5,444 research outputs found
Dispelling the myths of online education: learning via the information superhighway
There continues to be a perception that online education is inferior to traditional education. In the U.S. online learning is more developed than in the U.K. This paper provides insights into a U.S. provision and takes a close look at what are perceived as weaknesses of on line learning and argues that these are not necessarily inherent weaknesses of this form of educational delivery. Then, results of two major studies, undertaken in the U.S. are provided comparing the effectiveness of online education to traditional education as perceived by current MBA students and past graduates. Results of these studies suggest that students of MBA modules and MBA graduates perceive the quality and effectiveness of online education to be similar to, if not higher than, the quality and effectiveness of traditional modules and programmes
Discrete Multiscale Analysis: A Biatomic Lattice System
We discuss a discrete approach to the multiscale reductive perturbative
method and apply it to a biatomic chain with a nonlinear interaction between
the atoms. This system is important to describe the time evolution of localized
solitonic excitations. We require that also the reduced equation be discrete.
To do so coherently we need to discretize the time variable to be able to get
asymptotic discrete waves and carry out a discrete multiscale expansion around
them. Our resulting nonlinear equation will be a kind of discrete Nonlinear
Schr\"odinger equation. If we make its continuum limit, we obtain the standard
Nonlinear Schr\"odinger differential equation
The lesson of causal discovery algorithms for quantum correlations: Causal explanations of Bell-inequality violations require fine-tuning
An active area of research in the fields of machine learning and statistics
is the development of causal discovery algorithms, the purpose of which is to
infer the causal relations that hold among a set of variables from the
correlations that these exhibit. We apply some of these algorithms to the
correlations that arise for entangled quantum systems. We show that they cannot
distinguish correlations that satisfy Bell inequalities from correlations that
violate Bell inequalities, and consequently that they cannot do justice to the
challenges of explaining certain quantum correlations causally. Nonetheless, by
adapting the conceptual tools of causal inference, we can show that any attempt
to provide a causal explanation of nonsignalling correlations that violate a
Bell inequality must contradict a core principle of these algorithms, namely,
that an observed statistical independence between variables should not be
explained by fine-tuning of the causal parameters. In particular, we
demonstrate the need for such fine-tuning for most of the causal mechanisms
that have been proposed to underlie Bell correlations, including superluminal
causal influences, superdeterminism (that is, a denial of freedom of choice of
settings), and retrocausal influences which do not introduce causal cycles.Comment: 29 pages, 28 figs. New in v2: a section presenting in detail our
characterization of Bell's theorem as a contradiction arising from (i) the
framework of causal models, (ii) the principle of no fine-tuning, and (iii)
certain operational features of quantum theory; a section explaining why a
denial of hidden variables affords even fewer opportunities for causal
explanations of quantum correlation
Macrophage migration inhibitory factor is associated with mortality in cerebral malaria patients in India
Quantum virial expansion approach to thermodynamics of He adsorbates in carbon nanotube materials: Interacting Bose gas in one dimension
I demonstrate that He adsorbates in carbon nanotube materials can be
treated as one-dimensional interacting gas of spinless bosons for temperatures
below 8 K and for coverages such that all the adsorbates are in the groove
positions of the carbon nanotube bundles. The effects of adsorbate-adsorbate
interactions are studied within the scheme of virial expansion approach. The
theoretical predictions for the specific heat of the interacting adsorbed gas
are given.Comment: 5 PS figure
Quantum Films Adsorbed on Graphite: Third and Fourth Helium Layers
Using a path-integral Monte Carlo method for simulating superfluid quantum
films, we investigate helium layers adsorbed on a substrate consisting of
graphite plus two solid helium layers. Our results for the promotion densities
and the dependence of the superfluid density on coverage are in agreement with
experiment. We can also explain certain features of the measured heat capacity
as a function of temperature and coverage.Comment: 13 pages in the Phys. Rev. two-column format, 16 Figure
Bifurcations in annular electroconvection with an imposed shear
We report an experimental study of the primary bifurcation in
electrically-driven convection in a freely suspended film. A weakly conducting,
submicron thick smectic liquid crystal film was supported by concentric
circular electrodes. It electroconvected when a sufficiently large voltage
was applied between its inner and outer edges. The film could sustain rapid
flows and yet remain strictly two-dimensional. By rotation of the inner
electrode, a circular Couette shear could be independently imposed. The control
parameters were a dimensionless number , analogous to the Rayleigh
number, which is and the Reynolds number of the
azimuthal shear flow. The geometrical and material properties of the film were
characterized by the radius ratio , and a Prandtl-like number . Using measurements of current-voltage characteristics of a large number of
films, we examined the onset of electroconvection over a broad range of
, and . We compared this data quantitatively to
the results of linear stability theory. This could be done with essentially no
adjustable parameters. The current-voltage data above onset were then used to
infer the amplitude of electroconvection in the weakly nonlinear regime by
fitting them to a steady-state amplitude equation of the Landau form. We show
how the primary bifurcation can be tuned between supercritical and subcritical
by changing and .Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. E. Minor changes after
refereeing. See also http://mobydick.physics.utoronto.c
Antibody responses to the merozoite surface protein-1 complex in cerebral malaria patients in India
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>infection causes cerebral malaria (CM) in a subset of patients with anti-malarial treatment protecting only about 70% to 80% of patients. Why a subset of malaria patients develops CM complications, including neurological sequelae or death, is still not well understood. It is believed that host immune factors may modulate CM outcomes and there is substantial evidence that cellular immune factors, such as cytokines, play an important role in this process. In this study, the potential relationship between the antibody responses to the merozoite surface protein (MSP)-1 complex (which consists of four fragments namely: MSP-1<sub>83</sub>, MSP-1<sub>30</sub>, MSP-1<sub>38 </sub>and MSP-1<sub>42</sub>), MSP-6<sub>36 </sub>and MSP-7<sub>22 </sub>and CM was investigated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Peripheral blood antibody responses to recombinant antigens of the two major allelic forms of MSP-1 complex, MSP-6<sub>36 </sub>and MSP-7<sub>22 </sub>were compared between healthy subjects, mild malaria patients (MM) and CM patients residing in a malaria endemic region of central India. Total IgG and IgG subclass antibody responses were determined using ELISA method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence and levels of IgG and its subclasses in the plasma varied for each antigen. In general, the prevalence of total IgG, IgG1 and IgG3 was higher in the MM patients and lower in CM patients compared to healthy controls. Significantly lower levels of total IgG antibodies to the MSP-1<sub>f38</sub>, IgG1 levels to MSP-1<sub>d83</sub>, MSP-1<sub>19 </sub>and MSP-6<sub>36 </sub>and IgG3 levels to MSP-1<sub>f42 </sub>and MSP-7<sub>22 </sub>were observed in CM patients as compared to MM patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that there may be some dysregulation in the generation of antibody responses to some MSP antigens in CM patients and it is worth investigating further whether perturbations of antibody responses in CM patients contribute to pathogenesis.</p
Charged-Particle Multiplicity in Proton-Proton Collisions
This article summarizes and critically reviews measurements of
charged-particle multiplicity distributions and pseudorapidity densities in
p+p(pbar) collisions between sqrt(s) = 23.6 GeV and sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV. Related
theoretical concepts are briefly introduced. Moments of multiplicity
distributions are presented as a function of sqrt(s). Feynman scaling, KNO
scaling, as well as the description of multiplicity distributions with a single
negative binomial distribution and with combinations of two or more negative
binomial distributions are discussed. Moreover, similarities between the energy
dependence of charged-particle multiplicities in p+p(pbar) and e+e- collisions
are studied. Finally, various predictions for pseudorapidity densities, average
multiplicities in full phase space, and multiplicity distributions of charged
particles in p+p(pbar) collisions at the LHC energies of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, 10
TeV, and 14 TeV are summarized and compared.Comment: Invited review for Journal of Physics G -- version 2: version after
referee's comment
Evidence for CP Violation in B0 -> D+D- Decays
We report measurements of the branching fraction and CP violation parameters
in B0 -> D+D- decays. The results are based on a data sample that contains 535
x 10^6 BBbar pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance, with the Belle
detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. We obtain [1.97 +- 0.20
(stat) +- 0.20 (syst)] x 10^(-4) for the branching fraction of B0 -> D+D-. The
measured values of the CP violation parameters are: S = -1.13 +- 0.37 +- 0.09,
A = 0.91 +- 0.23 +- 0.06, where the first error is statistical and the second
is systematic. We find evidence of CP violation in B0 -> D+D- at the 4.1 sigma
confidence level. While the value of S is consistent with expectations from
other measurements, the value of the parameter A favors large direct CP
violation at the 3.2 sigma confidence level, in contradiction to Standard Model
expectations.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR
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