454 research outputs found

    A global map to aid the identification and screening of critical habitat for marine industries

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    Marine industries face a number of risks that necessitate careful analysis prior to making decisions on the siting of operations and facilities. An important emerging regulatory framework on environmental sustainability for business operations is the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standard 6 (IFC PS6). Within PS6, identification of biodiversity significance is articulated through the concept of “Critical Habitat”, a definition developed by the IFC and detailed through criteria aligned with those that support internationally accepted biodiversity designations. No publicly available tools have been developed in either the marine or terrestrial realm to assess the likelihood of sites or operations being located within PS6-defined Critical Habitat. This paper presents a starting point towards filling this gap in the form of a preliminary global map that classifies more than 13 million km2 of marine and coastal areas of importance for biodiversity (protected areas, Key Biodiversity Areas [KBA], sea turtle nesting sites, cold- and warm-water corals, seamounts, seagrass beds, mangroves, saltmarshes, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps) based on their overlap with Critical Habitat criteria, as defined by IFC. In total, 5798×103 km2 (1.6%) of the analysis area (global ocean plus coastal land strip) were classed as Likely Critical Habitat, and 7526×103 km2 (2.1%) as Potential Critical Habitat; the remainder (96.3%) were Unclassified. The latter was primarily due to the paucity of biodiversity data in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction and/or in deep waters, and the comparatively fewer protected areas and KBAs in these regions. Globally, protected areas constituted 65.9% of the combined Likely and Potential Critical Habitat extent, and KBAs 29.3%, not accounting for the overlap between these two features. Relative Critical Habitat extent in Exclusive Economic Zones varied dramatically between countries. This work is likely to be of particular use for industries operating in the marine and coastal realms as an early screening aid prior to in situ Critical Habitat assessment; to financial institutions making investment decisions; and to those wishing to implement good practice policies relevant to biodiversity management. Supplementary material (available online) includes other global datasets considered, documentation and justification of biodiversity feature classification, detail of IFC PS6 criteria/scenarios, and coverage calculations

    Multiloop String-Like Formulas for QED

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    Multiloop gauge-theory amplitudes written in the Feynman-parameter representation are poised to take advantage of two important developments of the last decade: the spinor-helicity technique and the superstring reorganization. The former has been considered in a previous article; the latter will be elaborated in this paper. We show here how to write multiloop string-like formulas in the Feynman-parameter representation for any process in QED, including those involving other non-electromagnetic interactions. The general connection between the Feynman-parameter approach and the superstring/first-quantized approach is discussed. In the special case of a one-loop multi-photon amplitude, these formulas reduce to the ones obtained by the superstring and the first quantized methods. The string-like formulas exhibits a simple gauge structure which makes the Ward-Takahashi identity apparent, and enables the integration-by-parts technique of Bern and Kosower to be applied, so that gauge-invariant parts can be extracted diagram-by-diagram with the seagull vertex neglected.Comment: 25 pages in Plain Tex, plus four figures in a postscript file; McGill/92-5

    Solar Intranetwork Magnetic Elements: bipolar flux appearance

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    The current study aims to quantify characteristic features of bipolar flux appearance of solar intranetwork (IN) magnetic elements. To attack such a problem, we use the Narrow-band Filter Imager (NFI) magnetograms from the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) on board \emph{Hinode}; these data are from quiet and an enhanced network areas. Cluster emergence of mixed polarities and IN ephemeral regions (ERs) are the most conspicuous forms of bipolar flux appearance within the network. Each of the clusters is characterized by a few well-developed ERs that are partially or fully co-aligned in magnetic axis orientation. On average, the sampled IN ERs have total maximum unsigned flux of several 10^{17} Mx, separation of 3-4 arcsec, and a lifetime of 10-15 minutes. The smallest IN ERs have a maximum unsigned flux of several 10^{16} Mx, separations less than 1 arcsec, and lifetimes as short as 5 minutes. Most IN ERs exhibit a rotation of their magnetic axis of more than 10 degrees during flux emergence. Peculiar flux appearance, e.g., bipole shrinkage followed by growth or the reverse, is not unusual. A few examples show repeated shrinkage-growth or growth-shrinkage, like magnetic floats in the dynamic photosphere. The observed bipolar behavior seems to carry rich information on magneto-convection in the sub-photospheric layer.Comment: 26 pages, 14 figure

    Auditory conflict and congruence in frontotemporal dementia.

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    Impaired analysis of signal conflict and congruence may contribute to diverse socio-emotional symptoms in frontotemporal dementias, however the underlying mechanisms have not been defined. Here we addressed this issue in patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD; n = 19) and semantic dementia (SD; n = 10) relative to healthy older individuals (n = 20). We created auditory scenes in which semantic and emotional congruity of constituent sounds were independently probed; associated tasks controlled for auditory perceptual similarity, scene parsing and semantic competence. Neuroanatomical correlates of auditory congruity processing were assessed using voxel-based morphometry. Relative to healthy controls, both the bvFTD and SD groups had impaired semantic and emotional congruity processing (after taking auditory control task performance into account) and reduced affective integration of sounds into scenes. Grey matter correlates of auditory semantic congruity processing were identified in distributed regions encompassing prefrontal, parieto-temporal and insular areas and correlates of auditory emotional congruity in partly overlapping temporal, insular and striatal regions. Our findings suggest that decoding of auditory signal relatedness may probe a generic cognitive mechanism and neural architecture underpinning frontotemporal dementia syndromes

    The parent?infant dyad and the construction of the subjective self

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    Developmental psychology and psychopathology has in the past been more concerned with the quality of self-representation than with the development of the subjective agency which underpins our experience of feeling, thought and action, a key function of mentalisation. This review begins by contrasting a Cartesian view of pre-wired introspective subjectivity with a constructionist model based on the assumption of an innate contingency detector which orients the infant towards aspects of the social world that react congruently and in a specifically cued informative manner that expresses and facilitates the assimilation of cultural knowledge. Research on the neural mechanisms associated with mentalisation and social influences on its development are reviewed. It is suggested that the infant focuses on the attachment figure as a source of reliable information about the world. The construction of the sense of a subjective self is then an aspect of acquiring knowledge about the world through the caregiver's pedagogical communicative displays which in this context focuses on the child's thoughts and feelings. We argue that a number of possible mechanisms, including complementary activation of attachment and mentalisation, the disruptive effect of maltreatment on parent-child communication, the biobehavioural overlap of cues for learning and cues for attachment, may have a role in ensuring that the quality of relationship with the caregiver influences the development of the child's experience of thoughts and feelings

    On the Relation Between Jovian Aurorae and the Loading/Unloading of the Magnetic Flux:Simultaneous Measurements From Juno, Hubble Space Telescope, and Hisaki

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    We present simultaneous observations of aurorae at Jupiter from the Hubble Space Telescope and Hisaki, in combination with the in situ measurements of magnetic field, particles, and radio waves from the Juno Spacecraft in the outer magnetosphere, from ~ 80RJ to 60RJ during 17 to 22 March 2017. Two cycles of accumulation and release of magnetic flux, named magnetic loading/unloading, were identified during this period, which correlate well with electron energization and auroral intensifications. Magnetic reconnection events are identified during both the loading and unloading periods, indicating that reconnection and unloading are independent processes. These results show that the dynamics in the middle magnetosphere are coupled with auroral variability

    Changes in photosynthetic capacity, carboxylation efficiency, and CO 2 compensation point associated with midday stomatal closure and midday depression of net CO 2 exchange of leaves of Quercus suber

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    The carbon-dioxide response of photosynthesis of leaves of Quercus suber , a sclerophyllous species of the European Mediterranean region, was studied as a function of time of day at the end of the summer dry season in the natural habitat. To examine the response experimentally, a “standard” time course for temperature and humidity, which resembled natural conditions, was imposed on the leaves, and the CO 2 pressure external to the leaves on subsequent days was varied. The particular temperature and humidity conditions chosen were those which elicited a strong stomatal closure at midday and the simultaneous depression of net CO 2 uptake. Midday depression of CO 2 uptake is the result of i) a decrease in CO 2 -saturated photosynthetic capacity after light saturation is reached in the early morning, ii) a decrease in the initial slope of the CO 2 response curve (carboxylation efficiency), and iii) a substantial increase in the CO 2 compensation point caused by an increase in leaf temperature and a decrease in humidity. As a consequence of the changes in photosynthesis, the internal leaf CO 2 pressure remained essentially constant despite stomatal closure. The effects on capacity, slope, and compensation point were reversed by lowering the temperature and increasing the humidity in the afternoon. Constant internal CO 2 may aid in minimizing photoinhibition during stomatal closure at midday. The results are discussed in terms of possible temperature, humidity, and hormonal effects on photosynthesis.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47468/1/425_2004_Article_BF00397440.pd

    Linear Collider Physics Resource Book for Snowmass 2001, 3: Studies of Exotic and Standard Model Physics

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    This Resource Book reviews the physics opportunities of a next-generation e+e- linear collider and discusses options for the experimental program. Part 3 reviews the possible experiments on that can be done at a linear collider on strongly coupled electroweak symmetry breaking, exotic particles, and extra dimensions, and on the top quark, QCD, and two-photon physics. It also discusses the improved precision electroweak measurements that this collider will make available.This Resource Book reviews the physics opportunities of a next-generation e+e- linear collider and discusses options for the experimental program. Part 3 reviews the possible experiments on that can be done at a linear collider on strongly coupled electroweak symmetry breaking, exotic particles, and extra dimensions, and on the top quark, QCD, and two-photon physics. It also discusses the improved precision electroweak measurements that this collider will make available
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