Ceramic composition at Chalcolithic Shiqmim, northern Negev desert, Israel: investigating technology and provenance using thin section petrography, instrumental geochemistry and calcareous nannofossils

Technological innovations in ceramic production and other crafts are hallmarks of the Chalcolithic period (4500–3600 BCE) in the southern Levant, but details of manufacturing traditions have not been fully investigated using the range of analytical methods currently available. This paper presents results of a compositional study of 51 sherds of ceramic churns and other pottery types from the Chalcolithic site of Shiqmim in the northern Negev desert. By applying complementary thin section petrography, instrumental geochemistry and calcareous nannofossil analyses, connections between the raw materials, clay paste recipes and vessel forms of the selected ceramic samples are explored and documented. The study indicates that steps in ceramic manufacturing can be related to both technological choices and local geology. Detailed reporting of the resulting data facilitates future comparative ceramic compositional research that is needed as a basis for testable regional syntheses and to better resolve networks of trade/exchange and social group movement

Simulating disease transmission dynamics at a multi-scale level

We present a model of the global spread of a generic human infectious disease using a Monte Carlo micro-simulation with large-scale parallel-processing. This prototype has been constructed and tested on a model of the entire population of the British Isles. Typical results are presented. A microsimulation of this order of magnitude of population simulation has not been previously attained. Further, an efficiency assessment of processor usage indicates that extension to the global scale is feasible. We conclude that the flexible approach outlined provides the framework for a virtual laboratory capable of supporting public health policy making at a variety of spatial scales.high-performance computing; global modelling; disease transmission

Recent results of the STAR high-energy polarized proton-proton program at RHIC at BNL

The STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is carrying out a spin physics program colliding transverse or longitudinal polarized proton beams at $\sqrt{s}=200-500$GeV to gain a deeper insight into the spin structure and dynamics of the proton. These studies provide fundamental tests of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). One of the main objectives of the STAR spin physics program is the determination of the polarized gluon distribution function through a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry, $A_{LL}$, for various processes. Recent results will be shown on the measurement of $A_{LL}$ for inclusive jet production, neutral pion production and charged pion production at $\sqrt{s}=200$GeV. In addition to these measurements involving longitudinal polarized proton beams, the STAR collaboration has performed several important measurements employing transverse polarized proton beams. New results on the measurement of the transverse single-spin asymmetry, $A_{N}$, for forward neutral pion production and the first measurement of $A_{N}$ for mid-rapidity di-jet production will be discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Invited talk given at the 17th International Spin Physics Symposium (SPIN 2006), October 2006, Kyoto, Japa

Selected results on Strong and Coulomb-induced correlations from the STAR experiment

Using recent high-statistics STAR data from Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at full RHIC energy I discuss strong and Coulomb-induced final state interaction effects on identical ($\pi-\pi$) and non-identical ($\pi-\Xi$) particle correlations. Analysis of $\pi-\Xi$ correlations reveals the strong and Coulomb-induced FSI effects allowing for the first time to estimate space extension of $\pi$ and $\Xi$ sources and average shift between them. Source imaging technique providing clean separation of these effects from effects due to the source function itself is applied to one-dimensional relative momentum correlation function of identical pions. For low momentum pions and/or non-central collisions large departure from a single-Gaussian shape is observed

Longitudinal Spin Asymmetry and Cross Section of Inclusive pi0 Production in Polarized p+p Collisions at RHIC

We present the first measurement of the cross section and the double longitudinal spin asymmetry of inclusive pi0 production in polarized p+p collisions at Sqrt(s) = 200 GeV at mid-rapidity with the STAR detector, using the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter. The measured cross section is compared to NLO pQCD calculations and can provide constraints on the pion fragmentation functions. Fragmentation is studied directly by measuring the momentum fraction of pi0 in jets, a quantity that is affected by the fragmentation process and jet reconstruction effects. The double longitudinal spin asymmetry is compared to NLO pQCD calculations based on different assumptions for the gluon polarization in the nucleon to provide constraints on delta g/g. At the present level of statistics the measured asymmetry disfavors a large positive gluon polarization, but can not yet distinguish between other scenarios.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to the proceedings of the 17th International Spin Physics Symposium (SPIN2006), Kyoto, Japan, October 2 to 7, 200

Unfamiliar face recognition : Security, surveillance and smartphones

A person’s ability to recognize familiar faces across a wide range of viewing conditions is one of the most impressive facets of human cognition. As shown in Figure 1, it is easy to conclude, for a known individual, that each image in the set shows the same person (British Prime Minister David Cameron), despite a wide range of variation in viewing angle, physical appearance, camera and lighting. In fact, familiar face recognition performance is often at or near ceiling level, even when the images are of poor quality [1] or artificially distorted. [2] At first glance, the aptitude for familiar face recognition may suggest a similar level of expertise for the recognition of unfamiliar faces, thus the reliance on face-to-photo ID for identity verification. [3] This is not the case, as recent research shows people are surprisingly poor at recognizing new instances of an unfamiliar person. The poor recognition of unfamiliar faces is a concern for the United States. Many preliminary screenings involve facial recognition by security agents. In order for this method to be effective, more robust training for security agents needs to be established. The Department of Defense utilizes facial and iris recognition technologies in order to eliminate human error in identifying persons of interest during surveillance operations. [4] DoD guidelines should be implemented by security agent guidance programs to ensure best practices in identification of potential threats