Quantum phase transitions in rotating nuclei

We extend the classical Landau theory for rotating nuclei and show that the backbending in 162Yb, that comes about as a result of the two-quasiparticle alignment, is identified with the second order phase transition. We found that the backbending in 156Dy, caused by the instability of $\gamma$-vibrations in the rotating frame, corresponds to the first order phase transition.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Approaches Toward Improving the Prognosis of Pediatric Patients With Glioma: Pursuing Mutant Drug Targets With Emerging Small Molecules

Gliomas represent approximately 70% of all pediatric brain tumors and most of these are of astrocytic lineage, furthermore, malignant or high-grade astrocytoma account for approximately 20% of pediatric astrocytoma. Treatment options for pediatric glioma patients are limited. Although low-grade astrocytoma are relatively slow-growing tumors which can often be cured through surgical resection, a significant proportion of cases will recur, as such new treatments are desperately needed. This review covers the various approaches that are currently being made towards improving the prognosis of pediatric glioma patients by pursuing pediatric-selective mutant drug targets with emerging small molecules

The emotional geography of prison life

Accounts of prison life consistently describe a culture of mutual mistrust, fear, aggression and barely submerged violence. Often too, they explain how prisoners adapt to this environment—in men’s prisons, at least—by putting on emotional ‘masks’ or ‘fronts’ of masculine bravado which hide their vulnerabilities and deter the aggression of their peers. This article does not contest the truth of such descriptions, but argues that they provide a partial account of the prison’s emotional world. Most importantly, for current purposes, they fail to describe the way in which prisons have a distinctive kind of emotional geography, with zones in which certain kinds of emotional feelings and displays are more or less acceptable. In this article, we argue that these ‘emotion zones’, which cannot be characterized either as ‘frontstage’ or ‘backstage’ domains, enable the display of a wider range of feelings than elsewhere in the prison. Their existence represents a challenge to depictions of prisons as environments that are unwaveringly sterile, unfailingly aggressive or emotionally undifferentiated. This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Sage at http://tcr.sagepub.com/content/18/1/56

The energy flux into a fluidized granular medium at a vibrating wall

We study the power input of a vibrating wall into a fluidized granular medium, using event driven simulations of a model granular system. The system consists of inelastic hard disks contained between a stationary and a vibrating elastic wall, in the absence of gravity. Two scaling relations for the power input are found, both involving the pressure. The transition between the two occurs when waves generated at the moving wall can propagate across the system. Choosing an appropriate waveform for the vibrating wall removes one of these scalings and renders the second very simple.Comment: 5 pages, revtex, 7 postscript figure

The Indian Ocean tsunami: socio-economic impacts in Thailand

On the morning of 26 December 2004 large areas of coastal southern Thailand were transformed when a tsunami, generated by a powerful submarine earthquake in the Indian Ocean, swept ashore. Officially, there were 5395 confirmed deaths in Thailand with another 2932 people listed as missing. In February 2005 a team led by Dr Ben Horton of the University of Pennsylvania was awarded an SGER grant by the National Science Foundation to undertake exploratory research on the tsunami in Malaysia and Thailand. This report summarizes the preliminary conclusions of the social science element of the Thai fieldwork. The team undertook fieldwork in three main sites during July 2005: Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi and Khao Lak. We chose Koh Phi Phi as a small, tourist (backpacker)-oriented island economy with high levels of damage and casualties; Koh Lanta as a site with a significant population of fisherfolk with a long presence in the area; and Khao Lak as a mainland site with the highest number of casualties in Thailand and with a mixed tourism-fishing economy

Note: a dual temperature closed loop batch reactor for determining the partitioning of trace gases within CO2-water systems

An experimental approach is presented which can be used to determine partitioning of trace gases within CO2-water systems. The key advantages of this system are (1) The system can be isolated with no external exchange, making it ideal for experiments with conservative tracers. (2) Both phases can be sampled concurrently to give an accurate composition at each phase at any given time. (3) Use of a lower temperature flow loop outside of the reactor removes contamination and facilitates sampling. (4) Rapid equilibration at given pressure/temperature conditions is significantly aided by stirring and circulating the water phase using a magnetic stirrer and high-pressureliquid chromatography pump, respectively