905 research outputs found
Towards fault diagnosis in robot swarms : An online behaviour characterisation approach
Although robustness has been cited as an inherent advantage of swarm robotics systems, it has been shown that this is not always the case. Fault diagnosis will be critical for future swarm robotics systems if they are to retain their advantages (robustness, flexibility and scalability). In this paper, existing work on fault detection is used as a foundation to propose a novel approach for fault diagnosis in swarms based on a behavioural feature vector approach. Initial results show that behavioural feature vectors can be used to reliably diagnose common electro-mechanical fault types in most cases tested
Life in a Fishbowl: The evolution of the communication center as a sustainable component of institutional culture
In 2015, Kathleen Turner offered several benefits of Communication Center research and mentioned areas for future study. Turner (2015) believes that communication center directors would benefit from research that crosses institutional boundaries and contexts. Further, it is important that communication center directors demonstrate what clients have gained from the center. We must continue to recognize that “clients” are multi-faceted and our communication center spaces serve students, faculty, staff, administrators and the institution. Thus, this manuscript will, as Turner (2015) pleaded, help others think through how to “enhance their communication centers with clients, colleagues, and communities” (p. 3). Ultimately, it is important for center staff, as well as affiliated faculty and administrators, to concern ourselves with how the center integrates itself as part of the institution’s culture
Life in a Fishbowl: Student perception data for long-term center sustainability
Communication center directors, staff and tutors must continually analyze student perception of the center space in order to promote long-term campus viability. Thus, this manuscript addresses perceptions of communication center liberal arts students at a small, southern private university. Through surveys, students were asked how they utilize the communication center space, what projects they worked on as communication center participants, and improvement for the future. The measure for this study included a survey with questions that addressed Fishbowl use, technology or furniture use in the Fishbowl, the feedback process on student projects, and Fishbowl improvements. Situated learning theory is presented as a theoretical framework for communication center success and collaborative learning.
Factors used in the detection of elder financial abuse: A judgement and decision-making study of social workers and their managers
This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2011 Sage Publications Ltd.Factors social workers use in practice to detect elder financial abuse are currently unknown. A critical incident technique was applied within a judgement analysis approach to elicit cue use. Only three factors were key to decision-making: who raises concern, the elder’s mental capacity and the nature of the financial anomaly occurring.Economic and Social Research Counci
Structural stability of Fe5Si3 and Ni2Si studied by high-pressure x-ray diffraction and ab initio total-energy calculations
We performed high-pressure angle dispersive x-ray diffraction measurements on
Fe5Si3 and Ni2Si up to 75 GPa. Both materials were synthesized in bulk
quantities via a solid-state reaction. In the pressure range covered by the
experiments, no evidence of the occurrence of phase transitions was observed.
On top of that, Fe5Si3 was found to compress isotropically, whereas an
anisotropic compression was observed in Ni2Si. The linear incompressibility of
Ni2Si along the c-axis is similar in magnitude to the linear incompressibility
of diamond. This fact is related to the higher valence-electron charge density
of Ni2Si along the c-axis. The observed anisotropic compression of Ni2Si is
also related to the layered structure of Ni2Si where hexagonal layers of Ni2+
cations alternate with graphite-like layers formed by (NiSi)2- entities. The
experimental results are supported by ab initio total-energy calculations
carried out using density functional theory and the pseudopotential method. For
Fe5Si3, the calculations also predicted a phase transition at 283 GPa from the
hexagonal P63/mcm phase to the cubic structure adopted by Fe and Si in the
garnet Fe5Si3O12. The room-temperature equations of state for Fe5Si3 and Ni2Si
are also reported and a possible correlation between the bulk modulus of iron
silicides and the coordination number of their minority element is discussed.
Finally, we report novel descriptions of these structures, in particular of the
predicted high-pressure phase of Fe5Si3 (the cation subarray in the garnet
Fe5Si3O12), which can be derived from spinel Fe2SiO4 (Fe6Si3O12).Comment: 44 pages, 13 figures, 3 Table
High sensitivity measurement of 224Ra and 226Ra in water with an improved hydrous titanium oxide technique at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
The existing hydrous titanium oxide (HTiO) technique for the measurement of
224Ra and 226Ra in the water at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) has been
changed to make it faster and less sensitive to trace impurities in the HTiO
eluate. Using HTiO-loaded filters followed by cation exchange adsorption and
HTiO co-precipitation, Ra isotopes from 200-450 tonnes of heavy water can be
extracted and concentrated into a single sample of a few millilitres with a
total chemical efficiency of 50%. Combined with beta-alpha coincidence
counting, this method is capable of measuring 2.0x10^3 uBq/kg of 224Ra and
3.7x10^3 uBq/kg of 226Ra from the 232Th and 238U decay chains, respectively,
for a 275 tonne D2O assay, which are equivalent to 5x10^16 g Th/g and 3x10^16 g
U/g in heavy water.Comment: 8 Pages, 2 figures and 2 table
Problem gambling: a suitable case for social work?
Problem gambling attracts little attention from health and social care agencies
in the UK. Prevalence surveys suggest that 0.6% of the population are
problem gamblers and it is suggested that for each of these individuals,
10–17 other people, including children and other family members, are
affected. Problem gambling is linked to many individual and social problems
including: depression, suicide, significant debt, bankruptcy, family conflict,
domestic violence, neglect and maltreatment of children and offending.
This makes the issue central to social work territory. Yet, the training of
social workers in the UK has consistently neglected issues of addictive
behaviour. Whilst some attention has been paid in recent years to substance
abuse issues, there has remained a silence in relation to gambling
problems. Social workers provide more help for problems relating to addictions
than other helping professions. There is good evidence that treatment,
and early intervention for gambling problems, including psycho-social and
public health approaches, can be very effective. This paper argues that
problem gambling should be moved onto the radar of the social work profession,
via inclusion on qualifying and post-qualifying training programmes
and via research and dissemination of good practice via institutions such as
the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).
Keywords: problem gambling; addictive behaviour; socia
The calibration of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory using uniformly distributed radioactive sources
The production and analysis of distributed sources of 24Na and 222Rn in the
Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) are described. These unique sources provided
accurate calibrations of the response to neutrons, produced through
photodisintegration of the deuterons in the heavy water target, and to low
energy betas and gammas. The application of these sources in determining the
neutron detection efficiency and response of the 3He proportional counter
array, and the characteristics of background Cherenkov light from trace amounts
of natural radioactivity is described.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figure
First-principles study of the ferroelastic phase transition in CaCl_2
First-principles density-functional calculations within the local-density
approximation and the pseudopotential approach are used to study and
characterize the ferroelastic phase transition in calcium chloride (CaCl_2). In
accord with experiment, the energy map of CaCl_2 has the typical features of a
pseudoproper ferroelastic with an optical instability as ultimate origin of the
phase transition. This unstable optic mode is close to a pure rigid unit mode
of the framework of chlorine atoms and has a negative Gruneisen parameter. The
ab-initio ground state agrees fairly well with the experimental low temperature
structure extrapolated at 0K. The calculated energy map around the ground state
is interpreted as an extrapolated Landau free-energy and is successfully used
to explain some of the observed thermal properties. Higher-order anharmonic
couplings between the strain and the unstable optic mode, proposed in previous
literature as important terms to explain the soft-phonon temperature behavior,
are shown to be irrelevant for this purpose. The LAPW method is shown to
reproduce the plane-wave results in CaCl_2 within the precision of the
calculations, and is used to analyze the relative stability of different phases
in CaCl_2 and the chemically similar compound SrCl_2.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, uses RevTeX
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