On the primacy and irreducible nature of first-person versus third-person information

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Afterglow Observations Shed New Light on the Nature of X-ray Flashes

X-ray flashes (XRFs) and X-ray rich gamma-ray bursts (XRGRBs) share many observational characteristics with long duration GRBs, but the reason for which their prompt emission peaks at lower photon energies, $E_p$, is still under debate. Although many different models have been invoked in order to explain the lower $E_p$ values, their implications for the afterglow emission were not considered in most cases, mainly because observations of XRF afterglows have become available only recently. Here we examine the predictions of the various XRF models for the afterglow emission, and test them against the observations of XRF 030723 and XRGRB 041006, the events with the best monitored afterglow light curves in their respective class. We show that most existing XRF models are hard to reconcile with the observed afterglow light curves, which are very flat at early times. Such light curves are, however, naturally produced by a roughly uniform jet with relatively sharp edges that is viewed off-axis (i.e. from outside of the jet aperture). This type of model self consistently accommodates both the observed prompt emission and the afterglow light curves of XRGRB 041006 and XRF 030723, implying viewing angles $\theta_{obs}$ from the jet axis of $(\theta_{obs}-\theta_0)\sim 0.15\theta_0$ and $\sim \theta_0$, respectively, where $\theta_0\sim 3$ deg is the jet half-opening angle. This suggests that GRBs, XRGRBs and XRFs are intrinsically similar relativistic jets viewed from different angles, corresponding to $\gamma(\theta_{obs}-\theta_0)$ of less than 1, between 1 and a few, and more than a few, respectively, where $\gamma$ is the Lorentz factor. Future observations with Swift could help test this unification scheme in which GRBs, XRGRBs and XRFs share the same basic physics and differ only by their orientation relative to our line of sight.Comment: some references added, small typos corrected, and the important role of HETE II emphasize

Metafísica y libertad en la filosofía antigua

In Greek philosophy there are two rival accounts of the relation between ontology and freedom. In one of them the universe has its origin in the act of free will of an intelligence. This entails, of course, that this intelligence must be free. In the other the universe comes from necessity from an impersonal being which has not the features of an intelligent being and cannot be free

Pengujian Perda Dan Perdes Pasca Perubahan UU Pemda Dan UU Desa

The development of contemporary public law (both in the field of constitutional law and administrative law) in Indonesia was marked by the strengthening of the internal settlement administration assertion as a means of testing the legal norms of both abstract and concrete. With variations, in a legal dispute concerning the norms of concrete, these developments containing fragmentation models for partly governs how the advanced mechanism in the judiciary after taken administrative effort (eg, Law Administration) and some not at all set up (eg, Law Reform State Civil). Some of the latest legislation select general-abstract norm testing internally without linking them with the possibility of testing judicially by the judiciary, among others: Law on Local Government and Law Village. In both the legislation does not regulate how the mechanism of local regulation (Perda) or village laws (Perdes) canceled by the governor or regent / mayor, whether they can be tested back to the judiciary through judicial review mechanism. This paper intends to discuss how the implementation of the authority of judicial review by Supreme Court after the enactment Law of Local Goverment or Law of Village which is not regulated by the latest legal mechanism to test regional law in the form of regulation (local laws), including Perdes (Village Laws), whereas previous products or similar laws regulate otherwise

Analytical investigation of the dynamics of tethered constellations in earth orbit

This Quarterly Report on Tethering in Earth Orbit deals with three topics: (1) Investigation of the propagation of longitudinal and transverse waves along the upper tether. Specifically, the upper tether is modeled as three massive platforms connected by two perfectly elastic continua (tether segments). The tether attachment point to the station is assumed to vibrate both longitudinally and transversely at a given frequency. Longitudinal and transverse waves propagate along the tethers affecting the acceleration levels at the elevator and at the upper platform. The displacement and acceleration frequency-response functions at the elevator and at the upper platform are computed for both longitudinal and transverse waves. An analysis to optimize the damping time of the longitudinal dampers is also carried out in order to select optimal parameters. The analytical evaluation of the performance of tuned vs. detuned longitudinal dampers is also part of this analysis. (2) The use of the Shuttle primary Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters for blowing away a recoiling broken tether is discussed. A microcomputer system was set up to support this operation. (3) Most of the effort in the tether plasma physics study was devoted to software development. A particle simulation code has been integrated into the Macintosh II computer system and will be utilized for studying the physics of hollow cathodes

Ab initio determination of an extended Heisenberg Hamiltonian in CuO2 layers

Accurate ab initio calculations on embedded Cu_4O_{12} square clusters, fragments of the La_2CuO_4 lattice, confirm a value of the nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic coupling (J=124 meV) previously obtained from ab initio calculations on bicentric clusters and in good agreement with experiment. These calculations predict non negligible antiferromagnetic second-neighbor interaction (J'=6.5 meV) and four-spin cyclic exchange (K=14 meV), which may affect the thermodynamic and spectroscopic properties of these materials. The dependence of the magnetic coupling on local lattice distortions has also been investigated. Among them the best candidate to induce a spin-phonon effect seems to be the movement of the Cu atoms, changing the Cu-Cu distance, for which the variation of the nearest neighbor magnetic coupling with the Cu-O distance is {\Delta J}/{\Delta d_{Cu-O}}\sim 1700 cm^{-1} A^{-1}.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Sampuraga: Penciptaan Opera Batak

Opera Batak Sampuraga is a play that began from the experience of seeing the site Sampuraga Hot Spring, located in the area Sirambas Mandailing-Natal, and stories are told from mouth to mouth (oral literature). Then rearrangement is done regarding characterization and the occuring event by using some structures of Indonesian modern theater. As Batak Opera has some similarities with the structure of Indonesian modern theater, Opera Batak Sampuraga as an object of art creation, experiences a touch of creativity with the presence of various elements of art from other regions; one of them is gundala-gundala, a traditional theater of Karo region. Sampuraga play is a human obsession and ambition in reaching their goals, which requires sacrifice, although it eventually leads a curse. Opera This play is presented through a realism approach with representation style. The form of tragedy is chosen because of the incident happening to two human beings; mother and child. This creation is important because Opera Batak Sampuraga is similar to the pattern and characterization of plays in Indonesian modern theater

Perturbation of matrices and non-negative rank with a view toward statistical models

In this paper we study how perturbing a matrix changes its non-negative rank. We prove that the non-negative rank is upper-semicontinuos and we describe some special families of perturbations. We show how our results relate to Statistics in terms of the study of Maximum Likelihood Estimation for mixture models.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. A theorem has been rewritten, and some improvements in the presentations have been implemente