The Teachers’ voice in Saxony-Anhalt: perspectives on transition from primary to secondary school

Preparation and provision for transition between primary and secondary school get mixed reviews across all subjects. The literature suggests that modern languages is an area deserving particular attention. There are examples of good practice in transition but the general picture is, at best, patchy. Researchers (eg Blondin et al., 1998; Hill et al., 1998; Rosenbusch, 1995) confirm that this is not a country-specific issue but one which crosses borders of countries and continents. The purpose of this article is to report on how schools in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, have dealt with the challenge of transition. The outcomes of semi-structured interviews with 25 secondary schools teachers suggest that many of the problems in Saxony-Anhalt are the same as for other countries, not least in relation to communication between secondary and primary schools and the exchange of information on individual pupils. Our German neighbours offer models of good practice in relation to Continuing Professional Development, clearly defined and understood teaching content and methods and the avoidance of any need for pupils to start their modern language learning experience afresh on arrival at secondary school

Tune in to your emotions: a robust personalized affective music player

The emotional power of music is exploited in a personalized affective music player (AMP) that selects music for mood enhancement. A biosignal approach is used to measure listeners’ personal emotional reactions to their own music as input for affective user models. Regression and kernel density estimation are applied to model the physiological changes the music elicits. Using these models, personalized music selections based on an affective goal state can be made. The AMP was validated in real-world trials over the course of several weeks. Results show that our models can cope with noisy situations and handle large inter-individual differences in the music domain. The AMP augments music listening where its techniques enable automated affect guidance. Our approach provides valuable insights for affective computing and user modeling, for which the AMP is a suitable carrier application

Evidence for a narrow dip structure at 1.9 GeV/c2^2 in 3π+3π−3\pi^+ 3\pi^- diffractive photoproduction

A narrow dip structure has been observed at 1.9 GeV/c$^2$ in a study of diffractive photoproduction of the $~3\pi^+3\pi^-$ final state performed by the Fermilab experiment E687.Comment: The data of Figure 6 can be obtained by downloading the raw data file e687_6pi.txt. v5 (2nov2018): added Fig. 7, the 6 pion energy distribution as requested by a reade

On the verge of Umdeutung in Minnesota: Van Vleck and the correspondence principle (Part One)

In October 1924, the Physical Review, a relatively minor journal at the time, published a remarkable two-part paper by John H. Van Vleck, working in virtual isolation at the University of Minnesota. Van Vleck combined advanced techniques of classical mechanics with Bohr's correspondence principle and Einstein's quantum theory of radiation to find quantum analogues of classical expressions for the emission, absorption, and dispersion of radiation. For modern readers Van Vleck's paper is much easier to follow than the famous paper by Kramers and Heisenberg on dispersion theory, which covers similar terrain and is widely credited to have led directly to Heisenberg's "Umdeutung" paper. This makes Van Vleck's paper extremely valuable for the reconstruction of the genesis of matrix mechanics. It also makes it tempting to ask why Van Vleck did not take the next step and develop matrix mechanics himself.Comment: 82 page

Final NOMAD results on nu_mu->nu_tau and nu_e->nu_tau oscillations including a new search for nu_tau appearance using hadronic tau decays

Results from the nu_tau appearance search in a neutrino beam using the full NOMAD data sample are reported. A new analysis unifies all the hadronic tau decays, significantly improving the overall sensitivity of the experiment to oscillations. The "blind analysis" of all topologies yields no evidence for an oscillation signal. In the two-family oscillation scenario, this sets a 90% C.L. allowed region in the sin^2(2theta)-Delta m^2 plane which includes sin^2(2theta)<3.3 x 10^{-4} at large Delta m^2 and Delta m^2 < 0.7 eV^2/c^4 at sin^2(2theta)=1. The corresponding contour in the nu_e->nu_tau oscillation hypothesis results in sin^2(2theta)<1.5 x 10^{-2} at large Delta m^2 and Delta m^2 < 5.9 eV^2/c^4 at sin^2(2theta)=1. We also derive limits on effective couplings of the tau lepton to nu_mu or nu_e.Comment: 46 pages, 16 figures, Latex, to appear on Nucl. Phys.

Inclusive production of ρ0(770),f0(980)\rho^{0}(770), f_0(980) and f2(1270)f_2(1270) mesons in νμ\nu_{\mu} charged current interactions

The inclusive production of the meson resonances $\rho^{0}(770)$, $f_0(980)$ and $f_2(1270)$ in neutrino-nucleus charged current interactions has been studied with the NOMAD detector exposed to the wide band neutrino beam generated by 450 GeV protons at the CERN SPS. For the first time the $f_{0}(980)$ meson is observed in neutrino interactions. The statistical significance of its observation is 6 standard deviations. The presence of $f_{2}(1270)$ in neutrino interactions is reliably established. The average multiplicity of these three resonances is measured as a function of several kinematic variables. The experimental results are compared to the multiplicities obtained from a simulation based on the Lund model. In addition, the average multiplicity of $\rho^{0}(770)$ in antineutrino - nucleus interactions is measured.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, 8 tables. To appear in Nucl. Phys.

Search for the exotic Θ+\Theta^+ resonance in the NOMAD experiment

A search for exotic Theta baryon via Theta -> proton +Ks decay mode in the NOMAD muon neutrino DIS data is reported. The special background generation procedure was developed. The proton identification criteria are tuned to maximize the sensitivity to the Theta signal as a function of xF which allows to study the Theta production mechanism. We do not observe any evidence for the Theta state in the NOMAD data. We provide an upper limit on Theta production rate at 90% CL as 2.13 per 1000 of neutrino interactions.Comment: Accepted to European Physics Journal

Search for nu(mu)-->nu(e) Oscillations in the NOMAD Experiment

We present the results of a search for nu(mu)-->nu(e) oscillations in the NOMAD experiment at CERN. The experiment looked for the appearance of nu(e) in a predominantly nu(mu) wide-band neutrino beam at the CERN SPS. No evidence for oscillations was found. The 90% confidence limits obtained are delta m^2 < 0.4 eV^2 for maximal mixing and sin^2(2theta) < 1.4x10^{-3} for large delta m^2. This result excludes the LSND allowed region of oscillation parameters with delta m^2 > 10 eV^2.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Phys. Lett.

Prediction of Neutrino Fluxes in the NOMAD Experiment

The method developed for the calculation of the flux and composition of the West Area Neutrino Beam used by NOMAD in its search for neutrino oscillations is described. The calculation is based on particle production rates computed using a recent version of FLUKA and modified to take into account the cross sections measured by the SPY and NA20 experiments. These particles are propagated through the beam line taking into account the material and magnetic fields they traverse. The neutrinos produced through their decays are tracked to the NOMAD detector. The fluxes of the four neutrino flavours at NOMAD are predicted with an uncertainty of about 8% for nu(mu) and nu(e), 10% for antinu(mu), and 12% for antinu(e). The energy-dependent uncertainty achieved on the R(e, mu) prediction needed for a nu(mu)->nu(e) oscillation search ranges from 4% to 7%, whereas the overall normalization uncertainty on this ratio is 4.2%.Comment: 43 pages, 20 figures. Submitted to Nucl. Phys.

A Precise Measurement of the Muon Neutrino-Nucleon Inclusive Charged Current Cross-Section off an Isoscalar Target in the Energy Range 2.5 < E_\nu < 40 GeV by NOMAD

We present a measurement of the muon neutrino-nucleon inclusive charged current cross-section, off an isoscalar target, in the neutrino energy range $2.5 \leq E_\nu \leq 40$ GeV. The significance of this measurement is its precision, $\pm 4$% in $2.5 \leq E_\nu \leq 10$ GeV, and $\pm 2.6$% in $10 \leq E_\nu \leq 40$ GeV regions, where significant uncertainties in previous experiments still exist, and its importance to the current and proposed long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys.Lett.