8,894 research outputs found

    From “boat to plate”: creating value through sustainable fish supply chain visibility

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    Environmental concerns about the scarcity of marine resources are critical driving forces for firms aiming to prepare their supply chains for sustainability. Building on previous work, this paper highlights the mplementation of good practices geared towards sustainable operations in the seafood department, which were pursued in an exploratory retailer case. Outcomes of the adopted environmentally and socially acceptable fish retailing strategies, ranged from traceability, to self-certification and eco-labelling. The consequences for business were, as follows: stronger collaboration and trust across the chain of custody, improvement of sponsors’ image and of consumers’ loyalty and, progress in the Greenpeace retailers’ evaluation ranking.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Tetragonal tungsten bronze compounds: relaxor vs mixed ferroelectric - dipole glass behavior

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    We demonstrate that recent experimental data (E. Castel et al J.Phys. Cond. Mat. {\bf 21} (2009), 452201) on tungsten bronze compound (TBC) Ba2_2Prx_xNd1x_{1-x}FeNb4_4O15_{15} can be well explained in our model predicting a crossover from ferroelectric (x=0x=0) to orientational (dipole) glass (x=1x=1), rather then relaxor, behavior. We show, that since a "classical" perovskite relaxor like Pb(Mn1/3_{1/3} Nb2/3_{2/3})O3_3 is never a ferroelectric, the presence of ferroelectric hysteresis loops in TBC shows that this substance actually transits from ferroelectric to orientational glass phase with xx growth. To describe the above crossover theoretically, we use the simple replica-symmetric solution for disordered Ising model.Comment: 5 two-column pages, 4 figure

    Quenched disorder and spin-glass correlations in XY nematics

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    We present a theoretical study of the equilibrium ordering in a 3D XY nematic system with quenched random disorder. Within this model, treated with the replica trick and Gaussian variational method, the correlation length is obtained as a function of the local nematic order parameter and the effective disorder strength. These results clarify what happens in the limiting cases of diminishing order parameter and disorder strength, that is near a phase transition of a pure system. In particular, it is found that quenched disorder is irrelevant as the order parameter tends to zero and hence does not change the character of the continuous XY nematic to isotropic phase transition. We discuss how these results compare with experiments and simulationsComment: 19 pages, 6 figures, corrected typo

    One-step replica symmetry breaking solution of the quadrupolar glass model

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    We consider the quadrupolar glass model with infinite-range random interaction. Introducing a simple one-step replica symmetry breaking ansatz we investigate the para-glass continuous (discontinuous) transition which occurs below (above) a critical value of the quadrupole dimension m*. By using a mean-field approximation we study the stability of the one-step replica symmetry breaking solution and show that for m>m* there are two transitions. The thermodynamic transition is discontinuous but there is no latent heat. At a higher temperature we find the dynamical or glass transition temperature and the corresponding discontinuous jump of the order parameter.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

    Decoherence of Semiclassical Wigner Functions

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    The Lindblad equation governs general markovian evolution of the density operator in an open quantum system. An expression for the rate of change of the Wigner function as a sum of integrals is one of the forms of the Weyl representation for this equation. The semiclassical description of the Wigner function in terms of chords, each with its classically defined amplitude and phase, is thus inserted in the integrals, which leads to an explicit differential equation for the Wigner function. All the Lindblad operators are assumed to be represented by smooth phase space functions corresponding to classical variables. In the case that these are real, representing hermitian operators, the semiclassical Lindblad equation can be integrated. There results a simple extension of the unitary evolution of the semiclassical Wigner function, which does not affect the phase of each chord contribution, while dampening its amplitude. This decreases exponentially, as governed by the time integral of the square difference of the Lindblad functions along the classical trajectories of both tips of each chord. The decay of the amplitudes is shown to imply diffusion in energy for initial states that are nearly pure. Projecting the Wigner function onto an orthogonal position or momentum basis, the dampening of long chords emerges as the exponential decay of off-diagonal elements of the density matrix.Comment: 23 pg, 2 fi

    Sistemas de rotação de culturas para cevada, sob plantio direto, durante dez anos, em Guarapuava, PR.

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    bitstream/item/84002/1/CNPT-CIRCULAR-9-SISTEMAS-DE-ROTACAO-DE-CULTURAS-PARA-CEVADA-SOB-PLANTIO-DIRETO-DURANTE-DEZ-ANOS.pd

    Caracterização química de frutos de novos genótipos de mamoeiro na Chapada do Apodi.

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    No Brasil, o mamoeiro é cultivado em praticamente todos os Estados, sendo a Bahia o maior produtor, seguido de Espirito Santo, Ceará e Rio Grande do Norte com 45,03%, 31,93%, 5,69% e 4,70% respectivamente (IBGE, 2013). O fruto é utilizado nas dietas alimentares por serem excelentes fontes de cálcio, vitaminas A e C e apresenta importância econômica para o agronegócio brasileiro

    Bose Glass in Large N Commensurate Dirty Boson Model

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    The large N commensurate dirty boson model, in both the weakly and strongly commensurate cases, is considered via a perturbative renormalization group treatment. In the weakly commensurate case, there exists a fixed line under RG flow, with varying amounts of disorder along the line. Including 1/N corrections causes the system to flow to strong disorder, indicating that the model does not have a phase transition perturbatively connected to the Mott Insulator-Superfluid (MI-SF) transition. I discuss the qualitative effects of instantons on the low energy density of excitations. In the strongly commensurate case, a fixed point found previously is considered and results are obtained for higher moments of the correlation functions. To lowest order, correlation functions have a log-normal distribution. Finally, I prove two interesting theorems for large N vector models with disorder, relevant to the problem of replica symmetry breaking and frustration in such systems.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

    Growth laws and self-similar growth regimes of coarsening two-dimensional foams: Transition from dry to wet limits

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    We study the topology and geometry of two dimensional coarsening foams with arbitrary liquid fraction. To interpolate between the dry limit described by von Neumann's law, and the wet limit described by Marqusee equation, the relevant bubble characteristics are the Plateau border radius and a new variable, the effective number of sides. We propose an equation for the individual bubble growth rate as the weighted sum of the growth through bubble-bubble interfaces and through bubble-Plateau borders interfaces. The resulting prediction is successfully tested, without adjustable parameter, using extensive bidimensional Potts model simulations. Simulations also show that a selfsimilar growth regime is observed at any liquid fraction and determine how the average size growth exponent, side number distribution and relative size distribution interpolate between the extreme limits. Applications include concentrated emulsions, grains in polycrystals and other domains with coarsening driven by curvature
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