research agenda

This paper develops a proposed research agenda in order to highlight how corporate governance, accounting and company law are relevant to the consideration of income inequality and wider social health. To illustrate this proposed research agenda, this paper draws on corporate governance research in the law and finance tradition, as well as macro-level studies in accounting concerned with the wider corporate governance context, in order to consider the association between shareholder protection, income inequality and child mortality. Under 5 child mortality is an objective indication of a country’s ability to nurture its children. In an influential body of work, La Porta et al. (1997a, 1997b, 1998, 2008) concluded that a common law legal system which protected the interests of shareholders gave rise to better economic and social outcomes. However, drawing on corporate governance and accounting literature we contend that such a conclusion is flawed. The findings of this paper suggest that common law countries (i.e. those with the greater legal protection for investors) have worse social outcomes in terms of under-5 child mortality.PostprintPeer reviewe

SoNeUCON_{ABC}Pro: an access control model for social networks with translucent user provenance

Proceedings of: SecureComm 2017 International Workshops, ATCS and SePrIoT, Niagara Falls, ON, Canada, October 22–25, 2017Web-Based Social Networks (WBSNs) are used by millions of people worldwide. While WBSNs provide many benefits, privacy preservation is a concern. The management of access control can help to assure data is accessed by authorized users. However, it is critical to provide sufficient flexibility so that a rich set of conditions may be imposed by users. In this paper we coin the term user provenance to refer to tracing users actions to supplement the authorisation decision when users request access. For example restricting access to a particular photograph to those which have “liked” the owners profile. However, such a tracing of actions has the potential to impact the privacy of users requesting access. To mitigate this potential privacy loss the concept of translucency is applied. This paper extends SoNeUCONABC model and presents SoNeUCONABCPro, an access control model which includes translucent user provenance. Entities and access control policies along with their enforcement procedure are formally defined. The evaluation demonstrates that the system satisfies the imposed goals and supports the feasibility of this model in different scenarios.This work was supported by the MINECO grants TIN2013-46469-R (SPINY: Security and Privacy in the Internet of You) and TIN2016-79095-C2-2-R (SMOG-DEV); by the CAM grant S2013/ICE-3095 (CIBERDINE: Cybersecurity, Data, and Risks); and by the Programa de Ayudas para la Movilidad of Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain (J. M. de Fuentes and L. Gonzalez-Manzano grants)