Mapping the information-coping trajectory of young people coping with long term illness: An evidence based approach

Purpose - Purpose: We explore the relationship between information and coping information from the experiences of young people coping with long term illness. Design/methodology/approach - Methodology: Situational Analysis was used as a methodological approach. It has roots in the Chicago Symbolic Interactionism School. Cartographic approaches enabled the analysis, mapping the complexities emerging from the data. Findings - Findings: As the young people became more informed about their health conditions, and gained knowledge and understanding both about their illnesses, their own bodies and boundaries, their confidence and capacity to cope increased. Gaining confidence, the young people often wanted to share their knowledge becoming information providers themselves. From the data we identified five positions on an information-coping trajectory (1) Information deficiency (2) Feeling ill-informed (3) Needing an injection of information (4) Having information health and (5) Becoming an information donor. Research limitations/implications - Research limitations/implications: The research was limited to an analysis of thirty narratives. The research contributes to information theory by mapping clearly the relationship between information and coping. Originality/value - Originality/value: The information theories in this study have originality and multi-disciplinary value in the management of health and illness, and information studies

Type IIA Dual of the Six-Dimensional CHL Compactification

We propose a candidate for the dual (in the weak/strong coupling sense) of the six-dimensional heterotic string compactification constructed recently by Chaudhuri, Hockney and Lykken. It is a type IIA string theory compactified on an orbifold $K3/Z_2$, where the $Z_2$ action involves an involution of $K3$ with fixed points, and also has an embedding in the U(1) gauge group associated with the Ramond-Ramond sector of the type IIA string theory. This introduces flux of the U(1) gauge field concentrated at the orbifold points. This construction provides an explicit example where the dual of a super-conformal field theory background of the heterotic string theory is not a standard super-conformal field theory background of the type IIA string theory.Comment: LaTeX file, 10 page

CRAB Cavity in CERN SPS

Beam collisions with a crossing angle at the interaction point have been applied in high intensity colliders to reduce the effects of parasitic collisions which induce emittance growth and beam lifetime deterioration. The crossing angle causes the geometrical reduction of the luminosity. Crab cavity can be one of the most promising ways to compensate the crossing angle and to realize effective head-on collisions. Moreover, the crab crossing mitigates the synchro-betatron resonances due to the crossing angle. Crab cavity experiment in SPS is proposed for deciding on a full crab-cavity implementation in LHC. In this paper, we investigate the effects of crab crossing on beam dynamics and its life time with the global scheme.Comment: 3 pp. 1st International Particle Accelerator Conference: IPAC'10, 23-28 May 2010: Kyoto, Japa

Cortical transformation of spatial processing for solving the cocktail party problem: a computational model(1,2,3).

In multisource, "cocktail party" sound environments, human and animal auditory systems can use spatial cues to effectively separate and follow one source of sound over competing sources. While mechanisms to extract spatial cues such as interaural time differences (ITDs) are well understood in precortical areas, how such information is reused and transformed in higher cortical regions to represent segregated sound sources is not clear. We present a computational model describing a hypothesized neural network that spans spatial cue detection areas and the cortex. This network is based on recent physiological findings that cortical neurons selectively encode target stimuli in the presence of competing maskers based on source locations (Maddox et al., 2012). We demonstrate that key features of cortical responses can be generated by the model network, which exploits spatial interactions between inputs via lateral inhibition, enabling the spatial separation of target and interfering sources while allowing monitoring of a broader acoustic space when there is no competition. We present the model network along with testable experimental paradigms as a starting point for understanding the transformation and organization of spatial information from midbrain to cortex. This network is then extended to suggest engineering solutions that may be useful for hearing-assistive devices in solving the cocktail party problem.R01 DC000100 - NIDCD NIH HHSPublished versio

Background Independent Algebraic Structures in Closed String Field Theory

We construct a Batalin-Vilkovisky (BV) algebra on moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces. This algebra is background independent in that it makes no reference to a state space of a conformal field theory. Conformal theories define a homomorphism of this algebra to the BV algebra of string functionals. The construction begins with a graded-commutative free associative algebra \C built from the vector space whose elements are orientable subspaces of moduli spaces of punctured Riemann surfaces. The typical element here is a surface with several connected components. The operation $\Delta$ of sewing two punctures with a full twist is shown to be an odd, second order derivation that squares to zero. It follows that (\C, \Delta) is a Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra. We introduce the odd operator $\delta = \partial + \hbar\Delta$, where $\partial$ is the boundary operator. It is seen that $\delta^2=0$, and that consistent closed string vertices define a cohomology class of $\delta$. This cohomology class is used to construct a Lie algebra on a quotient space of \C. This Lie algebra gives a manifestly background independent description of a subalgebra of the closed string gauge algebra.Comment: phyzzx.tex, MIT-CTP-234

On Orientifold Constructions of Type IIA Dual Pairs

In this paper we analyze the earlier constructions of the type IIA dual pairs through orientifolding. By an appropriate choice of $\Gamma$-matrix basis for the spinor representations of the $U$-duality group, we give an explicit relationship between the orientifold models and their dual pairs.Comment: 11pages, Late

Loop Variables and Gauge Invariant Interactions - I

We describe a method of writing down interacting equations for all the modes of the bosonic open string. It is a generalization of the loop variable approach that was used earlier for the free, and lowest order interacting cases. The generalization involves, as before, the introduction of a parameter to label the different strings involved in an interaction. The interacting string has thus becomes a ``band'' of finite width. The interaction equations expressed in terms of loop variables, has a simple invariance that is exact even off shell. A consistent definition of space-time fields requires the fields to be functions of all the infinite number of gauge coordinates (in addition to space time coordinates). The theory is formulated in one higher dimension, where the modes appear massless. The dimensional reduction that is needed to make contact with string theory (which has been discussed earlier for the free case) is not discussed here.Comment: 40 pages, Latex. Revised version: some typos corrected. Final version to appear in Int. J. of Mod. Phys.

Protection of Intellectual Property while Outsourcing

Food and Beverage companies need to share their Intellectual Property (IP) when they outsource production and/or R&D to contract agents. IP sharing can facilitate misappropriation and the contractor may eventually start competing with the client. We design an incentive compatible contract that can protect company IP. A two-pronged strategy is proposed: Companies should share less know-how and give high incentive payments to deter IP misappropriation. Strategies like product differentiation may be highly useful to deter piracy.Intellectual Property Protection, Outsourcing, Product Differentiation, R&D, Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Risk and Uncertainty, L14, L21, L23, L66, 031, 032, 034,