21,683 research outputs found
Financing schemes for residential, grid-connected PV solar systems in BCS, Mexico
This article presents two proposals to spur the extensive adoption of grid-connected, residential, solar photovoltaic systems in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. To this aim, electricity generation costs and subsidies were estimated first, together with time-of-generation avoided costs that could result from the implementation of such solar systems. An overview of financing mechanisms for solar and other renewable energies around the world is also presented followed by current mechanisms available in Mexico. The first proposal is centered around the operation of a solar energy service company that would receive the avoided cost of generation as compensation in return for sourcing, installing, and maintaining solar PV systems on residential users’ roofs. This would free up the residential user from any future electricity payments. The second proposal consists in the implementation of a feed-in tariff (FiT), currently unavailable in Mexico for residential users. The FiT could be funded from the avoided generation cost in conventional plants plus the corresponding savings from self-generation of electricity. Alternatively, the option of funding the FiT from small increases in electricity prices to all customers was also explored. Present value analyses suggest that both proposals are worthwhile pursuing in Baja California Sur
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Open science and modified funding lotteries can impede the natural selection of bad science.
Assessing scientists using exploitable metrics can lead to the degradation of research methods even without any strategic behaviour on the part of individuals, via 'the natural selection of bad science.' Institutional incentives to maximize metrics like publication quantity and impact drive this dynamic. Removing these incentives is necessary, but institutional change is slow. However, recent developments suggest possible solutions with more rapid onsets. These include what we call open science improvements, which can reduce publication bias and improve the efficacy of peer review. In addition, there have been increasing calls for funders to move away from prestige- or innovation-based approaches in favour of lotteries. We investigated whether such changes are likely to improve the reproducibility of science even in the presence of persistent incentives for publication quantity through computational modelling. We found that modified lotteries, which allocate funding randomly among proposals that pass a threshold for methodological rigour, effectively reduce the rate of false discoveries, particularly when paired with open science improvements that increase the publication of negative results and improve the quality of peer review. In the absence of funding that targets rigour, open science improvements can still reduce false discoveries in the published literature but are less likely to improve the overall culture of research practices that underlie those publications
Alternating Hamiltonian cycles in -edge-colored multigraphs
A path (cycle) in a -edge-colored multigraph is alternating if no two
consecutive edges have the same color. The problem of determining the existence
of alternating Hamiltonian paths and cycles in -edge-colored multigraphs is
an -complete problem and it has been studied by several authors.
In Bang-Jensen and Gutin's book "Digraphs: Theory, Algorithms and
Applications", it is devoted one chapter to survey the last results on this
topic. Most results on the existence of alternating Hamiltonian paths and
cycles concern on complete and bipartite complete multigraphs and a few ones on
multigraphs with high monochromatic degrees or regular monochromatic subgraphs.
In this work, we use a different approach imposing local conditions on the
multigraphs and it is worthwhile to notice that the class of multigraphs we
deal with is much larger than, and includes, complete multigraphs, and we
provide a full characterization of this class.
Given a -edge-colored multigraph , we say that is
--closed (resp. --closed)} if for every
monochromatic (resp. non-monochromatic) -path , there
exists an edge between and . In this work we provide the following
characterization: A --closed multigraph has an alternating
Hamiltonian cycle if and only if it is color-connected and it has an
alternating cycle factor.
Furthermore, we construct an infinite family of --closed
graphs, color-connected, with an alternating cycle factor, and with no
alternating Hamiltonian cycle.Comment: 15 pages, 20 figure
Parameter constraints for high-energy models of colliding winds of massive stars: the case WR 147
We explore the ability of high energy observations to constrain orbital
parameters of long period massive binary systems by means of an inverse Compton
model acting in colliding wind environments. This is particular relevant for
(very) long period binaries where orbital parameters are often poorly known
from conventional methods, as is the case e.g. for the Wolf-Rayet (WR) star
binary system WR 147 where INTEGRAL and MAGIC upper limits on the high-energy
emission have recently been presented. We conduct a parameter study of the set
of free quantities describing the yet vaguely constrained geometry and
respective effects on the non-thermal high-energy radiation from WR 147. The
results are confronted with the recently obtained high-energy observations and
with sensitivities of contemporaneous high-energy instruments like Fermi-LAT.
For binaries with sufficient long periods, like WR 147, gamma-ray attenuation
is unlikely to cause any distinctive features in the high-energy spectrum. This
leaves the anisotropic inverse Compton scattering as the only process that
reacts sensitively on the line-of-sight angle with respect to the orbital
plane, and therefore allows the deduction of system parameters even from
observations not covering a substantial part of the orbit.
Provided that particle acceleration acts sufficiently effectively to allow
the production of GeV photons through inverse Compton scattering, our analysis
indicates a preference for WR 147 to possess a large inclination angle.
Otherwise, for low inclination angles, electron acceleration is constrained to
be less efficient as anticipated here.Comment: 33 pages, 9 figures; accepted by Ap
Holographic model for heavy vector meson masses
The experimentally observed spectra of heavy vector meson radial excitations
show a dependence on two different energy parameters. One is associated with
the quark mass and the other with the binding energy levels of the quark
anti-quark pair. The first is present in the large mass of the first state
while the other corresponds to the small mass splittings between radial
excitations. In this article we show how to reproduce such a behavior with
reasonable precision using a holographic model. In the dual picture, the large
energy scale shows up from a bulk mass and the small scale comes from the
position of anti-de Sitter (AdS) space where field correlators are calculated.
The model determines the masses of four observed S-wave states of charmonium
and six S-wave states of bottomonium with , 6.1 % rms error. In consistency
with the physical picture, the large energy parameter is flavor dependent,
while the small parameter, associated with quark anti-quark interaction is the
same for charmonium and bottomonium states.Comment: In V5 we just added some clarifying explanations about the model. 5
tables, no figure. Version published in Europhysics Letter
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