Hearing the grass grow. Emotional and epistemological challenges of practice-near research

This paper discusses the concept of practice-near research in terms of the emotional and epistemological challenges that arise from the researcher coming 'near' enough to other people for psychological processes to ensue. These may give rise in the researcher to confusion, anxiety and doubt about who is who and what is what; but also to the possibility of real emotional and relational depth in the research process. Using illustrations from three social work doctoral research projects undertaken by students at the Tavistock Clinic and the University of East London the paper examines four themes that seem to the author to be central to meaningful practice-near research undertaken in a spirit of true emotional and epistemological open-mindedness: the smell of the real; losing our minds; the inevitability of personal change; and the discovery of complex particulars

Aquilegia, Vol. 38 No. 2, Summer 2014, Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society

https://epublications.regis.edu/aquilegia/1148/thumbnail.jp

Random walks on randomly evolving graphs

A random walk is a basic stochastic process on graphs and a key primitive in the design of distributed algorithms. One of the most important features of random walks is that, under mild conditions, they converge to a stationary distribution in time that is at most polynomial in the size of the graph. This fundamental property, however, only holds if the graph does not change over time; on the other hand, many distributed networks are inherently dynamic, and their topology is subjected to potentially drastic changes. In this work we study the mixing (i.e., convergence) properties of random walks on graphs subjected to random changes over time. Specifically, we consider the edge-Markovian random graph model: for each edge slot, there is a two-state Markov chain with transition probabilities p (add a non-existing edge) and q (remove an existing edge). We derive several positive and negative results that depend on both the density of the graph and the speed by which the graph changes

Testing in the incremental design and development of complex products

Testing is an important aspect of design and development which consumes significant time and resource in many companies. However, it has received less research attention than many other activities in product development, and especially, very few publications report empirical studies of engineering testing. Such studies are needed to establish the importance of testing and inform the development of pragmatic support methods. This paper combines insights from literature study with findings from three empirical studies of testing. The case studies concern incrementally developed complex products in the automotive domain. A description of testing practice as observed in these studies is provided, confirming that testing activities are used for multiple purposes depending on the context, and are intertwined with design from start to finish of the development process, not done after it as many models depict. Descriptive process models are developed to indicate some of the key insights, and opportunities for further research are suggested

Local-Group tests of dark-matter Concordance Cosmology: Towards a new paradigm for structure formation

(abridged) Predictions of the Concordance Cosmological Model (CCM) of the structures in the environment of large spiral galaxies are compared with observed properties of Local Group galaxies. Five new most probably irreconcilable problems are uncovered. However, the Local Group properties provide hints that may lead to a solution of the above problems The DoS and bulge--satellite correlation suggest that dissipational events forming bulges are related to the processes forming phase-space correlated satellite populations. Such events are well known to occur since in galaxy encounters energy and angular momentum are expelled in the form of tidal tails, which can fragment to form populations of tidal-dwarf galaxies (TDGs) and associated star clusters. If Local Group satellite galaxies are to be interpreted as TDGs then the sub-structure predictions of CCM are internally in conflict. All findings thus suggest that the CCM does not account for the Local Group observations and that therefore existing as well as new viable alternatives have to be further explored. These are discussed and natural solutions for the above problems emerge.Comment: A and A, in press, 25 pages, 9 figures; new version contains minor text adjustments for conformity with the published version and additional minor changes resulting from reader's feedback. The speculation on a dark force has been added. Also, the Fritz Zwicky Paradox is now included to agree with the published versio

Strategy revision opportunities and collusion

This paper studies whether and how strategy revision opportunities affect levels of collusion in indefinitely repeated two-player games. Consistent with standard theory, we find that such opportunities do not affect strategy choices, or collusion levels, if the game is of strategic substitutes. In games of strategic complements, by contrast, revision opportunities lead to more collusion. We discuss alternative explanations for this result

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Expected Performance of the ATLAS Experiment - Detector, Trigger and Physics

A detailed study is presented of the expected performance of the ATLAS detector. The reconstruction of tracks, leptons, photons, missing energy and jets is investigated, together with the performance of b-tagging and the trigger. The physics potential for a variety of interesting physics processes, within the Standard Model and beyond, is examined. The study comprises a series of notes based on simulations of the detector and physics processes, with particular emphasis given to the data expected from the first years of operation of the LHC at CERN