27,489 research outputs found
You Tube if you want to – a Web 2.0 approach to staff development in web conferencing
How can we identify and make best use of potential resources in a staff development programme promoting web conferencing? What are the resources we should use? This paper regards web conferencing as a potentially powerful tool at the disposal of an institution intent on exploring new models of blended and online learning appropriate to the changing needs of 21st-century learners. It presents web conferencing in the user-centric context of Web 2.0 – the social web technologies whose educational impact is to empower online communication, collaboration, participation and sharing of resources. Based on findings from an 18-month period of evaluation and initial implementation at Leeds Met, it outlines practical staff development approaches in the related areas of user-created content and community involvement that could promote a more efficient and focused dissemination of the insights and experiences of a local, national and world-wide user group
A fast ethanol assay to detect seed deterioration
The most common way to test seed quality is to use a simple and reliable but time- and space-consuming germination test. In this paper we present a fast and simple method to analyse cabbage seed deterioration by measuring ethanol production from partially imbibed seeds. The method uses a modified breath analyser and is simple compared to gas chromatographic or enzymatic procedures. A modified method using elevated temperatures (40°C instead of 20°C) shortened the assay time and improved its sensitivity. The analysis showed an inverse correlation between ethanol production and seed quality (e.g. the final percentages or speed of germination and the number of normal seedlings). The increase in ethanol production was observed when cabbage seeds were deteriorated by storage under ambient conditions or hot water treatments, both of which reduced the number of normal seedlings. Premature seeds produced more ethanol upon imbibition than mature seeds. Ethanol production occurred simultaneously with oxygen consumption, indicating that lack of oxygen is not the major trigger for ethanol production
Predicting kinase inhibitor resistance: Physics-based and data-driven approaches.
Resistance to small molecule drugs often emerges in cancer cells, viruses, and bacteria as a result of the evolutionary pressure exerted by the therapy. Protein mutations that directly impair drug binding are frequently involved in resistance, and the ability to anticipate these mutations would be beneficial in drug development and clinical practice. Here, we evaluate the ability of three distinct computational methods to predict ligand binding affinity changes upon protein mutation for the cancer target Abl kinase. These structure-based approaches rely on first-principle statistical mechanics, mixed physics- and knowledge-based potentials, and machine learning, and were able to estimate binding affinity changes and identify resistant mutations with remarkable accuracy. We expect that these complementary approaches will enable the routine prediction of resistance-causing mutations in a variety of other target proteins
A security architecture for personal networks
Abstract Personal Network (PN) is a new concept utilizing pervasive computing to meet the needs of the user. As PNs edge closer towards reality, security becomes an important concern since any vulnerability in the system will limit its practical use. In this paper we introduce a security architecture designed for PNs. Our aim is to use secure but lightweight mechanisms suitable for resource constrained devices and wireless communication. We support pair-wise keys for secure cluster formation and use group keys for securing intra-cluster communication. In order to analyze the performance of our proposed mechanisms, we carry out simulations using ns-2. The results show that our mechanisms have a low overhead in terms of delay and energy consumption
Theory of Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering by Collective Magnetic Excitations
I present a tractable theory for the Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering
(RIXS) spectral function of magnons. The low-energy transition operator is
written as a product of local spin operators times fundamental x-ray absorption
spectra. This leads to simple selection rules for the magnetic cross section.
The scattering cross section linear (quadratic) in spin operators is
proportional to the magnetic circular (linear) dichroic absorption. RIXS is a
novel tool to measure magnetic quasi particles (magnons) and the incoherent
spectral weight, as well as multiple magnons up to very high energy losses, in
small samples, thin films and multilayers, complementary to Neutron scattering
Electrodeposition of Ni-Si Schottky barriers
Electrodeposition is being used to fabricate magnetic microstructures directly on patterned n-type Si wafers of various substrate resistivities. The Ni-Si Schottky barrier is characterized and found to be of high quality for relatively low Si resistivities (1-2 Omega(.)cm), with extremely low reverse leakage. It is shown that a direct correlation exists among the electrodeposition potential, the roughness, and the coercivity of the films. A conductive seed layer or a back contact is not compulsory for electrodeposition on Si with resistivities up to 15 Omega(.)cm. This shows that electrodeposition of magnetic materials on Si might be a viable fabrication technique for magnetoresistance and spintronics applications
Multiple anomalous U(1)s in heterotic blow-ups
The existence of multiple anomalous U(1)s is demonstrated explicitly in a
blow-up version of a heterotic Z_3 orbifold. Another blow-up of the same
orbifold supports further evidence for the type-I/heterotic duality in four
dimensions. It has a single anomalous U(1) which does not factorize
universally. As multiple anomalous U(1)s as well as non-universal factorization
have never been established on heterotic orbifolds explicitely, these findings
might appear contradictory at first sight. Possible inconsistencies are avoided
by reinterpreting a charged twisted state as a second non-universal localized
axion. The mismatch between the charges of the orbifold and blow-up spectra is
resolved by suitable field redefinitions. The anomaly of the field
redefinitions corresponds to the difference of blow-up and heterotic orbifold
anomalies.Comment: 7 pages LaTe
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