Book Reviews

Book Review 1Book Title: Reproductive Energetics in MammalsBook Authors: A.S.I. Loudon & P.A. Racey (Eds.)Zoological Society of London Symposia 57, 1987 Clarendon. Press, Oxford. 371 pp.Book Review 2Book Title: Classification of Southern African MammalsBook Authors: J.A.J. Meester, I.L. Rautenbach, N.J. Dippenaar & C.M. BakerTransvaal Museum Monograph No.5. 359 pp.Book Review 3Book Title: Pesticide impact on stream fauna with special reference to macroinvertebratesBook Author: R.C. Muirhead-ThomsonCambridge University Press, 1987. 275 pp.Book Review 4Book Title: Evolution of sex determining mechanismsBook Author: James J. BullBenjamin-Cummings Publ. Company / Addison-Wesley Publishing Group, JohannesburgBook Review 5Book Title: The evolutionary ecology of ant-plant mutualismsBook Author: Andrew J. BeattieCambridge University Press 182 pp.Book Review 6Book Title: The Ecology of SexBook Authors: P.J. Greenwood & J. Adams Edward Arnold, London, 1987. 74 pagesBook Review 7Book Title: The Dinosaur Heresies - a revolutionary view of dinosaursBook Author: Robert BakkerPublished by Longman Scientific and Technical, 1987Book Review 8Book Title: Molecular Biology of the GeneBook Authors: Watson, Hopkins, Roberts, Steitz & WeinerVolumes I and II (Fourth Edition) (Benjamin/Cummings. Menlo Park); Addison-Wesley Publishing Group. Johannesburg 1163 pp.Book Review 9Book Title: Evolutionary BiologyBook Author: Eli C. MinkoffAddison-Wesley Publishing Company, Massachussets, 1983. 627pp.Book Review 10Book Title: An ecosystem approach to aquatic ecology. Mirror Lake and its environmentBook Author: Gene E. Likens (Ed.)Springer-Ver1ag, New York. xiv - 516 pages; 197 figuresBook Review 11Book Title: The Physiological Ecology of SeaweedsBook Authors: C.S. Lobban, P.J. Harrison & M.J. Duncan Cambridge University press, Cambridge, 1985. 242 pagesBook Review 12Book Title: Principles of ecologyBook Authors: R.J.Putman & S.D. WrattenCroom Helm, London, 1984. 388 pages

QCD Strings as Constrained Grassmannian Sigma Model:

We present calculations for the effective action of string world sheet in R3 and R4 utilizing its correspondence with the constrained Grassmannian sigma model. Minimal surfaces describe the dynamics of open strings while harmonic surfaces describe that of closed strings. The one-loop effective action for these are calculated with instanton and anti-instanton background, reprsenting N-string interactions at the tree level. The effective action is found to be the partition function of a classical modified Coulomb gas in the confining phase, with a dynamically generated mass gap.Comment: 22 pages, Preprint: SFU HEP-116-9

Thermal noise properties of two aging materials

In this lecture we review several aspects of the thermal noise properties in two aging materials: a polymer and a colloidal glass. The measurements have been performed after a quench for the polymer and during the transition from a fluid-like to a solid-like state for the gel. Two kind of noise has been measured: the electrical noise and the mechanical noise. For both materials we have observed that the electric noise is characterized by a strong intermittency, which induces a large violation of the Fluctuation Dissipation Theorem (FDT) during the aging time, and may persist for several hours at low frequency. The statistics of these intermittent signals and their dependance on the quench speed for the polymer or on sample concentration for the gel are studied. The results are in a qualitative agreement with recent models of aging, that predict an intermittent dynamics. For the mechanical noise the results are unclear. In the polymer the mechanical thermal noise is still intermittent whereas for the gel the violation of FDT, if it exists, is extremely small.Comment: to be published in the Proceedings of the XIX Sitges Conference on ''Jammming, Yielding and Irreversible Deformation in Condensed Matter'', M.-C.Miguel and M. Rubi eds.,Springer Verlag, Berli

Mass Spectra of Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theories in 1+1 Dimensions

Physical mass spectra of supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories in 1+1 dimensions are evaluated in the light-cone gauge with a compact spatial dimension. The supercharges are constructed and the infrared regularization is unambiguously prescribed for supercharges, instead of the light-cone Hamiltonian. This provides a manifestly supersymmetric infrared regularization for the discretized light-cone approach. By an exact diagonalization of the supercharge matrix between up to several hundred color singlet bound states, we find a rapidly increasing density of states as mass increases.Comment: LaTeX file, 32 page, 7 eps figure

Apparatus for investigating non-linear microwave interactions in magnetised plasma

Plasma, as a non-linear medium supporting a rich and diverse range of electromagnetic and electrostatic oscillations, can enable a range of multi-wave interactions when excited by multiple injected propagating electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic wave injection plays a dominant role in the introduction of energy in laser plasma interactions and in the heating of magnetically confined fusion reactors. In magnetically confined plasma, the EM waves tend to fall in the RF to microwave range, whilst in laser plasma interactions the signals are typically near the optical part of the spectrum

Are molecular tools clarifying or confusing our understanding of the public health threat from zoonotic enteric protozoa in wildlife?

Emerging infectious diseases are frequently zoonotic, often originating in wildlife, but enteric protozoa are considered relatively minor contributors. Opinions regarding whether pathogenic enteric protozoa may be transmitted between wildlife and humans have been shaped by our investigation tools, and has led to oscillations regarding whether particular species are zoonotic or have host-adapted life cycles. When the only approach for identifying enteric protozoa was morphology, it was assumed that many enteric protozoa colonized multiple hosts and were probably zoonotic. When molecular tools revealed genetic differences in morphologically identical species colonizing humans and other animals, host specificity seemed more likely. Parasites from animals found to be genetically identical - at the few genes investigated - to morphologically indistinguishable parasites from human hosts, were described as having zoonotic potential. More discriminatory molecular tools have now sub-divided some protozoa again. Meanwhile, some infection events indicate that, circumstances permitting, some “host-specific” protozoa, can actually infect various hosts. These repeated changes in our understanding are linked intrinsically to the investigative tools available. Here we review how molecular tools have assisted, or sometimes confused, our understanding of the public health threat from nine enteric protozoa and example wildlife hosts (Balantoides coli - wild boar; Blastocystis sp. - wild rodents; Cryptosporidium spp. - wild fish; Encephalitozoon spp. - wild birds; Entamoeba spp. - non-human primates; Enterocytozoon bieneusi - wild cervids; Giardia duodenalis - red foxes; Sarcocystis nesbitti - snakes; Toxoplasma gondii - bobcats). Molecular tools have provided evidence that some enteric protozoa in wildlife may infect humans, but due to limited discriminatory power, often only the zoonotic potential of the parasite is indicated. Molecular analyses, which should be as discriminatory as possible, are one, but not the only, component of the toolbox for investigating potential public health impacts from pathogenic enteric protozoa in wildlife

3D Studies of Neutral and Ionised Gas and Stars in Seyfert and Inactive Galaxies

We are conducting the first systematic 3D spectroscopic imaging survey to quantify the properties of the atomic gas (HI) in a distance-limited sample of 28 Seyfert galaxies and a sample of 28 inactive control galaxies with well-matched optical properties (the VHIKINGS survey). This study aims to address the role of the host galaxy in nuclear activity and confront outstanding controversies in optical/IR imaging surveys. Early results show possible relationships between Seyfert activity and HI extent, content and the prevalence of small, nearby gas-rich dwarf galaxies (M(HI)~10^7 Msun); results will be tested via rigorous comparison with control galaxies. Initial results from our optical followup study of 15 of our galaxies using the SAURON integral field unit on the WHT suggest a possible difference between Seyfert and inactive stellar and gaseous kinematics that support the conclusion that internal kinematics of galaxies are the key to nuclear activity.Comment: 6 pages to be published in the proceedings of "The Fate of Gas in Galaxies", held in Dwingeloo, July 200

On the verge of Umdeutung in Minnesota: Van Vleck and the correspondence principle (Part One)

In October 1924, the Physical Review, a relatively minor journal at the time, published a remarkable two-part paper by John H. Van Vleck, working in virtual isolation at the University of Minnesota. Van Vleck combined advanced techniques of classical mechanics with Bohr's correspondence principle and Einstein's quantum theory of radiation to find quantum analogues of classical expressions for the emission, absorption, and dispersion of radiation. For modern readers Van Vleck's paper is much easier to follow than the famous paper by Kramers and Heisenberg on dispersion theory, which covers similar terrain and is widely credited to have led directly to Heisenberg's "Umdeutung" paper. This makes Van Vleck's paper extremely valuable for the reconstruction of the genesis of matrix mechanics. It also makes it tempting to ask why Van Vleck did not take the next step and develop matrix mechanics himself.Comment: 82 page

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results