A BCS Condensate in NJL_3+1 ?

We present results from a lattice Monte Carlo study of the Nambu - Jona-Lasinio model in 3+1 dimensions with a baryon chemical potential mu=/=0. As mu is increased there is a transition from a chirally-broken phase to relativistic quark matter, in which baryon number symmetry appears spontaneously broken by a diquark condensate at the Fermi surface, implying a superfluid ground state. Finite volume corrections to this relativistic BCS scenario, however, are anomalously large.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, contribution to Strong and Electroweak Matter '02 (Heidelberg

A BCS Gap on the Lattice

Monte Carlo simulations of the 3+1 dimensional NJL model are performed with baryon chemical potential mu>0. For mu>Sigma_0, the constituent quark mass in vacuum, chiral symmetry is restored and a diquark condensate forms. We analyse the fermion propagator and find evidence for particle-hole mixing in the vicinity of the Fermi surface and an energy gap Delta>0, both of which provide evidence for superfluidity at high baryon density induced by a BCS mechanism. At (mu a)=0.8 the ratio between the BCS gap and the vacuum quark mass is Delta/Sigma_0=0.15(2).Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, Lattice2003(nonzero

CERiL: Continuous Event-based Reinforcement Learning

This paper explores the potential of event cameras to enable continuous time reinforcement learning. We formalise this problem where a continuous stream of unsynchronised observations is used to produce a corresponding stream of output actions for the environment. This lack of synchronisation enables greatly enhanced reactivity. We present a method to train on event streams derived from standard RL environments, thereby solving the proposed continuous time RL problem. The CERiL algorithm uses specialised network layers which operate directly on an event stream, rather than aggregating events into quantised image frames. We show the advantages of event streams over less-frequent RGB images. The proposed system outperforms networks typically used in RL, even succeeding at tasks which cannot be solved traditionally. We also demonstrate the value of our CERiL approach over a standard SNN baseline using event streams.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Reconceptualizing participant vulnerability in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research: exploring the perspectives of health faculty students in Aotearoa New Zealand

© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/While the need to protect vulnerable research participants is universal, conceptual challenges with the notion of vulnerability may result in the under or over-protection of participants. Ethics review bodies making assumptions about who is vulnerable and in what circumstance can be viewed as paternalistic if they do not consider participant viewpoints. Our study focuses on participant vulnerability in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research. We aim to illuminate students’ views on participant vulnerability to contribute to critical analysis of the role and processes of ethics review. Additionally, we aim to highlight the importance of seeking the views of participant communities, especially in research environments beyond ethics review’s medical origins. Thirty-four students from a health-related faculty at a university in Aotearoa New Zealand, participated in five focus groups. Participants discussed factors affecting their potential participation in research drawing upon a series of vignettes based on examples of published SoTL projects. Themes, generated using reflexive thematic analysis, built a participant-informed picture of vulnerability. Findings indicate that students do not generally consider themselves vulnerable and instead consider participation in SoTL research through an agentic lens. Students expect that participation will be voluntary, not negatively impact their grades, and not single them out so that others could judge them. Our study also highlights the value students place on relationships with one another and teaching staff and the implications these have for SoTL research participation and future professional practice. This research challenges research ethics committees to think further about vulnerability in the context of SoTL whilst highlighting the importance of providing opportunities for research participants more broadly to explore and vocalize their views as members of participant communities.Peer reviewe

Illuminating the Role of Reflexivity Within Qualitative Pilot Studies: Experiences From a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Project

© The Author(s) 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).Pilot studies within qualitative inquiry are crucial yet often hidden aspects of research design. In this article, we argue for pilots to have greater visibility. We explore the role of a pilot in providing a foundation for enhancing ethical reflexivity, drawing on a recent pilot study within a tertiary healthcare education setting. The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) presents a unique environment with complex stakeholder relationships. There is a lack of consensus nationally and internationally on whether all SoTL projects require consideration by institutional ethics review bodies. A pilot study offers an opportunity for ethical steerage of a research project, reflecting ethics in practice whilst augmenting any procedural ethics review requirements. We propose that a qualitative pilot study, as a design strategy, can enhance ethical conduct by researchers. Within SoTL specifically, the pilot can provide an opportunity for researchers to demonstrate a commitment to a pedagogy of care spanning the project’s duration, signifying a commitment to enduring teacher-student relationships within the broader learning environment. Beyond tertiary settings, we believe the pilot study, as a space for ethical reflexivity, has applicability to research settings where caring for and being seen to care for the wider participant community is a critical ethical consideration.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Teaching, Learning, and Assessment: Insights into Students’ Motivation to Learn

This study draws upon the perspectives of sport and recreation undergraduate students in New Zealand who were involved in the design of their own assessments, and discusses the implication of the teaching and learning environment on this process. In a previous study, student criticism had emerged of current teaching strategies and assessment methods at their institution. The purpose of this current study was to directly address some of these concerns and for lecturers and students to work collaboratively to develop a more learner-centred teaching and learning environment. Students from a second-year sociology of sport paper were invited to design their own exam. A session was facilitated where learning outcomes and exam strategies were addressed. Students were then given the opportunity to create their own exam questions in a student-led classroom environment. Concurrently, students from a third-year sports coaching paper were invited to fully design their own assessments. Student experience was captured through focus group interviews. Self-determination theory (SDT) provided the theoretical lens used to examine the data, with a specific focus on how the basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) of participants were either supported or thwarted. The findings suggest that the second-year students struggled with a perceived lack of teaching direction throughout the process. However, third-year students were extremely positive about the opportunity to have ownership of their learning experience, and analysis revealed an increase in intrinsic motivation to learn. This study highlights the importance of student voice, and encourages a process that allows students to contribute meaningfully toward the design and delivery of their own programmes of study. Additionally, it provides an opportunity for a co-leadership model of students’ learning experience to emerge. Furthermore, it allows for reflection from both staff and students regarding the impact of the learning environment on student motivation to learn

The Lattice NJL Model at Non-zero Baryon and Isospin Densities

We present initial results of a numerical investigation of the chiral symmetry restoring transition in the (3+1)-dimensional Nambu -- Jona-Lasinio model with both non-zero baryon chemical potential (mu_B) and isospin chemical potential (mu_I). With non-zero isospin chemical potential, the model suffers from a sign problem. We proceed in two ways: (i) We perform ``partially quenched'' simulations in which mu_I is made non-zero only during the measurement of chiral observables; (ii) We perform full simulations with imaginary isospin chemical potential with the aim to analytically continue results to real mu_I.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, poster presented at LATTICE 2004, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, June 21-26, 200

Influence of 1% addition of Nb and W on the relaxation process in classical Fe-based amorphous alloys

This paper features investigations into the influence of small additions of alloying elements on: structure, as well as the temporal and thermal stability of magnetic properties, and the disaccommodation effect, for the following amorphous alloys: Fe₆₁Co₁₀Y₈Me₁B₂₀ (where Me = Nb, W). The structure of the investigated samples has been confirmed by the Mössbauer spectroscopy. The obtained results indicate a strong correlation between the structure and the disaccommodation of the studied alloys. The Mössbauer studies reveal different configurations of atoms in the amorphous alloy samples, and the results indicate various potential barriers between orientations of atom pairs. For this reason, to describe the disaccommodation effect, the distribution of activation energy should be taken into account. The distribution of activation energy has been related to the distribution of relaxation times