University of Notre Dame

About: University of Notre Dame is a education organization based out in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 22238 authors who have published 55201 publications receiving 2032925 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Notre Dame du Lac & University of Notre Dame, South Bend.

Solar fusion cross sections II: the pp chain and CNO cycles

Abstract: The available data on nuclear fusion cross sections important to energy generation in the Sun and other hydrogen-burning stars and to solar neutrino production are summarized and critically evaluated. Recommended values and uncertainties are provided for key cross sections, and a recommended spectrum is given for {sup 8}B solar neutrinos. Opportunities for further increasing the precision of key rates are also discussed, including new facilities, new experimental techniques, and improvements in theory. This review, which summarizes the conclusions of a workshop held at the Institute for Nuclear Theory, Seattle, in January 2009, is intended as a 10-year update and supplement to 1998, Rev. Mod. Phys. 70, 1265.

Comparison and combination of ear and face images in appearance-based biometrics

Abstract: Researchers have suggested that the ear may have advantages over the face for biometric recognition. Our previous experiments with ear and face recognition, using the standard principal component analysis approach, showed lower recognition performance using ear images. We report results of similar experiments on larger data sets that are more rigorously controlled for relative quality of face and ear images. We find that recognition performance is not significantly different between the face and the ear, for example, 70.5 percent versus 71.6 percent, respectively, in one experiment. We also find that multimodal recognition using both the ear and face results in statistically significant improvement over either individual biometric, for example, 90.9 percent in the analogous experiment.

Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago

Abstract: The time of arrival of people in Australia is an unresolved question. It is relevant to debates about when modern humans first dispersed out of Africa and when their descendants incorporated genetic material from Neanderthals, Denisovans and possibly other hominins. Humans have also been implicated in the extinction of Australia’s megafauna. Here we report the results of new excavations conducted at Madjedbebe, a rock shelter in northern Australia. Artefacts in primary depositional context are concentrated in three dense bands, with the stratigraphic integrity of the deposit demonstrated by artefact refits and by optical dating and other analyses of the sediments. Human occupation began around 65,000 years ago, with a distinctive stone tool assemblage including grinding stones, ground ochres, reflective additives and ground-edge hatchet heads. This evidence sets a new minimum age for the arrival of humans in Australia, the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, and the subsequent interactions of modern humans with Neanderthals and Denisovans. Optical dating of sediments containing stone artefacts newly excavated at Madjedbebe, Australia, indicate that human occupation began around 65,000 years ago, thereby setting a new minimum age for the arrival of people in Australia. When did humans first colonize Australia? The date of the initial landing on the continent that is now associated with cold lager and 'Waltzing Matilda' has been highly controversial. Dates from a site called Madjedbebe in northern Australia had put the presence of modern humans in Australia at between 60,000 and 50,000 years ago, but these results have since been hotly contested. Here, the results from a comprehensive program of dating of new excavations at the site confirm that people first arrived there around 65,000 years ago. The results show that humans reached Australia well before the extinction of the Australian megafauna and the disappearance of Homo floresiensis in neighbouring Indonesia.

Digital logic gate using quantum-Dot cellular automata

Abstract: A functioning logic gate based on quantum-dot cellular automata is presented, where digital data are encoded in the positions of only two electrons. The logic gate consists of a cell, composed of four dots connected in a ring by tunnel junctions, and two single-dot electrometers. The device is operated by applying inputs to the gates of the cell. The logic AND and OR operations are verified using the electrometer outputs. Theoretical simulations of the logic gate output characteristics are in excellent agreement with experiment.

Firm-Value Effects of Carbon Emissions and Carbon Disclosures

Abstract: Using hand-collected carbon emissions data for 2006 to 2008 voluntarily disclosed to the Carbon Disclosure Project by S&P 500 firms, we examine the effects on firm value of carbon emissions and of the act of voluntarily disclosing carbon emissions. Correcting for self-selection bias from managers’ decisions to disclose carbon emissions, we find that, on average, for every additional thousand metric tons of carbon emissions, firm value decreases by $212,000, where the median emissions for the disclosing firms in our sample are 1.07 million metric tons. We also examine the firm-value effects of managers’ decisions to disclose carbon emissions. We find that the median value of firms that disclose their carbon emissions is about $2.3 billion higher than that of comparable nondisclosing firms. Our results indicate that the markets penalize all firms for their carbon emissions, but a further penalty is imposed on firms that do not disclose emissions information. The results are consistent with the argument that capital markets impound both carbon emissions and the act of voluntary disclosure of this information in firm valuations.