Kimmo Tuominen

Information Literacy as a Sociotechnical Practice.

Information literacy has thus far been mostly a practical and strategic concept guiding the library field’s efforts in teaching information seeking and using skills. Texts on information literacy rarely attempt to account for how individuals interact with other people and technical artifacts in their information environments. This article contributes to the literature on information literacy by introducing a definition of information literacy as a sociotechnical practice. Information literacy evolves in the course of realizing specific work‐related tasks and mundane activities, which usually involve a complex system of social relationships, sociotechnical configurations, and work organization. From the perspective of a situated understanding of learning and learning requirements, information skills cannot be taught independently of the knowledge domains, organizations, and practical tasks in which these skills are used. The article suggests that studying and understanding the interplay between information technologies, workplace learning, and domain‐specific knowledge formation processes is necessary for the advancement of information literacy initiatives.

“Isms” in information science: constructivism, collectivism and constructionism

Purpose – Describes the basic premises of three metatheories that represent important or emerging perspectives on information seeking, retrieval and knowledge formation in information science: constructivism, collectivism, and constructionism.Design/methodology/approach – Presents a literature‐based conceptual analysis. Pinpoints the differences between the positions in their conceptions of language and the nature and origin of knowledge.Findings – Each of the three metatheories addresses and solves specific types of research questions and design problems. The metatheories thus complement one another. Each of the three metatheories encourages and constitutes a distinctive type of research and learning.Originality/value – Outlines each metatheorys specific fields of application.

Orientifold theory dynamics and symmetry breaking

We show that it is possible to construct explicit models of electroweak symmetry breaking in which the number of techniflavors needed to enter the conformal phase of the theory is small and weakly dependent on the number of technicolors. Surprisingly, the minimal model with just two (techni)flavors, together with a suitable gauge dynamics, can be made almost conformal. The theories we consider are generalizations of orientifold-type gauge theories, in which the fermions are in either two-index symmetric or antisymmetric representation of the gauge group, as the underlying dynamics responsible for the spontaneous breaking of the electroweak symmetry. We first study their phase diagram and use the fact that specific sectors of these theories can be mapped into supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory to strengthen our results. This correspondence allows us also to have information on part of the nonperturbative spectrum. We propose and investigate some explicit models while briefly exploring relevant phenomenological consequences. Our theories can not only be tested at the next collider experiments but, due to their simple structure, can also be studied via current lattice simulations.

Scaling of transverse energies and multiplicities with atomic number and energy in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions

Abstract We compute how the initial energy density and produced gluon, quark and antiquark numbers scale with atomic number and beam energy in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. The computation is based on the argument that the effect of all momentum scales can be estimated by performing the computation at one transverse momentum scale, the saturation momentum. The initial numbers are converted to final ones by assuming kinetic thermalization and adiabatic expansion. The main emphasis of the study is at LHC and RHIC energies but it is observed that even at SPS energies this approach leads to results which are not unreasonable: what is usually described as a completely soft non-perturbative process can also be described in terms of gluons and quarks. The key element is the use of the saturation scale.

Evolution of the coupling constant in SU(2) lattice gauge theory with two adjoint fermions

We measure the evolution of the coupling constant using the Schroedinger functional method in the lattice formulation of SU(2) gauge theory with two massless Dirac fermions in the adjoint representation. We observe strong evidence for an infrared fixed point, where the theory becomes conformal. We measure the {beta} function and the coupling constant as a function of the energy sca0008.

Physical Naturalness and Dynamical Breaking of Classical Scale Invariance

We propose a model of a confining dark sector, dark technicolor, that communicates with the Standard Model (SM) through the Higgs portal. In this model electroweak (EW) symmetry breaking and dark matter (DM) share a common origin, and the EW scale is generated dynamically. Our motivation to suggest this model is the absence of evidence for new physics from recent Large Hadron Collider (LHC) data. Although the conclusion is far from certain at this point, this lack of evidence may suggest that no mechanism exists at the EW scale to stabilize the Higgs mass against radiative corrections from ultraviolet (UV) physics. The usual reaction to this puzzling situation is to conclude that the stabilizing new physics is either hidden from us by accident, or that it appears at energies that are currently inaccessible, such that nature is indeed fine-tuned. In order to re-examine the arguments that have led to this dichotomy, we review the concept of naturalness in effective field theories, discussing in particular the role of quadratic divergences in relation to different energy scales. This leads us to suggest classical scale invariance as a guideline for model building, implying that explicit mass scales are absent in the underlying theory.

Spectrum of SU(2) lattice gauge theory with two adjoint Dirac flavours

An SU(2) gauge theory with two fermions transforming under the adjoint representation of the gauge group may appear conformal or almost conformal in the infrared. We use lattice simulations to study the spectrum of this theory and present results on the masses of several gauge singlet states as a function of the physical quark mass determined through the axial Ward identity and find indications of a change from chiral symmetry breaking to a phase consistent with conformal behaviour at βL ~ 2. However, the measurement of the spectrum is not alone sufficient to decisively confirm the existence of conformal fixed point in this theory as we show by comparing to similar measurements with fundamental fermions. Based on the results we sketch a possible phase diagram of this lattice theory and discuss the applicability and importance of these results for the future measurement of the evolution of the coupling constant.

Light composite Higgs and precision electroweak measurements on the Z resonance: An update

We update our analysis of technicolor theories with techniquarks in higher dimensional representations of the technicolor gauge group in the light of the new electroweak precision data on the Z resonance.

Multiperspective digital libraries: the implications of constructionism for the development of digital libraries

The article highlights the importance of conceptual and theoretical work in the design of information retrieval systems. Two epistemological positions leading to different solutions in digital library (DL) design are examined: the information transfer perspective and the social contructionist knowledge production perspective. The first section of the paper explores how the information transfer perspective affects the principles by which documents are organized in DLs. The second section analyzes the basic assumptions of the knowledge production perspective. The third section discusses how social constructionist ideas affect the design principles and information architecture of DLs. The authors suggest that, in the electronic Information environment, traditional noun-based approaches can be replaced by solutions that combine verbs and nouns to visualize the structure of conversations concerning a particular issue or topic. Finally, the potentials and problems of building constructionist digital libraries are discussed.

On finite-temperature holographic QCD in the Veneziano limit

A bstractHolographic models in the T = 0 universality class of QCD in the limit of large number Nc of colors and Nf massless fermion flavors, but constant ratio xf = Nf/Nc, are analyzed at finite temperature. The models contain a 5-dimensional metric and two scalars, a dilaton sourcing TrF2 and a tachyon dual to