3,496 research outputs found
Effects of the Zebra Mussel on Nitrogen Dynamics and the Microbial Community at the Sediment-Water Interface
A flow-through experiment was conducted on intact cores of sediments from Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, to examine how trophic interactions between filter-feeding bivalve mussels and microbial populations could affect nitrogen dynamics at the sediment-water interface. The zebra mussels used in this experiment removed a large proportion of protozoa and phytoplankton from the overlying water, particularly heterotrophic nanoplankton (up to 82%), while bacterial populations showed less change. A 3-fold decrease in the protozoan to bacterial carbon ratio corresponded to a 2.5-fold increase in relative ammonium removal rates as estimated from the dark loss of N-15-ammonium. Excretion by the bivalves also increased net ammonium flux to the water, thus elevating the total calculated areal ammonium removal rates to about B-fold over rates observed in the control treatment. These data suggest that filter-feeding bivalves may significantly affect nitrogen transformation rates near the sediment-water interface by excreting ammonium and altering the microbial food web structure at the sediment-water interface
Learners reconceptualising education: Widening participation through creative engagement?
This paper argues that engaging imaginatively with ways in which statutory and further education is provided and expanding the repertoire of possible transitions into higher education, is necessary for providers both in higher education and in the contexts and phases which precede study at this level. Fostering dispositions for creativity in dynamic engagement with educational technology together with the consideration of pedagogy, learning objects, inclusion, policy and the management of change, requires innovative provision to span the spaces between school, home, work and higher education learning. Reporting on The Aspire Pilot, a NESTA-funded initiative at The Open University, the paper offers the beginning of a theoretical frame for considering learning, learners and learning systems in the information age prioritizing learner agency. It will report emergent empirical findings from this inter-disciplinary project, with a significant e-dimension, which seeks to foster the creativity of 13-19 year olds in considering future learning systems, developing provocations for others to explore creative but grounded possibilities. It explores implications arising from this project for approaches that may facilitate widening participation in higher education
Symmetric Operation of the Resonant Exchange Qubit
We operate a resonant exchange qubit in a highly symmetric triple-dot
configuration using IQ-modulated RF pulses. At the resulting three-dimensional
sweet spot the qubit splitting is an order of magnitude less sensitive to all
relevant control voltages, compared to the conventional operating point, but we
observe no significant improvement in the quality of Rabi oscillations. For
weak driving this is consistent with Overhauser field fluctuations modulating
the qubit splitting. For strong driving we infer that effective voltage noise
modulates the coupling strength between RF drive and the qubit, thereby
quickening Rabi decay. Application of CPMG dynamical decoupling sequences
consisting of up to n = 32 {\pi} pulses significantly prolongs qubit coherence,
leading to marginally longer dephasing times in the symmetric configuration.
This is consistent with dynamical decoupling from low frequency noise, but
quantitatively cannot be explained by effective gate voltage noise and
Overhauser field fluctuations alone. Our results inform recent strategies for
the utilization of partial sweet spots in the operation and long-distance
coupling of triple-dot qubits.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Negative spin exchange in a multielectron quantum dot
By operating a one-electron quantum dot (fabricated between a multielectron
dot and a one-electron reference dot) as a spectroscopic probe, we study the
spin properties of a gate-controlled multielectron GaAs quantum dot at the
transition between odd and even occupation number. We observe that the
multielectron groundstate transitions from spin-1/2-like to singlet-like to
triplet-like as we increase the detuning towards the next higher charge state.
The sign reversal in the inferred exchange energy persists at zero magnetic
field, and the exchange strength is tunable by gate voltages and in-plane
magnetic fields. Complementing spin leakage spectroscopy data, the inspection
of coherent multielectron spin exchange oscillations provides further evidence
for the sign reversal and, inferentially, for the importance of non-trivial
multielectron spin exchange correlations.Comment: 8 pages, including 4 main figures and 2 supplementary figurure
Noise suppression using symmetric exchange gates in spin qubits
We demonstrate a substantial improvement in the spin-exchange gate using
symmetric control instead of conventional detuning in GaAs spin qubits, up to a
factor-of-six increase in the quality factor of the gate. For symmetric
operation, nanosecond voltage pulses are applied to the barrier that controls
the interdot potential between quantum dots, modulating the exchange
interaction while maintaining symmetry between the dots. Excellent agreement is
found with a model that separately includes electrical and nuclear noise
sources for both detuning and symmetric gating schemes. Unlike exchange control
via detuning, the decoherence of symmetric exchange rotations is dominated by
rotation-axis fluctuations due to nuclear field noise rather than direct
exchange noise.Comment: 5 pages main text (4 figures) plus 5 pages supplemental information
(3 figures
The mechanism of the Einstellung (set) effect: A pervasive source of cognitive bias
Copyright @ The Authors 2010The eye movements of expert players trying to solve a chess problem show that the first idea that comes to mind directs attention towards sources of information consistent with itself and away from inconsistent information. This bias continues unconsciously even when the player believes he is looking for alternatives. The result is that alternatives to the first idea are ignored. This mechanism for biasing attention ensures a speedy response in familiar situations but it can lead to errors when the first thought that comes to mind is not appropriate. We propose that this mechanism is the source of many cognitive biases from phenomena in problem solving and reasoning, to perceptual errors and failures in memory
Spectrum of the Nuclear Environment for GaAs Spin Qubits
Using a singlet-triplet spin qubit as a sensitive spectrometer of the GaAs
nuclear spin bath, we demonstrate that the spectrum of Overhauser noise agrees
with a classical spin diffusion model over six orders of magnitude in
frequency, from 1 mHz to 1 kHz, is flat below 10 mHz, and falls as for
frequency Hz. Increasing the applied magnetic field from
0.1 T to 0.75 T suppresses electron-mediated spin diffusion, which decreases
spectral content in the region and lowers the saturation frequency,
each by an order of magnitude, consistent with a numerical model. Spectral
content at megahertz frequencies is accessed using dynamical decoupling, which
shows a crossover from the few-pulse regime ( -pulses),
where transverse Overhauser fluctuations dominate dephasing, to the many-pulse
regime ( -pulses), where longitudinal Overhauser
fluctuations with a spectrum dominate.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 8 pages of supplementary material, 5
supplementary figure
Physiography and Late Quaternary-Holocene Processes of Northeastern Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf off Mississippi and Alabama
High-resolution multibeam mapping of the mid- and outer continental shelf and upper slope off Mississippi and Alabama reveals a complex bathymetry that reflects conditions during the last eustatic rise and the present high stand of sea level. The most prominent bathymetric features are pinnacles and hardgrounds that are scattered throughout the area. These features generally stand \u3c10 m above the surrounding seafloor, cover large areas, and display a variety of morphologies. Almost all the reef pinnacles and hardgrounds have zones of high acoustic backscatter on their summits and on the seafloor immediately adjacent to their southwest walls. In addition, they also have erosional moats on the seafloor to the southwest. Large fields of bedforms are scattered throughout the mapped area. The asymmetries and orientations of the bedforms suggest that they were formed by excursions of the northeast-flowing Loop Current. In contrast, the pervasive ponding of sediment on the northeast sides of bathymetric highs indicates that one of the predominant directions of sediment transport has been to the south and southwest. The shelf break is a zone of numerous landslides of various sizes and complexities. The morphology of several landslide scars indicates that some of the failures occurred recently. One large reef-capped salt dome was mapped in the area, surrounded by a large field of pockmarks. Fields of pockmarks are also scattered on the shelf. The growth and demise of the reefs are related to the fluctuating transgression of eustatic sea level during the last deglaciation. Two episodes of reef drowning are correlated with the increased rates of sea-level rise during documented melt-water pulses; the first occurred from 14.8 to 14.2 ka and the second from 11.8 to 11.2 ka. Rates of sea-level rise exceeded the maximum growth rate of hermatypic corals only during these two intervals since the last glacial maximum and thus drowned the coral communities
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