1,320 research outputs found
Plug-in vehicles and the future of road infrastructure funding in the United States
In the United States, the road infrastructure funding is declining due to an increase in fuel efficiency and the non-adjustment of fuel taxes to inflation. Propositions to tax plug-in vehicles have been proposed or implemented in several states. Those propositions are contrary to policies to promote the sale of fuel efficient vehicles. This paper assesses (1) the magnitude of the decline in federal fuel tax revenue caused by plug-in vehicles and (2) quantifies the amount of revenue that could be generated from a federal plug-in vehicle registration fee. We find that the contribution of plug-in vehicles to the decline of the federal fuel tax revenue is at most 1.56% and that the majority of the shortfall can be attributed to the non-adjustment of the fuel tax rate by 2040. An additional tax of 200 per plug-in vehicle per year in the reference case would generate 745 million in 2040 which represents an increase of 1.7% - 6.7% in federal fuel tax revenue compared to no tax. The lesson for policy makers is that plug-in vehicles do not contribute significantly to the funding shortfall in the short- and medium-run and a supplemental tax would generate a small percentage of additional revenue
Gravitomagnetic Jets
We present a family of dynamic rotating cylindrically symmetric Ricci-flat
gravitational fields whose geodesic motions have the structure of
gravitomagnetic jets. These correspond to helical motions of free test
particles up and down parallel to the axis of cylindrical symmetry and are
reminiscent of the motion of test charges in a magnetic field. The speed of a
test particle in a gravitomagnetic jet asymptotically approaches the speed of
light. Moreover, numerical evidence suggests that jets are attractors. The
possible implications of our results for the role of gravitomagnetism in the
formation of astrophysical jets are briefly discussed.Comment: 47 pages, 8 figures; v2: minor improvements; v3: paragraph added at
the end of Sec. V and other minor improvements; v4: reference added, typos
corrected, sentence added on p. 24; v5: a few minor improvement
Some results on homoclinic and heteroclinic connections in planar systems
Consider a family of planar systems depending on two parameters and
having at most one limit cycle. Assume that the limit cycle disappears at some
homoclinic (or heteroclinic) connection when We present a method
that allows to obtain a sequence of explicit algebraic lower and upper bounds
for the bifurcation set The method is applied to two quadratic
families, one of them is the well-known Bogdanov-Takens system. One of the
results that we obtain for this system is the bifurcation curve for small
values of , given by . We obtain
the new three terms from purely algebraic calculations, without evaluating
Melnikov functions
On the number of limit cycles of the Lienard equation
In this paper, we study a Lienard system of the form dot{x}=y-F(x),
dot{y}=-x, where F(x) is an odd polynomial. We introduce a method that gives a
sequence of algebraic approximations to the equation of each limit cycle of the
system. This sequence seems to converge to the exact equation of each limit
cycle. We obtain also a sequence of polynomials R_n(x) whose roots of odd
multiplicity are related to the number and location of the limit cycles of the
system.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Physical Review
Te-based chalcogenide materials for selector applications
The implementation of dense, one-selector one-resistor (1S1R), resistive switching memory arrays, can be achieved with an appropriate selector for correct information storage and retrieval. Ovonic threshold switches (OTS) based on chalcogenide materials are a strong candidate, but their low thermal stability is one of the key factors that prevents rapid adoption by emerging resistive switching memory technologies. A previously developed map for phase change materials is expanded and improved for OTS materials. Selected materials from different areas of the map, belonging to binary Ge-Te and Si-Te systems, are explored. Several routes, including Si doping and reduction of Te amount, are used to increase the crystallization temperature. Selector devices, with areas as small as 55 x 55 nm(2), were electrically assessed. Sub-threshold conduction models, based on Poole-Frenkel conduction mechanism, are applied to fresh samples in order to extract as-processed material parameters, such as trap height and density of defects, tailoring of which could be an important element for designing a suitable OTS material. Finally, a glass transition temperature estimation model is applied to Te-based materials in order to predict materials that might have the required thermal stability. A lower average number of p-electrons is correlated with a good thermal stability
Effects of a localized beam on the dynamics of excitable cavity solitons
We study the dynamical behavior of dissipative solitons in an optical cavity
filled with a Kerr medium when a localized beam is applied on top of the
homogeneous pumping. In particular, we report on the excitability regime that
cavity solitons exhibits which is emergent property since the system is not
locally excitable. The resulting scenario differs in an important way from the
case of a purely homogeneous pump and now two different excitable regimes, both
Class I, are shown. The whole scenario is presented and discussed, showing that
it is organized by three codimension-2 points. Moreover, the localized beam can
be used to control important features, such as the excitable threshold,
improving the possibilities for the experimental observation of this
phenomenon.Comment: 9 Pages, 12 figure
The project ENDORSE: exploiting EO data to develop pre-market services in renewable energy
International audienceThe ENDORSE project is co-funded by the FP7 programme of the European Commission, from 2011 to 2013. It exploits the atmosphere service MACC of the European GMES programme (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) together with other Earth Observation (EO) data and modelling. It aims at providing public authorities and private investors with accurate evaluation and forecasts of renewable resources. The focus is on the devel-opment of downstream services that create added-value information. We present here the achievements of the first period. A very accurate though fast algorithm describing the position of the sun in the sky has been developed. A series of recommendations for quality control of meteorological data have been issued. All algorithms are available as code sources and are being implemented as Web processing services (WPS). Support vector machine techniques prove successful to map the air temperature at 2-m height from satellite images and a few measurements at ground level. The next development of ENDORSE is a portfolio of pre-market downstream services, serving as precursors and examples of best practices for similar services. The resulting services will be described using the INSPIRE metadata and declared in an existing Catalog Service for the Web (CSW) dedicated to energy. Finally, we discuss the mutual benefits between GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) and ENDORSE
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