5,304 research outputs found
Quantum Monte Carlo Study of electrons in low dimensions
We report on a diffusion Monte Carlo investigation of model electron systems
in low dimensions, which should be relevant to the physics of systems
obtainable nowadays in semiconductor heterostructures. In particular, we
present results for a one dimensional electron gas, at selected values of the
coupling strength and confinement parameter, briefly analyzing the pair
correlations and relating them to predictions by Schulz for a Luttinger liquid
with long-range interactions. We find no evidence of the the Bloch instability
yielded by approximate treatments such as the STLS and DFT schemes.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the 1999
International Conference on Strongly Coupled Coulomb Systems, Saint-Malo,
Franc
A geographical issue: the contribution of Citizenship Education to the building of a European citizenship. The case of the VOICEs Comenius network
Citizenship Education is currently a consolidated issue within several European curricula. It has been integrated in
national educational laws in different ways: as cross-curricular education (UK, Italy), as a subject (France, Spain)
or as a skill (Ireland). Despite these differences, there is a common agreement on the ethical value of Citizenship
Education and on its main aim: to foster students’ sense of local, national and European citizenship. In some ways
this goal has been inspired by Morin’s path to a “plural” education and a planetary citizenship (Morin, 2000).
Social sciences, and in particular Geography and History, keep the function of giving tools able to show how a
dialogue among the different scales is possible. Nevertheless European citizenship is undergoing a constant
redefinition due to the European enlargement process, the role of Europe inside national jurisdictions and to the
changes in national curricula. This evolution directly affects the guiding function conferred to school in terms of
skills, aims and themes; therefore competences and methods adopted by teachers may have to be reconsidered.
This essay presents the first results of the updating of the state of the art of this issue that has been carried out by
the Citizenship Education Research Group of the VOICEs Comenius network (The Voice of European Teachers).
The main aim of this international research group is to face the challenge of building a European citizenship by
developing a comparative analysis of teachers’ practices and strategies in different local, regional and national
contexts, aiming to contribute, with renewed ideas, to the debate on this promising field of research
Two-Loop Corrections to Large Order Behavior of Theory
We consider the large order behavior of the perturbative expansion of the
scalar field theory in terms of a perturbative expansion around an
instanton solution. We have computed the series of the free energy up to
two-loop order in two and three dimension. Topologically there is only an
additional Feynman diagram with respect to the previously known one dimensional
case, but a careful treatment of renormalization is needed. The propagator and
Feynman diagrams were expressed in a form suitable for numerical evaluation. We
then obtained explicit expressions summing over distinct eigenvalues
determined numerically with the corresponding eigenfunctions.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
Plastic number and possible optimal solutions for an Euclidean 2-matching in one dimension
In this work we consider the problem of finding the minimum-weight loop cover
of an undirected graph. This combinatorial optimization problem is called
2-matching and can be seen as a relaxation of the traveling salesman problem
since one does not have the unique loop condition. We consider this problem
both on the complete bipartite and complete graph embedded in a one dimensional
interval, the weights being chosen as a convex function of the Euclidean
distance between each couple of points. Randomness is introduced throwing
independently and uniformly the points in space. We derive the average optimal
cost in the limit of large number of points. We prove that the possible
solutions are characterized by the presence of "shoelace" loops containing 2 or
3 points of each type in the complete bipartite case, and 3, 4 or 5 points in
the complete one. This gives rise to an exponential number of possible
solutions scaling as p^N , where p is the plastic constant. This is at variance
to what happens in the previously studied one-dimensional models such as the
matching and the traveling salesman problem, where for every instance of the
disorder there is only one possible solution.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure
Investigation of refractory composites for liquid rocket engines Final report, 1 Oct. 1969 - 31 Oct. 1970
Oxidation resistance and high temperature tests of rhenium, tungsten, hafnium, and tantalum matrix composites with iridium in oxygen, fluorine, and boron atmospheres for liquid propellant engine
Exact value for the average optimal cost of bipartite traveling-salesman and 2-factor problems in two dimensions
We show that the average cost for the traveling-salesman problem in two
dimensions, which is the archetypal problem in combinatorial optimization, in
the bipartite case, is simply related to the average cost of the assignment
problem with the same Euclidean, increasing, convex weights. In this way we
extend a result already known in one dimension where exact solutions are
avalaible. The recently determined average cost for the assignment when the
cost function is the square of the distance between the points provides
therefore an exact prediction for
large number of points . As a byproduct of our analysis also the loop
covering problem has the same optimal average cost. We also explain why this
result cannot be extended at higher dimensions. We numerically check the exact
predictions.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
International actors as policymakers? Discussing the influence of international actors on the environmental policies of small island states
The environmental discourse on small island states is structured around a set of
geographical categories. Among these, the category of smallness reflects the assumption that
such spaces are vulnerable on account of their reduced size, reinforcing an image of islands
as ‘prone’ to environmental threats and in need of ‘external support’. Such support is often
provided by international actors, specifically international agencies, NGOs and sponsors, who
consequently influence domestic policymaking processes. This paper offers a theoretical
discussion of this influence in relation to environmental policies, drawing on concepts from
the fields of international studies, development studies and island studies. I argue that the
influence of international actors may be viewed as a form of leadership that is legitimised by
the narrative of island vulnerability, the development paradigm, the authority attributed to
reports and rankings, the symbolic functioning of global environmental threats and the overuse
of geographical categories such as ‘small’ or ‘developing’. In the second part of the
paper, I propose four research questions for future studies on the political outputs of this
influence in the Republic of Maldives: an icon of the environmental challenges threatening
small island states.peer-reviewe
Molecular imaging in nanomedical research
For years, nanomedical research has represented a challenge and an opportunity in terms of imaging techniques [...]
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