917 research outputs found
A survey on e-learning content standardization
eLearning has been evolved in a gradual and consistent way. Along
with this evolution several specialized and disparate systems appeared to fulfill
the needs of teachers and students such as repositories of learning objects,
intelligent tutors, or automatic evaluators. This heterogeneity poses issues that
are necessary to address in order to promote interoperability among systems.
Based on this fact, the standardization of content takes a leading role in the
eLearning realm. This article presents a survey on current eLearning content
standards. It gathers information on the most emergent standards and
categorizes them according three distinct facets: metadata, content packaging
and educational design
Gas Purity effect on GEM Performance in He and Ne at Low Temperatures
The performance of Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) in gaseous He, Ne, He+H2
and Ne+H2 was studied at temperatures in the range of 3-293 K. This paper
reports on previously published measurements and additional studies on the
effects of the purity of the gases in which the GEM performance is evaluated.
In He, at temperatures between 77 and 293 K, triple-GEM structures operate at
rather high gains, exceeding 1000. There is an indication that this high gain
is achieved through the Penning effect as a result of impurities in the gas. At
lower temperatures the gain-voltage characteristics are significantly modified
probably due to the freeze-out of these impurities. Double-GEM and single-GEM
structures can operate down to 3 K at gains reaching only several tens at a gas
density of about 0.5 g/l; at higher densities the maximum gain drops further.
In Ne, the maximum gain also drops at cryogenic temperatures. The gain drop in
Ne at low temperatures can be re-established in Penning mixtures of Ne+H2: very
high gains, exceeding 104, have been obtained in these mixtures at 30-77 K, at
a density of 9.2 g/l which corresponds to saturated Ne vapor density at 27 K.
The addition of small amounts of H2 in He also re-establishes large GEM gains
above 30 K but no gain was observed in He+H2 at 4 K and a density of 1.7 g/l
(corresponding to roughly one-tenth of the saturated vapor density). These
studies are, in part, being pursued in the development of two-phase He and Ne
detectors for solar neutrino detection.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure
Integrated environmental risk assessment of major accidents in the transport of hazardous substances
At present, the environmental risk assessment of major accidents is mainly carried out for stationary risk sources. Only marginal attention is paid to mobile risk sources, while the currently available methodologies require a relevant expertise and time for their application, which is only partially possible in most scenarios. In the present study, an integrated approach to environmental risk assessment in the transport of hazardous substances (iTRANSRISK) was developed. The approach proposed is based on the principle of index-based assessment of leakage scenarios involving toxic and flammable substances during transport, in the context of indexing environmental vulnerability. The key point of the method is the conversion of local-specific data concerning the risk potential of the transported substance, the consequences and the probability of a major accident, and environmental vulnerability assessment into a single entity. The created integral approach is proposed for the needs of carriers of the hazardous substances and the state administration bodies. The proposed approach is determined for the screening risk assessment at the beginning of the process of the planning a suitable transport routes and the results are for information only. An example of the application of the iTRANSRISK integrated approach is demonstrated considering an explosion scenario following a propane tanker leak (18 t) in a forested area, with moderately susceptible soils and no surface water or groundwater affected
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Dilepton Measurements with CERES
We report on dilepton measurements for central Pb on Au collisions at the top CERN SPS energy with the upgraded CERES experiment. The dilepton mass spectrum of 2000 data with improved mass resolution shows an enhancement over the expectation from hadron decays that is well described by a model including a strong broadening of the {rho} spectral function. The measured excess yield excludes the dropping mass scenario. We also report on the {phi} meson measured simultaneously both in the K{sup +}K{sup -} and in the dilepton decay channel for the first time in high energy heavy-ion collisions. An excellent agreement is found between the rapidity densities and the shape of the measured transverse momentum spectrum. The data rule out a possible enhancement of the {phi} yield in the leptonic over hadronic channel by a factor larger than 1.6 at 95% CL. CERES results are in agreement with NA49 results
Developing V-Xanes Oxybarometry for Probing Materials Formed in Reducing Environments in the Early Solar Disk
Vanadium exhibits four oxidation states (V(sup 2+), V(sup 3+), V(sup 4+) and V(sup 5+)) that have been shown to preferentially partition between melt phases dependent on redox conditions, spanning oxygen fugacity across more than 10 log units. We are developing synchrotron-based x-ray absorption spectroscopy of low-fugacity standards for the determination of V oxidation state in highly reducing conditions relevant to the early solar nebula
GEM operation in helium and neon at low temperatures
We study the performance of Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) in gaseous He, Ne
and Ne+H2 at temperatures in the range of 2.6-293 K. In He, at temperatures
between 62 and 293 K, the triple-GEM structures often operate at rather high
gains, exceeding 1000. There is an indication that this high gain is achieved
by Penning effect in the gas impurities released by outgassing. At lower
temperatures the gain-voltage characteristics are significantly modified
probably due to the freeze-out of impurities. In particular, the double-GEM and
single-GEM structures can operate down to 2.6 K at gains reaching only several
tens at a gas density of about 0.5 g/l; at higher densities the maximum gain
drops further. In Ne, the maximum gain also drops at cryogenic temperatures.
The gain drop in Ne at low temperatures can be reestablished in Penning
mixtures of Ne+H2: very high gains, exceeding 10000, have been obtained in
these mixtures at 50-60 K, at a density of 9.2 g/l corresponding to that of
saturated Ne vapor near 27 K. The results obtained are relevant in the fields
of two-phase He and Ne detectors for solar neutrino detection and electron
avalanching at low temperatures.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publishing in Nucl. Instr. and
Meth.
A new measurement of K+(e4) decay and the s-wave pi-pi-scattering length a00
A sample of 400000 events from the decay K+->pi+pi-e+nu(e)(K(e4)) has been
collected in experiment E865 at the Brookhaven AGS. The analysis of these data
yields new measurements of the K(e4) branching ratio
(4.11+-0.01+-0.11)*10**(-5)), the s-wave pi-pi scattering length
a00=0.228+-0.012+-0.003, and the form factors F, G, and H of the hadronic
current and their dependence on the invariant pi-pi mass
First observation of the decay K+ -> e+ nu mu+ mu-
Experiment 865 at the Brookhaven AGS has observed the decay K^+ -> e^+ nu
mu^+ mu^-. The branching ratio extracted is (1.72 +/- 0.37(stat) +/- 0.17(syst)
+/- 0.19(model)) x 10^{-8} where the third term in the error results from the
use of a model to extrapolate into a kinematic region dominated by background.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, Revtex4. Correction to figure and minor text
change
Oxygen Buffering in High Pressure Solid Media Assemblies: New Approach Enabling Study of fO2 from IW-4 to IW+4.5
Oxygen fugacity is an intensive parameter that controls some fundamental chemical and physical properties in planetary materials. In terrestrial magmas high fO2 promotes magnetite stability and low fO2 causes Fe-enrichment due to magnetite suppression. In lunar and asteroidal basalts, low fO2 can allow metal to be stable. Experimental studies will therefore be most useful if they are done at a specific and relevant fO2 for the samples under consideration. Control of fO2 in the solid media apparatus (piston cylinder multi-anvil) has relied on either sliding sensors or graphite capsule buffering, which are of limited application to the wide range of fO2 recorded in planetary or astromaterials. Here we describe a new approach that allows fO2 to be specified across a wide range of values relevant to natural samples
An Improved upper limit on the decay K^+ -> pi^+ mu^+ e^-
Based on results of a search for the lepton-family-number-violating decay
with data collected by experiment E865 at the
Alternating Gradient Synchrotron of Brookhaven National Laboratory, we place an
upper limit on the branching ratio at (90% C.L.).
Combining the results with earlier E865 data and those of a previous
experiment, E777, an upper limit on the branching ratio of (90% C.L.) is obtained.Comment: v2: 13 pages, submitted to the Phys. Rev. D v3: 13 pages, resubmitted
to Phys. Rev. D (corrections include: a more detailed overview of the
combined analysis of the available experimntal data
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