9,258 research outputs found
The Populist Communication Style: Toward a Critical Framework
This article seeks to understand the advance and allure of populism and the populist communication style in the era of mediatization. It proposes a critical framework based on three categories—identity construction, rhetorical style, and relationship with media—to assess the relevant features of the communicative styles of specific populist actors of right and left, in power relations, in their own settings and time. The framework is employed to assess the communicative styles of left-wing late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and former right-wing leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party Nigel Farage—two political actors who would not usually be considered as likely populist bedfellows
Consequences of the Factorization Hypothesis in pbar p, pp, gamma p and gamma gamma Collisions
Using an eikonal analysis, we examine the validity of the factorization
theorem for nucleon-nucleon, gamma p and gamma gamma collisions. As an example,
using the additive quark model and meson vector dominance, we directly show
that for all energies and values of the eikonal, that the factorization theorem
sigma_{nn}/sigma_{gamma p} = sigma_{gamma p}/sigma_{gamma gamma} holds. We can
also compute the survival probability of large rapidity gaps in high energy
pbar p and pp collisions. We show that the survival probabilities are identical
(at the same energy) for gamma p and gamma gamma collisions, as well as for
nucleon-nucleon collisions. We further show that neither the factorization
theorem nor the reaction-independence of the survival probabilities depends on
the assumption of an additive quark model, but, more generally, depends on the
opacity of the eikonal being independent of whether the reaction is n-n, gamma
p or gamma gamma.Comment: 8 pages, Revtex, no figures. Expanded discussion, minor correction
Utilization of CT scanning associated with complex spine surgery.
BackgroundDue to the risk associated with exposure to ionizing radiation, there is an urgent need to identify areas of CT scanning overutilization. While increased use of diagnostic spinal imaging has been documented, no previous research has estimated the magnitude of follow-up imaging used to evaluate the postoperative spine.MethodsThis retrospective cohort study quantifies the association between spinal surgery and CT utilization. An insurance database (Humana, Inc.) with ≈ 19 million enrollees was employed, representing 8 consecutive years (2007-2014). Surgical and imaging procedures were captured by anatomic-specific CPT codes. Complex surgeries included all cervical, thoracic and lumbar instrumented spine fusions. Simple surgeries included discectomy and laminectomy. Imaging was restricted to CT and MRI. Postoperative imaging frequency extended to 5-years post-surgery.ResultsThere were 140,660 complex spinal procedures and 39,943 discectomies and 49,889 laminectomies. MRI was the predominate preoperative imaging modality for all surgical procedures (median: 80%; range: 73-82%). Postoperatively, CT prevalence following complex procedures increased more than two-fold from 6 months (18%) to 5 years (≥40%), and patients having a postoperative CT averaged two scans. For simple procedures, the prevalence of postoperative CT scanning never exceeded 30%.ConclusionsCT scanning is used frequently for follow-up imaging evaluation following complex spine surgery. There is emerging evidence of an increased cancer risk due to ionizing radiation exposure with CT. In the setting of complex spine surgery, actions to mitigate this risk should be considered and include reducing nonessential scans, using the lowest possible radiation dose protocols, exerting greater selectivity in monitoring the developing fusion construct, and adopting non-ferromagnetic implant biomaterials that facilitate MRI postoperatively
New limits on "odderon" amplitudes from analyticity constraints
In studies of high energy and scattering, the odd (under
crossing) forward scattering amplitude accounts for the difference between the
and cross sections. Typically, it is taken as
(),
which has as , where is the
ratio of the real to the imaginary portion of the forward scattering amplitude.
However, the odd-signatured amplitude can have in principle a strikingly
different behavior, ranging from having non-zero constant to
having as , the maximal behavior
allowed by analyticity and the Froissart bound. We reanalyze high energy
and scattering data, using new analyticity constraints, in order to
put new and precise limits on the magnitude of ``odderon'' amplitudes.Comment: 13 pages LaTex, 6 figure
New physics, the cosmic ray spectrum knee, and cross section measurements
We explore the possibility that a new physics interaction can provide an
explanation for the knee just above GeV in the cosmic ray spectrum. We
model the new physics modifications to the total proton-proton cross section
with an incoherent term that allows for missing energy above the scale of new
physics. We add the constraint that the new physics must also be consistent
with published cross section measurements, using cosmic ray observations,
an order of magnitude and more above the knee. We find that the rise in cross
section required at energies above the knee is radical. The increase in cross
section suggests that it may be more appropriate to treat the scattering
process in the black disc limit at such high energies. In this case there may
be no clean separation between the standard model and new physics contributions
to the total cross section. We model the missing energy in this limit and find
a good fit to the Tibet III cosmic ray flux data. We comment on testing the new
physics proposal for the cosmic ray knee at the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure
Psi-floor diagrams and a Caporaso-Harris type recursion
Floor diagrams are combinatorial objects which organize the count of tropical
plane curves satisfying point conditions. In this paper we introduce Psi-floor
diagrams which count tropical curves satisfying not only point conditions but
also conditions given by Psi-classes (together with points). We then generalize
our definition to relative Psi-floor diagrams and prove a Caporaso-Harris type
formula for the corresponding numbers. This formula is shown to coincide with
the classical Caporaso-Harris formula for relative plane descendant
Gromov-Witten invariants. As a consequence, we can conclude that in our case
relative descendant Gromov-Witten invariants equal their tropical counterparts.Comment: minor changes to match the published versio
Self-Consistent Response of a Galactic Disk to an Elliptical Perturbation Halo Potential
We calculate the self-consistent response of an axisymmetric galactic disk
perturbed by an elliptical halo potential of harmonic number m = 2, and obtain
the net disk ellipticity. Such a potential is commonly expected to arise due to
a galactic tidal encounter and also during the galaxy formation process. The
self-gravitational potential corresponding to the self-consistent,
non-axisymmetric density response of the disk is obtained by inversion of
Poisson equation for a thin disk. This response potential is shown to oppose
the perturbation potential, because physically the disk self-gravity resists
the imposed potential. This results in a reduction in the net ellipticity of
the perturbation halo potential in the disk plane. The reduction factor
denoting this decrease is independent of the strength of the perturbation
potential, and has a typical minimum value of 0.75 - 0.9 for a wide range of
galaxy parameters. The reduction is negligible at all radii for higher
harmonics (m > or = 3) of the halo potential. (abridged).Comment: 26 pages (LaTex- aastex style), 3 .eps figures. To appear in the
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 542, Oct. 20, 200
Survival Probability of Large Rapidity Gaps in pbar p, pp, gamma p and gamma gamma Collisions
Using an eikonal analysis, we simultaneously fit a QCD-inspired
parameterization of all accelerator data on forward proton-proton and
antiproton-proton scattering amplitudes, together with cosmic ray data (using
Glauber theory), to predict proton-air and proton-proton cross sections at
energies near \sqrt s \approx 30 TeV. The p-air cosmic ray measurements greatly
reduce the errors in the high energy proton-proton and proton-air cross section
predictions--in turn, greatly reducing the errors in the fit parameters. From
this analysis, we can then compute the survival probability of rapidity gaps in
high energy pbar p and pp collisions, with high accuracy in a quasi model-free
environment. Using an additive quark model and vector meson dominance, we note
that that the survival probabilities are identical, at the same energy, for
gamma p and gamma gamma collisions, as well as for nucleon-nucleon collisions.
Significantly, our analysis finds large values for gap survival probabilities,
\approx 30% at \sqrt s = 200 GeV, \approx 21% at \sqrt s = 1.8 TeV and \approx
%%13% at \sqrt s = 14 TeV.Comment: 9 pages, Latex2e, uses epsfig.sty, 4 postscript figure
Using Multispectral Information to Decrease the Spectral Artifacts in Sparse-Aperture Imagery
Optical sparse-aperture telescopes represent a promising new technology to increase the effective diameter of an optical system while reducing its weight and stowable size. The sub-apertures of a sparse-aperture system are phased to synthesize a telescope system that has a larger effective aperture than any of the independentsub-apertures. Sparse-apertures have mostly been modeled to date using a gray-world approximation where the input is a grayscale image. The gray-world model makes use of a polychromatic optical transfer function (OTF) where the spectral OTFs are averaged to form a single OTF. This OTF is then convolved with the grayscale image to create the resultant sparse-aperture image. The model proposed here uses a spectral image-cube as the input to create a panchromatic or multispectral result. These outputs better approximate an actual system because there is a higher spectral fidelity present than a gray-world model. Unlike its Cassegrain counterpart that has a well behaved OTF, the majority of sparse-aperture OTFs have very oscillatory and attenuated natures. When a spectral sparse-aperture model is used, spectral artifacts become apparent when thephasing errors increase beyond a certain threshold. This threshold can be based in part on the type of phasing error (i.e. piston, tip/tilt, and the amount present in each sub-aperture), as well as the collection conditions, including configuration, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and fill factor.This research addresses whether integrating a restored multispectral sparse-aperture image into a panchromatic image will decrease the amount of spectral artifacts present. The restored panchromatic image created from integrating multispectral images is compared to a conventional panchromatic sparse-aperture image. Conclusionsare drawn through image quality analysis and the change in spectral artifacts
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