17,686 research outputs found
Participatory Research Approaches in Educational Psychology Training and Practice
This article has two aims; to introduce participatory research approaches with children and young people, and to consider such approaches within Educational Psychology training, practice and research. A range of ways of conceptualising and approaching participatory research are explored. Models applied to researching with children and young people specifically are then explained. A critical analysis of participatory research methods is offered, outlining power-related criticisms, ethical considerations and practical issues. The focus then turns to Educational Psychology, looking at applications of such approaches in researching with children and young people, the group that EPs work with predominantly. It is proposed that participatory research methods are highly relevant to the profession, both in training of educational psychologists (EPs) and for practising psychologists. This is set in the context of the Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology at the University of East London. It is suggested that Educational Psychology research should take an increasingly participatory focus
Uniform current in graphene strip with zigzag edges
Graphene exhibits zero-gap massless-Dirac fermion and zero density of states
at E = 0. These particles form localized states called edge states on finite
width strip with zigzag edges at E = 0. Naively thinking, one may expect that
current is also concentrated at the edge, but Zarbo and Nikolic numerically
obtained a result that the current density shows maximum at the center of the
strip. We derive a rigorous relation for the current density, and clarify the
reason why the current density of edge state has a maximum at the center.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; added references and corrected typos, to be
published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Vol.78 No.
Equation of state of cubic boron nitride at high pressures and temperatures
We report accurate measurements of the equation of state (EOS) of cubic boron
nitride by x-ray diffraction up to 160 GPa at 295 K and 80 GPa in the range
500-900 K. Experiments were performed on single-crystals embedded in a
quasi-hydrostatic pressure medium (helium or neon). Comparison between the
present EOS data at 295 K and literature allows us to critically review the
recent calibrations of the ruby standard. The full P-V-T data set can be
represented by a Mie-Gr\"{u}neisen model, which enables us to extract all
relevant thermodynamic parameters: bulk modulus and its first
pressure-derivative, thermal expansion coefficient, thermal Gr\"{u}neisen
parameter and its volume dependence. This equation of state is used to
determine the isothermal Gr\"{u}neisen mode parameter of the Raman TO band. A
new formulation of the pressure scale based on this Raman mode, using
physically-constrained parameters, is deduced.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Vortex interaction, chaos and quantum probabilities
The motion of a single vortex is able to originate chaos in the quantum
trajectories defined in Bohm's interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this
Letter, we show that this is also the case in the general situation, in which
many interacting vortices exist. This result gives support to recent attempts
in which Born's probability rule is derived in terms of an irreversible time
evolution to equilibrium, rather than being postulated.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The STARLINK software collection
The UK's STARLINK project based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory develops and distributes software applicable to a wide range of problems in Astronomy; it covers most wavebands, caters for a variety of instrumentation, and ranges from programming tools and libraries through to large package of applications. The facilities available and gives details of how they may be obtained are summarized. Recent developments and other features of particular interest are highlighted
Data Analysis with PLSR models
Land condition monitoring information is required for the strategic management of grazing land and for a better understanding of ecosystem processes. Yet, for policy makers and those land managers whose properties are situated within north-eastern Australia's vast Great Barrier Reef catchments, there has been a general lack of geospatial land condition monitoring information. This paper provides an overview of integrated land monitoring activity in rangeland areas of two major Reef catchments in Queensland: the Burdekin and Fitzroy regions. The project aims were to assemble land condition monitoring datasets that would assist grazing land management and support decision-makers investing public funds; and deliver these data to natural resource management(NRM) community groups, which had been given increased responsibility for delivering local environmental outcomes. We describe the rationale and processes used to produce new land condition monitoring datasets derived from remotely sensed Landsat thematic mapper (TM) and high resolution SPOT 5 satellite imagery and from rapid land condition ground assessment. Specific products include subcatchment groundcover change maps, regional mapping of indicative very poor land condition, and stratified land condition site summaries. Their application, integration, and limitations are discussed. The major innovation is a better understanding of NRM issues with respect to land condition across vast regional areas, and the effective transfer of decision-making capacity to the local level. Likewise, with an increased ability to address policy questions from an evidence-based position, combined with increased cooperation between community, industry and all levels of government, a new era has emerged for decision-makers in rangeland management
Superconducting charge qubits from a microscopic many-body perspective
The quantised Josephson junction equation that underpins the behaviour of
charge qubits and other tunnel devices is usually derived through cannonical
quantisation of the classical macroscopic Josephson relations. However, this
approach may neglect effects due to the fact that the charge qubit consists of
a superconducting island of finite size connected to a large superconductor.
We show that the well known quantised Josephson equation can be derived
directly and simply from a microscopic many-body Hamiltonian. By choosing the
appropriate strong coupling limit we produce a highly simplified Hamiltonian
that nevertheless allows us to go beyond the mean field limit and predict
further finite-size terms in addition to the basic equation.Comment: Accepted for J Phys Condensed Matte
Quasiharmonic elastic constants corrected for deviatoric thermal stresses
The quasiharmonic approximation (QHA), in its simplest form also called the
statically constrained (SC) QHA, has been shown to be a straightforward method
to compute thermoelastic properties of crystals. Recently we showed that for
non-cubic solids SC-QHA calculations develop deviatoric thermal stresses at
high temperatures. Relaxation of these stresses leads to a series of
corrections to the free energy that may be taken to any desired order, up to
self-consistency. Here we show how to correct the elastic constants obtained
using the SC-QHA. We exemplify the procedure by correcting to first order the
elastic constants of MgSiO-perovskite and MgSiO-post-perovskite, the
major phases of the Earth's lower mantle. We show that this first order
correction is quite satisfactory for obtaining the aggregated elastic averages
of these minerals and their velocities in the lower mantle. This type of
correction is also shown to be applicable to experimental measurements of
elastic constants in situations where deviatoric stresses can develop, such as
in diamond anvil cells.Comment: 4 figures, 1 table, submitted to Phys. Rev. B, July 200
Dynamics of monatomic liquids
We present a theory of the dynamics of monatomic liquids built on two basic
ideas: (1) The potential surface of the liquid contains three classes of
intersecting nearly-harmonic valleys, one of which (the ``random'' class)
vastly outnumbers the others and all whose members have the same depth and
normal mode spectrum; and (2) the motion of particles in the liquid can be
decomposed into oscillations in a single many-body valley, and nearly
instantaneous inter-valley transitions called transits. We review the
thermodynamic data which led to the theory, and we discuss the results of
molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of sodium and Lennard-Jones argon which
support the theory in more detail. Then we apply the theory to problems in
equilibrium and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, and we compare the
results to experimental data and MD simulations. We also discuss our work in
comparison with the QNM and INM research programs and suggest directions for
future research.Comment: 53 pages, 16 figures. Differs from published version in using
American English spelling and grammar (published version uses British
English
Characterizing the Initial Phase of Epidemic Growth on some Empirical Networks
A key parameter in models for the spread of infectious diseases is the basic
reproduction number , which is the expected number of secondary cases a
typical infected primary case infects during its infectious period in a large
mostly susceptible population. In order for this quantity to be meaningful, the
initial expected growth of the number of infectious individuals in the
large-population limit should be exponential.
We investigate to what extent this assumption is valid by performing repeated
simulations of epidemics on selected empirical networks, viewing each epidemic
as a random process in discrete time. The initial phase of each epidemic is
analyzed by fitting the number of infected people at each time step to a
generalised growth model, allowing for estimating the shape of the growth. For
reference, similar investigations are done on some elementary graphs such as
integer lattices in different dimensions and configuration model graphs, for
which the early epidemic behaviour is known.
We find that for the empirical networks tested in this paper, exponential
growth characterizes the early stages of the epidemic, except when the network
is restricted by a strong low-dimensional spacial constraint, such as is the
case for the two-dimensional square lattice. However, on finite integer
lattices of sufficiently high dimension, the early development of epidemics
shows exponential growth.Comment: To be included in the conference proceedings for SPAS 2017
(International Conference on Stochastic Processes and Algebraic Structures),
October 4-6, 201
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