15,231 research outputs found
Customer Concerns about Uncertainty and Willingness to Pay in Leasing Solar Power Systems
Although solar power systems are considered as one of the most promising renewable energy sources, some uncertain factors as well as the high cost could be barriers which create customer resistance. Leasing instead of purchase, as one type of product service system, could be an option to reduce consumer concern on such issues. This study focuses on consumer concerns about uncertainty and willingness to pay for leasing solar power systems. Conjoint analysis method is used to find part worth utilities and estimate gaps of willingness to pay between attribute levels, including various leasing time lengths. The results show the part worth utilities an d relative importance of four major attributes, including leasing time. Among concerns about uncertainties, government subsidy, electricity price, reliability, and rise of new generation solar power systems were found to be significantly related to the additional willingness-to-pay for a shorter leasing time. Cluster analysis is used to identify two groups standing for high and low concerns about uncertainty. People with more concerns tend to pay more for a shorter lease time
Experimental evidence for a two-gap structure of superconducting NbSe_2: a specific heat study in external magnetic fields
To resolve the discrepancies of the superconducting order parameter in
quasi-two-dimensional NbSe_2, comprehensive specific-heat measurements have
been carried out. By analyzing both the zero-field and mixed-state data with
magnetic fields perpendicular to and parallel to the c axis of the crystal and
using the two-gap model, we conclude that (1) more than one energy scale of the
order parameter is required for superconducting NbSe_2 due to the thermodynamic
consistency; (2)delta_L=1.26 meV and delta_S=0.73 meV are obtained; (3)
N_S(0)/N(0)=11%~20%; (4) The observation of the kink in gamma(H) curve suggests
that the two-gap scenario is more favorable than the anisotropic s-wave model
to describe the gap structure of NbSe_2; and (5)delta_S is more isotropic and
has a three-dimensional-like feature and is located either on the Se or the
bonding Nb Fermi sheets.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure
Size dependent line broadening in the emission spectra of single GaAs quantum dots: Impact of surface charges on spectral diffusion
Making use of droplet epitaxy, we systematically controlled the height of
self-assembled GaAs quantum dots by more than one order of magnitude. The
photoluminescence spectra of single quantum dots revealed the strong dependence
of the spectral linewidth on the dot height. Tall dots with a height of ~30 nm
showed broad spectral peaks with an average width as large as ~5 meV, but
shallow dots with a height of ~2 nm showed resolution-limited spectral lines
(<120 micro eV). The measured height dependence of the linewidths is in good
agreement with Stark coefficients calculated for the experimental shape
variation. We attribute the microscopic source of fluctuating electric fields
to the random motion of surface charges at the vacuum-semiconductor interface.
Our results offer guidelines for creating frequency-locked photon sources,
which will serve as key devices for long-distance quantum key distribution.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures; updated figs and their description
Spin gap formation in the quantum spin systems TiOX, X=Cl and Br
In the layered quantum spin systems TiOCl and TiOBr the magnetic
susceptibility shows a very weak temperature dependence at high temperatures
and transition-induced phenomena at low temperatures. There is a clear
connection of the observed transition temperatures to the distortion of the
octahedra and the layer separation. Band structure calculations point to a
relation of the local coordinations and the dimensionality of the magnetic
properties. While from magnetic Raman scattering only a small decrease of the
magnetic exchange by -5-10% is derived comparing TiOCl with TiOBr, the
temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility favors a much bigger
change.Comment: 5 figures, 15 pages, further information see
http://www.peter-lemmens.d
EXITE2 Observation of the SIGMA Source GRS 1227+025
We report the EXITE2 hard X-ray imaging of the sky around 3C273. A 2h
observation on May 8, 1997, shows a 260 mCrab source detected at
in each of two bands (50-70 and 70-93 keV) and located 30'
from 3C273 and consistent in position with the SIGMA source GRS1227+025. The
EXITE2 spectrum is consistent with a power law with photon index 3 and large
low energy absorption, as indicated by the GRANAT/SIGMA results. No source was
detected in more sensitive followup EXITE2 observations in 2000 and 2001 with
3 upper limits of 190 and 65 mCrab, respectively. Comparison with the
flux detected by SIGMA shows the source to be highly variable, suggesting it
may be non-thermal and beamed and thus the first example of a ``type 2''
(absorbed) Blazar. Alternatively it might be (an unprecedented) very highly
absorbed binary system undergoing accretion disk instability outbursts,
possibly either a magnetic CV, or a black hole X-ray nova.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Nonmagnetic impurity perturbation to the quasi-two-dimensional quantum helimagnet LiCu2O2
A complete phase diagram of Zn substituted quantum quasi-two-dimensional
helimagnet LiCu2O2 has been presented. Helical ordering transition temperature
(T_h) of the original LiCu2O2 follows finite size scaling for less than ~ 5.5%
Zn substitution, which implies the existence of finite helimagnetic domains
with domain boundaries formed with nearly isolated spins. Higher Zn
substitution > 5.5% quenches the long-range helical ordering and introduces an
intriguing Zn level dependent magnetic phase transition with slight thermal
hysteresis and a universal quadratic field dependence for T_c (Zn > 0.055,H).
The magnetic coupling constants of nearest-neighbor (nn) J1 and
next-nearest-neighbor (nnn) J2 (alpha=J2/J1) are extracted from high
temperature series expansion (HTSE) fitting and N=16 finite chain exact
diagonalization simulation. We have also provided evidence of direct
correlation between long-range helical spin ordering and the magnitude of
electric polarization in this spin driven multiferroic material
Discovery of X-ray pulsations from "next Geminga" - PSR J1836+5925
We report the X-ray pulsation of ~173.3 ms for the "next Geminga", PSR
J1836+5925, with recent XMM-Newton investigations. The X-ray periodicity is
consistent wtih the gamma-ray ephemeris at the same epoch. The X-ray folded
light curve has a sinusoidal structure which is different from the
double-peaked gamma-ray pulse profile. We have also analysed the X-ray
phase-averaged spectra which shows the X-ray emission from PSR J1836+5925 is
thermal dominant. This suggests the X-ray pulsation mainly originates from the
modulated hot spot on the stellar surface.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ Lette
59Co-NMR Knight Shift of Superconducting Three-Layer NaxCoO2.yH2O
The superconducting state of NaxCoO2.yH2O with three CoO2 layers in a unit
cell has been studied by 59Co-NMR. The Knight shift measured for a peak of the
NMR spectra corresponding to the external magnetic field H along one of the
principal directions within the CoO2 plane, exhibits a rapid decrease with
decreasing temperature T below the superconducting transition temperature Tc,
indicating that the spin susceptibility is suppressed in the superconducting
phase, at least, for this field direction. Because differences of the
superconducting properties are rather small between this three-layer
NaxCoO2.yH2O and previously reported NaxCoO2.yH2O with two CoO2 layers within a
unit cell, the present result of the Knight shift studies indicates that the
Cooper pairs of the former system are in the singlet state as in the latter,
for which the spin susceptibility is suppressed for both directions of H
parallel and perpendicular to the CoO2 plane.Comment: 5 page
The relative roles of upper and lower tropospheric thermal contrasts and tropical influences in driving Asian summer monsoons
Summer thermal structure and winds over Asia show a larger land-ocean thermal gradient in the upper than in the lower troposphere, implying a bigger role of the upper troposphere in driving the Asian summer monsoon circulation. Using data from atmospheric re-analyses and model simulations, we show that the land-ocean thermal contrast in the mid-upper (200-500 hPa) troposphere (TCupper) contributes about three times as much as the thermal contrast in the mid-lower (500-850 hPa) troposphere (TClower) in determining both the strength and variations of Asian summer monsoon circulations. Tropical sea surface temperature anomalies associated with the annual cycle, El Niño-Southern Oscillation, decadal changes, and global warming all are accompanied with much larger variations and changes in TCupper than in TClower, partly due to enhanced latent heating aloft from convection. The variations and changes in TCupper and TClower are highly correlated with the strength of the South Asian Summer Monsoon (SASM) and the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) in their respective sectors during the past 50-60 years. In particular, the weakening of the EASM since the 1950s is caused by the weakening mainly in TCupper and secondarily in TClower induced mainly by recent tropical surface warming, although spurious cooling over East Asia seen in reanalysis data may have enhanced this weakening. However, the strength of the SASM and EASM monsoons follows TCupper but decouples with TClower in the global warming case in the 21st century. The results suggest that the TCupper plays a dominant role and provides an efficient mechanism through which tropical oceans can influence extratropical monsoons. Key Points The land-sea T gradient is more important in the upper than in lower troposphere Tropical oceans influence extra-tropical monsoons through the upper troposphere Monsoon response to global warming depends on tropospheric warming patterns ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved
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