540 research outputs found
Case Studies of Habitable Trojan Planets in the System of HD 23079
We investigate the possibility of habitable Trojan planets in the HD 23079
star-planet system. This system consists of a solar-type star and a
Jupiter-type planet, which orbits the star near the outer edge of the stellar
habitable zone in an orbit of low eccentricity. We find that in agreement with
previous studies Earth-mass habitable Trojan planets are possible in this
system, although the success of staying within the zone of habitability is
significantly affected by the orbital parameters of the giant planet and by the
initial condition of the theoretical Earth-mass planet. In one of our
simulations, the Earth-mass planet is captured by the giant planet and thus
becomes a habitable moon.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables; International Journal of Astrobiology
(in press
Interaction of free-floating planets with a star-planet pair
The recent discovery of free-floating planets and their theoretical
interpretation as celestial bodies, either condensed independently or ejected
from parent stars in tight clusters, introduced an intriguing possibility.
Namely, that some exoplanets are not condensed from the protoplanetary disk of
their parent star. In this novel scenario a free-floating planet interacts with
an already existing planetary system, created in a tight cluster, and is
captured as a new planet. In the present work we study this interaction process
by integrating trajectories of planet-sized bodies, which encounter a binary
system consisting of a Jupiter-sized planet revolving around a Sun-like star.
To simplify the problem we assume coplanar orbits for the bound and the
free-floating planet and an initially parabolic orbit for the free-floating
planet. By calculating the uncertainty exponent, a quantity that measures the
dependence of the final state of the system on small changes of the initial
conditions, we show that the interaction process is a fractal classical
scattering. The uncertainty exponent is in the range (0.2-0.3) and is a
decreasing function of time. In this way we see that the statistical approach
we follow to tackle the problem is justified. The possible final outcomes of
this interaction are only four, namely flyby, planet exchange, capture or
disruption. We give the probability of each outcome as a function of the
incoming planet's mass. We find that the probability of exchange or capture (in
prograde as well as retrograde orbits and for very long times) is
non-negligible, a fact that might explain the possible future observations of
planetary systems with orbits that are either retrograde or tight and highly
eccentric.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure
The Investigation of Flowering Control in Late/Rare Flowering Lolium Perenne
Flowering in Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass) results in reduced digestibility and its inhibition would enhance forage quality. Flowering regulation has been well studied in Arabidopsis thaliana (Simpson and Dean, 2002) and orthologs of Arabidopsis flowering genes underlying heading date Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) have been identified in rice (Yano, M et al., 2000). However it is not clear yet how universally applicable such studies are to Lolium. The project goals are to characterise the gene expression profiles of late/rare flowering L. perenne plants to determine factors affecting flowering and to map the genes involved in the flowering process. Initial studies, reported here, have focussed on the ability of 6 plant lines from the Oak Park breeding programme, previously identified as rare or non-flowering under natural day length conditions, to flower in controlled environments
How effective are on-farm mitigation measures for delivering an improved water environment? A systematic map
Background\ud
Agricultural activities are estimated to contribute 70% of nitrates, 28% of phosphates and 76% of sediments measured in UK rivers. Catchments dominated by agriculture also have elevated levels of pesticides and bacterial pathogens. European member states have a policy commitment to tackle this pollution through the water framework directive. Here we report on the results of a systematic map to investigate and describe the nature and coverage of research pertaining to the effectiveness of 6 on-farm mitigation measures, slurry storage, cover/catch crops, woodland creation; controlled trafficking, subsoiling and vegetated buffer strips for delivering an improved water environment in terms of a reduction in nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), sediment, pesticides and faecal indicator organisms (FIOs) or pathogens from faecal material.\ud
Methods\ud
Research evidence for the effectiveness of the 6 on-farm mitigation measures for delivering an improved water environment (as detailed above) was collated using English language search terms for temperate farming systems in Europe, Canada, New Zealand and northern states of the United States of America. Searches for literature were made from online publication databases, search engines, specialist websites and bibliographies of topic specific reviews. Recognised experts, authors and practitioners were also contacted to identify unpublished literature. Articles were screened for relevance at title, abstract and full text using predefined inclusion criteria set out in an a priori published protocol. All relevant articles were mapped in a searchable database using pre-defined coding and critically appraised for relevance and reliability. Articles reporting the same study were removed. All full text studies without confounding factors were identified and coded for in a separate searchable database.\ud
Results\ud
A total of 718 articles were included in the database. Buffer strips were the most commonly studied intervention followed by cover crops and slurry storage. Little evidence was found for woodland creation and sub-soiling. No studies were found for controlled trafficking on grassland. Nitrogen was most frequently measured, followed by P, sediment, pesticides and FIOs or pathogens from faecal material.\ud
Conclusions\ud
The majority of the evidence collated in this map investigated the effectiveness of buffer strips and cover crops for improving water quality. This evidence was predominantly focussed on reducing N pollution. An evidence gap exists for the impact of cover/catch crops in reducing leaching of pesticides, FIOs and pathogens, and for organic forms of N and P. There was limited research investigating the effectiveness of buffer strips for reducing leaching of organic forms of N or P, or for pesticides that are currently authorised for use/commonly used in UK agriculture. Further, long term studies across different seasons with controls, pre and post water quality measurements and multiple sampling points from both field and rivers would improve the evidence base. Evidence gaps exist for woodland creation, subsoiling and controlled trafficking on grassland
Different Ways of Reading, or Just Making the Right Noises?
What does reading look like? Can learning to read be reduced to the acquisition of a set of isolable skills, or proficiency in reading be equated with the independence of the solitary, silent reader of prose fiction? These conceptions of reading and reading development, which figure strongly in educational policy, may appear to be simple common sense. But both ethnographic data and evidence from literary texts suggest that such paradigms offer, at most, a partial and ahistorical picture of reading. An important dimension, neglected in the dominant paradigms, is the irreducibly social quality of reading practices
Differential expression of starch and sucrose metabolic genes linked to varying biomass yield in Miscanthus hybrids
Identification of an extensive gene cluster among a family of PPOs in Trifolium pratense L. (red clover) using a large insert BAC library
Exploring the ‘middle ground’ between state and market: the example of China
Studies of housing systems lying in the ‘middle ground’ between state and market are subject to three important shortcomings. First, the widely used Esping-Andersen (EA) approach assesses only a subset of the key housing outcomes and may be less helpful for describing changes in housing policy regimes. Second, there is too much emphasis on tenure transitions, and an assumed close correspondence between tenure labels and effective system functioning may not be valid. Third, due attention has not been given to the spatial dimensions in which housing systems operate, in particular when housing policies have a significant devolved or localised emphasis. Updating EA’s framework, we suggest a preliminary list of housing system indicators in order to capture the nature of the housing systems being developed and devolved. We verified the applicability of this indicator system with the case of China. This illustrates clearly the need for a more nuanced and systematic basis for categorising differences and changes in welfare and housing policies
Mass and Angular Momentum Transfer in the Massive Algol Binary RY Persei
We present an investigation of H-alpha emission line variations observed in
the massive Algol binary, RY Per. We give new radial velocity data for the
secondary based upon our optical spectra and for the primary based upon high
dispersion UV spectra. We present revised orbital elements and an estimate of
the primary's projected rotational velocity (which indicates that the primary
is rotating 7 times faster than synchronous). We use a Doppler tomography
algorithm to reconstruct the individual primary and secondary spectra in the
region of H-alpha, and we subtract the latter from each of our observations to
obtain profiles of the primary and its disk alone. Our H-alpha observations of
RY Per show that the mass gaining primary is surrounded by a persistent but
time variable accretion disk. The profile that is observed outside-of-eclipse
has weak, double-peaked emission flanking a deep central absorption, and we
find that these properties can be reproduced by a disk model that includes the
absorption of photospheric light by the band of the disk seen in projection
against the face of the star. We developed a new method to reconstruct the disk
surface density distribution from the ensemble of H-alpha profiles observed
around the orbit, and this method accounts for the effects of disk occultation
by the stellar components, the obscuration of the primary by the disk, and flux
contributions from optically thick disk elements. The resulting surface density
distribution is elongated along the axis joining the stars, in the same way as
seen in hydrodynamical simulations of gas flows that strike the mass gainer
near trailing edge of the star. This type of gas stream configuration is
optimal for the transfer of angular momentum, and we show that rapid rotation
is found in other Algols that have passed through a similar stage.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures, ApJ in press, 2004 June 20 issu
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