2,226 research outputs found
Green technology foresight about environmentally friendly products and materials -- The challenges from nanotechnology, biotechnology and ICT
Ergodicity, Decisions, and Partial Information
In the simplest sequential decision problem for an ergodic stochastic process
X, at each time n a decision u_n is made as a function of past observations
X_0,...,X_{n-1}, and a loss l(u_n,X_n) is incurred. In this setting, it is
known that one may choose (under a mild integrability assumption) a decision
strategy whose pathwise time-average loss is asymptotically smaller than that
of any other strategy. The corresponding problem in the case of partial
information proves to be much more delicate, however: if the process X is not
observable, but decisions must be based on the observation of a different
process Y, the existence of pathwise optimal strategies is not guaranteed.
The aim of this paper is to exhibit connections between pathwise optimal
strategies and notions from ergodic theory. The sequential decision problem is
developed in the general setting of an ergodic dynamical system (\Omega,B,P,T)
with partial information Y\subseteq B. The existence of pathwise optimal
strategies grounded in two basic properties: the conditional ergodic theory of
the dynamical system, and the complexity of the loss function. When the loss
function is not too complex, a general sufficient condition for the existence
of pathwise optimal strategies is that the dynamical system is a conditional
K-automorphism relative to the past observations \bigvee_n T^n Y. If the
conditional ergodicity assumption is strengthened, the complexity assumption
can be weakened. Several examples demonstrate the interplay between complexity
and ergodicity, which does not arise in the case of full information. Our
results also yield a decision-theoretic characterization of weak mixing in
ergodic theory, and establish pathwise optimality of ergodic nonlinear filters.Comment: 45 page
Coherent States of the q--Canonical Commutation Relations
For the -deformed canonical commutation relations for in some Hilbert
space we consider representations generated from a vector
satisfying , where .
We show that such a representation exists if and only if .
Moreover, for these representations are unitarily equivalent
to the Fock representation (obtained for ). On the other hand
representations obtained for different unit vectors are disjoint. We
show that the universal C*-algebra for the relations has a largest proper,
closed, two-sided ideal. The quotient by this ideal is a natural -analogue
of the Cuntz algebra (obtained for ). We discuss the Conjecture that, for
, this analogue should, in fact, be equal to the Cuntz algebra
itself. In the limiting cases we determine all irreducible
representations of the relations, and characterize those which can be obtained
via coherent states.Comment: 19 pages, Plain Te
Influence of Quadrupole and Octupole Electron-Phonon Coupling on the Low-Field Transport Properties of n-type Silicon
Rapidity and centrality dependence of particle production for identified hadrons in Cu+Cu collisions at GeV
The BRAHMS collaboration has measured transverse momentum spectra of pions,
kaons, protons and antiprotons at rapidities 0 and 3 for Cu+Cu collisions at
GeV. As the collisions become more central the collective
radial flow increases while the temperature of kinetic freeze-out decreases.
The temperature is lower and the radial flow weaker at forward rapidity. Pion
and kaon yields with transverse momenta between 1.5 and 2.5 GeV/c are
suppressed for central collisions relative to scaled collisions. This
suppression, which increases as the collisions become more central is
consistent with jet quenching models and is also present with comparable
magnitude at forward rapidity. At such rapidities initial state effects may
also be present and persistence of the meson suppression to high rapidity may
reflect a combination of jet quenching and nuclear shadowing. The ratio of
protons to mesons increases as the collisions become more central and is
largest at forward rapidities.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures and 6 table
Rapidity dependence of deuteron production in Au+Au collisions at = 200 GeV
We have measured the distributions of protons and deuterons produced in high
energy heavy ion Au+Au collisions at RHIC over a very wide range of transverse
and longitudinal momentum. Near mid-rapidity we have also measured the
distribution of anti-protons and anti-deuterons. We present our results in the
context of coalescence models. In particular we extract the "volume of
homogeneity" and the average phase-space density for protons and anti-protons.
Near central rapidity the coalescence parameter and the space
averaged phase-space density are very similar for both protons and
anti-protons. For protons we see little variation of either or the
space averaged phase-space density as the rapidity increases from 0 to 3.
However both these quantities depend strongly on at all rapidities. These
results are in contrast to lower energy data where the proton and anti-proton
phase-space densities are different at =0 and both and depend
strongly on rapidity.Comment: Document updated after proofs received from PR
Reversible and Irreversible Interactions of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) with Oxygen Studied by Spin-Sensitive Methods
Understanding of degradation mechanisms in polymer:fullerene
bulk-heterojunctions on the microscopic level aimed at improving their
intrinsic stability is crucial for the breakthrough of organic photovoltaics.
These materials are vulnerable to exposure to light and/or oxygen, hence they
involve electronic excitations. To unambiguously probe the excited states of
various multiplicities and their reactions with oxygen, we applied combined
magneto-optical methods based on multifrequency (9 and 275 GHz) electron
paramagnetic resonance (EPR), photoluminescence (PL), and PL-detected magnetic
resonance (PLDMR) to the conjugated polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and
polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunctions (P3HT:PCBM; PCBM =
[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester). We identified two distinct
photochemical reaction routes, one being fully reversible and related to the
formation of polymer:oxygen charge transfer complexes, the other one,
irreversible, being related to the formation of singlet oxygen under
participation of bound triplet excitons on the polymer chain. With respect to
the blends, we discuss the protective effect of the methanofullerenes on the
conjugated polymer bypassing the triplet exciton generation
Risiko ved transport af farligt gods
Projektet ”Transport af farligt gods”, er næsten afsluttet. Slutrapporten publiceres i 1999. Den indeholder to risikomodeller for transporter af farligt gods: en model for jernbanetrafik og en model for vejtrafik. Disse modeller angiver risikoen for udslip af forskellige størrelser ved givne transporter. Endvidere angives modeller for konsekvenserne af givne udslip, dels hu-mane konsekvenser i form af fN-kurver for dødsfald, dels miljøkonsekvenser i form af jord-og grundvandsforurening og i form af forurening af overfladevand. Modellerne indlægges i et GIS, som kan anskueliggøre konsekvensernes geografiske fordeling totalt eller vise forskelle ved forskelligt rutevalg for en given transport
The magnetic field of IRAS 16293-2422 as traced by shock-induced H2O masers
Shock-induced H2O masers are important magnetic field tracers at very high
density gas. Water masers are found in both high- and low-mass star-forming
regions, acting as a powerful tool to compare magnetic field morphologies in
both mass regimes. In this paper, we show one of the first magnetic field
determinations in the low-mass protostellar core IRAS 16293-2422 at volume
densities as high as 10^(8-10) cm^-3. Our goal is to discern if the collapsing
regime of this source is controlled by magnetic fields or other factors like
turbulence. We used the Very Large Array (VLA) to carry out
spectro-polarimetric observations in the 22 GHz Zeeman emission of H2O masers.
From the Stokes V line profile, we can estimate the magnetic field strength in
the dense regions around the protostar. A blend of at least three maser
features can be inferred from our relatively high spatial resolution data set
(~ 0.1"), which is reproduced in a clear non-Gaussian line profile. The
emission is very stable in polarization fraction and position angle across the
channels. The maser spots are aligned with some components of the complex
outflow configuration of IRAS 16293-2422, and they are excited in zones of
compressed gas produced by shocks. The post-shock particle density is in the
range of 1-3 x 10^9 cm^-3, consistent with typical water masers pumping
densities. Zeeman emission is produced by a very strong line-of-sight magnetic
field (B ~ 113 mG). The magnetic field pressure derived from our data is
comparable to the ram pressure of the outflow dynamics. This indicates that the
magnetic field is energetically important in the dynamical evolution of IRAS
16293-2422.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Are benefits and harms in mammography screening given equal attention in scientific articles? A cross-sectional study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The CONSORT statement specifies the need for a balanced presentation of both benefits and harms of medical interventions in trial reports. However, invitations to screening and newspaper articles often emphasize benefits and downplay or omit harms, and it is known that scientific articles can be influenced by conflicts of interest. We wanted to determine if a similar imbalance occurs in scientific articles on mammography screening and if it is related to author affiliation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We searched PubMed in April 2005 for articles on mammography screening that mentioned a benefit or a harm and that were published in 2004 in English. Data extraction was performed by three independent investigators, two unblinded and one blinded for article contents, and author names and affiliation, as appropriate. The extracted data were compared and discrepancies resolved by two investigators in a combined analysis. We defined three groups of authors: (1) authors in specialties unrelated to mammography screening, (2) authors in screening-affiliated specialties (radiology or breast cancer surgery) who were not working with screening, or authors funded by cancer charities, and (3) authors (at least one) working directly with mammography screening programmes. We used a data extraction sheet with 17 items described as important benefits and harms in the 2002 WHO/IARC-report on breast cancer screening.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified 854 articles, and 143 were eligible for the study. Most were original research. Benefits were mentioned more often than harms (96% vs 62%, P < 0.001). Fifty-five (38%) articles mentioned only benefits, whereas seven (5%) mentioned only harms (P < 0.001). Overdiagnosis was mentioned in 35 articles (24%), but was more often downplayed or rejected in articles that had authors working with screening, (6/15; 40%) compared with authors affiliated by specialty or funding (1/6; 17%), or authors unrelated with screening (1/14; 7%) (P = 0.03). Benefits in terms of reduced breast cancer mortality were mentioned in 109 (76%) articles, and was more often provided as a relative risk reduction than an absolute risk reduction, where quantified (45 articles (31%) versus 6 articles (3%) (P < 0.001)).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Scientific articles tend to emphasize the major benefits of mammography screening over its major harms. This imbalance is related to the authors' affiliation.</p
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