38,791 research outputs found
Spinor-Vector Duality in Heterotic String Orbifolds
The three generation heterotic-string models in the free fermionic
formulation are among the most realistic string vacua constructed to date,
which motivated their detailed investigation. The classification of free
fermion heterotic string vacua has revealed a duality under the exchange of
spinor and vector representations of the SO(10) GUT symmetry over the space of
models. We demonstrate the existence of the spinor-vector duality using
orbifold techniques, and elaborate on the relation of these vacua to free
fermionic models.Comment: 20 pages. v2 minor corrections. Version to appear on JHEP. v3
misprints correcte
Scoping analytical usability evaluation methods: A case study
Analytical usability evaluation methods (UEMs) can complement empirical evaluation of systems: for example, they can often be used earlier in design and can provide accounts of why users might experience difficulties, as well as what those difficulties are. However, their properties and value are only partially understood. One way to improve our understanding is by detailed comparisons using a single interface or system as a target for evaluation, but we need to look deeper than simple problem counts: we need to consider what kinds of accounts each UEM offers, and why. Here, we report on a detailed comparison of eight analytical UEMs. These eight methods were applied to it robotic arm interface, and the findings were systematically compared against video data of the arm ill use. The usability issues that were identified could be grouped into five categories: system design, user misconceptions, conceptual fit between user and system, physical issues, and contextual ones. Other possible categories such as User experience did not emerge in this particular study. With the exception of Heuristic Evaluation, which supported a range of insights, each analytical method was found to focus attention on just one or two categories of issues. Two of the three "home-grown" methods (Evaluating Multimodal Usability and Concept-based Analysis of Surface and Structural Misfits) were found to occupy particular niches in the space, whereas the third (Programmable User Modeling) did not. This approach has identified commonalities and contrasts between methods and provided accounts of why a particular method yielded the insights it did. Rather than considering measures such as problem count or thoroughness, this approach has yielded insights into the scope of each method
Safer healthcare at home: Detecting, correcting and learning from incidents involving infusion devices
OBJECTIVE:
Complex medical devices such as infusion pumps are increasingly being used in patients’ homes with little known about the impact on patient safety. Our aim was to better understand the risks to patient safety in this situation and how these risks might be minimised, by reference to incident reports.
DESIGN:
We identified 606 records of incidents associated with infusion devices that had occurred in a private home and were reported to the UK National Reporting and Learning Service (2005–2015 inclusive). We used thematic analysis to identify key themes.
RESULTS:
In this paper we focus on two emergent themes: detecting and diagnosing incidents; and locating the patient, lay caregivers and their family in incident reports. The majority of incidents were attributed to device malfunction, and resulted in the patient being under-dosed. Delays in recognising and responding to problems were identified, alongside challenges in identifying the cause. We propose a process model for fault diagnosis and correction.
Patients and caregivers did not feature strongly in reports; we highlight how the device is in the home but of the care system, and propose an agent model to describe this; we also identify ways of mitigating this disjoint.
CONCLUSION:
Devices need to be appropriately tailored to the setting in which they are employed, and within a system of care that ensures they are used optimally and safely. Suggested features to improve patient safety include devices that can provide better feedback to identify problems and support resolution, alongside greater monitoring and technical support by care providers for both patients and frontline professionals. The proposed process and agent models provide a structure for reviewing safety and learning from incidents in home health care
A stronger topology for the Brownian web
We propose a metric space of coalescing pairs of paths on which we are able
to prove (more or less) directly convergence of objects such as the persistence
probability in the (one dimensional, nearest neighbor, symmetric) voter model
or the diffusively rescaled weight distribution in a silo model (as well as the
equivalent output distribution in a river basin model), interpreted in terms of
(dual) diffusively rescaled coalescing random walks, to corresponding objects
defined in terms of the Brownian web.Comment: 22 page
Optimal solutions to matrix-valued Nehari problems and related limit theorems
In a 1990 paper Helton and Young showed that under certain conditions the
optimal solution of the Nehari problem corresponding to a finite rank Hankel
operator with scalar entries can be efficiently approximated by certain
functions defined in terms of finite dimensional restrictions of the Hankel
operator. In this paper it is shown that these approximants appear as optimal
solutions to restricted Nehari problems. The latter problems can be solved
using relaxed commutant lifting theory. This observation is used to extent the
Helton and Young approximation result to a matrix-valued setting. As in the
Helton and Young paper the rate of convergence depends on the choice of the
initial space in the approximation scheme.Comment: 22 page
- …