5,428 research outputs found
A side-by-side comparison of Daya Bay antineutrino detectors
The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment is designed to determine precisely the neutrino mixing angle θ_(13) with a sensitivity better than 0.01 in the parameter sin^22θ_(13) at the 90% confidence level. To achieve this goal, the collaboration will build eight functionally identical antineutrino detectors. The first two detectors have been constructed, installed and commissioned in Experimental Hall 1, with steady data-taking beginning September 23, 2011. A comparison of the data collected over the subsequent three months indicates that the detectors are functionally identical, and that detector-related systematic uncertainties are smaller than requirements
Correlated defects, metal-insulator transition, and magnetic order in ferromagnetic semiconductors
The effect of disorder on transport and magnetization in ferromagnetic III-V
semiconductors, in particular (Ga,Mn)As, is studied theoretically. We show that
Coulomb-induced correlations of the defect positions are crucial for the
transport and magnetic properties of these highly compensated materials. We
employ Monte Carlo simulations to obtain the correlated defect distributions.
Exact diagonalization gives reasonable results for the spectrum of valence-band
holes and the metal-insulator transition only for correlated disorder. Finally,
we show that the mean-field magnetization also depends crucially on defect
correlations.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX4, 5 figures include
Auto-calibration of ultrasonic lubricant-film thickness measurements
The measurement of oil film thickness in a lubricated component is essential information for performance monitoring and design. It is well established that such measurements can be made ultrasonically if the lubricant film is modelled as a collection of small springs. The ultrasonic method requires that component faces are separated and a reference reflection recorded in order to obtain a reflection coefficient value from which film thickness is calculated. The novel and practically useful approach put forward in this paper and validated experimentally allows reflection coefficient measurement without the requirement for a reference. This involves simultaneously measuring the amplitude and phase of an ultrasonic pulse reflected from a layer. Provided that the acoustic properties of the substrate are known, the theoretical relationship between the two can be fitted to the data in order to yield reflection coefficient amplitude and phase for an infinitely thick layer. This is equivalent to measuring a reference signal directly, but importantly does not require the materials to be separated. The further valuable aspect of this approach, which is demonstrated experimentally, is its ability to be used as a self-calibrating routine, inherently compensating for temperature effects. This is due to the relationship between the amplitude and phase being unaffected by changes in temperature which cause unwanted changes to the incident pulse. Finally, error analysis is performed showing how the accuracy of the results can be optimized. A finding of particular significance is the strong dependence of the accuracy of the technique on the amplitude of reflection coefficient input data used. This places some limitations on the applicability of the technique. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd
Surface Hydrogen Modeling of Super Soft X-ray Sources: Are They Supernova Ia Progenitors?
Nova explosions occur on the white dwarf (WD) component of a Cataclysmic
Variable stellar system which is accreting matter lost by a companion. A Type
Ia supernova explosion is thought to result when a WD, in a similar binary
configuration, grows in mass to the Chandrasekhar Limit. Here, we present
calculations of accretion of Solar matter, at a variety of mass accretion
rates, onto hot (K), luminous (30L), massive
(1.25M, 1.35M) Carbon-Oxygen WDs. In contrast to our nova
simulations where the WD has a low initial luminosity and a thermonuclear
runaway (TNR) occurs and ejects material, these simulations do not eject
material (or only a small fraction of the accreted material) and the WD grows
in mass. A hydrogen TNR does not occur because hydrogen fuses to helium in the
surface layers, and we call this process Surface Hydrogen Burning (SHB). As the
helium layer grows in mass, it gradually fuses either to carbon and oxygen or
to more massive nuclei depending on the WD mass and mass accretion rate. If
such a WD were to explode in a SN Ia event, therefore, it would show neither
hydrogen nor helium in its spectrum as is observed. Moreover, the luminosities
and effective temperatures of our simulations agree with the observations of
some of the Super Soft X-ray Binary Sources and, therefore, our results
strengthen previous speculation that some of them (CAL 83 and CAL 87 for
example) are probably progenitors of SN Ia explosions. Finally, we have
achieved SHB for values of the mass accretion rate that almost span the
observed values of the Cataclysmic Variables.Comment: Accepted by APJL, 4 pages, 1 figure, LaTex (uses emulateapj.sty
Anisotropic Radial Layout for Visualizing Centrality and Structure in Graphs
This paper presents a novel method for layout of undirected graphs, where
nodes (vertices) are constrained to lie on a set of nested, simple, closed
curves. Such a layout is useful to simultaneously display the structural
centrality and vertex distance information for graphs in many domains,
including social networks. Closed curves are a more general constraint than the
previously proposed circles, and afford our method more flexibility to preserve
vertex relationships compared to existing radial layout methods. The proposed
approach modifies the multidimensional scaling (MDS) stress to include the
estimation of a vertex depth or centrality field as well as a term that
penalizes discord between structural centrality of vertices and their alignment
with this carefully estimated field. We also propose a visualization strategy
for the proposed layout and demonstrate its effectiveness using three social
network datasets.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on
Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2017
Should learners use their hands for learning? Results from an eye‐tracking study
Given the widespread use of touch screen devices, the effect of the users' fingers on information processing and learning is of growing interest. The present study drew on cognitive load theory and embodied cognition perspectives to investigate the effects of pointing and tracing gestures on the surface of a multimedia learning instruction. Learning performance, cognitive load and visual attention were examined in a one‐factorial experimental design with the between‐subject factor pointing and tracing gestures. The pointing and tracing group were instructed to use their fingers during the learning phase to make connections between corresponding text and picture information, whereas the control group was instructed not to use their hands for learning. The results showed a beneficial effect of pointing and tracing gestures on learning performance, a significant shift in visual attention and deeper processing of information by the pointing and tracing group, but no effect on subjective ratings of cognitive load. Implications for future research and practice are discussed
Going beyond defining: Preschool educators\u27 use of knowledge in their pedagogical reasoning about vocabulary instruction
Previous research investigating both the knowledge of early childhood educators and the support for vocabulary development present in early childhood settings has indicated that both educator knowledge and enacted practice are less than optimal, which has grave implications for children\u27s early vocabulary learning and later reading achievement. Further, the nature of the relationship between educators\u27 knowledge and practice is unclear, making it difficult to discern the best path towards improved knowledge, practice, and children\u27s vocabulary outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to add to the existing literature by using stimulated recall interviews and a grounded approach to examine how 10 preschool educators used their knowledge to made decisions about their moment-to-moment instruction in support of children\u27s vocabulary development. Results indicate that educators were thinking in highly context-specific ways about their goals and strategies for supporting vocabulary learning, taking into account important knowledge of their instructional history with children and of the children themselves to inform their decision making in the moment. In addition, they reported thinking about research-based goals and strategies for supporting vocabulary learning that went beyond simply defining words for children. Implications for research and professional development are discussed
- …