13,052 research outputs found
Antarctic Ocean polynyas
The spatial and temporal variability of sea ice concentrations derived from Nimbus-7 Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) brightness temperatures are presented. Emphasis is on the continental shelf region of the Ross Sea during 1984, when supporting data were obtained from oceanographic stations and moored instruments. The effects of the large spring polynya in the Ross Sea on summer insolation, surface heat layer storage, and late autumn ice formation are described
A hermeneutic inquiry into user-created personas in different Namibian locales
Persona is a tool broadly used in technology design to support communicational interactions between designers and users. Different Persona types and methods have evolved mostly in the Global North, and been partially deployed in the Global South every so often in its original User-Centred Design methodology. We postulate persona conceptualizations are expected to differ across cultures. We demonstrate this with an exploratory-case study on user-created persona co-designed with four Namibian ethnic groups: ovaHerero, Ovambo, ovaHimba and Khoisan. We follow a hermeneutic inquiry approach to discern cultural nuances from diverse human conducts. Findings reveal diverse self-representations whereby for each ethnic group results emerge in unalike fashions, viewpoints, recounts and storylines. This paper ultimately argues User-Created Persona as a potentially valid approach for pursuing cross-cultural depictions of personas that communicate cultural features and user experiences paramount to designing acceptable and gratifying technologies in dissimilar locales
Essence of the vacuum quark condensate
We show that the chiral-limit vacuum quark condensate is qualitatively
equivalent to the pseudoscalar meson leptonic decay constant in the sense that
they are both obtained as the chiral-limit value of well-defined
gauge-invariant hadron-to-vacuum transition amplitudes that possess a spectral
representation in terms of the current-quark mass. Thus, whereas it might
sometimes be convenient to imagine otherwise, neither is essentially a constant
mass-scale that fills all spacetime. This means, in particular, that the quark
condensate can be understood as a property of hadrons themselves, which is
expressed, for example, in their Bethe-Salpeter or light-front wavefunctions.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur
Voltage-controlled electron tunnelling from a single self-assembled quantum dot embedded in a two-dimensional-electron-gas-based photovoltaic cell
We perform high-resolution photocurrent (PC) spectroscopy to investigate
resonantly the neutral exciton ground-state (X0) in a single InAs/GaAs
self-assembled quantum dot (QD) embedded in the intrinsic region of an
n-i-Schottky photodiode based on a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), which
was formed from a Si delta-doped GaAs layer. Using such a device, a single-QD
PC spectrum of X0 is measured by sweeping the bias-dependent X0 transition
energy through that of a fixed narrow-bandwidth laser via the quantum-confined
Stark effect (QCSE). By repeating such a measurement for a series of laser
energies, a precise relationship between the X0 transition energy and bias
voltage is then obtained. Taking into account power broadening of the X0
absorption peak, this allows for high-resolution measurements of the X0
homogeneous linewidth and, hence, the electron tunnelling rate. The electron
tunnelling rate is measured as a function of the vertical electric field and
described accurately by a theoretical model, yielding information about the
electron confinement energy and QD height. We demonstrate that our devices can
operate as 2DEG-based QD photovoltaic cells and conclude by proposing two
optical spintronic devices that are now feasible.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figure
Ytterbium-doped tantalum pentoxide waveguide lasers
We have demonstrated a Yb:Ta2O5 waveguide laser fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering on oxidised silicon. The waveguide laser was end-pumped with a laser diode at 977 nm and lasing was observed between 1015 and 1020 nm. The launched pump power threshold and slope efficiency were measured to be ~25 mW and 1.78 %, respectively
- …