Parton showers from the dipole formalism

We present an implementation of a parton shower algorithm for hadron colliders and electron-positron colliders based on the dipole factorisation formulae. The algorithm treats initial-state partons on equal footing with final-state partons. We implemented the algorithm for massless and massive partons.Comment: 33 pages, version to be publishe

Use and perceived effectiveness of pre-competition mood regulation strategies among athletes

The well-established link between mood and sport performance highlights a need for athletes to develop mood regulation strategies. The present study investigated such strategies among 195 volunteer athletes. Participants completed the Regulation of Feelings Scale, a 37-item measure assessing frequency of use and perceived effectiveness of strategies to reduce feelings of anger, confusion, depression, fatigue, tension, and increase feelings of vigour on the day of a competition. The most popular strategies were “engage in physical pre-competition activities”, “spend time alone”, “give myself a pep talk”, “talk to someone about my feelings”, and “use humour”. Frequency of use and perceived effectiveness of strategies varied according to the specific mood dimension athletes sought to regulate. Strategies did not differ by gender, type of sport, or level of competition, but the order in which strategies were presented to the athletes influenced their responses. Exploratory factor analyses for each of the six mood dimensions did not support a theoretical model, which proposed that mood regulation strategies can be grouped into four types – behavioural distraction, behavioural engagement, cognitive distraction, and cognitive engagement. The present findings provide a rich source of information that may help to guide interventions among applied practitioners

Steps in modular specifications for concurrent modules

© 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.The specification of a concurrent program module is a difficult problem. The specifications must be strong enough to enable reasoning about the intended clients without reference to the underlying module implementation. We survey a range of verification techniques for specifying concurrent modules, in particular highlighting four key concepts: auxiliary state, interference abstraction, resource ownership and atomicity. We show how these concepts combine to provide powerful approaches to specifying concurrent modules

The generation and application of metallurgical thermodynamic data

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The power of thermodynamics in the calculation of complex chemical and metallurgical equilibria of importance to industry has, over the last 15 years, been considerably enhanced by the availability of computers. It has resulted in the storage of data in databanks, the use of physical but complex models to represent thermodynamic data, the vast effort spent in the generation of critically assessed data and the development of sophisticated software for their application in equilibrium calculations. This thesis is concerned with the generation and application of metallurgical thermodynamic data in which the computer plays a central and essential role. A very wide range of topics have been covered from the generation of data by experiment and critical assessment through to the application of these data in calculations of importance to industry. Particular emphasis is placed on the need for reliable models and expressions which can represent the molar Gibbs energy as a function of temperature and composition. In addition a new computer program is described and used for the automatic calculation of phase diagrams for binary systems. Measurements of the enthalpies of formation of alloys in the Fe-Ti system are reported. All data for this system have been critically assessed to provide a dataset consistent with the published phase diagram. Critically assessed data for a number of binary alloy systems have been combined in order to perform quantitative calculations in two types of steel system. Firstly data for the Cr-Fe-Ni-Si-Ti system have been used to provide information about the long term stability of alloys used in fast breeder nuclear reactors. Secondly very complex calculations involving nine elements have been made to predict the distribution of carbon and various impurities between competing phases in low alloy steels on the addition of Mischmetall. Finally a new model is developed to represent the thermodynamic data for sulphide liquids and is used in the critical assessment and calculation of data for the Cu-Fe-Ni-S system. The phase diagram and thermodynamic data calculated from the assessed data are in excellent agreement with those observed experimentally. The work reported in this thesis, whilst successful, has also indicated areas which will benefit from further study particularly the development of reliable data and models for pure elements, ordered solid phases and liquid phases for high affinity systems

Flying wide

Published Aug. 9, 2012.Video not available."Watch a behind-the-scenes video of the MIZZOU magazine photo shoot with the Tigers' wide receivers."Video by Blake Dinsdale

Economic impact of reduced mortality due to increased cycling.

Increasing regular physical activity is a key public health goal. One strategy is to change the physical environment to encourage walking and cycling, requiring partnerships with the transport and urban planning sectors. Economic evaluation is an important factor in the decision to fund any new transport scheme, but techniques for assessing the economic value of the health benefits of cycling and walking have tended to be less sophisticated than the approaches used for assessing other benefits. This study aimed to produce a practical tool for estimating the economic impact of reduced mortality due to increased cycling. The tool was intended to be transparent, easy to use, reliable, and based on conservative assumptions and default values, which can be used in the absence of local data. It addressed the question: For a given volume of cycling within a defined population, what is the economic value of the health benefits? The authors used published estimates of relative risk of all-cause mortality among regular cyclists and applied these to levels of cycling defined by the user to produce an estimate of the number of deaths potentially averted because of regular cycling. The tool then calculates the economic value of the deaths averted using the "value of a statistical life." The outputs of the tool support decision making on cycle infrastructure or policies, or can be used as part of an integrated economic appraisal. The tool's unique contribution is that it takes a public health approach to a transport problem, addresses it in epidemiologic terms, and places the results back into the transport context. Examples of its use include its adoption by the English and Swedish departments of transport as the recommended methodologic approach for estimating the health impact of walking and cycling

The conservation and ecology of the heath lobelia, Lobelia urens L.

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/801 on 08.20.2017 by CS (TIS)This programme of research examines the ecology of the threatened perennial Lobelia urens L. (the heath lobelia) which reaches the northern limit of its distribution in the southern coastal counties of England. A survey of the historical evidence of the distribution of the species in England is presented. Restricted to such a small area, L. urens has always been rare in Britain. The six remaining populations were surveyed to describe the phytosociology of communities containing L. urens and the variability of the environmental factors controlling its distribution. L. urens is shown to be a member of rough grass-heath communities dominated by Molinia caerulea and situated on seasonally waterlogged, moderately acidic, nutrient-poor soils. Studies of the demography of L. urens focused on two extant populations. Experimental research was carried out to support these demographic studies both in the field, on plants grown in a common garden, and under the controlled conditions of the glasshouse and laboratory. This information on the ecology of L. urens was used to construct stage-structured population matrices. Recruitment success in L. urens is shown to be very low in Britain and results suggest that this controls the density of British populations. The availability of seed does not regulate the rate of germination. Instead, recruitment of L. urens at the northern edge of its range is restricted by its specific habitat requirements, along with low summer temperatures and the short growing season. Establishment from seed is facilitated by micro-habitats that provide high light intensities and, more importantly, protection against soil moisture loss. Whilst winter disturbance by herbivores is shown to be essential for successful recruitment, adult growth and survival is better in ungrazed communities. However, even the small plants of the grazed areas are very fecund. The seed forms a large persistent bank that embodies a reserve of individuals and genetic variability which offers protection against extinction. The thesis concludes that the soil moisture status and disturbance regimes at Redlake and Andrew's Wood are limiting the growth rates of the L. urens populations. In order to maintain populations, the redirection of drainage water is prescribed to increase the soil moisture status. L. urens is suited to intermittent soil disturbance, the timing and intensity of which was shown to be important, whilst the duration between grazes was seen to be less critical. Results suggest that the habitat created by occasional heavy winter grazing of fattening cattle would be very favourable to L. urens