Uniqueness of Nash equilibria in quantum Cournot duopoly game

A quantum Cournot game of which classical form game has multiple Nash equilibria is examined. Although the classical equilibria fail to be Pareto optimal, the quantum equilibrium exhibits the following two properties, (i) if the measurement of entanglement between strategic variables chosen by the competing firms is sufficiently large, the multiplicity of equilibria vanishes, and, (ii) the more strongly the strategic variables are entangled, the more closely the unique equilibrium approaches to the optimal one.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Studying the Impact of Colored Glazing Systems on Visual and Non-visual Performances in a Daylit Office

This article first presents a full-scale survey of the impact of colored/neutral glazing systems on occupants’ visual and non-visual performances, and working performance in a daylit office in Beijing, China. Five glazing systems were investigated during a heating season from 17 November 2016 to 11 January 2017. The lighting measurements and subjective assessments were conducted to find the relationship between lighting conditions, glazing types, and visual and non-visual performances and working performance. Several main findings are achieved as follows: 1) According to the visual performances, the blue glazing could be the best solution while the bronze glazing tend to be less acceptable; the grey and green glazing systems did not show significant differences from the clear glazing. 2) No clear differences of non-visual performances can be found between various colored/neutral glazing systems. 3) The circadian light has a significant link to occupants’ non-visual performances. 4) Participants tend to get a worse performance in short-term test of GONOGO working with the occurrence of the blue glazing system

Calibration of probabilistic quantitative precipitation forecasts with an artificial neural network

A feed-forward neural network is configured to calibrate the bias of a high-resolution probabilistic quantitative precipitation forecast (PQPF) produced by a 12-km version of the NCEP Regional Spectral Model (RSM) ensemble forecast system. Twice-daily forecasts during the 2002-2003 cool season (1 November-31 March, inclusive) are run over four U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) hydrologic unit regions of the southwest United States. Calibration is performed via a cross-validation procedure, where four months are used for training and the excluded month is used for testing. The PQPFs before and after the calibration over a hydrological unit region are evaluated by comparing the joint probability distribution of forecasts and observations. Verification is performed on the 4-km stage IV grid, which is used as "truth." The calibration procedure improves the Brier score (BrS), conditional bias (reliability) and forecast skill, such as the Brier skill score (BrSS) and the ranked probability skill score (RPSS), relative to the sample frequency for all geographic regions and most precipitation thresholds. However, the procedure degrades the resolution of the PQPFs by systematically producing more forecasts with low nonzero forecast probabilities that drive the forecast distribution closer to the climatology of the training sample. The problem of degrading the resolution is most severe over the Colorado River basin and the Great Basin for relatively high precipitation thresholds where the sample of observed events is relatively small. © 2007 American Meteorological Society

Morphology and flexibility of graphene and few-layer graphene on various substrates

We report on detailed microscopy studies of graphene and few-layer-graphene produced by mechanical exfoliation on various semi-conducting substrates. We demonstrate the possibility to prepare and analyze graphene on (001)-GaAs, manganese p-doped (001)-GaAs and InGaAs substrates. The morphology of graphene on these substrates was investigated by scanning electron and atomic force microscopy and compared to layers on silicon oxide. It was found that graphene sheets strongly follow the texture of the sustaining substrates independent on doping, polarity or roughness. Furthermore resist residues exist on top of graphene after a lithographic step. The obtained results provide the opportunity to research the graphene-substrate interactions

Short-range probabilistic quantitative precipitation forecasts over the southwest United States by the RSM ensemble system

The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Regional Spectral Model (RSM) is used to produce twice-daily (0000 and 1200 UTC), high-resolution ensemble forecasts to 24 h. The forecasts are performed at an equivalent horizontal grid spacing of 12 km for the period 1 November 2002 to 31 March 2003 over the southwest United States. The performance of 6-h accumulated precipitation is assessed for 32 U.S. Geological Survey hydrologic catchments. Multiple accuracy and skill measures are used to evaluate probabilistic quantitative precipitation forecasts. NCEP stage-IV precipitation analyses are used as "truth," with verification performed on the stage-IV 4-km grid. The RSM ensemble exhibits a ubiquitous wet bias. The bias manifests itself in areal coverage, frequency of occurrence, and total accumulated precipitation over every region and during every 6-h period. The biases become particularly acute starting with the 1800-0000 UTC interval, which leads to a spurious diurnal cycle and the 1200 UTC cycle being more adversely affected than the 0000 UTC cycle. Forecast quality and value exhibit marked variability over different hydrologic regions. The forecasts are highly skillful along coastal California and the windward slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but they generally lack skill over the Great Basin and the Colorado basin except over mountain peaks. The RSM ensemble is able to discriminate precipitation events and provide useful guidance to a wide range of users over most regions of California, which suggests that mitigation of the conditional biases through statistical postprocessing would produce major improvements in skill. © 2007 American Meteorological Society

A Pilot Study of Effects of Coloured Glazing Systems in a Daylit Office: Visual Comfort, Alertness, Mood and Wellbeing

Daylighting can significantly affect human health & well-being in buildings. This article presents an experiment of the impact of several coloured/neutral glazing systems on visual performance, alertness, mood and wellbeing of occupants in a daylit office in Beijing, China. From 10:00 to 16:50 in four days of spring 2016, a total of 15 participants (age: 28.53±5.07) attended the experiment. Both visual and non-visual performances have been assessed using subjective evaluation measures. In the meantime the daylighting/colour conditions were also recorded. It has been found: the bronze glazing was given the least preference when compared with the blue and clear glazing; the blue glazing can achieve similar visual and non-visual performance as the clear glazing, even though there were big differences of spectral transmittances in between. In addition, this study indicated that further investigations would be required to clarify the preference of glazing colour, taking into account human-beings’ biological performances, cultural and ethnic backgrounds