1,124 research outputs found
A Case Study Of Determinants Of An Effective Cloud Computing Strategy
The cloud continues to be an area of information systems that is being adopted cautiously by business firms. The authors of this study analyze factors that can determine the effectiveness of a cloud strategy as firms invest in this computing method. The authors examine cloud computing strategy from a detailed case study and statistical interpretation of a sample of projects of firms and organizations. The findings impute that technical factors are driving cloud computing projects more than procedural factors and that projects in the study exhibit less discipline in methodology than might otherwise be helpful in enabling an initial cloud computing strategy. This study contributes a framework for a prudent cloud computing strategy that can help firms as they further invest in this method of technology
Service evaluation of weight outcomes as a function of initial BMI in 34,271 adults referred to a primary care/commercial weight management partnership scheme
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Universality of the Ising Model on Sphere-like Lattices
We study the 2D Ising model on three different types of lattices that are
topologically equivalent to spheres. The geometrical shapes are reminiscent of
the surface of a pillow, a 3D cube and a sphere, respectively. Systems of
volumes ranging up to O() sites are simulated and finite size scaling is
analyzed. The partition function zeros and the values of various cumulants at
their respective peak positions are determined and they agree with the scaling
behavior expected from universality with the Onsager solution on the torus
(). For the pseudocritical values of the coupling we find significant
anomalies indicating a shift exponent for sphere-like lattice
topology.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX, 8 figure
A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem: Restoration Recommendations of an Expert Working Group
The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) well blowout released more petroleum hydrocarbons into the marine environment than any previous U.S. oil spill (4.9 million barrels), fouling marine life, damaging deep sea and shoreline habitats and causing closures of economically valuable fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. A suite of pollutants â liquid and gaseous petroleum compounds plus chemical dispersants â poured into ecosystems that had already been stressed by overfishing, development and global climate change. Beyond the direct effects that were captured in dramatic photographs of oiled birds in the media, it is likely that there are subtle, delayed, indirect and potentially synergistic impacts of these widely dispersed, highly bioavailable and toxic hydrocarbons and chemical dispersants on marine life from pelicans to salt marsh grasses and to deep-sea animals.
As tragic as the DWH blowout was, it has stimulated public interest in protecting this economically, socially and environmentally critical region. The 2010 Mabus Report, commissioned by President Barack Obama and written by the secretary of the Navy, provides a blueprint for restoring the Gulf that is bold, visionary and strategic. It is clear that we need not only to repair the damage left behind by the oil but also to go well beyond that to restore the anthropogenically stressed and declining Gulf ecosystems to prosperity-sustaining levels of historic productivity. For this report, we assembled a team of leading scientists with expertise in coastal and marine ecosystems and with experience in their restoration to identify strategies and specific actions that will revitalize and sustain the Gulf coastal economy.
Because the DWH spill intervened in ecosystems that are intimately interconnected and already under stress, and will remain stressed from global climate change, we argue that restoration of the Gulf must go beyond the traditional âin-place, in-kindâ restoration approach that targets specific damaged habitats or species. A sustainable restoration of the Gulf of Mexico after DWH must:
1. Recognize that ecosystem resilience has been compromised by multiple human interventions predating the DWH spill;
2. Acknowledge that significant future environmental change is inevitable and must be factored into restoration plans and actions for them to be durable;
3. Treat the Gulf as a complex and interconnected network of ecosystems from shoreline to deep sea; and
4. Recognize that human and ecosystem productivity in the Gulf are interdependent, and that human needs from and effects on the Gulf must be integral to restoration planning.
With these principles in mind, we provide the scientific basis for a sustainable restoration program along three themes:
1. Assess and repair damage from DWH and other stresses on the Gulf;
2. Protect existing habitats and populations; and
3. Integrate sustainable human use with ecological processes in the Gulf of Mexico.
Under these themes, 15 historically informed, adaptive, ecosystem-based restoration actions are presented to recover Gulf resources and rebuild the resilience of its ecosystem. The vision that guides our recommendations fundamentally imbeds the restoration actions within the context of the changing environment so as to achieve resilience of resources, human communities and the economy into the indefinite future
Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem: Restoration Recommendations of an Expert Working Group
The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) well blowout released more petroleum hydrocarbons into the marine environment than any previous U.S. oil spill (4.9 million barrels), fouling marine life, damaging deep sea and shoreline habitats and causing closures of economically valuable fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. A suite of pollutantsâliquid and gaseous petroleum compounds plus chemical dispersantsâpoured into ecosystems that had already been stressed by overfishing, development and global climate change. Beyond the direct effects that were captured in dramatic photographs of oiled birds in the media, it is likely that there are subtle, delayed, indirect and potentially synergistic impacts of these widely dispersed, highly bioavailable and toxic hydrocarbons and chemical dispersants on marine life from pelicans to salt marsh grasses and to deep-sea animals. As tragic as the DWH blowout was, it has stimulated public interest in protecting this economically, socially and environmentally critical region. The 2010 Mabus Report, commissioned by President Barack Obama and written by the secretary of the Navy, provides a blueprint for restoring the Gulf that is bold, visionary and strategic. It is clear that we need not only to repair the damage left behind by the oil but also to go well beyond that to restore the anthropogenically stressed and declining Gulf ecosystems to prosperity-sustaining levels of historic productivity. For this report, we assembled a team of leading scientists with expertise in coastal and marine ecosystems and with experience in their restoration to identify strategies and specific actions that will revitalize and sustain the Gulf coastal economy. Because the DWH spill intervened in ecosystems that are intimately interconnected and already under stress, and will remain stressed from global climate change, we argue that restoration of the Gulf must go beyond the traditional "in-place, in-kind" restoration approach that targets specific damaged habitats or species. A sustainable restoration of the Gulf of Mexico after DWH must: 1. Recognize that ecosystem resilience has been compromised by multiple human interventions predating the DWH spill; 2. Acknowledge that significant future environmental change is inevitable and must be factored into restoration plans and actions for them to be durable; 3. Treat the Gulf as a complex and interconnected network of ecosystems from shoreline to deep sea; and 4. Recognize that human and ecosystem productivity in the Gulf are interdependent, and that human needs from and effects on the Gulf must be integral to restoration planning. With these principles in mind, the authors provide the scientific basis for a sustainable restoration program along three themes: 1. Assess and repair damage from DWH and other stresses on the Gulf; 2. Protect existing habitats and populations; and 3. Integrate sustainable human use with ecological processes in the Gulf of Mexico. Under these themes, 15 historically informed, adaptive, ecosystem-based restoration actions are presented to recover Gulf resources and rebuild the resilience of its ecosystem. The vision that guides our recommendations fundamentally imbeds the restoration actions within the context of the changing environment so as to achieve resilience of resources, human communities and the economy into the indefinite future
Four-dimensional pure compact U(1) gauge theory on a spherical lattice
We investigate the confinement-Coulomb phase transition in the
four-dimensional (4D) pure compact U(1) gauge theory on spherical lattices. The
action contains the Wilson coupling beta and the double charge coupling gamma.
The lattice is obtained from the 4D surface of the 5D cubic lattice by its
radial projection onto a 4D sphere, and made homogeneous by means of
appropriate weight factors for individual plaquette contributions to the
action. On such lattices the two-state signal, impeding the studies of this
theory on toroidal lattices, is absent for gamma le 0. Furthermore, here a
consistent finite-size scaling behavior of several bulk observables is found,
with the correlation length exponent nu in the range nu = 0.35 - 40. These
observables include Fisher zeros, specific-heat and cumulant extrema as well as
pseudocritical values of beta at fixed gamma. The most reliable determination
of nu by means of the Fisher zeros gives nu = 0.365(8). The phase transition at
gamma le 0 is thus very probably of 2nd order and belongs to the universality
class of a non-Gaussian fixed point.Comment: 40 pages, LaTeX, 12 figure
Velocity Selection for Propagating Fronts in Superconductors
Using the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations we study the propagation
of planar fronts in superconductors, which would appear after a quench to zero
applied magnetic field. Our numerical solutions show that the fronts propagate
at a unique speed which is controlled by the amount of magnetic flux trapped in
the front. For small flux the speed can be determined from the linear marginal
stability hypothesis, while for large flux the speed may be calculated using
matched asymptotic expansions. At a special point the order parameter and
vector potential are dual, leading to an exact solution which is used as the
starting point for a perturbative analysis.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. Letter
Metabarcoding unsorted kickâsamples facilitates macroinvertebrateâbased biomonitoring with increased taxonomic resolution, while outperforming environmental DNA
PereiraâdaâConceicoa, L, Elbrecht, V, Hall, A, Briscoe, A, BarberâJames, H, Price, B. Metabarcoding unsorted kickâsamples facilitates macroinvertebrateâbased biomonitoring with increased taxonomic resolution, while outperforming environmental DNA. Environmental DNA. 2020; 00: 1â 19. https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.116© 2020 The Authors. Environmental DNA published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The attached file is the published pdf
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