10,516 research outputs found
Verification-guided modelling of salience and cognitive load
Well-designed interfaces use procedural and sensory cues to increase the cognitive salience of appropriate actions. However, empirical studies suggest that cognitive load can influence the strength of those cues. We formalise the relationship between salience and cognitive load revealed by empirical data. We add these rules to our abstract cognitive architecture, based on higher-order logic and developed for the formal verification of usability properties. The interface of a fire engine dispatch task from the empirical studies is then formally modelled and verified. The outcomes of this verification and their comparison with the empirical data provide a way of assessing our salience and load rules. They also guide further iterative refinements of these rules. Furthermore, the juxtaposition of the outcomes of formal analysis and empirical studies suggests new experimental hypotheses, thus providing input to researchers in cognitive science
Consequences of energy conservation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
Complete characterization of particle production and emission in relativistic
heavy-ion collisions is in general not feasible experimentally. This work
demonstrates, however, that the availability of essentially complete
pseudorapidity distributions for charged particles allows for a reliable
estimate of the average transverse momenta and energy of emitted particles by
requiring energy conservation in the process. The results of such an analysis
for Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}}= 130 and 200 GeV are compared with
measurements of mean-p_T and mean-E_T in regions where such measurements are
available. The mean-p_T dependence on pseudorapidity for Au+Au collisions at
130 and 200 GeV is given for different collision centralities.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Overview of Solid Target Studies for a Neutrino Factory
The UK proĀgramme of high power tarĀget deĀvelĀopĀments for a NeuĀtriĀno FacĀtoĀry is cenĀtred on the study of high-Z maĀteĀriĀals (tungĀsten, tanĀtaĀlum). A deĀscripĀtion of lifeĀtime shock tests on canĀdiĀdate maĀteĀriĀals is given as part of the reĀsearch into a solid tarĀget soĀluĀtion. A fast high curĀrent pulse is apĀplied to a thin wire of the samĀple maĀteĀriĀal and the lifeĀtime meaĀsured from the numĀber of pulsĀes beĀfore failĀure. These meaĀsureĀments are made at temĀperĀaĀtures up to ~2000 K. The stress on the wire is calĀcuĀlatĀed using the LS-DYĀNA code and comĀpared to the stress exĀpectĀed in the real NeuĀtriĀno FacĀtoĀry tarĀget. It has been found that tanĀtaĀlum is too weak to susĀtain proĀlonged stress at these temĀperĀaĀtures but a tungĀsten wire has reached over 26 milĀlion pulsĀes (equivĀaĀlent to more than ten years of opĀerĀaĀtion at the NeuĀtriĀno FacĀtoĀry). An acĀcount is given of the opĀtiĀmiĀsaĀtion of secĀondary pion proĀducĀtion from the tarĀget and the isĀsues reĀlatĀed to mountĀing the tarĀget in the muon capĀture solenoid and tarĀget staĀtion are disĀcussed
Energy and system dependence of high- triggered two-particle near-side correlations
Previous studies have indicated that the near-side peak of high-
triggered correlations can be decomposed into two parts, the \textit{Jet} and
the \textit{Ridge}. We present data on the yield per trigger of the
\textit{Jet} and the \textit{Ridge} from , and collisions
at = 62.4 GeV and 200 GeV and compare data on the \textit{Jet}
to PYTHIA 8.1 simulations for . PYTHIA describes the \textit{Jet}
component up to a scaling factor, meaning that PYTHIA can provide a better
understanding of the \textit{Ridge} by giving insight into the effects of the
kinematic cuts. We present collision energy and system dependence of the
\textit{Ridge} yield, which should help distinguish models for the production
mechanism of the \textit{Ridge}.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, proceedings for Hot Quarks in Estes Park,
Colorad
Field Work Reflections: Journeys in Knowing and Not-Knowing
In this paper, I retrace my interest in narrative forms of inquiry. I begin by revisiting a series of research projects that I conducted early in my career, describing some of my own dissatisfactions with the methods I used at the time. I move on to a detailed reexamination of my first piece of narrative research, completed during my PhD. In that project I used a narrative pointed psychosocial method in an attempt to develop new knowledge in the field of drugs, āraceā and ethnicity. In the final section, I consider what I have learned from this approach in terms of knowing and not-knowing and how I have used this experience to explore different approaches to narrative inquiry. I finish by drawing out some lessons I have learned from these different studies, which I hope might be of relevance to other social work researchers
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