32,354 research outputs found
Evolutionary breeding of healthy wheat: from plot to farm
Genetically diverse Composite Cross Populations (CCPs) may be useful in environmentally variable low-input systems as an alternative to pure line varieties. They are formed by hybridising lines with diverse evolutionary origins, bulking the F1 progeny, and allowing natural selection of the progeny in successive crop environments. CCPs derived from 10 high yielding parents (YCCPs), 12 high quality parents (QCCPs), or all 22 parents (YQCCPs), were grown at four sites (2 organic, 2 conventional) in the UK; they are currently (2006) in F5. The YCCPs out yielded the QCCPs, which had better quality characteristics. Although the CCPs performed within the range of the parents, the values obtained were often better than the mean of the parents. Some population samples are now being grown on farms and other sites in England, France, Germany and Hungary
Parafermionic conformal field theory on the lattice
Finding the precise correspondence between lattice operators and the
continuum fields that describe their long-distance properties is a largely open
problem for strongly interacting critical points. Here we solve this problem
essentially completely in the case of the three-state Potts model, which
exhibits a phase transition described by a strongly interacting 'parafermion'
conformal field theory. Using symmetry arguments, insights from integrability,
and extensive simulations, we construct lattice analogues of nearly all the
relevant and marginal physical fields governing this transition. This
construction includes chiral fields such as the parafermion. Along the way we
also clarify the structure of operator product expansions between order and
disorder fields, which we confirm numerically. Our results both suggest a
systematic methodology for attacking non-free field theories on the lattice and
find broader applications in the pursuit of exotic topologically ordered phases
of matter.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures; v2 added reference
Inhomogeneous Dust Collapse in 5D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Gravity
We consider a Lemaitre - Tolman - Bondi type space-time in Einstein gravity
with the Gauss-Bonnet combination of quadratic curvature terms, and present
exact solution in closed form. It turns out that the presence of the coupling
constant of the Gauss-Bonnet terms alpha > 0 completely changes the causal
structure of the singularities from the analogous general relativistic case.
The gravitational collapse of inhomogeneous dust in the five-dimensional
Gauss-Bonnet extended Einstein equations leads to formation of a massive, but
weak, timelike singularity which is forbidden in general relativity.
Interestingly, this is a counterexample to three conjecture viz. cosmic
censorship conjecture, hoop conjecture and Seifert's conjecture.Comment: 8 Latex Pages, 2 EPS figure
Palaeoecological study of Lochs Arkaig, Huamavat and Shiel
This is the final report to Marine Harvest on the ‘Palaeoecological study of Lochs
Arkaig, Huamavat and Shiel’. The primary objective was to examine the diatom
assemblages in sediment cores to assess the trophic status of the three lochs over
approximately the last 100-150 years, and to determine conditions prior to the
installation of fish farms at these sites
Physical nature of the central singularity in spherical collapse
We examine here the nature of the central singularity forming in the
spherically symmetric collapse of a dust cloud and it is shown that this is
always a strong curvature singularity where gravitational tidal forces diverge
powerfully. An important consequence is that the nature of the naked
singularity forming in the dust collapse turns out to be stable against the
perturbations in the initial data from which the collapse commences.Comment: Latex file, 11 pages, 2 figures, Updated version to match the
published version in PR
Developing a partcipatory approach to seed production and varietal selection
The performance of UK winter wheat varieties was tested under organic conditions involving farmer participation. Three breadmaking varieties (Hereward, Solstice and Xi19) and their mixture (1:1:1) were grown at 19 UK farms in 2003/04 and 2004/05. The variability of productivity on organic farms was illustrated with more variation among farm sites than among varieties. Seed health was generally high over all sites. Although the trials were successful, more time was needed at project initiation to improve farmer involvement. Some farmers expected more researcher visits, and were reticent about assessing the trials themselves. In contrast, some participants valued the variety performance data on their farms particularly when related to that of other growers. The balance between the goals of the researchers relative to the farmers needs to be defined at project initiation
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