Teaching dynamical systems with Maxima

We report on our experience in teaching a dynamical systems course tosecond-year engineering students. The course has been taught with ahands-on approach, using a Computer Algebra System: Maxima. We havedeveloped some additional programs to help students explore thedynamics of the systems, in a more intuitive way and without loosingtoo much time with computer programming. The result has been veryencouraging; students are better motivated using this approach, ascompared to the more traditional methods that we used in the past.We report on our experience in teaching a dynamical systems course tosecond-year engineering students. The course has been taught with ahands-on approach, using a Computer Algebra System: Maxima. We havedeveloped some additional programs to help students explore thedynamics of the systems, in a more intuitive way and without loosingtoo much time with computer programming. The result has been veryencouraging; students are better motivated using this approach, ascompared to the more traditional methods that we used in the past

HEP@Home - A distributed computing system based on BOINC

Project SETI@HOME has proven to be one of the biggest successes of distributed computing during the last years. With a quite simple approach SETI manages to process large volumes of data using a vast amount of distributed computer power. To extend the generic usage of this kind of distributed computing tools, BOINC is being developed. In this paper we propose HEP@HOME, a BOINC version tailored to the specific requirements of the High Energy Physics (HEP) community. The HEP@HOME will be able to process large amounts of data using virtually unlimited computing power, as BOINC does, and it should be able to work according to HEP specifications. In HEP the amounts of data to be analyzed or reconstructed are of central importance. Therefore, one of the design principles of this tool is to avoid data transfer. This will allow scientists to run their analysis applications and taking advantage of a large number of CPUs. This tool also satisfies other important requirements in HEP, namely, security, fault-tolerance and monitoring.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses CHEP2004.cls, submitted to CHEP200

Horkheimer: Anthropology, humanism and critical theory

El presente trabajo se centra en recorrer la reflexión de Horkheimer sobre la cuestión del concepto de Hombre y considerar el análisis que el autor hace de su despliegue filosófico en el interior de una tensión creada por las oposiciones cruciales que, desde un abordaje crítico, presenta la cuestión antropológica fundamental, esto es, entre la noción de sujeto cognoscente y la rancia tradición ontológica; entre la noción de hombre y el individuo concreto; entre el individualismo y la totalidad social y, finalmente, entre la condición singular del ser humano y su identidad en el interior del entramado histórico social en el que viveThe present work focuses on Horkheimer’s reflection on the question of the concept of Man considering the analysis that the author makes of his philosophical unfolding within a tension created by the crucial oppositions that, from a critical approach, presents the fundamental anthropological question. That is, between the notion of epistemic subject and the ontological tradition, between the notion of man and the concrete individual, between individualism and the social totality and, finally, between the unique condition of the human being and his / her identity within the historical social fabric in which he / she live

Mechanisms for photon sorting based on slit-groove arrays

Mechanisms for one-dimensional photon sorting are theoretically studied in the framework of a couple mode method. The considered system is a nanopatterned structure composed of two different pixels drilled on the surface of a thin gold layer. Each pixel consists of a slit-groove array designed to squeeze a large fraction of the incident light into the central slit. The Double-Pixel is optimized to resolve two different frequencies in the near infrared. This system shows a high transmission efficiency and a small crosstalk. Its response is found to strongly depend on the effective area shared by overlapping pixels. Three different regimes for the process of photon sorting are identified and the main physical trends underneath in such regimes are unveiled. Optimal efficiencies for the photon sorting are obtained for a moderate number of grooves that overlap with grooves of the neighbor pixel. Results could be applied to optical and infrared detectors.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Transmittance of a subwavelength aperture flanked by a finite groove array \\ placed near the focus of a conventional lens

One-dimensional light harvesting structures illuminated by a conventional lens are studied in this paper. Our theoretical study shows that high transmission efficiencies are obtained when the structure is placed near the focal plane of the lens. The considered structure is a finite slit-groove array (SGA) with a given number of grooves that are symmetrically distributed with respect to a central slit. The SGA is nano-patterned on an opaque metallic film. It is found that a total transmittance of 80% is achieved even for a single slit when (i) Fabry-Perot like modes are excited inside the slit and (ii) the effective cross section of the aperture becomes of the order of the full width at half maximum of the incident beam. A further enhancement of 8% is produced by the groove array. The optimal geometry for the groove array consists of a moderate number of grooves ($\geq 4$) at either side of the slit, separated by a distance of half the incident wavelength $\lambda$. Grooves should be deeper (with depth $\geq \lambda/4$) than those typically reported for plane wave illumination in order to increase their individual scattering cross section.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Qualitative Research as a Hero’s Journey: Six Archetypes to Draw on

Is the research process similar to a hero’s journey? Just as a hero draws on different archetypes during the journey, a researcher moves through phases and must draw upon different strengths. In this article, the six archetypes that Pearson (1998) links to the hero’s journey are described. Then, each phase of a qualitative research study is described, followed by reflection on which of Pearson’s six archetypes were active. Discussion focuses on how other archetypes could have been helpful in each phase, as well as how other researchers could use this process of archetypal reflectivity to make their work more authentic and intentional