3,151 research outputs found
Interrupting the social amplification of risk process: a case study in collective emissions reduction
One of the main approaches we have for studying the progressive divergence of understandings around a risk issue is that of social risk amplification. This article describes a case study of a particular environmental contaminant, a chemical flame retardant that could be interpreted as having produced a risk amplifying process. It describes in particular how a group of industrial organizations acted collectively to reduce emissions of this contaminant, in an apparent attempt to avert regulation and boycotts—that is, to intercept the social amplification process and avoid its secondary effects. The aim of the study was to investigate the constitutive qualities of this collective action: the qualities that defined it and made it effective in the eyes of those involved. These include institutionalisation and independence, the ability to confer individual as well as collective benefit, the capacity to attract (rather than avoid) criticism, and the ‘branding’ that helps communicate what otherwise appear to be a set of unconnected, local actions. Although the risk amplification framework has been criticised for implying that there is some externally given risk level that is subsequently amplified, it does appear to capture the mentality of actors involved in issues of this kind. They talk and act as though they believe they are participants in a risk amplification process
A compact high-flux source of cold sodium atoms
We present a compact source of cold sodium atoms suitable for the production
of quantum degenerate gases and versatile for a multi-species experiment. The
magnetic field produced by permanent magnets allows to simultaneously realize a
Zeeman slower and a two-dimensional MOT within an order of magnitude smaller
length than standard sodium sources. We achieve an atomic flux exceeding 4x10^9
atoms/s loaded in a MOT, with a most probable longitudinal velocity of 20 m/s,
and a brightness larger than 2.5x10^(12) atoms/s/sr. This atomic source allowed
us to produce a pure BEC with more than 10^7 atoms and a background pressure
limited lifetime of 5 minutes.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
LMC Self-lensing from a new perspective
We present a new analysis on the issue of the location of the observed
microlensing events in direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This is
carried out starting from a recently drawn coherent picture of the geometrical
structure and dynamics of the LMC disk and by considering different
configurations for the LMC bar. In this framework it clearly emerges that the
spatial distribution of the events observed so far shows a near--far asymmetry.
This turns out to be compatible with the optical depth calculated for the LMC
halo objects. In this perspective, our main conclusion, supported by a
statistical analysis on the outcome of an evaluation of the microlensing rate,
is that self lensing can not account for all the observed events. Finally we
propose a general inequality to calculate quickly an upper limit to the optical
depth along a line of view through the LMC center.Comment: revised version (minor changes) Accepted for publication in A&
Cerebro-spinal disease and its relation to the optic nerve: a critical review
In this review the optic nerve is interpretated as that part of the optic pathway which lies between the chiasm and the retina. The review is limited to a consideration of the conditions of this part of the visual tract
Finite-source and finite-lens effects in astrometric microlensing
The aim of this paper is to study the astrometric trajectory of microlensing
events with an extended lens and/or source. We consider not only a dark lens
but also a luminous lens as well. We find that the discontinuous finite-lens
trajectories given by Takahashi (2003) will become continuous in the
finite-source regime. The point lens (source) approximation alone gives an
under (over)estimation of the astrometric signal when the size of the lens and
source are not negligible. While the finiteness of the source is revealed when
the lens transits the surface of the source, the finite-lens signal is most
prominent when the lens is very close to the source. Astrometric microlensing
towards the Galactic bulge, Small Magellanic Cloud and M31 are discussed, which
indicate that the finite-lens effect is beyond the detection limit of current
instruments. Nevertheless, it is possible to distinguish between self-lensing
and halo lensing through a (non-)detection of the astrometric ellipse. We also
consider the case where the lens is luminous itself, as has been observed where
a lensing event was followed up with the Hubble Space Telescope. We show that
the astrometric signal will be reduced in a luminous-lens scenario. The
physical properties of the event, such as the lens-source flux ratio, the size
of the lens and source nevertheless can be derived by fitting the astrometric
trajectory.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, published in MNRA
Key dating features for timber-framed dwellings in Surrey
This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ The Vernacular Architecture Group 2013. MORE OpenChoice articles are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.The main component of the Surrey Dendrochronology Project is the accurate dating of 177 ‘dwellings’, nearly all by tree-ring analysis. The dates are used to establish date ranges for 52 ‘key features’, which cover many aspects of timber-framing from building type to details of carpentry. It is shown that changes of method and fashion were in many cases surprisingly rapid, almost abrupt in historical terms. Previous dating criteria for timber-framed dwellings in the county have been refined and new criteria introduced. Clusters of change from the 1440s and the 1540s are shown and some possible historical links suggested.The Heritage Lottery Fund, the Domestic Buildings Research Group (Surrey), the Surrey Archaeological Society and the historical societies of Charlwood, Farnham and Nutfield
Einstein Radii from Binary Lensing Events
We show that the Einstein ring radius and transverse speed of a lens
projected on the source plane, and , can be
determined from the light curve of a binary-source event, followed by the
spectroscopic determination of the orbital elements of the source stars. The
determination makes use of the same principle that allows one to measure the
Einstein ring radii from finite-source effects. For the case when the orbital
period of the source stars is much longer than the Einstein time scale, , there exists a single two-fold degeneracy in determining
. However, when the degeneracy can
often be broken by making use of the binary-source system's orbital motion.
%Once , and thus are determined, one can
%distinguish self-lensing events in the Large Magellanic Cloud %from Galactic
halo events. For an identifiable 8\% of all lensing events seen toward the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one can unambiguously determine whether the
lenses are Galactic, or whether they lie in the LMC itself. The required
observations can be made after the event is over and could be carried out for
the events seen by Alcock et al.\ and Aubourg et al.. In addition, we
propose to include eclipsing binaries as sources for gravitational lensing
experiments.Comment: 18 pages, revised version, submitted to Ap
The OGLE View of Microlensing towards the Magellanic Clouds. II. OGLE-II SMC data
The primary goal of this paper is to provide the evidence that can either
prove or falsify the hypothesis that dark matter in the Galactic halo can clump
into stellar-mass compact objects. If such objects existed, they would act as
lenses to external sources in the Magellanic Clouds, giving rise to an
observable effect of microlensing. We present the results of our search for
such events, based on the data from the second phase of the OGLE survey
(1996-2000) towards the SMC. The data set we used is comprised of 2.1 million
monitored sources distributed over an area of 2.4 square degrees. We found only
one microlensing event candidate, however its poor quality light curve limited
our discussion on the exact distance to the lensing object.
Given a single event, taking the blending (crowding of stars) into account
for the detection efficiency simulations, and deriving the HST-corrected number
of monitored stars, the microlensing optical depth is tau=(1.55+-1.55)10e-7.
This result is consistent with the expected SMC self-lensing signal, with no
need of introducing dark matter microlenses. Rejecting the unconvincing event
leads to the upper limit on the fraction of dark matter in the form of MACHOs
to f<20 per cent for deflectors' masses around 0.4 Msun and f<11 per cent for
masses between 0.003 and 0.2 Msun (95 per cent confidence limit). Our result
indicates that the Milky Way's dark matter is unlikely to be clumpy and form
compact objects in the sub-solar-mass range.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Data in electronic form are
available on the OGLE's website: http://ogle.astrouw.edu.pl
Microlensing as a probe of the Galactic structure; 20 years of microlensing optical depth studies
Microlensing is now a very popular observational astronomical technique. The
investigations accessible through this effect range from the dark matter
problem to the search for extra-solar planets. In this review, the techniques
to search for microlensing effects and to determine optical depths through the
monitoring of large samples of stars will be described. The consequences of the
published results on the knowledge of the Milky-Way structure and its dark
matter component will be discussed. The difficulties and limitations of the
ongoing programs and the perspectives of the microlensing optical depth
technique as a probe of the Galaxy structure will also be detailed.Comment: Accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitation.
General Relativity and Gravitation in press (2010) 0
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