Varying alpha, thresholds and extra dimensions

We consider variations of coupling strengths and mass ratios in and beyond the Standard Model, in the light of various mechanisms of mass generation. In four-dimensional unified models, heavy quark and superparticle thresholds and the electron mass can completely alter the (testable) relation between Delta ln alpha and Delta ln mu, where mu \equiv m_p/m_e. In extra-dimensional models where a compactification scale below the fundamental scale is varying, definite predictions may result even without unification; we examine some models with Scherk-Schwarz supersymmetry-breaking.Comment: 24 pages, minor edits, slight change in observational numbers from Murphy et al., added remarks on long-range force

Long-term and recent changes in sea level in the Falkland Islands

Mean sea level measurements made at Port Louis in the Falkland Islands in 1981-2, 1984 and 2009, together with values from the nearby permanent tide gauge at Port Stanley, have been compared to measurements made at Port Louis in 1842 by James Clark Ross. The long-term rate of change of sea level is estimated to have been +0.75 ± 0.35 mm/year between 1842 and the early 1980s, after correction for air pressure effects and for vertical land movement due to Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA). The 2009 Port Louis data set is of particular importance due to the availability of simultaneous information from Port Stanley. The data set has been employed in two ways, by providing a short recent estimate of mean sea level itself, and by enabling the effective combination of measurements at the two sites. The rate of sea level rise observed since 1992, when the modern Stanley gauge was installed, has been larger at 2.51 ± 0.58 mm/year, after correction for air pressure and GIA. This rate compares to a value of 2.79 ± 0.42 mm/year obtained from satellite altimetry in the region over the same period. Such a relatively recent acceleration in the rate of sea level rise is consistent with findings from other locations in the southern hemisphere and globall

Prevalence and causes of prescribing errors: the prescribing outcomes for trainee doctors engaged in clinical training (PROTECT) study

Objectives Study objectives were to investigate the prevalence and causes of prescribing errors amongst foundation doctors (i.e. junior doctors in their first (F1) or second (F2) year of post-graduate training), describe their knowledge and experience of prescribing errors, and explore their self-efficacy (i.e. confidence) in prescribing. Method A three-part mixed-methods design was used, comprising: prospective observational study; semi-structured interviews and cross-sectional survey. All doctors prescribing in eight purposively selected hospitals in Scotland participated. All foundation doctors throughout Scotland participated in the survey. The number of prescribing errors per patient, doctor, ward and hospital, perceived causes of errors and a measure of doctors' self-efficacy were established. Results 4710 patient charts and 44,726 prescribed medicines were reviewed. There were 3364 errors, affecting 1700 (36.1%) charts (overall error rate: 7.5%; F1:7.4%; F2:8.6%; consultants:6.3%). Higher error rates were associated with : teaching hospitals (p&#60;0.001), surgical (p = &#60;0.001) or mixed wards (0.008) rather thanmedical ward, higher patient turnover wards (p&#60;0.001), a greater number of prescribed medicines (p&#60;0.001) and the months December and June (p&#60;0.001). One hundred errors were discussed in 40 interviews. Error causation was multi-factorial; work environment and team factors were particularly noted. Of 548 completed questionnaires (national response rate of 35.4%), 508 (92.7% of respondents) reported errors, most of which (328 (64.6%) did not reach the patient. Pressure from other staff, workload and interruptions were cited as the main causes of errors. Foundation year 2 doctors reported greater confidence than year 1 doctors in deciding the most appropriate medication regimen. Conclusions Prescribing errors are frequent and of complex causation. Foundation doctors made more errors than other doctors, but undertook the majority of prescribing, making them a key target for intervention. Contributing causes included work environment, team, task, individual and patient factors. Further work is needed to develop and assess interventions that address these.</p

The Perils of Positivity

The passion and productivity that characterizes research on positive organizational behavior (POB) is impressive. Yet POB research is accumulating so rapidly that it may exceed what the field's conceptual, methodological, and ideological foundation can bear. I discuss here six concerns prompted by the articles in this special issue. These concerns are (1) the emphasis of positive organizational scholarship on individual-level phenomena, (12) the ahistorical character of POB research and writing, (3) the construct validity of key concepts, (4) over-reliance on a particular research strategy, (5) implicit acceptance of fundamental flaws in how work and organizations are designed, and (6) the seductiveness of new research paradigms.Psycholog

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: constraints on the time variation of fundamental constants from the large-scale two-point correlation function

We obtain constraints on the variation of the fundamental constants from the full shape of the redshift-space correlation function of a sample of luminous galaxies drawn from the Data Release 9 of the Baryonic Oscillations Spectroscopic Survey. We combine this information with data from recent CMB, BAO and H_0 measurements. We focus on possible variations of the fine structure constant \alpha and the electron mass m_e in the early universe, and study the degeneracies between these constants and other cosmological parameters, such as the dark energy equation of state parameter w_DE, the massive neutrinos fraction f_\nu, the effective number of relativistic species N_eff, and the primordial helium abundance Y_He. When only one of the fundamental constants is varied, our final bounds are \alpha / \alpha_0 = 0.9957_{-0.0042}^{+0.0041} and m_e /(m_e)_0 = 1.006_{-0.013}^{+0.014}. For their joint variation, our results are \alpha / \alpha_0 = 0.9901_{-0.0054}^{+0.0055} and m_e /(m_e)_0 = 1.028 +/- 0.019. Although when m_e is allowed to vary our constraints on w_DE are consistent with a cosmological constant, when \alpha is treated as a free parameter we find w_DE = -1.20 +/- 0.13; more than 1 \sigma away from its standard value. When f_\nu and \alpha are allowed to vary simultaneously, we find f_\nu < 0.043 (95% CL), implying a limit of \sum m_\nu < 0.46 eV (95% CL), while for m_e variation, we obtain f_nu < 0.086 (95% CL), which implies \sum m_\nu < 1.1 eV (95% CL). When N_eff or Y_He are considered as free parameters, their simultaneous variation with \alpha provides constraints close to their standard values (when the H_0 prior is not included in the analysis), while when m_e is allowed to vary, their preferred values are significantly higher. In all cases, our results are consistent with no variations of \alpha or m_e at the 1 or 2 \sigma level.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures. Submitted to MNRA

Censorship and Surveillance in the First World War

&nbsp; Review of Jared Davidson, Dead Letters. A history of state censorship, the New Zealand home front, and undelivered mail during the Great War. &nbsp

Role of DNA sequences outside the cores of DNase hypersensitive sites (HSs) in functions of the β-globin locus control region. Domain opening and synergism between HS2 and HS3

The roles of each DNase hypersensitive site (HS), and the DNA sequences between them, in the activity of the locus control region of the mammalian β-globin gene domain were examined by placing human and rabbit restriction fragments containing the cores of HS2, HS3, HS4, and HS5, along with varying amounts of flanking DNA, upstream of a hybrid ε-globin-luciferase reporter gene and testing for effects on expression both prior to and after integration into the chromosomes of K562 cells, a human erythroid cell line. Prior to integration, fragments containing HS2 enhanced expression to the greatest extent, and the modest enhancement by some fragments containing HS3 correlated with the presence of a well-conserved binding site for AP1/NFE2. The stronger effects of larger locus control region DNA fragments in clones of stably transfected cells indicates a role for sequences outside the HS cores after integration into the genome. The strong effect of a 1.9-kilobase HindIII fragment containing HS3 after, but not prior to, integration argues for the presence of a chromatin domain-opening activity. Use of a rabbit DNA fragment containing both HS2 and HS3 demonstrated a synergistic interaction between the two HSs when their natural context and spacing are preserved

Comrade: Bill Anderson: A Communist, Working-Class Life

In 2011, Nick Salvatore reflected on the ‘intimate relationship’ between biography and social history. Challenging the suggestions made by some historians that biography was outside the ‘discipline of history’, Salvatore argued that the recent turn to biography in labour and social history was a welcome development. It opened the possibility of a broader understanding of ‘the interplay between an individual and social forces beyond one’s ability to control’. Such biography, he continued, could shed light far beyond any individual, even if it does not always reach into every corner of social life’. Like any historical work, however, it demanded a ‘disciplinary rigor and thorough research effort that treats equally seriously both the subject and the context that shapes that life’. In his excellent biography, Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist, Salvatore referred to the book as a ‘social biography’, one that ‘intended to explore both the individual and the broader social context’

Ross Webb Papers - Accession 1135

This collection consists of papers from Dr. Ross A. Webb (1923-2003), Historian Emeritus from Winthrop University. Significant research includes the history of Winthrop College, genealogy of Benjamin Helm Bristow, Webb’s history class notes, and preliminary drafts of his book The Torch is Passed. The files contain documents, commentary, correspondence, and articles describing the founding of Winthrop, its move from Columbia to Rock Hill, Founders Day, its coat of arms, an annual chronology of growth, the presidents, traditions, student life, campus activities, course curriculum, Board of Trustees records, administration & faculty, distinguished alumni, library services, athletics, organizations, publications, introduction of coeducation, legislative issues, statistical analysis, history lectures, family genealogy, civic engagement, newspaper articles, and drafts of Ross Webb’s books.https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/manuscriptcollection_findingaids/2477/thumbnail.jp