399 research outputs found
A new transient method for determining soil hydraulic conductivity function
Instantaneous profile method (IPM) is a transient method for measuring a soil hydraulic conductivity function (SHCF), which relates soil hydraulic conductivity with suction. In the existing interpretation method of the IPM, boundary flux during testing must be known to integrate instantaneous profiles of water content for obtaining water flow rate. However, it is usually difficult and expensive to measure a boundary flux and if not known, assumptions that may not be easily justified (especially in the field condition) have to be made. In this study, a new method is proposed so that any boundary flux needs not to be measured, controlled or assumed during a test. The new method is evaluated through (i) hypothetical column tests using transient seepage analyses and (ii) five case studies. The new method is capable of determining a SHCF with good accuracy. Normalised root-mean-square deviation (NRMSD) for the old and new methods is less than 5% and 10%, respectively. The accuracy of the new method can be increased substantially (i.e., NRMSDThe accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author
Investigation of plant growth and transpiration-induced matric suction under mixed grass-tree conditions
Although evapotranspiration-induced matric suction for single species has been widely studied, little is known about how mixed-species planting would affect the plant growth and induced matric suction. This study aims to explore the effects of grass-tree interaction on their growth and induced matric suction during evapotranspiration (ET) and rainfalls. Field monitoring was carried out to measure matric suction responses in compacted soil that was vegetated with (i) single tree species, Schefflera heptaphylla and (ii) mixed species of the trees and a grass species, Cynodon dactylon. In each condition, three tree spacings (120, 180 and 240 mm) were planted. When tree spacing increased from 120 to 240 mm, the peak tree root area index (RAI, for fine roots with diameterThe accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author
Experimentally feasible measures of distance between quantum operations
We present two measures of distance between quantum processes based on the
superfidelity, introduced recently to provide an upper bound for quantum
fidelity. We show that the introduced measures partially fulfill the
requirements for distance measure between quantum processes. We also argue that
they can be especially useful as diagnostic measures to get preliminary
knowledge about imperfections in an experimental setup. In particular we
provide quantum circuit which can be used to measure the superfidelity between
quantum processes.
As the behavior of the superfidelity between quantum processes is crucial for
the properties of the introduced measures, we study its behavior for several
families of quantum channels. We calculate superfidelity between arbitrary
one-qubit channels using affine parametrization and superfidelity between
generalized Pauli channels in arbitrary dimensions. Statistical behavior of the
proposed quantities for the ensembles of quantum operations in low dimensions
indicates that the proposed measures can be indeed used to distinguish quantum
processes.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
Residues and World-Sheet Instantons
We reconsider the question of which Calabi-Yau compactifications of the
heterotic string are stable under world-sheet instanton corrections to the
effective space-time superpotential. For instance, compactifications described
by (0,2) linear sigma models are believed to be stable, suggesting a remarkable
cancellation among the instanton effects in these theories. Here, we show that
this cancellation follows directly from a residue theorem, whose proof relies
only upon the right-moving world-sheet supersymmetries and suitable compactness
properties of the (0,2) linear sigma model. Our residue theorem also extends to
a new class of "half-linear" sigma models. Using these half-linear models, we
show that heterotic compactifications on the quintic hypersurface in CP^4 for
which the gauge bundle pulls back from a bundle on CP^4 are stable. Finally, we
apply similar ideas to compute the superpotential contributions from families
of membrane instantons in M-theory compactifications on manifolds of G_2
holonomy.Comment: 47 page
Biochemical parameters of silver catfish (Rhamdia quelen) after transport with eugenol or essential oil of Lippia alba added to the water
The transport of live fish is a routine practice in aquaculture and constitutes a considerable source of stress to the animals. The addition of anesthetic to the water used for fish transport can prevent or mitigate the deleterious effects of transport stress. This study investigated the effects of the addition of eugenol (EUG) (1.5 or 3.0 mu L L-1) and essential oil of Lippia alba (EOL) (10 or 20 mu L L-1) on metabolic parameters (glycogen, lactate and total protein levels) in liver and muscle, acetylcholinesterase activity (AChE) in muscle and brain, and the levels of protein carbonyl (PC), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and nonprotein thiol groups (NPSH) and activity of glutathione-S-transferase in the liver of silver catfish (Rhamdia quelen; Quoy and Gaimard, 1824) transported for four hours in plastic bags (loading density of 169.2 g L-1). The addition of various concentrations of EUG (1.5 or 3.0 mu L L-1) and EOL (10 or 20 mu L L-1) to the transport water is advisable for the transportation of silver catfish, since both concentrations of these substances increased the levels of NPSH antioxidant and decreased the TBARS levels in the liver. In addition, the lower liver levels of glycogen and lactate in these groups and lower AChE activity in the brain (EOL 10 or 20 mu L L-1) compared to the control group indicate that the energetic metabolism and neurotransmission were lower after administration of anesthetics, contributing to the maintenance of homeostasis and sedation status.Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS/PRONEX) [10/0016-8]; Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Cientifico (CNPq) [470964/2009-0]; Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES); CNPqinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Verhulst model with Levy white noise excitation
The transient dynamics of the Verhulst model perturbed by arbitrary
non-Gaussian white noise is investigated. Based on the infinitely divisible
distribution of the Levy process we study the nonlinear relaxation of the
population density for three cases of white non-Gaussian noise: (i) shot noise,
(ii) noise with a probability density of increments expressed in terms of Gamma
function, and (iii) Cauchy stable noise. We obtain exact results for the
probability distribution of the population density in all cases, and for Cauchy
stable noise the exact expression of the nonlinear relaxation time is derived.
Moreover starting from an initial delta function distribution, we find a
transition induced by the multiplicative Levy noise, from a trimodal
probability distribution to a bimodal probability distribution in asymptotics.
Finally we find a nonmonotonic behavior of the nonlinear relaxation time as a
function of the Cauchy stable noise intensity.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, to appear in EPJ B (2008
Magnetism in Dense Quark Matter
We review the mechanisms via which an external magnetic field can affect the
ground state of cold and dense quark matter. In the absence of a magnetic
field, at asymptotically high densities, cold quark matter is in the
Color-Flavor-Locked (CFL) phase of color superconductivity characterized by
three scales: the superconducting gap, the gluon Meissner mass, and the
baryonic chemical potential. When an applied magnetic field becomes comparable
with each of these scales, new phases and/or condensates may emerge. They
include the magnetic CFL (MCFL) phase that becomes relevant for fields of the
order of the gap scale; the paramagnetic CFL, important when the field is of
the order of the Meissner mass, and a spin-one condensate associated to the
magnetic moment of the Cooper pairs, significant at fields of the order of the
chemical potential. We discuss the equation of state (EoS) of MCFL matter for a
large range of field values and consider possible applications of the magnetic
effects on dense quark matter to the astrophysics of compact stars.Comment: To appear in Lect. Notes Phys. "Strongly interacting matter in
magnetic fields" (Springer), edited by D. Kharzeev, K. Landsteiner, A.
Schmitt, H.-U. Ye
Measurement of the inclusive isolated prompt photon cross-section in pp collisions at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV using 35 pb-1 of ATLAS data
A measurement of the differential cross-section for the inclusive production
of isolated prompt photons in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s)
= 7 TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity ranges
|eta|<1.37 and 1.52<=|eta|<2.37 in the transverse energy range 45<=E_T<400GeV.
The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1, collected with
the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The yields of the signal photons are measured
using a data-driven technique, based on the observed distribution of the
hadronic energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate and the photon
selection criteria. The results are compared with next-to-leading order
perturbative QCD calculations and found to be in good agreement over four
orders of magnitude in cross-section.Comment: 7 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 4 tables, final
version published in Physics Letters
Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment
This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and
W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with
the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and
the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto
the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions
f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV
and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw
> 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour,
are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017
+/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second
include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables,
revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio
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