Die informations- und kommunikationstechnische Infrastruktur und ihre mittelfristige Entwicklung an den Hochschulen des Landes NRW

Dieser Bericht des Arbeitskreises der Leiter wissenschaftlicher Rechenzentren in NRW (ARNW) richtet sich an die Hochschulleitungen und die Verantwortlichen für Grundstrukturen in Information und Kommunikation (IuK). Er informiert über aktuelle wichtige Fragen, besonders über den Stand und Einsatz von IuK-Technologien. In Anbetracht der anhaltend schnellen Weiterentwicklung dieses Technologiefeldes, die sich auf alle Bereiche der Hochschulen auswirkt, halten wir das für wichtig, damit vermieden wird, dass wichtige Themen am Rande bleiben. Das neue Hochschulgesetz und der Qualitätspakt machen darüber hinaus eine Positionierung der Hochschulen in NRW zur IuK-Infrastruktur unabdingbar

Distribution of pollutants from a new paper plant in southern Lake Champlain, Vermont and New York

From November of 1973 to May of 1974, 15 arrays of sediment traps were placed along 33 km of southern Lake Champlain to sample the distribution of effluent from a large paper plant located on the western shore which had commenced operation in 1971. In the arrays located near the effluent diffuser pipeline as much as 2.3 cm of sediment accumulated, whereas elsewhere in the lake less than 1 cm accumulated. In the area of accelerated accumulation, sediments contained high concentrations of several components used in or derived from paper manufacturing. Values for kaolinite, expressed as the ratio of kaolinite to chlorite, for example, were as high as 1.4, anatase (TiO 2 ) concentrations were as high as 0.8%, organic carbon 8.7%, and phosphorus 254 µg/g; all were more abundant than in sediments collected in traps to the south or north. In surficial bottom sediments collected near each array organic carbon and phosphorus were also higher (4.2% and 127 µg/g respectively) near the diffuser than elsewhere. Thus, the new plant after three years of production measurably affected the composition of suspended sediment and surficial bottom sediment despite the construction and use of extensive facilities to reduce the flow of pollutants to the lake.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46764/1/254_2006_Article_BF02380502.pd

Far-infrared absorption in parallel quantum wires with weak tunneling

We study collective and single-particle intersubband excitations in a system of quantum wires coupled via weak tunneling. For an isolated wire with parabolic confinement, the Kohn's theorem guarantees that the absorption spectrum represents a single sharp peak centered at the frequency given by the bare confining potential. We show that the effect of weak tunneling between two parabolic quantum wires is twofold: (i) additional peaks corresponding to single-particle excitations appear in the absorption spectrum, and (ii) the main absorption peak acquires a depolarization shift. We also show that the interplay between tunneling and weak perpendicular magnetic field drastically enhances the dispersion of single-particle excitations. The latter leads to a strong damping of the intersubband plasmon for magnetic fields exceeding a critical value.Comment: 18 pages + 6 postcript figure

Mechanism Of Ductile Rupture In The AL/Sapphire System Elucidated Using X-Ray Tomographic Microscopy

The fracture of a thin metal foil constrained between alumina or sapphire blocks has been studied by a number of investigators. The systems that have been investigated include Al, Au, Nb, and Cu. Except for Al/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} interfaces, these systems exhibit a common fracture mechanism: pores form at the metal/ceramic interface several foil thicknesses ahead of the crack which, under increasing load, grow and link with the initial crack. This mechanism leaves metal o none side of the fracture surface and clean ceramic on the other. This has not been the observation in Al/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} bonds where at appropriate thicknesses of Al, the fracture appears to proceed as a ductile rupture through the metal. This paper addresses the question of why the fracture of the Al/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} system appears to be different from other systems by probing the fracture mechanism using X-ray tomographic microscopy (XTM). The authors have experimentally duplicated the simplified geometry of the micromechanics models and subjected the specimens to a well defined stress state in bending. The bend tests were interrupted and XTM was performed to reveal the mechanism of crack extension

Boosted three-dimensional black-hole evolutions with singularity excision

Binary black hole interactions provide potentially the strongest source of gravitational radiation for detectors currently under development. We present some results from the Binary Black Hole Grand Challenge Alliance three- dimensional Cauchy evolution module. These constitute essential steps towards modeling such interactions and predicting gravitational radiation waveforms. We report on single black hole evolutions and the first successful demonstration of a black hole moving freely through a three-dimensional computational grid via a Cauchy evolution: a hole moving ~6M at 0.1c during a total evolution of duration ~60M

An improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network for job-shop scheduling

Copyright @ Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009This paper presents an improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network for job-shop scheduling problems. The neural network is constructed based on the constraint conditions of a job-shop scheduling problem. Its structure and neuron connections can change adaptively according to the real-time constraint satisfaction situations that arise during the solving process. Several heuristics are also integrated within the neural network to enhance its convergence, accelerate its convergence, and improve the quality of the solutions produced. An experimental study based on a set of benchmark job-shop scheduling problems shows that the improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network outperforms the original constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network in terms of computational time and the quality of schedules it produces. The neural network approach is also experimentally validated to outperform three classical heuristic algorithms that are widely used as the basis of many state-of-the-art scheduling systems. Hence, it may also be used to construct advanced job-shop scheduling systems.This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of UK under Grant EP/E060722/01 and in part by the National Nature Science Fundation of China under Grant 60821063 and National Basic Research Program of China under Grant 2009CB320601

Empowerment or Engagement? Digital Health Technologies for Mental Healthcare

We argue that while digital health technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence, smartphones, and virtual reality) present significant opportunities for improving the delivery of healthcare, key concepts that are used to evaluate and understand their impact can obscure significant ethical issues related to patient engagement and experience. Specifically, we focus on the concept of empowerment and ask whether it is adequate for addressing some significant ethical concerns that relate to digital health technologies for mental healthcare. We frame these concerns using five key ethical principles for AI ethics (i.e. autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and explicability), which have their roots in the bioethical literature, in order to critically evaluate the role that digital health technologies will have in the future of digital healthcare

The Palomar Testbed Interferometer Calibrator Catalog

The Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) archive of observations between 1998 and 2005 is examined for objects appropriate for calibration of optical long-baseline interferometer observations - stars that are predictably point-like and single. Approximately 1,400 nights of data on 1,800 objects were examined for this investigation. We compare those observations to an intensively studied object that is a suitable calibrator, HD217014, and statistically compare each candidate calibrator to that object by computing both a Mahalanobis distance and a Principal Component Analysis. Our hypothesis is that the frequency distribution of visibility data associated with calibrator stars differs from non-calibrator stars such as binary stars. Spectroscopic binaries resolved by PTI, objects known to be unsuitable for calibrator use, are similarly tested to establish detection limits of this approach. From this investigation, we find more than 350 observed stars suitable for use as calibrators (with an additional $\approx 140$ being rejected), corresponding to $\gtrsim 95$ sky coverage for PTI. This approach is noteworthy in that it rigorously establishes calibration sources through a traceable, empirical methodology, leveraging the predictions of spectral energy distribution modeling but also verifying it with the rich body of PTI's on-sky observations.Comment: 100 pages, 7 figures, 7 tables; to appear in the May 2008ApJS, v176n