207 research outputs found
Q methodology and rural research
Traditionally, rural scholarship has been limited in its methodological approach. This has begun to change in recent years as rural researchers have embraced a range of different methodological tools. The aim of this article is to contribute to greater methodological pluralism in rural sociology by introducing readers to a method of research that is rarely engaged in the field, that is, Q methodology. The article describes the defining features of the approach as well as providing examples of its application to argue that it is a method that offers particular opportunities and synergies for rural social science research
Altered Brain Structure in Infants with Turner Syndrome
Turner syndrome (TS) is a genetic disorder affecting approximately 1:2000 live-born females. It results from partial or complete X monosomy and is associated with a range of clinical issues including a unique cognitive profile and increased risk for certain behavioral problems. Structural neuroimaging studies in adolescents, adults, and older children with TS have revealed altered neuroanatomy but are unable to identify when in development differences arise. In addition, older children and adults have often been exposed to years of growth hormone and/or exogenous estrogen therapy with potential implications for neurodevelopment. The study presented here is the first to test whether brain structure is altered in infants with TS. Twenty-six infants with TS received high-resolution structural MRI scans of the brain at 1 year of age and were compared to 47 typically developing female and 39 typically developing male infants. Results indicate that the typical neuroanatomical profile seen in older individuals with TS, characterized by decreased gray matter volumes in premotor, somatosensory, and parietal-occipital cortex, is already present at 1 year of age, suggesting a stable phenotype with origins in the prenatal or early postnatal period
Optical Detection of a Single Nuclear Spin
We propose a method to optically detect the spin state of a 31-P nucleus
embedded in a 28-Si matrix. The nuclear-electron hyperfine splitting of the
31-P neutral-donor ground state can be resolved via a direct frequency
discrimination measurement of the 31-P bound exciton photoluminescence using
single photon detectors. The measurement time is expected to be shorter than
the lifetime of the nuclear spin at 4 K and 10 T.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Edge reconstructions in fractional quantum Hall systems
Two dimensional electron systems exhibiting the fractional quantum Hall
effects are characterized by a quantized Hall conductance and a dissipationless
bulk. The transport in these systems occurs only at the edges where gapless
excitations are present. We present a {\it microscopic} calculation of the edge
states in the fractional quantum Hall systems at various filling factors using
the extended Hamiltonian theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect. We find
that at the quantum Hall edge undergoes a reconstruction as the
background potential softens, whereas quantum Hall edges at higher filling
factors, such as , are robust against reconstruction. We present
the results for the dependence of the edge states on various system parameters
such as temperature, functional form and range of electron-electron
interactions, and the confining potential. Our results have implications for
the tunneling experiments into the edge of a fractional quantum Hall system.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures; minor typos corrected; added 2 reference
Extracting Br(omega->pi^+ pi^-) from the Time-like Pion Form-factor
We extract the G-parity-violating branching ratio Br(omega->pi^+ pi^-) from
the effective rho-omega mixing matrix element Pi_{rho omega}(s), determined
from e^+e^- -> pi^+ pi^- data. The omega->pi^+ pi^- partial width can be
determined either from the time-like pion form factor or through the constraint
that the mixed physical propagator D_{rho omega}^{mu nu}(s) possesses no poles.
The two procedures are inequivalent in practice, and we show why the first is
preferred, to find finally Br(omega->pi^+ pi^-) = 1.9 +/- 0.3%.Comment: 12 pages (published version
Socially impaired robots: Human social disorders and robots’ socio-emotional intelligence
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014. Social robots need intelligence in order to safely coexist and interact with humans. Robots without functional abilities in understanding others and unable to empathise might be a societal risk and they may lead to a society of socially impaired robots. In this work we provide a survey of three relevant human social disorders, namely autism, psychopathy and schizophrenia, as a means to gain a better understanding of social robots’ future capability requirements.We provide evidence supporting the idea that social robots will require a combination of emotional intelligence and social intelligence, namely socio-emotional intelligence. We argue that a robot with a simple socio-emotional process requires a simulation-driven model of intelligence. Finally, we provide some critical guidelines for designing future socio-emotional robots
A switchable controlled-NOT gate in a spin-chain NMR quantum computer
A method of switching a controlled-NOT gate in a solid-stae NMR quantum
computer is presented. Qubits of I=1/2 nuclear spins are placed periodically
along a quantum spin chain (1-D antiferromagnet) having a singlet ground state
with a finite spin gap to the lowest excited state caused by some quantum
effect. Irradiation of a microwave tuned to the spin gap energy excites a
packet of triplet magnons at a specific part of the chain where control and
target qubits are involved. The packet switches on the Suhl-Nakamura
interaction between the qubits, which serves as a controlled NOT gate. The
qubit initialization is achieved by a qubit initializer consisting of
semiconducting sheets attached to the spin chain, where spin polarizations
created by the optical pumping method in the semiconductors are transferred to
the spin chain. The scheme allows us to separate the initialization process
from the computation, so that one can optimize the computation part without
being restricted by the initialization scheme, which provides us with a wide
selection of materials for a quantum computer.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
A Unified Algebraic Approach to Few and Many-Body Correlated Systems
The present article is an extended version of the paper {\it Phys. Rev.} {\bf
B 59}, R2490 (1999), where, we have established the equivalence of the
Calogero-Sutherland model to decoupled oscillators. Here, we first employ the
same approach for finding the eigenstates of a large class of Hamiltonians,
dealing with correlated systems. A number of few and many-body interacting
models are studied and the relationship between their respective Hilbert
spaces, with that of oscillators, is found. This connection is then used to
obtain the spectrum generating algebras for these systems and make an algebraic
statement about correlated systems. The procedure to generate new solvable
interacting models is outlined. We then point out the inadequacies of the
present technique and make use of a novel method for solving linear
differential equations to diagonalize the Sutherland model and establish a
precise connection between this correlated system's wave functions, with those
of the free particles on a circle. In the process, we obtain a new expression
for the Jack polynomials. In two dimensions, we analyze the Hamiltonian having
Laughlin wave function as the ground-state and point out the natural emergence
of the underlying linear symmetry in this approach.Comment: 18 pages, Revtex format, To appear in Physical Review
Dynamic nuclear polarization and spin-diffusion in non-conducting solids
There has been much renewed interest in dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP),
particularly in the context of solid state biomolecular NMR and more recently
dissolution DNP techniques for liquids. This paper reviews the role of spin
diffusion in polarizing nuclear spins and discusses the role of the spin
diffusion barrier, before going on to discuss some recent results.Comment: submitted to Applied Magnetic Resonance. The article should appear in
a special issue that is being published in connection with the DNP Symposium
help in Nottingham in August 200
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Mediated intimacy and postfeminism: A discourse analytic examination of sex and relationships advice in a women's magazine
This paper uses a discourse analytic perspective to analyse sex and relationship advice in a best-selling women's magazine. It identifies three different interpretative repertoires which together structure constructions of sexual relationships: the intimate entrepreneurship repertoire, organised around plans, goals and the scientific management of relationships; men-ology, in which women are instructed in how to learn to please men; and transforming the self, which calls on women to remodel their interior lives in order to construct a desirable subjectivity. The paper considers each repertoire in turn, and also looks at how they work together in order to privilege men and heterosexuality. Discussion focuses in particular on the postfeminist nature of the advice, in which pre-feminist, feminist and anti-feminist ideas are entangled in such a way as to make gender ideologies more pernicious and difficult to contest
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