35,007 research outputs found
Ligula intestinalis (Cestoda: Pseudophyllidea): an ideal fish-metazoan parasite model?
Since its use as a model to study metazoan parasite culture and in vitro development, the plerocercoid of the tapeworm, Ligula intestinalis, has served as a useful scientific tool to study a range of biological factors, particularly within its fish intermediate host. From the extensive long-term ecological studies on the interactions between the parasite and cyprinid hosts, to the recent advances made using molecular technology on parasite diversity and speciation, studies on the parasite have, over the last 60 years, led to significant advances in knowledge on host-parasite interactions. The parasite has served as a useful model to study pollution, immunology and parasite ecology and genetics, as well has being the archetypal endocrine disruptor
Techniques for studying gravity waves and turbulence: Horizontal, vertical and temporal resolution needed
One of the most important atmospheric measurements that is needed is a measure of the gravity-wave spectrum. The MST radar has been investigated as means to measure the temporal resolution required to determine gravity-wave oscillations. The required vertical and horizontal resolution is dependent on the particular part of the gravity wave spectrum that is analyzed. Horizontal spacing is also discussed
Evaluation of LANDSAT-2 (ERTS) images applied to geologic structures and mineral resources of South America
The author has identified the following significant results. The Salar of Coposa is located in northern Chile along the frontier with Bolivia. The surface was divided into six general classes of materials. Analysis of LANDSAT image 1243-14001 by use of interactive multispectral computer (Image 100) enabled accurate repetition of these general classes based on reflectance. The Salar of Uyuni is the largest of the South American evaporite deposits. Using image 1243-13595, and parallel piped computer classification of reflectance units, the Salar was divided into nine classes ranging from deep to shallow water, water over salt, salt saturated with water, and several classes of dry salt
Differential rotation of Kepler-71 via transit photometry mapping of faculae and starspots
Knowledge of dynamo evolution in solar-type stars is limited by the difficulty of using active region monitoring to measure stellar differential rotation, a key probe of stellar dynamo physics. This paper addresses the problem by presenting the first ever measurement of stellar differential rotation for a main-sequence solar-type star using starspots and faculae to provide complementary information. Our analysis uses modelling of light curves of multiple exoplanet transits for the young solar-type star Kepler-71, utilizing archival data from the Kepler mission. We estimate the physical characteristics of starspots and faculae on Kepler-71 from the characteristic amplitude variations they produce in the transit light curves and measure differential rotation from derived longitudes. Despite the higher contrast of faculae than those in the Sun, the bright features on Kepler-71 have similar properties such as increasing contrast towards the limb and larger sizes than sunspots. Adopting a solar-type differential rotation profile (faster rotation at the equator than the poles), the results from both starspot and facula analysis indicate a rotational shear less than about 0.005 rad d-1, or a relative differential rotation less than 2 per cent, and hence almost rigid rotation. This rotational shear contrasts with the strong rotational shear of zero-age main-sequence stars and the modest but significant shear of the modern-day Sun. Various explanations for the likely rigid rotation are considered
Poly-essential and general Hyperelastic World (brane) models
This article provides a unified treatment of an extensive category of
non-linear classical field models whereby the universe is represented (perhaps
as a brane in a higher dimensional background) in terms of a structure of a
mathematically convenient type describable as hyperelastic, for which a
complete set of equations of motion is provided just by the energy-momentum
conservation law. Particular cases include those of a perfect fluid in
quintessential backgrounds of various kinds, as well as models of the elastic
solid kind that has been proposed to account for cosmic acceleration. It is
shown how an appropriately generalised Hadamard operator can be used to
construct a symplectic structure that controles the evolution of small
perturbations, and that provides a characteristic equation governing the
propagation of weak discontinuities of diverse (extrinsic and extrinsic) kinds.
The special case of a poly-essential model - the k-essential analogue of an
ordinary polytropic fluid - is examined and shown to be well behaved (like the
fluid) only if the pressure to density ratio is positive.Comment: 16 pages Latex, Contrib. to 10th Peyresq Pysics Meeting, June 2005:
Micro and Macro Structures of Spacetim
HST-FOS Observations of M87: Ly-a Emission from the Active Galactic Nucleus
The Faint Object Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope was used to
obtain spectra of the central region of M87. These spectra cover the wavelength
range 1140 - 1606 Angstrom and have a resolution of about 1 Angstrom. The
nuclear continuum is clearly visible in the spectra. The only strong line that
is observed is Ly-alpha, which has a velocity width of about 3000 km/sec. There
is also a marginal detection of C IV 1549. The ratio of Ly-alpha to C IV in the
nuclear spectrum is at least a factor of 2 higher than in a spectrum taken at a
position on the disk about 0.6" away from the nucleus by Dopita et al. This
enhancement of Ly-alpha at the nucleus could point to significant differences
in the properties of the emitting gas and/or the excitation mechanism between
the outer and inner disk regions. The strength of the observed Ly-alpha places
limits on the properties of the absorbing gas present within M87. For instance,
if the hydrogen column at the systemic velocity of M87 is greater than about
10^18 cm^{-2} then it can cover only a small fraction of the line emitting
region. Spectra separated by 5 days show a 60% difference in the Ly-alpha flux,
but the same continuum level. This could be due to either a displacement
between the aperture positions for the two sets of observations, or it could be
due to intrinsic variability of the source. The current observations do not
strongly favor either of these alternatives. The observations do show, however,
that the Ly-alpha line is a useful tracer of kinematics in the M87 nucleus.Comment: 14 pages + 5 figures. LaTeX uses aaspp4.sty. Accepted for publication
in the Astrophysical Journa
The Relativistically Spinning Charged Sphere
When the equatorial spin velocity, , of a charged conducting sphere
approaches , the Lorentz force causes a remarkable rearrangement of the
total charge .
Charge of that sign is confined to a narrow equatorial belt at latitudes while charge of the opposite sign
occupies most of the sphere's surface. The change in field structure is shown
to be a growing contribution of the `magic' electromagnetic field of the
charged Kerr-Newman black hole with Newton's G set to zero. The total charge
within the narrow equatorial belt grows as and tends to
infinity as approaches . The electromagnetic field, Poynting vector,
field angular momentum and field energy are calculated for these
configurations.
Gyromagnetic ratio, g-factor and electromagnetic mass are illustrated in
terms of a 19th Century electron model. Classical models with no spin had the
small classical electron radius a hundredth of the Compton
wavelength, but models with spin take that larger size but are so
relativistically concentrated to the equator that most of their mass is
electromagnetic.
The method of images at inverse points of the sphere is shown to extend to
charges at points with imaginary co-ordinates.Comment: 15 pages, 1figur
Modification of turbulent transport with continuous variation of flow shear in the Large Plasma Device
Continuous control over azimuthal flow and shear in the edge of the Large
Plasma Device (LAPD) has been achieved using a biasable limiter which has
allowed a careful study of the effect of flow shear on pressure-gradient-driven
turbulence and transport in LAPD. LAPD rotates spontaneously in the ion
diamagnetic direction (IDD); positive limiter bias first reduces, then
minimizes (producing a near-zero shear state), and finally reverses the flow
into the electron diamagnetic direction (EDD). Degradation of particle
confinement is observed in the minimum shearing state and reduction in
turbulent particle flux is observed with increasing shearing in both flow
directions. Near-complete suppression of turbulent particle flux is observed
for shearing rates comparable to the turbulent autocorrelation rate measured in
the minimum shear state. Turbulent flux suppression is dominated by amplitude
reduction in low-frequency (kHz) density fluctuations. An increase in
fluctuations for the highest shearing states is observed with the emergence of
a coherent mode which does not lead to net particle transport. The variations
of density fluctuations are fit well with power-laws and compare favorably to
simple models of shear suppression of transport.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Markerless View Independent Gait Analysis with Self-camera Calibration
We present a new method for viewpoint independent markerless gait analysis. The system uses a single camera, does not require camera calibration and works with a wide range of directions of walking. These properties make the proposed method particularly suitable for identification by gait, where the advantages of completely unobtrusiveness, remoteness and covertness of the biometric system preclude the availability of camera information and use of marker based technology. Tests on more than 200 video sequences with subjects walking freely along different walking directions have been performed. The obtained results show that markerless gait analysis can be achieved without any knowledge of internal or external camera parameters and that the obtained data that can be used for gait biometrics purposes. The performance of the proposed method is particularly encouraging for its appliance in surveillance scenarios
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