123 research outputs found
Green Services and Emergence and Recovery from the Global Economic Slowdown in Developing Asian Economies
The global economic slowdown has again highlighted the vulnerability of export-led development models and economies to downturns in export markets. Economic deepening or “rebalancing” with an emphasis on service-sector development should be—and is becoming—one long-term response to the crisis by Asia's emerging economies. In the long run, sustainable economic development will depend in part on achieving a “green” trajectory of service sector development, in which services help green the “product economy.” In the short run, however, can services help address short- and medium-term challenges of emergence and recovery from the crisis—particularly those of at least resuming historic rates of poverty alleviation and inclusive growth? Meeting these challenges will require that export sectors deal successfully with challenging market conditions. There is a class of closely related business-to-business services which act to green the product economy, and which would improve the competitiveness of export sectors and husband scarce public resources by optimizing the efficiency of infrastructure utilization. These are functional procurement/efficiency services, which transform procurement of environmentally problematic goods and services—such as waste disposal, energy, chemicals, and transport—into performance-based services in which service providers profit by increasing the customer's eco-efficiency. Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) are the best-known of these service models. These services appear to have strong potential among the larger, more sophisticated institutions and commercial and industrial enterprises in developing Asian states, particularly in Asia's more advanced developing economies.green service sector; energy service companies asia
Green Services and Emergence and Recovery from the Global Economic Slowdown in Developing Asian Economies
The global economic slowdown has again highlighted the vulnerability of export-led development models and economies to downturns in export markets. Economic deepening or rebalancing with an emphasis on service-sector development should beand is becomingone long-term response to the crisis by Asias emerging economies. In the long run, sustainable economic development will depend in part on achieving a green trajectory of service sector development, in which services help green the product economy. In the short run, however, can services help address short- and medium-term challenges of emergence and recovery from the crisisparticularly those of at least resuming historic rates of poverty alleviation and inclusive growth? Meeting these challenges will require that export sectors deal successfully with challenging market conditions. There is a class of closely related business-to-business services which act to green the product economy, and which would improve the competitiveness of export sectors and husband scarce public resources by optimizing the efficiency of infrastructure utilization. These are functional procurement/efficiency services, which transform procurement of environmentally problematic goods and servicessuch as waste disposal, energy, chemicals, and transportinto performance-based services in which service providers profit by increasing the customers eco-efficiency. Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) are the best-known of these service models. These services appear to have strong potential among the larger, more sophisticated institutions and commercial and industrial enterprises in developing Asian states, particularly in Asias more advanced developing economies.global economic slowdown, export-led development models, sustainable economic development, Energy Service Companies, Asia
Voluntary Facility-Level Sustainability Performance Reporting: Current Status, Relationship to Organization-Level Reporting, and Principles for Progress
Dr. Mark Stoughton and his research assistant Elizabeth Levy provide a status report on voluntary facility-level sustainability performance reporting and explain what this system may provide for environmental sustainability
Kepler Input Catalog: Photometric Calibration and Stellar Classification
We describe the photometric calibration and stellar classification methods
used to produce the Kepler Input Catalog (KIC). The KIC is a catalog containing
photometric and physical data for sources in the Kepler Mission field of view;
it is used by the mission to select optimal targets. We derived atmospheric
extinction corrections from hourly observations of secondary standard fields
within the Kepler field of view. Repeatability of absolute photometry for stars
brighter than magnitude 15 is typically 2%. We estimated stellar parameters
Teff, log(g), log (Z), E_{B-V} using Bayesian posterior probability
maximization to match observed colors to Castelli stellar atmosphere models. We
applied Bayesian priors describing the distribution of solar-neighborhood stars
in the color-magnitude diagram (CMD), in log (Z)$, and in height above the
galactic plane. Comparisons with samples of stars classified by other means
indicate that in most regions of the CMD, our classifications are reliable
within about +/- 200 K and +/- 0.4 dex in log (g). It is difficult to assess
the reliability of our log(Z) estimates, but there is reason to suspect that it
is poor, particularly at extreme Teff. Of great importance for the Kepler
Mission, for Teff <= 5400 K, the distinction between main-sequence stars and
giants has proved to be reliable with better than 98% confidence. The KIC is
available through the MAST data archive.Comment: 77 pages, 12 figures, 1 Table. Accepted by Astronomical Journal 24
July 201
AVAST Survey 0.4-1.0 {\mu}m Spectroscopy of Igneous Asteroids in the Inner and Middle Main Belt
We present the spectra of 60 asteroids, including 47 V-types observed during
the first phase of the Adler V-Type Asteroid (AVAST) Survey. SDSS photometry
was used to select candidate V-type asteroids for follow up by nature of their
very blue color. 47 of the 61 observed candidates were positively
classified as V-type asteroids, while an additional six show indications of a
0.9 m feature consistent with V-type spectra, but not sufficient for
formal classification. Four asteroids were found to be S-type, all of which had
values very near the adopted AVAST selection criteria of ,
including one candidate observed well outside the cut (at a mean of
-0.11). Three A-type asteroids were also identified. Six V-type asteroids were
observed beyond the 3:1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter, including the
identification of two new V-type asteroids (63085 and 105041) at this distance.
Six V-type asteroids were observed with low () orbital inclination,
outside of the normal dynamical range of classic Vestoids, and are suggestive
of a non-Vesta origin for at least some of the population.Comment: 1 table, 3 figures, To appear to Icaru
Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Quasar Sample
We describe the algorithm for selecting quasar candidates for optical
spectroscopy in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Quasar candidates are selected
via their non-stellar colors in "ugriz" broad-band photometry, and by matching
unresolved sources to the FIRST radio catalogs. The automated algorithm is
sensitive to quasars at all redshifts lower than z=5.8. Extended sources are
also targeted as low-redshift quasar candidates in order to investigate the
evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) at the faint end of the luminosity
function. Nearly 95% of previously known quasars are recovered (based on 1540
quasars in 446 square degrees). The overall completeness, estimated from
simulated quasars, is expected to be over 90%, whereas the overall efficiency
(quasars:quasar candidates) is better than 65%. The selection algorithm targets
ultraviolet excess quasars to i^*=19.1 and higher-redshift (z>3) quasars to
i^*=20.2, yielding approximately 18 candidates per square degree. In addition
to selecting ``normal'' quasars, the design of the algorithm makes it sensitive
to atypical AGN such as Broad Absorption Line quasars and heavily reddened
quasars.Comment: 62 pages, 15 figures (8 color), 8 tables. Accepted by AJ. For a
version with higher quality color figures, see
http://archive.stsci.edu/sdss/quasartarget/RichardsGT_qsotarget.preprint.p
Two 100 Mpc-scale structures in the 3-D distribution of radio galaxies and their implications
We present unequivocal evidence for a huge (~80 x 100 x 100 Mpc^3)
super-structure at redshift z=0.27 in the 3-D distribution of radio galaxies
from the TONS08 sample, confirming tentative evidence for such a structure from
the 7C redshift survey (7CRS). A second, newly discovered super-structure is
also less securely found at redshift 0.35 (of dimensions ~100 x 100 x 100
Mpc^3). We present full observational details on the TONS08 sample which was
constructed to probe structures in the redshift range 0 < z < 0.5 by matching
NVSS sources with objects in APM catalogues to obtain a sample of optically
bright (E ~ R 3 mJy) radio
galaxies in the same 25 deg^2 area as part-II of the 7CRS. Out of the total
sample size of 84 radio galaxies, at least 25 are associated with the two ~100
Mpc-scale super-structures. We use quasi-linear structure formation theory to
estimate the number of such structures expected in the TONS08 volume if the
canonical value for radio galaxy bias is assumed. Under this assumption, the
structures represent ~ 4-5 sigma peaks in the primordial density field and
their expected number is low (~10^-2 - 10^-4). Fortunately, there are several
plausible explanations (many of which are testable) for these low probabilities
in the form of potential mechanisms for boosting the bias on large scales.
These include: the association of radio galaxies with highly biased rich
clusters in super-structures, enhanced triggering by group/group mergers, and
enhanced triggering and/or redshift space distortion in collapsing systems as
the growth of super-structures moves into the non-linear regime (abridged).Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 26 pages,16 figures. spectra can
be found in: http://www-astro.physics.ox.ac.uk/~brand/08_paper.ps.g
Ensemble Properties of Comets in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
We present the ensemble properties of 31 comets (27 resolved and 4
unresolved) observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This sample of
comets represents about 1 comet per 10 million SDSS photometric objects.
Five-band (u,g,r,i,z) photometry is used to determine the comets' colors,
sizes, surface brightness profiles, and rates of dust production in terms of
the Af{\rho} formalism. We find that the cumulative luminosity function for the
Jupiter Family Comets in our sample is well fit by a power law of the form N(<
H) \propto 10(0.49\pm0.05)H for H < 18, with evidence of a much shallower fit
N(< H) \propto 10(0.19\pm0.03)H for the faint (14.5 < H < 18) comets. The
resolved comets show an extremely narrow distribution of colors (0.57 \pm 0.05
in g - r for example), which are statistically indistinguishable from that of
the Jupiter Trojans. Further, there is no evidence of correlation between color
and physical, dynamical, or observational parameters for the observed comets.Comment: 19 pages, 8 tables, 11 figures, to appear in Icaru
- …