What are the Building Blocks of Our Universe?

We are told that we are living in a Golden Age of Astronomy. Cosmological Parameters are found with un precedented accuracy. Yet, the known form of matter forms only a small fraction of the total energy density of the universe. Also, a mysterious dark energy dominates the universe and causes acceleration in the rate of expansion.Comment: To be published in the Proceedings of the Interantional Conference on COSMOLOGY;Facts and Problems (College de France, Paris, June 8-11, 2004

Extending OWL-S for the Composition of Web Services Generated With a Legacy Application Wrapper

Despite numerous efforts by various developers, web service composition is still a difficult problem to tackle. Lot of progressive research has been made on the development of suitable standards. These researches help to alleviate and overcome some of the web services composition issues. However, the legacy application wrappers generate nonstandard WSDL which hinder the progress. Indeed, in addition to their lack of semantics, WSDLs have sometimes different shapes because they are adapted to circumvent some technical implementation aspect. In this paper, we propose a method for the semi automatic composition of web services in the context of the NeuroLOG project. In this project the reuse of processing tools relies on a legacy application wrapper called jGASW. The paper describes the extensions to OWL-S in order to introduce and enable the composition of web services generated using the jGASW wrapper and also to implement consistency checks regarding these services.Comment: ICIW 2012, The Seventh International Conference on Internet and Web Applications and Services, Stuttgart : Germany (2012

Analysis of Volatility in Driving Regimes Extracted from Basic Safety Messages Transmitted Between Connected Vehicles

Driving volatility captures the extent of speed variations when a vehicle is being driven. Extreme longitudinal variations signify hard acceleration or braking. Warnings and alerts given to drivers can reduce such volatility potentially improving safety, energy use, and emissions. This study develops a fundamental understanding of instantaneous driving decisions, needed for hazard anticipation and notification systems, and distinguishes normal from anomalous driving. In this study, driving task is divided into distinct yet unobserved regimes. The research issue is to characterize and quantify these regimes in typical driving cycles and the associated volatility of each regime, explore when the regimes change and the key correlates associated with each regime. Using Basic Safety Message (BSM) data from the Safety Pilot Model Deployment in Ann Arbor, Michigan, two- and three-regime Dynamic Markov switching models are estimated for several trips undertaken on various roadway types. While thousands of instrumented vehicles with V2V and V2I communication systems are being tested, nearly 1.4 million records of BSMs, from 184 trips undertaken by 71 instrumented vehicles are analyzed in this study. Then even more detailed analysis of 43 randomly chosen trips (N = 714,340 BSM records) that were undertaken on various roadway types is conducted. The results indicate that acceleration and deceleration are two distinct regimes, and as compared to acceleration, drivers decelerate at higher rates, and braking is significantly more volatile than acceleration. Different correlations of the two regimes with instantaneous driving contexts are explored. With a more generic three-regime model specification, the results reveal high-rate acceleration, high-rate deceleration, and cruise/constant as the three distinct regimes that characterize a typical driving cycle. (Continued

Maintaining, changing and crossing contexts: an activity theoretic reinterpretation of mobile learning

Although mobile learning is a popular topic in current research, it is not well conceptualized. Many researchers rely on under‐theorized conceptions of the topic, and those who have tried to refine the ideas involved have found this to be complex and difficult. In this paper a new interpretation of the concept ‘mobile learning’ is offered, drawing on the tradition of activity theory. The interpretation focuses on the continuity of learning activities that take place in multiple contexts, which are embodied as the combination of the physical and social setting of the learning activities. The paper starts by sketching the current research context and then outlines the theoretical tradition within which the interpretation of ‘mobile learning’ is located. Then the new interpretation is offered and the concepts are applied to case studies to illustrate how this new understanding develops current thinking in the area. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for research of adopting such a perspective

Noncommutative Geometry and a Discretized Version of Kaluza-Klein Theory with a Finite Field Content

We consider a four-dimensional space-time supplemented by two discrete points assigned to a $Z_2$ algebraic structure and develop the formalism of noncommutative geometry. By setting up a generalised vielbein, we study the metric structure. Metric compatible torsion free connection defines a unique finite field content in the model and leads to a discretized version of Kaluza-Klein theory. We study some special cases of this model that illustrate the rich and complex structure with massive modes and the possible presence of a cosmological constant.Comment: 21 pages, LATEX fil

Measurement of the multiplicity dependence of charm production in proton--proton collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 TeV with the ALICE experiment at the CERN-LHC

Potential of the charm quark as a probe to study the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) is best harnessed when its production mechanisms are disentangled from its propagation through the QGP. Proton-proton (pp) collisions help us to study charmed hadron production mechanisms. The measurement of D-meson yields in pp collisions as a function of the multiplicity of produced particles allows one to gain some insight into the processes occurring in the collision at a microscopic level. Here, the preliminary results are presented from this measurement at \sqrt{s} = 7 TeV. The analysis strategy, the applied corrections, and the determination of the systematic uncertainties are described. The preliminary results are presented and compared with those from a similar, published, measurement of J/\psi production.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of the 13th National Symposium on Frontiers in Physics (Peshawar, Pakistan), to be submitted to the IOP, Journal of Physics, Conference Series, December 201