2,323 research outputs found
Combinatorial Voter Control in Elections
Voter control problems model situations such as an external agent trying to
affect the result of an election by adding voters, for example by convincing
some voters to vote who would otherwise not attend the election. Traditionally,
voters are added one at a time, with the goal of making a distinguished
alternative win by adding a minimum number of voters. In this paper, we
initiate the study of combinatorial variants of control by adding voters: In
our setting, when we choose to add a voter~, we also have to add a whole
bundle of voters associated with . We study the computational
complexity of this problem for two of the most basic voting rules, namely the
Plurality rule and the Condorcet rule.Comment: An extended abstract appears in MFCS 201
The usefulness of cerebrospinal fluid tests for neurosyphilis
To determine the usefulness of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tests for syphilis at a large academic hospital, clinical and laboratory data on 644 patients in whom such testing was requested over a 12-month period were analysed. In 198 cases (31 %) the Treponema paJlidum haemagglutination (TPHA) screening test could not be performed because of insufficient fluid. Thirty-eight of the remaining patients were diagnosed as having active neurosyphilis. Examination of 22 files of patients who had a positive TPHA and fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption (FTA-Abs) test together with a negative CSF Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test revealed that other CSF measures indicating disease activity (CSF protein, cells or IgG index) were not utilised optimally. In 10 (45%) of these patients neurosyphilis was not diagnosed despite either abnormal or incomplete CSF biochemical analysis, indicating that if the CSF VDRL is used as the sole marker for disease activity, some cases of neurosyphilis are likely to be missed
Concerning the quark condensate
A continuum expression for the trace of the massive dressed-quark propagator
is used to explicate a connection between the infrared limit of the QCD Dirac
operator's spectrum and the quark condensate appearing in the operator product
expansion, and the connection is verified via comparison with a lattice-QCD
simulation. The pseudoscalar vacuum polarisation provides a good approximation
to the condensate over a larger range of current-quark masses.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX2e, revtex
Fault fictions : systematic biases in the conceptualization of fault zones
Mental models (i.e. a human’s internal representation of the real world) have an important role in the way a human understands and reasons about uncertainties, explores potential options, and makes decisions. However, they are susceptible to biases. Issues associated with mental models have not yet received much attention in geosciences, yet systematic biases can affect the scientific process of any geological investigation; from the inception of how the problem is viewed, through selection of appropriate hypotheses and data collection/processing methods, to the conceptualisation and communication of results. This article draws on findings from cognitive science and system dynamics, with knowledge and experiences of field geology, to consider the limitations and biases presented by mental models in geoscience, and their effect on predictions of the physical properties of faults in particular. We identify a number of biases specific to geological investigations and propose strategies for debiasing. Doing so will enhance how multiple data sources can be brought together, and minimise controllable geological uncertainty to develop more robust geological models. Critically, we argue that there is a need for standardised procedures that guard against biases, permitting data from multiple studies to be combined and communication of assumptions to be made. While we use faults to illustrate potential biases in mental models and the implications of these biases, our findings can be applied across the geoscience discipline
Vertex functions for d-wave mesons in the light-front approach
While the light-front quark model (LFQM) is employed to calculate hadronic
transition matrix elements, the vertex functions must be pre-determined. In
this work we derive the vertex functions for all d-wave states in this model.
Especially, since both of and are mesons, the Lorentz
structures of their vertex functions are the same. Thus when one needs to study
the processes where is involved, all the corresponding formulas for
states can be directly applied, only the coefficient of the vertex
function should be replaced by that for . The results would be useful
for studying the newly observed resonances which are supposed to be d-wave
mesons and furthermore the possible 2S-1D mixing in with the LFQM.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, some typos corrected and more discussions added.
Accepted by EPJ
Formation of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate and an entangled atomic gas by Feshbach resonance
Processes of association in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, and
dissociation of the resulting molecular condensate, due to Feshbach resonance
in a time-dependent magnetic field, are analyzed incorporating non-mean-field
quantum corrections and inelastic collisions. Calculations for the Na atomic
condensate demonstrate that there exist optimal conditions under which about
80% of the atomic population can be converted to a relatively long-lived
molecular condensate (with lifetimes of 10 ms and more). Entangled atoms in
two-mode squeezed states (with noise reduction of about 30 dB) may also be
formed by molecular dissociation. A gas of atoms in squeezed or entangled
states can have applications in quantum computing, communications, and
measurements.Comment: LaTeX, 5 pages with 4 figures, uses REVTeX
Plasticity and learning in a network of coupled phase oscillators
A generalized Kuramoto model of coupled phase oscillators with slowly varying
coupling matrix is studied. The dynamics of the coupling coefficients is driven
by the phase difference of pairs of oscillators in such a way that the coupling
strengthens for synchronized oscillators and weakens for non-synchronized
pairs. The system possesses a family of stable solutions corresponding to
synchronized clusters of different sizes. A particular cluster can be formed by
applying external driving at a given frequency to a group of oscillators. Once
established, the synchronized state is robust against noise and small
variations in natural frequencies. The phase differences between oscillators
within the synchronized cluster can be used for information storage and
retrieval.Comment: 10 page
Heavy pseudoscalar mesons in a Schwinger-Dyson--Bethe-Salpeter approach
The mass spectrum of heavy pseudoscalar mesons, described as quark-antiquark
bound systems, is considered within the Bethe-Salpeter formalism with
momentum-dependent masses of the constituents. This dependence is found by
solving the Schwinger-Dyson equation for quark propagators in rainbow-ladder
approximation. Such an approximation is known to provide both a fast
convergence of numerical methods and accurate results for lightest mesons.
However, as the meson mass increases, the method becomes less stable and
special attention must be devoted to details of numerical means of solving the
corresponding equations. We focus on the pseudoscalar sector and show that our
numerical scheme describes fairly accurately the , , , and
ground states. Excited states are considered as well. Our calculations
are directly related to the future physics programme at FAIR.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; Based on materials of the contribution
"Relativistic Description of Two- and Three-Body Systems in Nuclear Physics",
ECT*, October 19-23, 200
Survey of nucleon electromagnetic form factors
A dressed-quark core contribution to nucleon electromagnetic form factors is
calculated. It is defined by the solution of a Poincare' covariant Faddeev
equation in which dressed-quarks provide the elementary degree of freedom and
correlations between them are expressed via diquarks. The nucleon-photon vertex
involves a single parameter; i.e., a diquark charge radius. It is argued to be
commensurate with the pion's charge radius. A comprehensive analysis and
explanation of the form factors is built upon this foundation. A particular
feature of the study is a separation of form factor contributions into those
from different diagram types and correlation sectors, and subsequently a
flavour separation for each of these. Amongst the extensive body of results
that one could highlight are: r_1^{n,u}>r_1^{n,d}, owing to the presence of
axial-vector quark-quark correlations; and for both the neutron and proton the
ratio of Sachs electric and magnetic form factors possesses a zero.Comment: 43 pages, 17 figures, 12 tables, 5 appendice
- …