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Potential sinks for geologic storage of carbon dioxide generated by power plants in North and South Carolina
Duke Energy
Progress Energy
Santee Cooper Power
SCANA CorporationBureau of Economic Geolog
Stress response function of a two-dimensional ordered packing of frictional beads
We study the stress profile of an ordered two-dimensional packing of beads in
response to the application of a vertical overload localized at its top
surface. Disorder is introduced through the Coulombic friction between the
grains which gives some indeterminacy and allows the choice of one constrained
random number per grain in the calculation of the contact forces. The so-called
`multi-agent' technique we use, lets us deal with systems as large as
grains. We show that the average response profile has a double
peaked structure. At large depth , the position of these peaks grows with
, while their widths scales like . and are analogous to
`propagation' and `diffusion' coefficients. Their values depend on that of the
friction coefficient . At small , we get and , with , which means that the peaks get
closer and wider as the disorder gets larger. This behavior is qualitatively
what was predicted in a model where a stochastic relation between the stress
components is assumed.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted version to Europhys. Let
The impact of constructive operating lease capitalisation on key accounting ratios
Current UK lease accounting regulation does not require operating leases to be capitalised in the accounts of lessees, although this is likely to change with the publication of FRS 5. This study conducts a prospective analysis of the effects of such a change. The potential magnitude of the impact of lease capitalisation upon individual users' decisions, market valuations, company cash flows, and managers' behaviour can be indicated by the effect on key accounting ratios, which are employed in decision-making and in financial contracts. The capitalised value of operating leases is estimated using a method similar to that suggested by Imhoff, Lipe and Wright (1991), adapted for the UK accounting and tax environment, and developed to incorporate company-specific assumptions. Results for 1994 for a random sample of 300 listed UK companies show that, on average, the unrecorded long-term liability represented 39% of reported long-term debt, while the unrecorded asset represented 6% of total assets. Capitalisation had a significant impact (at the 1% level) on six of the nine selected ratios (profit margin, return on assets, asset turnover, and three measures of gearing). Moreover, the Spearman rank correlation between each ratio before and after capitalisation revealed that the ranking of companies changed markedly for gearing measures in particular. There were significant inter-industry variations, with the services sector experiencing the greatest impact. An analysis of the impact of capitalisation over the five-year period from 1990 to 1994 showed that capitalisation had the greatest impact during the trough of the recession. Results were shown to be robust with respect to key assumptions of the capitalisation method. These findings contribute to the assessment of the economic consequences of a policy change requiring operating lease capitalisation. Significant changes in the magnitude of key accounting ratios and a major shift in company performance rankings suggest that interested parties' decisions and company cash flows are likely to be affected
CHEMICALLY MODIFIED PHOTOSYNTHETIC BACTERIAL REACTION CENTERS: CIRCULAR DICHROISM, RAMAN RESONANCE, LOW TEMPERATURE ABSORPTION, FLUORESCENCE AND ODMR SPECTRA AND POLYPEPTIDE COMPOSITION OF BOROHYDRIDE TREATED REACTION CENTERS FROM Rhodobacter sphaeroides R26
Reaction centers from Rhodobacter sphaeroides have been modified by treatment with sodium borohydride similar to the original procedure [Ditson et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 766, 623 (1984)], and investigated spectroscopically and by gel electrophoresis.
(1) Low temperature (1.2 K) absorption, fluorescence, absorption- and fluorescence-detected ODMR, and microwave-induced singlet-triplet absorption difference spectra (MIA) suggest that the treatment produces a spectroscopically homogeneous preparation with one of the âadditionalâ bacteriochlorophylls being removed. The modification does not alter the zero field splitting parameters of the primary donor triplet (TP870).
(2) From the circular dichroism and Raman resonance spectra in the1500â1800 cm-1 region, the removed pigment is assigned to BchlM, e.g. the "extra" Bchl on the "inactive" M-branch.
(3) A strong coupling among all pigment molecules is deduced from the circular dichroism spectra, because pronounced band-shifts and/or intensity changes occur in the spectral components assigned to all pigments. This is supported by distinct differences among the MIA spectra of untreated and modified reaction centers, as well as by Raman resonance.
(4) The modification is accompanied by partial proteolytic cleavage of the M-subunit. The preparation is thus spectroscopically homogeneous, but biochemically heterogenous
Self-energy limited ion transport in sub-nanometer channels
The current-voltage characteristics of the alpha-Hemolysin protein pore
during the passage of single-stranded DNA under varying ionic strength, C, are
studied experimentally. We observe strong blockage of the current, weak
super-linear growth of the current as a function of voltage, and a minimum of
the current as a function of C. These observations are interpreted as the
result of the ion electrostatic self-energy barrier originating from the large
difference in the dielectric constants of water and the lipid bilayer. The
dependence of DNA capture rate on C also agrees with our model.Comment: more experimental material is added. 4 pages, 7 figure
Commissioning and operation of the Cherenkov detector for proton Flux Measurement of the UA9 Experiment
The UA9 Experiment at CERN-SPS investigates channeling processes in bent
silicon crystals with the aim to manipulate hadron beams. Monitoring and
characterization of channeled beams in the high energy accelerators environment
ideally requires in-vacuum and radiation hard detectors. For this purpose the
Cherenkov detector for proton Flux Measurement (CpFM) was designed and
developed. It is based on thin fused silica bars in the beam pipe vacuum which
intercept charged particles and generate Cherenkov light. The first version of
the CpFM is installed since 2015 in the crystal-assisted collimation setup of
the UA9 experiment. In this paper the procedures to make the detector
operational and fully integrated in the UA9 setup are described. The most
important standard operations of the detector are presented. They have been
used to commission and characterize the detector, providing moreover the
measurement of the integrated channeled beam profile and several functionality
tests as the determination of the crystal bending angle.
The calibration has been performed with Lead (Pb) and Xenon (Xe) beams and
the results are applied to the flux measurement discussed here in detail.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figure
Role of tyrosine M210 in the initial charge separation of reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides
Femtosecond spectroscopy was used in combination with site-directed mutagenesis to study the
influence of tyrosine M210 (YM210) on the primary electron transfer in the reaction center of Rhodobacter
sphaeroides. The exchange of YM210 to phenylalanine caused the time constant of primary electron transfer
to increase from 3.5 f 0.4 ps to 16 f 6 ps while the exchange to leucine increased the time constant even
more to 22 f 8 ps. The results suggest that tyrosine M210 is important for the fast rate of the primary
electron transfer
Quasi one dimensional He inside carbon nanotubes
We report results of diffusion Monte Carlo calculations for both He
absorbed in a narrow single walled carbon nanotube (R = 3.42 \AA) and strictly
one dimensional He. Inside the tube, the binding energy of liquid He is
approximately three times larger than on planar graphite. At low linear
densities, He in a nanotube is an experimental realization of a
one-dimensional quantum fluid. However, when the density increases the
structural and energetic properties of both systems differ. At high density, a
quasi-continuous liquid-solid phase transition is observed in both cases.Comment: 11 pages, 3ps figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B (RC
Stability and quasi-normal modes of charged black holes in Born-Infeld gravity
In this paper we study the stability and quasi-normal modes of scalar
perturbations of black holes. The static charged black hole considered here is
a solution to Born-Infeld electrodynamics coupled to gravity. We conclude that
the black hole is stable. We also compare the stability of it with its linear
counter-part Reissner-Nordstrom black hole. The quasi-normal modes are computed
using the WKB method. The behavior of these modes with the non-linear
parameter, temperature, mass of the scalar field and the spherical index are
analyzed in detail.Comment: Latex, 17 pages, 13 figures, some sections edited, references adde
Long Term Variability of a Black Widow's Eclipses -- A Decade of PSR J20510827
In this paper we report on years of observations of PSR
J20510827, at radio frequencies in the range 110--4032 MHz. We investigate
the eclipse phenomena of this black widow pulsar using model fits of increased
dispersion and scattering of the pulsed radio emission as it traverses the
eclipse medium. These model fits reveal variability in dispersion features on
timescales as short as the orbital period, and previously unknown trends on
timescales of months--years. No clear patterns are found between the
low-frequency eclipse widths, orbital period variations and trends in the
intra-binary material density. Using polarisation calibrated observations we
present the first available limits on the strength of magnetic fields within
the eclipse region of this system; the average line of sight field is
constrained to be G G, while for the
case of a field directed near-perpendicular to the line of sight we find
G. Depolarisation of the linearly polarised pulses
during the eclipse is detected and attributed to rapid rotation measure
fluctuations of rad m along, or across,
the line of sights averaged over during a sub-integration. The results are
considered in the context of eclipse mechanisms, and we find scattering and/or
cyclotron absorption provide the most promising explanation, while dispersion
smearing is conclusively ruled out. Finally, we estimate the mass loss rate
from the companion to be yr,
suggesting that the companion will not be fully evaporated on any reasonable
timescale
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