CHIANTI - an atomic database for emission lines. VII. New Data for X-rays and other improvements

The CHIANTI atomic database contains atomic energy levels, wavelengths, radiative transition probabilities, and collisional excitation data for a large number of ions of astrophysical interest. CHIANTI also includes a suite of IDL routines to calculate synthetic spectra and carry out plasma diagnostics. Version 5 has been released, which includes several new features, as well as new data for many ions. The new features in CHIANTI are as follows: the inclusion of ionization and recombination rates to individual excited levels as a means to populate atomic levels; data for Kα and Kβ emission from Fe ii to Fe xxiv; new data for high-energy configurations in Fe xvii to Fe xxiii; and a complete reassessment of level energies and line identifications in the X-ray range, multitemperature particle distributions, and photoexcitation from any user-defined radiation field. New data for ions already in the database, as well as data for ions not present in earlier versions of the database, are also included. Version 5 of CHIANTI represents a major improvement in the calculation of line emissivities and synthetic spectra in the X-ray range and expands and improves theoretical spectra calculations in all other wavelength ranges

The role of risk perception and affect in predicting support for conservation policy under rapid ecosystem change

Conservation conflicts are damaging for humans and wildlife, with differences in people's objectives fuelling challenges of managing complex, dynamic systems. We investigate the relative importance of economic, psychological (affect, trust and risk perception) and ecological factors in determining farmers' management preferences, using Greenland barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) on Islay, Scotland, as a case study. Barnacle geese reduce agricultural productivity on Islay, negatively impacting household economies. Since 1992, farmers have received partial compensation but a new culling scheme has escalated conflict between conservation and agricultural interests. Using a questionnaire, we collected data from 75% of the farmers receiving goose payments. We found that affect was a strong driver of both risk perception and management preferences. However, we revealed complexity in these relationships, with trust and economic factors also influencing decision‐making. Psychological and economic factors surrounding wildlife management must be understood if we are to achieve conservation objectives in human dominated landscapes

Delicate Debates on Islam. Policymakers and Academics Speaking with Each Other: an Introduction

Rule of Law and Development: Formation, Implementation and Improvement of Law and Governance in Developing Countrie

Atomic data for the astrophysics : Fe XII soft X-ray lines.

We present new large-scale R-matrix (up to n = 4) and distorted-wave (DW, up to n = 6) scattering calculations for electron collisional excitation of Fe xii. The first aim is to provide accurate atomic data for the soft X-rays, where strong decays from the n = 4 levels are present. As found in previous work on Fe x, resonances attached to n = 4 levels increase the cross-sections for excitations from the ground state to some n = 4 levels, when compared to DW calculations. Cascading from higher levels is also important. We provide a number of models and line intensities, and list a number of strong unidentified lines. The second aim is to assess the effects of the large R-matrix calculation on the n = 3 transitions. Compared to our previous (n = 3) R-matrix calculation, we find overall excellent agreement to within a few percent, however a few key density diagnostic EUV intensities differ by about 60% at coronal densities. The new atomic data result in lower electron densities, resolving previous discrepancies with solar observations

Atomic data for the x-ray lines of Fe viii and Fe ix

The distorted wave extension of the autostructure code has been used to calculate energy levels, radiative transition probabilities and collisional excitation rates of Fe  viii and Fe  ix up to n = 6 for Fe ix and n = 7 for Fe  viii. We have compared some of the data with previous calculations, finding overall agreement for radiative transition rates, but interesting differences for some collisional data. We have merged our data for the higher energy levels with published R-matrix collisional excitation rates for the lower ones to calculate spectral line intensities and compare them with observations. In particular, we have focused on the transitions from high energy levels of Fe viii & Fe ix which are present in the 93–95 Å region. A few new identifications are tentatively provided. We find that Fe  ix 5f–3d and Fe  viii 7f–3d transitions only comprise a small fraction of the observed lines in the 93–95 Å region for quiet Sun conditions, and thus their contribution to the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 94 Å band is expected to be small

The Strange Parton Distribution of the Nucleon: Global Analysis and Applications

The strangeness degrees of freedom in the parton structure of the nucleon are explored in the global analysis framework, using the new CTEQ6.5 implementation of the general mass perturbative QCD formalism of Collins. We systematically determine the constraining power of available hard scattering experimental data on the magnitude and shape of the strange quark and anti-quark parton distributions. We find that current data favor a distinct shape of the strange sea compared to the isoscalar non-strange sea. A new reference parton distribution set, CTEQ6.5S0, and representative sets spanning the allowed ranges of magnitude and shape of the strange distributions, are presented. Some applications to physical processes of current interest in hadron collider phenomenology are discussed.Comment: 19 pages; revised version submitted to JHE

A Performance Analysis Framework for WiFi/WiMAX Heterogeneous Metropolitan Networks Based on Cross-Layer Design

The communication between network nodes within different protocol domains is often regarded simply as a black box with unknown configuration conditions in the path. We address network heterogeneity using a white box approach and focus on its interconnection processes. To achieve this purpose, a Performance Analysis Framework (PAF) is proposed which is composed of the formalization of the latter using process algebra (PA) and the corresponding teletraffic performance models. In this contribution, we target the IEEE 802.16 and IEEE 802.11 protocols. For the teletraffic models, we extend previous models for such scenario with the inclusion of the following protocol operational parameters (metrics): bit error rate (BER), packet error ratio (PER), and packet length (pl). From the framework teletraffic models, the optimal packet length (OPL), end to end throughput, delay, and packet loss are obtained. The PAF outperforms previous modeling solutions in terms of delay and throughput relative to NS3 simulation results. </jats:p

Teachers’ perspectives on collaboration with didacticians to create an inquiry community

This article was published in the journal, Research in Mathematics Education [Routledge © British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics]. The definitive version is available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14794800902732209A research and development project, Learning Communities in Mathematics (LCM) was designed to create opportunities for ‘co-learning inquiry’ between mathematics teachers in eight schools and didacticians in a university in Norway (UiA). The focus has been on improving mathematics teaching and learning at school levels from lower primary to upper secondary and on the developmental processes and partnerships involved. A central aim was to create a community of inquiry through which aspects of mathematics teaching and learning could be explored, and through which both teachers and didacticians could learn in practice. Theoretically, ‘Community of Inquiry’ derives from ‘Community of Practice’ as expounded by Lave andWenger, and particularlyWenger’s concept of ‘belonging’. The project included three, one-year phases of joint activity. At the end of Phase II, didacticians led focus group interviews with teacher teams to gain insights into schools’ and teachers’ perceptions of the project and its activity. We report on insights into how teachers thought about the activities of the project and what an inquiry community looks like in terms of the learning of those involved. We relate this back to the theoretical perspectives of communities of practice and inquiry