74,068 research outputs found
Aiming for ultra-scalable ePortfolio distribution using peer-to-peer networks
In this paper the authors discuss how peer-to-peer technology offers a practical solution to building highly scalable Europe-wide and worldwide ePortfolio networks over existing network infrastructures.This solution also offers the effect of empowering individuals through moving the management and storage responsibilities onto the portfolio owners, decoupling users from any single institutional ePortfolio service provider The authors do not present this solution as the single way forward, but as an alternative to what is seen as a mainly client-server and Web-based approach to ePortfolio development, and to encourage developers to explore the possibilities for ePortfolio integration with emerging and relatively immature technologies. A prototype implementation is reported and future developments described
Harnessing mobile technology for classroom learning
Educational institutions are reluctant adopt mobile computing and Wireless technologies. This is because this technology remains relatively expensive compared to traditional computing technologies, mobile devices are inherently personal and can be difficult to use as a teaching tool to groups of learners, and Short Message Services and Multimedia Message Services (SMS/MMS) are expensive and limited in functional scope despite their popularity amongst young people. In this paper, we describe a component of a prototype learning environment named Quest where we propose anew way of harnessing mobile technology for learning that negates these drawbacks. In Quest we have demonstrated that the information gathering capabilities of mobile phones can be harnessed to aid learners research
Ensemble Density Functional Theory for Inhomogeneous Fractional Quantum Hall Systems
The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) occurs at certain magnetic field
strengths B*(n) in a two-dimensional electron gas of density n at strong
magnetic fields perpendicular to the plane of the electron gas. At these
magnetic fields strengths, the system is incompressible, i.e., there is a
finite cost in energy for creating charge density fluctuations in the bulk,
while the boundary of the electron gas has gapless modes of density waves. The
bulk energy gap arises because of the strong electron-electron interactions.
While there are very good models for infinite homogeneous systems and for the
gapless excitations of the boundary of the electron gas, computational methods
to accurately model finite, inhomogeneous systems with more then about ten
electrons have not been available until very recently. We will here review an
ensemble density functional approach to studying the ground state of large
inhomogeneous spin polarized FQHE systems.Comment: 23 pages (revtex), 6 Postscript figures. To be published in Int. J.
Quant. Chem. (invited talk at the 1996 Sanibel Symposium
Properties from relativistic coupled-cluster without truncation: hyperfine constants of , , and
We demonstrate an iterative scheme for coupled-cluster properties
calculations without truncating the dressed properties operator. For
validation, magnetic dipole hyperfine constants of alkaline Earth ions are
calculated with relativistic coupled-cluster and role of electron correlation
examined. Then, a detailed analysis of the higher order terms is carried out.
Based on the results, we arrive at an optimal form of the dressed operator.
Which we recommend for properties calculations with relativistic
coupled-cluster theory.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 5 table
The conversation: developing confidence to provide end of life care in Salford nursing homes
The study was funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing and partly by Salford Primary Care Trust. A realistic evaluation design was used to collect data using a range of approaches, from before and after surveys of confidence in delivering end of life care, to participant observation and interviews. A total of 43 people were interviewed involving both staff, residents and relatives.
Key Messages
a) Significant resources are needed to engage staff, residents and relatives/carers with the idea of advance care planning b) Care home staff are optimistic about involving residents and relatives in planning care at the end of life and some relatives become very involved in care
c) Clearly registered nurses and other care home workers such as care assistants have different roles, but the overlap between these and the appropriate boundaries would benefit from further work d) Talking to residents and relatives about their feelings and wishes for care at the end of life remains especially difficult, but education and training in key skills and knowledge can engender both ability and motivation e) Care homes need strong and well-informed leadership in order to implement the Gold Standards Framework f) Placing a relative in a care home involves strain and an ability to compromise ‘there’s no perfect place’ g) Advance care planning can reduce the distress and the number of inappropriate hospital admissions, but is challenging in the face of staff rotation and out of hours medical staff being unpredictable
h) The principles of the Gold Standards Framework are widely seen as sensible, but clinical challenges include diagnosing and predicting dying trajectories,
especially in heart failure, chronic pulmonary disease and dementia i) A particular concern of staff is how to approach nutrition and hydration as frailty and death approach j) Communicating about diagnosis and especially prognosis with residents who lack capacity is an increasing problem k) Natural justice suggests that resources should be allocated to the general standardisation of a good quality of care at the end of life in ALL care homes whatever their Care Quality Commission ratin
Structural Properties and Relative Stability of (Meta)Stable Ordered, Partially-ordered and Disordered Al-Li Alloy Phases
We resolve issues that have plagued reliable prediction of relative phase
stability for solid-solutions and compounds. Due to its commercially important
phase diagram, we showcase Al-Li system because historically density-functional
theory (DFT) results show large scatter and limited success in predicting the
structural properties and stability of solid-solutions relative to ordered
compounds. Using recent advances in an optimal basis-set representation of the
topology of electronic charge density (and, hence, atomic size), we present DFT
results that agree reasonably well with all known experimental data for the
structural properties and formation energies of ordered, off-stoichiometric
partially-ordered and disordered alloys, opening the way for reliable study in
complex alloys.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 2 Table
A new proof that alternating links are non-trivial
We use a simple geometric argument and small cancellation properties of link
groups to prove that alternating links are non-trivial. This proof uses only
classic results in topology and combinatorial group theory.Comment: Minor changes. To appear in Fundamenta Mathematica
EffiTest: Efficient Delay Test and Statistical Prediction for Configuring Post-silicon Tunable Buffers
At nanometer manufacturing technology nodes, process variations significantly
affect circuit performance. To combat them, post- silicon clock tuning buffers
can be deployed to balance timing bud- gets of critical paths for each
individual chip after manufacturing. The challenge of this method is that path
delays should be mea- sured for each chip to configure the tuning buffers
properly. Current methods for this delay measurement rely on path-wise
frequency stepping. This strategy, however, requires too much time from ex-
pensive testers. In this paper, we propose an efficient delay test framework
(EffiTest) to solve the post-silicon testing problem by aligning path delays
using the already-existing tuning buffers in the circuit. In addition, we only
test representative paths and the delays of other paths are estimated by
statistical delay prediction. Exper- imental results demonstrate that the
proposed method can reduce the number of frequency stepping iterations by more
than 94% with only a slight yield loss.Comment: ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference (DAC), June 201
The Hidden Spatial Geometry of Non-Abelian Gauge Theories
The Gauss law constraint in the Hamiltonian form of the gauge theory
of gluons is satisfied by any functional of the gauge invariant tensor variable
. Arguments are given that the tensor is a more appropriate variable. When the Hamiltonian
is expressed in terms of or , the quantity appears.
The gauge field Bianchi and Ricci identities yield a set of partial
differential equations for in terms of . One can show that
is a metric-compatible connection for with torsion, and that the curvature
tensor of is that of an Einstein space. A curious 3-dimensional
spatial geometry thus underlies the gauge-invariant configuration space of the
theory, although the Hamiltonian is not invariant under spatial coordinate
transformations. Spatial derivative terms in the energy density are singular
when . These singularities are the analogue of the centrifugal
barrier of quantum mechanics, and physical wave-functionals are forced to
vanish in a certain manner near . It is argued that such barriers are
an inevitable result of the projection on the gauge-invariant subspace of the
Hilbert space, and that the barriers are a conspicuous way in which non-abelian
gauge theories differ from scalar field theories.Comment: 19 pages, TeX, CTP #223
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