1,460 research outputs found
Defying Gravity: Evaluating the Trickle-Up Effects of Reconciliation Programmes
The process by which grassroots reconciliation activities facilitate change in individual conflict identities gravitating upwards to shape other levels of society is often under-explained. In most aspects of the peacebuilding process impact is measured downwards, but reconciliation usually starts with micro-level attitudinal shifts rather than large-scale societal change. Yet, successful conflict resolution and reconciliation depends upon significant mass support. Therefore, the long-term success of reconciliation programmes lies in the paradoxical process of these individual changes simultaneously sinking into the heart of post-conflict societies, whilst rising to effect institutional change. Isolated group shifts need to both ripple outwards and trickle-upwards to shape decision-making processes and affect the course of the conflict. In order to evaluate the potential of reconciliation rippling and rising to transform conflict identities from the individual to society at large and above, the author draws upon a unique collection of surveys and interviews of alumni of reconciliation activities and reconciliation entrepreneurs in Israel-Palestine and Bosnia. The outcome of this research contributes to understanding the dynamic that facilitates the trickle-up effect of reconciliation, as well as providing practitioners with an evaluation mechanism to assess the impact of grassroots reconciliation programmes through its constituency building potential
Study of Thick CZT Detectors for X-ray and Gamma-Ray Astronomy
CdZnTe (CZT) is a wide bandgap II-VI semiconductor developed for the
spectroscopic detection of X-rays and {\gamma}-rays at room temperature. The
Swift Burst Alert Telescope is using an 5240 cm2 array of 2 mm thick CZT
detectors for the detection of 15-150 keV X-rays from Gamma-Ray Bursts. We
report on the systematic tests of thicker (\geq 0.5 cm) CZT detectors with
volumes between 2 cm3 and 4 cm3 which are potential detector choices for a
number of future X-ray telescopes that operate in the 10 keV to a few MeV
energy range. The detectors contacted in our laboratory achieve Full Width Half
Maximum energy resolutions of 2.7 keV (4.5%) at 59 keV, 3 keV (2.5%) at 122 keV
and 4 keV (0.6%) at 662 keV. The 59 keV and 122 keV energy resolutions are
among the world-best results for \geq 0.5 cm thick CZT detectors. We use the
data set to study trends of how the energy resolution depends on the detector
thickness and on the pixel pitch. Unfortunately, we do not find clear trends,
indicating that even for the extremely good energy resolutions reported here,
the achievable energy resolutions are largely determined by the properties of
individual crystals. Somewhat surprisingly, we achieve the reported results
without applying a correction of the anode signals for the depth of the
interaction. Measuring the interaction depths thus does not seem to be a
pre-requisite for achieving sub-1% energy resolutions at 662 keV.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figure
Design and tests of the hard X-ray polarimeter X-Calibur
X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about
high-energy astrophysical sources, such as binary black hole systems,
micro-quasars, active galactic nuclei, and gamma-ray bursts. We designed, built
and tested a hard X-ray polarimeter X-Calibur to be used in the focal plane of
the InFOCuS grazing incidence hard X-ray telescope. X-Calibur combines a low-Z
Compton scatterer with a CZT detector assembly to measure the polarization of
10-80 keV X-rays making use of the fact that polarized photons Compton scatter
preferentially perpendicular to the electric field orientation. X-Calibur
achieves a high detection efficiency of order unity.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, conference proceedings: SPIE 2011 (San Diego
Neural Network-Based Equations for Predicting PGA and PGV in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas
Parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas have experienced increased rates of
seismicity in recent years, providing new datasets of earthquake recordings to
develop ground motion prediction models for this particular region of the
Central and Eastern North America (CENA). This paper outlines a framework for
using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to develop attenuation models from the
ground motion recordings in this region. While attenuation models exist for the
CENA, concerns over the increased rate of seismicity in this region necessitate
investigation of ground motions prediction models particular to these states.
To do so, an ANN-based framework is proposed to predict peak ground
acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) given magnitude, earthquake
source-to-site distance, and shear wave velocity. In this framework,
approximately 4,500 ground motions with magnitude greater than 3.0 recorded in
these three states (Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas) since 2005 are considered.
Results from this study suggest that existing ground motion prediction models
developed for CENA do not accurately predict the ground motion intensity
measures for earthquakes in this region, especially for those with low
source-to-site distances or on very soft soil conditions. The proposed ANN
models provide much more accurate prediction of the ground motion intensity
measures at all distances and magnitudes. The proposed ANN models are also
converted to relatively simple mathematical equations so that engineers can
easily use them to predict the ground motion intensity measures for future
events. Finally, through a sensitivity analysis, the contributions of the
predictive parameters to the prediction of the considered intensity measures
are investigated.Comment: 5th Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics Conference,
Austin, TX, USA, June 10-13. (2018
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