4,876 research outputs found
Scattering of Nucleons in the Classical Skyrme Model
Classically spinning B = 1 Skyrmions can be regarded as approximations to nucleons with quantised spin. Here, we investigate nucleon–nucleon scattering through numerical collisions of spinning Skyrmions. We identify the dineutron/diproton and dibaryon short-lived resonance states, and also the stable deuteron state. Our simulations lead to predictions for the polarisation states occurring in right angle scattering
Link and subgraph likelihoods in random undirected networks with fixed and partially fixed degree sequence
The simplest null models for networks, used to distinguish significant
features of a particular network from {\it a priori} expected features, are
random ensembles with the degree sequence fixed by the specific network of
interest. These "fixed degree sequence" (FDS) ensembles are, however, famously
resistant to analytic attack. In this paper we introduce ensembles with
partially-fixed degree sequences (PFDS) and compare analytic results obtained
for them with Monte Carlo results for the FDS ensemble. These results include
link likelihoods, subgraph likelihoods, and degree correlations. We find that
local structural features in the FDS ensemble can be reasonably well estimated
by simultaneously fixing only the degrees of few nodes, in addition to the
total number of nodes and links. As test cases we use a food web, two protein
interaction networks (\textit{E. coli, S. cerevisiae}), the internet on the
autonomous system (AS) level, and the World Wide Web. Fixing just the degrees
of two nodes gives the mean neighbor degree as a function of node degree,
, in agreement with results explicitly obtained from rewiring. For
power law degree distributions, we derive the disassortativity analytically. In
the PFDS ensemble the partition function can be expanded diagrammatically. We
obtain an explicit expression for the link likelihood to lowest order, which
reduces in the limit of large, sparse undirected networks with links and
with to the simple formula . In a
similar limit, the probability for three nodes to be linked into a triangle
reduces to the factorized expression .Comment: 17 pages, includes 11 figures; first revision: shortened to 14 pages
(7 figures), added discussion of subgraph counts, deleted discussion of
directed network
Elevating crop disease resistance with cloned genes
Essentially all plant species exhibit heritable genetic variation for resistance to a variety of plant diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, oomycetes or viruses. Disease losses in crop monocultures are already significant, and would be greater but for applications of disease-controlling agrichemicals. For sustainable intensification of crop production, we argue that disease control should as far as possible be achieved using genetics rather than using costly recurrent chemical sprays. The latter imply CO2 emissions from diesel fuel and potential soil compaction from tractor journeys. Great progress has been made in the past 25 years in our understanding of the molecular basis of plant disease resistance mechanisms, and of how pathogens circumvent them. These insights can inform more sophisticated approaches to elevating disease resistance in crops that help us tip the evolutionary balance in favour of the crop and away from the pathogen. We illustrate this theme with an account of a genetically modified (GM) blight-resistant potato trial in Norwich, using the Rpi-vnt1.1 gene isolated from a wild relative of potato, Solanum venturii, and introduced by GM methods into the potato variety Desiree
Clustering Phase Transitions and Hysteresis: Pitfalls in Constructing Network Ensembles
Ensembles of networks are used as null models in many applications. However,
simple null models often show much less clustering than their real-world
counterparts. In this paper, we study a model where clustering is enhanced by
means of a fugacity term as in the Strauss (or "triangle") model, but where the
degree sequence is strictly preserved -- thus maintaining the quenched
heterogeneity of nodes found in the original degree sequence. Similar models
had been proposed previously in [R. Milo et al., Science 298, 824 (2002)]. We
find that our model exhibits phase transitions as the fugacity is changed. For
regular graphs (identical degrees for all nodes) with degree k > 2 we find a
single first order transition. For all non-regular networks that we studied
(including Erdos - Renyi and scale-free networks) we find multiple jumps
resembling first order transitions, together with strong hysteresis. The latter
transitions are driven by the sudden emergence of "cluster cores": groups of
highly interconnected nodes with higher than average degrees. To study these
cluster cores visually, we introduce q-clique adjacency plots. We find that
these cluster cores constitute distinct communities which emerge spontaneously
from the triangle generating process. Finally, we point out that cluster cores
produce pitfalls when using the present (and similar) models as null models for
strongly clustered networks, due to the very strong hysteresis which
effectively leads to broken ergodicity on realistic time scales.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figure
Deidamia Inscriptum (lettered Sphinx Moth) Caterpillars Feeding on Oxydendrum Arboreum (sourwood) and Their Predation by Black Bears in Northeast Tennessee
An outbreak of Deidamia inscriptum (Lettered Sphinx Moth) caterpillars was noted in northeast Tennessee where Oxydendrum arboreum (Sourwood) trees were defoliated. Nearly all published literature and online resources list only plants in the grape family (Vitaceae) as larval food plants. Food-plant preference trials using fresh leaves of 3 woody plant species showed that Deidamiacaterpillars from this region had a preference for Sourwood over Parthenocissus quinquefolia(Virginia Creeper), and rejected Acer rubrum (Red Maple), a non-host species. Ursus americanus(Black Bear) were feeding on the caterpillars as evidenced by bent and broken Sourwood saplings bearing claw marks and by abundant sphingid remains in bear scat
Anthropogenic Ties to Late-Successional Structure and Composition in Four New England Hemlock Stands
Geologic framework of the northern North Carolina, USA inner continental shelf and its influence on coastal evolution
© The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Marine Geology 348 (2014): 113-130, doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2013.11.011.The inner continental shelf off the northern Outer Banks of North Carolina was mapped using sidescan sonar, interferometric swath bathymetry, and high-resolution chirp and boomer subbottom profiling systems. We use this information to describe the shallow stratigraphy, reinterpret formation mechanisms of some shoal features, evaluate local relative sea-levels during the Late Pleistocene, and provide new constraints, via recent bedform evolution, on regional sediment transport patterns. The study area is approximately 290 km long by 11 km wide, extending from False Cape, Virginia to Cape Lookout, North Carolina, in water depths ranging from 6 to 34 m. Late Pleistocene sedimentary units comprise the shallow geologic framework of this region and determine both the morphology of the inner shelf and the distribution of sediment sources and sinks. We identify Pleistocene sedimentary units beneath Diamond Shoals that may have provided a geologic template for the location of modern Cape Hatteras and earlier paleo-capes during the Late Pleistocene. These units indicate shallow marine deposition 15–25 m below present sea-level. The uppermost Pleistocene unit may have been deposited as recently as Marine Isotope Stage 3, although some apparent ages for this timing may be suspect. Paleofluvial valleys incised during the Last Glacial Maximum traverse the inner shelf throughout the study area and dissect the Late Pleistocene units. Sediments deposited in the valleys record the Holocene transgression and provide insight into the evolutionary history of the barrier-estuary system in this region. The relationship between these valleys and adjacent shoal complexes suggests that the paleo-Roanoke River did not form the Albemarle Shelf Valley complex as previously proposed; a major fluvial system is absent and thus makes the formation of this feature enigmatic. Major shoal features in the study area show mobility at decadal to centennial timescales, including nearly a kilometer of shoal migration over the past 134 yr. Sorted bedforms occupy ~ 1000 km2 of seafloor in Raleigh Bay, and indicate regional sediment transport patterns between Capes Hatteras and Lookout that help explain long-term sediment accumulation and morphologic development. Portions of the inner continental shelf with relatively high sediment abundance are characterized by shoals and shoreface-attached ridges, and where sediment is less abundant, the seafloor is dominated by sorted bedforms. These relationships are also observed in other passive margin settings, suggesting a continuum of shelf morphology that may have broad application for interpreting inner shelf sedimentation patterns.Funding for this research
was provided by the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program
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