H\"older Regularity of Geometric Subdivision Schemes

We present a framework for analyzing non-linear $\mathbb{R}^d$-valued subdivision schemes which are geometric in the sense that they commute with similarities in $\mathbb{R}^d$. It admits to establish $C^{1,\alpha}$-regularity for arbitrary schemes of this type, and $C^{2,\alpha}$-regularity for an important subset thereof, which includes all real-valued schemes. Our results are constructive in the sense that they can be verified explicitly for any scheme and any given set of initial data by a universal procedure. This procedure can be executed automatically and rigorously by a computer when using interval arithmetics.Comment: 31 pages, 1 figur

Monitoring infrastructure policy reforms and rural poverty reduction in Ghana : the case of Keta Sea Defence Project

Over the years Ghana has adopted many policy reforms with the aim of reducing poverty. Though official reports indicate reduction in poverty, poverty has become a rural phenomenon. An essential factor identified as crucial for rural poverty reduction is infrastructure. Though the government of Ghana has acknowledged the potential contribution of infrastructure to poverty reduction, and continues to increase annual expenditure on infrastructure provision, the government is worried about the failure of many infrastructure projects to reduce poverty. Since policies provide frameworks that guide action, it would be expected that Ghana’s infrastructure policies address these problems. The study explores the relationship between infrastructure and rural poverty reduction, and the adequacy of Ghana’s infrastructure policy environment in contributing to rural poverty reduction

Improved analysis of neutral pion electroproduction off deuterium in chiral perturbation theory

Near threshold neutral pion electroproduction on the deuteron is studied in the framework of heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory. We include the next-to-leading order corrections to the three-body contributions. We find an improved description of the total and differential cross section data measured at MAMI. We also obtain more precise values for the threshold S-wave multipoles. We discuss in detail the theoretical uncertainties of the calculation.Comment: 14 pp, 11 figs, uses svjour.cl

Cloud geometry from oxygen-A-band observations through an aircraft side window

During the ACRIDICON-CHUVA (Aerosol, Cloud, Precipitation, and Radiation Interactions and Dynamics of Convective Cloud Systems–Cloud Processes of the Main Precipitation Systems in Brazil: A Contribution to Cloud Resolving Modeling and to the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement)) aircraft campaign in September 2014 over the Amazon, among other topics, aerosol effects on the development of cloud microphysical profiles during the burning season were studied. Hyperspectral remote sensing with the imaging spectrometer specMACS provided cloud microphysical information for sun-illuminated cloud sides. In order to derive profiles of phase or effective radius from cloud side observations, vertical location information is indispensable. For this purpose, spectral measurements of cloud-side-reflected radiation in the oxygen A absorption band collected by specMACS were used to determine absorption path length between cloud sides and the instrument aboard the aircraft. From these data, horizontal distance and eventually vertical height were derived. It is shown that, depending on aircraft altitude and sensor viewing direction, an unambiguous relationship of absorption and distance exists and can be used to retrieve cloud geometrical parameters. A comparison to distance and height information from stereo image analysis (using data of an independent camera) demonstrates the efficiency of the approach. Uncertainty estimates due to method, instrument and environmental factors are provided. The main sources of uncertainty are unknown in cloud absorption path contributions due to complex 3-D geometry or unknown microphysical properties, variable surface albedo and aerosol distribution. A systematic difference of 3.8&thinsp;km between the stereo and spectral method is found which can be attributed to 3-D geometry effects not considered in the method's simplified cloud model. If this offset is considered, typical differences found are 1.6&thinsp;km for distance and 230&thinsp;m for vertical position at a typical distance around 20&thinsp;km between sensor and convective cloud elements of typically 1–10&thinsp;km horizontal and vertical extent.</p

Evidence for a negative-parity spin-doublet of nucleon resonances at 1.88\,GeV

Evidence is reported for two nucleon resonances with spin-parity $J^P=1/2^-$ and $J^P=3/2^-$ at a mass just below 1.9\,GeV. The evidence is derived from a coupled-channel analysis of a large number of pion and photo-produced reactions. The two resonances are nearly degenerate in mass with two resonances of the same spin but positive parity. Such parity doublets are predicted in models claiming restoration of chiral symmetry in high-mass excitations of the nucleon. Further examples of spin parity doublets are found in addition. Alternatively, the spin doublet can be interpreted as member of the 56-plet expected in the third excitation band of the nucleon. Implications for the problem of the {\it missing resonances} are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables, minor revisio

Epidemic space

The aim of this article is to highlight the importance of 'spatiality' in understanding the materialization of risk society and cultivation of risk sensibilities. More specifically it provides a cultural analysis of pathogen virulence (as a social phenomenon) by means of tracing and mapping the spatial flows that operate in the uncharted zones between the microphysics of infection and the macrophysics of epidemics. It will be argued that epidemic space consists of three types of forces: the vector, the index and the vortex. It will draw on Latour's Actor Network Theory to argue that epidemic space is geared towards instability when the vortex (of expanding associations and concerns) displaces the index (of finding a single cause)

A complex storm system in Saturn’s north polar atmosphere in 2018

Producción CientíficaSaturn’s convective storms usually fall in two categories. One consists of mid-sized storms ∼2,000 km wide, appearing as irregular bright cloud systems that evolve rapidly, on scales of a few days. The other includes the Great White Spots, planetary-scale giant storms ten times larger than the mid-sized ones, which disturb a full latitude band, enduring several months, and have been observed only seven times since 1876. Here we report a new intermediate type, observed in 2018 in the north polar region. Four large storms with east–west lengths ∼4,000–8,000 km (the first one lasting longer than 200 days) formed sequentially in close latitudes, experiencing mutual encounters and leading to zonal disturbances affecting a full latitude band ∼8,000 km wide, during at least eight months. Dynamical simulations indicate that each storm required energies around ten times larger than mid-sized storms but ∼100 times smaller than those necessary for a Great White Spot. This event occurred at about the same latitude and season as the Great White Spot in 1960, in close correspondence with the cycle of approximately 60 years hypothesized for equatorial Great White Spots.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project AYA2015-65041-P)Gobierno Vasco (project IT-366-19

Hamiltonian submanifolds of regular polytopes

We investigate polyhedral $2k$-manifolds as subcomplexes of the boundary complex of a regular polytope. We call such a subcomplex {\it $k$-Hamiltonian} if it contains the full $k$-skeleton of the polytope. Since the case of the cube is well known and since the case of a simplex was also previously studied (these are so-called {\it super-neighborly triangulations}) we focus on the case of the cross polytope and the sporadic regular 4-polytopes. By our results the existence of 1-Hamiltonian surfaces is now decided for all regular polytopes. Furthermore we investigate 2-Hamiltonian 4-manifolds in the $d$-dimensional cross polytope. These are the "regular cases" satisfying equality in Sparla's inequality. In particular, we present a new example with 16 vertices which is highly symmetric with an automorphism group of order 128. Topologically it is homeomorphic to a connected sum of 7 copies of $S^2 \times S^2$. By this example all regular cases of $n$ vertices with $n < 20$ or, equivalently, all cases of regular $d$-polytopes with $d\leq 9$ are now decided.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figure