34,012 research outputs found
Luminescent solar concentrators. 2: Experimental and theoretical analysis of their possible efficiencies
Experimental techniques are developed to determine the applicability of a particular luminescing center
for use in a luminescent solar concentrator (LSC). The relevant steady-state characteristics of eighteen
common organic laser dyes are given. The relative spectral homogeneity of such dyes are shown to depend upon the surrounding material using narrowband laser excitation. We developed three independent techniques for measuring self-absorption rates; these are time-resolved emission, steady-state polarization anisotropy, and spectral convolution. Preliminary dye degradation and prototype efficiency measurements are included. Finally, we give simple relationships relating the efficiency and gain of an LSC to key spectroscopic parameters of its constituents
Measuring the galaxy power spectrum and scale-scale correlations with multiresolution-decomposed covariance -- I. method
We present a method of measuring galaxy power spectrum based on the
multiresolution analysis of the discrete wavelet transformation (DWT). Since
the DWT representation has strong capability of suppressing the off-diagonal
components of the covariance for selfsimilar clustering, the DWT covariance for
popular models of the cold dark matter cosmogony generally is diagonal, or
(scale)-diagonal in the scale range, in which the second scale-scale
correlations are weak. In this range, the DWT covariance gives a lossless
estimation of the power spectrum, which is equal to the corresponding Fourier
power spectrum banded with a logarithmical scaling. In the scale range, in
which the scale-scale correlation is significant, the accuracy of a power
spectrum detection depends on the scale-scale or band-band correlations. This
is, for a precision measurements of the power spectrum, a measurement of the
scale-scale or band-band correlations is needed. We show that the DWT
covariance can be employed to measuring both the band-power spectrum and second
order scale-scale correlation. We also present the DWT algorithm of the binning
and Poisson sampling with real observational data. We show that the alias
effect appeared in usual binning schemes can exactly be eliminated by the DWT
binning. Since Poisson process possesses diagonal covariance in the DWT
representation, the Poisson sampling and selection effects on the power
spectrum and second order scale-scale correlation detection are suppressed into
minimum. Moreover, the effect of the non-Gaussian features of the Poisson
sampling can be calculated in this frame.Comment: AAS Latex file, 44 pages, accepted for publication in Ap
Social interactions in massively multiplayer online role-playing gamers
To date, most research into massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) has examined the demographics of play. This study explored the social interactions that occur both within and outside of MMORPGs. The sample consisted of 912 self-selected MMORPG players from 45 countries. MMORPGs were found to be highly socially interactive environments providing the opportunity to create strong friendships and emotional relationships. The study demonstrated that the social interactions in online gaming form a considerable element in the enjoyment of playing. The study showed MMORPGs can be extremely social games, with high percentages of gamers making life-long friends and partners. It was concluded that virtual gaming may allow players to express themselves in ways they may not feel comfortable doing in real life because of their appearance, gender, sexuality, and/or age. MMORPGs also offer a place where teamwork, encouragement, and fun can be experienced
A webometric analysis of Australian Universities using staff and size dependent web impact factors (WIF)
This study describes how search engines (SE) can be employed for automated, efficient data gathering for Webometric studies using predictable URLs. It then compares the usage of staffrelated Web Impact Factors (WIFs) to sizerelated impact factors for a ranking of Australian universities, showing that rankings based on staffrelated WIFs correlate much better with an established ranking from the Melbourne Institute than commonly used sizedependent WIFs. In fact sizedependent WIFs do not correlate with the Melbourne ranking at all. It also compares WIF data for Australian Universities provided by Smith (1999) for a longitudinal comparison of the WIF of Australian Universities over the last decade. It shows that sizedependent WIF values declined for most Australian universities over the last ten years, while staffdependent WIFs rose
Physical Bias of Galaxies From Large-Scale Hydrodynamic Simulations
We analyze a new large-scale (Mpc) numerical hydrodynamic
simulation of the popular CDM cosmological model, including in our
treatment dark matter, gas and star-formation, on the basis of standard
physical processes. The method, applied with a numerical resolution of
kpc (which is still quite coarse for following individual galaxies,
especially in dense regions), attempts to estimate where and when galaxies
form. We then compare the smoothed galaxy distribution with the smoothed mass
distribution to determine the "bias" defined as on scales large compared with the code
numerical resolution (on the basis of resolution tests given in the appendix of
this paper). We find that (holding all variables constant except the quoted
one) bias increases with decreasing scale, with increasing galactic age or
metallicity and with increasing redshift of observations. At the Mpc
fiducial comoving scale bias (for bright regions) is 1.35 at reaching to
3.6 at , both numbers being consistent with extant observations. We also
find that Mpc voids in the distribution of luminous objects are
as observed (i.e., observed voids are not an argument against CDM-like models)
and finally that the younger systems should show a colder Hubble flow than do
the early type galaxies (a testable proposition). Surprisingly, little
evolution is found in the amplitude of the smoothed galaxy-galaxy correlation
function (as a function of {\it comoving} separation). Testing this prediction
vs observations will allow a comparison between this work and that of Kauffmann
et al which is based on a different physical modelingmethod.Comment: in press, ApJ, 26 latex pages plus 7 fig
Sensitivity of Redshift Distortion Measurements to Cosmological Parameters
The multipole moments of the power spectrum of large scale structure,
observed in redshift space, are calculated for a finite sample volume including
the effects of both the linear velocity field and geometry. A variance
calculation is also performed including the effects of shot noise. The
sensitivity with which a survey with the depth and geometry of the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) can measure cosmological parameters and
(the bias) or (the cosmological constant) and is
derived through fitting power spectrum moments to the large scale structure in
the linear regime in a way which is independent of the evolution of the galaxy
number density. We find that for surveys of the approximate depth of the SDSS
no restrictions can be placed on at the 99% confidence limit when a
fiducial open, model is assumed and bias is unconstrained. At
the 95% limit, is ruled out. Furthermore, for this fiducial
model, both flat (cosmological constant) and open models are expected to
reasonably fit the data. For flat, cosmological constant models with a fiducial
, we find that models with are ruled out
at the 95% confidence limit regardless of the choice of the bias parameter, and
open models cannot fit the data even at the 99% confidence limit.Comment: We correct an error which which caused us to overestimate the cosmic
variance of our statistics. We also include shot noise in the new variace
calculation. In our fitting proceedure, we now include , the
non-linear velocity dispersion, as a free parameter. Our conclusions are
modifed as a result, with open models now nominaly excluding
at the 95% but not 99% confidence limi
Structure formation from non-Gaussian initial conditions: multivariate biasing, statistics, and comparison with N-body simulations
We study structure formation in the presence of primordial non-Gaussianity of
the local type with parameters f_NL and g_NL. We show that the distribution of
dark-matter halos is naturally described by a multivariate bias scheme where
the halo overdensity depends not only on the underlying matter density
fluctuation delta, but also on the Gaussian part of the primordial
gravitational potential phi. This corresponds to a non-local bias scheme in
terms of delta only. We derive the coefficients of the bias expansion as a
function of the halo mass by applying the peak-background split to common
parametrizations for the halo mass function in the non-Gaussian scenario. We
then compute the halo power spectrum and halo-matter cross spectrum in the
framework of Eulerian perturbation theory up to third order. Comparing our
results against N-body simulations, we find that our model accurately describes
the numerical data for wavenumbers k < 0.1-0.3 h/Mpc depending on redshift and
halo mass. In our multivariate approach, perturbations in the halo counts trace
phi on large scales and this explains why the halo and matter power spectra
show different asymptotic trends for k -> 0. This strongly scale-dependent bias
originates from terms at leading order in our expansion. This is different from
what happens using the standard univariate local bias where the scale-dependent
terms come from badly behaved higher-order corrections. On the other hand, our
biasing scheme reduces to the usual local bias on smaller scales where |phi| is
typically much smaller than the density perturbations. We finally discuss the
halo bispectrum in the context of multivariate biasing and show that, due to
its strong scale and shape dependence, it is a powerful tool for the detection
of primordial non-Gaussianity from future galaxy surveys.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures. Minor modifications, version accepted by Phys.
Rev.
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