62,729 research outputs found
Radiation generated by accelerating and rotating charged black holes in (anti-)de Sitter space
Asymptotic behaviour of gravitational and electromagnetic fields of exact
type D solutions from the large Plebanski-Demianski family of black hole
spacetimes is analyzed. The amplitude and directional structure of radiation is
evaluated in cases when the cosmological constant is non-vanishing, so that the
conformal infinities have either de Sitter-like or anti-de Sitter-like
character. In particular, explicit relations between the parameters that
characterize the sources (that is their mass, electric and magnetic charges,
NUT parameter, rotational parameter, and acceleration) and properties of the
radiation generated by them are presented. The results further elucidate the
physical interpretation of these solutions and may help to understand radiative
characteristics of more general spacetimes than those that are asymptotically
flat.Comment: 24 pages, 18 figures. To appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit
Does electronic coherence enhance anticorrelated pigment vibrations under realistic conditions?
The light-harvesting efficiency of a photoactive molecular complex is largely
determined by the properties of its electronic quantum states. Those, in turn,
are influenced by molecular vibrational states of the nuclear degrees of
freedom. Here, we reexamine two recently formulated concepts that a coherent
vibronic coupling between molecular states would either extend the electronic
coherence lifetime or enhance the amplitude of the anticorrelated vibrational
mode at longer times. For this, we study a vibronically coupled dimer and
calculate the nonlinear two-dimensional (2D) electronic spectra which directly
reveal electronic coherence. The timescale of electronic coherence is initially
extracted by measuring the anti-diagonal bandwidth of the central peak in the
2D spectrum at zero waiting time. Based on the residual analysis, we identify
small-amplitude long-lived oscillations in the cross-peaks, which, however, are
solely due to groundstate vibrational coherence, regardless of having resonant
or off-resonant conditions. Our studies neither show an enhancement of the
electronic quantum coherence nor an enhancement of the anticorrelated
vibrational mode by the vibronic coupling under ambient conditions
Fecal contamination of drinking-water in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Background: access to safe drinking-water is a fundamental requirement for good health and is also a human right. Global access to safe drinking-water is monitored by WHO and UNICEF using as an indicator “use of an improved source,” which does not account for water quality measurements. Our objectives were to determine whether water from “improved” sources is less likely to contain fecal contamination than “unimproved” sources and to assess the extent to which contamination varies by source type and setting.Methods and findings: studies in Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish were identified from online databases, including PubMed and Web of Science, and grey literature. Studies in low- and middle-income countries published between 1990 and August 2013 that assessed drinking-water for the presence of Escherichia coli or thermotolerant coliforms (TTC) were included provided they associated results with a particular source type. In total 319 studies were included, reporting on 96,737 water samples. The odds of contamination within a given study were considerably lower for “improved” sources than “unimproved” sources (odds ratio [OR] = 0.15 [0.10–0.21], I2 = 80.3% [72.9–85.6]). However over a quarter of samples from improved sources contained fecal contamination in 38% of 191 studies. Water sources in low-income countries (OR = 2.37 [1.52–3.71]; p<0.001) and rural areas (OR = 2.37 [1.47–3.81] p<0.001) were more likely to be contaminated. Studies rarely reported stored water quality or sanitary risks and few achieved robust random selection. Safety may be overestimated due to infrequent water sampling and deterioration in quality prior to consumption.Conclusion: access to an “improved source” provides a measure of sanitary protection but does not ensure water is free of fecal contamination nor is it consistent between source types or settings. International estimates therefore greatly overstate use of safe drinking-water and do not fully reflect disparities in access. An enhanced monitoring strategy would combine indicators of sanitary protection with measures of water qualit
Nonlinear dynamic analysis of shells of revolution by matrix displacement method
Nonlinear dynamic analysis of shells of revolution by matrix displacement metho
Environmental performance of off-site constructed facilities: A critical review
During the recent decades, off-site construction (OSC) has gained a rapid growth worldwide. It has been reported that OSC, as an alternative construction method, has a variety of benefits. However, there is lack of critical review of the building performance (e.g. energy consumption and carbon emissions) of off-site built facilities
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