37,263 research outputs found
Statistical interaction modeling of bovine herd behaviors
While there has been interest in modeling the group behavior of herds or flocks, much of this work has focused on simulating their collective spatial motion patterns which have not accounted for individuality in the herd and instead assume a homogenized role for all members or sub-groups of the herd. Animal behavior experts have noted that domestic animals exhibit behaviors that are indicative of social hierarchy: leader/follower type behaviors are present as well as dominance and subordination, aggression and rank order, and specific social affiliations may also exist. Both wild and domestic cattle are social species, and group behaviors are likely to be influenced by the expression of specific social interactions. In this paper, Global Positioning System coordinate fixes gathered from a herd of beef cows tracked in open fields over several days at a time are utilized to learn a model that focuses on the interactions within the herd as well as its overall movement. Using these data in this way explores the validity of existing group behavior models against actual herding behaviors. Domain knowledge, location geography and human observations, are utilized to explain the causes of these deviations from this idealized behavior
Large-Scale Structure Shocks at Low and High Redshifts
Cosmological simulations show that, at the present time, a substantial
fraction of the gas in the intergalactic medium (IGM) has been shock-heated to
T>10^5 K. Here we develop an analytic model to describe the fraction of
shocked, moderately overdense gas in the IGM. The model is an extension of the
Press & Schechter (1974) description for the mass function of halos: we assume
that large-scale structure shocks occur at a fixed overdensity during nonlinear
collapse. This in turn allows us to compute the fraction of gas at a given
redshift that has been shock-heated to a specified temperature. We show that,
if strong shocks occur at turnaround, our model provides a reasonable
description of the temperature distribution seen in cosmological simulations at
z~0, although it does overestimate the importance of weak shocks. We then apply
our model to shocks at high redshifts. We show that, before reionization, the
thermal energy of the IGM is dominated by large-scale structure shocks (rather
than virialized objects). These shocks can have a variety of effects, including
stripping ~10% of the gas from dark matter minihalos, accelerating cosmic rays,
and creating a diffuse radiation background from inverse Compton and cooling
radiation. This radiation background develops before the first stars form and
could have measurable effects on molecular hydrogen formation and the spin
temperature of the 21 cm transition of neutral hydrogen. Finally, we show that
shock-heating will also be directly detectable by redshifted 21 cm measurements
of the neutral IGM in the young universe.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Ap
Dust Distribution in Gas Disks. A Model for the Ring Around HR 4796A
There have been several model analyses of the near and mid IR flux from the
circumstellar ring around HR4796A. In the vicinity of a young star, the
possibility that the dust ring is embedded within a residual protostellar gas
disk cannot be ruled out. In a gas-rich environment, larger sizes () are needed for the particles to survive the radiative blow out. The total
dust mass required to account for the IR flux is . The
combined influence of gas and stellar radiation may also account for the
observed sharp inner boundary and rapidly fading outer boundary of the ring.
The pressure gradient induced by a small (10%) amplitude variation in the
surface density distribution of a low-mass gaseous disk would be sufficient to
modify the rotation speed of the gas.Comment: proof read version, 26 pages, LaTex, 11 figures. To appear in The
Astronomical Journal June 200
Hydrothermal activity lowers trophic diversity in Antarctic hydrothermal sediments
Hydrothermal sediments are those in which hydrothermal
fluid is discharged through sediments and are one
of the least studied deep-sea ecosystems. We present a combination
of microbial and biochemical data to assess trophodynamics
between and within hydrothermal and background
areas of the Bransfield Strait (1050â1647 m of depth). Microbial
composition, biomass, and fatty acid signatures varied
widely between and within hydrothermally active and
background sites, providing evidence of diverse metabolic
activity. Several species had different feeding strategies and
trophic positions between hydrothermally active and inactive
areas, and the stable isotope values of consumers were not
consistent with feeding morphology. Niche area and the diversity
of microbial fatty acids was lowest at the most hydrothermally
active site, reflecting trends in species diversity.
Faunal uptake of chemosynthetically produced organics
was relatively limited but was detected at both hydrothermal
and non-hydrothermal sites, potentially suggesting that hydrothermal
activity can affect trophodynamics over a much
wider area than previously thought
Determining the galactic mass distribution using tidal streams from globular clusters
We discuss how to use tidal streams from globular clusters to measure the
mass distribution of the Milky Way. Recent proper motion determinations for
globular clusters from plate measurements and Hipparcos astrometry provide
several good candidates for Galactic mass determinations in the intermediate
halo, far above the Galactic disk, including Pal 5, NGC 4147, NGC 5024 (M53)
and NGC 5466; the remaining Hipparcos clusters provide candidates for
measurements several kpc above and below the disk. These clusters will help
determine the profile and shape of the inner halo. To aid this effort, we
present two methods of mass determination: one, a generalization of
rotation-curve mass measurements, which gives the mass and potential from
complete position-velocity observations for stream stars; and another using a
simple chi^2 estimator, which can be used when only projected positions and
radial velocities are known for stream stars. We illustrate the use of the
latter method using simulated tidal streams from Pal 5 and find that fairly
accurate mass determinations are possible even for relatively poor data sets.
Follow-up observations of clusters with proper motion determinations may reveal
tidal streams; obtaining radial velocity measurements would enable accurate
measurements of the mass distribution in the inner Galaxy.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, published in A
Towards the production of radiotherapy treatment shells on 3D printers using data derived from DICOM CT and MRI: preclinical feasibility studies
Background: Immobilisation for patients undergoing brain or head and neck radiotherapy is achieved using perspex or thermoplastic devices that require direct moulding to patient anatomy. The mould room visit can be distressing for patients and the shells do not always fit perfectly. In addition the mould room process can be time consuming. With recent developments in three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies comes the potential to generate a treatment shell directly from a computer model of a patient. Typically, a patient requiring radiotherapy treatment will have had a computed tomography (CT) scan and if a computer model of a shell could be obtained directly from the CT data it would reduce patient distress, reduce visits, obtain a close fitting shell and possibly enable the patient to start their radiotherapy treatment more quickly. Purpose: This paper focuses on the first stage of generating the front part of the shell and investigates the dosimetric properties of the materials to show the feasibility of 3D printer materials for the production of a radiotherapy treatment shell. Materials and methods: Computer algorithms are used to segment the surface of the patientâs head from CT and MRI datasets. After segmentation approaches are used to construct a 3D model suitable for printing on a 3D printer. To ensure that 3D printing is feasible the properties of a set of 3D printing materials are tested. Conclusions: The majority of the possible candidate 3D printing materials tested result in very similar attenuation of a therapeutic radiotherapy beam as the Orfit soft-drape masks currently in use in many UK radiotherapy centres. The costs involved in 3D printing are reducing and the applications to medicine are becoming more widely adopted. In this paper we show that 3D printing of bespoke radiotherapy masks is feasible and warrants further investigation
Electromagnetic Fields of Separable Space-Times
Carter derived the forms of the metric and the vector potentials of the
space-times in which the relativistic Schrodinger equation for the motion of a
charged particle separates. Here we show that on each `spheroidal' surface a
rotation rate exists such that relative to those rotating axes the electric and
magnetic fields are parallel and orthogonal to the spheroid which is thus an
equipotential in those axes. All the finite Carter separable systems without
magnetic monopoles or gravomagnetic NUT monopoles have the same gyromagnetic
ratio as the Dirac electron.Comment: 9 pages; accepted for publication in Class. Quantum Gra
Critical Protoplanetary Core Masses in Protoplanetary Disks and the Formation of Short-Period Giant Planets
We study a solid protoplanetary core of 1-10 earth masses migrating through a
disk. We suppose the core luminosity is generated as a result of planetesimal
accretion and calculate the structure of the gaseous envelope assuming
equilibrium. This is a good approximation when the core mass is less than the
critical value, M_{crit}, above which rapid gas accretion begins. We model the
structure of the protoplanetary nebula as an accretion disk with constant
\alpha. We present analytic fits for the steady state relation between disk
surface density and mass accretion rate as a function of radius r. We calculate
M_{crit} as a function of r, gas accretion rate through the disk, and
planetesimal accretion rate onto the core \dot{M}. For a fixed \dot{M},
M_{crit} increases inwards, and it decreases with \dot{M}. We find that \dot{M}
onto cores migrating inwards in a time 10^3-10^5 yr at 1 AU is sufficient to
prevent the attainment of M_{crit} during the migration process. Only at small
radii where planetesimals no longer exist can M_{crit} be attained. At small
radii, the runaway gas accretion phase may become longer than the disk lifetime
if the core mass is too small. However, massive cores can be built-up through
the merger of additional incoming cores on a timescale shorter than for in situ
formation. Therefore, feeding zone depletion in the neighborhood of a fixed
orbit may be avoided. Accordingly, we suggest that giant planets may begin to
form early in the life of the protostellar disk at small radii, on a timescale
that may be significantly shorter than for in situ formation. (abridged)Comment: 24 pages (including 9 figures), LaTeX, uses emulateapj.sty, to be
published in ApJ, also available at http://www.ucolick.org/~ct/home.htm
Sustainable development of smallholder crop-livestock farming in developing countries
Meeting the growing demand for animal-sourced food, prompted by population growth and increases in average per-capita income in low-income countries, is a major challenge. Yet, it also presents significant potential for agricultural growth, economic development, and reduction of poverty in rural areas. The main constraints to livestock producers taking advantage of growing markets include; lack of forage and feed gaps, communal land tenure, limited access to land and water resources, weak institutions, poor infrastructure and environmental degradation. To improve rural livelihood and food security in smallholder crop-livestock farming systems, concurrent work is required to address issues regarding efficiency of production, risk within systems and development of whole value chain systems. This paper provides a review of several forage basedstudies in tropical and non-tropical dry areas of the developing countries. A central tenet of this paper is that forages have an essential role in agricultural productivity, environmental sustainability and livestock nutrition in smallholder mixed farming systems
Experimental violation of a spin-1 Bell inequality using maximally-entangled four-photon states
We demonstrate the first experimental violation of a spin-1 Bell inequality.
The spin-1 inequality is a calculation based on the Clauser, Horne, Shimony and
Holt formalism. For entangled spin-1 particles the maximum quantum mechanical
prediction is 2.552 as opposed to a maximum of 2, predicted using local hidden
variables. We obtained an experimental value of 2.27 using the
four-photon state generated by pulsed, type-II, stimulated parametric
down-conversion. This is a violation of the spin-1 Bell inequality by more than
13 standard deviations.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Revtex4. Problem with figures resolve
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