8,600 research outputs found
A consideration of the UK Government's proposals for business improvement districts in England: issues and uncertainties
Purpose - To provide a critical appraisal of the UK Government's proposals for the introduction of business improvement districts (BIDs) into England considering statute and case law against the proposed regulations, while drawing on the experience of BID models in North America.
Design/methodology/approach - The paper analyses the proposed regulations against the existing statute and common law position in England.
Findings - The regulations will not levy all hereditaments as stated. The voting and taxation provisions are not defined and transparent in connection with those paying less than full rates. Implications of the House of Lords decision in Edison appear to have been overlooked in the drafting.
Research limitations/implications - The paper is specific to the Draft Business Improvement Districts (England) Regulations 2004. The paper identifies key issues for those involved in the local economy and property management in England. It is relevant across jurisdictions to those considering proposals for the implementation of BID schemes.
Practical implications - The paper is relevant to those occupiers and owners, and their advisers, who have an interest in property that is, or may be, included in a BID area.
Originality/value - The paper considers in an original manner the detailed proposals for the implementation of BIDs in England. It researches a number of areas of concern to those seeking to implement or pay a BID levy. It identifies a number of areas in which the regulations will not achieve the stated aims. Weaknesses in the voting and taxation provisions are identified
Elemental Abundance Ratios in Stars of the Outer Galactic Disk. II. Field Red Giants
We summarize a selection process to identify red giants in the direction of
the southern warp of the Galactic disk, employing VI_C photometry and
multi-object spectroscopy. We also present results from follow-up
high-resolution, high-S/N echelle spectroscopy of three field red giants,
finding [Fe/H] values of about -0.5. The field stars, with Galactocentric
distances estimated at 10 to 15 kpc, support the conclusion of Yong, Carney, &
de Almeida (2005) that the Galactic metallicity gradient disappears beyond R_GC
values of 10 to 12 kpc for the older stars and clusters of the outer disk. The
field and cluster stars at such large distances show very similar abundance
patterns, and, in particular, all show enhancements of the "alpha" elements O,
Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti and the r-process element Eu. These results suggest that
Type II supernovae have been significant contributors to star formation in the
outer disk relative to Type Ia supernovae within the past few Gyrs. We also
compare our results with those available for much younger objects. The limited
results for the H II regions and B stars in the outer disk also suggest that
the radial metallicity gradient in the outer disk is shallow or absent. The
much more extensive results for Cepheids confirm these trends, and that the
change in slope of the metallicity gradient may occur at a larger
Galactocentric distance than for the older stars and clusters. However, the
younger stars also show rising alpha element enhancements with increasing R_GC,
at least beyond 12 kpc. These trends are consistent with the idea of a
progressive growth in the size of the Galactic disk with time, and episodic
enrichment by Type II supernovae as part of the disk's growth. [Abridged]Comment: Accepted for publication in A
The legacy of nineteenth-century replicas for object cultural biographies : lessons in duplication from 1830s Fife
Peer reviewedPostprin
Oxygen Abundances in Two Metal-Poor Subgiants from the Analysis of the 6300 A Forbidden O I Line
Recent LTE analyses (Israelian et al. 1998 and Bosegaard et al. 1999) of the
OH bands in the optical-ultraviolet spectra of nearby metal-poor subdwarfs
indicate that oxygen abundances are generally higher than those previously
determined. The difference increases with decreasing metallicity and reaches
delta([O/Fe]) ~ +0.6 dex as [Fe/H] approaches -3.0.
Employing high resolution (R = 50000), high S/N (~ 250) echelle spectra of
the two stars found by Israelian et al. (1998) to have the highest
[O/Fe]-ratios, viz, BD +23 3130 and BD +37 1458, we conducted abundance
analyses based on about 60 Fe I and 7-9 Fe II lines. We determined from Kurucz
LTE models the values of the stellar parameters, as well as abundances of Na,
Ni, and the traditional alpha-elements, independent of the calibration of color
vs scales. We determined oxygen abundances from spectral synthesis of
the stronger line (6300 A) of the [O I] doublet.
The syntheses of the [O I] line lead to smaller values of [O/Fe], consistent
with those found earlier among halo field and globular cluster giants. We
obtain [O/Fe] = +0.35 +/- 0.2 for BD +23 3130 and +0.50 +/- 0.2 for BD +37
1458. In the former, the [O I] line is very weak (~ 1 mA), so that the quoted
[O/Fe] value may in reality be an upper limit.
Therefore in these two stars a discrepancy exists between the [O/Fe]- ratios
derived from [O I] and the OH feature, and the origin of this difference
remains unclear. Until the matter is clarified, we suggest it is premature to
conclude that the ab initio oxygen abundances of old, metal-poor stars need to
be revised drastically upward.Comment: 38 pages, 5 tables, 14 figures To appear in July 1999 AJ Updated
April 16, 1999. Fixed typo
Space shuttle afterbody aerodynamics/plume simulation data summary
A series of parametric wind tunnel tests was conducted to provide a base for developing a simulation of afterbody/base aerodynamics for multibody/multibase rocket-powered vehicles (such as Space Shuttle) which use unheated air as the simulant gas in development wind tunnel tests. The tests described were parameterized on external configuration, nozzle internal configuration, base geometry, propulsion gas type, and freestream Mach number (0.5 to 3.5). The tests were conducted over a 4-year period. Presented in this report are the data and pertinent reference information necessary to perform an analysis which would lead to a simulation procedure. The type of data obtained during the tests described herein include model base afterbody, and nozzle internal surface static pressure distributions, model chamber pressure and temperature, and freestream conditions. Also included is a brief description of simulation procedures that were used by the Space Shuttle program
Cooler and bigger than thought? Planetary host stellar parameters from the InfraRed Flux Method
Effective temperatures and radii for 92 planet-hosting stars as determined
from the InfraRed Flux Method (IRFM) are presented and compared with those
given by other authors using different approaches. The IRFM temperatures we
have derived are systematically lower than those determined from the
spectroscopic condition of excitation equilibrium, the mean difference being as
large as 110 K. They are, however, consistent with previous IRFM studies and
with the colors derived from Kurucz and MARCS model atmospheres. Comparison
with direct measurements of stellar diameters for 7 dwarf stars, which
approximately cover the range of temperatures of the planet-hosting stars,
suggest that the IRFM radii and temperatures are reliable in an absolute scale.
A better understanding of the fundamental properties of the stars with planets
will be achieved once this discrepancy between the IRFM and the spectroscopic
temperature scales is resolved.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
Abundances in Stars from the Red Giant Branch Tip to the Near Main Sequence in M71: II. Iron Abundance
We present [Ffe/H] abundance results that involve a sample of stars with a
wide range in luminosity from luminous giants to stars near the turnoff in a
globular cluster. Our sample of 25 stars in M71 includes 10 giant stars more
luminous than the RHB, 3 horizontal branch stars, 9 giant stars less luminous
than the RHB, and 3 stars near the turnoff. We analyzed both Fe I and Fe II
lines in high dispersion spectra observed with HIRES at the W. M. Keck
Observatory. We find that the [Fe/H] abundances from both Fe I and Fe II lines
agree with each other and with earlier determinations. Also the [Fe/H] obtained
from Fe I and Fe II lines is constant within the rather small uncertainties for
this group of stars over the full range in Teff and luminosity, suggesting that
NLTE effects are negligible in our iron abundance determination. In this
globular cluster, there is no difference among the mean [Fe/H] of giant stars
located at or above the RHB, RHB stars, giant stars located below the RHB and
stars near the turnoff.Comment: Minor changes to conform to version accepted for publication, with
several new figures (Paper 2 of a pair
Abundances of Baade's Window Giants from Keck/HIRES Spectra: I. Stellar Parameters and [Fe/H] Values
We present the first results of a new abundance survey of the Milky Way bulge
based on Keck/HIRES spectra of 27 K-giants in the Baade's Window (, ) field. The spectral data used in this study are of much higher resolution
and signal-to-noise than previous optical studies of Galactic bulge stars. The
[Fe/H] values of our stars, which range between -1.29 and , were used to
recalibrate large low resolution surveys of bulge stars. Our best value for the
mean [Fe/H] of the bulge is . This mean value is similar to the
mean metallicity of the local disk and indicates that there cannot be a strong
metallicity gradient inside the solar circle. The metallicity distribution of
stars confirms that the bulge does not suffer from the so-called ``G-dwarf''
problem. This paper also details the new abundance techniques necessary to
analyze very metal-rich K-giants, including a new Fe line list and regions of
low blanketing for continuum identification.Comment: Accepted for publication in January 2006 Astrophysical Journal. Long
tables 3--6 withheld to save space (electronic tables in journal paper). 53
pages, 10 figures, 9 table
An Investigation Into the use of Swarm Intelligence for an Evolutionary Algorithm Optimisation; The Optimisation Performance of Differential Evolution Algorithm Coupled with Stochastic Diffusion Search
The integration of Swarm Intelligence (SI) algorithms and Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) might be one of the future approaches in the Evolutionary Computation (EC). This work narrates the early research on using Stochastic Diffusion Search (SDS) -- a swarm intelligence algorithm -- to empower the Differential Evolution (DE) -- an evolutionary algorithm -- over a set of optimisation problems. The results reported herein suggest that the powerful resource allocation mechanism deployed in SDS has the potential to improve the optimisation capability of the classical evolutionary algorithm used in this experiment. Different performance measures and statistical analyses were utilised to monitor the behaviour of the final coupled algorithm
An Investigation into the Merger of Stochastic Diffusion Search and Particle Swarm Optimisation
This study reports early research aimed at applying the powerful resource allocation mechanism deployed in Stochastic Diffusion Search (SDS) to the Particle Swarm Optimiser (PSO) metaheuristic, effectively merging the two swarm intelligence algorithms. The results reported herein suggest that the hybrid algorithm, exploiting information sharing between particles, has the potential to improve the optimisation capability of conventional PSOs
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