5,341 research outputs found
Degradation and breakdown characteristics of thin MgO dielectric layers
MgO has been suggested as a possible high-k dielectric for future complementary metal-oxide semiconductor processes. In this work, the time dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) characteristics of 20 nm MgO films are discussed. Stress induced leakage current measurements indicate that the low measured Weibull slopes of the TDDB distributions for both n-type and p-type devices cannot be attributed to a lower trap generation rate than for SiO2. This suggests that much fewer defects are required to trigger breakdown in MgO under voltage stress than is the case for SiO2 or other metal-oxide dielectrics. This in turn explains the progressive nature of the breakdown in these films which is observed both in this work and elsewhere. The reason fewer defects are required is attributed to the morphology of the films
Fine Structure of the 1s3p ^3P_J Level in Atomic ^4He: Theory and Experiment
We report on a theoretical calculation and a new experimental determination
of the 1s3p ^3P_J fine structure intervals in atomic ^4He. The values from the
theoretical calculation of 8113.730(6) MHz and 658.801(6) MHz for the nu_{01}
and nu_{12} intervals, respectively, disagree significantly with previous
experimental results. However, the new laser spectroscopic measurement reported
here yields values of 8113.714(28) MHz and 658.810(18) MHz for these intervals.
These results show an excellent agreement with the theoretical values and
resolve the apparent discrepancy between theory and experiment.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Short gamma-ray bursts within 200 Mpc
We present a systematic search for short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in the local Universe based on 14 yr of observations with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. We cross-correlate the GRB positions with the GLADE catalogue of nearby galaxies, and find no event at a distance ≲100 Mpc and four plausible candidates in the range 100 Mpc ≲ D ≲ 200 Mpc. Although affected by low statistics, this number is higher than the one expected for chance alignments to random galaxies, and possibly suggests a physical association between these bursts and nearby galaxies. By assuming a local origin, we use these events to constrain the range of properties for X-ray counterparts of neutron star mergers. Optical upper limits place tight constraints on the onset of a blue kilonova, and imply either low masses (≲10−3M⊙) of lanthanide-poor ejecta or unfavorable orientations (θ_(obs) ≳ 30 deg). Finally, we derive that the all-sky rate of detectable short GRBs within 200 Mpc is 1.3^(+1.7)_(−0.8) yr⁻¹ (68 per cent confidence interval), and discuss the implications for the GRB outflow structure. If these candidates are instead of cosmological origin, we set a upper limit of ≲2.0 yr⁻¹ (90 per cent confidence interval) to the rate of nearby events detectable with operating gamma-ray observatories, such as Swift and Fermi
SCOOTER: A compact and scalable dynamic labeling scheme for XML updates
Although dynamic labeling schemes for XML have been the
focus of recent research activity, there are significant challenges still to be overcome. In particular, though there are labeling schemes that ensure a compact label representation when creating an XML document, when the document is subject to repeated and arbitrary deletions and insertions, the labels grow rapidly and consequently have a significant impact on query and update performance. We review the outstanding issues todate and in this paper we propose SCOOTER - a new dynamic labeling scheme for XML. The new labeling scheme can completely avoid relabeling
existing labels. In particular, SCOOTER can handle frequently skewed insertions gracefully. Theoretical analysis and experimental results confirm the scalability, compact representation, efficient growth rate and performance of SCOOTER in comparison to existing dynamic labeling schemes
Logarithmic behavior of degradation dynamics in metal--oxide semiconductor devices
In this paper the authors describe a theoretical simple statistical modelling
of relaxation process in metal-oxide semiconductor devices that governs its
degradation. Basically, starting from an initial state where a given number of
traps are occupied, the dynamics of the relaxation process is measured
calculating the density of occupied traps and its fluctuations (second moment)
as function of time. Our theoretical results show a universal logarithmic law
for the density of occupied traps , i.e., the degradation is logarithmic and its amplitude depends on the
temperature and Fermi Level of device. Our approach reduces the work to the
averages determined by simple binomial sums that are corroborated by our Monte
Carlo simulations and by experimental results from literature, which bear in
mind enlightening elucidations about the physics of degradation of
semiconductor devices of our modern life
How did the discussion go: Discourse act classification in social media conversations
We propose a novel attention based hierarchical LSTM model to classify
discourse act sequences in social media conversations, aimed at mining data
from online discussion using textual meanings beyond sentence level. The very
uniqueness of the task is the complete categorization of possible pragmatic
roles in informal textual discussions, contrary to extraction of
question-answers, stance detection or sarcasm identification which are very
much role specific tasks. Early attempt was made on a Reddit discussion
dataset. We train our model on the same data, and present test results on two
different datasets, one from Reddit and one from Facebook. Our proposed model
outperformed the previous one in terms of domain independence; without using
platform-dependent structural features, our hierarchical LSTM with word
relevance attention mechanism achieved F1-scores of 71\% and 66\% respectively
to predict discourse roles of comments in Reddit and Facebook discussions.
Efficiency of recurrent and convolutional architectures in order to learn
discursive representation on the same task has been presented and analyzed,
with different word and comment embedding schemes. Our attention mechanism
enables us to inquire into relevance ordering of text segments according to
their roles in discourse. We present a human annotator experiment to unveil
important observations about modeling and data annotation. Equipped with our
text-based discourse identification model, we inquire into how heterogeneous
non-textual features like location, time, leaning of information etc. play
their roles in charaterizing online discussions on Facebook
Correlated Gravitational Wave and Neutrino Signals from General-Relativistic Rapidly Rotating Iron Core Collapse
We present results from a new set of 3D general-relativistic hydrodynamic
simulations of rotating iron core collapse. We assume octant symmetry and focus
on axisymmetric collapse, bounce, the early postbounce evolution, and the
associated gravitational wave (GW) and neutrino signals. We employ a
finite-temperature nuclear equation of state, parameterized electron capture in
the collapse phase, and a multi-species neutrino leakage scheme after bounce.
The latter captures the important effects of deleptonization, neutrino cooling
and heating and enables approximate predictions for the neutrino luminosities
in the early evolution after core bounce. We consider 12-solar-mass and
40-solar-mass presupernova models and systematically study the effects of (i)
rotation, (ii) progenitor structure, and (iii) postbounce neutrino leakage on
dynamics, GW, and, neutrino signals. We demonstrate, that the GW signal of
rapidly rotating core collapse is practically independent of progenitor mass
and precollapse structure. Moreover, we show that the effects of neutrino
leakage on the GW signal are strong only in nonrotating or slowly rotating
models in which GW emission is not dominated by inner core dynamics. In rapidly
rotating cores, core bounce of the centrifugally-deformed inner core excites
the fundamental quadrupole pulsation mode of the nascent protoneutron star. The
ensuing global oscillations (f~700-800 Hz) lead to pronounced oscillations in
the GW signal and correlated strong variations in the rising luminosities of
antineutrino and heavy-lepton neutrinos. We find these features in cores that
collapse to protoneutron stars with spin periods <~ 2.5 ms and rotational
energies sufficient to drive hyper-energetic core-collapse supernova
explosions. Hence, joint GW + neutrino observations of a core collapse event
could deliver strong evidence for or against rapid core rotation. [abridged]Comment: 29 pages, 14 figures. Replaced with version matching published
versio
The Real Combination Problem : Panpsychism, Micro-Subjects, and Emergence
Panpsychism harbors an unresolved tension, the seriousness of which has yet to be fully appreciated. I capture this tension as a dilemma, and offer panpsychists advice on how to resolve it. The dilemma, briefly, is as follows. Panpsychists are committed to the perspicuous explanation of macro-mentality in terms of micro-mentality. But panpsychists take the micro-material realm to feature not just mental properties, but also micro-subjects to whom these properties belong. Yet it is impossible to explain the constitution of a macro-subject (like one of us) in terms of the assembly of micro-subjects, for, I show, subjects cannot combine. Therefore the panpsychist explanatory project is derailed by the insistence that the world’s ultimate material constituents (ultimates) are subjects of experience. The panpsychist faces a choice of abandoning her explanatory project, or recanting the claim that the ultimates are subjects. This is the dilemma. I argue that the latter option is to be preferred. This needn’t constitute a wholesale abandonment of panpsychism, however, since panpsychists can maintain that the ultimates possess phenomenal qualities, despite not being subjects of those qualities. This proposal requires us to make sense of phenomenal qualities existing independently of experiencing subjects, a challenge I tackle in the penultimate section. The position eventually reached is a form of neutral monism, so another way to express the overall argument is to say that, keeping true to their philosophical motivations, panpsychists should really be neutral monists.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
A meta-analysis of state-of-the-art electoral prediction from Twitter data
Electoral prediction from Twitter data is an appealing research topic. It
seems relatively straightforward and the prevailing view is overly optimistic.
This is problematic because while simple approaches are assumed to be good
enough, core problems are not addressed. Thus, this paper aims to (1) provide a
balanced and critical review of the state of the art; (2) cast light on the
presume predictive power of Twitter data; and (3) depict a roadmap to push
forward the field. Hence, a scheme to characterize Twitter prediction methods
is proposed. It covers every aspect from data collection to performance
evaluation, through data processing and vote inference. Using that scheme,
prior research is analyzed and organized to explain the main approaches taken
up to date but also their weaknesses. This is the first meta-analysis of the
whole body of research regarding electoral prediction from Twitter data. It
reveals that its presumed predictive power regarding electoral prediction has
been rather exaggerated: although social media may provide a glimpse on
electoral outcomes current research does not provide strong evidence to support
it can replace traditional polls. Finally, future lines of research along with
a set of requirements they must fulfill are provided.Comment: 19 pages, 3 table
'Mindless markers of the nation': The routine flagging of nationhood across the visual environment
The visual environment has increasingly been used as a lens with which to understand wider processes of social and economic change with studies employing in-depth qualitative approaches to focus on, for example, gentrification or trans-national networks. This exploratory paper offers an alternative perspective by using a novel method, quantitative photo mapping, to examine the extent to which a particular socio-cultural marker, the nation, is ‘flagged’ across three contrasting sites in Britain. As a multi-national state with an increasingly diverse population, Britain offers a particularly fruitful case study, drawing in debates around devolution, European integration and Commonwealth migration. In contributing to wider debates around banal nationalism, the paper notes the extent to which nations are increasingly articulated through commerce, consumption and market exchange and the overall significance of everyday markers (signs, objects, infrastructure) in naturalising a national view of the world
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