391 research outputs found
Nanoscale deformation of GaAs affected by silicon doping
Effect of silicon doping on the elastic–plastic transition of GaAs crystal is demonstrated by results of nanoindentations
and ab initio simulations. The performed experiments show that an increase of silicon concentration
causes a decrease of the contact pressure at the onset of permanent nanodeformation of GaAs crystal. Ab initio
calculations demonstrate that presence of Si atoms in the crystal lattice suppresses the shear modulus as well as
the pressure of equilibrium between zinc-blende and rock-salt phases of GaAs. Furthermore, it is argued that the
effect of dislocations pinning to Si dopants is essential for clarification of GaAs yielding
La metacognición y el mejoramiento de la enseñanza de química universitaria
En este trabajo, que es parte de una investigación más extensa, sobre mejoramiento de la enseñanza de química universitaria, se presentan algunos resultados obtenidos luego de aplicar una nueva propuesta de enseñanza, destinada a la comprensión y resolución de problemas sobre el tema «Soluciones». Con el objeto de facilitar el aprendizaje significativo, la propuesta de trabajo incluye el uso de las denominadas herramientas metacognitivas que permitan aplicar metodologías conducentes al logro de dichos aprendizajes por parte de los estudiantes. Luego de aplicar las mencionadas herramientas, se procedió a realizar la evaluación de los estudiantes participantes para obtener datos sobre los logros alcanzados y sus aprendizajes. El análisis de los resultados muestra que el uso del nuevo enfoque instruccional ayuda a los estudiantes en sus procesos de aprendizaje, en la medida que se vayan haciendo conscientes de los mecanismos que se utilizan para obtener aprendizaje significativo.This work, which is part of a more extensive research project on the improvement of Chemistry teaching at university level, presents the results obtained by applying an innovative teaching methodology. This methodology was designed with the objective of helping students to better understand and solve problems regarding the topic "Solutions". In order to facilitate learning, the proposed methodology includes the use of metacognitive tools (concept maps, Gowin's Vee and clinical interviews), which allows the students to apply significant learning methodologies. After applying these tools, we evaluated the students in order to measure their achievements and their learning. The analysis of the results shows that the use of this new instructional approach helps the students in their learning process because they become aware of the mechanism they use to achieve significant learning
An Improved Bound for First-Fit on Posets Without Two Long Incomparable Chains
It is known that the First-Fit algorithm for partitioning a poset P into
chains uses relatively few chains when P does not have two incomparable chains
each of size k. In particular, if P has width w then Bosek, Krawczyk, and
Szczypka (SIAM J. Discrete Math., 23(4):1992--1999, 2010) proved an upper bound
of ckw^{2} on the number of chains used by First-Fit for some constant c, while
Joret and Milans (Order, 28(3):455--464, 2011) gave one of ck^{2}w. In this
paper we prove an upper bound of the form ckw. This is best possible up to the
value of c.Comment: v3: referees' comments incorporate
Incremental Medians via Online Bidding
In the k-median problem we are given sets of facilities and customers, and
distances between them. For a given set F of facilities, the cost of serving a
customer u is the minimum distance between u and a facility in F. The goal is
to find a set F of k facilities that minimizes the sum, over all customers, of
their service costs.
Following Mettu and Plaxton, we study the incremental medians problem, where
k is not known in advance, and the algorithm produces a nested sequence of
facility sets where the kth set has size k. The algorithm is c-cost-competitive
if the cost of each set is at most c times the cost of the optimum set of size
k. We give improved incremental algorithms for the metric version: an
8-cost-competitive deterministic algorithm, a 2e ~ 5.44-cost-competitive
randomized algorithm, a (24+epsilon)-cost-competitive, poly-time deterministic
algorithm, and a (6e+epsilon ~ .31)-cost-competitive, poly-time randomized
algorithm.
The algorithm is s-size-competitive if the cost of the kth set is at most the
minimum cost of any set of size k, and has size at most s k. The optimal
size-competitive ratios for this problem are 4 (deterministic) and e
(randomized). We present the first poly-time O(log m)-size-approximation
algorithm for the offline problem and first poly-time O(log m)-size-competitive
algorithm for the incremental problem.
Our proofs reduce incremental medians to the following online bidding
problem: faced with an unknown threshold T, an algorithm submits "bids" until
it submits a bid that is at least the threshold. It pays the sum of all its
bids. We prove that folklore algorithms for online bidding are optimally
competitive.Comment: conference version appeared in LATIN 2006 as "Oblivious Medians via
Online Bidding
Parameterizing by the Number of Numbers
The usefulness of parameterized algorithmics has often depended on what
Niedermeier has called, "the art of problem parameterization". In this paper we
introduce and explore a novel but general form of parameterization: the number
of numbers. Several classic numerical problems, such as Subset Sum, Partition,
3-Partition, Numerical 3-Dimensional Matching, and Numerical Matching with
Target Sums, have multisets of integers as input. We initiate the study of
parameterizing these problems by the number of distinct integers in the input.
We rely on an FPT result for ILPF to show that all the above-mentioned problems
are fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized in this way. In various
applied settings, problem inputs often consist in part of multisets of integers
or multisets of weighted objects (such as edges in a graph, or jobs to be
scheduled). Such number-of-numbers parameterized problems often reduce to
subproblems about transition systems of various kinds, parameterized by the
size of the system description. We consider several core problems of this kind
relevant to number-of-numbers parameterization. Our main hardness result
considers the problem: given a non-deterministic Mealy machine M (a finite
state automaton outputting a letter on each transition), an input word x, and a
census requirement c for the output word specifying how many times each letter
of the output alphabet should be written, decide whether there exists a
computation of M reading x that outputs a word y that meets the requirement c.
We show that this problem is hard for W[1]. If the question is whether there
exists an input word x such that a computation of M on x outputs a word that
meets c, the problem becomes fixed-parameter tractable
Information Gathering in Ad-Hoc Radio Networks with Tree Topology
We study the problem of information gathering in ad-hoc radio networks
without collision detection, focussing on the case when the network forms a
tree, with edges directed towards the root. Initially, each node has a piece of
information that we refer to as a rumor. Our goal is to design protocols that
deliver all rumors to the root of the tree as quickly as possible. The protocol
must complete this task within its allotted time even though the actual tree
topology is unknown when the computation starts. In the deterministic case,
assuming that the nodes are labeled with small integers, we give an O(n)-time
protocol that uses unbounded messages, and an O(n log n)-time protocol using
bounded messages, where any message can include only one rumor. We also
consider fire-and-forward protocols, in which a node can only transmit its own
rumor or the rumor received in the previous step. We give a deterministic
fire-and- forward protocol with running time O(n^1.5), and we show that it is
asymptotically optimal. We then study randomized algorithms where the nodes are
not labelled. In this model, we give an O(n log n)-time protocol and we prove
that this bound is asymptotically optimal
Time-Energy Tradeoffs for Evacuation by Two Robots in the Wireless Model
Two robots stand at the origin of the infinite line and are tasked with
searching collaboratively for an exit at an unknown location on the line. They
can travel at maximum speed and can change speed or direction at any time.
The two robots can communicate with each other at any distance and at any time.
The task is completed when the last robot arrives at the exit and evacuates. We
study time-energy tradeoffs for the above evacuation problem. The evacuation
time is the time it takes the last robot to reach the exit. The energy it takes
for a robot to travel a distance at speed is measured as . The
total and makespan evacuation energies are respectively the sum and maximum of
the energy consumption of the two robots while executing the evacuation
algorithm.
Assuming that the maximum speed is , and the evacuation time is at most
, where is the distance of the exit from the origin, we study the
problem of minimizing the total energy consumption of the robots. We prove that
the problem is solvable only for . For the case , we give an
optimal algorithm, and give upper bounds on the energy for the case .
We also consider the problem of minimizing the evacuation time when the
available energy is bounded by . Surprisingly, when is a
constant, independent of the distance of the exit from the origin, we prove
that evacuation is possible in time , and this is optimal up
to a logarithmic factor. When is linear in , we give upper bounds
on the evacuation time.Comment: This is the full version of the paper with the same title which will
appear in the proceedings of the 26th International Colloquium on Structural
Information and Communication Complexity (SIROCCO'19) L'Aquila, Italy during
July 1-4, 201
Elastic-plastic transition in MBE-grown GaSb semiconducting crystal examined by noindentation
The present paper concerns the elastic-plastic nanodeformation of Te-doped GaSb crystals grown by molecular
beam epitaxy on the n-type of GaSb substrate. The conventional analysis of nanoindentation data obtained with
sharp triangular (Berkovich) and spherical tip revealed the elastic modulus (E = 83:07 1:78 GPa), hardness
(H = 5:19 0:25 GPa) and “true hardness” (HT = 5:73 0:04 GPa). The registered pop-in event which indicates
the elastic–plastic transition in GaSb crystal points towards the corresponding yield strength ( Y = 3:8 0:1 GPa).
The origin of incipient plasticity in GaSb crystal is discussed in terms of elastic-plastic deformation energy concept
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