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Effective Action (effective + action)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	23%
Medical Sciences	15%

Selected Abstracts

Food Security in Protracted Crises: Building More Effective Policy Frameworks

DISASTERS, Issue 2005
Margarita Flores
This paper considers the principal elements that underpin policy frameworks for supporting food security in protracted crisis contexts. It argues that maintaining the food entitlements of crisis-affected populations must extend beyond interventions to ensure immediate human survival. A ,policy gap' exists in that capacities for formulating policy responses to tackle the different dimensions of food insecurity in complex, fluid crisis situations tend to be weak. As a result, standardised, short-term intervention designs are created that fall short of meeting the priority needs of affected populations in the short and long term and only partially exploit the range of policy options available. The paper discusses key attributes of agency frameworks that could support more effective policy processes to address longer term as well as immediate food security needs. Additionally, it points to some main challenges likely to be encountered in developing such frameworks and, with the participation of beneficiaries, translating them into effective action. [source]

Flux compactification of M-theory on compact manifolds with Spin(7) holonomy,

FORTSCHRITTE DER PHYSIK/PROGRESS OF PHYSICS, Issue 11-12 2005
D. Constantin
At the leading order, M-theory admits minimal supersymmetric compactifications if the internal manifold has exceptional holonomy. The inclusion of non-vanishing fluxes in M-theory and string theory compactifications induce a superpotential in the lower dimensional theory, which depends on the fluxes. In this work, we check the conjectured form of this superpotential in the case of warped M-theory compactifications on Spin(7) holonomy manifolds. We perform a Kaluza-Klein reduction of the eleven-dimensional supersymmetry transformation for the gravitino and we find by direct comparison the superpotential expression. We check the conjecture for the heterotic string compactified on a Calabi-Yau three-fold as well. The conjecture can be checked indirectly by inspecting the scalar potential obtained after the compactification of M-theory on Spin(7) holonomy manifolds with non-vanishing fluxes. The scalar potential can be written in terms of the superpotential and we show that this potential stabilizes all the moduli fields describing deformations of the metric except for the radial modulus. All the above analyses require the knowledge of the minimal supergravity action in three dimensions. Therefore we calculate the most general causal ,, =1 three-dimensional, gauge invariant action coupled to matter in superspace and derive its component form using Ectoplasmic integration theory. We also show that the three-dimensional theory which results from the compactification is in agreement with the more general supergravity construction. The compactification procedure takes into account higher order quantum correction terms in the low energy effective action. We analyze the properties of these terms on a Spin(7) background. We derive a perturbative set of solutions which emerges from a warped compactification on a Spin(7) holonomy manifold with non-vanishing flux for the M-theory field strength and we show that in general the Ricci flatness of the internal manifold is lost, which means that the supergravity vacua are deformed away from the exceptional holonomy. Using the superpotential form we identify the supersymmetric vacua out of this general set of solutions. [source]

Abelian and non-abelian D-brane effective actions

FORTSCHRITTE DER PHYSIK/PROGRESS OF PHYSICS, Issue 9 2004
P. Koerber
Abstract In this Ph.D. thesis, accepted at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, we review and elaborate on a method to find the D-brane effective action, based on BPS equations. Firstly, both for the Yang-Mills action and the Born-Infeld action it is shown that these configurations are indeed BPS, i.e. solutions to these equations saturate a Bogomolny bound and leave some supersymmetry unbroken. Next, we use the BPS equations as a tool to construct the D-brane effective action and require that (a deformation of) these equations should still imply the equations of motion in more general cases. In the abelian case we managed to calculate all order in ,, four-derivative corrections to the effective action and the BPS equations while in the non-abelian case we obtained the effective action up to order ,,4. Furthermore, we discuss a check based on the spectrum of strings stretching between intersecting branes. Finally, this Ph.D. thesis also discusses the construction of a boundary superspace which would be the first step to use the method of Weyl invariance in N = 2 superspace in order to again construct the D-brane effective action. A more detailed summary of each section can be found in the introduction. [source]

Introduction: Local Democratic Governance, Poverty Reduction and Inequality: The Hybrid Character of Public Action

IDS BULLETIN, Issue 6 2009
Peter K. Spink
It has largely been assumed that as societies get better at being broader and more open (decentralisation, local government, participation and governance), so services tend to improve and things will get better for those in situations of poverty. In testing this assumption, the LogoLink network has drawn on studies of innovative experiences by members of its partner organisations. The emphasis of the joint project was on the local actors and the social processes involved. The results show how effective action and impact requires not only community-based organisations, social movements and NGO networks, but also public sector actors who can make links between the institutional environment, the public sector and communities. Recognising this hybrid character of public action has been a key conclusion from the studies. [source]

Parents labelled with Intellectual Disability: Position of the IASSID SIRG on Parents and Parenting with Intellectual Disabilities

JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 4 2008
IASSID Special Interest Research Group on Parents, Parenting with Intellectual Disabilities
Background, On August 5th, 2006, the third meeting of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities (IASSID) Special Interest Research Group (SIRG) on Parents and Parenting with Intellectual Disabilities was convened in Maastricht, The Netherlands, coinciding with the 2nd International Congress of IASSID-Europe. The SIRG Parents and Parenting with Intellectual Disabilities membership includes scholars from a number of countries including the United States, Canada, England, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. These scholars come from a range of academic and professional disciplines, including sociology, psychology, education, nursing, social work and occupational therapy. Method, This position paper developed by the Parenting SIRG brings into sharp relief the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted by the General Assembly in December 2006. The convention affirms the right of persons with disabilities to marry and found a family (Article 23, (1)(a)). Further, states parties are bound to ,take effective action and appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities in all matters relating to marriage, family, parenthood and relationships,' (Article 23 (1)), and ,,render appropriate assistance to persons with disabilities in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities' (Article 23 (2)). Results, This position paper synthesizes messages from research about the challenges that parents labelled with intellectual disability face, and how they can be assisted in their parenting role. [source]

The amino terminus of PKA catalytic subunit,A site for introduction of posttranslation heterogeneities by deamidation: D-Asp2 and D-isoAsp2 containing isozymes

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 11 2000
Volker Kinzel
Abstract Conserved deamidation of PKA catalytic subunit isozymes C, and C,,more than 25% at Asn2 in vivo in both cases,has been shown to yield Asp2- and isoAsp2-containing isozymes (Jedrzejewski PT, Girod A, Tholey A, König N, Thullner S, Kinzel V, Bossemeyer D, 1998, Protein Sci 7: 457,469). Isoaspartate formation in proteins in vivo is indicative of succinimide intermediates involved in both the initial deamidation reaction as well as the "repair" of isoAsp to Asp by the action of protein L-isoaspartyl (D-aspartyl) O-methyl transferase (PIMT). L-Succinimide is prone to racemization to D-succinimide, which may hydrolyze to D-isoAsp- and D-Asp-containing diastereomers with, respectively, no and poor substrate character for PIMT. To analyze native PKA catalytic subunit from cardiac muscle for these isomers the N-terminal tryptic peptides (T1) of the enzyme were analyzed following procedures refined specifically with a set of corresponding synthetic peptides. The methods combined high resolution high-performance liquid chromatography and a new mass spectrometric procedure for the discrimination between Asp- and isoAsp-residues in peptides (Lehmann et al., 2000). The results demonstrate the occurrence of D-isoAsp- and D-Asp-containing T1 fragments in addition to the L-isomers. The small amount of the L-isoAsp isomer, representing only part of the D-isoAsp isomer, and the relatively large amounts of the L-Asp and D-Asp isomers argues for an effective action of PIMT present in cardiac tissue. [source]

Cessation in the use of tobacco , pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic routines in patients

THE CLINICAL RESPIRATORY JOURNAL, Issue 1 2008
Petter Quist-Paulsen
Abstract Introduction:, Approximately one-third of the adult population in industrial countries and 70% in several Asian countries are daily smokers. Tobacco is now regarded as the world's leading cause of death. Approximately two-thirds of lifelong smokers eventually die because of smoking. Smoking cessation is the most effective action to reduce mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and coronary heart disease. Objective:, The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of smoking cessation programmes in patients with smoking-related disorders. Methods:, Medline was searched for studies of interventions for smoking cessation in patients. Results:, In patients with cardiovascular diseases and COPD, smoking cessation programmes with behavioural support over several months significantly increase quit rates. The intensity of the programmes seems to be proportional to the effect. A long follow-up period is probably the most important element in the programmes. Even the most intensive programmes are very cost-effective in terms of cost per life-year gained. Effective programmes can be delivered by personnel without special education in smoking cessation using simple intervention principles. Conclusions:, In patients with smoking-related disorders, smoking cessation interventions with several months of follow-up are effective and easily applicable in clinical practice. Wider implementation of such programmes would be a cost-effective way of saving lives. Please cite this paper as: Quist-Paulsen P. Cessation in the use of tobacco , pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic routines in patients. The Clinical Respiratory Journal 2008; 2: 4,10. [source]

Working children and accidents: understanding the risks

CHILD: CARE, HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2001
L White
Summary Recent research suggests that a significant proportion of school children aged 10,16 years are employed outside the home during the school term. Delivery work represents only a minority of such employment and children are found working in a wide range of ,adult' jobs, particularly in the service sector. This raises concerns about health and safety hazards faced by working children. There is an absence of data on the effects of different kinds of work and working conditions on child health and development, which is thus a barrier to defining goals, policies and effective action. This paper aims to address these issues through presenting some research findings on child employment and incidences of accident. The study is based on surveys of school children in North Tyneside and Norfolk. Our analysis shows that there is a high level of accidents occurring at work among children aged 10,16 years old. While legislation exists in the UK to prevent children from working in the most hazardous environments and to prohibit young children from undertaking any employment, it is clear that such work does take place. Our findings indicate that it is time to look at the occupational health of children as a major concern. [source]

Coherent state path integral and super-symmetry for condensates composed of bosonic and fermionic atoms

FORTSCHRITTE DER PHYSIK/PROGRESS OF PHYSICS, Issue 9-10 2007
B. Mieck
Abstract A super-symmetric coherent state path integral on the Keldysh time contour is considered for bosonic and fermionic atoms which interact among each other with a common short-ranged two-body potential. We investigate the symmetries of Bose-Einstein condensation for the equivalent bosonic and fermionic constituents with the same interaction potential so that a super-symmetry results between the bosonic and fermionic components of super-fields. Apart from the super-unitary invariance U(L | S) of the density terms, we specialize on the examination of super-symmetries for pair condensate terms. Effective equations are derived for anomalous terms which are related to the molecular- and BCS- condensate pairs. A Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation from ,Nambu'-doubled super-fields leads to a generating function with super-matrices for the self-energy whose manifold is given by the orthosympletic super-group Osp(S,S | 2L). A nonlinear sigma model follows from the spontaneous breaking of the ortho-symplectic super-group Osp(S,S | 2L) to the coset decomposition Osp(S,S | 2L) \ U(L | S), U(L | S). The invariant subgroup U(L | S) for the vacuum or background fields is represented by the density terms in the self-energy whereas the super-matrices on the coset space Osp(S,S | 2L) \ U(L | S) describe the anomalous molecular and BCS- pair condensate terms. A change of integration measure is performed for the coset decomposition Osp(S,S | 2L) \ U(L | S) , U(L | S), including a separation of density and anomalous parts of the self-energy with a gradient expansion for the Goldstone modes. The independent anomalous fields in the actions can be transformed by the inverse square root of the metric tensor of Osp(S,S | 2L) \ U(L | S) so that the non-Euclidean integration measure with super-Jacobi-determinant can be removed from the coherent state path integral and Gaussian-like integrations remain. The variations of the independent coset fields in the effective actions result in classical field equations for a nonlinear sigma model with the anomalous terms. The dynamics of the eigenvalues of the coset matrices is determined by Sine-Gordon equations which have a similar meaning for the dynamics of the molecular- and BCS-pair condensates as the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the coherent wave function in BEC phenomena. [source]

Abelian and non-abelian D-brane effective actions

Nonlocal quantum gravity and the size of the universe

FORTSCHRITTE DER PHYSIK/PROGRESS OF PHYSICS, Issue 6-7 2004
M. Reuter
Motivated by the conjecture that the cosmological constant problem is solved by strong quantum effects in the infrared we use the exact flow equation of Quantum Einstein Gravity to determine the renormalization group behavior of a class of nonlocal effective actions. They consist of the Einstein-Hilbert term and a general nonlinear function Fk(V) of the Euclidean spacetime volume V. For the V + V ln V -invariant the renormalization group running enormously suppresses the value of the renormalized curvature which results from Planck-size parameters specified at the Planck scale. One obtains very large, i.e., almost flat universes without finetuning the cosmological constant. A critical infrared fixed point is found where gravity is scale invariant. [source]

Integrating artificial intelligence into on-line statistical process control

QUALITY AND RELIABILITY ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2003
Ruey-Shiang Guh
Abstract Statistical process control (SPC) is one of the most effective tools of total quality management, the main function of which is to monitor and minimize process variations. Typically, SPC applications involve three major tasks in sequence: (1) monitoring the process, (2) diagnosing the deviated process and (3) taking corrective action. With the movement towards a computer integrated manufacturing environment, computer based applications need to be developed to implement the various SPC tasks automatically. However, the pertinent literature shows that nearly all the researches in this field have only focussed on the automation of monitoring the process. The remaining two tasks still need to be carried out by quality practitioners. This project aims to apply a hybrid artificial intelligence technique in building a real time SPC system, in which an artificial neural network based control chart monitoring sub-system and an expert system based control chart alarm interpretation sub-system are integrated for automatically implementing the SPC tasks comprehensively. This system was designed to provide the quality practitioner with three kinds of information related to the current status of the process: (1) status of the process (in-control or out-of-control). If out-of-control, an alarm will be signaled, (2) plausible causes for the out-of-control situation and (3) effective actions against the out-of-control situation. An example is provided to demonstrate that hybrid intelligence can be usefully applied for solving the problems in a real time SPC system. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]