8,763 research outputs found
Run-Time Selection of Coordination Mechanisms in Multi-Agent Systems
This paper presents a framework that enables autonomous agents to dynamically select the mechanism they employ in order to coordinate their inter-related activities. Adopting this framework means coordination mechanisms move from the realm of being imposed upon the system at design time, to something that the agents select at run-time in order to fit their prevailing circumstances and their current coordination needs. Empirical analysis is used to evaluate the effect of various design alternatives for the agent's decision making mechanisms and for the coordination mechanisms themselves
Exploring a cardio-thoracic hospital ward soundscape in relation to restoration
Hospitals can provide stressful experiences for both patients and medical staff. A well-designed hospital soundscape should avoid adding to negative emotional states (e.g. stress), limit any detrimental cognitive effects (e.g. attentional fatigue), and enable restoration. Experiences of the cardio-thoracic ward soundscape, in a UK public University hospital, were explored via semi-structured interviews with 11 patients and 16 nurses. Thematic coding analysis resulted in 11 key themes including notions of restoration and emotional responses. The themes were used to develop a conceptual model to describe the processes involved in the perception and evaluation of the soundscape. The language used by patients and nurses indicated the emotional response to the soundscape was at times stressful and at others potentially restorative. Coping methods of accepting and habituating to individual sounds were noted. The impact of the patients' and nurses' ability to maintain these coping strategies are discussed in relation to restoration and the temporal variation of the soundscape. A period of 'quiet time' was in operation at the hospital and the importance of this was noted through various responses relating to emotion and restoration. The results suggest the soundscape has potentially, a beneficial role in facilitating restoration thus helping patients' recovery and medical staff's ability to remain productive. This research supports the need to study hospital soundscapes further so that design implications can be considered for the production of a more restorative environment, possibly through the masking/removal of unwanted sounds and optimising positive sounds
Multiple-Scattering Series For Color Transparency
Color transparency CT depends on the formation of a wavepacket of small
spatial extent. It is useful to interpret experimental searches for CT with a
multiple scattering scattering series based on wavepacket-nucleon scattering
instead of the standard one using nucleon-nucleon scattering. We develop
several new techniques which are valid for differing ranges of energy. These
techniques are applied to verify some early approximations; study new forms of
the wave-packet-nucleon interaction; examine effects of treating wave packets
of non-zero size; and predict the production of 's in electron scattering
experiments.Comment: 26 pages, U.Wa. preprint 40427-23-N9
Nucleon-nucleus optical potential in the particle-hole approach
Feshbach's projection formalism in the particle-hole model space leads to a
microscopic description of scattering in terms of the many-body self-energy. To
investigate the feasibility of this approach, an optical potential for O-16 is
constructed starting from two previous calculations of the self-energy for this
nucleus. The results reproduce the background phase shifts for positive parity
waves and the resonances beyond the mean field.
The latter can be computed microscopically for energies of astrophysical
interest using Green's function theory.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Sum Rule Description of Color Transparency
The assumption that a small point-like configuration does not interact with
nucleons leads to a new set of sum rules that are interpreted as models of the
baryon-nucleon interaction. These models are rendered semi-realistic by
requiring consistency with data for cross section fluctuations in proton-proton
diffractive collisions.Comment: 22 pages + 3 postscript figures attache
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