19,888 research outputs found
Contexts for questioning: Two zones of teaching and learning in undergraduate science
This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012.Higher education institutions are currently undertaking a challenging process in moving from teacher-orientated to student-focused approaches. Students’ ability to asking questions is fundamental to developing critical reasoning, and to the process of scientific enquiry itself. Our premise is that questioning competences should become a central focus of current reforms in higher education. This study, part of a broader naturalistic research project, aims at developing a theoretical framework for conceptualizing different contexts for questioning, illustrating the application of the proposed framework (contextual questioning zones) and reflecting about some of the dimensions of teaching and learning, for overcoming some of the challenges that higher education institutions are facing presently. The discussion of two ‘opposite’ contexts of enquiry is based on qualitative data, gathered through close collaboration with four teachers of undergraduate biology at a Portuguese university. These teachers were observed during their ‘daily activity’ during an academic year. Data was also gathered by interviewing these teachers and 8 selected students, at the end of the year, and used to sustain the argumentation. The paper concludes with some reflections and suggestions to promote authentic enquiry-based learning experiences.Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi
Non-parametric comparison of histogrammed two-dimensional data distributions using the Energy Test
When monitoring complex experiments, comparison is often made between regularly acquired histograms of data and reference histograms which represent the ideal state of the equipment. With the larger HEP experiments now ramping up, there is a need for automation of this task since the volume of comparisons could overwhelm human operators. However, the two-dimensional histogram comparison tools available in ROOT have been noted in the past to exhibit shortcomings. We discuss a newer comparison test for two-dimensional histograms, based on the Energy Test of Aslan and Zech, which provides more conclusive
discrimination between histograms of data coming from different distributions than methods provided in a recent ROOT release.The Science and Technology Facilities Council, U
Efficient recovery algorithm for discrete valued sparse signals using an ADMM approach
Motivated by applications in wireless communications, in this paper we propose a reconstruction algorithm for sparse signals whose values are taken from a discrete set, using a limited number of noisy observations. Unlike conventional compressed sensing algorithms, the proposed approach incorporates knowledge of the discrete valued nature of the signal in the detection process. This is accomplished through the alternating direction method of the multipliers which is applied as a heuristic to decompose the associated maximum likelihood detection problem in order to find candidate solutions with a low computational complexity order. Numerical results in different scenarios show that the proposed algorithm is capable of achieving very competitive recovery error rates when compared with other existing suboptimal approaches.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Tests of Bayesian Model Selection Techniques for Gravitational Wave Astronomy
The analysis of gravitational wave data involves many model selection
problems. The most important example is the detection problem of selecting
between the data being consistent with instrument noise alone, or instrument
noise and a gravitational wave signal. The analysis of data from ground based
gravitational wave detectors is mostly conducted using classical statistics,
and methods such as the Neyman-Pearson criteria are used for model selection.
Future space based detectors, such as the \emph{Laser Interferometer Space
Antenna} (LISA), are expected to produced rich data streams containing the
signals from many millions of sources. Determining the number of sources that
are resolvable, and the most appropriate description of each source poses a
challenging model selection problem that may best be addressed in a Bayesian
framework. An important class of LISA sources are the millions of low-mass
binary systems within our own galaxy, tens of thousands of which will be
detectable. Not only are the number of sources unknown, but so are the number
of parameters required to model the waveforms. For example, a significant
subset of the resolvable galactic binaries will exhibit orbital frequency
evolution, while a smaller number will have measurable eccentricity. In the
Bayesian approach to model selection one needs to compute the Bayes factor
between competing models. Here we explore various methods for computing Bayes
factors in the context of determining which galactic binaries have measurable
frequency evolution. The methods explored include a Reverse Jump Markov Chain
Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) algorithm, Savage-Dickie density ratios, the Schwarz-Bayes
Information Criterion (BIC), and the Laplace approximation to the model
evidence. We find good agreement between all of the approaches.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
Disorder Induced Localized States in Graphene
We consider the electronic structure near vacancies in the half-filled
honeycomb lattice. It is shown that vacancies induce the formation of localized
states. When particle-hole symmetry is broken, localized states become
resonances close to the Fermi level. We also study the problem of a finite
density of vacancies, obtaining the electronic density of states, and
discussing the issue of electronic localization in these systems. Our results
also have relevance for the problem of disorder in d-wave superconductors.Comment: Replaced with published version. 4 pages, 4 figures. Fig. 1 was
revise
Phenomenological study of the electronic transport coefficients of graphene
Using a semi-classical approach and input from experiments on the
conductivity of graphene, we determine the electronic density dependence of the
electronic transport coefficients -- conductivity, thermal conductivity and
thermopower -- of doped graphene. Also the electronic density dependence of the
optical conductivity is obtained. Finally we show that the classical Hall
effect (low field) in graphene has the same form as for the independent
electron case, characterized by a parabolic dispersion, as long as the
relaxation time is proportional to the momentum.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Localized states at zigzag edges of bilayer graphene
We report the existence of zero energy surface states localized at zigzag
edges of bilayer graphene. Working within the tight-binding approximation we
derive the analytic solution for the wavefunctions of these peculiar surface
states. It is shown that zero energy edge states in bilayer graphene can be
divided into two families: (i) states living only on a single plane, equivalent
to surface states in monolayer graphene; (ii) states with finite amplitude over
the two layers, with an enhanced penetration into the bulk. The bulk and
surface (edge) electronic structure of bilayer graphene nanoribbons is also
studied, both in the absence and in the presence of a bias voltage between
planes.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Eigenfunctions of the Laplacian and associated Ruelle operator
Let be a co-compact Fuchsian group of isometries on the Poincar\'e
disk \DD and the corresponding hyperbolic Laplace operator. Any
smooth eigenfunction of , equivariant by with real
eigenvalue , where , admits an integral
representation by a distribution \dd_{f,s} (the Helgason distribution) which
is equivariant by and supported at infinity \partial\DD=\SS^1. The
geodesic flow on the compact surface \DD/\Gamma is conjugate to a suspension
over a natural extension of a piecewise analytic map T:\SS^1\to\SS^1, the
so-called Bowen-Series transformation. Let be the complex Ruelle
transfer operator associated to the jacobian . M. Pollicott showed
that \dd_{f,s} is an eigenfunction of the dual operator for the
eigenvalue 1. Here we show the existence of a (nonzero) piecewise real analytic
eigenfunction of for the eigenvalue 1, given by an
integral formula \psi_{f,s} (\xi)=\int \frac{J(\xi,\eta)}{|\xi-\eta|^{2s}}
\dd_{f,s} (d\eta), \noindent where is a -valued
piecewise constant function whose definition depends upon the geometry of the
Dirichlet fundamental domain representing the surface \DD/\Gamma
- …