2,491 research outputs found
Simulating the onset and spread of anoxic conditions during Cretaceous OAE2
A new model of the global atmosphere-ocean-continent-mantle system was set-up to investigate the triggering of the Oceanic Anoxic Event OAE2 through volcanic degassing processes at large igneous provinces (LIPs). The model simulates the changes in oceanic dissolved oxygen, phosphate, and carbon and the evolution of atmospheric
pCO2 values under mid-Cretaceous boundary conditions. It considers the effects of pCO2 on element ratios in marine plankton (C : P) and includes new parameterizations for phosphorus and carbon burial at the seafloor based on modern observations. Independent isotopic and chemical time-series of ocean and atmosphere change over OAE2 are applied to evaluate the model results. The model results support the hypothesis that OAE2 was triggered by massive CO2 emissions at LIPs. According to the model, the phosphorus weathering flux into the ocean and the C : P ratio in marine plankton were enhanced by the rise in surface temperature and atmosphere pCO2 caused by mantle degassing. Marine export production and oxygen consumption in intermediate and deep water masses increased in response to the expansion of the dissolved phosphate inventory of the ocean and the change in plankton element ratios. The spread of anoxic conditions in bottom waters -induced by enhanced carbon export and respiration- was further amplified by the oxygen-dependent burial of phosphorus in marine sediments in a positive feedback loop. The modeling implies that enhanced CO2 emissions favor the spread of low-oxygen conditions also in modern oceans
Naturalness in emergent spacetime
Effective field theories (EFTs) have been widely used as a framework in order
to place constraints on the Planck suppressed Lorentz violations predicted by
various models of quantum gravity. There are however technical problems in the
EFT framework when it comes to ensuring that small Lorentz violations remain
small -- this is the essence of the "naturalness" problem. Herein we present an
"emergent" space-time model, based on the "analogue gravity'' programme, by
investigating a specific condensed-matter system that is in principle capable
of simulating the salient features of an EFT framework with Lorentz violations.
Specifically, we consider the class of two-component BECs subject to
laser-induced transitions between the components, and we show that this model
is an example for Lorentz invariance violation due to ultraviolet physics.
Furthermore our model explicitly avoids the "naturalness problem", and makes
specific suggestions regarding how to construct a physically reasonable quantum
gravity phenomenology.Comment: V1:4 pages, revtex4; V2: slight changes in title, presentation, and
conclusions. This version to appear in Physical Review Letter
Analog model for an expanding universe
Over the last few years numerous papers concerning analog models for gravity
have been published. It was shown that the dynamical equation of several
systems (e.g. Bose-Einstein condensates with a sink or a vortex) have the same
wave equation as light in a curved-space (e.g. black holes). In the last few
months several papers were released which deal with simulations of the
universe.
In this article the de-Sitter universe will be compared with a freely
expanding three-dimensional spherical Bose-Einstein condensate. Initially the
condensate is in a harmonic trap, which suddenly will be switched off. At the
same time a small perturbation will be injected in the center of the condensate
cloud.
The motion of the perturbation in the expanding condensate will be discussed,
and after some transformations the similarity to an expanding universe will be
shown.Comment: Presented at the 4th Australasian conference on General Relativity
and Cosmology, Monash U, Melbourne, 7-9 January 200
Odor-driven attractor dynamics in the antennal lobe allow for simple and rapid olfactory pattern classification
The antennal lobe plays a central role for odor processing in insects, as demonstrated by electrophysiological and imaging experiments. Here we analyze the detailed temporal evolution of glomerular activity patterns in the antennal lobe of honeybees. We represent these spatiotemporal patterns as trajectories in a multidimensional space, where each dimension accounts for the activity of one glomerulus. Our data show that the trajectories reach odor-specific steady states (attractors) that correspond to stable activity patterns at about 1 second after stimulus onset. As revealed by a detailed mathematical investigation, the trajectories are characterized by different phases: response onset, steady-state plateau, response offset, and periods of spontaneous activity. An analysis based on support-vector machines quantifies the odor specificity of the attractors and the optimal time needed for odor discrimination. The results support the hypothesis of a spatial olfactory code in the antennal lobe and suggest a perceptron-like readout mechanism that is biologically implemented in a downstream network, such as the mushroom body
Carotenoids - Effective Radical Scavengers for Healthy and Beautiful Skin
Free radicals are involved in various diseases and skin aging. To reduce and prevent this risk, our body produces antioxidants that can neutralize free radicals. However, some antioxidants need to be taken up with food, so a balanced and varied diet is essential for human health and beauty, along with sufficient exercise. Vegetables, especially curly kale, show very good antioxidative capacity due to the presence of carotenoids. As the recommended daily intake of vegetables is usually not consumed, dietary supplements are a good possibility to ingest carotenoids in a controlled and natural way. The positive effect of carotenoid-based dietary supplements on the skin has already been shown in several studies on healthy volunteers. Innovative non-invasive measuring methods have shown that oil extracts from vegetables significantly reduce not only free radicals in the skin but also the age-related breakdown of collagen and have a positive effect on skin parameters such as wrinkle volume. Thus, a balanced mixture of different natural carotenoids contributes to maintaining health and beauty
Soft Sphere Packings at Finite Pressure but Unstable to Shear
When are athermal soft sphere packings jammed ? Any experimentally relevant
definition must at the very least require a jammed packing to resist shear. We
demonstrate that widely used (numerical) protocols in which particles are
compressed together, can and do produce packings which are unstable to shear -
and that the probability of generating such packings reaches one near jamming.
We introduce a new protocol that, by allowing the system to explore different
box shapes as it equilibrates, generates truly jammed packings with strictly
positive shear moduli G. For these packings, the scaling of the average of G is
consistent with earlier results, while the probability distribution P(G)
exhibits novel and rich scalingComment: 5 pages, 6 figures. Resubmitted to Physical Review Letters after a
few change
Rock magnetic and geochemical evidence for authigenic magnetite formation via iron reduction in coal-bearing sediments offshore Shimokita Peninsula, Japan (IODP Site C0020)
Sediments recovered at Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site C0020, in a foreâarc basin offshore Shimokita Peninsula, Japan, include numerous coal beds (0.3â7 m thick) that are associated with a transition from a terrestrial to marine depositional environment. Within the primary coalâbearing unit (âź2 km depth below seafloor) there are sharp increases in magnetic susceptibility in close proximity to the coal beds, superimposed on a background of consistently low magnetic susceptibility throughout the remainder of the recovered stratigraphic sequence. We investigate the source of the magnetic susceptibility variability and characterize the dominant magnetic assemblage throughout the entire cored record, using isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM), thermal demagnetization, anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM), iron speciation, and iron isotopes. Magnetic mineral assemblages in all samples are dominated by very lowâcoercivity minerals with unblocking temperatures between 350 and 580°C that are interpreted to be magnetite. Samples with lower unblocking temperatures (300â400°C), higher ARM, higherâfrequency dependence, and isotopically heavy δ56Fe across a range of lithologies in the coalâbearing unit (between 1925 and 1995 mbsf) indicate the presence of fineâgrained authigenic magnetite. We suggest that ironâreducing bacteria facilitated the production of fineâgrained magnetite within the coalâbearing unit during burial and interaction with pore waters. The coal/peat acted as a source of electron donors during burial, mediated by humic acids, to supply ironâreducing bacteria in the surrounding siliciclastic sediments. These results indicate that coalâbearing sediments may play an important role in iron cycling in subsiding peat environments and if buried deeply through time, within the subsequent deep biosphere
Best Practice Description Document
This work received support and funding from
⢠The BOHAB project (Biological Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms off the west coast of Ireland) through the National Development Plan 2000 â 2006 with the support of the Marine Institute and the Marine RTDI (Research, Technology, Development and Innovation) Measure, Productive Sector Operational Programme, Grant-aid Agreement No. ST/02/01.
⢠the ASIMUTH project (Applied simulations and Integrated modelling for the understanding of toxic and harmful algal blooms) through the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) for Research and Technological Development - EC FP7 Programme, Space Theme, Grant Agreement No. 261860
⢠the MyOcean 2 project through the EC FP7 Programme, Space Theme, Grant Agreement No. 283367
⢠the AtlantOS project through the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant Agreement No. 633211
⢠The PRIMROSE (Predicting the impact of regional scale events on the aquaculture sector) project, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme, EAPA_182/2016
⢠The CoCliME (Co-development of climate services for adaptation to changing marine ecosystems) project is part of the European Research Area for Climate Services (ERA4CS), an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by EPA (IE), ANR (FR), BMBF (DE), UEFISCDI (RO), RCN (NO) and FORMAS (SE), with co-funding by the European Union (Grant Agreement No. 690462).This document describes the procedural steps in creating an information product focused on toxic and harmful phytoplankton. The product is an online Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) bulletin for aquaculturists, who can face serious operational challenges in the days after a HAB event. Data from satellite, numerical hydrodynamic models and In-situ ocean observations are organised and presented into visual information products. These products are enhanced through local expert evaluation and their interpretation is summarised in the bulletin. This document aims to provide both process overviews (the âwhatâ of the Best Practice in producing the bulletins) and detail procedures (the âhowâ of the Best Practiceâ) so that the bulletins may be replicated in other geographic regions.European Commissio
Entropy and Temperature of a Static Granular Assembly
Granular matter is comprised of a large number of particles whose collective
behavior determines macroscopic properties such as flow and mechanical
strength. A comprehensive theory of the properties of granular matter,
therefore, requires a statistical framework. In molecular matter, equilibrium
statistical mechanics, which is founded on the principle of conservation of
energy, provides this framework. Grains, however, are small but macroscopic
objects whose interactions are dissipative since energy can be lost through
excitations of the internal degrees of freedom. In this work, we construct a
statistical framework for static, mechanically stable packings of grains, which
parallels that of equilibrium statistical mechanics but with conservation of
energy replaced by the conservation of a function related to the mechanical
stress tensor. Our analysis demonstrates the existence of a state function that
has all the attributes of entropy. In particular, maximizing this state
function leads to a well-defined granular temperature for these systems.
Predictions of the ensemble are verified against simulated packings of
frictionless, deformable disks. Our demonstration that a statistical ensemble
can be constructed through the identification of conserved quantities other
than energy is a new approach that is expected to open up avenues for
statistical descriptions of other non-equilibrium systems.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
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