1,002 research outputs found
Parties, promiscuity and politicisation: business-political networks in Poland
Research on post-communist political economy has begun to focus on the interface between business and politics. It is widely agreed that informal networks rather than business associations dominate this interface, but there has been very little systematic research in this area. The literature tends to assume that a politicised economy entails business-political networks that are structured by parties. Theoretically, this article distinguishes politicisation from party politicisation and argues that the two are unlikely to be found together in a post-communist context. Empirically, elite survey data and qualitative interviews are used to explore networks of businesspeople and politicians in Poland. Substantial evidence is found against the popular idea that Polish politicians have business clienteles clearly separated from each other according to party loyalties. Instead, it is argued that these politicians and businesspeople are promiscuous. Since there seems to be little that is unusual about the Polish case, this conclusion has theoretical, methodological, substantive and policy implications for other post-communist countries
Numerical studies of the two- and three-dimensional gauge glass at low temperature
We present results from Monte Carlo simulations of the two- and
three-dimensional gauge glass at low temperature using the parallel tempering
Monte Carlo method. Our results in two dimensions strongly support the
transition being at T_c=0. A finite-size scaling analysis, which works well
only for the larger sizes and lower temperatures, gives the stiffness exponent
theta = -0.39 +/- 0.03. In three dimensions we find theta = 0.27 +/- 0.01,
compatible with recent results from domain wall renormalization group studies.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures, submitted to PR
Nature of the Spin-glass State in the Three-dimensional Gauge Glass
We present results from simulations of the gauge glass model in three
dimensions using the parallel tempering Monte Carlo technique. Critical
fluctuations should not affect the data since we equilibrate down to low
temperatures, for moderate sizes. Our results are qualitatively consistent with
earlier work on the three and four dimensional Edwards-Anderson Ising spin
glass. We find that large scale excitations cost only a finite amount of energy
in the thermodynamic limit, and that those excitations have a surface whose
fractal dimension is less than the space dimension, consistent with a scenario
proposed by Krzakala and Martin, and Palassini and Young.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure
The Random-bond Potts model in the large-q limit
We study the critical behavior of the q-state Potts model with random
ferromagnetic couplings. Working with the cluster representation the partition
sum of the model in the large-q limit is dominated by a single graph, the
fractal properties of which are related to the critical singularities of the
random Potts model. The optimization problem of finding the dominant graph, is
studied on the square lattice by simulated annealing and by a combinatorial
algorithm. Critical exponents of the magnetization and the correlation length
are estimated and conformal predictions are compared with numerical results.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Evidence for softening of first-order transition in 3D by quenched disorder
We study by extensive Monte Carlo simulations the effect of random bond
dilution on the phase transition of the three-dimensional 4-state Potts model
which is known to exhibit a strong first-order transition in the pure case. The
phase diagram in the dilution-temperature plane is determined from the peaks of
the susceptibility for sufficiently large system sizes. In the strongly
disordered regime, numerical evidence for softening to a second-order
transition induced by randomness is given. Here a large-scale finite-size
scaling analysis, made difficult due to strong crossover effects presumably
caused by the percolation fixed point, is performed.Comment: LaTeX file with Revtex, 4 pages, 4 eps figure
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Transpacific Transport of Ozone Pollution and the Effect of Recent Asian Emission Increases on Air Quality in North America: An Integrated Analysis Using Satellite, Aircraft, Ozonesonde, and Surface Observations
We use an ensemble of aircraft, satellite, sonde, and surface observations for April–May 2006 (NASA/INTEX-B aircraft campaign) to better understand the mechanisms for transpacific ozone pollution and its implications for North American air quality. The observations are interpreted with a global 3-D chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). OMI NO2 satellite observations constrain Asian anthropogenic NOx emissions and indicate a factor of 2 increase from 2000 to 2006 in China. Satellite observations of CO from AIRS and TES indicate two major events of Asian transpacific pollution during INTEX-B. Correlation between TES CO and ozone observations shows evidence for transpacific ozone pollution. The semi-permanent Pacific High and Aleutian Low cause splitting of transpacific pollution plumes over the Northeast Pacific. The northern branch circulates around the Aleutian Low and has little impact on North America. The southern branch circulates around the Pacific High and some of that air impacts western North America. Both aircraft measurements and model results show sustained ozone production driven by peroxyacetylnitrate (PAN) decomposition in the southern branch, roughly doubling the transpacific influence from ozone produced in the Asian boundary layer. Model simulation of ozone observations at Mt. Bachelor Observatory in Oregon (2.7 km altitude) indicates a mean Asian ozone pollution contribution of 9±3 ppbv to the mean observed concentration of 54 ppbv, reflecting mostly an enhancement in background ozone rather than episodic Asian plumes. Asian pollution enhanced surface ozone concentrations by 5–7 ppbv over western North America in spring 2006. The 2000–2006 rise in Asian anthropogenic emissions increased this influence by 1–2 ppbv.Earth and Planetary SciencesEngineering and Applied Science
Quantum Interference in Superconducting Wire Networks and Josephson Junction Arrays: Analytical Approach based on Multiple-Loop Aharonov-Bohm Feynman Path-Integrals
We investigate analytically and numerically the mean-field
superconducting-normal phase boundaries of two-dimensional superconducting wire
networks and Josephson junction arrays immersed in a transverse magnetic field.
The geometries we consider include square, honeycomb, triangular, and kagome'
lattices. Our approach is based on an analytical study of multiple-loop
Aharonov-Bohm effects: the quantum interference between different electron
closed paths where each one of them encloses a net magnetic flux. Specifically,
we compute exactly the sums of magnetic phase factors, i.e., the lattice path
integrals, on all closed lattice paths of different lengths. A very large
number, e.g., up to for the square lattice, exact lattice path
integrals are obtained. Analytic results of these lattice path integrals then
enable us to obtain the resistive transition temperature as a continuous
function of the field. In particular, we can analyze measurable effects on the
superconducting transition temperature, , as a function of the magnetic
filed , originating from electron trajectories over loops of various
lengths. In addition to systematically deriving previously observed features,
and understanding the physical origin of the dips in as a result of
multiple-loop quantum interference effects, we also find novel results. In
particular, we explicitly derive the self-similarity in the phase diagram of
square networks. Our approach allows us to analyze the complex structure
present in the phase boundaries from the viewpoint of quantum interference
effects due to the electron motion on the underlying lattices.Comment: 18 PRB-type pages, plus 8 large figure
Robust and Precise Circular Arc Detection
The original publication is available at www.springerlink.comInternational audienceIn this paper we present a method to robustly detect circular arcs in a line drawing image. The method is fast, robust and very reliable, and is capable of assessing the quality of its detection. It is based on Random Sample Consensus minimization, and uses techniques that are inspired from object tracking in image sequences. It is based on simple initial guesses, either based on connected line segments, or on elementary mainstream arc detection algorithms. Our method consists of gradually deforming these circular arc candidates as to precisely fit onto the image strokes, or to reject them if the fitting is not possible, this virtually eliminates spurious detections on the one hand, and avoiding non-detections on the other hand
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