135 research outputs found
Making Taxis Green: Hybrid Cab Programs and the Debate over Preemption in Environmental Regulation
In the past few years, many cities have attempted to mandate the use of hybrid taxicabs. The taxi industry, arguing that the Energy Policy and Conservation Act and the Clean Air Act preempt such mandates, has successfully opposed them. Mandating hybrid cab use, however, is but one important aspect of a larger push by states and local governments to enact progressive environmental legislation and policies with greater breadth than those of the federal government. An example is Californiaâs battle to enact greenhouse gas emissions regulations and its conflict with the Environmental Protection Agency. Though New York City and Boston lost on preemption grounds, their attempts are important in the context of the battle over environmental federalism. In the long term, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act should be amended to allow for more progressive environmental regulations at the state and local level
NUP-1 Is a Large Coiled-Coil Nucleoskeletal Protein in Trypanosomes with Lamin-Like Functions
NUP1, the first example of a nuclear lamin analog in nonmetazoans, performs roles similar to those of lamins in maintaining the structure and organization of the nucleus in Trypanosoma brucei
Late syn- to post-collisional magmatism in Madagascar: the genesis of the Ambalavao and Maevarano Suites
The East African Orogen involves a collage of Proterozoic microcontinents and arc terranes that became wedged between older cratonic blocks during the assembly of Gondwana. The EdiacaranâCambrian Ambalavao and Maevarano Suites in Madagascar were emplaced during the waning orogenic stages and consist of weakly deformed to undeformed plutonic rocks and dykes of mainly porphyritic granite but also gabbro, diorite and charnockite. U-Pb geochronological data date emplacement of the Ambalavao Suite to between ca. 580 Ma and 540 Ma and the Maevarano Suite to between ca. 537 Ma and 522 Ma. Major and trace element concentrations are consistent with emplacement in a syn- to post-collisional tectonic setting as A-type (anorogenic) suites. Oxygen (ÎŽÂčâžO of 5.27â°â7.45â°) and hafnium (ΔHf(t) of â27.8 to â12.3) isotopic data from plutons in the Itremo and Antananarivo Domains are consistent with incorporation of an ancient crustal source. More primitive ÎŽÂčâžO (5.27â°â5.32â°) and ΔHf(t) (+0.0 to +0.2) isotopic values recorded in samples collected from the Ikalamavony Domain demonstrate the isotopic variation of basement sources present in the Malagasy crust. The Hf isotopic composition of Malagasy zircon are unlike more juvenile EdiacaranâCambrian zircon sources elsewhere in the East African Orogen and, as such, Madagascar represents a distinct and identifiable detrital zircon source region in Phanerozoic sedimentary provenance studies. Taken together, these data indicate that high-T crustal anatexis, crustal assimilation and interaction of crustal material with mantle-derived melts were the processes operating during magma emplacement. This magmatism was coeval with polyphase deformation throughout Madagascar during the amalgamation of Gondwana and magmatism is interpreted to reflect lithospheric delamination of an extensive orogenic plateau.Donnelly B. Archibald, Alan S. Collins, John D. Foden, Justin L. Payne, Peter Holden, ThĂ©odore Razakamanan
Immersive multi-user decision training games with ARLearn
Serious gaming approaches so far focus mainly on skill development, motivational aspects or providing immersive learning situations. Little work has been reported to foster awareness and decision competencies in complex deci-sion situations involving incomplete information and multiple stakeholders. We address this issue exploring the technical requirements and possibilities to de-sign games for such situations in three case studies: a hostage taking situation, a multi-stakeholder logistics case, and a health-care related emergency case. To implement the games, we use a multi-user enabled mobile game development platform (ARLearn). We describe the underlying real world situations and edu-cational challenges and analyse how these are reflected in the ARLearn games realized. Based on these cases we propose a way to increase the immersiveness of mobile learning games.SALOM
C-axis lattice dynamics in Bi-based cuprate superconductors
We present results of a systematic study of the c axis lattice dynamics in
single layer Bi2Sr2CuO6 (Bi2201), bilayer Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (Bi2212) and trilayer
Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 (Bi2223) cuprate superconductors. Our study is based on both
experimental data obtained by spectral ellipsometry on single crystals and
theoretical calculations. The calculations are carried out within the framework
of a classical shell model, which includes long-range Coulomb interactions and
short-range interactions of the Buckingham form in a system of polarizable
ions. Using the same set of the shell model parameters for Bi2201, Bi2212 and
Bi2223, we calculate the frequencies of the Brillouin-zone center phonon modes
of A2u symmetry and suggest the phonon mode eigenvector patterns. We achieve
good agreement between the calculated A2u eigenfrequencies and the experimental
values of the c axis TO phonon frequencies which allows us to make a reliable
phonon mode assignment for all three Bi-based cuprate superconductors. We also
present the results of our shell model calculations for the Gamma-point A1g
symmetry modes in Bi2201, Bi2212 and Bi2223 and suggest an assignment that is
based on the published experimental Raman spectra. The
superconductivity-induced phonon anomalies recently observed in the c axis
infrared and resonant Raman scattering spectra in trilayer Bi2223 are
consistently explained with the suggested assignment.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figure
Models of quintessence coupled to the electromagnetic field and the cosmological evolution of alpha
We study the change of the effective fine structure constant in the
cosmological models of a scalar field with a non-vanishing coupling to the
electromagnetic field. Combining cosmological data and terrestrial observations
we place empirical constraints on the size of the possible coupling and explore
a large class of models that exhibit tracking behavior. The change of the fine
structure constant implied by the quasar absorption spectra together with the
requirement of tracking behavior impose a lower bound of the size of this
coupling. Furthermore, the transition to the quintessence regime implies a
narrow window for this coupling around in units of the inverse Planck
mass. We also propose a non-minimal coupling between electromagnetism and
quintessence which has the effect of leading only to changes of alpha
determined from atomic physics phenomena, but leaving no observable
consequences through nuclear physics effects. In doing so we are able to
reconcile the claimed cosmological evidence for a changing fine structure
constant with the tight constraints emerging from the Oklo natural nuclear
reactor.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, RevTex, new references adde
Observational Consequences of Evolution of Primordial Fluctuations in Scalar-Tensor Cosmology
Evolution of primordial fluctuations in a Brans-Dicke type scalar-tensor
gravity theory is comprehensively investigated. The harmonic attractor model,
in which the scalar field has its harmonic effective potential in the Einstein
conformal frame and the theory relaxes toward Einstein gravity with time, is
considered. The evolution of adiabatic initial perturbations in flat SCDM
models is examined from the radiation-dominated epoch up to the present. We
discuss how the scalar-tensor gravity affects the evolution of metric and
matter perturbations, mainly focusing on the observational consequences, i.e.,
the matter power spectrum and the power spectrum of cosmic microwave background
temperature. We find that the early time deviation is characterized only by the
large static gravitational constant while the late time behavior is
qualitatively different from that in Einstein gravity because the time
variation of the gravitational constant and its fluctuation have non-negligible
effects. The attracting scalar-tensor gravity affects only small scale modes
due to its attracting nature, the degree of which is far beyond the
post-Newtonian deviation at the present epoch.Comment: 18 page
Burgers' Flows as Markovian Diffusion Processes
We analyze the unforced and deterministically forced Burgers equation in the
framework of the (diffusive) interpolating dynamics that solves the so-called
Schr\"{o}dinger boundary data problem for the random matter transport. This
entails an exploration of the consistency conditions that allow to interpret
dispersion of passive contaminants in the Burgers flow as a Markovian diffusion
process. In general, the usage of a continuity equation , where stands for the
Burgers field and is the density of transported matter, is at variance
with the explicit diffusion scenario. Under these circumstances, we give a
complete characterisation of the diffusive transport that is governed by
Burgers velocity fields. The result extends both to the approximate description
of the transport driven by an incompressible fluid and to motions in an
infinitely compressible medium. Also, in conjunction with the Born statistical
postulate in quantum theory, it pertains to the probabilistic (diffusive)
counterpart of the Schr\"{o}dinger picture quantum dynamics.Comment: Latex fil
Breaking into the conversation: cultural value and the role of the South African National Arts Festival from apartheid to democracy
The paper examines the value of the South African National Arts Festival (NAF) in the transition to democracy using theories of cultural capital. NAF history from 1974 to 2004 is used to argue that the Festival provided an important arena for the expression of political resistance in the 1980s and, to some degree, continues to do so today. It is concluded that an important part of the value of the arts is their ability to provide a forum for debating the goals and values of society and that individualistic utility theory is not always successful in measuring such social value
Improved constraints on the expansion rate of the Universe up to z~1.1 from the spectroscopic evolution of cosmic chronometers
We present new improved constraints on the Hubble parameter H(z) in the
redshift range 0.15 < z < 1.1, obtained from the differential spectroscopic
evolution of early-type galaxies as a function of redshift. We extract a large
sample of early-type galaxies (\sim11000) from several spectroscopic surveys,
spanning almost 8 billion years of cosmic lookback time (0.15 < z < 1.42). We
select the most massive, red elliptical galaxies, passively evolving and
without signature of ongoing star formation. Those galaxies can be used as
standard cosmic chronometers, as firstly proposed by Jimenez & Loeb (2002),
whose differential age evolution as a function of cosmic time directly probes
H(z). We analyze the 4000 {\AA} break (D4000) as a function of redshift, use
stellar population synthesis models to theoretically calibrate the dependence
of the differential age evolution on the differential D4000, and estimate the
Hubble parameter taking into account both statistical and systematical errors.
We provide 8 new measurements of H(z) (see Tab. 4), and determine its change in
H(z) to a precision of 5-12% mapping homogeneously the redshift range up to z
\sim 1.1; for the first time, we place a constraint on H(z) at z \neq 0 with a
precision comparable with the one achieved for the Hubble constant (about 5-6%
at z \sim 0.2), and covered a redshift range (0.5 < z < 0.8) which is crucial
to distinguish many different quintessence cosmologies. These measurements have
been tested to best match a \Lambda CDM model, clearly providing a
statistically robust indication that the Universe is undergoing an accelerated
expansion. This method shows the potentiality to open a new avenue in constrain
a variety of alternative cosmologies, especially when future surveys (e.g.
Euclid) will open the possibility to extend it up to z \sim 2.Comment: 34 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables, published in JCAP. It is a companion
to Moresco et al. (2012b, http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.6658) and Jimenez et al.
(2012, http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.3608). The H(z) data can be downloaded at
http://www.physics-astronomy.unibo.it/en/research/areas/astrophysics/cosmology-with-cosmic-chronometer
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