200 research outputs found
Insect pest - white wax scale
Recent investigations in Western Australia have shown that white wax scale can be very effectively controlled by the application of white oil and of white oil-soda sprays. Wax scales derive their name from the typical waxy covering which covers the female insect. Of the two species, the white wax and the pink wax scale, which have been recorded from Western Australia, only the former has gained a permanent footing and is of interest to the citrus grower. For many years the scale was referred to as the Indian wax scale (C. ceriferus Anderson) but was later identified (O\u27Connor, 1933) as the African white wax scale (C. destructor Newstead)
Thermodynamics and statistical mechanics of frozen systems in inherent states
We discuss a Statistical Mechanics approach in the manner of Edwards to the
``inherent states'' (defined as the stable configurations in the potential
energy landscape) of glassy systems and granular materials. We show that at
stationarity the inherent states are distributed according a generalized Gibbs
measure obtained assuming the validity of the principle of maximum entropy,
under suitable constraints. In particular we consider three lattice models (a
diluted Spin Glass, a monodisperse hard-sphere system under gravity and a
hard-sphere binary mixture under gravity) undergoing a schematic ``tap
dynamics'', showing via Monte Carlo calculations that the time average of
macroscopic quantities over the tap dynamics and over such a generalized
distribution coincide. We also discuss about the general validity of this
approach to non thermal systems.Comment: 10 pages, 16 figure
Organization of atomic bond tensions in model glasses
In order to understand whether internal stresses in glasses are correlated or
randomly distributed, we study the organization of atomic bond tensions (normal
forces between pairs of atoms). Measurements of the invariants of the atomic
bond tension tensor in simulated 2D and 3D binary Lennard-Jones glasses, reveal
new and unexpected correlations and provide support for Alexander's conjecture
about the non-random character of internal stresses in amorphous solids
Atom loss and the formation of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate by Feshbach resonance
In experiments conducted recently at MIT on Na Bose-Einstein condensates [S.
Inouye et al, Nature 392, 151 (1998); J. Stenger et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82,
2422 (1999)], large loss rates were observed when a time-varying magnetic field
was used to tune a molecular Feshbach resonance state near the state of a pair
of atoms in the condensate. A collisional deactivation mechanism affecting a
temporarily formed molecular condensate [see V. A. Yurovsky, A. Ben-Reuven, P.
S. Julienne and C. J. Williams, Phys. Rev. A 60, R765 (1999)], studied here in
more detail, accounts for the results of the slow-sweep experiments. A best fit
to the MIT data yields a rate coefficient for deactivating atom-molecule
collisions of 1.6e-10 cm**3/s. In the case of the fast sweep experiment, a
study is carried out of the combined effect of two competing mechanisms, the
three-atom (atom-molecule) or four-atom (molecule-molecule) collisional
deactivation vs. a process of two-atom trap-state excitation by curve crossing
[F. H. Mies, P. S. Julienne, and E. Tiesinga, Phys. Rev. A 61, 022721 (2000)].
It is shown that both mechanisms contribute to the loss comparably and
nonadditively.Comment: LaTeX, 14 pages, 12 PostScript figures, uses REVTeX and psfig,
submitted to Physical Review
Amplitude measurements of Faraday waves
A light reflection technique is used to measure quantitatively the surface
elevation of Faraday waves. The performed measurements cover a wide parameter
range of driving frequencies and sample viscosities. In the capillary wave
regime the bifurcation diagrams exhibit a frequency independent scaling
proportional to the wavelength. We also provide numerical simulations of the
full Navier-Stokes equations, which are in quantitative agreement up to
supercritical drive amplitudes of 20%. The validity of an existing perturbation
analysis is found to be limited to 2.5% overcriticaly.Comment: 7 figure
Debye screening
The existence and exponential clustering of correlation functions for a classical coulomb system at low density or high temperature are proven using methods from constructive quantum field theory, the sine gordon transformation and the Glimm, Jaffe, Spencer expansion about mean field theory. This is a vindication of a belief of long standing among physicists, known as Debye screening. That is, because of special properties of the coulomb potential, the configurations of significant probability are those in which the long range parts of r −1 are mostly cancelled, leaving an effective exponentially decaying potential acting between charge clouds. This paper generalizes a previous paper of one of the authors in which these results were obtained for a special lattice system. The present treatment covers the continuous mechanics situation, with essentially arbitrary short range forces and charge species. Charge symmetry is not assumed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46519/1/220_2005_Article_BF01197700.pd
Seasonal and interannual variation of bacterial production in lowland rivers of the Orinoco basin
Mineral deficiency and the presence of Pinus sylvestris on mires during the mid- to late Holocene: Palaeoecological data from Cadogan's Bog, Mizen Peninsula, Co. Cork, southwest Ireland
Pollen records across parts of Ireland, England and northern Scotland show a dramatic collapse in Pinus pollen percentages at approximately 4000 radiocarbon years BP. This phenomenon has attracted much palaeoecological interest and several hypotheses have been put forward to account for this often synchronous and rapid reduction in pine from mid-Holocene woodland. Explanations for the 'pine decline' include prehistoric human activity, climatic change, in particular a substantial increase in precipitation resulting in increased mire wetness, and airborne pollution associated with the deposition of tephra. Hitherto, one largely untested hypothesis is that mineral deficiency could adversely affect pine growth and regeneration on mire surfaces. The discovery of pine-tree remains (wood pieces, stumps and trunks) within a peat located at Cadogan's Bog on the Mizen Peninsula, southwest Ireland, provided an opportunity to investigate the history of Pinus sylvestris and also to assess the importance of mineral nutrition in maintaining pine growth on mires. Pollen, plant macrofossils, microscopic charcoal and geochemical data are presented from a radiocarbon dated monolith extracted from this peat together with tree ring-width data and radiocarbon dated age estimates from subfossil wood. Analyses of these data suggest that peat accumulation commenced at the site around 6000 years BP when pine was the dominant local tree. Thereafter Pinus pollen percentages diminish in two stages, with the second decline taking place around 4160 ± 50 years BP. Concomitant with this decline in Pinus pollen, there is a noticeable, short-lived increase in wet-loving mire taxa and a decrease in the concentration of phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, iron and zinc. These results suggest that increased mire surface wetness, possibly the result of a change in climate, created conditions unsuitable for pine growth c. 4000 years BP. Mire surface wetness, coupled with a period of associated nutrient deficiency, appears to be a possible explanation for a lack of subsequent pine-seedling establishment for most of the later Holocene
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