4,165 research outputs found
Physical environment, nutrient budget, and ecology of Lake Moana-nui, Tokoroa
This report is based on fortnightly monitoring data collected over a 14 month period from November 2000 to January 2002 and a survey of the lake bathymetry and vegetation distribution. The project also included a detailed investigation into the associations between macroinvertebrates and the native and exotic plants in the lake, and experiments evaluating the effects of the large populations of the water flea Simocephalus vetulus that the lake maintains on algal concentrations and therefore water clarity. The aim of this report is to present and discuss the results of the monitoring, surveys, and experiments in order to make recommendations for the future management and health of Lake Moana-nui
Stabilization of highly polar BiFeO-like structure: a new interface design route for enhanced ferroelectricity in artificial perovskite superlattices
In ABO3 perovskites, oxygen octahedron rotations are common structural
distortions that can promote large ferroelectricity in BiFeO3 with an R3c
structure [1], but suppress ferroelectricity in CaTiO3 with a Pbnm symmetry
[2]. For many CaTiO3-like perovskites, the BiFeO3 structure is a metastable
phase. Here, we report the stabilization of the highly-polar BiFeO3-like phase
of CaTiO3 in a BaTiO3/CaTiO3 superlattice grown on a SrTiO3 substrate. The
stabilization is realized by a reconstruction of oxygen octahedron rotations at
the interface from the pattern of nonpolar bulk CaTiO3 to a different pattern
that is characteristic of a BiFeO3 phase. The reconstruction is interpreted
through a combination of amplitude-contrast sub 0.1nm high-resolution
transmission electron microscopy and first-principles theories of the
structure, energetics, and polarization of the superlattice and its
constituents. We further predict a number of new artificial ferroelectric
materials demonstrating that nonpolar perovskites can be turned into
ferroelectrics via this interface mechanism. Therefore, a large number of
perovskites with the CaTiO3 structure type, which include many magnetic
representatives, are now good candidates as novel highly-polar multiferroic
materials [3].Comment: Phys. Rev. X, in productio
Regulating Scotland's social landlords: localised resistance to technologies of performance management
Influenced by Foucault's later work on governmentality, this paper explores the regulation of social landlords as a 'technology of performance' concerned with governing the conduct of dispersed welfare agencies and the professionals within them. This is a mode of power that is both voluntary and coercive; it seeks to realise its ambitions not through direct acts of intervention, but by promoting the responsible self-governance of autonomous subjects. Through an analysis of the regulatory framework for social landlords in Scotland, this paper highlights the creation of a performance culture that seeks to mobilise housing organisations to reconcile their local management systems and service provision to external standards, whilst simultaneously wielding punitive interventions for non-compliance. However, housing professionals are not passive in all of this, and indeed, actively challenged and resisted these top-down attempts to govern them at arm's-length
Additional Investigations of Ice Shape Sensitivity to Parameter Variations
A second parameter sensitivity study was conducted at the NASA Glenn Research Center's Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) using a 36 in. chord (0.91 m) NACA-0012 airfoil. The objective of this work was to further investigate the feasibility of using ice shape feature changes to define requirements for the simulation and measurement of SLD and appendix C icing conditions. A previous study concluded that it was feasible to use changes in ice shape features (e.g., ice horn angle, ice horn thickness, and ice shape mass) to detect relatively small variations in icing spray condition parameters (LWC, MVD, and temperature). The subject of this current investigation extends the scope of this previous work, by also examining the effect of icing tunnel spray-bar parameter variations (water pressure, air pressure) on ice shape feature changes. The approach was to vary spray-bar water pressure and air pressure, and then evaluate the effects of these parameter changes on the resulting ice shapes. This paper will provide a description of the experimental method, present selected experimental results, and conclude with an evaluation of these results
Equilibrium solutions of the shallow water equations
A statistical method for calculating equilibrium solutions of the shallow
water equations, a model of essentially 2-d fluid flow with a free surface, is
described. The model contains a competing acoustic turbulent {\it direct}
energy cascade, and a 2-d turbulent {\it inverse} energy cascade. It is shown,
nonetheless that, just as in the corresponding theory of the inviscid Euler
equation, the infinite number of conserved quantities constrain the flow
sufficiently to produce nontrivial large-scale vortex structures which are
solutions to a set of explicitly derived coupled nonlinear partial differential
equations.Comment: 4 pages, no figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letter
Chemical variation in a dominant tree species: population divergence, selection and genetic stability across environments
Understanding among and within population genetic variation of ecologically important plant traits provides insight into the potential evolutionary processes affecting those traits. The strength and consistency of selection driving variability in traits would be affected by plasticity in differences among genotypes across environments (GĂE). We investigated population divergence, selection and environmental plasticity of foliar plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) in a dominant tree species, Eucalyptus globulus. Using two common garden trials we examined variation in PSMs at multiple genetic scales; among 12 populations covering the full geographic range of the species and among up to 60 families within populations. Significant genetic variation in the expression of many PSMs resides both among and within populations of E. globulus with moderate (e.g., sideroxylonal A h2op = 0.24) to high (e.g., macrocarpal G h2op = 0.48) narrow sense heritabilities and high coefficients of additive genetic variation estimated for some compounds. A comparison of Qst and Fst estimates suggest that variability in some of these traits may be due to selection. Importantly, there was no genetic by environment interaction in the expression of any of the quantitative chemical traits despite often significant site effects. These results provide evidence that natural selection has contributed to population divergence in PSMs in E. globulus, and identifies the formylated phloroglucinol compounds (particularly sideroxylonal) and a dominant oil, 1,8-cineole, as candidates for traits whose genetic architecture has been shaped by divergent selection. Additionally, as the genetic differences in these PSMs that influence community phenotypes is stable across environments, the role of plant genotype in structuring communities is strengthened and these genotypic differences may be relatively stable under global environmental changes
The paradox of tenant empowerment: regulatory and liberatory possibilities
Tenant empowerment has traditionally been regarded as a means of realising democratic ideals: a quantitative increase in influence and control, which thereby enables "subjects" to acquire the fundamental properties of "citizens". By contrast governmentality, as derived from the work of Michel Foucault, offers a more critical appraisal of the concept of empowerment by highlighting how it is itself a mode of subjection and a means of regulating human conduct towards particular ends. Drawing on particular data about how housing governance has changed in Glasgow following its 2003 stock transfer, this paper adopts the insights of governmentality to illustrate how the political ambition of "community ownership" has been realized through the mobilization and shaping of active tenant involvement in the local decision making process. In addition, it also traces the tensions and conflict inherent in the reconfiguration of power relations post-transfer for "subjects" do not necessarily conform to the plans of those that seek to govern them
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Osteoprotegerin reduces osteoclast resorption activity without affecting osteogenesis on nanoparticulate mineralized collagen scaffolds.
The instructive capabilities of extracellular matrix-inspired materials for osteoprogenitor differentiation have sparked interest in understanding modulation of other cell types within the bone regenerative microenvironment. We previously demonstrated that nanoparticulate mineralized collagen glycosaminoglycan (MC-GAG) scaffolds efficiently induced osteoprogenitor differentiation and bone healing. In this work, we combined adenovirus-mediated delivery of osteoprotegerin (AdOPG), an endogenous anti-osteoclastogenic decoy receptor, in primary human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) with MC-GAG to understand the role of osteoclast inactivation in augmentation of bone regeneration. Simultaneous differentiation of osteoprogenitors on MC-GAG and osteoclast progenitors resulted in bidirectional positive regulation. AdOPG expression did not affect osteogenic differentiation alone. In the presence of both cell types, AdOPG-transduced hMSCs on MC-GAG diminished osteoclast-mediated resorption in direct contact; however, osteoclast-mediated augmentation of osteogenic differentiation was unaffected. Thus, the combination of OPG with MC-GAG may represent a method for uncoupling osteogenic and osteoclastogenic differentiation to augment bone regeneration
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