Resolving the Degeneracy: Experimental tests of the New Self Creation Cosmology and a heterodox prediction for Gravity Probe B

The new theory of Self Creation Cosmology has been shown to yield a concordant cosmological solution that does not require inflation, exotic non-baryonic Dark matter or Dark Energy to fit observational constraints. In vacuo there is a conformal equivalence between this theory and canonical General Relativity and as a consequence an experimental degeneracy exists as the two theories predict identical results in the standard tests. However, there are three definitive experiments that are able to resolve this degeneracy and distinguish between the two theories. Here these standard tests and definitive experiments are described. One of the definitive predictions, that of the geodetic precession of a gyroscope, has just been measured on the Gravity Probe B satellite, which is at the present time of writing in the data processing stage. This is the first opportunity to falsify Self Creation Cosmology. The theory predicts a 'frame-dragging' result equal to GR but a geodetic precession of only 2/3 the GR value. When applied to the Gravity Probe B satellite, Self Creation Cosmology predicts an E-W gravitomagnetic/frame-dragging precession, equal to that of GR, of 40.9 milliarcsec/yr but a -S gyroscope (geodetic + Thomas) precession of just 4.4096 arcsec/yr.Comment: LaTex, 15 pages. Correction of the prediction of the GP-B geodetic measurement to 4.4096 arcsec/y

‘Westminster’s wingman’? Shadow chancellor as a strategic and coveted political role

A focal job of Westminster opposition, there is nevertheless a dearth of published analysis on the job of Shadow Chancellor. This article argues that the Shadow Chancellor is distinctive because of its strategic power over opposition policy and other shadow portfolios and offers a critique of the post for perhaps the first time. The article shows that: most Shadow Chancellors have leadership ambitions but demonstrates that their position is intertwined with that of leader; that they are unlikely to be reshuffled by the leader who appointed them; and, that new leaders usually appoint new Shadow Chancellors. Drawing on various data about the behaviour of post holders, it demonstrates that the Shadow Chancellor occupies a central coordinating role alongside the opposition leader and supports the ‘Westminster Model’ by acting as a combative critic of government and grounding leadership in the collegiality of Parliament. Nonetheless, it also shows that the Shadow Chancellor’s profile is strongest outside Westminster, in projecting the economic credibility of an alternative government

Women's networks: their participation in and influence on the sustainable development agenda.

Through a selective review of the literature on sustainable development, this thesis identifies the concepts of networking, participation and redistribution as crucial to the philosophy and politics of sustainable development. Feminist perspectives on these concepts are used as analytical tools in a study of women's networks and their participation in, and influence on, the sustainable development agenda and the implementation of Agenda 21 (UN, 1992) in the 1990s. It is argued that the participation of women's networks in developing the sustainability agenda, although crucial to the implementation of Agenda 21. was limited. The dynamics between political actors resulting from international agreements, such as Agenda 21. and the influence of women's networks on associated processes and outcomes are currently under researched in the literature. This is explored in the thesis. It is suggested that the principles of associative democracy, group representation and “user involvement" could be synthesized and employed to strengthen democratic representation in the political arena relating to the sustainability agenda. It is further suggested that these principles could serve as a model for similar exercises in the future. The methodology used is qualitative. An empirical study involving interviews and participant observation of women's networks is presented. So too is a critical review of the "grey" literature on the influence of women's networks on Agenda 21 and the scholarly literature on the implementation of local Agenda 21 (LA21). The need for LA21 consultations to take account of the views of women's networks, and for new forms of democratic representation to be developed is illustrated

Quasiperiodic spin-orbit motion and spin tunes in storage rings

We present an in-depth analysis of the concept of spin precession frequency for integrable orbital motion in storage rings. Spin motion on the periodic closed orbit of a storage ring can be analyzed in terms of the Floquet theorem for equations of motion with periodic parameters and a spin precession frequency emerges in a Floquet exponent as an additional frequency of the system. To define a spin precession frequency on nonperiodic synchro-betatron orbits we exploit the important concept of quasiperiodicity. This allows a generalization of the Floquet theorem so that a spin precession frequency can be defined in this case too. This frequency appears in a Floquet-like exponent as an additional frequency in the system in analogy with the case of motion on the closed orbit. These circumstances lead naturally to the definition of the uniform precession rate and a definition of spin tune. A spin tune is a uniform precession rate obtained when certain conditions are fulfilled. Having defined spin tune we define spin-orbit resonance on synchro--betatron orbits and examine its consequences. We give conditions for the existence of uniform precession rates and spin tunes (e.g. where small divisors are controlled by applying a Diophantine condition) and illustrate the various aspects of our description with several examples. The formalism also suggests the use of spectral analysis to ``measure'' spin tune during computer simulations of spin motion on synchro-betatron orbits.Comment: 62 pages, 1 figure. A slight extension of the published versio

Mott Transition in Quasi-One-Dimensional Systems

We report the application of the density-matrix renormalization group method to a spatially anisotropic two-dimensional Hubbard model at half-filling. We find a deconfinement transition induced by the transverse hopping parameter $t_y$ from an insulator to a metal. Therefore, if $t_y$ is fixed in the metallic phase, increasing the interaction $U$ leads to a metal-to-insulator transition at a finite critical $U$. This is in contrast to the weak-coupling Hartree-Fock theory which predicts a nesting induced antiferromagnetic insulator for any $U>0$.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

On the universality class of the Mott transition in two dimensions

We use the two-step density-matrix renormalization group method to elucidate the long-standing issue of the universality class of the Mott transition in the Hubbard model in two dimensions. We studied a spatially anisotropic two-dimensional Hubbard model with a non-perfectly nested Fermi surface at half-filling. We find that unlike the pure one-dimensional case where there is no metallic phase, the quasi one-dimensional modeldisplays a genuine metal-insulator transition at a finite value of the interaction. The critical exponent of the correlation length is found to be $\nu \approx 1.0$. This implies that the fermionic Mott transition, belongs to the universality class of the 2D Ising model. The Mott insulator is the 'ordered' phase whose order parameter is given by the density of singly occupied sites minus that of holes and doubly occupied sites.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Can the Heinrich ratio be used to predict harm from medication errors?

The purpose of this study was to establish whether, for medication errors, there exists a fixed Heinrich ratio between the number of incidents which did not result in harm, the number that caused minor harm, and the number that caused serious harm. If this were the case then it would be very useful in estimating any changes in harm following an intervention. Serious harm resulting from medication errors is relatively rare, so it can take a great deal of time and resource to detect a significant change. If the Heinrich ratio exists for medication errors, then it would be possible, and far easier, to measure the much more frequent number of incidents that did not result in harm and the extent to which they changed following an intervention; any reduction in harm could be extrapolated from this

Solving the puzzle of an unconventional phase transition for a 2d dimerized quantum Heisenberg model

Motivated by the indication of a new critical theory for the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model with a spatially staggered anisotropy on the square lattice as suggested in \cite{Wenzel08}, we re-investigate the phase transition of this model induced by dimerization using first principle Monte Carlo simulations. We focus on studying the finite-size scaling of $\rho_{s1} 2L$ and $\rho_{s2} 2L$, where $L$ stands for the spatial box size used in the simulations and $\rho_{si}$ with $i \in \{1,2\}$ is the spin-stiffness in the $i$-direction. Remarkably, while we do observe a large correction to scaling for the observable $\rho_{s1}2L$ as proposed in \cite{Fritz11}, the data for $\rho_{s2}2L$ exhibit a good scaling behavior without any indication of a large correction. As a consequence, we are able to obtain a numerical value for the critical exponent $\nu$ which is consistent with the known O(3) result with moderate computational effort. Specifically, the numerical value of $\nu$ we determine by fitting the data points of $\rho_{s2}2L$ to their expected scaling form is given by $\nu=0.7120(16)$, which agrees quantitatively with the most accurate known Monte Carlo O(3) result $\nu = 0.7112(5)$. Finally, while we can also obtain a result of $\nu$ from the observable second Binder ratio $Q_2$ which is consistent with $\nu=0.7112(5)$, the uncertainty of $\nu$ calculated from $Q_2$ is more than twice as large as that of $\nu$ determined from $\rho_{s2}2L$.Comment: 7 figures, 1 table; brief repor