Real without being concrete: the ontology of public concern and its significance for the Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF)

Public concern is a pivotal notion in the risk perception, communication and management literature. It is, for example, a central concept with regard to the social amplification of risk, and as a justification for policy attention. Despite its ubiquity, the notion of public concern remains a ‘black box’ presenting a poorly understood state of affairs as a reified matter-of-fact. Paying attention to the deployment and metrics of public concern, and the work it is required to do, will enhance the power of approaches to understanding risk, and policymaking. Thus, the broad purpose of this paper is to unpack the notion of public concern by adopting an ontological yet critical perspective, drawing on a range of literature that considers ontology. We reflect on how publics and public concern have been conceptualised with regard to the dichotomies of individual/social and private/public, given that they imply different levels and dimensions of concern. We draw on empirical work that illuminates the assessment and measurement of public concern and how the public have responded to risk events. Considering public concern through an ontological lens affords a means of drawing renewed critical attention to objects that might otherwise appear finished or ready-made.</p

Spectrum of the Vortex Bound States of the Dirac and Schrodinger Hamiltonian in the presence of Superconducting Gaps

We investigate the vortex bound states both Schrodinger and Dirac Hamiltonian with the s-wave superconducting pairing gap by solving the mean-field Bogoliubov-de-Gennes equations. The exact vortex bound states spectrum is numerically determined by the integration method, and also accompanied by the quasi-classical analysis. It is found that the bound state energies is proportional to the vortex angular momentum when the chemical potential is large enough. By applying the external magnetic field, the vortex bound state energies of the Dirac Hamiltonian are almost unchanged; whereas the energy shift of the Schrodinger Hamiltonian is proportional to the magnetic field. These qualitative differences may serve as an indirect evidence of the existence of Majorana fermions in which the zero mode exists in the case of the Dirac Hamiltonian only.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

‘I’d like to report a suspicious looking tree’: public concern, public attention and the nature of reporting about ash dieback in the UK

‘Public concern’, a ubiquitous notion used in descriptive and explanatory modes by policymakers, academics, and the media, is often presented as axiomatic. However, the variability with which it is deployed in different contexts, e.g. as justification for policy attention or having equivalence with what is considered ‘newsworthy’, belies this status. This paper presents an empirical analysis of emails and phone calls from the UK public, to UK government agencies, reporting suspected cases of ash dieback disease; a tree health issue which attracted intense media and policy attention in the UK in 2012. We challenge the view that public attentiveness is necessarily indicative of public concern, or that media attention can be taken as its proxy. Examination of concern at macro and micro levels reveals heterogeneous processes with multiple dimensions. Understanding the nature of public concern is crucial in enabling more effective policy development and operational responses to risk related issues

A Monitor of Beam Polarization Profiles for the TRIUMF Parity Experiment

TRIUMF experiment E497 is a study of parity violation in pp scattering at an energy where the leading term in the analyzing power is expected to vanish, thus measuring a unique combination of weak-interaction flavour conserving terms. It is desired to reach a level of sensitivity of 2x10^-8 in both statistical and systematic errors. The leading systematic errors depend on transverse polarization components and, at least, the first moment of transverse polarization. A novel polarimeter that measures profiles of both transverse components of polarization as a function of position is described.Comment: 19 pages LaTeX, 10 PostScript figures. To appear in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section

PREDICTING THE SUMMER TEMPERATURE OF SMALL STREAMS IN SOUTHWESTERN WISCONSIN 1

One of the biggest challenges in managing cold water streams in the Midwest is understanding how stream temperature is controlled by the complex interactions among meteorologic processes, channel geometry, and ground water inflow. Inflow of cold ground water, shade provided by riparian vegetation, and channel width are the most important factors controlling summer stream temperatures. A simple screening model was used to quantitatively evaluate the importance of these factors and guide management decisions. The model uses an analytical solution to the heat transport equation to predict steady-state temperature throughout a stream reach. The model matches field data from four streams in southwestern Wisconsin quite well (typically within 1°C) and helps explain the observed warming and cooling trends along each stream reach. The distribution of ground water inflow throughout a stream reach has an important influence on stream temperature, and springs are especially effective at providing thermal refuge for fish. Although simple, this model provides insight into the importance of ground water and the impact different management strategies, such as planting trees to increase shade, may have on summer stream temperature.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74032/1/j.1752-1688.2005.tb03714.x.pd

The differential effects of concurrent planning practice elements on reunification and adoption

Objective: The child welfare practice of concurrent planning attempts to shorten children\u27s stays in foster care. There is very little quantitative research on concurrent planning\u27s effects. This study examines the influence of concurrent planning practice elements (reunification prognosis, concurrent plan, full disclosure, and discussion of voluntary relinquishment) on reunification and adoption. Method: Using a sample of 885 children, an observational design, and statistical controls, children who received concurrent planning elements were compared to those who did not. Results: Findings show discussion of voluntary relinquishment to be positively associated with adoption and full disclosure to be negatively associated with reunification. Conclusions: Concurrent planning\u27s benefits may require more intensive services to be fully realized. Care should be taken to ensure activities achieve their intended effects

Distant ionospheric photoelectron energy peak observations at Venus

The dayside of the Venus ionosphere at the top of the planet's thick atmosphere is sustained by photoionization. The consequent photoelectrons may be identified by specific peaks in the energy spectrum at 20–30 eV which are mainly due to atomic oxygen photoionization. The ASPERA-4 electron spectrometer has an energy resolution designed to identify the photoelectron production features. Photoelectrons are seen not only in their production region, the sunlit ionosphere, but also at more distant locations on the nightside of the Venus environment. Here, we present a summary of the work to date on observations of photoelectrons at Venus, and their comparison with similar processes at Titan and Mars. We expand further by presenting new examples of the distant photoelectrons measured at Venus in the dark tail and further away from Venus than seen before. The photoelectron and simultaneous ion data are then used to determine the ion escape rate from Venus for one of these intervals. We compare the observed escape rates with other rates measured at Venus, and at other planets, moons and comets. We find that the escape rates are grouped by object type when plotted against body radius

Search for W' bosons decaying to an electron and a neutrino with the D0 detector

This Letter describes the search for a new heavy charged gauge boson W' decaying into an electron and a neutrino. The data were collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron proton-antiproton Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of about 1 inverse femtobarn. Lacking any significant excess in the data in comparison with known processes, an upper limit is set on the production cross section times branching fraction, and a W' boson with mass below 1.00 TeV can be excluded at the 95% C.L., assuming standard-model-like couplings to fermions. This result significantly improves upon previous limits, and is the most stringent to date.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Measurement of the B0-anti-B0-Oscillation Frequency with Inclusive Dilepton Events

The $B^0$-$\bar B^0$ oscillation frequency has been measured with a sample of 23 million \B\bar B pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we select events in which both B mesons decay semileptonically and use the charge of the leptons to identify the flavor of each B meson. A simultaneous fit to the decay time difference distributions for opposite- and same-sign dilepton events gives $\Delta m_d = 0.493 \pm 0.012{(stat)}\pm 0.009{(syst)}$ ps$^{-1}$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Search for a scalar or vector particle decaying into Zgamma in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

We present a search for a narrow scalar or vector resonance decaying into Zgamma with a subsequent Z decay into a pair of electrons or muons. The data for this search were collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron ppbar collider at a center of mass energy sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. Using 1.1 (1.0) fb-1 of data, we observe 49 (50) candidate events in the electron (muon) channel, in good agreement with the standard model prediction. From the combination of both channels, we derive 95% C.L. upper limits on the cross section times branching fraction (sigma x B) into Zgamma. These limits range from 0.19 (0.20) pb for a scalar (vector) resonance mass of 600 GeV/c^2 to 2.5 (3.1) pb for a mass of 140 GeV/c^2.Comment: Published by Phys. Lett.