Convergence and Australian content: The importance of access

In the light of new and complex challenges to media policy and regulation, the Austrlaian government commissioned the Convergence Review in late 2010 to assess the continuing applicability and utility of the principles and objectives that have shaped the policy framework to this point. It proposed a range of options for policy change and identified three enduring priorities for continued media regulation: media ownership and control; content standards; and Australian content production and distribution. The purpose of this article is to highlight an area where we feel there are opportunities for further discussion and research: the question of how the accessibility and visibility of Australian and local content may be assured in the future media policy framework via a combination of regulation and incentives to encourage innovation in content distribution

Moduli stabilization and SUSY breaking in heterotic orbifold string models

In this paper we discuss the issues of supersymmetry breaking and moduli stabilization within the context of E_8 x E_8 heterotic orbifold constructions and, in particular, we focus on the class of "mini-landscape" models. In the supersymmetric limit, these models admit an effective low energy field theory with a spectrum of states and dimensionless gauge and Yukawa couplings very much like that of the MSSM. These theories contain a non-Abelian hidden gauge sector which generates a non-perturbative superpotential leading to supersymmetry breaking and moduli stabilization. We demonstrate this effect in a simple model which contains many of the features of the more general construction. In addition, we argue that once supersymmetry is broken in a restricted sector of the theory, then all moduli are stabilized by supergravity effects. Finally, we obtain the low energy superparticle spectrum resulting from this simple model.Comment: LaTeX, v2: 57+1 pages, 4 figures, 8 Tables, added references; this version i) discusses volume moduli stabilization with exponentials of both sign (as sometimes mandated by modular invariance); ii) includes the anomalous U(1)_A D-term & the leading Coleman-Weinberg 1-loop correction into the MSSM soft masses to prevent tachyonic results

Addressing the Grand Challenge of atmospheric carbon dioxide: geologic sequestration vs. biological recycling

On February 15, 2008, the National Academy of Engineering unveiled their list of 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering. Building off of tremendous advancements in the past century, these challenges were selected for their role in assuring a sustainable existence for the rapidly increasing global community. It is no accident that the first five Challenges on the list involve the development of sustainable energy sources and management of environmental resources. While the focus of this review is to address the single Grand Challenge of "develop carbon sequestration methods", is will soon be clear that several other Challenges are intrinsically tied to it through the principles of sustainability. How does the realm of biological engineering play a role in addressing these Grand Challenges

Reconciling Grand Unification with Strings by Anisotropic Compactifications

We analyze gauge coupling unification in the context of heterotic strings on anisotropic orbifolds. This construction is very much analogous to effective 5 dimensional orbifold GUT field theories. Our analysis assumes three fundamental scales, the string scale, \mstring, a compactification scale, \mc, and a mass scale for some of the vector-like exotics, \mex; the other exotics are assumed to get mass at \mstring. In the particular models analyzed, we show that gauge coupling unification is not possible with \mex = \mc and in fact we require \mex \ll \mc \sim 3 \times 10^{16} GeV. We find that about 10% of the parameter space has a proton lifetime (from dimension 6 gauge exchange) $10^{33} {\rm yr} \lesssim\tau(p\to \pi^0e^+) \lesssim 10^{36} {\rm yr}$. The other 80% of the parameter space gives proton lifetimes below Super-K bounds. The next generation of proton decay experiments should be sensitive to the remaining parameter space.Comment: 36 pages and 5 figures, contains some new references and additional paragraph in conclusio

Polarisation oscillations in birefringent emitter-cavity systems

We present the effects of resonator birefringence on the cavity-enhanced interfacing of quantum states of light and matter, including the first observation of single photons with a time-dependent polarisation state that evolves within their coherence time. A theoretical model is introduced and experimentally verified by the modified polarisation of temporally-long single photons emitted from a $^{87}$Rb atom coupled to a high-finesse optical cavity by a vacuum-stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (V-STIRAP) process. Further theoretical investigation shows how a change in cavity birefringence can both impact the atom-cavity coupling and engender starkly different polarisation behaviour in the emitted photons. With polarisation a key resource for encoding quantum states of light and modern micron-scale cavities particularly prone to birefringence, the consideration of these effects is vital to the faithful realisation of efficient and coherent emitter-photon interfaces for distributed quantum networking and communications.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures including Supplemental Materia

Freedom of Information requests uncover the lack of transparency in journal subscription costs.

Stuart Lawson and Ben Meghreblian have been compiling a useful dataset via Freedom of Information requests on how much academic publishers are charging higher education institutions for journal subscriptions. Their goal is to highlight the scale of the academic publishing market in the UK and for this to inform policy discussions. Some of the barriers they came across in obtaining data on expenditures were the infamous non-disclosure agreements by Elsevier and also subscription agents, which handle the costs on behalf of libraries

Alternate endings: using fiction to explore design futures

Design research and practice within HCI is inherently oriented toward the future. However, the vision of the future described by HCI researchers and practitioners is typically utility-driven and focuses on the short term. It rarely acknowledges the potentially complex social and psychological long-term consequences of the technology artefacts produced. Thus, it has the potential to unintentionally cause real harm. Drawing on scholarship that investigates the link between fiction and design, this workshop will explore “alternate endings” to contemporary HCI papers. Attendees will use fictional narratives to envision long-term consequences of contemporary HCI projects, as a means for engaging the CHI community in a consideration of the values and implications of interactive technology

Don’t mention this around the Christmas table: Brexit, inequality and the demographic divide

A great deal of research has already been conducted on why the UK voted to leave the EU and which groups of voters were most likely to back leave and remain. Danny Dorling, Ben Stuart and Joshua Stubbs present a comprehensive analysis of the vote, writing that although there is generally a stark age divide amongst voters concerning the European Union, the same can also potentially be said for divides in the spread and centralisation of wealth across the UK