41,368 research outputs found
Designing for Diversity: Issues for Architectural Interns
published or submitted for publicationnot peer reviewe
Cosmological backreaction in higher-derivative gravity expansions
We calculate a general effective stress-energy tensor induced by cosmological
inhomogeneity in effective theories of gravity where the action is
Taylor-expandable in the Riemann tensor and covariant derivatives of the
Riemann tensor. This is of interest as an effective fluid that might provide an
alternative to the cosmological constant, but it also applies to gravitational
waves. We use an adaptation of Green and Wald's weak-averaging framework, which
averages over perturbations in the field equation where the perturbation length
scales are small compared to the averaging scale. In this adaptation, the
length scale of the effective theory, , is also taken to be small compared
with the averaging scale. This ensures that the perturbation length scales
remain in fixed proportion to the length scale of the effective theory as the
cosmological averaging scale is taken to be large. We find that backreaction
from higher-derivative terms in the effective action can continue to be
important in the late universe, given a source of sufficiently high-frequency
metric perturbations. This backreaction might also provide a window on exotic
particle physics in the far ultraviolet.Comment: 27 pages, 2 references added, minor clarifications made, comments
added to introduction and discussion, some details moved to appendice
Ocean time-series near Bermuda: Hydrostation S and the US JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic time-series study
Bermuda is the site of two ocean time-series programs. At Hydrostation S, the ongoing biweekly profiles of temperature, salinity and oxygen now span 37 years. This is one of the longest open-ocean time-series data sets and provides a view of decadal scale variability in ocean processes. In 1988, the U.S. JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study began a wide range of measurements at a frequency of 14-18 cruises each year to understand temporal variability in ocean biogeochemistry. On each cruise, the data range from chemical analyses of discrete water samples to data from electronic packages of hydrographic and optics sensors. In addition, a range of biological and geochemical rate measurements are conducted that integrate over time-periods of minutes to days. This sampling strategy yields a reasonable resolution of the major seasonal patterns and of decadal scale variability. The Sargasso Sea also has a variety of episodic production events on scales of days to weeks and these are only poorly resolved. In addition, there is a substantial amount of mesoscale variability in this region and some of the perceived temporal patterns are caused by the intersection of the biweekly sampling with the natural spatial variability. In the Bermuda time-series programs, we have added a series of additional cruises to begin to assess these other sources of variation and their impacts on the interpretation of the main time-series record. However, the adequate resolution of higher frequency temporal patterns will probably require the introduction of new sampling strategies and some emerging technologies such as biogeochemical moorings and autonomous underwater vehicles
Sample holder support for microscopes
A sample filter holder is disclosed for use with a microscope for holding the filter in a planar condition on the stage of the microscope so that automatic focusing of the microscope can be performed on particle samples dispersed on the filter. The holder includes a base having a well that communicates with an inlet port which is connected to a suction pump. A screen assembly is positioned within the well. The screen assembly includes a disk having a screen positioned on its top surface and secured to the disk at the peripheral edge of the screen. Small bores allow the outer surface of the screen to communicate with the well. The filter is placed on the screen and is held in a flat disposition by the suction forces
Synchronisation Properties of Trees in the Kuramoto Model
We consider the Kuramoto model of coupled oscillators, specifically the case
of tree networks, for which we prove a simple closed-form expression for the
critical coupling. For several classes of tree, and for both uniform and
Gaussian vertex frequency distributions, we provide tight closed form bounds
and empirical expressions for the expected value of the critical coupling. We
also provide several bounds on the expected value of the critical coupling for
all trees. Finally, we show that for a given set of vertex frequencies, there
is a rearrangement of oscillator frequencies for which the critical coupling is
bounded by the spread of frequencies.Comment: 21 pages, 19 Figure
Alternative Methods of Increasing the Precision of Weighted Repeat Sales House Prices Indices*
Weighted repeat sales house price indices have become one of the primary indicators used to identify housing market conditions and to estimate the amount of equity homeowners have gained through house price appreciation. The primary reason for the acceptance of this methodology is that it derives a location specific (typically, census division, state or metropolitan area) average change in house prices from repeated observations of individual house prices. It is this repeat attribute that allows repeat sales price indices to claim that it is a preferable index which does a better job of holding quality constant.
The amount of time between the two observed prices for a single property is determined by when the home transacts. Some homes transact twice in a period of months and others do not transact for decades. It is likely that individual house price appreciation rates vary from the mean appreciation rate, as estimated by the index, in a systematic fashion. In general, the longer the time between transactions the more variance there is in individual house price appreciation.
This paper extends this concept to include new dimensions. For instance, houses that appreciate faster than the mean, as estimated by the index for that location, may experience a different variation structure than homes that appreciate slower. This process can be viewed as an asymmetric treatment of the variance of house price appreciation around the estimated index. In addition, the variance of expensive and affordable homes may also be different and time varying.
This paper finds evidence that adding the dimensions of price tiers and asymmetry to the variance estimate has merit and does affect the estimated index as well as homeowner equity estimates. Homeowner equity estimates are especially sensitive to these added dimensions because they depend on both the revised index and the estimated variances, which are specific to each dimension considered–time between transaction, asymmetry, and price tier
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