Gravitational Effects in Quantum Mechanics

To date, both quantum theory, and Einstein's theory of general relativity have passed every experimental test in their respective regimes. Nevertheless, almost since their inception, there has been debate surrounding whether they should be unified and by now there exists strong theoretical arguments pointing to the necessity of quantising the gravitational field. In recent years, a number of experiments have been proposed which, if successful, should give insight into features at the Planck scale. Here we review some of the motivations, from the perspective of semi-classical arguments, to expect new physical effects at the overlap of quantum theory and general relativity. We conclude with a short introduction to some of the proposals being made to facilitate empirical verification.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, review article. Submitted to Contemporary Physic

ESR, ENDOR and TRIPLE resonance studies of the primary donor radical cation P960+ in the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas viridis

The light-induced radical cation of the primary electron donor P960+• in photosynthetic reaction centers from Rhodopseudomonas viridis has been investigated by ESR, ENDOR and TRIPLE techniques. Both the comparison with the cation radical of monomeric bacteriochlorophyll b (BChl b) and with molecular-orbital calculations performed on P960+• using the results of an X-ray structure analysis, consistently show an asymmetric distribution of the unpaired electron over the two BChl b molecules which constitute P960+•. The possible relevance of this result for the primary electron transfer step in the reaction center is briefly discussed

Virtue and austerity

Virtue ethics is often proposed as a third way in health-care ethics, that while consequentialism and deontology focus on action guidelines, virtue focuses on character; all three aim to help agents discern morally right action although virtue seems to have least to contribute to political issues, such as austerity. I claim: (1) This is a bad way to characterize virtue ethics. The 20th century renaissance of virtue ethics was first proposed as a response to the difficulty of making sense of ‘moral rightness’ outside a religious context. For Aristotle the right action is that which is practically best; that means best for the agent in order to live a flourishing life.There are no moral considerations besides this. (2) Properly characterized, virtue ethics can contribute to discussion of austerity. A criticism of virtue ethics is that fixed characteristics seem a bad idea in ever-changing environments; perhaps we should be generous in prosperity, selfish in austerity. Furthermore, empirical evidence suggests that people indeed do change with their environment. However, I argue that virtues concern fixed values not fixed behaviour; the values underlying virtue allow for different behaviour in different circumstances: in austerity, virtues still give the agent the best chance of flourishing. Two questions arise. (a) In austere environments might not injustice help an individual flourish by, say, obtaining material goods? No, because unjust acts undermine the type of society the agent needs for flourishing. (b) What good is virtue to those lacking the other means to flourish? The notion of degrees of flourishing shows that most people would benefit somewhat from virtue. However, in extreme circumstances virtue might harm rather than benefit the agent: such circumstances are to be avoided; virtue ethics thus has a political agenda to enable flourishing. This requires justice, a fortiori when in austerity

Exact Solution for the Time Evolution of Network Rewiring Models

We consider the rewiring of a bipartite graph using a mixture of random and preferential attachment. The full mean field equations for the degree distribution and its generating function are given. The exact solution of these equations for all finite parameter values at any time is found in terms of standard functions. It is demonstrated that these solutions are an excellent fit to numerical simulations of the model. We discuss the relationship between our model and several others in the literature including examples of Urn, Backgammon, and Balls-in-Boxes models, the Watts and Strogatz rewiring problem and some models of zero range processes. Our model is also equivalent to those used in various applications including cultural transmission, family name and gene frequencies, glasses, and wealth distributions. Finally some Voter models and an example of a Minority game also show features described by our model.Comment: This version contains a few footnotes not in published Phys.Rev.E versio

Apology of Socrates: With the Death Scene from Phaedo

This new, inexpensive translation of Plato's Apology of Socrates is an alternative to the 19th-century Jowett translation that students find online when they're trying to save money on books. Using the 1995 Oxford Classical Text and the commentaries of John Burnet and James Helm, I aimed to produce a 21st-century English translation that is both true to Plato's Greek and understandable to college students in introductory philosophy, political theory, and humanities courses. The book also includes a new translation of the death scene from Plato's Phaedo, a short introduction, a dozen explanatory notes, advice on how to cite Plato in papers, and suggestions for further reading. Search for "Plato Armstrong" in Apple Books (epub ISBN 9781957448022) and Amazon (paperback ISBN 9781957448008, Kindle ISBN 9781957448015)

Data Services Librarians’ Responsibilities and Perspectives on Research Data Management

This study of data services librarians is part of a series of studies examining the current roles and perspectives on Research Data Management (RDM) services in higher education. Reviewing current best practices provides insights into the role-based responsibilities for RDM services that data services librarians perform, as well as ways to improve and create new services to meet the needs of their respective university communities. Objectives: The objectives of this article are to provide the context of research data services through a review of past studies, explain how they informed this qualitative study, and provide the methods and results of the current study. This study provides an in-depth overview of the overall job responsibilities of data services librarians and as well as their perspectives on RDM through job analyses. Methods: Job analysis interviews provide insight and context to the tasks employees do as described in their own words. Interviews with 10 data services librarians recruited from the top 10 public and top 10 private universities according to the 2020 Best National University Rankings in the US News and World Reports were asked 30 questions concerning their overall job tasks and perspectives on RDM. Five public and five private data services librarians were interviewed. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions were analyzed in NVivo using a grounded theory application of open, axial, and selective coding to generate categories and broad themes based on the responses using synonymous meanings. Results: The results presented here provide the typical job tasks of data services librarians that include locating secondary data, reviewing data management plans (DMPs), conducting outreach, collaborating, and offering RDM training. Fewer data services librarians assisted with data curation or manage an institutional repository. Discussion: The results indicate that there may be different types of data services librarians depending on the mix of responsibilities. Academic librarianship will benefit from further delineation of job titles using tasks while planning, advertising, hiring, and evaluating workers in this emerging area. There remain many other explorations needed to understand the challenges and opportunities for data services librarians related to RDM. Conclusions: This article concludes with a proposed matrix of job tasks that indicates different types of data services librarians to inform further study. Future job descriptions, training, and education will all benefit from differentiating between the many associated research data services roles and with increased focus on research data greater specializations will emerge