306 research outputs found
Great Expectations: Voluntary Sports Clubs and Their Role in Delivering National Policy for English Sport
âThe original publication is available at www.springerlink.comâ. Copyright International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University. DOI: 10.1007/s11266-009-9095-yVoluntary sports clubs (VSCs) account for about a quarter of all volunteering in England. The volunteers work in a mutual aid, self-production, self-consumption system whose main purpose is identifying and nurturing high-level performers. But the new HMG/Sport England strategies leading to London 2012 expects volunteers to make a major contribution to sustaining and extending participation. The study utilized six focus group sessions with a total of 36 officials and members of 36 clubs across the six counties of Eastern England to assess whether and to what extent government policy objectives can be delivered through the voluntary sector. The study focused on the perceptions and attitudes of club members about being expected to serve public policy and the current pressures they and their clubs face. The results lead the authors to question the appropriateness, sensitivity, and feasibility of current sport policy, particularly the emphasis on VSCs as policy implementers.Peer reviewe
Extended parametric resonances in nonlinear Schrodinger systems
We study an example of exact parametric resonance in a extended system ruled
by nonlinear partial differential equations of nonlinear Schr\"odinger type. It
is also conjectured how related models not exactly solvable should behave in
the same way. The results have applicability in recent experiments in
Bose-Einstein condensation and to classical problems in Nonlinear Optics.Comment: 1 figur
CATCHprofiles: Clustering and Alignment Tool for ChIP Profiles
Chromatin Immuno Precipitation (ChIP) profiling detects in vivo protein-DNA binding, and has revealed a large combinatorial complexity in the binding of chromatin associated proteins and their post-translational modifications. To fully explore the spatial and combinatorial patterns in ChIP-profiling data and detect potentially meaningful patterns, the areas of enrichment must be aligned and clustered, which is an algorithmically and computationally challenging task. We have developed CATCHprofiles, a novel tool for exhaustive pattern detection in ChIP profiling data. CATCHprofiles is built upon a computationally efficient implementation for the exhaustive alignment and hierarchical clustering of ChIP profiling data. The tool features a graphical interface for examination and browsing of the clustering results. CATCHprofiles requires no prior knowledge about functional sites, detects known binding patterns âab initioâ, and enables the detection of new patterns from ChIP data at a high resolution, exemplified by the detection of asymmetric histone and histone modification patterns around H2A.Z-enriched sites. CATCHprofiles' capability for exhaustive analysis combined with its ease-of-use makes it an invaluable tool for explorative research based on ChIP profiling data
An advanced Bayesian model for the visual tracking of multiple interacting objects
Visual tracking of multiple objects is a key component of many visual-based systems. While there are reliable
algorithms for tracking a single object in constrained scenarios, the object tracking is still a challenge in
uncontrolled situations involving multiple interacting objects that have a complex dynamics. In this article, a novel
Bayesian model for tracking multiple interacting objects in unrestricted situations is proposed. This is accomplished
by means of an advanced object dynamic model that predicts possible interactive behaviors, which in turn depend
on the inference of potential events of object occlusion. The proposed tracking model can also handle false and
missing detections that are typical from visual object detectors operating in uncontrolled scenarios. On the other
hand, a Rao-Blackwellization technique has been used to improve the accuracy of the estimated object trajectories,
which is a fundamental aspect in the tracking of multiple objects due to its high dimensionality. Excellent results
have been obtained using a publicly available database, proving the efficiency of the proposed approach
Random-phase approximation and its applications in computational chemistry and materials science
The random-phase approximation (RPA) as an approach for computing the
electronic correlation energy is reviewed. After a brief account of its basic
concept and historical development, the paper is devoted to the theoretical
formulations of RPA, and its applications to realistic systems. With several
illustrating applications, we discuss the implications of RPA for computational
chemistry and materials science. The computational cost of RPA is also
addressed which is critical for its widespread use in future applications. In
addition, current correction schemes going beyond RPA and directions of further
development will be discussed.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, published online in J. Mater. Sci. (2012
The deuteron: structure and form factors
A brief review of the history of the discovery of the deuteron in provided.
The current status of both experiment and theory for the elastic electron
scattering is then presented.Comment: 80 pages, 33 figures, submited to Advances in Nuclear Physic
Receptive Field Inference with Localized Priors
The linear receptive field describes a mapping from sensory stimuli to a one-dimensional variable governing a neuron's spike response. However, traditional receptive field estimators such as the spike-triggered average converge slowly and often require large amounts of data. Bayesian methods seek to overcome this problem by biasing estimates towards solutions that are more likely a priori, typically those with small, smooth, or sparse coefficients. Here we introduce a novel Bayesian receptive field estimator designed to incorporate locality, a powerful form of prior information about receptive field structure. The key to our approach is a hierarchical receptive field model that flexibly adapts to localized structure in both spacetime and spatiotemporal frequency, using an inference method known as empirical Bayes. We refer to our method as automatic locality determination (ALD), and show that it can accurately recover various types of smooth, sparse, and localized receptive fields. We apply ALD to neural data from retinal ganglion cells and V1 simple cells, and find it achieves error rates several times lower than standard estimators. Thus, estimates of comparable accuracy can be achieved with substantially less data. Finally, we introduce a computationally efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm for fully Bayesian inference under the ALD prior, yielding accurate Bayesian confidence intervals for small or noisy datasets
An accurate nucleon-nucleon potential with charge-independence breaking
We present a new high-quality nucleon-nucleon potential with explicit charge
dependence and charge asymmetry, which we designate Argonne . The model
has a charge-independent part with fourteen operator components that is an
updated version of the Argonne potential. Three additional
charge-dependent and one charge-asymmetric operators are added, along with a
complete electromagnetic interaction. The potential has been fit directly to
the Nijmegen and scattering data base, low-energy scattering
parameters, and deuteron binding energy. With 40 adjustable parameters it gives
a per datum of 1.09 for 4301 and data in the range 0--350
MeV.Comment: 36 pages, PHY-7742-TH-9
Atomistic model of diopsideâK-jadeite (CaMgSi2O6âKAlSi2O6) solid solution
Atomistic model was proposed to describe the thermodynamics of mixing in the diopsideâK-jadeite solid solution (CaMgSi2O6âKAlSi2O6). The simulations were based on minimization of the latticeenergies of 800 structures within a 2 Ă 2 Ă 4 supercell of C2/c diopside with the compositions betweenCaMgSi2O6 and KAlSi2O6 and with variable degrees of order/disorder in the arrangement of Ca/K cations in M2 site and Mg/Al in Ml site. The energy minimization was performed with the help of a force-field model. The results of the calculations were used to define a generalized Ising model, which included 37 pair interaction parameters. Isotherms of the enthalpy of mixing within the range of 273â2023 K were calculated with a Monte Carlo algorithm, while the Gibbs free energies of mixing were obtained by thermodynamic integration of the enthalpies of mixing. The calculated TâX diagram for the system CaMgSi2O6âKAlSi2O6 at temperatures below 1000 K shows several miscibility gaps, which are separated by intervals of stability of intermediate ordered compounds. At temperatures above 1000 K a homogeneous solid solution is formed. The standard thermodynamic properties of K-adeite (KAlSi2O6) evaluated from quantum mechanical calculations were used to determine location of several mineral reactions with the participation of the diopsideâK-jadeite solid solution. The results of the simulations suggest that the low content of KalSi2O6 in natural clinopyroxenes is not related to crystal chemical factors preventing isomorphism, but is determined by relatively high standard enthalpy of this end member
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