262 research outputs found
Design and Analysis of Fluidized Bed Gasifier for Chicken Litter along with Agro Wastes
Abstrac
The Distribution, Natural History and the Conservation Status of Batrachostomus Moniliger (Aves: Podargidae) in Last Two Decades from Sri Lanka
The Sri Lanka frogmouth (Batrachostomus moniliger) is a small-sized nocturnal bird largely restricted to tropical lowland forests with thick undergrowth. The motionless roosting posture as well as their plumage coloration and color patterns (which resemble that of tree stems and branches) enable them to camouflage and thereby avoid predation. Through opportunistic field surveys over a 20-year period (January 1998-February 2018), we surveyed different bioclimatic regions of Sri Lanka covering 500 sites, and documented presence of Sri Lankan frogmouth in 83 of sites. In these 83 sites, we recorded 136 birds including seven nesting pairs and chicks. Our survey confirmed frogmouth presence in four floristic regions of Sri Lanka, particularly from lower elevations (11-767 m). Most sightings were made in lowland rainforests while savannah woodlands had the least number of records; no frogmouths were recorded inside anthropocentric land-cover types such as commercial-scale farmlands or plantations. According to the habitat suitability model we constructed (MaxEnt-based), much of the lowland wet zone, particularly the southwestern corner, was predicted as the most suitable areas for Sri Lankan Frogmouth while the northeastern coastal plains, and the mid-western and northwestern parts of Sri Lanka seemed least suitable. According to The Maxent model’s internal jackknife test of variable importance, temperature seasonality is the most important predictor of frogmouth’s distribution. Sri Lanka frogmouths have a high fidelity for their roosting sites as they remained in the same tree at least for a week; preferred roosting trees were medium-sized Dicot species with a dense canopy cover and variable canopy heights. These roosting sites are relatively cool, humid with little exposure to direct sunlight. Both roosting and nesting trees were relatively isolated from neighboring canopy trees, thus, the understory surrounding the roosting tree was dense. Six of the nesting sites observed were located in the lowland wet zone rainforests while the other was in savannah woodlands of the intermediate zone. These nests were positioned approximately 66% of maximum canopy height of the host tree. Nests were constructed on relatively thin branches that formed an acute angle against the main stem. These nests are shallow, circular-shaped pads. The nest interior was cushioned with cotton, parts of fishtail palm, and down feathers while the nest exterior contained pieces of lichens and tree bark. Sri Lanka Frogmouth’s home ranges appeared to be very small in nesting season, a maximum of 60 m radius area around the roosting site. Both male and female birds alternate nest-guarding duties through most of the night-time. The major threat for the frogmouth in Sri Lanka includes habitat loss due to expansion of commercial-scale agriculture and monoculture plantations, illicit forest encroachments, and clear-cutting.Keywords: Ecology, Frogmouth, Habitat modeling, Nesting, Threat
High Salinity Tolerance of Aedes to Breed in Brackish Waters Around the Negombo Estuary
In the midst of dengue control programs, a high occurrence of dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever cases around the Negombo estuary is reported at the Centre for Clinical Management of Dengue & Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever, Negombo, during April/May and Sept/Oct 2014. Although preimaginal development of Aedes-dengue vector mosquito is known to exist in fresh water environment for many years, few recent findings have revealed the possibility of Aedes breeding and immature stage development in brackish water conditions. In Negombo estuary-being a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water, we investigated the possible Aedes mosquito breeding in brackish water in and around the lagoon. Natural breeding sources were examined, and an ovitrap based study was also carried out to investigate the possible breeding, immature stage development, hatching and adult emergence in brackish water environment. The study revealed the oviposition preference (0-22 ppt), egg hatching (0-6 ppt in field conditions and 0-6 ppt in laboratory conditions for Ae.aegypti; 0-14 ppt in field conditions and 0-18 ppt in laboratory conditions for Ae. albopictus) and preimaginal development (0-6 ppt in field conditions and 0-6 ppt in laboratory conditions for Ae.aegypti; 0-14 ppt in field conditions and 0-14 ppt in laboratory conditions for Ae.albopictus) of Aedes mosquitoes. Further, the study reported the natural prevalence of preimaginal stages of Ae.albopictus in brackish water collections (2-14 ppt) around the estuary. The study confirmed the brackish water breeding of Aedes mosquitoes around the Negombo estuary. Higher salinity tolerance, compared to brackish water collections of the Northern coast, Sri Lanka was revealed. Negombo, being a fishing village and having a high population density, the study identifies the potential risk of dengue transmission in the area by providing breeding grounds for vector mosquitoes and possibly explains the high occurrence of dengue incidence around the lagoon. Further, the study suggests incorporating larvivorus fish and removing trapped receptacles in the marshy environments to intensify the control programs.Keywords: Salinity tolerance, Aedes, Negombo lagoo
Upsilon (1S+2S+3S) production in d+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV and cold-nuclear matter effects
The three Upsilon states, Upsilon(1S+2S+3S), are measured in d+Au and p+p
collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV and rapidities 1.2<|y|<2.2 by the PHENIX
experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider. Cross sections for the
inclusive Upsilon(1S+2S+3S) production are obtained. The inclusive yields per
binary collision for d+Au collisions relative to those in p+p collisions
(R_dAu) are found to be 0.62 +/- 0.26 (stat) +/- 0.13 (syst) in the gold-going
direction and 0.91 +/- 0.33 (stat) +/- 0.16 (syst) in the deuteron-going
direction. The measured results are compared to a nuclear-shadowing model,
EPS09 [JHEP 04, 065 (2009)], combined with a final-state breakup cross section,
sigma_br, and compared to lower energy p+A results. We also compare the results
to the PHENIX J/psi results [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 142301 (2011)]. The rapidity
dependence of the observed Upsilon suppression is consistent with lower energy
p+A measurements.Comment: 495 authors, 11 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
C. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and
previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Cold Nuclear Matter Effects on J/psi Yields as a Function of Rapidity and Nuclear Geometry in Deuteron-Gold Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV
We present measurements of J/psi yields in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) =
200 GeV recorded by the PHENIX experiment and compare with yields in p+p
collisions at the same energy per nucleon-nucleon collision. The measurements
cover a large kinematic range in J/psi rapidity (-2.2 < y < 2.4) with high
statistical precision and are compared with two theoretical models: one with
nuclear shadowing combined with final state breakup and one with coherent gluon
saturation effects. To remove model dependent systematic uncertainties we also
compare the data to a simple geometric model. We find that calculations where
the nuclear modification is linear or exponential in the density weighted
longitudinal thickness are difficult to reconcile with the forward rapidity
data.Comment: 449 authors from 66 institutions, 6 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to
Physical Review Letters. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in
figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly
available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Transverse-Momentum Dependence of the J/psi Nuclear Modification in d+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV
We present measured J/psi production rates in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) =
200 GeV over a broad range of transverse momentum (p_T=0-14 GeV/c) and rapidity
(-2.2<y<2.2). We construct the nuclear-modification factor R_dAu for these
kinematics and as a function of collision centrality (related to impact
parameter for the R_dAu collision). We find that the modification is largest
for collisions with small impact parameters, and observe a suppression
(R_dAu<1) for p_T<4 GeV/c at positive rapidities. At negative rapidity we
observe a suppression for p_T1) for p_T>2
GeV/c. The observed enhancement at negative rapidity has implications for the
observed modification in heavy-ion collisions at high p_T.Comment: 384 authors, 24 pages, 19 figures, 13 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
C. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and
previous PHENIX publications are publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/phenix/WWW/info/data/ppg123_data.htm
Quadrupole Anisotropy in Dihadron Azimuthal Correlations in Central Au Collisions at =200 GeV
The PHENIX collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)
reports measurements of azimuthal dihadron correlations near midrapidity in
Au collisions at =200 GeV. These measurements
complement recent analyses by experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
involving central Pb collisions at =5.02 TeV, which
have indicated strong anisotropic long-range correlations in angular
distributions of hadron pairs. The origin of these anisotropies is currently
unknown. Various competing explanations include parton saturation and
hydrodynamic flow. We observe qualitatively similar, but larger, anisotropies
in Au collisions compared to those seen in Pb collisions at the
LHC. The larger extracted values in Au collisions at RHIC are
consistent with expectations from hydrodynamic calculations owing to the larger
expected initial-state eccentricity compared with that from Pb
collisions. When both are divided by an estimate of the initial-state
eccentricity the scaled anisotropies follow a common trend with multiplicity
that may extend to heavy ion data at RHIC and the LHC, where the anisotropies
are widely thought to arise from hydrodynamic flow.Comment: 375 authors, 7 pages, 5 figures. Published in Phys. Rev. Lett. v2 has
minor changes to text and figures in response to PRL referee suggestions.
Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and
previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Suppression of back-to-back hadron pairs at forward rapidity in d+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV
Back-to-back hadron pair yields in d+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200
GeV were measured with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion
Collider. Rapidity separated hadron pairs were detected with the trigger hadron
at pseudorapidity |eta|<0.35 and the associated hadron at forward rapidity
(deuteron direction, 3.0<eta<3.8). Pairs were also detected with both hadrons
measured at forward rapidity; in this case the yield of back-to-back hadron
pairs in d+Au collisions with small impact parameters is observed to be
suppressed by a factor of 10 relative to p+p collisions. The kinematics of
these pairs is expected to probe partons in the Au nucleus with low fraction x
of the nucleon momenta, where the gluon densities rise sharply. The observed
suppression as a function of nuclear thickness, p_T, and eta points to cold
nuclear matter effects arising at high parton densities.Comment: 381 authors, 6 pages, 4 figures. Published in Phys. Rev. Lett.
(http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.172301). v3 has minor
changes to match published version
(http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/phenix/WWW/info/pp1/128/PhysRevLett.107.172301)
Plain text data tables for points plotted in figures are publicly available
at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/phenix/WWW/info/data/ppg128_data.htm
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