Cooper pairs as bosons

Although BCS pairs of fermions are known not to obey Bose-Einstein (BE) commutation relations nor BE statistics, we show how Cooper pairs (CPs), whether the simple original ones or the CPs recently generalized in a many-body Bethe-Salpeter approach, being clearly distinct from BCS pairs at least obey BE statistics. Hence, contrary to widespread popular belief, CPs can undergo BE condensation to account for superconductivity if charged, as well as for neutral-atom fermion superfluidity where CPs, but uncharged, are also expected to form.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, full biblio info adde

Comparing Geothermal Heat Pump Systems to Conventional HVAC Systems in Hot and Humid Climates

Geothermal heat pump (GHP) systems are more concentrated to moderate climate regions, although the potential for GHP systems in hot and humid climates is possible as past research efforts have demonstrated this using simulations and commercial case examples. This research investigates the use of residential GHP systems for the hot and humid climate found in southern Louisiana. The authors collected field performance information, including initial system cost, and electricity consumption and costs from two residential case studies in which each case included one home with a conventional heating and cooling system and one home with a GHP system. Using a comparative analysis and analysis of variance, results illustrate that initial cost of GHP system in the first case was $13,285 more and the second case was$17,588 more than the installation costs of a conventional system. Further, the GHP system payback period depends on the whether the design uses a horizontal or vertical ground loop, and the designer and contractor’s quality and experience in performing the GHP work as the first case resulted in a payback period of 70 years while the second case had a payback period of only seven years. Findings show that when an appropriate installation occurs, GHP system can save consumption and energy costs for residential homes in hot and humid climates

Evaluation of CNN architectures for gait recognition based on optical flow maps

This work targets people identification in video based on the way they walk (\ie gait) by using deep learning architectures. We explore the use of convolutional neural networks (CNN) for learning high-level descriptors from low-level motion features (\ie optical flow components). The low number of training samples for each subject and the use of a test set containing subjects different from the training ones makes the search of a good CNN architecture a challenging task.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Mid-Infrared Imaging of NGC 6334 I

We present high-resolution (<0.5") mid-infrared Keck II images of individual sources in the central region of NGC 6334 I. We compare these images to images at a variety of other wavelengths from the near infrared to cm radio continuum and speculate on the nature of the NGC 6334 I sources. We assert that the cometary shape of the UCHII region here, NGC 6334 F, is due to a champagne-like flow from a source on the edge of a molecular clump and not a due to a bow shock caused by the supersonic motion of the UCHII region through the interstellar medium. The mid-infrared emission in concentrated into an arc of dust that define the boundary between the UCHII region and the molecular clump. This dust arc contains a majority of the masers in the region. We discuss the nature of the four near-infrared sources associated with IRS-I 1, and suggest that one of the sources, IRS1E, is responsible for the heating and ionizing of the UCHII region and the mid-infrared dust arc. Infrared source IRS-I 2, which has been thought to be a circumstellar disk associated with a linear distribution of methanol masers, is found not to be directly coincident with the masers and elongated at a much different position angle. IRS-I 3 is found to be a extended source of mid-infrared emission coming from a cluster of young dusty sources seen in the near-infrared.Comment: Accepted for publication by the Astrophysical Journal, 27 pages, 9 figure

Evaluar para el aprendizaje: ideas de los profesores de ciencias sobre cómo evaluar competencias fundamentales para comprender la ciencia

This study has two objectives: to describe the nature of the main competencies to acquire in the context of experimental sciences and its implications for assessment, and to analyse the kinds of task preferred by teachers for their assessment. Four basic competencies, whose importance is specially underlined in the Spanish curriculum, have been considered: Conceptual understanding, Scientific text comprehension, Tables and graphs understanding, and Use of scientific thinking. Five different complexity levels for assessing the degree of each competence acquisition have been established. Our data, obtained from a sample of 30 Spanish Secondary School teachers, show that teachers tend to assess mainly Conceptual understanding no matter the level of difficulty, secondly, Use of scientific thinking conceived as solving standard problems, and finally, assessment of Text, Table and Graph understanding presents a great scattering, depending on the level of task difficulty. ANOVA results show that, in general, tasks implying lower levels of cognitive demand are used more often than most difficult tasks. Finally, to identify teachers’ profiles in relation to the kinds of task they use, a correlation analysis has been done.El estudio tiene dos objetivos: describir las características de las principales competencias a adquirir en ciencias experimentales y analizar los tipos de tareas preferidos por los profesores para su evaluación. En el marco del currículo español se han considerado cuatro competencias básicas: comprensión de conceptos, de textos científicos, de tablas y gráficos, y uso del pensamiento científico, estableciendo en cada una de ellas cinco niveles de complejidad para evaluar el grado de adquisición. Los resultados, obtenidos a partir de una muestra de 30 profesores de Educación Secundaria, señalan que la Comprensión conceptual es la competencia más evaluada, independientemente de su nivel de dificultad. En segundo lugar aparece la evaluación del Uso del pensamiento científico, entendido restrictivamente como resolución de problemas estándar. Por último, la evaluación de la Comprensión de textos y de Tablas y gráficos presenta una gran dispersión en función de su nivel de dificultad. El Anova realizado muestra que, en general, las tareas más utilizadas son las que implican un nivel inferior de demanda cognitiva. También se ha efectuado un análisis de correlación con el objetivo de identificar la existencia en el profesorado de perfiles conforme al tipo de tareas utilizadas en su evaluación.This research was supported by the grant of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, EDU2009- 11765EDUC

Self-organizing multi-agent system for management and planning surveillance routes

This paper presents the THOMAS architecture, specially designed to model open multi-agent systems, and its application in the development of a multi-agent system for managing and planning surveillance routes for security personnel. THOMAS uses agents with reasoning and planning capabilities. These agents can perform a dynamic self-organization when they detect changes in the environment. THOMAS is appropriate for developing systems in highly dynamic environments similar to the one presented in this study, as demonstrated by the results obtained after having applied the system to a case study.Web of Science3151100108

Estrategias didácticas innovadoras como detonante en el aprendizaje del idioma inglés en la carrera de Turismo del Centro Universitario UAEM Tenancingo

El aprendizaje efectivo y significativo de un segundo idioma por parte de los alumnos, de la carrera de Turismo, ha sido desde siempre, uno de los objetivos primordiales de la Academia de Inglés del Centro Universitario UAEM Tenancingo que, para alcanzar tal fin, ha puesto en marcha diversas acciones tendientes a mejorar el aprendizaje de los alumnos de la carrera de Turismo y hacer al mismo tiempo, significativo su aprendizaje. El presente trabajo de Intervención Docente comprende de manera medular, un plan de acción aplicado por el docente encargado de la Unidad de Aprendizaje de Inglés D2, con alumnos del quinto semestre de la carrera de Turismo, el cual involucra estrategias didácticas innovadoras, que al ser aplicadas en el salón de clase, promovieron el desarrollo de habilidades en los alumnos para interactuar en inglés así como hacer significativa la información a través de la práctica con sus pares y, como efecto colateral, el reducir el porcentaje de reprobación. El trabajo describe las diferentes etapas en las que se implementaron estrategias didácticas innovadoras de carácter preinstruccional, coinstruccional y posinstruccional para el desarrollo de habilidades de writing (escritura), listening (auditiva) y speaking (verbal) entre otras, que permitieran a los alumnos ser entes activos y producir. El diseño instruccional para la aplicación de estrategias se basó en el Modelo de Jerrold Kemp con el apoyo de un recurso tecnológico educativo innovador mediante el uso de un weblog. Las estrategias implementadas favorecieron el desarrollo de habilidades de comunicación entre los alumnos, ya que tuvieron una alternativa diferente en el desarrollo de las actividades de aprendizaje así como en el proceso de evaluación, el cual les permitió mejorar sus resultados escolares, y aunque existió cierta problemática entre la pericia del manejo de recursos informáticos, entre otros, se destaca la avidez que poseen los educandos por involucrarse en nuevas formas de trabajo en clase, en una relación más estrecha entre docentealumno y alumno-alumno. Esta experiencia abre la oportunidad de innovar en la práctica docente, al visualizar la continuidad del presente trabajo, ya sea engarzando otras unidades de aprendizaje en la misma carrera de Turismo o en otras carreras que el C.U. ofrece

Caracterización estructural del sistema ovino-caprino de la región noroeste de República Dominicana (Structural characterization of sheep and goat farming systems in Northwest Dominican Republic)

The aim of this study was to analyze structural aspects of goat and ovine livestock farming systems located in the Norwest of Dominican Republic. The sample (94 farms) was randomly selected with proportional allocation by region. Forty-four variables related to structural and productive aspects were analyzed. The average size of farms was 96 ha and 165 animals. Their facilities are simple, nonspecific and barely functional, with a mean of 2 pens per farm. Farms generally do not have perimeter fences, facilities for breeding, feeding or watering points. The reproductive strategy is the natural breeding throughout the year on most farms, with a ratio of one sire for every 36 females, and there are no breeding records. The first mating takes place with an average weight of 17 kg at 6.5 months of age. Feeding is based on grazing of natural pastures and forests (94%), reaching a stocking density of 0.83 LU/ha. Food supplementation is used in 37% of farms, mainly in sheep and mixed farms. The lambs and goats are sold when they reach 23 kg in weight, around 7 months of age. The farms do not receive technical advice, although 94% of them apply preventive treatments on a regular basis. The mortality rate reached 12%. In general, farms are very heterogeneous in their production structure, management, nutrition and health. Thus, a group of farms developed a traditional system (goats), while the most efficient and technified correspond to sheep and mixed farms

Self-Organizing Multi-Agent System for Management and Planning Surveillance Routes

This paper presents the THOMAS architecture, specially designed to model open multi-agent systems, and its application in the development of a multi-agent system for managing and planning surveillance routes for security personnel. THOMAS uses agents with reasoning and planning capabilities. These agents can perform a dynamic self-organization when they detect changes in the environment. THOMAS is appropriate for developing systems in highly dynamic environments similar to the one presented in this study, as demonstrated by the results obtained after having applied the system to a case study