29,085 research outputs found
Many-Beam Solution to the Phase Problem in Crystallography
Solving crystal structures from electron diffraction patterns rather than
X-ray diffraction data is hampered by multiple scattering of the fast electrons
within even very thin samples and the difficulty of obtaining diffraction data
at a resolution high enough for applying direct phasing methods. This letter
presents a method by which the effect of multiple scattering is being used for
solving the phase problem, allowing the retrieval of electron structure factors
from diffraction patterns recorded with varying angle of incidence without any
assumption about the scattering potential itself. In particular, the resolution
in the diffraction data does not need to be sufficient to resolve atoms, making
this method particularly interesting for electron crystallography of
2-dimensional protein crystals and other beam-sensitive complex structures.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Detailed chemical abundance analysis of the thick disk star cluster Gaia 1
Star clusters, particularly those objects in the disk-bulge-halo interface
are as of yet poorly charted, albeit carrying important information about the
formation and the structure of the Milky Way. Here, we present a detailed
chemical abundance study of the recently discovered object Gaia 1. Photometry
has previously suggested it as an intermediate-age, moderately metal-rich
system, although the exact values for its age and metallicity remained
ambiguous in the literature. We measured detailed chemical abundances of 14
elements in four red giant members, from high-resolution (R=25000) spectra that
firmly establish Gaia 1 as an object associated with the thick disk. The
resulting mean Fe abundance is 0.03(stat.)0.10(sys.) dex, which
is more metal-poor than indicated by previous spectroscopy from the literature,
but it is fully in line with values from isochrone fitting. We find that Gaia 1
is moderately enhanced in the -elements, which allowed us to
consolidate its membership with the thick disk via chemical tagging. The
cluster's Fe-peak and neutron-capture elements are similar to those found
across the metal-rich disks, where the latter indicate some level of
-process activity. No significant spread in iron nor in other heavy elements
was detected, whereas we find evidence of light-element variations in Na, Mg,
and Al. Nonetheless, the traditional Na-O and Mg-Al (anti-)correlations,
typically seen in old globular clusters, are not seen in our data. This
confirms that Gaia 1 is rather a massive and luminous open cluster than a
low-mass globular cluster. Finally, orbital computations of the target stars
bolster our chemical findings of Gaia 1's present-day membership with the thick
disk, even though it remains unclear, which mechanisms put it in that place.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysics. Some figure sizes reduce
Analysis And Performance Of A Picosecond Dye Laser Amplifier Chain
Design considerations are discussed for a simple, easy to use and relatively efficient high gain dye laser amplifier chain for CW mode-locked dye lasers. The amplifier boosts the output of a synchronously mode-locked dye laser to obtain ≈005 mj, ≤ 1 psec pulses over a ≈ 400 Å bandwidth. These pulses are suitable for efficient Raman Shifting, frequency mixing and continuum generation to vastly extend the spectral range of the system. Our amplifier is pumped by a frequency doubled Nd:YAG oscillator only, which longitudinally pumps three identical brewster cells with the same flowing dye solution in each. Contrary to popular belief, high small signal gains (≥ 105) are easily attained in a single stage with longitudinal pumping, with better beam homogeneity and easier alignment than transverse pumping. Gain saturation measurements are presented which agree well with calculations. Factors which relax the pump timing sensitivity are examined. The importance of gain saturation for both efficient amplification and for amplitude stability is also discussed. The need for isolated amplifier stages is stressed and optimal amplifier cell areas for a given stage are calculated
Searching for the QCD Critical Point Using Particle Ratio Fluctuations and Higher Moments of Multiplicity Distributions
Dynamical fluctuations in global conserved quantities such as baryon number,
strangeness, or charge may be observed near a QCD critical point. Results from
new measurements of dynamical , , and ratio fluctuations
are presented. The commencing of a QCD critical point search at RHIC has
extended the reach of possible measurements of dynamical , , and
ratio fluctuations from Au+Au collisions to lower energies. The STAR
experiment has performed a comprehensive study of the energy dependence of
these dynamical fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at the energies
= 7.7, 11.5, 39, 62.4, and 200 GeV. New results are compared to
previous measurements and to theoretical predictions from several models. The
measured dynamical fluctuations are found to be independent of
collision energy, while dynamical and fluctuations have a
negative value that increases toward zero at top RHIC energy. Fluctuations of
the higher moments of conserved quantities (net-proton and net-charge)
distributions, which are predicted to be sensitive to the presence of a
critical point, are also presented.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings of the 21st International Conference
On Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter 2011), Annecy,
France, May 23 - May 28, 201
Fast and Simple Relational Processing of Uncertain Data
This paper introduces U-relations, a succinct and purely relational
representation system for uncertain databases. U-relations support
attribute-level uncertainty using vertical partitioning. If we consider
positive relational algebra extended by an operation for computing possible
answers, a query on the logical level can be translated into, and evaluated as,
a single relational algebra query on the U-relation representation. The
translation scheme essentially preserves the size of the query in terms of
number of operations and, in particular, number of joins. Standard techniques
employed in off-the-shelf relational database management systems are effective
for optimizing and processing queries on U-relations. In our experiments we
show that query evaluation on U-relations scales to large amounts of data with
high degrees of uncertainty.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure
Development of New Venture Support Networks and the Role of "Promoters"
New Venture Support Networks (NVSN) are a political instrument for the purpose of contributing to regional economic development by fostering more and qualitatively better start-ups. NVSN bundle together different available sources of information and consultation for potential entrepreneurs, including e.g. authorities, universities, financial institutions, trade associations and private consultants. Achieving effective cooperation between such a wide range of institutions is not a simple task. The initial situation is often characterised by conflicts between the varying individual interests of the participants and the politically defined goal of fostering more and better start-ups. Moreover, since the network has been established by a political initiative for a pre-determined funding period, the actor relations within it are “artificial” (as opposed to naturally developed). Thus, the actors lack common experiences, social bonds, values and other common motivators contributing to trust-based cooperative relationships. Such relationships are a crucial factor in turning the “artificial” network into a “real” one, which continues to exist also after the political funding period is over. Our hypothesis is that certain key actors are a critical success factor in developing NVSN into “real” networks. Following the “promoter model” – an expansion of champion models that has established itself in the German innovation management literature – we suggest that there are administrative, organisational and know-how related barriers that are detrimental to the development of NVSN. The overcoming of these barriers requires a combination of different organisational resources, which the promoter model discusses in terms of three different ideal types: promoter by power, promoter by know-how, and relationship promoter. One person can act in one or more of these roles simultaneously and the roles can appear in different combinations, known as promoter structures. The specific research objectives of the proposed paper are to identify a) the types of barriers faced in the different developmental stages of NVSN and b) the roles the key actors play and the resources they use in coping with them. Our sample consists of key actors in five regional NVSN in Germany, which were established in 1998 as part of the governmental initiative “EXIST – Entrepreneurs from Universities”. The author team is also involved in one of these networks. Using a grounded theory based qualitative approach, we intend to map the development process of these NVSN with respect to the above research objectives. The contribution of the study is two-fold: 1) It presents the first application of the promoter model in the context of NVSN and produces tentative results that can be used as a basis for further research. 2) It offers practical implications to NVSN by analysing how their effectiveness and continuity could be improved by an effective use of promoter structures.
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