Learning Activities with Semantic. Hypermedia in Higher Education

The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in diverse professional and personal contexts calls for new knowledge, and a set of abilities, competences and attitudes, for an active and participative citizenship. In this context it is acknowledged that universities have an important role innovating in the educational use of digital media to promote an inclusive digital literacy. The educational potential of digital technologies and resources has been recognized by both researchers and practitioners. Multiple pedagogical models and research approaches have already contributed to put in evidence the importance of adapting instructional and learning practices and processes to concrete contexts and educational goals. Still, academic and scientific communities believe further investments in ICT research is needed in higher education. This study focuses on educational models that may contribute to support digital technology uses, where these can have cognitive and educational relevance when compared to analogical technologies. A teaching and learning model, centered in the active role of the students in the exploration, production, presentation and discussion of interactive multimedia materials, was developed and applied using the internet and exploring emergent semantic hypermedia formats. The research approach focused on the definition of design principles for developing class activities that were applied in three different iterations in undergraduate courses from two institutions, namely the University of Texas at Austin, USA and the University of Lisbon, Portugal. The analysis of this study made possible to evaluate the potential and efficacy of the model proposed and the authoring tool chosen in the support of metacognitive skills and attitudes related to information structuring and management, storytelling and communication, using computers and the internet

Interfaces de comunicação para o ensino-aprendizagem

Esta dissertação, desenvolvida no âmbito do mestrado em Ciências da Comunicação, na área do Audiovisual, Multimédia e Interactividade da Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas (FCSH) da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL), centra-se no estudo de interfaces multimédia e na sua utilização no contexto pedagógico. Procura explorar questões abordadas ao longo dos seminários lectivos do referido mestrado e desenvolver uma análise e enquadramento das evoluções que se terem registado ao nível da comunicação, da sociedade e da pedagogia no contexto do uso de sistemas interactivos de comunicação. Abordam-se perspectivas de autores das áreas das ciências sociais, do design e programação e ainda de autores de projectos concretos nas reais da Internet, multimdia e da pedagogia. Nesta dissertação, apresentam-se ainda dois projectos e estudos de caso desenvolvidos na área do e-learning, durante cerca de dois anos com disciplinas e docentes da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da UNL. As conclusões deste trabalho surgem assim como fruto de um estudo teórico e do seu confronto com estudos e cacões concretas que envolveram alunos, docentes e designers e que contribuíram para fundamentar a importância e o papel das interfaces de comunicação ao nível da pedagogia e da didáctica. Verificou-se a importância da aplicação do e-learming em casos concretos e fundamentou-se a importância do estudo e da investigação associados aplicação de solucões interactivas na educação e ainda a importância do uso de metodologias que possam contribuir para a melhoria da qualidade de soluções pedagógicas no âmbito do uso do computador e da Internet

Measurement of D∗+/−D^{*+/-} meson production in jets from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports a measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is based on a data sample recorded with the ATLAS detector with an integrated luminosity of 0.30 pb^-1 for jets with transverse momentum between 25 and 70 GeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta| D0pi+, D0 -> K-pi+, and its charge conjugate. The production rate is found to be N(D*+/-)/N(jet) = 0.025 +/- 0.001(stat.) +/- 0.004(syst.) for D*+/- mesons that carry a fraction z of the jet momentum in the range 0.3 < z < 1. Monte Carlo predictions fail to describe the data at small values of z, and this is most marked at low jet transverse momentum.Peer Reviewe

Search for diphoton events with large missing transverse momentum in fb−1^{-1} of 7 TeV proton–proton collision data with the ATLAS detector

A search for diphoton events with large missing transverse momentum has been performed using 1.07 fb^-1 of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector. No excess of events was observed above the Standard Model prediction and 95% Confidence Level (CL) upper limits are set on the production cross section for new physics: sigma < (22-129) fb in the context of a generalised model of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (GGM) with a bino-like lightest neutralino, sigma < (27-91) fb in the context of a minimal model of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (SPS8) and (15-27) fb in the context of a specific model with one universal extra dimension (UED). A 95% CL lower limit of 805 GeV, for bino masses above 50 GeV, is set on the GGM gluino mass. Lower limits of 145 TeV and 1.23 TeV are set on the SPS8 breaking scale Lambda and on the UED compactification scale 1/R, respectively. These limits provide the most stringent tests of these models to date.Peer Reviewe

Search for events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least two tau leptons in 7 TeV proton–proton collision data with the ATLAS detector

A search for events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least two tau leptons has been performed using 2 fb^-1 of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed and a 95% CL visible cross section upper limit for new phenomena is set. A 95% CL lower limit of 32 TeV is set on the GMSB breaking scale Lambda independent of tan(beta). These limits provide the most stringent tests to date in a large part of the considered parameter space.Peer Reviewe

Search for extra dimensions using diphoton events in 7 TeV proton–proton collisions with the ATLAS detector

Using data recorded in 2011 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, a search for evidence of extra spatial dimensions has been performed through an analysis of the diphoton final state. The analysis uses data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.12 fb^-1 of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV proton-proton collisions. The diphoton invariant mass spectrum is observed to be in good agreement with the expected Standard Model background. In the large extra dimension scenario of Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos and Dvali, the results provide 95% CL lower limits on the fundamental Planck scale between 2.27 and 3.53 TeV, depending on the number of extra dimensions and the theoretical formalism used. The results also set 95% CL lower limits on the lightest Randall-Sundrum graviton mass of between 0.79 and 1.85 TeV, for values of the dimensionless coupling k/\bar{M}_{Pl} varying from 0.01 to 0.1. Combining with previously published ATLAS results from the dielectron and dimuon final states, the 95% CL lower limit on the Randall-Sundrum graviton mass for k/\bar{M}_{Pl} = 0.01 (0.1) is 0.80 (1.95) TeV.Peer Reviewe

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at s=7\sqrt{s}=7 TeV

The jet energy scale (JES) and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 inverse pb. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0.4 or R=0.6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pt > 20 GeV and pseudorapidities eta 50 GeV after a dedicated correction for this effect. The JES is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pt, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pt jets recoiling against a high-pt jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, providing an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The JES systematic uncertainty determined from a combination of in situ techniques are consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pt jets.Peer Reviewe

Combined search for the Standard Model Higgs boson using up to 4.9 fb−1^{-1} of pppp collision data at s=7\sqrt{s}=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

A combined search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC using datasets corresponding to integrated luminosities from 1.04 fb-1 to 4.9 fb-1 of pp collisions collected at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented. The Higgs boson mass ranges 112.9-115.5 GeV, 131-238 GeV and 251-466 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level (CL), while the range 124-519 GeV is expected to be excluded in the absence of a signal. An excess of events is observed around mH ~ 126 GeV with a local significance of 3.5 standard deviations (sigma). The local significance of H -> gamma gamma, H -> ZZ(*) -> lll'l' and H -> WW(*) -> lvl'v, the three most sensitive channels in this mass range, are 2.8 sigma, 2.1 sigma and 1.4 sigma, respectively. The global probability for the background to produce such a fluctuation anywhere in the explored Higgs boson mass range 110-600 GeV is estimated to be ~1.4% or, equivalently 2.2 sigma.Peer Reviewe

Search for pair production of a heavy up-type quark decaying to a W boson and a b quark in the lepton+jets channel with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for production of a heavy up-type quark (t') together with its antiparticle, assuming subsequent decay to a W boson and a b quark, t't'bar -> W+b W-bbar. The search is based on 1.04 fb^-1 of proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Data are analyzed in the lepton+jets final state, characterized by a high transverse momentum isolated electron or muon, high missing transverse momentum and at least three jets. No significant excess of events above the background expectation is observed. A 95% C.L. lower limit is set at m(t') > 404 GeV.Peer Reviewe

A study of the material in the ATLAS inner detector using secondary hadronic interactions

The ATLAS inner detector is used to reconstruct secondary vertices due to hadronic interactions of primary collision products, so probing the location and amount of material in the inner region of ATLAS. Data collected in 7 TeV pp collisions at the LHC, with a minimum bias trigger, are used for comparisons with simulated events. The reconstructed secondary vertices have spatial resolutions ranging from ~200 microns to 1 mm. The overall material description in the simulation is validated to within an experimental uncertainty of about 7%. This will lead to a better understanding of the reconstruction of various objects such as tracks, leptons, jets, and missing transverse momentum.Peer Reviewe