4,870 research outputs found
Measurement and analysis of rural household income in a dualistic economy: The case of South Africa
Government Departments in South Africa utilise a number of different data sets on income of rural households. These include the Population Census, the October Household Survey of 1995 and 2000, the Rural Household Survey of 1997 and the various agricultural censuses (1996 and 2003). All of these use different approaches in obtaining household income. The agricultural census, for example, only reports on farm income – excluding the non-farm income. This paper reviews the different sources of household income data, their measurement techniques and the utilisation thereof. The difference in application of various surveys in the former homeland areas and the so-called commercial farming areas are also shown. In the case of the former homeland areas integrated rural household data are used for poverty measurement purposes. The context and methodologies of these surveys are discussed in detail.Consumer/Household Economics,
Instanton Approach to Josephson Tunneling between Trapped Condensates
An instanton method is proposed to investigate the quantum tunneling between
two weakly-linked Bose-Einstein condensates confined in double-well potential
traps. We point out some intrinsic pathologies in the earlier treatments of
other authors and make an effort to go beyond these very simple zero order
models. The tunneling amplitude may be calculated in the Thomas-Fermi
approximation and beyond it; we find it depends on the number of the trapped
atoms, through the chemical potential. Some suggestions are given for the
observation of the Josephson oscillation and the MQST.Comment: 20 pages, Revtex4, 6 figures. Abbreviated version accepted by Eur.
Phys. J
Nonvacuum pseudoparticles, quantum tunneling and metastability
It is shown that nonvacuum pseudoparticles can account for quantum tunneling
and metastability. In particular the saddle-point nature of the pseudoparticles
is demonstrated, and the evaluation of path-integrals in their neighbourhood.
Finally the relation between instantons and bounces is used to derive a result
conjectured by Bogomolny and Fateyev.Comment: Latex, 16 pages, no figure
Spatially resolved quantum plasmon modes in metallic nano-films from first principles
Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) can be used to probe plasmon
excitations in nanostructured materials with atomic-scale spatial resolution.
For structures smaller than a few nanometers quantum effects are expected to be
important, limiting the validity of widely used semi-classical response models.
Here we present a method to identify and compute spatially resolved plasmon
modes from first principles based on a spectral analysis of the dynamical
dielectric function. As an example we calculate the plasmon modes of 0.5-4 nm
thick Na films and find that they can be classified as (conventional) surface
modes, sub-surface modes, and a discrete set of bulk modes resembling standing
waves across the film. We find clear effects of both quantum confinement and
non-local response. The quantum plasmon modes provide an intuitive picture of
collective excitations of confined electron systems and offer a clear
interpretation of spatially resolved EELS spectra.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
Plasmons on the edge of MoS2 nanostructures
Using ab initio calculations we predict the existence of one-dimensional
(1D), atomically confined plasmons at the edges of a zigzag MoS2 nanoribbon.
The strongest plasmon originates from a metallic edge state localized on the
sulfur dimers decorating the Mo edge of the ribbon. A detailed analysis of the
dielectric function reveals that the observed deviations from the ideal 1D
plasmon behavior result from single-particle transitions between the metallic
edge state and the valence and conduction bands of the MoS2 sheet. The Mo and S
edges of the ribbon are clearly distinguishable in calculated spatially
resolved electron energy loss spectrum owing to the different plasmonic
properties of the two edges. The edge plasmons could potentially be utilized
for tuning the photocatalytic activity of MoS2 nanoparticles
Once again: Instanton method vs. WKB
A recent analytic test of the instanton method performed by comparing the
exact spectrum of the Lam potential (derived from representations
of a finite dimensional matrix expressed in terms of generators) with
the results of the tight--binding and instanton approximations as well as the
standard WKB approximation is commented upon. It is pointed out that in the
case of the Lam potential as well as others the WKB--related method
of matched asymptotic expansions yields the exact instanton result as a result
of boundary conditions imposed on wave functions which are matched in domains
of overlap.Comment: 10 pages, no figures. References list revised according to JHE
A Search for Moderate-Redshift Survivors from the Population of Luminous Compact Passive Galaxies at High Redshift
From a search of a ~ 2400 square degree region covered by both the SDSS and
UKIDSS databases, we have attempted to identify galaxies at z ~ 0.5 that are
consistent with their being essentially unmodified examples of the luminous
passive compact galaxies found at z ~ 2.5. After isolating good candidates via
deeper imaging, we further refine the sample with Keck moderate-resolution
spectroscopy and laser-guide-star adaptive-optics imaging. For 4 of the 5
galaxies that so far remain after passing through this sieve, we analyze
plausible star-formation histories based on our spectra in order to identify
galaxies that may have survived with little modification from the population
formed at high redshift. We find 2 galaxies that are consistent with having
formed > 95% of their mass at z > 5. We attempt to estimate masses both from
our stellar population determinations and from velocity dispersions. Given the
high frequency of small axial ratios, both in our small sample and among
samples found at high redshifts, we tentatively suggest that some of the more
extreme examples of passive compact galaxies may have prolate morphologies.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, ApJ in press; error in Table 1 corrected, some
new references adde
Nonlinear wavelength selection in surface faceting under electromigration
We report on the control of the faceting of crystal surfaces by means of
surface electromigration. When electromigration reinforces the faceting
instability, we find perpetual coarsening with a wavelength increasing as
. For strongly stabilizing electromigration, the surface is stable.
For weakly stabilizing electromigration, a cellular pattern is obtained, with a
nonlinearly selected wavelength. The selection mechanism is not caused by an
instability of steady-states, as suggested by previous works in the literature.
Instead, the dynamics is found to exhibit coarsening {\it before} reaching a
continuous family of stable non-equilibrium steady-states.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitte
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