Linking anthropogenic resources to wildlife-pathogen dynamics: a review and meta-analysis

Urbanisation and agriculture cause declines for many wildlife, but some species benefit from novelresources, especially food, provided in human-dominated habitats. Resulting shifts in wildlife ecol-ogy can alter infectious disease dynamics and create opportunities for cross-species transmission,yet predicting host–pathogen responses to resource provisioning is challenging. Factors enhancingtransmission, such as increased aggregation, could be offset by better host immunity due toimproved nutrition. Here, we conduct a review and meta-analysis to show that food provisioningresults in highly heterogeneous infection outcomes that depend on pathogen type and anthropo-genic food source. We also find empirical support for behavioural and immune mechanismsthrough which human-provided resources alter host exposure and tolerance to pathogens. Areview of recent theoretical models of resource provisioning and infection dynamics shows thatchanges in host contact rates and immunity produce strong non-linear responses in pathogen inva-sion and prevalence. By integrating results of our meta-analysis back into a theoretical frame-work, we find provisioning amplifies pathogen invasion under increased host aggregation andtolerance, but reduces transmission if provisioned food decreases dietary exposure to parasites.These results carry implications for wildlife disease management and highlight areas for futurework, such as how resource shifts might affect virulence evolution

Diffusion and Home Range Parameters for Rodents: Peromyscus maniculatus in New Mexico

We analyze data from a long term field project in New Mexico, consisting of repeated sessions of mark-recaptures of Peromyscus maniculatus (Rodentia: Muridae), the host and reservoir of Sin Nombre Virus (Bunyaviridae: Hantavirus). The displacements of the recaptured animals provide a means to study their movement from a statistical point of view. We extract two parameters from the data with the help of a simple model: the diffusion constant of the rodents, and the size of their home range. The short time behavior shows the motion to be approximately diffusive and the diffusion constant to be 470+/-50m^2/day. The long time behavior provides an estimation of the diameter of the rodent home ranges, with an average value of 100+/-25m. As in previous investigations directed at Zygodontomys brevicauda observations in Panama, we use a box model for home range estimation. We also use a harmonic model in the present investigation to study the sensitivity of the conclusions to the model used and find that both models lead to similar estimates.Comment: The published paper in Ecol. Complexity has an old version of Figure 6. Here we have put the correct version of Figure

Fourier Analysis of Gapped Time Series: Improved Estimates of Solar and Stellar Oscillation Parameters

Quantitative helio- and asteroseismology require very precise measurements of the frequencies, amplitudes, and lifetimes of the global modes of stellar oscillation. It is common knowledge that the precision of these measurements depends on the total length (T), quality, and completeness of the observations. Except in a few simple cases, the effect of gaps in the data on measurement precision is poorly understood, in particular in Fourier space where the convolution of the observable with the observation window introduces correlations between different frequencies. Here we describe and implement a rather general method to retrieve maximum likelihood estimates of the oscillation parameters, taking into account the proper statistics of the observations. Our fitting method applies in complex Fourier space and exploits the phase information. We consider both solar-like stochastic oscillations and long-lived harmonic oscillations, plus random noise. Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate the existence of cases for which our improved fitting method is less biased and has a greater precision than when the frequency correlations are ignored. This is especially true of low signal-to-noise solar-like oscillations. For example, we discuss a case where the precision on the mode frequency estimate is increased by a factor of five, for a duty cycle of 15%. In the case of long-lived sinusoidal oscillations, a proper treatment of the frequency correlations does not provide any significant improvement; nevertheless we confirm that the mode frequency can be measured from gapped data at a much better precision than the 1/T Rayleigh resolution.Comment: Accepted for publication in Solar Physics Topical Issue "Helioseismology, Asteroseismology, and MHD Connections

Relativistic Klystron Two-Beam Accelerator studies at the RTA test facility

A prototype rf power source based on the Relativistic Klystron Two- Beam Accelerator (RK-TBA) concept is being constructed at LBNL to study physics, engineering, and costing issues. The prototype, called RTA, is described and compared to a full scale design appropriate for driving the Next Linear Collider. Specific details of the induction core test and pulsed power system are presented. Details of the 1-MeV, 1.2-kA induction gun currently under construction are described

Instabilities in a Two-Component, Species Conserving Condensate

We consider a system of two species of bosons of equal mass, with interactions $U^{a}(|x|)$ and $U^{x}(|x|)$ for bosons of the same and different species respectively. We present a rigorous proof -- valid when the Hamiltonian does not include a species switching term -- showing that, when $U^{x}(|x|)>U^{a}(|x|)$, the ground state is fully "polarized" (consists of atoms of one kind only). In the unpolarized phase the low energy excitation spectrum corresponds to two linearly dispersing modes that are even a nd odd under species exchange. The polarization instability is signaled by the vani shing of the velocity of the odd modes.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.

An Introduction to Data Analysis in Asteroseismology

A practical guide is presented to some of the main data analysis concepts and techniques employed contemporarily in the asteroseismic study of stars exhibiting solar-like oscillations. The subjects of digital signal processing and spectral analysis are introduced first. These concern the acquisition of continuous physical signals to be subsequently digitally analyzed. A number of specific concepts and techniques relevant to asteroseismology are then presented as we follow the typical workflow of the data analysis process, namely, the extraction of global asteroseismic parameters and individual mode parameters (also known as peak-bagging) from the oscillation spectrum.Comment: Lecture presented at the IVth Azores International Advanced School in Space Sciences on "Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars and Searching for New Worlds" (arXiv:1709.00645), which took place in Horta, Azores Islands, Portugal in July 201

Amplitude equations near pattern forming instabilities for strongly driven ferromagnets

A transversally driven isotropic ferromagnet being under the influence of a static external and an uniaxial internal anisotropy field is studied. We consider the dissipative Landau-Lifshitz equation as the fundamental equation of motion and treat it in $1+1$~dimensions. The stability of the spatially homogeneous magnetizations against inhomogeneous perturbations is analyzed. Subsequently the dynamics above threshold is described via amplitude equations and the dependence of their coefficients on the physical parameters of the system is determined explicitly. We find soft- and hard-mode instabilities, transitions between sub- and supercritical behaviour, various bifurcations of higher codimension, and present a series of explicit bifurcation diagrams. The analysis of the codimension-2 point where the soft- and hard-mode instabilities coincide leads to a system of two coupled Ginzburg-Landau equations.Comment: LATeX, 25 pages, submitted to Z.Phys.B figures available via [email protected] in /pub/publications/frank/zpb_95 (postscript, plain or gziped

Investigation of a hydraulic impact: a technology in rock breaking

The finite element method and dimensional analysis have been applied in the present paper to study a hydraulic impact, which is utilized in a non-explosive rock breaking technology in mining industry. The impact process of a high speed piston on liquid water, previously introduced in a borehole drilled in rock, is numerically simulated. The research is focused on the influences of all the parameters involved in the technology on the largest principal stress in the rock, which is considered as one of the key factors to break the rock. Our detailed parametric investigation reveals that the variation of the isotropic rock material properties, especially its density, has no significant influence on the largest principal stress. The influences of the depth of the hole and the depth of the water column are also very small. On the other hand, increasing the initial kinetic energy of the piston can dramatically increase the largest principal stress and the best way to increase the initial kinetic energy of the piston is to increase its initial velocity. Results from the current dimensional analysis can be applied to optimize this non-explosive rock breaking technology

Heterotic Compactification, An Algorithmic Approach

We approach string phenomenology from the perspective of computational algebraic geometry, by providing new and efficient techniques for proving stability and calculating particle spectra in heterotic compactifications. This is done in the context of complete intersection Calabi-Yau manifolds in a single projective space where we classify positive monad bundles. Using a combination of analytic methods and computer algebra we prove stability for all such bundles and compute the complete particle spectrum, including gauge singlets. In particular, we find that the number of anti-generations vanishes for all our bundles and that the spectrum is manifestly moduli-dependent.Comment: 36 pages, Late