899 research outputs found
Plasmonic nanoparticle enhanced photocurrent in GaN/InGaN/GaN quantum well solar cells
We demonstrate enhanced external quantum efficiency and current-voltage characteristics due to scattering by 100 nm silver nanoparticles in a single 2.5 nm thick InGaN quantum well photovoltaic device. Nanoparticle arrays were fabricated on the surface of the device using an anodic alumina template masking process. The Ag nanoparticles increase light scattering, light trapping, and carrier collection in the III-N semiconductor layers leading to enhancement of the external quantum efficiency by up to 54%. Additionally, the short-circuit current in cells with 200 nm p-GaN emitter regions is increased by 6% under AM 1.5 illumination. AFORS-Het simulation software results were used to predict cell performance and optimize emitter layer thickness
Testing Born-Infeld electrodynamics in waveguides
Waveguides can be employed to test non-linear effects in electrodynamics. We
solve Born-Infeld equations for TE waves in a rectangular waveguide. We show
that the energy velocity acquires a dependence on the amplitude, and harmonic
components appear as a consequence of the non-linear behavior.Comment: 3 pages. To appear in PR
Stability and Quasinormal Modes of Black holes in Tensor-Vector-Scalar theory: Scalar Field Perturbations
The imminent detection of gravitational waves will trigger precision tests of
gravity through observations of quasinormal ringing of black holes. While
General Relativity predicts just two polarizations of gravitational waves, the
so-called plus and cross polarizations, numerous alternative theories of
gravity predict up to six different polarizations which will potentially be
observed in current and future generations of gravitational wave detectors.
Bekenstein's Tensor-Vector-Scalar (TeVeS) theory and its generalization fall
into one such class of theory that predict the full gamut of six polarizations
of gravitational waves. In this paper we begin the study of quasinormal modes
(QNMs) in TeVeS by studying perturbations of the scalar field in a spherically
symmetric background. We show that, at least in the case where superluminal
propagation of perturbations is not present, black holes are generically stable
to this kind of perturbation. We also make a unique prediction that, as the
limit of the various coupling parameters of the theory tend to zero, the QNM
spectrum tends to times the QNM spectrum induced by scalar
perturbations of a Schwarzschild black hole in General Relativity due to the
intrinsic presence of the background vector field. We further show that the QNM
spectrum does not vary significantly from this value for small values of the
theory's coupling parameters, however can vary by as much as a few percent for
larger, but still physically relevant parameters.Comment: Published in Physical Review
Multi-State Image Restoration by Transmission of Bit-Decomposed Data
We report on the restoration of gray-scale image when it is decomposed into a
binary form before transmission. We assume that a gray-scale image expressed by
a set of Q-Ising spins is first decomposed into an expression using Ising
(binary) spins by means of the threshold division, namely, we produce (Q-1)
binary Ising spins from a Q-Ising spin by the function F(\sigma_i - m) = 1 if
the input data \sigma_i \in {0,.....,Q-1} is \sigma_i \geq m and 0 otherwise,
where m \in {1,....,Q-1} is the threshold value. The effects of noise are
different from the case where the raw Q-Ising values are sent. We investigate
which is more effective to use the binary data for transmission or to send the
raw Q-Ising values. By using the mean-field model, we first analyze the
performance of our method quantitatively. Then we obtain the static and
dynamical properties of restoration using the bit-decomposed data. In order to
investigate what kind of original picture is efficiently restored by our
method, the standard image in two dimensions is simulated by the mean-field
annealing, and we compare the performance of our method with that using the
Q-Ising form. We show that our method is more efficient than the one using the
Q-Ising form when the original picture has large parts in which the nearest
neighboring pixels take close values.Comment: latex 24 pages using REVTEX, 10 figures, 4 table
Naive mean field approximation for image restoration
We attempt image restoration in the framework of the Baysian inference.
Recently, it has been shown that under a certain criterion the MAP (Maximum A
Posterior) estimate, which corresponds to the minimization of energy, can be
outperformed by the MPM (Maximizer of the Posterior Marginals) estimate, which
is equivalent to a finite-temperature decoding method. Since a lot of
computational time is needed for the MPM estimate to calculate the thermal
averages, the mean field method, which is a deterministic algorithm, is often
utilized to avoid this difficulty. We present a statistical-mechanical analysis
of naive mean field approximation in the framework of image restoration. We
compare our theoretical results with those of computer simulation, and
investigate the potential of naive mean field approximation.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure
Non-Newtonian Mechanics
The classical motion of spinning particles can be described without employing
Grassmann variables or Clifford algebras, but simply by generalizing the usual
spinless theory. We only assume the invariance with respect to the Poincare'
group; and only requiring the conservation of the linear and angular momenta we
derive the zitterbewegung: namely the decomposition of the 4-velocity in the
newtonian constant term p/m and in a non-newtonian time-oscillating spacelike
term. Consequently, free classical particles do not obey, in general, the
Principle of Inertia. Superluminal motions are also allowed, without violating
Special Relativity, provided that the energy-momentum moves along the worldline
of the center-of-mass. Moreover, a non-linear, non-constant relation holds
between the time durations measured in different reference frames. Newtonian
Mechanics is re-obtained as a particular case of the present theory: namely for
spinless systems with no zitterbewegung. Introducing a Lagrangian containing
also derivatives of the 4-velocity we get a new equation of the motion,
actually a generalization of the Newton Law a=F/m. Requiring the rotational
symmetry and the reparametrization invariance we derive the classical spin
vector and the conserved scalar Hamiltonian, respectively. We derive also the
classical Dirac spin and analyze the general solution of the Eulero-Lagrange
equation for Dirac particles. The interesting case of spinning systems with
zero intrinsic angular momentum is also studied.Comment: LaTeX; 27 page
Image restoration using the Q-Ising spin glass
We investigate static and dynamic properties of gray-scale image restoration
(GSIR) by making use of the Q-Ising spin glass model, whose ladder symmetry
allows to take in account the distance between two spins. We thus give an
explicit expression of the Hamming distance between the original and restored
images as a function of the hyper-parameters in the mean field limit. Finally,
numerical simulations for real-world pictures are carried out to prove the
efficiency of our model.Comment: 27pages, 13figures, revte
Rhetoric in the language of real estate marketing
“Des. Res.”, “rarely available”, “viewing essential” – these are all part of the peculiar parlance of housing advertisements which contain a heady mix of euphemism, hyperbole and superlative. Of interest is whether the selling agent’s penchant for rhetoric is spatially uniform or whether there are variations across the urban system. We are also interested in how the use of superlatives varies over the market cycle and over the selling season. For example, are estate agents more inclined to use hyperbole when the market is buoyant or when it is flat, and does it matter whether a house is marketed in the summer or winter? This paper attempts to answer these questions by applying textual analysis to a unique dataset of 49,926 records of real estate transactions in the Strathclyde conurbation over the period 1999 to 2006. The analysis opens up a new avenue of research into the use of real estate rhetoric and its interaction with agency behaviour and market dynamics
Classifying the fertility of dairy cows using milk mid-infrared spectroscopy
The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of milk mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy, MIR-derived traits including milk composition, milk fatty acids, and blood metabolic profiles (fatty acids, \u3b2-hydroxybutyrate, and urea), and other on-farm data for discriminating cows of good versus poor likelihood of conception to first insemination (i.e., pregnant vs. open). A total of 6,488 spectral and milk production records of 2,987 cows from 19 commercial dairy herds across 3 Australian states were used. Seven models, comprising different explanatory variables, were examined. Model 1 included milk production; concentrations of fat, protein, and lactose; somatic cell count; age at calving; days in milk at herd test; and days from calving to insemination. Model 2 included, in addition to the variables in model 1, milk fatty acids and blood metabolic profiles. The MIR spectrum collected before first insemination was added to model 2 to form model 3. Fat, protein, and lactose percentages, milk fatty acids, and blood metabolic profiles were removed from model 3 to create model 4. Model 5 and model 6 comprised model 4 and either fertility genomic estimated breeding value or principal components obtained from a genomic relationship matrix derived using animal genotypes, respectively. In model 7, all previously described sources of information, but not MIR-derived traits, were used. The models were developed using partial least squares discriminant analysis. The performance of each model was evaluated in 2 ways: 10-fold random cross-validation and herd-by-herd external validation. The accuracy measures were sensitivity (i.e., the proportion of pregnant cows that were correctly classified), specificity (i.e., the proportion of open cows that were correctly classified), and area under the curve (AUC) for the receiver operating curve. The results showed that in all models, prediction accuracy obtained through 10-fold random cross-validation was higher than that of herd-by-herd external validation, with the difference in AUC ranging between 0.01 and 0.09. In the herd-by-herd external validation, using basic on-farm information (model 1) was not sufficient to classify good- and poor-fertility cows; the sensitivity, specificity, and AUC were around 0.66. Compared with model 1, adding milk fatty acids and blood metabolic profiles (model 2) increased the sensitivity, specificity, and AUC by 0.01, 0.02, and 0.02 unit, respectively (i.e., 0.65, 0.63, and 0.678). Incorporating MIR spectra into model 2 resulted in sensitivity, specificity, and AUC values of 0.73, 0.63, and 0.72, respectively (model 3). The comparable prediction accuracies observed for models 3 and 4 mean that useful information from MIR-derived traits is already included in the spectra. Adding the fertility genomic estimated breeding value and animal genotypes (model 7) produced the highest prediction accuracy, with sensitivity, specificity, and AUC values of 0.75, 0.66, and 0.75, respectively. However, removing either the fertility estimated breeding value or animal genotype from model 7 resulted in a reduction of the prediction accuracy of only 0.01 and 0.02, respectively. In conclusion, this study indicates that MIR and other on-farm data could be used to classify cows of good and poor likelihood of conception with promising accuracy
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