Decoherence due to telegraph and 1/f noise in Josephson qubits

We study decoherence due to random telegraph and 1/f noise in Josephson qubits. We illustrate differences between gaussian and non gaussian effects at different working points and for different protocols. Features of the intrinsically non-gaussian and non-Markovian low-frequency noise may explain the rich physics observed in the spectroscopy and the dynamics of charge based devices.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Mesoscopic Superconductivity and Spintronics 2004 (MS+S2004), Atsugi, Japa

Mazzini's International League in the light of the London Democratic Manifestos (1837-1850)

By mid 19th Century, three forms of how a republic should be shaped up were available for the political theorists and activists of Europe: the republic of Lamartine, the republic of Blanc, and the republic of Bonaparte. In this framework, the paper draws on the contribution of Mazzini and the London Manifestos to the framing of modern democracy

Exploitation of Digestate in a Fully Integrated Biowaste Treatment Facility: A Case Study

The increase of biowaste generation has reached critical levels in many countries. The European legislation introduced the biowaste treatment and the organic recycling as central theme of its political agenda with the aim to promote the sustainable exploitation of this peculiar waste. The most utilized technologies applied to the biowaste treatment are based on the biological processes targeting to produce biogas or, more recently, biomethane to be used as fuel. The production of biomethane allows to produce a substitute of the fossil methane with a yield of about 0.07gCH4/gbiowaste; the remaining fractions are waste coming from the pretreatment/refining steps, solid digestate or stabilized compost, and leachate. The sustainable treatment of these fractions is a mandatory issue to treat the biowaste in a reliable and sustainable integrated process since their amount is more than 85% and the impact of their treatment on environment and economy of the overall treatment process can be quite relevant. This chapter focused on the so-called smart facility that integrates processes based on thermochemical processes with the biological one targeting to increase the overall sustainability, the flexibility regarding the input biowaste composition, and the independency by the external factors affecting the waste trading

An exact relaxation of AC-OPF problem for battery-integrated power grids

Renewable energy resources and power electronics-interfaced loads introduce fast dynamics in distribution networks. These dynamics cannot be regulated by slow conventional solutions and require fast controllable energy resources such as Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs). To compensate for the high costs associated to BESSs, their energy and power management should be optimized. In this paper, a convex iterative optimization approach is developed to find the optimal active and reactive power setpoints of BESSs in active distribution networks. The objective is to minimize the total cost of energy purchase from the grid. Round-trip and life-time characteristics of BESSs are modelled accurately and integrated into a relaxed and exact formulation of the AC power flow, resulting into a Modified Augmented Relaxed Optimal Power Flow (MAROP) problem. The feasibility and optimality of the solution under the grid security limits and technical constraints of BESSs is proven analytically. A 32-bus IEEE test benchmark is used to illustrate the performance of the developed approach in comparison to the alternative approaches existing in the literature

The Effects of Color and Mascot Choices on Consumer Preference, Fan Association and Societal Acceptance

Sports fans choose the teams they root for by a variety of reasons; location, success, star players, players they like, colors of the team and the logo they like the most. In this study we examine the effect of team logo on sport consumer’s level of team identification. To investigate the effectiveness of team logo we are going to focus on logo shape, color combination, and mascot choices. We will conduct an experimental cross-sectional study to collect the data involving sport consumer’s psychological connection to the team that is influenced by the team logo they root for. The researchers will manipulate the different variables within team logos such as color, shape, and animals in order to find out exactly where the connections are made. As an extension of the study by Ahn, Suh, Lee, and Pedersen (2013), we will focus on whether or not team logo generates emotions and attitudes, which in turn positively relate to sport consumer behavioral intentions. Based on the previous findings, when logo elements have been changed fans react differently, positive or negative, even though purchase intentions remain constant. This research will contribute to the sport marketing literature by distinguishing precisely which logo elements have a bigger effect on team identification and sport consumer behavioral intentions. The results of this study will be presented at the SUNY undergraduate conference

Fluidized Bed Gasification of Mixed Plastic Wastes: A Material and a Substance Flow Analysis

Gasification as a reliable and convenient waste-to-energy process for the economic analysis of mixed-plastic waste (MPW) was investigated. To this end a pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed air gasifier was fired with two commercially available MPWs to obtain syngas composition and characterization of the bed material, cyclone collected fines and purge material from the scrubber. These results were then processed by means of Material and Substance Flow Analyses to evaluate the main process performance parameters for the two MPWs tested

Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Obtained by Fluidized Bed Pyrolysis of Virgin or Recycled Plastics

A new technique for a continuous, mass production of high-quality multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), based on fluidized bed pyrolysis of polymers (virgin or recycled polyolefins and recycled polyethylene terephtalate), is described in detail. The study investigates the role of interactions between the bed material and the polymer particles injected into the reactor as well as that of the reactor temperature. Results are reported in terms of yield and quality of obtained MWCNTs, all characterized by thermogravimetrical analysis and SEM microscopy. The production of MWCNTs, in a relatively large quantity and at a low cost, is demonstrated as technically feasible