17 research outputs found
Multidimensionality and intra-individual variation in host manipulation by an acanthocephalan
Trophically-transmitted parasites frequently alter multiple aspects of their host's phenotype. Correlations between modified characteristics may suggest how different traits are mechanistically related, but these potential relationships remain unexplored. We recorded 5 traits from individual isopods infected with an acanthocephalan (Acanthocephalus lucii): hiding, activity, substrate colour preference, body (pereon) coloration, and abdominal (pleon) coloration. Infected isopods hid less and had darker abdominal coloration than uninfected isopods. However, in 3 different experiments measuring hiding behaviour (time-scales of observation: 1h, 8h, 8 weeks), these two modified traits were not correlated, suggesting they may arise via independent mechanisms. For the shorter experiments (1h and 8h), confidence in this null correlation was undermined by low experimental repeatability, i.e. individuals did not behave similarly in repeated trials of the experiment. However, in the 8-week experiment, hiding behaviour was relatively consistent within individuals, so the null correlation at this scale indicates, less equivocally, that hiding and coloration are unrelated. Furthermore, the difference between the hiding behaviour of infected and uninfected isopods varied over 8 weeks, suggesting that the effect of A. lucii infection on host behaviour changes over time. We emphasize the importance of carefully designed protocols for investigating multidimensionality in host manipulatio
Percolation in three-dimensional random field Ising magnets
The structure of the three-dimensional random field Ising magnet is studied
by ground state calculations. We investigate the percolation of the minority
spin orientation in the paramagnetic phase above the bulk phase transition,
located at [Delta/J]_c ~= 2.27, where Delta is the standard deviation of the
Gaussian random fields (J=1). With an external field H there is a disorder
strength dependent critical field +/- H_c(Delta) for the down (or up) spin
spanning. The percolation transition is in the standard percolation
universality class. H_c ~ (Delta - Delta_p)^{delta}, where Delta_p = 2.43 +/-
0.01 and delta = 1.31 +/- 0.03, implying a critical line for Delta_c < Delta <=
Delta_p. When, with zero external field, Delta is decreased from a large value
there is a transition from the simultaneous up and down spin spanning, with
probability Pi_{uparrow downarrow} = 1.00 to Pi_{uparrow downarrow} = 0. This
is located at Delta = 2.32 +/- 0.01, i.e., above Delta_c. The spanning cluster
has the fractal dimension of standard percolation D_f = 2.53 at H = H_c(Delta).
We provide evidence that this is asymptotically true even at H=0 for Delta_c <
Delta <= Delta_p beyond a crossover scale that diverges as Delta_c is
approached from above. Percolation implies extra finite size effects in the
ground states of the 3D RFIM.Comment: replaced with version to appear in Physical Review
Scaling and self-averaging in the three-dimensional random-field Ising model
We investigate, by means of extensive Monte Carlo simulations, the magnetic
critical behavior of the three-dimensional bimodal random-field Ising model at
the strong disorder regime. We present results in favor of the two-exponent
scaling scenario, , where and are the
critical exponents describing the power-law decay of the connected and
disconnected correlation functions and we illustrate, using various finite-size
measures and properly defined noise to signal ratios, the strong violation of
self-averaging of the model in the ordered phase.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Eur. Phys. J.
Universal energy distribution for interfaces in a random field environment
We study the energy distribution function for interfaces in a
random field environment at zero temperature by summing the leading terms in
the perturbation expansion of in powers of the disorder strength,
and by taking into account the non perturbational effects of the disorder using
the functional renormalization group. We have found that the average and the
variance of the energy for one-dimensional interface of length behave as,
, , while the distribution
function of the energy tends for large to the Gumbel distribution of the
extreme value statistics.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, revtex4; the distribution function of the total
and the disorder energy is include
Revisiting the scaling of the specific heat of the three-dimensional random-field Ising model
We revisit the scaling behavior of the specific heat of the three-dimensional
random-field Ising model with a Gaussian distribution of the disorder. Exact ground states
of the model are obtained using graph-theoretical algorithms for different strengths
= 268 3Â spins. By numerically differentiating the bond energy
with respect to h, a specific-heat-like quantity is obtained whose
maximum is found to converge to a constant in the thermodynamic limit. Compared to a
previous study following the same approach, we have studied here much larger system sizes
with an increased statistical accuracy. We discuss the relevance of our results under the
prism of a modified Rushbrooke inequality for the case of a saturating specific heat.
Finally, as a byproduct of our analysis, we provide high-accuracy estimates of the
critical field hc =
2.279(7) and the critical exponent of the correlation exponent
Μ =
1.37(1), in excellent agreement to the most recent computations in the
literature
Low-energy excitations in the three-dimensional random-field Ising model
The random-field Ising model (RFIM), one of the basic models for quenched
disorder, can be studied numerically with the help of efficient ground-state
algorithms. In this study, we extend these algorithm by various methods in
order to analyze low-energy excitations for the three-dimensional RFIM with
Gaussian distributed disorder that appear in the form of clusters of connected
spins. We analyze several properties of these clusters. Our results support the
validity of the droplet-model description for the RFIM.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure
Critical aspects of the random-field Ising model
We investigate the critical behavior of the three-dimensional random-field Ising model
(RFIM) with a Gaussian field distribution at zero temperature. By implementing a
computational approach that maps the ground-state of the RFIM to the maximum-flow
optimization problem of a network, we simulate large ensembles of disorder realizations of
the model for a broad range of values of the disorder strength h and
system sizes  = L3, with L â€Â 156. Our averaging procedure
outcomes previous studies of the model, increasing the sampling of ground states by a
factor of 103. Using well-established finite-size scaling schemes, the
fourth-orderâs Binder cumulant, and the sample-to-sample fluctuations of various
thermodynamic quantities, we provide high-accuracy estimates for the critical field
hc, as well as the critical exponents Μ,
ÎČ/Îœ, and ÎłÌ
/Μ of the correlation length, order parameter, and
disconnected susceptibility, respectively. Moreover, using properly defined noise to
signal ratios, we depict the variation of the self-averaging property of the model, by
crossing the phase boundary into the ordered phase. Finally, we discuss the controversial
issue of the specific heat based on a scaling analysis of the bond energy, providing
evidence that its critical exponent α â 0â
Eye fluke-induced cataracts in natural fish populations: Is there potential for host manipulation?
ISSN:0031-1820ISSN:1469-816
Quasi-Static Cracks and Minimal Energy Surfaces
We compare the roughness of minimal energy(ME) surfaces and scalar "quasi-static" fracture surfaces(SQF). Two dimensional ME and SQF surfaces have the same roughness scaling, w ž L i (L is system size) with i = 2=3. The 3-d ME and SQF results at strong disorder are consistent with the randombond Ising exponent i(d 3) à 0:21(5 \Gamma d) (d is bulk dimension). However 3-d SQF surfaces are rougher than ME ones due to a larger prefactor. ME surfaces undergo a "weakly rough" to "algebraically rough" transition in 3-d, suggesting a similar behavior in fracture. 62.20.Mk, 03.40.Dz, 46.30.Nz, 81.40.Np Typeset using REVT E X Current address Fracture [1] continues to attract the attention of the materials theory community, with the full spectrum of theoretical tools currently being applied to its analysis [1--6]. Cracks are usually self-affine and their roughness can be characterised by a roughness exponent (i), which may take on a few distinct values [7--9](here we calculate the "out-of-..