Protecting the environment for self-interested reasons. Altruism is not the only pathway to sustainability

Concerns for environmental issues are important drivers of sustainable and pro-environmental behaviors, and can be differentiated between those with a self-enhancing (egoistic) vs. self-transcendent (biospheric) psychological foundation. Yet to date, the dominant approach for promoting pro-environmental behavior has focused on highlighting the benefits to others or nature, rather than appealing to self-interest. Building on the Inclusion Model for Environmental Concern, we argue that egoistic and biospheric environmental concerns, respectively, conceptualized as self-interest and altruism, are hierarchically structured, such that altruism is inclusive of self-interest. Three studies show that self-interested individuals will behave more pro-environmentally when the behavior results in a personal benefit (but not when there is exclusively an environmental benefit), while altruistic individuals will engage in pro-environmental behaviors when there are environmental benefits, and critically, also when there are personal benefits. The reported findings have implications for programs and policies designed to promote pro-environmental behavior, and for social science research aimed at understanding human responses to a changing environmen

Axial dependence of optical weak measurements in the critical region

The interference between optical beams of different polarizations plays a fundamental role in reproducing the optical analog of the electron spin weak measurement. The extraordinary point in optical weak measurements is represented by the possibility to estimate with great accuracy the Goos-Haenchen (GH) shift by measuring the distance between the peak of the outgoing beams for two opposite rotation angles of the polarizers located before and after the dielectric block. Starting from the numerical calculation of the GH shift, which clearly shows a frequency crossover for incidence near to the critical angle, we present a detailed study of the interference between s and p polarized waves in the critical region. This allows to determine in which conditions it is possible to avoid axial deformations and reproduce the GH curves. In view of a possible experimental implementation, we give the expected weak measurement curves for Gaussian lasers of different beam waist sizes propagating through borosilicate (BK7) and fused silica dielectric blocks.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Phase space gaps and ergodicity breaking in systems with long range interactions

We study a generalized isotropic XY-model which includes both two-spin and four-spin mean-field interactions. This model can be solved in the microcanonical ensemble. It is shown that in certain parameter regions the model exhibits gaps in the magnetization at fixed energy, resulting in ergodicity breaking. This phenomenon has previously been reported in anisotropic and discrete spin models. The entropy of the model is calculated and the microcanonical phase diagram is derived, showing the existence of first order phase transitions from the ferromagnetic to a paramagnetic disordered phase. It is found that ergodicity breaking takes place both in the ferromagnetic and the paramagnetic phases. As a consequence, the system can exhibit a stable ferromagnetic phase within the paramagnetic region, and conversely a disordered phase within the magnetically ordered region

The Asolant/Rubin-5 Technology Demonstration Mission - System Description and First Flight Results

This paper addresses the Asolant/Rubin-5 flight experiment conducted onboard the upper stage of a Cosmos rocket in late 2005. The main objective of the project was to flight-qualify a newly developed combined solar cell/antenna device, the so-called Advanced SOLar ANTenna (ASOLANT) technology. In order to assess both, the reception as well as emission of R/F signals, two different devices were involved in the mission. One was linked to a space-borne Phoenix-S GPS receiver to examine the receiving performance. A second device was designed to send out S-Band beacon signals generated by the SAFIR-S amateur radio transmitter to evaluate the radiation characteristics. Moreover, both ASOLANT devices supplied the electrical power for the onboard systems. Telecommand and telemetry functionalities were provided by an ORBCOMM communicator making use of the ORBCOMM satellite network to relay data between space and ground. This unit, furthermore, served as onboard computer. The experiment was launched along with eight multinational payload satellites. It was designed to remain attached to the rockets upper stage after burnout. Due to a separation failure of one of the copassengers, the primary mission objectives could not be fully met. Nevertheless, a sufficient number of data was retrieved to confirm the good overall performance of the ASOLANT devices. Roughly ten month after the launch, still most system components are operational and experiment data are transmitted to ground. Following a description of the main flight system components and the overall ystem architecture, the paper summarizes the hitherto obtained experiment results

Interplay between Bonding and Magnetism in the Adsorption of NO on Rh Clusters

We have studied the adsorption of NO on small Rh clusters, containing one to five atoms, using density functional theory in both spin-polarized and non-spin-polarized forms. We find that NO bonds more strongly to Rh clusters than it does to Rh(100) or Rh(111); however, it also quenches the magnetism of the clusters. This (local) effect results in reducing the magnitude of the adsorption energy, and also washes out the clear size-dependent trend observed in the non-magnetic case. Our results illustrate the competition present between the tendencies to bond and to magnetize, in small clusters.Comment: Submitted to J. of Chem. Phy

Bulk and surface biaxiality in nematic liquid crystals

Nematic liquid crystals possess three different phases: isotropic, uniaxial, and biaxial. The ground state of most nematics is either isotropic or uniaxial, depending on the external temperature. Nevertheless, biaxial domains have been frequently identified, especially close to defects or external surfaces. In this paper we show that any spatially-varying director pattern may be a source of biaxiality. We prove that biaxiality arises naturally whenever the symmetric tensor \Sb=(\grad \nn)(\grad \nn)^T possesses two distinct nonzero eigenvalues. The eigenvalue difference may be used as a measure of the expected biaxiality. Furthermore, the corresponding eigenvectors indicate the directions in which the order tensor \QQ is induced to break the uniaxial symmetry about the director \nn. We apply our general considerations to some examples. In particular we show that, when we enforce homeotropic anchoring on a curved surface, the order tensor become biaxial along the principal directions of the surface. The effect is triggered by the difference in surface principal curvatures