Bound electron nonlinearity beyond the ionization threshold

Although high field laser-induced ionization is a fundamental process underlying many applications, there have been no absolute measurements of the nonlinear polarizability of atoms and molecules in the presence of ionization. Such information is crucial, for example, for understanding the propagation of high intensity ultrashort pulses in matter. Here, we present absolute space- and time-resolved measurements of the ultrafast laser-driven nonlinear polarizability in argon, krypton, xenon, nitrogen, and oxygen up to an ionization fraction of a few percent. These measurements enable determination of the non-perturbative bound electron nonlinearity well beyond the ionization threshold, where it is found to be approximately linear in intensity

The Design and Implementation of a Wireless Video Surveillance System.

Internet-enabled cameras pervade daily life, generating a huge amount of data, but most of the video they generate is transmitted over wires and analyzed offline with a human in the loop. The ubiquity of cameras limits the amount of video that can be sent to the cloud, especially on wireless networks where capacity is at a premium. In this paper, we present Vigil, a real-time distributed wireless surveillance system that leverages edge computing to support real-time tracking and surveillance in enterprise campuses, retail stores, and across smart cities. Vigil intelligently partitions video processing between edge computing nodes co-located with cameras and the cloud to save wireless capacity, which can then be dedicated to Wi-Fi hotspots, offsetting their cost. Novel video frame prioritization and traffic scheduling algorithms further optimize Vigil's bandwidth utilization. We have deployed Vigil across three sites in both whitespace and Wi-Fi networks. Depending on the level of activity in the scene, experimental results show that Vigil allows a video surveillance system to support a geographical area of coverage between five and 200 times greater than an approach that simply streams video over the wireless network. For a fixed region of coverage and bandwidth, Vigil outperforms the default equal throughput allocation strategy of Wi-Fi by delivering up to 25% more objects relevant to a user's query

Demagnetizing effects in stacked rectangular prisms

International audienceA numerical, magnetostatic model of the internal magnetic field of a rectangular prism is extended to the case of a stack of rectangular prisms. The model enables the calculation of the spatially resolved, three-dimensional internal field in such a stack given any magnetic state function, stack configuration, temperature distribution and applied magnetic field. In this paper the model is applied to the case of a stack of parallel, ferromagnetic rectangular prisms and the resulting internal field is found as a function of the orientation of the applied field, the number of prisms in the stack, the spacing between the prisms and the packing density of the stack. The results show that the resulting internal field is far from being equal to the applied field and that the various stack configurations investigated affect the resulting internal field significantly and non-linearly. The results have a direct impact on the design of, e.g., active magnetic regenerators made of stacked rectangular prisms in terms of optimizing the internal field

Dynamic rotor mode in antiferromagnetic nanoparticles

We present experimental, numerical, and theoretical evidence for a new mode of antiferromagnetic dynamics in nanoparticles. Elastic neutron scattering experiments on 8 nm particles of hematite display a loss of diffraction intensity with temperature, the intensity vanishing around 150 K. However, the signal from inelastic neutron scattering remains above that temperature, indicating a magnetic system in constant motion. In addition, the precession frequency of the inelastic magnetic signal shows an increase above 100 K. Numerical Langevin simulations of spin dynamics reproduce all measured neutron data and reveal that thermally activated spin canting gives rise to a new type of coherent magnetic precession mode. This "rotor" mode can be seen as a high-temperature version of superparamagnetism and is driven by exchange interactions between the two magnetic sublattices. The frequency of the rotor mode behaves in fair agreement with a simple analytical model, based on a high temperature approximation of the generally accepted Hamiltonian of the system. The extracted model parameters, as the magnetic interaction and the axial anisotropy, are in excellent agreement with results from Mossbauer spectroscopy

Dynamic simulation of management events for assessing impacts of climate change on pre-alpine grassland productivity

The productivity of permanent temperate cut grasslands is mainly driven by weather, soil characteristics, botanical composition and management. To adapt management to climate change, adjusting the cutting dates to reflect earlier onset of growth and expansion of the vegetation period is particularly important. Simulations of cut grassland productivity under climate change scenarios demands management settings to be dynamically derived from actual plant development rather than using static values derived from current management operations. This is even more important in the alpine region, where the predicted temperature increase is twice as high as compared to the global or Northern Hemispheric average. For this purpose, we developed a dynamic management module that provides timing of cutting and manuring events when running the biogeochemical model LandscapeDNDC. We derived the dynamic management rules from long-term harvest measurements and monitoring data collected at pre-alpine grassland sites located in S Germany and belonging to the TERENO monitoring network. We applied the management module for simulations of two grassland sites covering the period 2011–2100 and driven by scenarios that reflect the two representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 and evaluated yield developments of different management regimes. The management module was able to represent timing of current management operations in high agreement with several years of field observations (r2 > 0.88). Even more, the shift of the first cutting dates scaled to a +1 ◦C temperature increase simulated with the climate change scenarios (− 9.1 to − 17.1 days) compared well to the shift recorded by the German Weather Service (DWD) in the study area from 1991− 2016 (− 9.4 to − 14.0 days). In total, the shift in cutting dates and expansion of the growing season resulted in 1− 2 additional cuts per year until 2100. Thereby, climate change increased yields of up to 6 % and 15 % in the RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios with highest increases mainly found for dynamically adapted grassland management going along with increasing fertilization rates. In contrast, no or only minor yield increases were associated with simulations restricted to fertilization rates of 170 kg N ha− 1 yr− 1 as required by national legislations. Our study also shows that yields significantly decreased in drought years, when soil moisture is limiting plant growth but due to comparable high precipitation and water holding capacity of soils, this was observed mainly in the RCP 8.5 scenario in the last decades of the century

Cold season soil NO fluxes from a temperate forest: drivers and contribution to annual budgets

Soils, and here specifically acidic forest soils exposed to high rates of atmospheric nitrogen deposition, are a significant source for the secondary greenhouse gas nitric oxide (NO). However, as flux estimates are mainly based on measurements during the vegetation period, annual NO emissions budgets may hold uncertainty as cold season soil NO fluxes have rarely been quantified. Here we analyzed cold season soil NO fluxes and potential environmental drivers on the basis of the most extensive database on forest soil NO fluxes obtained at the Höglwald Forest, Germany, spanning the years 1994 to 2010. On average, the cold season (daily average air temperature <3 °C) contributed to 22% of the annual soil NO budget, varying from 13% to 41% between individual cold seasons. Temperature was the main controlling factor of the cold season NO fluxes, whereas during freeze-thaw cycles soil moisture availability determined NO emission rates. The importance of cold season soil NO fluxes for annual NO fluxes depended positively on the length of the cold season, but responded negatively to frost events. Snow cover did not significantly affect cold season soil NO fluxes. Cold season NO fluxes significantly correlated with cold season soil carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. During freeze-thaw periods strong positive correlations between NO and N2O fluxes were observed, though stimulation of NO fluxes by freeze-thaw was by far less pronounced as compared to N2O. Except for freeze-thaw periods NO fluxes significantly exceeded those for N2O during the cold season period. We conclude that in temperate forest ecosystems cold season NO emissions can contribute substantially to the annual NO budget and this contribution is significantly higher in years with long lasting but mild (less frost events) cold seasons

Calculation of new enteric methane emission factors for small ruminants in western Kenya highlights the heterogeneity of smallholder production systems

Context: African livestock play a critical role in food security and the wider economy, while accounting for >70% of African agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Accurate estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock are required for inventory purposes and to assess the efficacy of mitigation measures. While there is an increasing number of studies assessing methane (CH$_{4}$) emissions of cattle, little attention has been paid to small ruminants (SR). Aims: Enteric CH$_{4}$ emissions were assessed from 1345 SR in three counties of western Kenya to develop more accurate emission factors (EF) for enteric CH$_{4}$ from sheep and goats. Methods: Using on-farm animal activity data, feed samples were also analysed to produce estimates of feed digestibility by season and region. The combined data were also used to estimate daily CH$_{4}$ production by season, location and class of animal to produce new EF for annual enteric CH$_{4}$ production of SR. Key results: Mean dry-matter digestibility of the feed basket was in the range of 58–64%, depending on region and season (~10% greater than Tier I estimates). EF were similar for sheep (4.4 vs 5 kg CH$_{4}$/year), but lower for goats (3.7 vs 5 kg CH$_{4}$/year) than those given for SR in developing countries in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Tier I) estimates. Conclusions: Published estimates of EF for SR range widely across Africa. In smallholder systems in western Kenya, SR appear to be managed differently from cattle, and EF appear to be driven by different management considerations. Implications: The findings highlighted the heterogenous nature of SR enteric emissions in East Africa, but also suggested that emissions from SR are quantitatively less important than other estimates suggest compared with cattle