462 research outputs found
Pollution and Foraging Behavior of Pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis in Bujumbura Bay of Lake Tanganyika, Burundi: Conservation Implications
Lake Tanganyika is threatened by overfishing, deforestation, climate change and water pollution. Very few studies have investigated the effects of pollution on semi-aquatic communities such as aquatic birds. This study investigates the effects of pollution on the foraging behavior of pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis in the Bujumbura bay of Lake Tanganyika. We use data on foraging behavior of this bird species collected in 2002 as background and data collected over two periods during which we assessed change in water environmental parameters. The sampling site is located in the littoral zone next to the channel mouths that collect rainfall and wastewater from Bujumbura city. The results show a change in the number of observations of foraging pied kingfishers during the course of the day with a significantly lower number of observations in the morning than in the study carried out in 2002. The most frequent foraging behavior also changed from direct dives in 2002 to repeated hovering before diving in 2016. These changes could be accounted for by pollution as the water parameters data collected during the same time periods reveal an increase in turbidity while dissolved oxygen levels dropped. Increased turbidity may have caused reduction of visibility of these visual predatory birds. Attention should be given to measures toward alleviation of pollution of Lake Tanganyika for the conservation of semi-aquatic communities which are members of this deep and ancient lake ecosystem
LSST optical beam simulator
We describe a camera beam simulator for the LSST which is capable of
illuminating a 60mm field at f/1.2 with realistic astronomical scenes, enabling
studies of CCD astrometric and photometric performance. The goal is to fully
simulate LSST observing, in order to characterize charge transport and other
features in the thick fully depleted CCDs and to probe low level systematics
under realistic conditions. The automated system simulates the centrally
obscured LSST beam and sky scenes, including the spectral shape of the night
sky. The doubly telecentric design uses a nearly unit magnification design
consisting of a spherical mirror, three BK7 lenses, and one beam-splitter
window. To achieve the relatively large field the beam-splitter window is used
twice. The motivation for this LSST beam test facility was driven by the need
to fully characterize a new generation of thick fully-depleted CCDs, and assess
their suitability for the broad range of science which is planned for LSST. Due
to the fast beam illumination and the thick silicon design [each pixel is 10
microns wide and over 100 microns deep] at long wavelengths there can be
effects of photon transport and charge transport in the high purity silicon.
The focal surface covers a field more than sufficient for a 40x40 mm LSST CCD.
Delivered optical quality meets design goals, with 50% energy within a 5 micron
circle. The tests of CCD performance are briefly described.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
The home market effect in the Spanish industry, 1965-1995
This study was intended to identify empirically the existence of the home market effect (HME) in Spanish manufacturing industry, a case which shows some incipient evidence in very early stages of development, and an increasing relevance of this phenomenon over time. Our empirical test is carried out with 17 regions between 1965 and 1995, and lends support to the hypothesis of the existence of the HME in five of the nine industries analysed. These results are obtained using a specification in line with the traditional one but new in the sense that it is defined in proportions instead of levels; this approach has conceptual advantages because it is a relative one, like the definition of HME itself
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Recyclable supported Pd-NHC catalytic systems for the copper free Sonogashira cross-coupling in flow
A new family of well-defined NHC-Pd complexes immobilised onto silica, alumina and titania is reported. The catalysts display activity and recyclability in the Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions under batch and continuous flow conditions. Under batch conditions the new catalytic systems were recycled up to four times with yields over 80%. These catalysts have a broad substrate scope of different aryl bromides and alkynes. The titania-supported catalysts show good conversions under continuous flow conditions at least over 8 hours on stream using MeOH as solvent.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (EC FP7) Grant Agreement n. [NMP2-SL-2012-280827]. The authors are grateful to TECSPR14-1-0045; TECNIOspring programme, the Agency for Business Competitiveness of the Government of Catalonia, ACCIÓ, the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014SGR670). and the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CTQ2016-75016-R) for
financial support
Identification of Cool White Dwarfs in the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey
We report our search for the cool white dwarfs belonging to the Galactic disk
by extending the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey. Narrow-band DDO51 photometry of
the Deep Wide-Field Survey's northern field was obtained using the 4m-Mayall
Telescope and the MOSAIC imager to separate cool white dwarfs from other
stellar types of similar T_eff. Follow-up spectroscopy of four white dwarf
candidates from our photometric search resulted in the discovery of two new
cool white dwarfs as companions to M dwarfs.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, to appear in proceedings of the 13th European
Workshop on White Dwarf
Photometric Identification of Cool White Dwarfs
We investigate the use of a narrow-band DDO51 filter for photometric
identification of cool white dwarfs. We report photometric observations of 30
known cool white dwarfs with temperatures ranging from 10,000 K down to very
cool temperatures (<3500 K). Follow-up spectroscopic observations of a sample
of objects selected using this filter and our photometric observations show
that DDO51 filter photometry can help select cool white dwarf candidates for
follow-up multi--object spectroscopy by rejecting 65% of main sequence stars
with the same broad--band colors as the cool white dwarfs. This technique is
not selective enough to efficiently feed single--object spectrographs. We
present the white dwarf cooling sequence using this filter. Our observations
show that very cool white dwarfs form a sequence in the r-DDO vs. r-z
color--color diagram and demonstrate that significant improvements are needed
in white dwarf model atmospheres.Comment: Accepted for publication in A
Variables predictors of the set in the defence complex in volleyball
El objetivo de la investigación fue conocer las variables predictoras de
la eficacia de colocación en el complejo de defensa (KII), en ambos géneros, en
categorías de formación. La muestra del estudio estuvo compuesta por 2.404
acciones de juego, 1.104 en género masculino y 1.300 en género femenino,
desarrolladas por los 34 equipos participantes en el Campeonato de España
Under 16. La variable dependiente fue la eficacia de colocación. Las variables
independientes se agruparon en: variables de defensa, de colocación en KII y de
bloqueo. Los resultados determinaron que, en ambos géneros, la eficacia de
defensa, la técnica de colocación y la participación en bloqueo predecían la
eficacia de la colocación; en género masculino, zona de defensa y tiempo de
colocación; ninguna variable fue predictora únicamente en género femenino.
Esta información puede ser relevante para el desarrollo del proceso de
entrenamiento en voleibolThe objective of the research was to analyse the variables predictors of the
setting efficacy in the defence complex (KII), in youth athlete, in both genders.
The study sample was comprised of 2404 game actions, 1104 in the male
gender and 1300 in the female gender. The actions were carried out by the 34
teams that participated in the Spanish Under-16 Championship. The dependant
variable was the setting efficacy. The results determined that, in both genders,
the dig efficacy, setting technique and the participation in block predicted the
setting efficacy; in male gender, the defence zone and tempo of set; no
predictor variables were exclusive to the female gender. This information may
be relevant when developing training processes in volleyballEste estudio se ha realizado gracias a la aportación de la Consejería de Economía e Infraestructuras de la Junta de Extremadura a través del Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regiona
Participation and Influence of the libero in recepcion and defence, in volleyball U-19
El objetivo fue conocer la participación e influencia líbero en fase de ataque y defensa, en etapas de formación. La muestra fueron 6948 acciones de juego, realizadas por los jugadores de los 21 equipos del Campeonato de España Juvenil masculino. Las variables fueron: función del receptor/defensor, zona de recepción/defensa en profundidad y lateralidad, eficacia de recepción/defensa, zona donde se realiza colocación en recepción/defensa, zona hacia donde se realiza la colocación en recepción/defensa, tiempo de ataque/contraataque y eficacia de ataque/contraataque. En recepción, existió asociación significativa entre función del receptor y zona de recepción en profundidad-lateralidad, y zona donde se realiza la colocación. En defensa, existió asociación significativa entre función del defensor y zona de defensa en profundidad-lateralidad, eficacia de defensa, zona donde se realiza la colocación, zona hacia donde se realiza la colocación y tiempo de contraataque. La influencia del líbero, en estas etapas, se manifiesta más en defensa que en recepciónThe aim was to know the participation and influence of the libero in side-out phase and counter-attack, in young athletes. The sample was 6948 game actions, carried out by the players of the 21 teams that participate in the Under-19 Spanish Championship. The variables were: player that intervened in reception/dig, depth and laterality reception/dig zone, reception/dig efficacy, setting zone in reception/dig, set´s area in reception/dig, tempo of attack/counterattack and attack/counterattack efficacy. In reception, showed significant association between player that intervened in reception, depth-laterality reception zone and the setting zone. In defense, showed significant association between the player that intervened in dig and the depth-laterality dig zone, dig efficacy, setting zone, set´s area and tempo of counterattack. The influence of the participation of the libero, in young athletes, appeared more often in defense than in the receptio
Towards Precision LSST Weak-Lensing Measurement - I: Impacts of Atmospheric Turbulence and Optical Aberration
The weak-lensing science of the LSST project drives the need to carefully
model and separate the instrumental artifacts from the intrinsic lensing
signal. The dominant source of the systematics for all ground based telescopes
is the spatial correlation of the PSF modulated by both atmospheric turbulence
and optical aberrations. In this paper, we present a full FOV simulation of the
LSST images by modeling both the atmosphere and the telescope optics with the
most current data for the telescope specifications and the environment. To
simulate the effects of atmospheric turbulence, we generated six-layer phase
screens with the parameters estimated from the on-site measurements. For the
optics, we combined the ray-tracing tool ZEMAX and our simulated focal plane
data to introduce realistic aberrations and focal plane height fluctuations.
Although this expected flatness deviation for LSST is small compared with that
of other existing cameras, the fast f-ratio of the LSST optics makes this focal
plane flatness variation and the resulting PSF discontinuities across the CCD
boundaries significant challenges in our removal of the systematics. We resolve
this complication by performing PCA CCD-by-CCD, and interpolating the basis
functions using conventional polynomials. We demonstrate that this PSF
correction scheme reduces the residual PSF ellipticity correlation below 10^-7
over the cosmologically interesting scale. From a null test using HST/UDF
galaxy images without input shear, we verify that the amplitude of the galaxy
ellipticity correlation function, after the PSF correction, is consistent with
the shot noise set by the finite number of objects. Therefore, we conclude that
the current optical design and specification for the accuracy in the focal
plane assembly are sufficient to enable the control of the PSF systematics
required for weak-lensing science with the LSST.Comment: Accepted to PASP. High-resolution version is available at
http://dls.physics.ucdavis.edu/~mkjee/LSST_weak_lensing_simulation.pd
Photometry and spectroscopy of faint candidate spectrophotometric standard DA white dwarfs
We present precise photometry and spectroscopy for 23 candidate
spectrophotometric standard white dwarfs. The selected stars are distributed in
the Northern hemisphere and around the celestial equators and are all fainter
than r ~ 16.5 mag. This network of stars, when established as standards,
together with the three Hubble Space Telescope primary CALSPEC white dwarfs,
will provide a set of spectrophotometric standards to directly calibrate data
products to better than 1%. These new faint standard white dwarfs will have
enough signal-to-noise ratio in future deep photometric surveys and facilities
to be measured accurately while still avoiding saturation in such surveys. They
will also fall within the dynamic range of large telescopes and their
instruments for the foreseeable future. This paper discusses the provenance of
the observational data for our candidate standard stars. The comparison with
models, reconciliation with reddening, and the consequent derivation of the
full spectral energy density distributions for each of them is reserved for a
subsequent paper.Comment: 31 pages, 17 figures, 10 tables, ApJ in press (accepted on December
23rd, 2018
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