37,631 research outputs found
Lie groups of conformal motions acting on null orbits
Space-times admitting a 3-dimensional Lie group of conformal motions
acting on null orbits are studied. Coordinate expressions for the metric and
the conformal Killing vectors (CKV) are provided (irrespectively of the matter
content) and then all possible perfect fluid solutions are found, although none
of these verify the weak and dominant energy conditions over the whole
space-time manifold.Comment: 5 pages, Late
Unleashing the Power of Distributed CPU/GPU Architectures: Massive Astronomical Data Analysis and Visualization case study
Upcoming and future astronomy research facilities will systematically
generate terabyte-sized data sets moving astronomy into the Petascale data era.
While such facilities will provide astronomers with unprecedented levels of
accuracy and coverage, the increases in dataset size and dimensionality will
pose serious computational challenges for many current astronomy data analysis
and visualization tools. With such data sizes, even simple data analysis tasks
(e.g. calculating a histogram or computing data minimum/maximum) may not be
achievable without access to a supercomputing facility.
To effectively handle such dataset sizes, which exceed today's single machine
memory and processing limits, we present a framework that exploits the
distributed power of GPUs and many-core CPUs, with a goal of providing data
analysis and visualizing tasks as a service for astronomers. By mixing shared
and distributed memory architectures, our framework effectively utilizes the
underlying hardware infrastructure handling both batched and real-time data
analysis and visualization tasks. Offering such functionality as a service in a
"software as a service" manner will reduce the total cost of ownership, provide
an easy to use tool to the wider astronomical community, and enable a more
optimized utilization of the underlying hardware infrastructure.Comment: 4 Pages, 1 figures, To appear in the proceedings of ADASS XXI, ed.
P.Ballester and D.Egret, ASP Conf. Serie
Web 2.0 and micro-businesses: An exploratory investigation
This is the author's final version of the article. This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.This article was chosen as a Highly Commended Award Winner at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2013.Purpose – The paper aims to report on an exploratory study into how small businesses use Web 2.0 information and communication technologies (ICT) to work collaboratively with other small businesses. The study had two aims: to investigate the benefits available from the use of Web 2.0 in small business collaborations, and to characterize the different types of such online collaborations.
Design/methodology/approach – The research uses a qualitative case study methodology based on semi-structured interviews with the owner-managers of 12 UK-based small companies in the business services sector who are early adopters of Web 2.0 technologies.
Findings – Benefits from the use of Web 2.0 are categorized as lifestyle benefits, internal operational efficiency, enhanced capability, external communications and enhanced service offerings. A 2×2 framework is developed to categorize small business collaborations using the dimensions of the basis for inter-organizational collaboration (control vs cooperation) and the level of Web 2.0 ICT use (simple vs sophisticated).
Research limitations/implications – A small number of firms of similar size, sector and location were studied, which limits generalizability. Nonetheless, the results offer a pointer to the likely future use of Web 2.0 tools by other small businesses.
Practical implications – The research provides evidence of the attraction and potential of Web 2.0 for collaborations between small businesses.
Originality/value – The paper is one of the first to report on use of Web 2.0 ICT in collaborative working between small businesses. It will be of interest to those seeking a better understanding of the potential of Web 2.0 in the small business community.WestFocu
Embedded density functional theory for covalently bonded and strongly interacting subsystems
Embedded density functional theory (e-DFT) is used to describe the electronic structure of strongly interacting molecular subsystems. We present a general implementation of the Exact Embedding (EE) method [J. Chem. Phys. 133, 084103 (2010)] to calculate the large contributions of the nonadditive kinetic potential (NAKP) in such applications. Potential energy curves are computed for the dissociation of Li^+–Be, CH_3–CF_3, and hydrogen-bonded water clusters, and e-DFT results obtained using the EE method are compared with those obtained using approximate kinetic energy functionals. In all cases, the EE method preserves excellent agreement with reference Kohn–Sham calculations, whereas the approximate functionals lead to qualitative failures in the calculated energies and equilibrium structures. We also demonstrate an accurate pairwise approximation to the NAKP that allows for efficient parallelization of the EE method in large systems; benchmark calculations on molecular crystals reveal ideal, size-independent scaling of wall-clock time with increasing system size
Helioseismology of Pre-Emerging Active Regions II: Average Emergence Properties
We report on average subsurface properties of pre-emerging active regions as
compared to areas where no active region emergence was detected. Helioseismic
holography is applied to samples of the two populations (pre-emergence and
without emergence), each sample having over 100 members, which were selected to
minimize systematic bias, as described in Leka et al. We find that there are
statistically significant signatures (i.e., difference in the means of more
than a few standard errors) in the average subsurface flows and the apparent
wave speed that precede the formation of an active region. The measurements
here rule out spatially extended flows of more than about 15 m/s in the top 20
Mm below the photosphere over the course of the day preceding the start of
visible emergence. These measurements place strong constraints on models of
active region formation.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, ApJ (published
Safety hazards associated with the charging of lithium/sulfur dioxide cells
A continuing research program to assess the responses of spirally wound, lithium/sulfur dioxide cells to charging as functions of charging current, temperature, and cell condition prior to charging is described. Partially discharged cells that are charged at currents greater than one ampere explode with the time to explosion inversely proportional to the charging current. Cells charged at currents of less than one ampere may fail in one of several modes. The data allows an empirical prediction of when certain cells will fail given a constant charging current
BB Intermeson Potentials in the Quark Model
In this paper we derive quark model results for scattering amplitudes and
equivalent low energy potentials for heavy meson pairs, in which each meson
contains a heavy quark. This "BB" system is an attractive theoretical
laboratory for the study of the nuclear force between color singlets; the
hadronic system is relatively simple, and there are lattice gauge theory (LGT)
results for V_BB(r) which may be compared to phenomenological models. We find
that the quark model potential (after lattice smearing) has qualitative
similarities to the LGT potential in the two B*B* channels in which direct
comparison is possible, although there is evidence of a difference in length
scales. The quark model prediction of equal magnitude but opposite sign for I=0
and I=1 potentials also appears similar to LGT results at intermediate r. There
may however be a discrepancy between the LGT and quark model I=1 BB potentials.
A numerical study of the two-meson Schrodinger equations in the (bqbar)(bqbar)
and (cqbar)(cqbar) sectors with the quark model potentials finds a single
"molecule", in the I=0 BB* sector. Binding in other channels might occur if the
quark model forces are augmented by pion exchange.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, revtex and epsfig. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
The application of ERTS imagery to mapping snow cover in the western United States
The author has identified the following significant results. In much of the western United States a large part of the utilized water comes from accumulated mountain snowpacks; thus, accurate measurements of snow distributions are required for input to streamflow prediction models. The application of ERTS-1 imagery for mapping snow has been evaluated for two geographic areas, the Salt-Verde watershed in central Arizona and the southern Sierra Nevada in California. Techniques have been developed to identify snow and to differentiate between snow and cloud. The snow extent for these two drainage areas has been mapped from the MSS-5 (0.6 - 0.7 microns) imagery and compared with aerial survey snow charts, aircraft photography, and ground-based snow measurements. The results indicate that ERTS imagery has substantial practical applications for snow mapping. Snow extent can be mapped from ERTS-1 imagery in more detail than is depicted on aerial survey snow charts. Moreover, in Arizona and southern California cloud obscuration does not appear to be a serious deterrent to the use of satellite data for snow survey. The costs involved in deriving snow maps from ERTS-1 imagery appear to be very reasonable in comparison with existing data collection methods
On the Origin of the Absorption Features in SS433
We present high-resolution optical spectroscopy of the X-ray binary system
SS433, obtained over a wide range of orbital phases. The spectra display
numerous weak absorption features, and include the clearest example seen to
date of those features, resembling a mid-A type supergiant spectrum, that have
previously been associated with the mass donor star. However, the new data
preclude the hypothesis that these features originate solely within the
photosphere of the putative mass donor, indicating that there may be more than
one region within the system producing an A supergiant-like spectrum, probably
an accretion disc wind. Indeed, whilst we cannot confirm the possibility that
the companion star is visible at certain phase combinations, it is possible
that all supergiant-like features observed thus far are produced solely in a
wind. We conclude that great care must be taken when interpreting the behaviour
of these weak features.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 8 pages, 6 figure
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