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The use of social media for improving energy consumption awareness and efficiency: An overview of existing tools
Raising consumersâ awareness of energy consumption is one of the first steps in encouraging the adoption of energy saving behaviours that result in energy efficiency. Green information systems are becoming recognised as a solution to many environmental problems although information technology (e.g. disposal of IT devices) has also been associated with causing detrimental effects on the environment. Researchers and practitioners have begun to focus on Green ICT but there is little scholarly research on the use of ICT tools such as social media from an energy efficiency context to raise consumer awareness and improve their engagement in tackling environmental issues. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the use of social media and existing tools for the interaction of people on energy saving discussions and for generating awareness and engagement (which thereby leads to energy efficiency behaviour). In this paper the authors provide a state of the art review around the concept of energy awareness, models of consumer engagement, and more importantly the use of social media in the energy efficiency context. This research is based on a desk-based normative review and seeks to provide a better understanding to both scholars and practitioners involved in the use of ICT for driving energy consumer awareness and engagement for energy efficiency.This work evolved in the context of the project DAREED (Decision support Advisor for innovative business models and useR engagement for smart Energy Efficient Districts), www.dareed.eu, a project co-funded by the EC within FP7, Grant agreement no: 609082
Relativistic r-modes in Slowly Rotating Neutron Stars: Numerical Analysis in the Cowling Approximation
We investigate the properties of relativistic -modes of slowly rotating
neutron stars by using a relativistic version of the Cowling approximation. In
our formalism, we take into account the influence of the Coriolis like force on
the stellar oscillations, but ignore the effects of the centrifugal like force.
For three neutron star models, we calculated the fundamental -modes with
and 3. We found that the oscillation frequency of the
fundamental -mode is in a good approximation given by , where is defined in the corotating frame at the
spatial infinity, and is the angular frequency of rotation of the
star. The proportional coefficient is only weakly dependent on
, but it strongly depends on the relativistic parameter ,
where and are the mass and the radius of the star. All the fundamental
-modes with computed in this study are discrete modes with distinct
regular eigenfunctions, and they all fall in the continuous part of the
frequency spectrum associated with Kojima's equation (Kojima 1998). These
relativistic -modes are obtained by including the effects of rotation higher
than the first order of so that the buoyant force plays a role, the
situation of which is quite similar to that for the Newtonian -modes.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Alternative experimental evidence for chiral restoration in excited baryons
Given existing empirical spectral patterns of excited hadrons it has been
suggested that chiral symmetry is approximately restored in excited hadrons at
zero temperature/density (effective symmetry restoration). If correct, this
implies that mass generation mechanisms and physics in excited hadrons is very
different as compared to the lowest states. One needs an alternative and
independent experimental information to confirm this conjecture. Using very
general chiral symmetry arguments it is shown that strict chiral restoration in
a given excited nucleon forbids its decay into the N \pi channel. Hence those
excited nucleons which are assumed from the spectroscopic patterns to be in
approximate chiral multiplets must only "weakly" decay into the N \pi channel,
(f_{N^*N\pi}/f_{NN\pi})^2 << 1. However, those baryons which have no chiral
partner must decay strongly with a decay constant comparable with f_{NN\pi}.
Decay constants can be extracted from the existing decay widths and branching
ratios. It turnes out that for all those well established excited nucleons
which can be classified into chiral doublets N_+(1440) - N_-(1535), N_+(1710) -
N_-(1650), N_+(1720) - N_-(1700), N_+(1680) - N_-(1675), N_+(2220) - N_-(2250),
N_+(?) - N_-(2190), N_+(?) - N_-(2600), the ratio is (f_{N^*N\pi}/f_{NN\pi})^2
~ 0.1 or much smaller for the high-spin states. In contrast, the only well
established excited nucleon for which the chiral partner cannot be identified
from the spectroscopic data, N(1520), has a decay constant into the N\pi
channel that is comparable with f_{NN\pi}. This gives an independent
experimental verification of the chiral symmetry restoration scenario.Comment: 4 pp. A new footnote with an alternative proof of impossibility of
parity doublet decay into pi + N is added. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Effect of Plasma Irradiation on films
The effect of plasma irradiation is studied systematically on a 4H polytype
(002) oriented stoichiometric film having compressive residual
stress. Plasma irradiation was found to change the orientation to (110) of the
film at certain moderate irradiation distances. A linear decrease in grain size
and residual stress was observed with decreasing irradiation distance (or
increasing ion energy) consistent with both structural and morphological
observations. The direct optical energy gap was found to increase
linearly at the rate with the compressive stress. The
combined data of present compressive stress and from earlier reported tensile
stress show a consistent trend of change with stress. The
iodine-iodine distance in the unit cell could be responsible for the observed
change in with stress.Comment: 13 pages and 10 fi
The triton and three-nucleon force in nuclear lattice simulations
We study the triton and three-nucleon force at lowest chiral order in
pionless effective field theory both in the Hamiltonian and Euclidean nuclear
lattice formalism. In the case of the Euclidean lattice formalism, we derive
the exact few-body worldline amplitudes corresponding to the standard many-body
lattice action. This will be useful for setting low-energy coefficients in
future nuclear lattice simulations. We work in the Wigner SU(4)-symmetric limit
where the S-wave scattering lengths {1}S{0} and {3}S{1} are equal. By comparing
with continuum results, we demonstrate for the first time that the nuclear
lattice formalism can be used to study few-body nucleon systems.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure
The Uehling correction to the energy levels in a pionic atom
We consider a correction to energy levels in a pionic atom induced by the
Uehling potential, i.e., by a free electron vacuum-polarization loop. The
calculation is performed for circular states (l=n-1). The result is obtained in
a closed analytic form as a function of and the pion-to-electron
mass ratio. Certain asymptotics of the result are also presented
Departure from the constant-period ephemeris for the transiting exoplanet WASP-12 b
Most hot Jupiters are expected to spiral in towards their host stars due to
transfering of the angular momentum of the orbital motion to the stellar spin.
Their orbits can also precess due to planet-star interactions. Calculations
show that both effects could be detected for the very-hot exoplanet WASP-12 b
using the method of precise transit timing over a timespan of the order of 10
yr. We acquired new precise light curves for 29 transits of WASP-12 b,
spannning 4 observing seasons from November 2012 to February 2016. New
mid-transit times, together with literature ones, were used to refine the
transit ephemeris and analyse the timing residuals. We find that the transit
times of WASP-12 b do not follow a linear ephemeris with a 5 sigma confidence
level. They may be approximated with a quadratic ephemeris that gives a rate of
change in the orbital period of -2.56 +/- 0.40 x 10^{-2} s/yr. The tidal
quality parameter of the host star was found to be equal to 2.5 x 10^5 that is
comparable to theoretical predictions for Sun-like stars. We also consider a
model, in which the observed timing residuals are interpreted as a result of
the apsidal precession. We find, however, that this model is statistically less
probable than the orbital decay.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
Regge approach to charged-pion photoproduction at invariant energies above 2 GeV
A Regge model with absorptive corrections is employed in a global analysis of
the world data on positive and negative pion photoproduction for photon
energies from 3 to 8 GeV. In this region resonance contributions are expected
to be negligible so that the available experimental information on differential
cross sections and single polarization observables at -t \leq 2 GeV^2 allows us
to determine the non-resonant part of the reaction amplitude reliably. The
model amplitude is then used to predict observables for photon energies below 3
GeV. Differences between our predictions and data in this energy region are
systematically examined as possible signals for the presence of excited
baryons. We find that the data available for the polarized photon asymmetry
show promising resonance signatures at invariant energies around 2 GeV. With
regard to differential cross sections the analysis of negative pion
photoproduction data, obtained recently at JLab, indicates likewise the
presence of resonance structures around 2 GeVComment: misprint in Table 3 corrected; reference adde
The social, cosmopolitanism and beyond
First, this article will outline the metaphysics of âthe socialâ that implicitly and explicitly connects the work of lassical and contemporary cosmopolitan sociologists as different as Durkheim, Weber, Beck and Luhmann. In a second step, I will show that the cosmopolitan outlook of classical sociology is driven by exclusive differences. In understanding human affairs, both classical sociology and contemporary cosmopolitan sociology reflect a very modernist outlook of epistemological, conceptual, methodological and disciplinary rigour that separates the cultural sphere from the natural objects of concern. I will suggest that classical sociology â in order to be cosmopolitan â is forced (1) to exclude non-social and non-human objects as part of its conceptual and methodological rigour, and (2) consequently and methodologically to rule out the non-social and the non-human. Cosmopolitan sociology imagines âthe socialâ as a global, universal explanatory device to conceive and describe the non-social and non-human. In a third and final step the article draws upon the work of the French sociologist Gabriel Tarde and offers a possible alternative to the modernist social and cultural other-logics of social sciences. It argues for a inclusive conception of âthe socialâ that gives the non-social and non-human a cosmopolitan voice as well
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