1,280 research outputs found
Designing software to maximize learning1
This paper starts from the assumption that any evaluation of educational software should focus on whether or not, and the extent to which, it maximizes learning. It is particularly concerned with the impact of software on the quality of learning. The paper reviews key texts in the literature on learning, including some which relate directly to software development, and suggests ways in which a range of learning theories can inform the process of software design. The paper sets out to make a contribution to both the design and the evaluation of educational software
A General Formula for the Mismatch Capacity
The fundamental limits of channels with mismatched decoding are addressed. A
general formula is established for the mismatch capacity of a general channel,
defined as a sequence of conditional distributions with a general decoding
metrics sequence. We deduce an identity between the Verd\'{u}-Han general
channel capacity formula, and the mismatch capacity formula applied to Maximum
Likelihood decoding metric. Further, several upper bounds on the capacity are
provided, and a simpler expression for a lower bound is derived for the case of
a non-negative decoding metric. The general formula is specialized to the case
of finite input and output alphabet channels with a type-dependent metric. The
closely related problem of threshold mismatched decoding is also studied, and a
general expression for the threshold mismatch capacity is obtained. As an
example of threshold mismatch capacity, we state a general expression for the
erasures-only capacity of the finite input and output alphabet channel. We
observe that for every channel there exists a (matched) threshold decoder which
is capacity achieving. Additionally, necessary and sufficient conditions are
stated for a channel to have a strong converse. Csisz\'{a}r and Narayan's
conjecture is proved for bounded metrics, providing a positive answer to the
open problem introduced in [1], i.e., that the "product-space" improvement of
the lower random coding bound, , is indeed the mismatch
capacity of the discrete memoryless channel . We conclude by presenting an
identity between the threshold capacity and in the DMC
case
Phase-matchable nonlinear optical interactions in periodic thin films
A proposal for a new method of phase matching in nonlinear optical interactions is made. A periodic perturbation of the surface of a thin-film waveguide generates space harmonics with new propagation constants which can be phase matched. An analysis of this proposal shows it to be particularly interesting for a class of thin-film nonlinear devices using the cubic optically isotropic semiconductors (such as GaAs, GaP, etc.) which possess high nonlinear optical coefficients but are not phase matchable by the conventional birefringent techniques
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