1,065 research outputs found
E-consultation: evaluating appropriate technologies and processes for citizens' participation in public policy
This report sets out to explore the reality of consultation as a form of citizen participation in policy development in Ireland, North and South. It investigates processes of consultation, the only form of participation that is a legal requirement of policy making, with a view to assessing
their value as supporting tools of citizen centric governance. In addition a key objective of the research was to support the development of citizen driven government by identifying how Information Communication Technologies could support, develop or deepen the participation of
citizens in policy development through that same consultation requirement. In particular, it was hoped to identify e-consultation processes and technologies that are most appropriate to the needs of diverse local communities and to find the best ways to apply these to support citizen
driven democracy.
The research team is both interdisciplinary and action orientated. The authors come from diverse academic backgrounds such as sociology, political science, information management, community development and even marketing! However, they at least share in common a
commitment to democratic experimentalism (Unger, ), which involves working with what we have on offer to enrich democratic institutional possibilities by finding and building the zone where there is overlap between the conditions of practical progress and the requirements of
individual development, where whatever is proposed responds to the felt needs and aspirations of ordinary citizens
Investigation on the Effect of Cable Length on Pulse Shape of High Voltage High Pulse Power Supply
In the present scenario of pulse power applications, transmission of high voltage pulses varies as per load condition. In the early days of its application, High Voltage High Pulse Power Supply (HVHPPS) design saw short distance between load and source, where the effect of cable length was not taken into account for design. This paper presents the effect of cable length on pulse shape of High Voltage High Pulse Power Supply. The load under observation is Klystron based high energy particle accelerator system. The performance of pulse power systems were observed continuously on a daily basis throughout the year and detailed analysis was carried out. This paper generates the model of pulse forming system and provides details of pattern distortion of the pulse shape due to various dynamic parameter changes i.e. impedance, Load Voltage, Load Current, Cavity Dimensional Changes (Microwave components) due to temperature variations and performance of the power supply. The results were analysed and validated with hardware results across a range of actual industrial loads
Ge-on-Si single-photon avalanche diode detectors: design, modeling, fabrication, and characterization at wavelengths 1310 and 1550 nm
The design, modeling, fabrication, and characterization of single-photon avalanche diode detectors with an epitaxial Ge absorption region grown directly on Si are presented. At 100 K, a single-photon detection efficiency of 4% at 1310 nm wavelength was measured with a dark count rate of ~ 6 megacounts/s, resulting in the lowest reported noise-equivalent power for a Ge-on-Si single-photon avalanche diode detector (1×10-14 WHz-1/2). The first report of 1550 nm wavelength detection efficiency measurements with such a device is presented. A jitter of 300 ps was measured, and preliminary tests on after-pulsing showed only a small increase (a factor of 2) in the normalized dark count rate when the gating frequency was increased from 1 kHz to 1 MHz. These initial results suggest that optimized devices integrated on Si substrates could potentially provide performance comparable to or better than that of many commercially available discrete technologies
Non-Fermi liquid behavior from two-dimensional antiferromagnetic fluctuations: a renormalization-group and large-N analysis
We analyze the Hertz-Moriya-Millis theory of an antiferromagnetic quantum
critical point, in the marginal case of two dimensions (d=2,z=2). Up to
next-to-leading order in the number of components (N) of the field, we find
that logarithmic corrections do not lead to an enhancement of the Landau
damping. This is in agreement with a renormalization-group analysis, for
arbitrary N. Hence, the logarithmic effects are unable to account for the
behavior reportedly observed in inelastic neutron scattering experiments on
CeCu_{6-x}Au_x. We also examine the extended dynamical mean-field treatment
(local approximation) of this theory, and find that only subdominant
corrections to the Landau damping are obtained within this approximation, in
contrast to recent claims.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
The Breakdown of Topology at Small Scales
We discuss how a topology (the Zariski topology) on a space can appear to
break down at small distances due to D-brane decay. The mechanism proposed
coincides perfectly with the phase picture of Calabi-Yau moduli spaces. The
topology breaks down as one approaches non-geometric phases. This picture is
not without its limitations, which are also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
Transcriptomic, lipid, and histological profiles suggest changes in health in fish from a pesticide hot spot.
Barramundi (Lates calcarifer) were collected at the beginning (1st sampling) and end (2nd sampling) of the wet season from Sandy Creek, an agriculturally impacted catchment in the Mackay Whitsundays region of the Great Barrier Reef catchment area, and from Repulse Creek, located approximately 100 km north in Conway National Park, to assess the impacts of pesticide exposure. Gill and liver histology, lipid class composition in muscle, and the hepatic transcriptome were examined. The first sample of Repulse Creek fish showed little tissue damage and low transcript levels of xenobiotic metabolism enzymes. Sandy Creek fish showed altered transcriptomic patterns, including those that regulate lipid metabolism, xenobiotic metabolism, and immune response; gross histological alterations including lipidosis; and differences in some lipid classes. The second sampling of Repulse Creek fish showed similar alterations in hepatic transcriptome and tissue structure as fish from Sandy Creek. These changes may indicate a decrease in health of pesticide exposed fish
Half-BPS quotients in M-theory: ADE with a twist
We classify Freund-Rubin backgrounds of eleven-dimensional supergravity of
the form AdS_4 x X^7 which are at least half BPS; equivalently, smooth
quotients of the round 7-sphere by finite subgroups of SO(8) which admit an
(N>3)-dimensional subspace of Killing spinors. The classification is given in
terms of pairs consisting of an ADE subgroup of SU(2) and an automorphism
defining its embedding in SO(8). In particular we find novel half-BPS quotients
associated with the subgroups of type D_n (for n>5), E_7 and E_8 and their
outer automorphisms.Comment: 16 pages; V2: notational inconsistencies addressed, final version to
be published in JHE
Laser ablation loading of a radiofrequency ion trap
The production of ions via laser ablation for the loading of radiofrequency
(RF) ion traps is investigated using a nitrogen laser with a maximum pulse
energy of 0.17 mJ and a peak intensity of about 250 MW/cm^2. A time-of-flight
mass spectrometer is used to measure the ion yield and the distribution of the
charge states. Singly charged ions of elements that are presently considered
for the use in optical clocks or quantum logic applications could be produced
from metallic samples at a rate of the order of magnitude 10^5 ions per pulse.
A linear Paul trap was loaded with Th+ ions produced by laser ablation. An
overall ion production and trapping efficiency of 10^-7 to 10^-6 was attained.
For ions injected individually, a dependence of the capture probability on the
phase of the RF field has been predicted. In the experiment this was not
observed, presumably because of collective effects within the ablation plume.Comment: submitted to Appl. Phys. B., special issue on ion trappin
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