Towards the integration of culture into the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology

Educational technology is increasingly used in multicultural contexts and across national cultures. Educational technology users with different national and professional backgrounds may, however, exhibit different attitudes towards technology. Previous research provides isolated evidence of the relationship between learning technology acceptance and culture, and so an overall picture is missing. Therefore, this study attempts to integrate culture (sensu Hofstede, 2001) into an established technology acceptance model (ie. the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, UTAUT, Venkatesh, Morris, Davis & Davis, 2003). Examining a large sample (N = 2866) of learning technology users from Germany and Romania by means of questionnaire survey, we investigate the differences in culture and technology acceptance between sample subgroups. The collected data reveal the presence of cultural differences both between countries and between professions. In line with previous research, these differences are associated with dissimilar acceptance profiles, ie. different values of acceptance variables and of path coefficients between them. Based on the findings, this study makes headway in cross-cultural research by proposing an extended model of UTAUT – one which integrates three of Hofstede’s culture dimensions. As a practical implication, national and professional culture may shape computer-based learning environments

Martin Fromm: Lernen und Lehren. Psychologische Grundlagen für Lehramtsstudierende. Münster/ New York/ München/ Berlin: Waxmann 2017 (132 S.) [Rezension]

Rezension von: Martin Fromm: Lernen und Lehren. Psychologische Grundlagen für Lehramtsstudierende. Münster/ New York/ München/ Berlin: Waxmann 2017 (132 S.; ISBN 978-3-8252-4679-2; 15,99 EUR)

Transformations among large c conformal field theories

We show that there is a set of transformations that relates all of the 24 dimensional even self-dual (Niemeier) lattices, and also leads to non-lattice objects that however cannot be interpreted as a basis for the construction of holomorphic conformal field theory. In the second part of this paper, we extend our observations to higher dimensional conformal field theories build on extremal partition functions, where we generate c=24k theories with spectra decomposable into the irreducible representations of the Fischer-Griess Monster. We observe interesting periodicities in the coefficients of extremal partition functions and characters of the extremal vertex operator algebras.Comment: 14 pages, minor corrections, new references adde

Five-Brane Superpotentials and Heterotic/F-theory Duality

Under heterotic/F-theory duality it was argued that a wide class of heterotic five-branes is mapped into the geometry of an F-theory compactification manifold. In four-dimensional compactifications this identifies a five-brane wrapped on a curve in the base of an elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefold with a specific F-theory Calabi-Yau fourfold containing the blow-up of the five-brane curve. We argue that this duality can be reformulated by first constructing a non-Calabi-Yau heterotic threefold by blowing up the curve of the five-brane into a divisor with five-brane flux. Employing heterotic/F-theory duality this leads us to the construction of a Calabi-Yau fourfold and four-form flux. Moreover, we obtain an explicit map between the five-brane superpotential and an F-theory flux superpotential. The map of the open-closed deformation problem of a five-brane in a compact Calabi-Yau threefold into a deformation problem of complex structures on a dual Calabi-Yau fourfold with four-form flux provides a powerful tool to explicitly compute the five-brane superpotential.Comment: 43 pages, v2: minor correction

Background Symmetries In Orbifolds With Discrete Wilson Lines

Target space symmetries are studied for orbifold compactified string theories containing Wilson line background fields. The symmetries determined are for those moduli which contribute to the string loop threshold corrections of the gauge coupling constants. The groups found are subgroups of the modular group $PSL(2, Z)$ and depend on the choice of discrete Wilson lines and the shape of the underlying six-dimensional lattice.Comment: 31 pages, QMW--TH--94/0

A study on African vernacular mosque: A lesson from tradition

Mosques as a symbol of Islamic cities have a significant place in Islamic Architecture and it prompts architects to create admirable, magnificent buildings. While several studies have done on features and prototypes in this field but mainly it leaded to exaggerate dominance of dome as inseparable component of mosques. Although dome construction is costly, it is not that much adaptable to different climates and even it is not a good culture indicator of different countries, still there is a strong insist on presence of dome in mosques everywhere. This paper aims to study African mosque example which deeply relied on vernacular architecture. Various styles of design in Mali as case study investigated in terms of material, design concept, to arrive at concrete results

Simulations of combined ICRF and NBI heating for high fusion performance in JET

We report on simulations aimed at optimizing external heating using neutral beam injection (NBI) and radiofrequency waves in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) for high fusion yield in the JET tokamak. In this paper, D and DT plasmas are analyzed taking into account the NBI+RF synergy focusing on two different minority ICRF schemes, He and H, respectively. Our results show that by increasing external heating power to the maximum power available, the fusion neutron rate can be enhanced in D plasma by a factor of 2-3 with respect to our reference record D discharge. Regarding the DT plasma we present the external heating performance under the variation of key plasma parameters. We also study the impact of the effects of ICRH to the fusion yield and show that the ICRH power results in an enhanced fusion yield in the whole parameter space studied.This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium and has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014-2018 under grant agreement No 633053. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. Dani Gallart would like to express his gratitude to “La Caixa” for support of his PhD studies.Postprint (author's final draft