190,353 research outputs found
The IT performance evaluation in the construction industry
To date there has been limited published work in
the construction management and engineering
literature that has provided empirical evidence to
demonstrate that IT can improve organizational
performance. Without an explicit understanding
about how IT can be effectively used to improve
organizational performance, its justification will
remain to be weak for managers. To ensure the
continuous increase in IT based applications in the
construction industry, sufficient evidence has to be
provided for management in various professions of
the construction industry to evaluate, allocate and
utilize appropriate IT systems. In an attempt to
explore the relationship between IT and
productivity, an empirical investigation of 60
Professional Consulting Firms (PCF) from the
Hong Kong construction industry was undertaken.
A model for determining the organizational
productivity of IT is proposed, and the
methodology used to test the model is described.
The findings are analyzed and a cross-profession
comparison of the results indicated the differences
in the use of IT. The research findings are discussed
with similarities being drawn. The limitations of the
research are then presented and discussed. The
implications of the findings and conclusions then
fully presented
On quantum vertex algebras and their modules
We give a survey on the developments in a certain theory of quantum vertex
algebras, including a conceptual construction of quantum vertex algebras and
their modules and a connection of double Yangians and Zamolodchikov-Faddeev
algebras with quantum vertex algebras.Comment: 18 pages; contribution to the proceedings of the conference in honor
of Professor Geoffrey Maso
Highly frustrated spin-lattice models of magnetism and their quantum phase transitions: A microscopic treatment via the coupled cluster method
We outline how the coupled cluster method of microscopic quantum many-body
theory can be utilized in practice to give highly accurate results for the
ground-state properties of a wide variety of highly frustrated and strongly
correlated spin-lattice models of interest in quantum magnetism, including
their quantum phase transitions. The method itself is described, and it is
shown how it may be implemented in practice to high orders in a systematically
improvable hierarchy of (so-called LSUB) approximations, by the use of
computer-algebraic techniques. The method works from the outset in the
thermodynamic limit of an infinite lattice at all levels of approximation, and
it is shown both how the "raw" LSUB results are themselves generally
excellent in the sense that they converge rapidly, and how they may accurately
be extrapolated to the exact limit, , of the truncation
index , which denotes the {\it only} approximation made. All of this is
illustrated via a specific application to a two-dimensional, frustrated,
spin-half -- model on a honeycomb lattice with
nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor interactions with exchange couplings
and , respectively, where both
interactions are of the same anisotropic type. We show how the method can
be used to determine the entire zero-temperature ground-state phase diagram of
the model in the range of the frustration parameter and
of the spin-space anisotropy parameter. In particular,
we identify a candidate quantum spin-liquid region in the phase space
Spin-1/2 - Heisenberg model on a cross-striped square lattice
Using the coupled cluster method (CCM) we study the full (zero-temperature)
ground-state (GS) phase diagram of a spin-half () -
Heisenberg model on a cross-striped square lattice. Each site of the square
lattice has 4 nearest-neighbour exchange bonds of strength and 2
next-nearest-neighbour (diagonal) bonds of strength . The bonds
are arranged so that the basic square plaquettes in alternating columns have
either both or no bonds included. The classical () version of the model has 4 collinear phases when and
can take either sign. Three phases are antiferromagnetic (AFM), showing
so-called N\'{e}el, double N\'{e}el and double columnar striped order
respectively, while the fourth is ferromagnetic. For the quantum model
we use the 3 classical AFM phases as CCM reference states, on top of which the
multispin-flip configurations arising from quantum fluctuations are
incorporated in a systematic truncation hierarchy. Calculations of the
corresponding GS energy, magnetic order parameter and the susceptibilities of
the states to various forms of valence-bond crystalline (VBC) order are thus
carried out numerically to high orders of approximation and then extrapolated
to the (exact) physical limit. We find that the model has 5 phases,
which correspond to the four classical phases plus a new quantum phase with
plaquette VBC order. The positions of the 5 quantum critical points are
determined with high accuracy. While all 4 phase transitions in the classical
model are first order, we find strong evidence that 3 of the 5 quantum phase
transitions in the model are of continuous deconfined type
A frustrated spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a chevron-square lattice
The coupled cluster method (CCM) is used to study the zero-temperature
properties of a frustrated spin-half () -- Heisenberg
antiferromagnet (HAF) on a 2D chevron-square lattice. Each site on an
underlying square lattice has 4 nearest-neighbor exchange bonds of strength
and 2 next-nearest-neighbor (diagonal) bonds of strength , with each square plaquette having only one diagonal bond.
The diagonal bonds form a chevron pattern, and the model thus interpolates
smoothly between 2D HAFs on the square () and triangular () lattices,
and also extrapolates to disconnected 1D HAF chains (). The
classical () version of the model has N\'{e}el order for and a form of spiral order for , where
. For the model we use both these classical
states, as well as other collinear states not realized as classical
ground-state (GS) phases, as CCM reference states, on top of which the
multispin-flip configurations resulting from quantum fluctuations are
incorporated in a systematic truncation scheme, which we carry out to high
orders and extrapolate to the physical limit. We calculate the GS energy, GS
magnetic order parameter, and the susceptibilities of the states to various
forms of valence-bond crystalline (VBC) order, including plaquette and two
different dimer forms. We find that the model has two quantum
critical points, at and ,
with N\'{e}el order for , a form of spiral order for
that includes the correct three-sublattice
spin ordering for the triangular-lattice HAF at , and
parallel-dimer VBC order for
Theory of the spatial structure of non-linear lasing modes
A self-consistent integral equation is formulated and solved iteratively
which determines the steady-state lasing modes of open multi-mode lasers. These
modes are naturally decomposed in terms of frequency dependent biorthogonal
modes of a linear wave equation and not in terms of resonances of the cold
cavity. A one-dimensional cavity laser is analyzed and the lasing mode is found
to have non-trivial spatial structure even in the single-mode limit. In the
multi-mode regime spatial hole-burning and mode competition is treated exactly.
The formalism generalizes to complex, chaotic and random laser media.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Localization of Relative-Position of Two Atoms Induced by Spontaneous Emission
We revisit the back-action of emitted photons on the motion of the relative
position of two cold atoms. We show that photon recoil resulting from the
spontaneous emission can induce the localization of the relative position of
the two atoms through the entanglement between the spatial motion of individual
atoms and their emitted photons. The result provides a more realistic model for
the analysis of the environment-induced localization of a macroscopic object.Comment: 8 pages and 4 figure
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