Electroweak boson production in heavy-ion collisions with CMS

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is fully equipped to measure leptonic decays of electroweak probes in the high multiplicity environment of nucleus-nucleus collisions. Electroweak boson production is an important benchmark process at hadron colliders. Precise measurements of W and Z production in heavy-ion collisions can help to constrain nuclear PDFs as well as serve as a standard candle of the initial state in PbPb collisions at the LHC energies. The inclusive and differential measurements of the Z boson yield in the muon and electron decay channel will be presented, establishing that no modification is observed with respect to pp collisions, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, for the 2013 Strangeness in Quark Matter Conference held in Birmingham, U.

+SPACES: Serious Games for Role-Playing Government Policies

The paper explores how role-play simulations can be used to support policy discussion and refinement in virtual worlds. Although the work described is set primarily within the context of policy formulation for government, the lessons learnt are applicable to online learning and collaboration within virtual environments. The paper describes how the +Spaces project is using both 2D and 3D virtual spaces to engage with citizens to explore issues relevant to new government policies. It also focuses on the most challenging part of the project, which is to provide environments that can simulate some of the complexities of real life. Some examples of different approaches to simulation in virtual spaces are provided and the issues associated with them are further examined. We conclude that the use of role-play simulations seem to offer the most benefits in terms of providing a generalizable framework for citizens to engage with real issues arising from future policy decisions. Role-plays have also been shown to be a useful tool for engaging learners in the complexities of real-world issues, often generating insights which would not be possible using more conventional techniques

Real‐time interactive social environments: A review of BT's generic learning platform

Online learning in particular and lifelong learning in general require a learning platform that makes sense both pedagogically and commercially. This paper sets out to describe what we mean by generic, learning and platform. The technical requirements are described, and various trials that test the technical, educational and commercial nature of the platform are described Finally, the future developments planned for the Real‐time Interactive Social Environments (RISE) are discusse

Professional wellbeing

The aim of this chapter is to review issues relating to wellbeing and stress that may affect psychologists. It will discuss the causes of stress and wellbeing and the outcomes for psychologists, then set out some realistic ways in which stress can be managed and wellbeing can be supported

Chaotic worlds: an analysis of World of Warcraft

Virtual worlds provide new forms of collaboration and social interaction. The World of Warcraft (WoW) is one such virtual world. It is the most popular example of what is called a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). In this paper, we analyze players’ outcomes with WoW using chaos theory. Our paper suggests that players are highly sensitive to initial conditions which are impacted by style of play and the social structure of groups

A Second Language Acquisition Toolkit for Teaching Introduction to Computing

Introduction to Computing and higher-level programming courses are common first-year engineering curricula at the university level and are key in developing logical thought processes in engineering students. Recent research has shown that employing second language acquisition (SLA) techniques to teach programming increases exam performance and student motivation compared to more classical approaches. However, the presentation of pedagogical techniques has been largely limited to higher-level languages with more intuitive linguistic analogs and has not been extended to lower-level computing course material. In this paper we present several SLA techniques and their analogs in a computing course setting and the results of implementing an SLA strategy in a first-year engineering course. Statistical analysis shows that students taught with SLA methods completed quizzes more quickly, enjoyed recitation more, and had a higher perceived value of the class when compared with students taught with non-SLA techniques.Cockrell School of Engineerin

A New Family of Cavernicolous Millipedes with the Description of a New Genus and Species from Idaho (Diplopoda: Chordeumida: Chordeumidea)

The Chordeumidea is accumulating species names faster than any other group of North American Diplopoda. About one-half its species, 47, have been described since 1950. This recent growth has occurred because the small size, localized populations, and, frequently, cave habitus of these millipeds have obstructed thorough collection in the past. These factors have only recently been overcome by comprehensive collecting. As a result of this rapidgrowth and the many artificial groupings which result from it, much organization of the higher classification remains to be done. Hoffman (1961) emphasizes that co- operation between workers, more thorough descriptions, more accurate illustrations, and revisions are necessary if a proper classification is to be attained. Described herein is a new cave form unique among the known North American Chordeumidea. Related to Cleidogonidae, Conotylidae, and Bactropidae, it is distinguished from these families by having the ninth legs reduced and unsegmented. This species represents the type of a new family, which we name after the state in which it was collected

Analysing qualitative data from virtual worlds: using images and text mining

There is an increasing interest within both organisational and social contexts in virtual worlds and virtual reality platforms. Virtual worlds are highly graphical systems in which avatars interact with each other, and almost every event and conversation is logged and recorded. This presents new challenges for qualitative researchers in information systems. This paper addresses the challenges of analyzing the huge amounts of qualitative data that can be obtained from virtual worlds (both images and text). It addresses how images might be used in qualitative studies of virtual worlds, and proposes a new way to analyze textual data using a qualitative software tool called Leximancer. This paper illustrates these methods using a study of a social movement in a virtual world