Deriving amplitude equations for weakly-nonlinear oscillators and their generalizations

AbstractResults by physicists on renormalization group techniques have recently sparked interest in the singular perturbations community of applied mathematicians. The survey paper, [Phys. Rev. E 54(1) (1996) 376–394], by Chen et al. demonstrated that many problems which applied mathematicians solve using disparate methods can be solved using a single approach. Analysis of that renormalization group method by Mudavanhu and O’Malley [Stud. Appl. Math. 107(1) (2001) 63–79; SIAM J. Appl. Math. 63(2) (2002) 373–397], among others, indicates that the technique can be streamlined. This paper carries that analysis several steps further to present an amplitude equation technique which is both well adapted for use with a computer algebra system and easy to relate to the classical methods of averaging and multiple scales

CV19038

An acoustic survey of Atlantic herring Clupea harengus was conducted in ICES areas 6aS/7b in Dec 2019 using the research vessel RV Celtic Voyager and the fishing vessel MFV Ros Ard SO745. This survey is the fourth in a time series that is hoped will be developed into a long-term index of spawning/pre-spawning herring in 6aS/7b. The survey design is based on the predicted distribution of this winter spawning herring in this area. Poor weather negatively impacted the survey in 2019, resulting in fewer transect miles completed and fewer strata areas covered than planned. In total, approximately 600nmi of cruise track was completed using 96 transects. This resulted in a total area coverage of approximately 606 nmi², a significant reduction compared to recent years. Parallel transect spacing was set at 3.5nmi for the Donegal Bay strata. Tightly spaced zig-zag transects were used in a relatively small area in Lough Swilly. A Simrad ES-120 7CD (120 kHz) split-beam echosounder was used to collect acoustic raw data. The transducer was mounted on a towed body from the Celtic Voyager in Donegal Bay and was pole mounted from the Ros Ard in Lough Swilly. Very strong herring marks were evident in Lough Swilly in deepest part of the channel. The herring marks continued for many miles in the upper Swilly, an area where boats in the monitoring fishery had also concentrated effort. There were some herring marks in discreet areas around Drumanoo Head, Bruckless Bay and Inver Bay in the Donegal Bay Strata. Biological samples from the monitoring fishery of herring were used to augment the samples from the survey. Herring samples were taken from boats fishing in Lough Swilly and Inver Bay as close spatially and temporally as possible to the survey in these areas. Herring were dominated overall by 1- and 2-wr fish, (52% of the overall numbers) followed by relatively strong 3- and 5-wr cohorts. The total stock biomass (TSB) estimate of herring for the combined 6aS/7b area was 25,289 tonnes (Lough Swilly = 19,697 tonnes, Donegal Bay = 5,591 tonnes). This is considered to be a minimum estimate of herring in the 6aS/7b survey area at the time of the survey, and a significant decrease on the previous 3 years surveys. The reduction in the survey area completed as a consequence of the poor weather resulted in the survey not containing the stock in 2019. However, the overall CV estimate on biomass and abundance for the survey area completed is low (~0.17) in 2019. This is driven by the improved survey design in Lough Swilly, with reduced transect spacing and increased transect miles in this strata. The CV for the Donegal Bay strata is relatively high (0.63), this is mostly caused by the over-reliance on a few acoustic marks of herring in Bruckless and Inver Bays in particular and many transects with little or no herring marks. The survey in 2019 had to be altered due to weather, requiring a change in design and approach. However, the template of focusing on discreet areas was generally successful and may provide a template for future designs, particularly when reduced effort is necessary during poor weather or resource limits

SU(3) centre vortices underpin confinement and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking

The mass function of the nonperturbative quark propagator in SU(3) gauge theory shows only a weak dependence on the vortex content of the gauge configurations. Of particular note is the survival of dynamical mass generation on vortex-free configurations having a vanishing string tension. This admits the possibility that mass generation associated with dynamical chiral symmetry breaking persists without confinement. In this presentation, we examine the low-lying ground-state hadron spectrum of the pi, rho, N and Delta and discover that while dynamical mass generation persists in the vortex-free theory, it is not connected to dynamical chiral symmetry breaking. In this way, centre vortices in SU(3) gauge theory are intimately linked to both confinement and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking. We conclude that centre vortices are the essential underlying feature of the QCD vacuum.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figues. Manuscript accepted for Publication in Phys. Rev.

Atlantic Herring and Horse Mackerel in 6aS/7b; Industry Acoustic Survey Cruise Report

An acoustic survey of Atlantic herring Clupea harengus and horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus was conducted in ICES areas 6aS/7b in Nov 2017 using the pair trawl vessels MFV Eilean Croine S238 and MFV Sparkling Star D437. This survey is the second in a time series that is hoped will be developed into a long-term index of spawning/pre-spawning herring and horse mackerel in 6aS/7b, for use in stock assessments in the future. The survey design was based on the predicted distribution of herring and horse mackerel in this area during this time. In total 1,482nmi of cruise track was completed using 27 transects and related to a total area coverage of approximately 2,200 nmi². Parallel transect spacing was set at 7.5nmi for the wider area, and 3.5nmi for Donegal Bay. Coverage extended from inshore coastal areas to the 200 m contour in the west and north. A mini survey was carried out in Lough Swilly using a zig-zag design. A Simrad ES-38B (38 kHz) split-beam transducer mounted on a towed body was calibrated before the survey near Rathmullan Pier in Lough Swilly, Co. Donegal. Very strong herring marks (e.g. > 2nmi long, 200m wide and ~18m deep) were evident in Lough Swilly, an area where boats in the monitoring fishery were concentrating effort. There was also a series of strong herring marks in Bruckless Bay and Inver Bay in discreet areas. There were very few herring marks offshore. A total of four hauls were taken for biological analysis. Biological samples from the monitoring fishery were used to augment the samples from the survey. Samples were taken from boats fishing in Lough Swilly, Bruckless Bay and Inver Bay as close spatially and temporally as possible to the survey in these areas. Herring were dominated by 3-wr fish in all hauls. The 3-wr age class constituted 32% of the overall numbers. Horse mackerel were distributed throughout the survey area, but particularly throughout the area to the north and west of Tory Island. Horse mackerel length distribution was dominated by a mode at 24cm, with a smaller mode at 30cm. This corresponded to a dominance of 3-wr fish (~67%) in all of the samples. The total stock biomass (TSB) estimate of herring for the combined 6aS/7b area was 40,646 tonnes (Lough Swilly = 12,098 tonnes, Donegal Bay = 23,157 tonnes, and the remaining NW area = 5,391 tonnes). This is considered to be a minimum estimate of herring in the 6aS/7b survey area at the time of the survey. The TSB estimate of horse mackerel for the total surveyed area in 6aS/7b area was 68,079 tonnes, considered to be a minimum estimate of horse mackerel in the 6aS/7b survey area at the time of the survey. The CV estimates on biomass and abundance are high (~0.50 for herring and ~ 0.62 for horse mackerel) for the survey in 2017. For herring, this is mostly caused by the over-reliance on a few acoustic marks of herring in Lough Swilly and Bruckless/Inver Bays in particular. For horse mackerel, this is most likely caused by and over-reliance of two transects in particular. Horse mackerel are a widely distributed stock, therefore the stock was not contained by this survey

Reproductive success through high pollinator visitation rates despite self incompatibility in an endangered wallflower

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Self incompatibility (SI) in rare plants presents a unique challenge—SI protects plants from inbreeding depression, but requires a sufficient number of mates and xenogamous pollination. Does SI persist in an endangered polyploid? Is pollinator visitation sufficient to ensure reproductive success? Is there evidence of inbreeding/outbreeding depression? We characterized the mating system, primary pollinators, pollen limitation, and inbreeding/outbreeding depression in Erysimum teretifolium to guide conservation efforts. METHODS: We compared seed production following self pollination and within- and between-population crosses. Pollen tubes were visualized after self pollinations and between-population pollinations. Pollen limitation was tested in the field. Pollinator observations were quantified using digital video. Inbreeding/outbreeding depression was assessed in progeny from self and outcross pollinations at early and later developmental stages. KEY RESULTS: Self-pollination reduced seed set by 6.5× and quadrupled reproductive failure compared with outcross pollination. Pollen tubes of some self pollinations were arrested at the stigmatic surface. Seed-set data indicated strong SI, and fruit-set data suggested partial SI. Pollinator diversity and visitation rates were high, and there was no evidence of pollen limitation. Inbreeding depression (δ) was weak for early developmental stages and strong for later developmental stages, with no evidence of outbreeding depression. CONCLUSIONS: The rare hexaploid E. teretifolium is largely self incompatible and suffers from late-acting inbreeding depression. Reproductive success in natural populations was accomplished through high pollinator visitation rates consistent with a lack of pollen limitation. Future reproductive health for this species will require large population sizes with sufficient mates and a robust pollinator community

Fisher Waves and Front Roughening in a Two-Species Invasion Model with Preemptive Competition

We study front propagation when an invading species competes with a resident; we assume nearest-neighbor preemptive competition for resources in an individual-based, two-dimensional lattice model. The asymptotic front velocity exhibits power-law dependence on the difference between the two species' clonal propagation rates (key ecological parameters). The mean-field approximation behaves similarly, but the power law's exponent slightly differs from the individual-based model's result. We also study roughening of the front, using the framework of non-equilibrium interface growth. Our analysis indicates that initially flat, linear invading fronts exhibit Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) roughening in one transverse dimension. Further, this finding implies, and is also confirmed by simulations, that the temporal correction to the asymptotic front velocity is of ${\cal O}(t^{-2/3})$.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures; Papers on related work can be found at http://www.rpi.edu/~korniss/Researc

Factors associated with geographic variation in cost per episode of care for three medical conditions

Objective: To identify associations between market factors, especially relative reimbursement rates, and the probability of surgery and cost per episode for three medical conditions (cataract, benign prostatic neoplasm, and knee degeneration) with multiple treatment options. Methods: We use 2004–2006 Medicare claims data for elderly beneficiaries from sixty nationally representative communities to estimate multivariate models for the probability of surgery and cost per episode of care as a function local market factors, including Medicare physician reimbursement for surgical versus non-surgical treatment and the availability of primary care and specialty physicians. We used Symmetry’s Episode Treatment Groups (ETG) software to group claims into episodes for the three conditions (n = 540,874 episodes). Results: Higher Medicare reimbursement for surgical episodes and greater availability of the relevant specialists are significantly associated with more surgery and higher cost per episode for all three conditions, while greater availability of primary care physicians is significantly associated with less frequent surgery and lower cost per episode. Conclusion: Relative Medicare reimbursement rates for surgical vs. non-surgical treatments and the availability of both primary care physicians and relevant specialists are associated with the likelihood of surgery and cost per episode

Demographic subgroup trends among adolescents for fifty-one classes of licit and illicit drugs, 1975-2012

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137785/1/mtf-occ79.pd

HIV/AIDS: Risk Protective Behaviors among American Young Adults, 2004-2008

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137933/1/hiv-aids_2010.pd