3,972 research outputs found
On the size and composition of particles in polar stratospheric clouds
Attenuation measurements of the solar radiation between 1.5 and 15 micron wavelengths were performed with the airborne (DC-8) JPL MARK 4 interferometer during the 1987 Antarctic Expedition. The opacities not only provide information about the abundance of stratospheric gases but also about the optical depths of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) at wavelengths of negligible gas absorption (windows). The optical depth of PSCs can be determined for each window once the background attenuation, due to air-molecules and aerosol has been filtered out with a simple extinction law. The ratio of optical thicknesses at different wavelengths reveals information about particle size and particle composition. Among the almost 700 measured spectra only a few PSC cases exist. PSC events are identified by sudden reductions in the spectrally integrated intensity value and are also verified with backscattering data from an upward directed lidar instrument, that was mounted on the DC-8. For the selected case on September 21st at 14.40 GMT, lidar data indicate an optically thin cloud at 18k and later an additional optically thick cloud at 15 km altitude. All results still suffer from: (1) often arbitrary definitions of a clear case, that often already may have contained PSC particles and (2) noise problems that restrict the calculations of optical depths to values larger than 0.001. Once these problems are handled, this instrument may become a valuable tool towards a better understanding of the role PSCs play in the Antarctic stratosphere
How production networks amplify economic growth
Technological improvement is the most important cause of long-term economic growth. We study the effects of technology improvement in the setting of a production network, in which each producer buys input goods and converts them to other goods, selling the product to households or other producers. We show how this network amplifies the effects of technological improvements as they propagate along chains of production. Longer production chains for an industry bias it towards faster price reduction, and longer production chains for a country bias it towards faster GDP growth. These predictions are in good agreement with data and improve with the passage of time, demonstrating a key influence of production chains in price change and output growth over the long term
Breakdown of the mean-field approximation in a wealth distribution model
One of the key socioeconomic phenomena to explain is the distribution of
wealth. Bouchaud and M\'ezard have proposed an interesting model of economy
[Bouchaud and M\'ezard (2000)] based on trade and investments of agents. In the
mean-field approximation, the model produces a stationary wealth distribution
with a power-law tail. In this paper we examine characteristic time scales of
the model and show that for any finite number of agents, the validity of the
mean-field result is time-limited and the model in fact has no stationary
wealth distribution. Further analysis suggests that for heterogeneous agents,
the limitations are even stronger. We conclude with general implications of the
presented results.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
A Multi Agent Model for the Limit Order Book Dynamics
In the present work we introduce a novel multi-agent model with the aim to
reproduce the dynamics of a double auction market at microscopic time scale
through a faithful simulation of the matching mechanics in the limit order
book. The agents follow a noise decision making process where their actions are
related to a stochastic variable, "the market sentiment", which we define as a
mixture of public and private information. The model, despite making just few
basic assumptions over the trading strategies of the agents, is able to
reproduce several empirical features of the high-frequency dynamics of the
market microstructure not only related to the price movements but also to the
deposition of the orders in the book.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, in press European Physical Journal B (EPJB
Superconducting and Normal State Properties of Neutron Irradiated MgB2
We have performed a systematic study of the evolution of the superconducting
and normal state properties of neutron irradiated MgB wire segments as a
function of fluence and post exposure annealing temperature and time. All
fluences used suppressed the transition temperature, Tc, below 5 K and expanded
the unit cell. For each annealing temperature Tc recovers with annealing time
and the upper critical field, Hc2(T=0), approximately scales with Tc. By
judicious choice of fluence, annealing temperature and time, the Tc of damaged
MgB2 can be tuned to virtually any value between 5 and 39 K. For higher
annealing temperatures and longer annealing times the recovery of Tc tends to
coincide with a decrease in the normal state resistivity and a systematic
recovery of the lattice parameters.Comment: Updated version, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Multiple plasmon resonances in naturally-occurring multiwall nanotubes: infrared spectra of chrysotile asbestos
Chrysotile asbestos is formed by densely packed bundles of multiwall hollow
nanotubes. Each wall in the nanotubes is a cylindrically wrapped layer of . We show by experiment and theory that the infrared spectrum
of chrysotile presents multiple plasmon resonances in the Si-O stretching
bands. These collective charge excitations are universal features of the
nanotubes that are obtained by cylindrically wrapping an anisotropic material.
The multiple plasmons can be observed if the width of the resonances is
sufficiently small as in chrysotile.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Revtex4 compuscript. Misprint in Eq.(6) correcte
Criticality and finite size effects in a simple realistic model of stock market
We discuss a simple model based on the Minority Game which reproduces the
main stylized facts of anomalous fluctuations in finance. We present the
analytic solution of the model in the thermodynamic limit and show that
stylized facts arise only close to a line of critical points with non-trivial
properties. By a simple argument, we show that, in Minority Games, the
emergence of critical fluctuations close to the phase transition is governed by
the interplay between the signal to noise ratio and the system size. These
results provide a clear and consistent picture of financial markets as critical
systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Statistical Properties of Share Volume Traded in Financial Markets
We quantitatively investigate the ideas behind the often-expressed adage `it
takes volume to move stock prices', and study the statistical properties of the
number of shares traded for a given stock in a fixed time
interval . We analyze transaction data for the largest 1000 stocks
for the two-year period 1994-95, using a database that records every
transaction for all securities in three major US stock markets. We find that
the distribution displays a power-law decay, and that the
time correlations in display long-range persistence. Further, we
investigate the relation between and the number of transactions
in a time interval , and find that the long-range
correlations in are largely due to those of . Our
results are consistent with the interpretation that the large equal-time
correlation previously found between and the absolute value of
price change (related to volatility) are largely due to
.Comment: 4 pages, two-column format, four figure
Transient Stability Test Systems for Direct Stability Methods
A standard set of power system data with benchmark results are presented against which direct stability techniques to assess transient stability can be compared and tested. The test systems have been selected to display a wide range of dynamic characteristics to provide a robust test of the efficacy and accuracy of the various analytical techniques to analyze transient stability. Transient stability test system data and benchmark results obtained from two commercially available time-domain stability analysis packages are presente
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