5,205 research outputs found
Background and approach to a definition of smart buildings
There is no possibility of finding a single reference about domotics in the first half of the 20th century. The best known authors and those who have documented this discipline, set its origin in the 1970âs, when the x-10 technology began to be used, but it was not until 1988 when Larousse Encyclopedia decided to include the definition of "Smart Building". Furthermore, even nowadays, there is not a single definition widely accepted, and for that reason, many other expressions, namely "Intelligent Buildings" "Domotics" "Digital Home" or "Home Automation" have appeared to describe the automated buildings and homes. The lack of a clear definition for "Smart Buildings" causes difficulty not only in the development of a common international framework to develop research in this field, but it also causes insecurity in the potential user of these buildings. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to propose a definition of the expression âSmart Buildingsâ that satisfactorily describes the meaning of this discipline. To achieve this aim, a thorough review of the origin of the term itself and the historical background before the emergence of the phenomenon of domotics was conducted, followed by a critical discussion of existing definitions of the term "Smart Buildings" and other similar terms. The extent of each definition has been analyzed, inaccuracies have been discarded and commonalities have been compared. Throughout the discussion, definitions that bring the term "Smart Buildings" near to disciplines such as computer science, robotics and also telecommunications have been found
Emergence of the pointer basis through the dynamics of correlations
We use the classical correlation between a quantum system being measured and
its measurement apparatus to analyze the amount of information being retrieved
in a quantum measurement process. Accounting for decoherence of the apparatus,
we show that these correlations may have a sudden transition from a decay
regime to a constant level. This transition characterizes a non-asymptotic
emergence of the pointer basis, while the system-apparatus can still be quantum
correlated. We provide a formalization of the concept of emergence of a pointer
basis in an apparatus subject to decoherence. This contrast of the pointer
basis emergence to the quantum to classical transition is demonstrated in an
experiment with polarization entangled photon pairs.Comment: 4+2 pgs, 3 figures. Title changed. Revised version to appear on PR
Ion pairing in model electrolytes: A study via three particle correlation functions
A novel integral equations approach is applied for studying ion pairing in
the restricted primitive model (RPM) electrolyte, i. e., the three point
extension (TPE) to the Ornstein-Zernike integral equations. In the TPE
approach, the three-particle correlation functions are obtained. The TPE results are compared to molecular
dynamics (MD) simulations and other theories. Good agreement between TPE and MD
is observed for a wide range of parameters, particularly where standard
integral equations theories fail, i. e., low salt concentration and high ionic
valence. Our results support the formation of ion pairs and aligned ion
complexes.Comment: 43 pages (including 18 EPS figs) - RevTeX 4 - J. Chem. Phys. (in
press
Vortex tubes in velocity fields of laboratory isotropic turbulence: dependence on the Reynolds number
The streamwise and transverse velocities are measured simultaneously in
isotropic grid turbulence at relatively high Reynolds numbers, Re(lambda) =
110-330. Using a conditional averaging technique, we extract typical
intermittency patterns, which are consistent with velocity profiles of a model
for a vortex tube, i.e., Burgers vortex. The radii of the vortex tubes are
several of the Kolmogorov length regardless of the Reynolds number. Using the
distribution of an interval between successive enhancements of a small-scale
velocity increment, we study the spatial distribution of vortex tubes. The
vortex tubes tend to cluster together. This tendency is increasingly
significant with the Reynolds number. Using statistics of velocity increments,
we also study the energetical importance of vortex tubes as a function of the
scale. The vortex tubes are important over the background flow at small scales
especially below the Taylor microscale. At a fixed scale, the importance is
increasingly significant with the Reynolds number.Comment: 8 pages, 3 PS files for 8 figures, to appear in Physical Review
Nebular emission lines in IRAS 17347-3139
We report the detection of nebular emission lines in the optical and
mid-infrared spectra of IRAS 17347-3139, a heavily obscured OH/IR star which
may be rapidly evolving from the AGB to the PN stage. The presence of emission
lines is interpreted as a clear indication that the ionization of its
circumstellar envelope has already started. This source belongs to the rare
class of objects known as `OHPNe' displaying both OH maser and radio continuum
emission. However, unlike the rest of stars in this class, prominent C-rich
dust features are detected in its mid-infrared spectrum, which makes the
analysis of this star particularly interesting.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, Proc. IAU Symp. 234, Planetary Nebulae in Our
Galaxy and Beyond (3-7 Apr 2006), eds. M.J. Barlow & R.H. Mendez (Cambridge
Univ. Press
Crossing the phantom divide in an interacting generalized Chaplygin gas
Unified generalized Chaplygin gas models assuming an interaction between dark
energy and dark matter fluids have been previously proposed. Following these
ideas, we consider a particular relation between dark densities, which allows
the possibility of a time varying equation of state for dark energy that
crosses the phantom divide at a recent epoch. Moreover, these densities decay
during all the evolution of the Universe, avoiding a Big Rip. We find also a
scaling solution, i.e. these densities are asymptotically proportional in the
future, which contributes to the solution of the coincidence problem.Comment: Improved version, 10 pages, 4 figures, References adde
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