2,404 research outputs found
Supporting knowledge exchange isn't easy: lessons learnt from a case study
A knowledge management system is introduced in a large insurance company. It is meant to become a virtual knowledge network for a group of insurance professionals. Despite the fact that the introduction was met with enthusiasm and user participation in the design was ensured, the system did not live up to the expectations. In this paper we investigate this failure by uncovering and analyzing the requirements engineering processes underlying the system's\ud
conception, design and introduction. The demise of the system can be attributed to a lack of attention for the use context of the end users and a tendency in the development process to focus mostly on the technical solution instead of problem analysis
Poverty and the Environment: Exploring the Relationship between Household Incomes, Private Assets, and Natural Assets
Using purpose-collected survey data from 537 households in 60 different villages of the Jhabua district of India, this paper investigates the extent to which rural households depend on common-pool natural resources for their daily livelihood. Previous studies have found that resource dependenceâ defined as the fraction of total income derived from common-pool resourcesâstrongly decreases with income. Our study finds a more complex relationship. First, for the subsample of households that use positive amounts of resources, we find that dependence follows a U-shaped relationship with income, declining at first but then increasing. Second, we find that the probability of being in the subsample of common-pool resource users follows an inverse U-shaped relationship with income: the poorest and richest households are less likely to collect resources than those with intermediate incomes. Resource use by the rich is therefore bimodal: either very high orâfor the very richest householdsâzero. Third, we find that resource dependence increases at all income levels with an increase in the level of common-pool biomass availability. The combination of these results suggests that the quality of natural resources matters to a larger share of the rural population than had been previously believed; common-pool resources contribute a significant fraction of the income not just of the desperately poor, but also of the relatively rich.
Constrained simulations of the Antennae Galaxies: Comparison with Herschel-PACS observations
We present a set of hydro-dynamical numerical simulations of the Antennae
galaxies in order to understand the origin of the central overlap starburst.
Our dynamical model provides a good match to the observed nuclear and overlap
star formation, especially when using a range of rather inefficient stellar
feedback efficiencies (0.01 < q_EoS < 0.1). In this case a simple conversion of
local star formation to molecular hydrogen surface density motivated by
observations accounts well for the observed distribution of CO. Using radiative
transfer post-processing we model synthetic far-infrared spectral energy
distributions (SEDs) and two-dimensional emission maps for direct comparison
with Herschel-PACS observations. For a gas-to-dust ratio of 62:1 and the best
matching range of stellar feedback efficiencies the synthetic far-infrared SEDs
of the central star forming region peak at values of ~65 - 81 Jy at 99 - 116
um, similar to a three-component modified black body fit to infrared
observations. Also the spatial distribution of the far-infrared emission at 70
um, 100 um, and 160 um compares well with the observations: >50% (> 35%) of the
emission in each band is concentrated in the overlap region while only < 30% (<
15%) is distributed to the combined emission from the two galactic nuclei in
the simulations (observations). As a proof of principle we show that parameter
variations in the feedback model result in unambiguous changes both in the
global and in the spatially resolved observable far-infrared properties of
Antennae galaxy models. Our results strengthen the importance of direct,
spatially resolved comparative studies of matched galaxy merger simulations as
a valuable tool to constrain the fundamental star formation and feedback
physics.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, submitted to MNRAS, including
revisions after first referee report, comments welcom
India's Firewood Crisis Re-examined
Households in rural India are highly dependent on firewood as their main source of energy, partly because non-biofuels tend to be expensive. The prevailing view is therefore that, when faced with shortages of firewood in the village commons, such households, and especially the women in them, have to spend more and more time searching for firewood and eventually settle for poorer-quality biomass such as twigs, branches and dry leaves. Using data from a random sample of rural households in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, we come to very different conclusions, however. We find that households in villages with degraded forests do not spend longer hours searching for firewood, but instead switch to either using firewood from private trees or to using agricultural waste for fuel. In the long run, moreover, households respond to the firewood shortage by altering the mix of private trees on their land in favor of firewood, as opposed to fruit, trees. We find also that, Joint Forest Management, a government program initiated in the 1990s, is having a positive impact on the firewood economy.firewood crisis, time allocation, fuel switching, JFM, India
Far-infrared photometric observations of the outer planets and satellites with Herschel-PACS
We present all Herschel PACS photometer observations of Mars, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune, Callisto, Ganymede, and Titan. All measurements were carefully
inspected for quality problems, were reduced in a (semi-)standard way, and were
calibrated. The derived flux densities are tied to the standard PACS photometer
response calibration, which is based on repeated measurements of five fiducial
stars. The overall absolute flux uncertainty is dominated by the estimated 5%
model uncertainty of the stellar models in the PACS wavelength range between 60
and 210 micron. A comparison with the corresponding planet and satellite models
shows excellent agreement for Uranus, Neptune, and Titan, well within the
specified 5%. Callisto is brighter than our model predictions by about 4-8%,
Ganymede by about 14-21%. We discuss possible reasons for the model offsets.
The measurements of these very bright point-like sources, together with
observations of stars and asteroids, show the high reliability of the PACS
photometer observations and the linear behavior of the PACS bolometer source
fluxes over more than four orders of magnitude (from mJy levels up to more than
1000 Jy). Our results show the great potential of using the observed solar
system targets for cross-calibration purposes with other ground-based,
airborne, and space-based instruments and projects. At the same time, the PACS
results will lead to improved model solutions for future calibration
applications.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, 11 table
The Infrared Properties of Submillimeter Galaxies: Clues From Ultra-Deep 70 Micron Imaging
We present 70 micron properties of submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) in the Great
Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) North field. Out of thirty
submillimeter galaxies (S_850 > 2 mJy) in the central GOODS-N region, we find
two with secure 70 micron detections. These are the first 70 micron detections
of SMGs. One of the matched SMGs is at z ~ 0.5 and has S_70/S_850 and S_70/S_24
ratios consistent with a cool galaxy. The second SMG (z = 1.2) has
infrared-submm colors which indicate it is more actively forming stars. We
examine the average 70 micron properties of the SMGs by performing a stacking
analysis, which also allows us to estimate that S_850 > 2 mJy SMGs contribute 9
+- 3% of the 70 micron background light. The S_850/S_70 colors of the SMG
population as a whole is best fit by cool galaxies, and because of the
redshifting effects these constraints are mainly on the lower z sub-sample. We
fit Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) to the far-infrared data points of the
two detected SMGs and the average low redshift SMG (z_{median}= 1.4). We find
that the average low-z SMG has a cooler dust temperature than local
ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) of similar luminosity and an SED which
is best fit by scaled up versions of normal spiral galaxies. The average low-z
SMG is found to have a typical dust temperature T = 21 -- 33 K and infrared
luminosity L_{8-1000 micron} = 8.0 \times 10^11 L_sun. We estimate the AGN
contribution to the total infrared luminosity of low-z SMGs is less than 23%.Comment: Accepted by ApJ. 14 pages, 6 figures. Minor revisions 20th Dec 200
3C 48: Stellar Populations and the Kinematics of Stars and Gas in the Host Galaxy
We present deep Keck LRIS spectroscopy of the host galaxy of 3C 48. Our
observations at various slit positions sample the different luminous components
near the quasar, including the apparent tidal tail to the NW and several strong
emission line regions.
By fitting Bruzual & Charlot (1996) population synthesis models to our
spectra, we obtain ages for the most recent major episodes of star formation in
various parts of the host galaxy covered by our slits. There is vigorous
current star formation in regions just NE and SE of the quasar and
post-starburst regions with ages up to ~10^8 years in other parts of the host
galaxy, but most of the NW tidal tail shows no sign of significant recent star
formation. We use these model fits, together with the kinematics of the stars
and gas, to outline a plausible evolutionary history for the host galaxy, its
recent starburst activity, the triggering of the quasar, and the interaction of
the radio jet with the ambient gas.
There is strong evidence that the 3C 48 host is an ongoing merger, and that
it is probably near the peak of its starburst activity. Nevertheless, the
quasar itself seems to suffer little extinction, perhaps because we are viewing
it along a particularly favorable line-of-sight.Comment: 27 pages plus 11 figures (7 postscript, 4 gif). Postscript version
including figures (1840 kb) available at
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~canaguby/preprints.html . Accepted for publication
in Ap
Whole-brain estimates of directed connectivity for human connectomics
Connectomics is essential for understanding large-scale brain networks but requires that individual connection estimates are neurobiologically interpretable. In particular, a principle of brain organization is that reciprocal connections between cortical areas are functionally asymmetric. This is a challenge for fMRI-based connectomics in humans where only undirected functional connectivity estimates are routinely available. By contrast, whole-brain estimates of effective (directed) connectivity are computationally challenging, and emerging methods require empirical validation.
Here, using a motor task at 7T, we demonstrate that a novel generative model can infer known connectivity features in a whole-brain network (>200 regions, >40,000 connections) highly efficiently. Furthermore, graph-theoretical analyses of directed connectivity estimates identify functional roles of motor areas more accurately than undirected functional connectivity estimates. These results, which can be achieved in an entirely unsupervised manner, demonstrate the feasibility of inferring directed connections in whole-brain networks and open new avenues for human connectomics
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