2,494 research outputs found
Designing and evaluating the calm electronic newspaper
This paper reports from an ongoing action research study concerning the design of the future enewspaper, i.e. a newspaper on e-paper technology. The e-paper innovation is of great importance to the newspaper publishers since it has the potential of eventually replacing the printed newspaper due to its readability and high contrast. This study addresses the challenge of how to design calm user experience of the e-newspaper. The action research approach followed the canonical action research method, in collaboration with publisher, reader and advertiser clients. The activities include a range of data collection techniques such as project meetings, workshops, interviews and prototype testing. In the diagnosing phase we identified the core challenges for designing the e-newspaper which directed us to the literature of calm technology. Three design principles for calm user experience were formulated in the action planning phase, followed by designing three e-newspaper prototypes, which embeds the design principles, in the action taking phase. The prototypes were evaluated with 36 readers in the evaluating phase and the outcome of these evaluations was later assessed in collaboration with newspaper designers for specifying learning. The results indicate that the design principles support calm user experience
QCD corrections to the t-->H+b decay within the minimal supersymmetric standard model
I present the contribution of gluinos and scalar quarks to the decay rate of
the top quark into a charged Higgs boson and a bottom quark within the minimal
supersymmetric standard model, including the mixing of the scalar partners of
the left- and right-handed top quark. I show that for certain values of the
supersymmetric parameters the standard QCD loop corrections to this decay mode
are diminished or enhanced by several 10 per cent. I show that not only a small
value of 3 GeV for the gluino mass (small mass window) but also much larger
values of several hundreds of GeV's have a non-neglible effect on this decay
rate, against general belief. Last but not least, if the ratio of the vacuum
expectation values of the Higgs bosons are taken in the limit of I
obtain a drastic enhancement due to a \ dependence in the couplings.Comment: UQAM-PHE-94/01, 6 pages, plain tex, 4 figures not included, available
under request via mail or fa
Transverse Momentum Spectra of Pions in Particle and Nuclear Collisions and Some Ratio-Behaviours: Towards A Combinational Approach
The nature of transverse momentum dependence of the inclusive cross-sections
for secondary pions produced in high energy hadronic(), hadronuclear()
and nuclear() collisions has here been exhaustively investigated for a
varied range of interactions in a unified way with the help of a master
formula. This formula evolved from a new combination of the basic Hagedorn's
model for particle(pion) production in PP scattering at ISR range of energies,
a phenomenological approach proposed by Peitzmann for converting the results of
reactions to those for either or collisions, and a specific
form of parametrization for mass number-dependence of the nuclear cross
sections. This grand combination of models(GCM) is then applied to analyse the
assorted extensive data on various high energy collisions. The nature of
qualitative agreement between measurements and calculations on both the
inclusive cross-sections for production of pions, and some ratios of them as
well, is quite satisfactory. The modest successes that we achieve here in
dealing with the massive data-sets are somewhat encouraging in view of the
diversity of the reactions and the very wide range of interaction energies.Comment: 19 pages, 19 figure
Experimental feeding validates nanofluidic array technology for DNA detection of ungulate prey in wolf scats
The study of carnivores' diet is a key component to enhance knowledge on the ecology of predators and their effect on prey populations. Although molecular approaches to detect prey DNA in carnivore scats are improving, the validation of their accuracy, a prerequisite for reliable applications within ecological frameworks, is still lagging behind the methodological advances. Indeed, variation in detection probability among prey species can occur, representing a potentially insidious source of bias in food-habit studies of carnivores. Calibration of DNA-based methods involves the
optimization of specificity and sensitivity and, whereas priority is usually given to the former to avoid false positives, sensitivity is rarely investigated so that false negatives may be largely overlooked. We conducted feeding trials with captive wolves (Canis lupus) to validate a nanofluidic array technology recently developed for the detection of multiple prey species in scats. Using 371 scat samples from 12 wolves fed with a single-prey diet, the sensitivity of our nanofluidic array method varied between 0.45 and 0.95 for the six main ungulate prey species. The method sensitivity was enhanced by using multiple markers per species and by a relatively low threshold of number of amplifying markers required to confirm a detection. Yet, at least two markers should be used to avoid false positives. By acknowledging sources of bias in sensitivity to reliably interpret the results of DNA-based dietary methods, our study highlights the relevance of feeding experiments to optimally calibrate the relative thresholds to define a positive detection and investigate the occurrence and extent of biases in sensitivity
Cardiovascular and cancer mortality in relation to dietary polychlorinated biphenyls and marine polyunsaturated fatty acids: A nutritional-toxicological aspect of fish consumption
Background. Co-exposure to environmental contaminants
present in fish could mitigate the beneficial
effects of fish consumption and possibly explain
the lack of association observed for mortality in
some geographical regions.
Objective. To assess the independent associations of
dietary exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs) and long-chain omega-3 fish fatty acids
intake with cardiovascular and cancer mortality.
Methods. We used the prospective population-based
Swedish Mammography Cohort and the Cohort of
Swedish Men comprising 32 952 women and 36 545
men, free from cancer, cardiovascular disease and
diabetes at baseline in 1998. Validated estimates of
dietary PCBs and long-chain omega-3 fish fatty acids
[i.e. eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic
acid (DHA)] intake were obtained via a food
frequency questionnaire at baseline. Information on
death was ascertained through register linkage.
Results. During a mean follow-up of 15.5 years, we
ascertained 16 776 deaths. We observed for cardiovascular
mortality, comparing extreme quintiles
in multivariable models mutually adjusted for
PCBs and EPA-DHA, dose-dependent associations
for dietary PCB exposure, hazard ratio (HR) 1.31
(CI 95%: 1.08 to 1.57; P-trend 0.005) and for
dietary EPA-DHA intake, HR 0.79 (CI 95%: 0.66 to
0.95; P-trend 0.041). For cancer mortality, no clear
associations were discerned.
Conclusion. The beneficial effect of fish consumption
on the cardiovascular system seems compromised
by co-exposure to PCBs – one likely explanation for
the inconsistent associations observed between
fish consumption and mortalityThe Swedish Research Council under the grant no 2017-00822 and 2017-00644 (SIMPLER) supported the stud
Communicating Processes with Data for Supervisory Coordination
We employ supervisory controllers to safely coordinate high-level
discrete(-event) behavior of distributed components of complex systems.
Supervisory controllers observe discrete-event system behavior, make a decision
on allowed activities, and communicate the control signals to the involved
parties. Models of the supervisory controllers can be automatically synthesized
based on formal models of the system components and a formalization of the safe
coordination (control) requirements. Based on the obtained models, code
generation can be used to implement the supervisory controllers in software, on
a PLC, or an embedded (micro)processor. In this article, we develop a process
theory with data that supports a model-based systems engineering framework for
supervisory coordination. We employ communication to distinguish between the
different flows of information, i.e., observation and supervision, whereas we
employ data to specify the coordination requirements more compactly, and to
increase the expressivity of the framework. To illustrate the framework, we
remodel an industrial case study involving coordination of maintenance
procedures of a printing process of a high-tech Oce printer.Comment: In Proceedings FOCLASA 2012, arXiv:1208.432
Relevance of baseline hard proton-proton spectra for high-energy nucleus-nucleus physics
We discuss three different cases of hard inclusive spectra in proton-proton
collisions: high single hadron production at 20 GeV and
at = 62.4 GeV, and direct photon production at = 200 GeV;
with regard to their relevance for the search of Quark Gluon Plasma signals in
A+A collisions at SPS and RHIC energies.Comment: Proceeds. Hot Quarks 2004 Int. Workshop on the Physics of
Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions. 26 pages. 26 figs. [minor
corrs., refs. added
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