1,090 research outputs found
Advanced Automation for Space Missions
The feasibility of using machine intelligence, including automation and robotics, in future space missions was studied
Exposure of tropical ecosystems to artificial light at night: Brazil as a case study
Artificial nighttime lighting from streetlights and other sources has a broad range of biological effects.
Understanding the spatial and temporal levels and patterns of this lighting is a key step in determining
the severity of adverse effects on different ecosystems, vegetation, and habitat types. Few such
analyses have been conducted, particularly for regions with high biodiversity, including the tropics.
We used an intercalibrated version of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Programâs Operational
Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) images of stable nighttime lights to determine what proportion of
original and current Brazilian vegetation types are experiencing measurable levels of artificial light
and how this has changed in recent years. The percentage area affected by both detectable light and
increases in brightness ranged between 0 and 35% for native vegetation types, and between 0 and
25% for current vegetation (i.e. including agriculture). The most heavily affected areas encompassed
terrestrial coastal vegetation types (restingas and mangroves), Semideciduous Seasonal Forest, and
Mixed Ombrophilous Forest. The existing small remnants of Lowland Deciduous and Semideciduous
Seasonal Forests and of Campinarana had the lowest exposure levels to artificial light. Light pollution
has not often been investigated in developing countries but our data show that it is an environmental
concern
Virtual signatures of dark sectors in Higgs couplings
Where collider searches for resonant invisible particles loose steam, dark
sectors might leave their trace as virtual effects in precision observables.
Here we explore this option in the framework of Higgs portal models, where a
sector of dark fermions interacts with the standard model through a strong
renormalizable coupling to the Higgs boson. We show that precise measurements
of Higgs-gauge and triple Higgs interactions can probe dark fermions up to the
TeV scale through virtual corrections. Observation prospects at the LHC and
future lepton colliders are discussed for the so-called singlet-doublet model
of Majorana fermions, a generalization of the bino-higgsino scenario in
supersymmetry. We advocate a two-fold search strategy for dark sectors through
direct and indirect observables.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
T-parity, its problems and their solution
We point out a basic difficulty in the construction of little-Higgs models
with T-parity which is overlooked by large part of the present literature.
Almost all models proposed so far fail to achieve their goal: they either
suffer from sizable electroweak corrections or from a breakdown of collective
breaking. We provide a model building recipe to bypass the above problem and
apply it to build the simplest T-invariant extension of the Littlest Higgs. Our
model predicts additional T-odd pseudo-Goldstone bosons with weak scale masses.Comment: 25 pages, 2 appendice
Tuning the crystalline electric field and magnetic anisotropy along the CeCuBiSb series
We have performed X-ray powder diffraction, magnetization, electrical
resistivity, heat capacity and inelastic neutron scattering (INS) to
investigate the physical properties of the intermetallic series of compounds
CeCuBiSb. These compounds crystallize in a tetragonal structure
with space group and present antiferromagnetic transition temperatures
ranging from 3.6 K to 16 K. Remarkably, the magnetization easy axis changes
along the series, which is closely related to the variations of the tetragonal
crystalline electric field (CEF) parameters. This evolution was analyzed using
a mean field model, which included anisotropic nearest-neighbor interactions
and the tetragonal CEF Hamiltonian. The CEF parameters were obtained by fitting
the magnetic susceptibility data with the constraints given by the INS
measurements. Finally, we discuss how this CEF evolution can affect the Kondo
physics and the search for a superconducting state in this family.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. To be published in Physical Review
Genetic transformation of Citrus sinensis with Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) derived sequences and reaction of transgenic lines to CTV infection
Transgenic Citrus sinensis (L.) Osb. plants, cvs. Valencia and Hamlin, expressing Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) derived sequences were obtained by genetic transformation. The gene constructs were pCTV-CP containing the 25 kDa major capsid protein gene (CTV-CP), pCTV-dsCP containing the same CTV-CP gene in an intron-spliced hairpin construct, and pCTV-CS containing a 559 nt conserved region of the CTV genome. The transgenic lines were identified by PCR and the transgene integration was confirmed by Southern blot. Transgene mRNA could be detected in most transgenic lines containing pCTV-CP or pCTV-CS transgene. The mRNA of pCTV-dsCP transgene was almost undetectable, with very light bands in most analyzed plants. The transgene transcription appears to be closely linked to the type of gene construct. The virus challenge assays reveals that all transgenic lines were infected. However, it was possible to identify propagated clones of transgenic plants of both cultivars studied with a low virus titer, with values similar to the non-inoculated plants (negative control). These results suggested that the transgenic plants present some level of resistance to virus replication. The higher number of clones with low virus titer and where mRNA could not be detected or was presented in a very light band was found for pCTV-dsCP-derived transgenic lines561162166CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTĂFICO E TECNOLĂGICO - CNPQCOORDENAĂĂO DE APERFEIĂOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NĂVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESFUNDAĂĂO DE AMPARO Ă PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SĂO PAULO - FAPESPsem informaçã
Ecological Modeling of Aedes aegypti (L.) Pupal Production in Rural Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand
Background - Aedes aegypti (L.) is the primary vector of dengue, the most important arboviral infection globally. Until an effective vaccine is licensed and rigorously administered, Ae. aegypti control remains the principal tool in preventing and curtailing dengue transmission. Accurate predictions of vector populations are required to assess control methods and develop effective population reduction strategies. Ae. aegypti develops primarily in artificial water holding containers. Release recapture studies indicate that most adult Ae. aegypti do not disperse over long distances. We expect, therefore, that containers in an area of high development site density are more likely to be oviposition sites and to be more frequently used as oviposition sites than containers that are relatively isolated from other development sites. After accounting for individual container characteristics, containers more frequently used as oviposition sites are likely to produce adult mosquitoes consistently and at a higher rate. To this point, most studies of Ae. aegypti populations ignore the spatial density of larval development sites. Methodology - Pupal surveys were carried out from 2004 to 2007 in rural Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand. In total, 84,840 samples of water holding containers were used to estimate model parameters. Regression modeling was used to assess the effect of larval development site density, access to piped water, and seasonal variation on container productivity. A varying-coefficients model was employed to account for the large differences in productivity between container types. A two-part modeling structure, called a hurdle model, accounts for the large number of zeroes and overdispersion present in pupal population counts. Findings - The number of suitable larval development sites and their density in the environment were the primary determinants of the distribution and abundance of Ae. aegypti pupae. The productivity of most container types increased significantly as habitat density increased. An ecological approach, accounting for development site density, is appropriate for predicting Ae. aegypti population levels and developing efficient vector control program
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Microwave annealing of ion implanted 6H-SiC
Microwave rapid thermal annealing has been utilized to remove the lattice damage caused by nitrogen (N) ion-implantation as well as to activate the dopant in 6H-SiC. Samples were annealed at temperatures as high as 1,400 C, for 10 min. Van der Pauw Hall measurements indicate an implant activation of 36%, which is similar to the value obtained for the conventional furnace annealing at 1,600 C. Good lattice quality restoration was observed in the Rutherford backscattering and photoluminescence spectra
Contraints on unified models for dark matter and dark energy using H(z)
The differential age data of astrophysical objects that have evolved
passivelly during the history of the universe (e.g. red galaxies) allows to
test theoretical cosmological models through the predicted Hubble function
expressed in terms of the redshift , . We use the observational data
for to test unified scenarios for dark matter and dark energy.
Specifically, we focus our analysis on the Generalized Chaplygin Gas (GCG) and
the viscous fluid (VF) models. For the GCG model, it is shown that the unified
scenario for dark energy and dark matter requires some priors. For the VF model
we obtain estimations for the free parameters that may be compared with further
analysis mainly at perturbative level.Comment: Latex file, 10 pages, 19 figures in eps format. Accepted for
publication in European Journal of Physics
Soil biochemistry and microbial activity in vineyards under conventional and organic management at Northeast Brazil.
The SĂŁo Francisco Submedium Valley is located at the Brazilian semiarid region and is an important center for irrigated fruit growing. This region is responsible for 97% of the national exportation of table grapes, including seedless grapes. Based on the fact that orgThe SĂŁo Francisco Submedium Valley is located at the Brazilian semiarid region and is an important center for irrigated fruit growing. This region is responsible for 97% of the national exportation of table grapes, including seedless grapes. Based on the fact that organic fertilization can improve soil quality, we compared the effects of conventional and organic soil management on microbial activity and mycorrhization of seedless grape crops. We measured glomerospores number, most probable number (MPN) of propagules, richness of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) species, AMF root colonization, EE-BRSP production, carbon microbial biomass (C-MB), microbial respiration, fluorescein diacetate hydrolytic activity (FDA) and metabolic coefficient (qCO2). The organic management led to an increase in all variables with the exception of EE-BRSP and qCO2. Mycorrhizal colonization increased from 4.7% in conventional crops to 15.9% in organic crops. Spore number ranged from 4.1 to 12.4 per 50 g-1 soil in both management systems. The most probable number of AMF propagules increased from 79 cm-3 soil in the conventional system to 110 cm-3 soil in the organic system. Microbial carbon, CO2 emission, and FDA activity were increased by 100 to 200% in the organic crop. Thirteen species of AMF were identified, the majority in the organic cultivation system. Acaulospora excavata, Entrophospora infrequens, Glomus sp.3 and Scutellospora sp. were found only in the organically managed crop. S. gregaria was found only in the conventional crop. Organically managed vineyards increased mycorrhization and general soil microbial activity
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