Extending political participation in China: new opportunities for citizens in the policy process

Authoritarian political systems are portrayed as offering few opportunities for citizens to participate in politics – particularly in the policy process. This paper’s contribution is to set out new mechanisms that enable Authoritarian political systems are portrayed as offering few opportunities for citizens to participate in politics – particularly in the policy process. This paper’s contribution is to set out new mechanisms that enable Chinese citizens to evaluate government performance, contribute to decision-making, shape policy agendas and feed back on implementation. Based on fieldwork in the city of Hangzhou, we argue that the local party-state orchestrates citizen participation in the policy process, but members of the public nevertheless do have influence. Political participation is widening in China, but it is still controlled. It is not yet clearly part of a process of democratization, but it does establish the principle of citizen rights to oversee the government

Average luminosity distance in inhomogeneous universes

The paper studies the correction to the distance modulus induced by inhomogeneities and averaged over all directions from a given observer. The inhomogeneities are modeled as mass-compensated voids in random or regular lattices within Swiss-cheese universes. Void radii below 300 Mpc are considered, which are supported by current redshift surveys and limited by the recently observed imprint such voids leave on CMB. The averaging over all directions, performed by numerical ray tracing, is non-perturbative and includes the supernovas inside the voids. Voids aligning along a certain direction produce a cumulative gravitational lensing correction that increases with their number. Such corrections are destroyed by the averaging over all directions, even in non-randomized simple cubic void lattices. At low redshifts, the average correction is not zero but decays with the peculiar velocities and redshift. Its upper bound is provided by the maximal average correction which assumes no random cancelations between different voids. It is described well by a linear perturbation formula and, for the voids considered, is 20% of the correction corresponding to the maximal peculiar velocity. The average correction calculated in random and simple cubic void lattices is severely damped below the predicted maximal one after a single void diameter. That is traced to cancellations between the corrections from the fronts and backs of different voids. All that implies that voids cannot imitate the effect of dark energy unless they have radii and peculiar velocities much larger than the currently observed. The results obtained allow one to readily predict the redshift above which the direction-averaged fluctuation in the Hubble diagram falls below a required precision and suggest a method to extract the background Hubble constant from low redshift data without the need to correct for peculiar velocities.Comment: 34 pages, 21 figures, matches the version accepted in JCA

DsJ(2860)D_{sJ}(2860) and DsJ(2715)D_{sJ}(2715)

Recently Babar Collaboration reported a new $c\bar{s}$ state $D_{sJ}(2860)$ and Belle Collaboration observed $D_{sJ}(2715)$. We investigate the strong decays of the excited $c\bar{s}$ states using the $^{3}P_{0}$ model. After comparing the theoretical decay widths and decay patterns with the available experimental data, we tend to conclude: (1) $D_{sJ}(2715)$ is probably the $1^{-}(1^{3}D_{1})$ $c\bar{s}$ state although the $1^{-}(2^{3}S_{1})$ assignment is not completely excluded; (2) $D_{sJ}(2860)$ seems unlikely to be the $1^{-}(2^{3}S_{1})$ and $1^{-}(1^{3}D_{1})$ candidate; (3) $D_{sJ}(2860)$ as either a $0^{+}(2^{3}P_{0})$ or $3^{-}(1^{3}D_{3})$ $c\bar{s}$ state is consistent with the experimental data; (4) experimental search of $D_{sJ}(2860)$ in the channels $D_s\eta$, $DK^{*}$, $D^{*}K$ and $D_{s}^{*}\eta$ will be crucial to distinguish the above two possibilities.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Some discussions added. The final version to appear at EPJ

Crystallization Characteristics of CaO-Al2O3-Based Mold Flux and Their Effects on In-Mold Performance during High-Aluminum TRIP Steels Continuous Casting

Crystallization behaviors of the newly developed lime-alumina-based mold fluxes for high-aluminum transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steels casting were experimentally studied, and compared with those of lime-silica-based mold fluxes. The effects of mold flux crystallization characteristics on heat transfer and lubrication performance in casting high-Al TRIP steels were also evaluated. The results show that the crystallization temperatures of lime-alumina-based mold fluxes are much lower than those of lime-silica-based mold fluxes. Increasing B2O3 addition suppresses the crystallization of lime-alumina-based mold fluxes, while Na2O exhibits an opposite effect. In continuous cooling of lime-alumina-based mold fluxes with high B2O3 contents and a CaO/Al2O3 ratio of 3.3, faceted cuspidine precipitates first, followed by needle-like CaO center dot B2O3 or 9CaO center dot 3B(2)O(3)center dot CaF2. In lime-alumina-based mold flux with low B2O3 content (5.4 mass pct) and a CaO/Al2O3 ratio of 1.2, the formation of fine CaF2 takes place first, followed by blocky interconnected CaO center dot 2Al(2)O(3) as the dominant crystalline phase, and rod-like 2CaO center dot B2O3 precipitates at lower temperature during continuous cooling of the mold flux. In B2O3-free mold flux, blocky interconnected 3CaO center dot Al2O3 precipitates after CaF2 and 3CaO center dot 2SiO(2) formation, and takes up almost the whole crystalline fraction. The casting trials show that the mold heat transfer rate significantly decreases near the meniscus during the continuous casting using lime-alumina-mold fluxes with higher crystallinity, which brings a great reduction of surface depressions on cast slabs. However, excessive crystallinity of mold flux causes poor lubrication between mold and solidifying steel shell, which induces various defects such as drag marks on cast slab. Among the studied mold fluxes, lime-alumina-based mold fluxes with higher B2O3 contents and a CaO/Al2O3 ratio of 3.3 show comparatively improved performance.ope

The (Sigma_Q-Lambda_Q) transition magnetic moments in light cone QCD sum rules

Using the general form of (Sigma_Q) and (Lambda_Q) (Q=b or c) currents, (Sigma_Q-Lambda_Q) transition magnetic moments are calculated in framework of the light cone QCD sum rules method. In this approach nonperturbative effects are described by the photon wave functions and only two-particle photon wave functions are taken into account. Our predictions on transition magnetic moments are (mu_{Sigma_c Lambda_c} = - (1.5 pm 0.4) mu_N) and (mu_{Sigma_b Lambda_b} = - (1.6 pm 0.4) mu_N). A comparison of our results with the ones existing in the literature is given.Comment: 15 pp, 6 figures (postscript formatted), LaTex formatte

Energy and system size dependence of \phi meson production in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions

We study the beam-energy and system-size dependence of \phi meson production (using the hadronic decay mode \phi -- K+K-) by comparing the new results from Cu+Cu collisions and previously reported Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 and 200 GeV measured in the STAR experiment at RHIC. Data presented are from mid-rapidity (|y|<0.5) for 0.4 < pT < 5 GeV/c. At a given beam energy, the transverse momentum distributions for \phi mesons are observed to be similar in yield and shape for Cu+Cu and Au+Au colliding systems with similar average numbers of participating nucleons. The \phi meson yields in nucleus-nucleus collisions, normalised by the average number of participating nucleons, are found to be enhanced relative to those from p+p collisions with a different trend compared to strange baryons. The enhancement for \phi mesons is observed to be higher at \sqrt{s_NN} = 200 GeV compared to 62.4 GeV. These observations for the produced \phi(s\bar{s}) mesons clearly suggest that, at these collision energies, the source of enhancement of strange hadrons is related to the formation of a dense partonic medium in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions and cannot be alone due to canonical suppression of their production in smaller systems.Comment: 20 pages and 5 figure

Single Spin Asymmetry ANA_N in Polarized Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at s=200\sqrt{s}=200 GeV

We report a high precision measurement of the transverse single spin asymmetry $A_N$ at the center of mass energy $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV in elastic proton-proton scattering by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The $A_N$ was measured in the four-momentum transfer squared $t$ range $0.003 \leqslant |t| \leqslant 0.035$ \GeVcSq, the region of a significant interference between the electromagnetic and hadronic scattering amplitudes. The measured values of $A_N$ and its $t$-dependence are consistent with a vanishing hadronic spin-flip amplitude, thus providing strong constraints on the ratio of the single spin-flip to the non-flip amplitudes. Since the hadronic amplitude is dominated by the Pomeron amplitude at this $\sqrt{s}$, we conclude that this measurement addresses the question about the presence of a hadronic spin flip due to the Pomeron exchange in polarized proton-proton elastic scattering.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive neutral pion production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV

We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and the differential cross section for inclusive Pi0 production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. The cross section was measured over a transverse momentum range of 1 < p_T < 17 GeV/c and found to be in good agreement with a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculation. The longitudinal double-spin asymmetry was measured in the range of 3.7 < p_T < 11 GeV/c and excludes a maximal positive gluon polarization in the proton. The mean transverse momentum fraction of Pi0's in their parent jets was found to be around 0.7 for electromagnetically triggered events.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (RC

High pTp_{T} non-photonic electron production in pp+pp collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 200 GeV

We present the measurement of non-photonic electron production at high transverse momentum ($p_T >$ 2.5 GeV/$c$) in $p$ + $p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV using data recorded during 2005 and 2008 by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The measured cross-sections from the two runs are consistent with each other despite a large difference in photonic background levels due to different detector configurations. We compare the measured non-photonic electron cross-sections with previously published RHIC data and pQCD calculations. Using the relative contributions of B and D mesons to non-photonic electrons, we determine the integrated cross sections of electrons ($\frac{e^++e^-}{2}$) at 3 GeV/$c < p_T <~$10 GeV/$c$ from bottom and charm meson decays to be ${d\sigma_{(B\to e)+(B\to D \to e)} \over dy_e}|_{y_e=0}$ = 4.0$\pm0.5$({\rm stat.})$\pm1.1$({\rm syst.}) nb and ${d\sigma_{D\to e} \over dy_e}|_{y_e=0}$ = 6.2$\pm0.7$({\rm stat.})$\pm1.5$({\rm syst.}) nb, respectively.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figure

Evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function with centrality in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

We present first measurements of the evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function, {\it C}, with collision centrality in Au+Au interactions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV. {\it C} exhibits a strong dependence on collision centrality that is qualitatively similar to that of number correlations previously reported. We use the observed longitudinal broadening of the near-side peak of {\it C} with increasing centrality to estimate the ratio of the shear viscosity to entropy density, $\eta/s$, of the matter formed in central Au+Au interactions. We obtain an upper limit estimate of $\eta/s$ that suggests that the produced medium has a small viscosity per unit entropy.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, STAR paper published in Phys. Lett.