1,967 research outputs found
A cost comparison of traditional drainage and SUDS in Scotland
The Dunfermline Eastern Expansion (DEX) is a 350 ha mixed development which commenced in 1996. Downstream water quality and flooding issues necessitated a holistic approach to drainage planning and the site has become a European showcase for the application of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). However, there is minimal data available regarding the real costs of operating and maintaining SUDS to ensure they continue to perform as per their design function. This remains one of the primary barriers to the uptake and adoption of SUDS. This paper reports on what is understood to be the only study in the UK where actual costs of constructing and maintaining SUDS have been compared to an equivalent traditional drainage solution. To compare SUDS costs with traditional drainage, capital and maintenance costs of underground storage chambers of analogous storage volumes were estimated. A whole life costing methodology was then applied to data gathered. The main objective was to produce a reliable and robust cost comparison between SUDS and traditional drainage. The cost analysis is supportive of SUDS and indicates that well designed and maintained SUDS are more cost effective to construct, and cost less to maintain than traditional drainage solutions which are unable to meet the environmental requirements of current legislation
Noise thermometry and electron thermometry of a sample-on-cantilever system below 1 Kelvin
We have used two types of thermometry to study thermal fluctuations in a
microcantilever-based system below 1 K. We measured the temperature of a
cantilever's macroscopic degree-of-freedom (via the Brownian motion of its
lowest flexural mode) and its microscopic degrees-of-freedom (via the electron
temperature of a metal sample mounted on the cantilever). We also measured both
temperatures' response to a localized heat source. We find it possible to
maintain thermal equilibrium between these two temperatures and a refrigerator
down to at least 300 mK. These results are promising for ongoing experiments to
probe quantum effects using micromechanical devices
Efficient solar cells by space processing
Thin films of electron beam evaporated silicon were deposited on molybdenum, tantalum, tungsten and molybdenum disilicide under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. Mass spectra from a quadrapole residual gas analyzer were used to determine the partial pressure of 13 residual gases during each processing step. Surface contamination and interdiffusion were monitored by in situ Auger electron spectrometry. The presence of phosphorus in the silicon was responsible for attaining elevated temperatures with silicide formations. Heteroepitaxial silicon growth was sensitive to the presence of oxygen during deposition, the rate and length of deposition as well as the substrate orientation
Spatial Correlation Function of X-ray Selected AGN
We present a detailed description of the first direct measurement of the
spatial correlation function of X-ray selected AGN. This result is based on an
X-ray flux-limited sample of 219 AGN discovered in the contiguous 80.7 deg^2
region of the ROSAT North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) Survey. Clustering is detected at
the 4 sigma level at comoving scales in the interval r = 5-60 h^-1 Mpc. Fitting
the data with a power law of slope gamma=1.8, we find a correlation length of
r_0 = 7.4 (+1.8, -1.9) h^-1 Mpc (Omega_M=0.3, Omega_Lambda=0.7). The median
redshift of the AGN contributing to the signal is z_xi=0.22. This clustering
amplitude implies that X-ray selected AGN are spatially distributed in a manner
similar to that of optically selected AGN. Furthermore, the ROSAT NEP
determination establishes the local behavior of AGN clustering, a regime which
is poorly sampled in general. Combined with high-redshift measures from optical
studies, the ROSAT NEP results argue that the AGN correlation strength
essentially does not evolve with redshift, at least out to z~2.2. In the local
Universe, X-ray selected AGN appear to be unbiased relative to galaxies and the
inferred X-ray bias parameter is near unity, b_X~1. Hence X-ray selected AGN
closely trace the underlying mass distribution. The ROSAT NEP AGN catalog,
presented here, features complete optical identifications and spectroscopic
redshifts. The median redshift, X-ray flux, and X-ray luminosity are z=0.41,
f_X=1.1*10^-13 cgs, and L_X=9.2*10^43 h_70^-2 cgs (0.5-2.0 keV), respectively.
Unobscured, type 1 AGN are the dominant constituents (90%) of this soft X-ray
selected sample of AGN.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, a version with
high-resolution figures is available at
http://www.eso.org/~cmullis/papers/Mullis_et_al_2004b.ps.gz, a
machine-readable version of the ROSAT NEP AGN catalog is available at
http://www.eso.org/~cmullis/research/nep-catalog.htm
Quasar Clustering and the Lifetime of Quasars
Although the population of luminous quasars rises and falls over a period of
10^9 years, the typical lifetime of individual quasars is uncertain by several
orders of magnitude. We show that quasar clustering measurements can
substantially narrow the range of possible lifetimes with the assumption that
luminous quasars reside in the most massive host halos. If quasars are
long-lived, then they are rare phenomena that are highly biased with respect to
the underlying dark matter, while if they are short-lived they reside in more
typical halos that are less strongly clustered. For a given quasar lifetime, we
calculate the minimum host halo mass by matching the observed space density of
quasars, using the Press-Schechter approximation. We use the results of Mo &
White to calculate the clustering of these halos, and hence of the quasars they
contain, as a function of quasar lifetime. A lifetime of t_Q = 4 x 10^7 years,
the e-folding timescale of an Eddington luminosity black hole with accretion
efficiency eps=0.1, corresponds to a quasar correlation length r_0 ~ 10 Mpc/h
in low-density cosmological models at z=2-3; this value is consistent with
current clustering measurements, but these have large uncertainties.
High-precision clustering measurements from the 2dF and Sloan quasar surveys
will test our key assumption of a tight correlation between quasar luminosity
and host halo mass, and if this assumption holds then they should determine t_Q
to a factor of three or better. An accurate determination of the quasar
lifetime will show whether supermassive black holes acquire most of their mass
during high-luminosity accretion, and it will show whether the black holes in
the nuclei of typical nearby galaxies were once the central engines of
high-luminosity quasars.Comment: ApJ Accepted (Feb 2001). 30 pages, 8 embedded ps figures, AASTEX5.
Added discussion of quasar luminosity evolution. Also available at
http://www.ociw.edu/~martini/pubs
Discovery of a Clustered Quasar Pair at z ~ 5: Biased Peaks in Early Structure Formation
We report a discovery of a quasar at z = 4.96 +- 0.03 within a few Mpc of the
quasar SDSS 0338+0021 at z = 5.02 +- 0.02. The newly found quasar has the SDSS
i and z magnitudes of ~ 21.2, and an estimated absolute magnitude M_B ~ -25.2.
The projected separation on the sky is 196 arcsec, and the redshift difference
Delta z = 0.063 +- 0.008. The probability of finding this quasar pair by chance
in the absence of clustering in this particular volume is ~ 10^-4 to 10^-3. We
conclude that the two objects probably mark a large-scale structure, possibly a
protocluster, at z ~ 5. This is the most distant such structure currently
known. Our search in the field of 13 other QSOs at z >~ 4.8 so far has not
resulted in any detections of comparable luminous QSO pairs, and it is thus not
yet clear how representative is this structure at z ~ 5. However, along with
the other evidence for clustering of quasars and young galaxies at somewhat
lower redshifts, the observations are at least qualitatively consistent with a
strong biasing of the first luminous and massive objects, in agreement with
general predictions of theoretical models. More extensive searches for
clustered quasars and luminous galaxies at these redshifts will provide
valuable empirical constraints for our understanding of early galaxy and
structure formation.Comment: Latex file, 8 pages, 3 eps figures, sty files included. To appear in
the Ap
Accelerator Design for the CHESS-U Upgrade
During the summer and fall of 2018 the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source
(CHESS) is undergoing an upgrade to increase high-energy flux for x-ray users.
The upgrade requires replacing one-sixth of the Cornell Electron Storage Ring
(CESR), inverting the polarity of half of the CHESS beam lines, and switching
to single-beam on-axis operation. The new sextant is comprised of six
double-bend achromats (DBAs) with combined-function dipole-quadrupoles.
Although the DBA design is widely utilized and well understood, the constraints
for the CESR modifications make the CHESS-U lattice unique. This paper
describes the design objectives, constraints, and implementation for the CESR
accelerator upgrade for CHESS-U
QSO clustering and the AAT 2dF redshift survey
We review previous results on the clustering and environments of QSOs. We
show that the correlation length for QSOs derived from existing surveys is
r~5/h Mpc, similar to the observed correlation length for field galaxies at the
present epoch. The galaxy environment for z<1 radio-quiet QSOs is also
consistent with field galaxies. The evolution of the QSO correlation length
with redshift is currently uncertain, largely due to the small numbers of QSOs
(~2000) in surveys suitable for clustering analysis. We report on intial
progress with the AAT 2dF QSO redshift survey, which, once completed will
comprise almost 30000 QSOs. With over 1000 QSOs already observed, it is already
the largest single homogeneous QSO survey. We discuss prospects for deriving
limits on cosmological parameters from this survey, and on the evolution of
large-scale structure in the Universe.Comment: Invited talk at RS meeting on 'Large Scale Structure in the Universe'
held at the Royal Society on 25-26 March 1998 14 pages, 11 figre
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