Beyond Intent: Technology Adoption and Appropriation by University Staff

In this paper, we propose a model for understanding adoption and appropriation of technology. We describe a university-wide system that is designed for faculty and students, but which has been adopted by staff, followed by a survey study and some preliminary results

Holographic studies of Einsteinian cubic gravity

Einsteinian cubic gravity provides a holographic toy model of a nonsupersymmetric CFT in three dimensions, analogous to the one defined by Quasi-topological gravity in four. The theory admits explicit non-hairy AdS$_4$ black holes and allows for numerous exact calculations, fully nonperturbative in the new coupling. We identify several entries of the AdS/CFT dictionary for this theory, and study its thermodynamic phase space, finding interesting new phenomena. We also analyze the dependence of R\'enyi entropies for disk regions on universal quantities characterizing the CFT. In addition, we show that $\eta/s$ is given by a non-analytic function of the ECG coupling, and that the existence of positive-energy black holes strictly forbids violations of the KSS bound. Along the way, we introduce a new method for evaluating Euclidean on-shell actions for general higher-order gravities possessing second-order linearized equations on AdS$_{(d+1)}$. Our generalized action involves the very same Gibbons-Hawking boundary term and counterterms valid for Einstein gravity, which now appear weighted by the universal charge $a^*$ controlling the entanglement entropy across a spherical region in the CFT dual to the corresponding higher-order theory.Comment: 59 pages, 7 figures, 1 table; v4: typos fixe

Primordial dark energy from a condensate of spinors in a 5D vacuum

We explore the possibility that the expansion of the universe can be driven by a condensate of spinors which are free of interactions on a 5D relativistic vacuum defined on an extended de Sitter spacetime which is Riemann-flat. The extra coordinate is considered as noncompact. After making a static foliation on the extra coordinate, we obtain an effective 4D (inflationary) de Sitter expansion which describes an inflationary universe. We found that the condensate of spinors here studied could be an interesting candidate to explain the presence of dark energy in the early universe. The dark energy density which we are talking about is poured into smaller sub-horizon scales with the evolution of the inflationary expansion.Comment: Accepted in Advances in High Energy Physic

Near-threshold properties of the electronic density of layered quantum-dots

We present a way to manipulate an electron trapped in a layered quantum dot based on near-threshold properties of one-body potentials. We show that potentials with a simple global parameter allows the manipulation of the wave function changing its spatial extent. This phenomenon seems to be fairly general and could be implemented using current quantum-dot quantum wells technologies and materials if a proper layered quantum dot is designed. The layered quantum dot under consideration is similar to a quantum-dot quantum well device, i.e. consists of a spherical core surrounded by successive layers of different materials. The number of layers and the constituent material are chosen to highlight the near-threshold properties. In particular we show that the near-threshold phenomena can be observed using an effective mass approximation model that describes the layered quantum dot which is consistent with actual experimental parameters.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, regular articl

A viral system to optimise the daily drayage problem

The intermodal transport chain can become more efficient by means of a good organisation of the drayage movements. Drayage in intermodal container terminals involves the pick up or delivery of containers at customer locations, and the main objective is normally the assignment of transportation tasks to the different vehicles, often with the presence of time windows. This paper focuses on a new approach to tackle the daily drayage problem by the use of viral system (VS). VS is a novel bio-inspired approach that makes use of a virus-infection biological analogy that is producing very satisfactory results when dealing with complex problems with huge feasibility region.Unión Europea TEC2013-47286-C3-3-

Quantum control of a model qubit based on a multi-layered quantum dot

In this work we present a model qubit whose basis states are eigenstates of a multi-layered quantum dot. We show that the proper design of the quantum dot results in qubit states that have excellent dynamical properties when a time-dependent driving is applied to it. In particular, it is shown that a simple sinusoidal driving is sufficient to obtain good quality Rabi oscillations between the qubit states. Moreover, the switching between states can be performed with very low leakage, even under off-resonance conditions. In this sense, the quantum control of the qubit is robust under some perturbations and achieved with simple means.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure

The Vectorial λ\lambda-Calculus

We describe a type system for the linear-algebraic $\lambda$-calculus. The type system accounts for the linear-algebraic aspects of this extension of $\lambda$-calculus: it is able to statically describe the linear combinations of terms that will be obtained when reducing the programs. This gives rise to an original type theory where types, in the same way as terms, can be superposed into linear combinations. We prove that the resulting typed $\lambda$-calculus is strongly normalising and features weak subject reduction. Finally, we show how to naturally encode matrices and vectors in this typed calculus.Comment: Long and corrected version of arXiv:1012.4032 (EPTCS 88:1-15), to appear in Information and Computatio