Island time and the interplay between ecology and evolution in species diversification.

Research on the dynamics of biodiversity has progressed tremendously over recent years, although in two separate directions - ecological, to determine change over space at a given time, and evolutionary, to understand change over time. Integration of these approaches has remained elusive. Archipelagoes with a known geological chronology provide an opportunity to study ecological interactions over evolutionary time. Here, I focus on the Hawaiian archipelago and summarize the development of ecological and evolutionary research; I emphasize spiders because they have attributes allowing analysis of ecological affinities in concert with diversification. Within this framework, I highlight recent insights from the island chronosequence, in particular the importance of (i) selection and genetic drift in generating diversity; (ii) fusion and fission in fostering diversification; and (iii) variability upon which selection can act. Insights into biodiversity dynamics at the nexus of ecology and evolution are now achievable by integrating new tools, in particular (i) ecological metrics (interaction networks, maximum entropy inference) across the chronosequence to uncover community dynamics and (ii) genomic tools to understand contemporaneous microevolutionary change. The work can inform applications of invasion and restoration ecology by elucidating the importance of changes in abundances, interaction strengths, and rates of evolutionary response in shaping biodiversity

The area around the Orion Nebula observed in the CO (J = 1- 0) transition

An area 1 deg2 around the Orion Nebula has been surveyed with a 2.6 km s-1 wide single-channel receiver. The map shows considerable structure in the east including a bright spot 24' (2.8 pc) from the main CO peak

Analytical results for a Fokker-Planck equation in the small noise limit

We present analytical results for the lowest cumulants of a stochastic process described by a Fokker-Planck equation with nonlinear drift. We show that, in the limit of small fluctuations, the mean, the variance and the covariance of the process can be expressed in compact form with the help of the Lambert W function. As an application, we discuss the interplay of noise and nonlinearity far from equilibrium.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Retention and application of Skylab experiences to future programs

The problems encountered and special techniques and procedures developed on the Skylab program are described along with the experiences and practical benefits obtained for dissemination and use on future programs. Three major topics are discussed: electrical problems, mechanical problems, and special techniques. Special techniques and procedures are identified that were either developed or refined during the Skylab program. These techniques and procedures came from all manufacturing and test phases of the Skylab program and include both flight and GSE items from component level to sophisticated spaceflight systems

Retention and application of Skylab experiment experiences to future programs

Problems encountered on Skylab Experiments are listed in order that these experiences and associated recommendations might help to prevent similar problems on future programs. The criteria for selection of the data to be utilized was to identify the problem areas within the Skylab Program which would be of major significance with respect to future programs. Also, the problem had to be unique in that it would help identify to a designer/manufacturer an unforeseen or unanticipated occurrence which could cause failures, delays, or additional cost. Only those unexpected problems that may occur due to the nature of aerospace experiment environmental and operational requirements are included

Simulation of subseismic joint and fault networks using a heuristic mechanical model

Flow simulations of fractured and faulted reservoirs require representation of subseismic structures about which subsurface data are limited. We describe a method for simulating fracture growth that is mechanically based but heuristic, allowing for realistic modelling of fracture networks with reasonable run times. The method takes a triangulated meshed surface as input, together with an initial stress field. Fractures initiate and grow based on the stress field, and the growing fractures relieve the stress in the mesh. We show that a wide range of bedding-plane joint networks can be modelled simply by varying the distribution and anisotropy of the initial stress field. The results are in good qualitative agreement with natural joint patterns. We then apply the method to a set of parallel veins and demonstrate how the variations in thickness of the veins can be represented. Lastly, we apply the method to the simulation of normal fault patterns on salt domes. We derive the stress field on the bedding surface using the horizon curvature. The modelled fault network shows both radial and concentric faults. The new method provides an effective means of modelling joint and fault networks that can be imported to the flow simulator

Coarse Projective kMC Integration: Forward/Reverse Initial and Boundary Value Problems

In "equation-free" multiscale computation a dynamic model is given at a fine, microscopic level; yet we believe that its coarse-grained, macroscopic dynamics can be described by closed equations involving only coarse variables. These variables are typically various low-order moments of the distributions evolved through the microscopic model. We consider the problem of integrating these unavailable equations by acting directly on kinetic Monte Carlo microscopic simulators, thus circumventing their derivation in closed form. In particular, we use projective multi-step integration to solve the coarse initial value problem forward in time as well as backward in time (under certain conditions). Macroscopic trajectories are thus traced back to unstable, source-type, and even sometimes saddle-like stationary points, even though the microscopic simulator only evolves forward in time. We also demonstrate the use of such projective integrators in a shooting boundary value problem formulation for the computation of "coarse limit cycles" of the macroscopic behavior, and the approximation of their stability through estimates of the leading "coarse Floquet multipliers".Comment: Submitted to Journal of Computational Physic

An Efficient Algorithm for Classical Density Functional Theory in Three Dimensions: Ionic Solutions

Classical density functional theory (DFT) of fluids is a valuable tool to analyze inhomogeneous fluids. However, few numerical solution algorithms for three-dimensional systems exist. Here we present an efficient numerical scheme for fluids of charged, hard spheres that uses $\mathcal{O}(N\log N)$ operations and $\mathcal{O}(N)$ memory, where $N$ is the number of grid points. This system-size scaling is significant because of the very large $N$ required for three-dimensional systems. The algorithm uses fast Fourier transforms (FFT) to evaluate the convolutions of the DFT Euler-Lagrange equations and Picard (iterative substitution) iteration with line search to solve the equations. The pros and cons of this FFT/Picard technique are compared to those of alternative solution methods that use real-space integration of the convolutions instead of FFTs and Newton iteration instead of Picard. For the hard-sphere DFT we use Fundamental Measure Theory. For the electrostatic DFT we present two algorithms. One is for the \textquotedblleft bulk-fluid\textquotedblright functional of Rosenfeld [Y. Rosenfeld. \textit{J. Chem. Phys.} 98, 8126 (1993)] that uses $\mathcal{O}(N\log N)$ operations. The other is for the \textquotedblleft reference fluid density\textquotedblright (RFD) functional [D. Gillespie et al., J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 14, 12129 (2002)]. This functional is significantly more accurate than the bulk-fluid functional, but the RFD algorithm requires $\mathcal{O}(N^{2})$ operations.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure

Internal thermal noise in the LIGO test masses : a direct approach

The internal thermal noise in LIGO's test masses is analyzed by a new technique, a direct application of the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem to LIGO's readout observable, $x(t)=$(longitudinal position of test-mass face, weighted by laser beam's Gaussian profile). Previous analyses, which relied on a normal-mode decomposition of the test-mass motion, were valid only if the dissipation is uniformally distributed over the test-mass interior, and they converged reliably to a final answer only when the beam size was a non-negligible fraction of the test-mass cross section. This paper's direct analysis, by contrast, can handle inhomogeneous dissipation and arbitrary beam sizes. In the domain of validity of the previous analysis, the two methods give the same answer for $S_x(f)$, the spectral density of thermal noise, to within expected accuracy. The new analysis predicts that thermal noise due to dissipation concentrated in the test mass's front face (e.g. due to mirror coating) scales as $1/r_0^2$, by contrast with homogeneous dissipation, which scales as $1/r_0$ ($r_0$ is the beam radius); so surface dissipation could become significant for small beam sizes.Comment: 6 pages, RevTex, 1 figur