Studies of the age, growth, sexual maturity and spawning of populations of anchoveta (Cetengraulis mysticetus) of the coast of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean

ENGLISH: Three hundred and twenty-six collections of anchoveta (Cetengraulis mysticetus), an important tuna bait species, taken between April 1951 and April 1960 from seven major baiting areas in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean (Almejas Bay, Guaymas, Ahome Point, Banderas Bay, Gulf of Fonseca, coast of Colombia and Ecuador-Peru) are the basis of this study of age, growth, sexual maturity and spawning. The study of the temporal progression of modal size groups from plots of monthly length-frequency distributions provided estimates of age and rate of growth. The study of sexual maturity and time of spawning was based on gross examination of ovaries, and application of the gonad index. SPANISH: Trescientas veintiseis recolecciones de anchovetas (Cetengraulis mysticetus), una importante especie de carnada para la pesca del atún, cogidas entre abril de 1951 y abril de 1960 en siete de las mayores áreas de pesca de peces de carnada en el Océano Pacífico Oriental Tropical (Bahía de Almejas, Guaymas, Punta Ahome, Bahía Banderas, Golfo de Fonseca, y las costas de Colombia y de Ecuador- Perú), sirven de base a este estudio de la edad, crecimiento, madurez sexual y desove de dicha especie. El estudio de la progresión temporal de los grupos de tamaños modales según los gráficos de las distribuciones de la frecuencia de las longitudes proporcionó estimaciones de la edad y de la tasa de crecimiento. La investigación de la madurez sexual y la época de desove se basó en el examen macroscópico de los ovarios y en la aplicación del índice de gónadas.\u

Entropy, majorization and thermodynamics in general probabilistic theories

In this note we lay some groundwork for the resource theory of thermodynamics in general probabilistic theories (GPTs). We consider theories satisfying a purely convex abstraction of the spectral decomposition of density matrices: that every state has a decomposition, with unique probabilities, into perfectly distinguishable pure states. The spectral entropy, and analogues using other Schur-concave functions, can be defined as the entropy of these probabilities. We describe additional conditions under which the outcome probabilities of a fine-grained measurement are majorized by those for a spectral measurement, and therefore the "spectral entropy" is the measurement entropy (and therefore concave). These conditions are (1) projectivity, which abstracts aspects of the Lueders-von Neumann projection postulate in quantum theory, in particular that every face of the state space is the positive part of the image of a certain kind of projection operator called a filter; and (2) symmetry of transition probabilities. The conjunction of these, as shown earlier by Araki, is equivalent to a strong geometric property of the unnormalized state cone known as perfection: that there is an inner product according to which every face of the cone, including the cone itself, is self-dual. Using some assumptions about the thermodynamic cost of certain processes that are partially motivated by our postulates, especially projectivity, we extend von Neumann's argument that the thermodynamic entropy of a quantum system is its spectral entropy to generalized probabilistic systems satisfying spectrality.Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2015, arXiv:1511.0118

Environmental Law in the United States

Environmental law in the United States comprises a complex patchwork of federal, state, and local statutes and regulations, along with the traditions of common law. Most statutory environmental programs emerged in the second half of the twentieth century. In the 1960s, writings such as Rachel Carson\u27s Silent Spring (1962) fueled environmental awareness in the United States; the first Earth Day, celebrated on April 22, 1970, symbolized the birth of vironmental law entered a new era in 1970, when President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act and the 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments. In the next decade, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments (1972), the Coastal Zone Management Act (1972), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA, 1972), the Endangered Species Act (1973), the Toxic Substances Control Act (1976), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976), the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (1977), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or Superfund law (1980), formed the body of modern environmental law. Environmental regulation in the United States derives primarily from federal and state legislation and is normally implemented by administrative agencies. Environmental law protects human health and property and natural ecosystems from air and water pollution, toxic contamination and exposure, and other harms arising from myriad commercial, industrial, and governmental activities

A generalized no-broadcasting theorem

We prove a generalized version of the no-broadcasting theorem, applicable to essentially \emph{any} nonclassical finite-dimensional probabilistic model satisfying a no-signaling criterion, including ones with ``super-quantum'' correlations. A strengthened version of the quantum no-broadcasting theorem follows, and its proof is significantly simpler than existing proofs of the no-broadcasting theorem.Comment: 4 page

A stable high temperature gold nano-catalyst: synthesis, characterization and application

A stable high temperature gold nano-catalyst: synthesis, characterization and application The ability of supported gold nanoparticles to catalyse many reactions even at very low temperatures has spurred a great deal of research into the eld. Reactions such as CO oxidation and NOx reduction have many industrial applications as well as uses in the motor industry for catalytic converters. The interest is both for scienti c as well as economic reasons as gold supplies far exceed all PGM supplies. Scienti cally gold catalysts are able to catalyze reactions from below 0°C, a feat that no PGM catalyst can achieve. The low temperature activity of gold catalysts will reduce the emission of pollutants during start up. Since the discovery and development of gold catalysts one of the most researched topics has been nding ways to stabilise the gold nanoparticles on the support surface. The importance of gold nanoparticle stability is crucial as the catalysts are only highly active if the gold nanoparticles are less than 5 nm in size. A number of companies have worked to develop gold catalysts that are stable for long durations at temperatures over 450°C with no signi cant progress made over the last two decades other than a catalyst produced by Toyota. In this thesis, literature reviews of current support materials as well as synthesis methods are investigated in order to determine reasons for the instability of current gold catalysts. Further, the Mintek Aurolite catalyst is tested and its deactivation mechanisms probed using in-situ VT-PXRD, Rietveld re nement, TEM, HR-TEM, as well as CO oxidation tests. Testing revealed aws in the support structure of the catalyst which resulted in dramatic deactivation. As titania is such a common support material for many reactions in industry as well as being known to be one of the best supports for gold it was chosen as a support material. However, as is revealed, in its current forms and morphologies it is unable to provide the thermodynamically stable and high surface areas that are required for a stable catalyst After the development of a robust and reproducible synthesis method for the deposition of gold and other PGM's a number of supports were tested. These include silica and zirconia as well as titania derivatives such as Degussa P25 and commercial anatase. Initially these supports o er high usable surface areas but after a relatively small amount of time complete deactivation occurs. Reasons for this deactivation are determined and the information gained is used to develop supports that can combat these deactivation processes. Phase pure nano anatase is synthesised which produced a support with an incredibly large surface area compared to the aforementioned supports. The catalyst was able to withstand temperatures over 450°C for longer durations compared to other catalysts exposed to the same conditions. However, the phase conversion of the anatase to its thermodynamically stable form rutile once again deactivated the catalyst with time. Finally a rutile nanosupport is developed with the desired morphology and thermodynamic stability needed for high temperature applications. The catalyst is able to withstand temperatures over 550°C for more than 200 hours as well as still being active after exposure to 810°C. The industrial Aurolite catalyst showed complete deactivation after just 12 hours at 500°C. The catalyst produced in this thesis has been shown to be one of the most stable and thermally resistant gold catalysts in the world

Generalized No-Broadcasting Theorem

We prove a generalized version of the no-broadcasting theorem, applicable to essentially any nonclassical finite-dimensional probabilistic model satisfying a no-signaling criterion, including ones with ‘‘superquantum’’ correlations. A strengthened version of the quantum no-broadcasting theorem follows, and its proof is significantly simpler than existing proofs of the no-broadcasting theorem

Bell nonlocality, signal locality and unpredictability (or What Bohr could have told Einstein at Solvay had he known about Bell experiments)

The 1964 theorem of John Bell shows that no model that reproduces the predictions of quantum mechanics can simultaneously satisfy the assumptions of locality and determinism. On the other hand, the assumptions of \emph{signal locality} plus \emph{predictability} are also sufficient to derive Bell inequalities. This simple theorem, previously noted but published only relatively recently by Masanes, Acin and Gisin, has fundamental implications not entirely appreciated. Firstly, nothing can be concluded about the ontological assumptions of locality or determinism independently of each other -- it is possible to reproduce quantum mechanics with deterministic models that violate locality as well as indeterministic models that satisfy locality. On the other hand, the operational assumption of signal locality is an empirically testable (and well-tested) consequence of relativity. Thus Bell inequality violations imply that we can trust that some events are fundamentally \emph{unpredictable}, even if we cannot trust that they are indeterministic. This result grounds the quantum-mechanical prohibition of arbitrarily accurate predictions on the assumption of no superluminal signalling, regardless of any postulates of quantum mechanics. It also sheds a new light on an early stage of the historical debate between Einstein and Bohr.Comment: Substantially modified version; added HMW as co-autho