1,208 research outputs found
The long-term effects of experienced macroeconomic shocks on wealth
This paper examines the long-term effects of experienced macro-economic shocks – defined as
multi-year peak-to-trough GDP declines of at least 10 percent – on the wealth distribution,
portfolio allocation, and risk attitudes of older individuals in Europe. We show that individuals
who have experienced more economic depression episodes have lower wealth in absolute
terms, a lower probability to invest in risky assets, and display higher risk aversion. When
analysing early investment decisions, we find that individuals hit by a depression substitute
risky investments with investment in housing, and that these early choices shape wealth in the
long-term
Towards optimized suppression of dephasing in systems subject to pulse timing constraints
We investigate the effectiveness of different dynamical decoupling protocols
for storage of a single qubit in the presence of a purely dephasing bosonic
bath, with emphasis on comparing quantum coherence preservation under uniform
vs. non-uniform delay times between pulses. In the limit of instantaneous
bit-flip pulses, this is accomplished by establishing a new representation of
the controlled qubit evolution, where the resulting decoherence behaviour is
directly expressed in terms of the free evolution. Simple analytical
expressions are given to approximate the long- and short- term coherence
behaviour for both ohmic and supra-ohmic environments. We focus on systems with
physical constraints on achievable time delays, with emphasis on pure dephasing
of excitonic qubits in quantum dots. Our analysis shows that little advantage
of high-level decoupling schemes based on concatenated or optimal design is to
be expected if operational constraints prevent pulses to be applied
sufficiently fast. In such constrained scenarios, we demonstrate how simple
modifications of repeated periodic echo protocols can offer significantly
improved coherence preservation in realistic parameter regimes.Comment: 13 figures,1 tabl
Fluid sources and stable isotope signatures in authigenic carbonates from the Northern Apennines, Italy
Funding was provided by the Italian PRIN 2009 Project (MIUR research grant to R. Capozzi) and by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (grant to D. Oppo). The authors wish to thank Joachim Reitner (Department of Geobiology, Centre for Geosciences, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Germany), Stefano Bernasconi (Department of Earth Sciences, Geologisches Institut, ETH Zurich, CH) and Mario Mussi (CNR-Institute for Geosciences and Georesources, CNR-IGG, Pisa) for contributing in the stable isotopes analyses on carbonate samples; and to two anonymous reviewers.Peer reviewedPostprin
Mineralogia e geoquímica de carbonatos autigénicos do Golfo de Cádis
Mestrado em Ciências do Mar e das Zonas CosteirasEste trabalho apresenta a caracterização mineralógica e
geoquímica de carbonatos autigénicos do Golfo de Cádis.
Divide-se numa primeira parte introdutória onde se
apresenta um resumo dos conceitos teóricos e o
enquadramento geológico e estrutural da área em estudo,
seguido da investigação realizada, incluindo a
caracterização das amostras estudadas, a descrição dos
métodos analíticos e apresentação e discussão dos
resultados obtidos, que permitiram a sua caracterização
mineralógica e geoquímica. As amostras estudadas provêm
de vários vulcões de lama do Golfo de Cádis, localizados
em diferentes enquadramentos tectónico - sedimentares. A
caracterização mineralógica e geoquímica dos carbonatos
autigénicos indicam uma formação em resultado da
oxidação anaeróbica de metano na coluna sedimentar, a
pouca profundidade, e reflectem características típicas de
três processos de formação que deram origem aos três
tipos litológicos presentes: chaminés, crostas e concreções
carbonatadas.This work is focused on the mineralogy and geochemistry of
authigenic carbonates from the Gulf of Cadiz. It is divided in an
introductory part where the background concepts and the
geological setting of the study area are presented, followed by
the research work carried out in this master thesis project. The
studied samples, the methods and the techniques applied are
described, followed by the presentation of the main results and
their discussion, concluding on their mineralogical and
geochemical characterization and significance. The samples
came from several mud volcanoes, on three different geological
and tectonic settings of the Gulf of Cadiz. This mineralogical and
geochemical characterization of the authigenic carbonates show
the methane derived origin, especially the C and O isotopes, as
resulting from anaerobic oxidation of methane in shallow
sediments and permit to divide the samples in three main group
based on mineralogy and morphology: chimneys, crusts and
concretions. The data obtained compared with the literature
model proposed, permit to prove the hypothesis about the
formation processes of the three type. On the different type of
carbonates is possible to recognize the influence of the MOW on
the oxidation and bio-erosion of the chimneys and gas hydrates
influence on two samples from the Michael Ivanov Mud Volcano.
It is possible, due the isotopic data, move hypothesis on age of
the three different type of carbonate, in particular has been
possible to distinguish between the recent formation of the
concretions and older formation of the chimneys
Compression and visual quality assessment for light field contents
Since its invention in the 19th century, photography has allowed to create durable images of the world around us by capturing the intensity of light that flows through a scene, first analogically by using light-sensitive material, and then, with the advent of electronic image sensors, digitally. However, one main limitation of both analog and digital photography lays in its inability to capture any information about the direction of light rays. Through traditional photography, each three-dimensional scene is projected onto a 2D plane; consequently, no information about the position of the 3D objects in space is retained. Light field photography aims at overcoming these limitations by recording the direction of light along with its intensity. In the past, several acquisition technologies have been presented to properly capture light field information, and portable devices have been commercialized to the general public. However, a considerably larger volume of data is generated when compared to traditional photography. Thus, new solutions must be designed to face the challenges light field photography poses in terms of storage, representation, and visualization of the acquired data. In particular, new and efficient compression algorithms are needed to sensibly reduce the amount of data that needs to be stored and transmitted, while maintaining an adequate level of perceptual quality.
In designing new solutions to address the unique challenges posed by light field photography, one cannot forgo the importance of having reliable, reproducible means of evaluating their performance, especially in relation to the scenario in which they will be consumed. To that end, subjective assessment of visual quality is of paramount importance to evaluate the impact of compression, representation, and rendering models on user experience. Yet, the standardized methodologies that are commonly used to evaluate the visual quality of traditional media content, such as images and videos, are not equipped to tackle the challenges posed by light field photography. New subjective methodologies must be tailored for the new possibilities this new type of imaging offers in terms of rendering and visual experience.
In this work, we address the aforementioned problems by both designing new methodologies for visual quality evaluation of light field contents, and outlining a new compression solution to efficiently reduce the amount of data that needs to be transmitted and stored. We first analyse how traditional methodologies for subjective evaluation of multimedia contents can be adapted to suit light field data, and, we propose new methodologies to reliably assess the visual quality while maintaining user engagement. Furthermore, we study how user behavior is affected by the visual quality of the data. We employ subjective quality assessment to compare several state-of-the-art solutions in light field coding, in order to find the most promising approaches to minimize the volume of data without compromising on the perceptual quality. To that means, we define and inspect several coding approaches for light field compression, and we investigate the impact of color subsampling on the final rendered content. Lastly, we propose a new coding approach to perform light field compression, showing significant improvement with respect to the state of the art
Effects of melatonin implants on locomotor activity, body temperature, and growth of lambs fed a concentrate-based diet
Melatonin is involved in the regulation of circadian rhythms and is implicated in seasonal reproduction in sheep. In several physiological mechanisms, it acts as an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory molecule, regulating energy metabolism. This work investigated the effects of melatonin implants at 30 days of age on locomotor activity (LA), body temperature, and growth of fattening female and male lambs. Sixty lambs were divided into two groups: one of which received melatonin (MEL, 15 males, 16 females) and a control group (CTR, 16 males, 14 females). In the melatonin group, two 18 mg melatonin implants were placed at 30 days of age. Lambs were fattened for 6 weeks from weaning (45 days of age) to slaughter (85 days). The feed conversion rate (FCR) was calculated based on live weight and the amount of concentrate consumed. LA was measured weekly by actigraphy, and circadian rhythmicity was calculated. Rectal (Trec) and surface temperatures (Tsur) were recorded in the last week of fattening, and subcutaneous fat thickness (FT) over the longissimus dorsi muscle was measured by ultrasound scanning. Treatment did not affect FCR, although MEL female lambs consumed significantly (P < 0.001) less concentrate than CTR lambs. Treatment and sex had a significant (P < 0.05) interaction effect on FT; specifically, FT was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in female MEL lambs (3.22 ± 0.21 mm) than in female CTR lambs (2.57 ± 0.24 mm), but FT in males did not differ between MEL (2.77 ± 0.21) and CTR (2.94 ± 0.24 mm) lambs. Overall activity was significantly (P < 0.001) lower in the MEL lambs (72.22 ± 0.10 counts/min) than in the CTR lambs (78.89 ± 0.12 counts/min). MEL lambs had a significantly (P < 0.01) lower Trec (CTR: 39.00 ± 0.07; MEL: 38.68 ± 0.10) and Tsur for all body regions evaluated than the CTR lambs. In conclusion, treatment with exogenous melatonin at 30 days of age increased food efficiency in fattening female lambs, probably, because of the lower metabolism in treated lambs, which was reflected by the lower body temperature and LA exhibited by these animals. In addition, the study has demonstrated the effect of exogenous melatonin in the growth performances of post-weaning lambs, and that its effects depend on animal sex, which suggests that treatments that target females might be most appropriate in the fattening period
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