194 research outputs found
Human-centric light sensing and estimation from RGBD images: the invisible light switch
Get PDFLighting design in indoor environments is of primary importance for at least two reasons: 1) people should perceive an adequate light; 2) an effective lighting design means consistent energy saving. We present the Invisible Light Switch (ILS) to address both aspects. ILS dynamically adjusts the room illumination level to save energy while maintaining constant the light level perception of the users. So the energy saving is invisible to them. Our proposed ILS leverages a radiosity model to estimate the light level which is perceived by a person within an indoor environment, taking into account the person position and her/his viewing frustum (head pose). ILS may therefore dim those luminaires, which are not seen by the user, resulting in an effective energy saving, especially in large open offices (where light may otherwise be ON everywhere for a single person). To quantify the system performance, we have collected a new dataset where people wear luxmeter devices while working in office rooms. The luxmeters measure the amount of light (in Lux) reaching the people gaze, which we consider a proxy to their illumination level perception. Our initial results are promising: in a room with 8 LED luminaires, the energy consumption in a day may be reduced from 18585 to 6206 watts with ILS (currently needing 1560 watts for operations). While doing so, the drop in perceived lighting decreases by just 200 lux, a value considered negligible when the original illumination level is above 1200 lux, as is normally the case in offices
Environmental Noise and Nonlinear Relaxation in Biological Systems
Get PDFWe analyse the effects of environmental noise in three different biological
systems: (i) mating behaviour of individuals of \emph{Nezara viridula} (L.)
(Heteroptera Pentatomidae); (ii) polymer translocation in crowded solution;
(iii) an ecosystem described by a Verhulst model with a multiplicative L\'{e}vy
noise.Comment: 32 pages; In "Ecological Modeling" by Ed. Wen-Jun Zhang. ISBN:
978-1-61324-567-5. - Nova Science Publishers, New York, 201
Effects of a localized beam on the dynamics of excitable cavity solitons
Get PDFWe study the dynamical behavior of dissipative solitons in an optical cavity
filled with a Kerr medium when a localized beam is applied on top of the
homogeneous pumping. In particular, we report on the excitability regime that
cavity solitons exhibits which is emergent property since the system is not
locally excitable. The resulting scenario differs in an important way from the
case of a purely homogeneous pump and now two different excitable regimes, both
Class I, are shown. The whole scenario is presented and discussed, showing that
it is organized by three codimension-2 points. Moreover, the localized beam can
be used to control important features, such as the excitable threshold,
improving the possibilities for the experimental observation of this
phenomenon.Comment: 9 Pages, 12 figure
iPTF16fnl: a faint and fast tidal disruption event in an E+A galaxy
Full text linkWe present ground-based and \textit{Swift} observations of iPTF16fnl, a
likely tidal disruption event (TDE) discovered by the intermediate Palomar
Transient Factory (iPTF) survey at 66.6 Mpc. The lightcurve of the object
peaked at absolute mag. The maximum bolometric luminosity (from
optical and UV) was erg/s, an
order of magnitude fainter than any other optical TDE discovered so far. The
luminosity in the first 60 days is consistent with an exponential decay, with
, where =~57631.0 (MJD) and
days. The X-ray shows a marginal detection at erg/s (\textit{Swift} X-ray Telescope). No radio counterpart was
detected down to 3, providing upper limits for monochromatic radio
luminosity of erg/s and erg/s (VLA, 6.1 and 22 GHz). The blackbody temperature, obtained from
combined \textit{Swift} UV and optical photometry, shows a constant value of
19,000 K. The transient spectrum at peak is characterized by broad He II and
H emission lines, with an FWHM of about 14,000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
respectively. He I lines are also detected at 5875 and 6678.
The spectrum of the host is dominated by strong Balmer absorption lines, which
are consistent with a post-starburst (E+A) galaxy with an age of 650 Myr
and solar metallicity. The characteristics of iPTF16fnl make it an outlier on
both luminosity and decay timescales, as compared to other optically selected
TDEs. The discovery of such a faint optical event suggests a higher rate of
tidal disruptions, as low luminosity events may have gone unnoticed in previous
searches.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
A SO2 flux study of the Etna volcano 2020–2021 paroxysmal sequences
Get PDFThe persistent open-vent degassing of Mt. Etna is often punctuated by months-long paroxysmal sequences characterized by episodes of violent Strombolian to lava fountaining activity. Understanding these gas-fueled transitions from quiescence to eruption requires routine measurement of gas fluxes. Here, we report SO2 flux measurements, obtained from a permanent UV camera system, collected over a two-year-long period spanning two paroxysmal sequences of Etna’s New South East Crater (NSEC) in December 2020/April 2021 and May/October 2021. In both cases, SO2 flux increased from ≤ 3250 Mg/day during “ordinary” activity to ≥ 4200 Mg/day. We interpret these distinct SO2 degassing regimes in light of seismic and thermal observations and drawing on numerical simulations of sulfur degassing constrained by parental melt sulfur contents in Etna’s hawaiites. We find that initiation of a paroxysmal sequence results from an approximate doubling of the time-averaged rate of magma supply (and degassing) above the sulfur exsolution level (∼150 MPa pressure), to >4 m3/s. This corroborates recent models that argue for the triggering of paroxysmal sequences by escalating supply of volatile-rich magma to a reservoir ∼3–4 km below the summit region. The non-stationary nature of magma flow and volcanic degassing we identify highlights the need for sustained surveillance to characterize long-term atmospheric budgets of volcanic volatiles
iPTF16fnl: A Faint and Fast Tidal Disruption Event in an E+A Galaxy
Get PDFWe present ground-based and Swift observations of iPTF16fnl, a likely tidal disruption event (TDE) discovered by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) survey at 66.6 Mpc. The light curve of the object peaked at an absolute mag M_g =- 17.2. The maximum bolometric luminosity (from optical and UV) was L_p ≃ (1.0 ± 0.15) x 10^(43) erg s^(−1), an order of magnitude fainter than any other optical TDE discovered so far. The luminosity in the first 60 days is consistent with an exponential decay, with L ∝ e^(-(t-t_0)/τ, where t_0 = 57631.0 (MJD) and τ ≃ 15 days. The X-ray shows a marginal detection at L_X = 2.4_(-1.1)^(1.9) x 10^(39) erg s^(−1) (Swift X-ray Telescope). No radio counterpart was detected down to 3σ, providing upper limits for monochromatic radio luminosities of vL_v < 2.3 x 10^(36) erg s^(−1) and vL_v < 1.7 x 10^(37) erg s^(−1) (Very Large Array, 6.1 and 22 GHz). The blackbody temperature, obtained from combined Swift UV and optical photometry, shows a constant value of 19,000 K. The transient spectrum at peak is characterized by broad He ii and Hα emission lines, with FWHMs of about 14,000 km s^(−1) and 10,000 km s^(−1), respectively. He i lines are also detected at λλ 5875 and 6678. The spectrum of the host is dominated by strong Balmer absorption lines, which are consistent with a post-starburst (E+A) galaxy with an age of ~650 Myr and solar metallicity. The characteristics of iPTF16fnl make it an outlier on both luminosity and decay timescales, as compared to other optically selected TDEs. The discovery of such a faint optical event suggests a higher rate of tidal disruptions, as low-luminosity events may have gone unnoticed in previous searches
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