17,464 research outputs found
Adapting structuration theory to understand the role of reflexivity: Problematization, clinical audit and information systems
This paper is an exploratory account of the further development and application of a hybrid framework,
StructurANTion, that is based on Structuration Theory and Actor Network Theory (ANT). The use of social
theories in general and their use in information systems (IS) research in particular is explored leading to
the use of the framework to examine the concept of what are termed humanchine networks in the context
of clinical audit, within a healthcare Primary Care Trust (PCT). A particular focus is on the manner in which
information systems-based reflexivity contributes to both entrenching a networks’ structurated order as
well as contributing to its emancipatory change. The case study compares clinic-centric and patientcentric
audit and seeks to further extend the understanding of the role of information and information
systems within structurated humanchine activity systems. Conclusions indicate that the use of more
socially informed IS methods and approaches can incorporate more emancipatory ideals and lead to
greater adoption and usage of more relevant and useful clinical information systems and practices
Multiplicative renormalizability and quark propagator
The renormalized Dyson-Schwinger equation for the quark propagator is
studied, in Landau gauge, in a novel truncation which preserves multiplicative
renormalizability. The renormalization constants are formally eliminated from
the integral equations, and the running coupling explicitly enters the kernels
of the new equations. To construct a truncation which preserves multiplicative
renormalizability, and reproduces the correct leading order perturbative
behavior, non-trivial cancellations involving the full quark-gluon vertex are
assumed in the quark self-energy loop. A model for the running coupling is
introduced, with infrared fixed point in agreement with previous
Dyson-Schwinger studies of the gauge sector, and with correct logarithmic tail.
Dynamical chiral symmetry breaking is investigated, and the generated quark
mass is of the order of the extension of the infrared plateau of the coupling,
and about three times larger than in the Abelian approximation, which violates
multiplicative renormalizability. The generated scale is of the right size for
hadronic phenomenology, without requiring an infrared enhancement of the
running coupling.Comment: 17 pages; minor corrections, comparison to lattice results added;
accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
A report on SHARP (Spacecraft Health Automated Reasoning Prototype) and the Voyager Neptune encounter
The development and application of the Spacecraft Health Automated Reasoning Prototype (SHARP) for the operations of the telecommunications systems and link analysis functions in Voyager mission operations are presented. An overview is provided of the design and functional description of the SHARP system as it was applied to Voyager. Some of the current problems and motivations for automation in real-time mission operations are discussed, as are the specific solutions that SHARP provides. The application of SHARP to Voyager telecommunications had the goal of being a proof-of-capability demonstration of artificial intelligence as applied to the problem of real-time monitoring functions in planetary mission operations. AS part of achieving this central goal, the SHARP application effort was also required to address the issue of the design of an appropriate software system architecture for a ground-based, highly automated spacecraft monitoring system for mission operations, including methods for: (1) embedding a knowledge-based expert system for fault detection, isolation, and recovery within this architecture; (2) acquiring, managing, and fusing the multiple sources of information used by operations personnel; and (3) providing information-rich displays to human operators who need to exercise the capabilities of the automated system. In this regard, SHARP has provided an excellent example of how advanced artificial intelligence techniques can be smoothly integrated with a variety of conventionally programmed software modules, as well as guidance and solutions for many questions about automation in mission operations
Multiplicative renormalizability of gluon and ghost propagators in QCD
We reformulate the coupled set of continuum equations for the renormalized
gluon and ghost propagators in QCD, such that the multiplicative
renormalizability of the solutions is manifest, independently of the specific
form of full vertices and renormalization constants. In the Landau gauge, the
equations are free of renormalization constants, and the renormalization point
dependence enters only through the renormalized coupling and the renormalized
propagator functions. The structure of the equations enables us to devise novel
truncations with solutions that are multiplicatively renormalizable and agree
with the leading order perturbative results. We show that, for infrared power
law behaved propagators, the leading infrared behavior of the gluon equation is
not solely determined by the ghost loop, as concluded in previous studies, but
that the gluon loop, the three-gluon loop, the four-gluon loop, and even
massless quarks also contribute to the infrared analysis. In our new Landau
gauge truncation, the combination of gluon and ghost loop contributions seems
to reject infrared power law solutions, but massless quark loops illustrate how
additional contributions to the gluon vacuum polarization could reinstate these
solutions. Moreover, a schematic study of the three-gluon and four-gluon loops
shows that they too need to be considered in more detail before a definite
conclusion about the existence of infrared power behaved gluon and ghost
propagators can be reached.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Electrometry using the quantum Hall effect in a bilayer 2D electron system
We discuss the development of a sensitive electrometer that utilizes a
two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in the quantum Hall regime. As a
demonstration, we measure the evolution of the Landau levels in a second,
nearby 2DEG as the applied perpendicular magnetic field is changed, and extract
an effective mass for electrons in GaAs that agrees within experimental error
with previous measurements.Comment: 3.5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to APL
Origin of the hysteresis in bilayer 2D systems in the quantum Hall regime
The hysteresis observed in the magnetoresistance of bilayer 2D systems in the
quantum Hall regime is generally attributed to the long time constant for
charge transfer between the 2D systems due to the very low conductivity of the
quantum Hall bulk states. We report electrometry measurements of a bilayer 2D
system that demonstrate that the hysteresis is instead due to non-equilibrium
induced current. This finding is consistent with magnetometry and electrometry
measurements of single 2D systems, and has important ramifications for
understanding hysteresis in bilayer 2D systems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figs. Accepted for publication in PR
Experimental position-time entanglement with degenerate single photons
We report an experiment in which two-photon interference occurs between
degenerate single photons that never meet. The two photons travel in opposite
directions through our fibre-optic interferometer and interference occurs when
the photons reach two different, spatially separated, 2-by-2 couplers at the
same time. We show that this experiment is analogous to the conventional
Franson-type entanglement experiment where the photons are entangled in
position and time. We measure wavefunction overlaps for the two photons as high
as 94 3%.Comment: Updated to published version, new fig. 4., corrected typo
Verifying the Kugo-Ojima Confinement Criterion in Landau Gauge Yang-Mills Theory
Expanding the Landau gauge gluon and ghost two-point functions in a power
series we investigate their infrared behavior. The corresponding powers are
constrained through the ghost Dyson-Schwinger equation by exploiting
multiplicative renormalizability. Without recourse to any specific truncation
we demonstrate that the infrared powers of the gluon and ghost propagators are
uniquely related to each other. Constraints for these powers are derived, and
the resulting infrared enhancement of the ghost propagator signals that the
Kugo-Ojima confinement criterion is fulfilled in Landau gauge Yang-Mills
theory.Comment: 4 pages, no figures; version to be published in Physical Review
Letter
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