Precision Electroweak Measurements at the SLC : Overview and Perspective

Preliminary SLD electroweak results based on essentially the complete 550K Z dataset are presented and interpreted, and some historical background is provided.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, from "Weak Interactions and Neutrinos, 1999", Feb. 199

Revision of Dadagulella gen. nov., the “Gulella radius group” (Gastropoda: Streptaxidae) of the eastern Afrotropics, including six new species and three new subspecies

The genus Dadagulella gen. nov. is described to include 16 species of small, dentate, ovateacuminate Afrotropical snails. An identification key is provided and biogeography, anatomy and systematics are discussed. The type species is the Kenyan D. radius (Preston, 1910) comb. nov., whose name has informally been used for part of the group in the past. Substantial intraspecific variation occurs in three species: D. radius itself, D. browni (van Bruggen, 1969) comb. nov. and D. minuscula (Morelet, 1877) comb. nov. (= Ennea fi scheriana Morelet, 1881) (non Gulella minuscula Emberton & Pearce, 2000) . We recognise subspecies within each of these: D.radius radius (Preston, 1910) comb. nov., D. r. calva (Connolly, 1922) comb. et stat. nov., D. browni browni (van Bruggen, 1969) comb. nov., D. b. mafi ensis subsp. nov., D. b. semulikiensis subsp. nov., D. minuscula minuscula (Morelet, 1877) comb. nov., D. m. mahorana subsp. nov. Six new Tanzanian species are described: D. cresswelli sp. nov., D. delta sp. nov., D. ecclesiola sp. nov., D. frontierarum sp. nov., D. minareta sp. nov., and D. pembensis sp. nov. The genus includes seven other previously described species: D. cuspidata (Verdcourt, 1962) comb. nov.; D. rondoensis (Verdcourt, 1994) comb. nov.; D. conoidea (Verdcourt, 1996) comb. nov.; D. selene (van Bruggen & Van Goethem, 1999) comb. nov.; D. meredithae (van Bruggen, 2000) comb. nov.; D. nictitans (Rowson & Lange, 2007) comb. nov.; and D. delgada (Muratov, 2010) comb. nov

RIOT: a simple graphical assembly tool

Errors in the chip assembly process are harder to find than errors in cell design, since they belong to no specific part of the design, but rather to the assembly as a whole. Assembly errors are more costly than call design errors also, since they often go unnoticed until late in the design cycle. Interactive graphic tools typically require that assembly be done with primitive graphical operations, which are inappropriate far the assembly task. Language-based tools give more powerful assembly operations, but remove the two dimensional view of the chip necessary to visualize many assembly operations. Riot is a simple Interactive graphical tool designed to facilitate the assembly of cells into integrated systems. Riot supplies the user with primitive operations of connection -- abutment, routing and stretching - in an interactive graphic environment. Thus, the designer retains full control of the design, including the assignment of positions to instances of cells and the choice of connection mechanism. The computer takes care of the tedious and exacting implementation detail, guaranteeing that connections are actually made. The powerful connection primitives give the user of Riot the ability to quickly assemble a custom chip from a collection of low-level cells. This document provides a discussion of the motivation for Riot and a description of the Riot chip assembly system, its capabilities and its use

Experimental Issues for Precision Electroweak Physics at a High-Luminosity Z Factory

We discuss the ultimate precision for ALR, and therefore for the weak mixing angle, at a high-luminosity Linear Collider. Drawing on our experience at the SLC, and considering various machine parameter sets for the NLC and for TESLA, it emerges that a compromise between peak luminosity and precision will be a likely outcome. This arises due to the severe requirements on the uncertainty in the luminosity weighted collision energy (Ecm). We consider the cases with and without a polarized positron beam.Comment: Submitted to LCWS2000 (Linear Collider Workshop 20000), Fermilab, 10-24-200

Compassion-focused perceptual positions

This article focuses on the perceptual position (or ‘empty chair’) technique adapted to fit the aims of compassion-focused coaching. I will briefly review the key principles of the compassion-focused approach and discuss why and how this technique can be used in coaching practice

For a Ghoul Time, Call: Telephonic Terror at the Boundary of Narrative and Information in BBC Ghostwatch

This article revisits controversial BBC television film Ghostwatch (1992), a seasonal feature-length television special about a family plagued by a poltergeist and the television crew has entered their home hoping to capture ghostly phenomena on camera. Fictional, scripted, and filmed in its entirety prior to airing, Ghostwatch follows the formal conventions of live, factual television: well-known British media personalities host from the studio and on location, interviewing experts on the paranormal, and periodically inviting the watching public to call the show via the BBC phone-in number, 0818118181, which had both a diegetic and an actual function. The high volume of calls that the BBC received during the program caused the switchboard to jam, leaving reportedly tens of thousands of callers unable to speak to an operator. Typically considered as a media hoax à la Orson Welles\u27 War of the Worlds, this article moves away from such claims to assert that the circumstances of Ghostwatch’s broadcast opens up a problematic that traverses narrative and information theory: what promises do communications networks make, if any, about providing meaning? Framed through Roland Barthes\u27 and Friedrich Kittler\u27s respective approaches to information theory, this article proposes that Ghostwatch can be used as a starting point for rethinking problems of technical media and interpretation

Carbon Emissions from Managed Upland Peat

Upland peat is the world's largest store of soil carbon and one of the most climatically sensitive. Concerns have been raised about the stability of the carbon within these stores and how upland peat will respond to climate change. Climate change is predicted to increase average, ~axirnum and minimum temperatures and also reduce summer rainfall in the UK. This predicted change in climate is hypothesised to reduce water table depth and increase soil respiration in upland peat causing upland peat to, potentially, turn from a net sink of carbon into a carbon net source. A range of management practises have been and are being carried out in the UK uplands, often with the view to increase grazing density or increase other commercial animal species such as grouse. This qualifies peat as grazed land under the ratified Kyoto protocol, and any demonstrated increase in carbon storage potential can be used to offset carbon emissions from the UK. Therefore, questions have been raised as to the best management practises for carbon storage potential. By demonstrating that restoration of water table depths in upland peat will reduce CO2 emissions sufficiently above the corresponding increase in CHt emissions associated with water table rise, .carbon stores can be stabilised and the carbon storage rate potentially increased. This thesis reports the results from a study of C02, both gaseous and dissolved, and CHt fluxes across a differential water table, allowing the results to .be analysed both spatially and temporally. From these results a model was constructed from literature and observations, considering dissolved and gaseous CO2as being produced by a single mechanism from within soil processes, where hydrological functions, such as rainfall to determine the endpoint for CO2. The model was used to analyse for the lowest level of monitoring that still gives a good estimate of the carbon budget for the field site by using mass balance equations from hydrological literature. To determine whether the model was valid for higher temperatures and lower water table depths, as predicted for climate change, a series of deep peat cores were sampled from the same site as the spatial and temporal study of CO2flux and moved to a warmer and drier site. When C02 data, measured from the peat cores, was compared to the spatial and temporal CO2fluxes a visual correlation was found between gross C02 flux for the two data sets, however upon statistical analysis it was shown that the data sets were incomparable for gross, net and primary productivity fluxes. Closed chamber measurements of CO2 flux from the spatial and temporal study were compared to eddy covariance measures of CO2flux. It was found that short term (hourly/daily) were poorly correlated whilst longer term (weekly - monthly) fluxes were better correlated. By studying a peatland on the boundary of peats temperature tolerance, this study can be applied to other peatlands to proved a model of expected responses to climate change for peat both in the UK and around the world.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The transition from college to university : a feasibility and exploratory study of the role of compassion during this transitional period

This portfolio thesis consists of three parts: (1) a systematic literature, (2) an empirical report and, (3) supporting appendices.Part one is a systematic literature review evaluating the literature regarding interventions targeting domains of wellbeing and adjustment in first year undergraduate student populations. A systematic search of databases identified thirty studies. A narrative synthesis of the findings was produced alongside the methodological quality of the articles. The implications of the review and directions for future research are discussed.Part two is an empirical report describing a mixed methods study. The qualitative element explored the experiences of students who had recently transitioned to University in relation to compassion. While a quantitative aspect aimed to explore the feasibility and impact of delivering an online compassion-based intervention to college students transitioning to University. The impact of the intervention on flow of compassion, subjective wellbeing and mood in students was measured, while written responses from participants identified benefits and barriers to accessing and completing the intervention. The findings are discussed and implications for future research proposed.Part three consists of the appendices which support the systematic literature review and the empirical report. The appendices also include a reflective statement which focuses on the research process and an epistemological statemen

Transition to retirement for expatriates in the UAE: a psychological perspective

As people increasingly tend to live for longer, the study of aging has become a growing area of research. Among the themes that have been highlighted in the international literature, the topic of retirement is gaining prominence due to the increasing number of years individuals are expected to live in retirement. This extension of retirement, as a stage of life, means that understanding the aging and adjustment processes and what older people are actually looking for is important for promoting emotional and psychological well-being for those living longer. Many studies have been conducted on the psychological aspects involved in the adjustment to retirement and old age. Some studies have covered the issues of globalization and even migration in retirement, but few publications specifically explore the issue of repatriation as part of the transition to retirement