1,452 research outputs found
Goal Orientation and Ability: Interactive Effects on Self-Efficacy, Performance, and Knowledge
This study examined the direct relationship of goal orientation â and the interaction of goal orientation and cognitive ability -- with self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge in a learning context. The current paper argues that whether a particular type of goal orientation is adaptive or not adaptive depends on individuals\u27 cognitive ability. Results indicated that the direct associations of learning and performance orientations were consistent with previous research. Learning orientation was positively related to self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge, while performance orientation was negatively related to only one outcome, performance. The interactions between goal orientation and ability also supported several hypotheses. As expected, learning orientation was generally adaptive for high ability individuals, but had no effect for low ability individuals. In contrast, the effects of performance orientation were contingent on both individuals\u27 level of cognitive ability and the outcome examined. The implications of these results for future research on goal orientation are discussed
Qubits from Number States and Bell Inequalities for Number Measurements
Bell inequalities for number measurements are derived via the observation
that the bits of the number indexing a number state are proper qubits.
Violations of these inequalities are obtained from the output state of the
nondegenerate optical parametric amplifier.Comment: revtex4, 7 pages, v2: results identical but extended presentation,
v3: published versio
Maximal Violation of Bell Inequalities using Continuous Variables Measurements
We propose a whole family of physical states that yield a violation of the
Bell CHSH inequality arbitrarily close to its maximum value, when using
quadrature phase homodyne detection. This result is based on a new binning
process called root binning, that is used to transform the continuous variables
measurements into binary results needed for the tests of quantum mechanics
versus local realistic theories. A physical process in order to produce such
states is also suggested. The use of high-efficiency spacelike separated
homodyne detections with these states and this binning process would result in
a conclusive loophole-free test of quantum mechanics.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to appear in PRA in a slightly different versio
Quartic Gauge Couplings and the Radiation Zero in pp to l nu gamma gamma events at the LHC
We report a study of the process pp to l nu gamma gamma at CERN's Large
Hadron Collider, using a leading order partonic-level event generator
interfaced to the Pythia program for showering and hadronisation and a with a
generic detector simulation. The process is sensitive to possible anomalous
quartic gauge boson couplings of the form W W gamma gamma. It is shown how
unitarity-safe limits may be placed on these anomalous couplings by applying a
binned maximum likelihood fit to the distribution of the two-photon invariant
mass, M(gamma gamma), below a cutoff of 1TeV. Assuming 30fb-1 of integrated
luminosity, the expected limits are two orders of magnitude tighter than those
available from LEP. It is also demonstrated how the Standard Model radiation
zero feature of the qq to W gamma gamma process may be observed in the
difference between the two-photon and charged lepton pseudo-rapidities.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Optimal States for Bell inequality Violations using Quadrature Phase Homodyne Measurements
We identify what ideal correlated photon number states are to required to
maximize the discrepancy between local realism and quantum mechanics when a
quadrature homodyne phase measurement is used. Various Bell inequality tests
are considered.Comment: 6 pages, 5 Figure
Nonlinear Inequalities and Entropy-Concurrence Plane
Nonlinear inequalities based on the quadratic Renyi entropy for mixed
two-qubit states are characterized on the Entropy-Concurrence plane. This class
of inequalities is stronger than Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequalities
and, in particular, are violated "in toto" by the set of Type I
Maximally-Entangled-Mixture States (MEMS I)
The Effect of Chemical Information on the Spatial Distribution of Fruit Flies: I Model Results
Animal aggregation is a general phenomenon in ecological systems. Aggregations are generally considered as an evolutionary advantageous state in which members derive the benefits of protection and mate choice, balanced by the costs of limiting resources and competition. In insects, chemical information conveyance plays an important role in finding conspecifics and forming aggregations. In this study, we describe a spatio-temporal simulation model designed to explore and quantify the effects of these infochemicals, i.e., food odors and an aggregation pheromone, on the spatial distribution of a fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) population, where the lower and upper limit of local population size are controlled by an Allee effect and competition. We found that during the spatial expansion and strong growth of the population, the use of infochemicals had a positive effect on population size. The positive effects of reduced mortality at low population numbers outweighed the negative effects of increased mortality due to competition. At low resource densities, attraction toward infochemicals also had a positive effect on population size during recolonization of an area after a local population crash, by decreasing the mortality due to the Allee effect. However, when the whole area was colonized and the population was large, the negative effects of competition on population size were larger than the positive effects of the reduction in mortality due to the Allee effect. The use of infochemicals thus has mainly positive effects on population size and population persistence when the population is small and during the colonization of an area
Stringent Constraints on Cosmological Neutrino-Antineutrino Asymmetries from Synchronized Flavor Transformation
We assess a mechanism which can transform neutrino-antineutrino asymmetries
between flavors in the early universe, and confirm that such transformation is
unavoidable in the near bi-maximal framework emerging for the neutrino mixing
matrix. We show that the process is a standard Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein
flavor transformation dictated by a synchronization of momentum states. We also
show that flavor ``equilibration'' is a special feature of maximal mixing, and
carefully examine new constraints placed on neutrino asymmetries. In
particular, the big bang nucleosynthesis limit on electron neutrino degeneracy
xi_e < 0.04 does not apply directly to all flavors, yet confirmation of the
large-mixing-angle solution to the solar neutrino problem will eliminate the
possibility of degenerate big bang nucleosynthesis.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures; minor changes to match PRD versio
Large-scale periodicity in the distribution of QSO absorption-line systems
The spatial-temporal distribution of absorption-line systems (ALSs) observed
in QSO spectra within the cosmological redshift interval z = 0.0--4.3 is
investigated on the base of our updated catalog of absorption systems. We
consider so called metallic systems including basically lines of heavy
elements. The sample of the data displays regular variations (with amplitudes ~
15 -- 20%) in the z-distribution of ALSs as well as in the eta-distribution,
where eta is a dimensionless line-of-sight comoving distance, relatively to
smoother dependences. The eta-distribution reveals the periodicity with period
Delta eta = 0.036 +/- 0.002, which corresponds to a spatial characteristic
scale (108 +/- 6) h(-1) Mpc or (alternatively) a temporal interval (350 +/- 20)
h(-1) Myr for the LambdaCDM cosmological model. We discuss a possibility of a
spatial interpretation of the results treating the pattern obtained as a trace
of an order imprinted on the galaxy clustering in the early Universe.Comment: AASTeX, 13 pages, with 9 figures, Accepted for publication in
Astrophysics & Space Scienc
A novel determination of the local dark matter density
We present a novel study on the problem of constructing mass models for the
Milky Way, concentrating on features regarding the dark matter halo component.
We have considered a variegated sample of dynamical observables for the Galaxy,
including several results which have appeared recently, and studied a 7- or
8-dimensional parameter space - defining the Galaxy model - by implementing a
Bayesian approach to the parameter estimation based on a Markov Chain Monte
Carlo method. The main result of this analysis is a novel determination of the
local dark matter halo density which, assuming spherical symmetry and either an
Einasto or an NFW density profile is found to be around 0.39 GeV cm with
a 1- error bar of about 7%; more precisely we find a for the Einasto profile and for the NFW. This is in contrast to the
standard assumption that is about 0.3 GeV cm with an
uncertainty of a factor of 2 to 3. A very precise determination of the local
halo density is very important for interpreting direct dark matter detection
experiments. Indeed the results we produced, together with the recent accurate
determination of the local circular velocity, should be very useful to
considerably narrow astrophysical uncertainties on direct dark matter
detection.Comment: 31 pages,11 figures; minor changes in the text; two figures adde
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