Multimedia courseware: Never mind the quality how much will it cost to develop?

This paper evaluates multimedia courseware costing techniques such as the US Airforce Interactive Courseware Method (Golas, 1993), CBT Analyst (Kearsley, 1985), CEAC (Schooley, 1988) and MEEM (Marshall, Samson, Dugard, & Scott, 1994) against the data from ten multimedia courseware developments. The Relative Error and Mean Absolute Relative Error (MARE) are calculated to allow comparison of the different methods

Spin injection in Silicon at zero magnetic field

In this letter, we show efficient electrical spin injection into a SiGe based \textit{p-i-n} light emitting diode from the remanent state of a perpendicularly magnetized ferromagnetic contact. Electron spin injection is carried out through an alumina tunnel barrier from a Co/Pt thin film exhibiting a strong out-of-plane anisotropy. The electrons spin polarization is then analysed through the circular polarization of emitted light. All the light polarization measurements are performed without an external applied magnetic field \textit{i.e.} in remanent magnetic states. The light polarization as a function of the magnetic field closely traces the out-of-plane magnetization of the Co/Pt injector. We could achieve a circular polarization degree of the emitted light of 3 % at 5 K. Moreover this light polarization remains almost constant at least up to 200 K.Comment: accepted in AP

Tunable refraction in a two dimensional quantum metamaterial

In this paper we consider a two-dimensional metamaterial comprising an array of qubits (two level quantum objects). Here we show that a two-dimensional quantum metamaterial may be controlled, e.g. via the application of a magnetic flux, so as to provide controllable refraction of an input signal. Our results are consistent with a material that could be quantum birefringent (beam splitter) or not dependent on the application of this control parameter. We note that quantum metamaterials as proposed here may be fabricated from a variety of current candidate technologies from superconducting qubits to quantum dots. Thus the ideas proposed in this work would be readily testable in existing state of the art laboratories.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Accurate photoionisation cross section for He at non-resonant photon energies

The total single-photon ionisation cross section was calculated for helium atoms in their ground state. Using a full configuration-interaction approach the photoionisation cross section was extracted from the complex-scaled resolvent. In the energy range from ionisation threshold to 59\,eV our results agree with an earlier $B$-spline based calculation in which the continuum is box discretised within a relative error of $0.01\%$ in the non-resonant part of the spectrum. Above the \He^{++} threshold our results agree on the other hand very well to a recent Floquet calculation. Thus our calculation confirms the previously reported deviations from the experimental reference data outside the claimed error estimate. In order to extend the calculated spectrum to very high energies, an analytical hydrogenic-type model tail is introduced that should become asymptotically exact for infinite photon energies. Its universality is investigated considering also H$^-$, Li$^+$, and HeH$^+$. With the aid of the tail corrections to the dipole approximation are estimated.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, 2 table

Charged Higgs bosons from the 3-3-1 models and the R(D(∗))\mathcal{R}(D^{(*)}) anomalies

Several anomalies in the semileptonic B-meson decays such as $\mathcal{R}(D^{(*)})$ have been reported by $BABAR$, Belle, and LHCb collaborations recently. In this paper, we investigate the contributions of the charged Higgs bosons from the 3-3-1 models to the $\mathcal{R}(D^{(*)})$ anomalies. We find that, in a wide range of parameter space, the 3-3-1 models might give reasonable explanations to the $\mathcal{R}(D^{(*)})$ anomalies and other analogous anomalies of the B meson's semileptonic decays.Comment: Accpeted by Physical Review

Characteristics of Two-Dimensional Quantum Turbulence in a Compressible Superfluid

Under suitable forcing a fluid exhibits turbulence, with characteristics strongly affected by the fluid's confining geometry. Here we study two-dimensional quantum turbulence in a highly oblate Bose-Einstein condensate in an annular trap. As a compressible quantum fluid, this system affords a rich phenomenology, allowing coupling between vortex and acoustic energy. Small-scale stirring generates an experimentally observed disordered vortex distribution that evolves into large-scale flow in the form of a persistent current. Numerical simulation of the experiment reveals additional characteristics of two-dimensional quantum turbulence: spontaneous clustering of same-circulation vortices, and an incompressible energy spectrum with $k^{-5/3}$ dependence for low wavenumbers $k$ and $k^{-3}$ dependence for high $k$.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Reference [29] updated for v

Imaging memory in temporal lobe epilepsy: predicting the effects of temporal lobe resection

Functional magnetic resonance imaging can demonstrate the functional anatomy of cognitive processes. In patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy, evaluation of preoperative verbal and visual memory function is important as anterior temporal lobe resections may result in material specific memory impairment, typically verbal memory decline following left and visual memory decline after right anterior temporal lobe resection. This study aimed to investigate reorganization of memory functions in temporal lobe epilepsy and to determine whether preoperative memory functional magnetic resonance imaging may predict memory changes following anterior temporal lobe resection. We studied 72 patients with unilateral medial temporal lobe epilepsy (41 left) and 20 healthy controls. A functional magnetic resonance imaging memory encoding paradigm for pictures, words and faces was used testing verbal and visual memory in a single scanning session on a 3T magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Fifty-four patients subsequently underwent left (29) or right (25) anterior temporal lobe resection. Verbal and design learning were assessed before and 4 months after surgery. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis revealed that in left temporal lobe epilepsy, greater left hippocampal activation for word encoding correlated with better verbal memory. In right temporal lobe epilepsy, greater right hippocampal activation for face encoding correlated with better visual memory. In left temporal lobe epilepsy, greater left than right anterior hippocampal activation on word encoding correlated with greater verbal memory decline after left anterior temporal lobe resection, while greater left than right posterior hippocampal activation correlated with better postoperative verbal memory outcome. In right temporal lobe epilepsy, greater right than left anterior hippocampal functional magnetic resonance imaging activation on face encoding predicted greater visual memory decline after right anterior temporal lobe resection, while greater right than left posterior hippocampal activation correlated with better visual memory outcome. Stepwise linear regression identified asymmetry of activation for encoding words and faces in the ipsilateral anterior medial temporal lobe as strongest predictors for postoperative verbal and visual memory decline. Activation asymmetry, language lateralization and performance on preoperative neuropsychological tests predicted clinically significant verbal memory decline in all patients who underwent left anterior temporal lobe resection, but were less able to predict visual memory decline after right anterior temporal lobe resection. Preoperative memory functional magnetic resonance imaging was the strongest predictor of verbal and visual memory decline following anterior temporal lobe resection. Preoperatively, verbal and visual memory function utilized the damaged, ipsilateral hippocampus and also the contralateral hippocampus. Memory function in the ipsilateral posterior hippocampus may contribute to better preservation of memory after surgery

Treatment utilization and outcomes in elderly patients with locally advanced esophageal carcinoma: A review of the National Cancer Database

For elderly patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer, therapeutic approaches and outcomes in a modern cohort are not well characterized. Patients ≥70 years old with clinical stage II and III esophageal cancer diagnosed between 1998 and 2012 were identified from the National Cancer Database and stratified based on treatment type. Variables associated with treatment utilization were evaluated using logistic regression and survival evaluated using Cox proportional hazards analysis. Propensity matching (1:1) was performed to help account for selection bias. A total of 21,593 patients were identified. Median and maximum ages were 77 and 90, respectively. Treatment included palliative therapy (24.3%), chemoradiation (37.1%), trimodality therapy (10.0%), esophagectomy alone (5.6%), or no therapy (12.9%). Age ≥80 (OR 0.73), female gender (OR 0.81), Charlson-Deyo comorbidity score ≥2 (OR 0.82), and high-volume centers (OR 0.83) were associated with a decreased likelihood of palliative therapy versus no treatment. Age ≥80 (OR 0.79) and Clinical Stage III (OR 0.33) were associated with a decreased likelihood, while adenocarcinoma histology (OR 1.33) and nonacademic cancer centers (OR 3.9), an increased likelihood of esophagectomy alone compared to definitive chemoradiation. Age ≥80 (OR 0.15), female gender (OR 0.80), and non-Caucasian race (OR 0.63) were associated with a decreased likelihood, while adenocarcinoma histology (OR 2.10) and high-volume centers (OR 2.34), an increased likelihood of trimodality therapy compared to definitive chemoradiation. Each treatment type demonstrated improved survival compared to no therapy: palliative treatment (HR 0.49) to trimodality therapy (HR 0.25) with significance between all groups. Any therapy, including palliative care, was associated with improved survival; however, subsets of elderly patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer are less likely to receive aggressive therapy. Care should be taken to not unnecessarily deprive these individuals of treatment that may improve survival