Does Planck mass run on the cosmological horizon scale?

Einstein's theory of general relativity, which contains a universal value of the Planck mass, has been so far successfully invoked to explain gravitational dynamics from sub-millimeter scales to the scale of the cosmological horizon. However, one may envisage that in alternative theories of gravity, the effective value of the Planck mass (or Newton's constant), which quantifies the coupling of matter to metric perturbations, can run on the cosmological horizon scale. In this letter, we study the consequences of a glitch in the Planck mass from sub-horizon to super-horizon scales. We first give three examples of models that naturally exhibit this feature, and then show that current cosmological observations severely constrain this glitch to less than 1.2%. This is the strongest constraint to date, on natural (i.e. non-fine-tuned) deviations from Einstein gravity on the cosmological horizon scale.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Without Pictorial Detour: Benjamin, Mies and the Architectural Image

It can be argued that architectural knowledge was of crucial importance to Walter Benjamin for elaborating his version of an anthropological historical materialism. Between 1929 and 1931 he encounters two publications on architectural history which had a decisive impact on his ensuing works: Sigfried Giedion’s Bauen in Frankreich, Bauen in Eisen, Bauen in Eisenbeton (1928) and Carl Linfert’s Die Grundlagen der Architekturzeichnung (1931). It can be argued that both works played a role in affirming, if not developing his historical method of awakening the dreaming collective into a ‘now of recognisability,’ a method which one can argue is based on a specific image-based epistemology. Especially the architectural image, whether in the form of a printed drawing, photographic illustration, or an actual built object, appears to have been crucial for placing the history of media technologies (architecture being one of these media) in a constellation with the ‘archaic symbol-worlds of mythologies.’ If architecture is, as Benjamin claims in his initial notes for The Arcades Project, ‘the most important testimony to latent “mythology,”’ the architectural image might very well be the agent that causes the moment of awakening, the instance when a constellation between technology and ancient symbol worlds is formed. In the second part of this essay, I will attempt to elaborate such a designation for the specificity of the architectural image by analysing a number of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s drawings and collages from the 1920s as architectural images in the Benjaminian sense

Defining microvascular injury in acute myocardial infarction and response after cell therapy using cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging

Rossum, A.C. van [Promotor]Beek, A.M. [Copromotor]Nijveldt, R. [Copromotor

Ramifications of Felony Disenfranchisement on the VotingPopulation in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Virginia is one of 12 states in the United States that does not automatically restore the right to vote to all felons who have completed their sentences. This paper provides the historical context offelony disenfranchisement in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and includes an examination of legislation and the rationales behind it. Descriptive empirical analysis of individuals in Virginia who have been disenfranchised and the impact this has on the Commonwealth\u27s voting population is conducted for the year 2000. In addition, analysis of the impact of disenfranchisement on voting in two counties and two cities is incorporated. Discussion of current policy and suggestions for change are also included

The development of children's problem behaviors: A twin-singlton comparison and the influence of parental divorce

Twin-family studies have largely contributed to our understanding of the etiology of behavioral and emotional problems in childhood. From these studies we learned that almost every behavioral or psychological trait is ‘heritable’ to some extent. We also learned that both nature and nurture play important roles in the etiology of behavioral and emotional problems, and that these factors may act independently of one another as well as interactively (i.e., gene-environment interplay). Moreover, twin studies have given insight into the important distinction between environmental factors shared by siblings (e.g., parental socio-economic status) and those not shared by siblings (e.g., peer groups) (Boomsma, Busjahn, & Peltonen, 2002; Hudziak & Faraone, 2010). An important assumption that is made when using twin data is that results from twin samples can be generalized to singleton populations. However, the validity of this assumption needs to be examined