1,110 research outputs found
Genetic and morphological variation of the lanternfish Lampanyctodes hectoris (Myctophiformes: Myctophidae) off southern Africa
Genetic and morphological variation within the southern African population of Lampanyctodes hectoris was analysed. A total of 15 enzymes, encoding 22 isozyme loci, was examined (n = 327); seven were polymorphic. The percentage of polymorphic loci ranged from 13.6 to 27.3%. The mean heterozygosity was generally low and ranged from 0.003 to 0.005. Genetic divergences between specimens from four areas along the west coast of southern Africa were negligible, genetic distance values (D) ranging from 0 to 0.00011. The results showed the population of L. hectoris to be genetically invariant. Principal Component Analysis was performed separately on ratios of 13 morphometric and 6 meristic variables (n = 446), and there was evidence of extensive overlap between fish from all areas. However, discriminant analysis suggested some morphological variability within this population. Although genetically the population of L. hectoris seems to be homogenous, morphologically it appears to be variable. A combination of these results suggests that there is no clear genetic basis for the slight morphological differentiation within the population. Keywords: Agulhas Bank, Benguela Current, lanternfish, Namibia, population geneticsAfrican Journal of Marine Science 2002, 24: 193–20
Video observations on the habitat association of demersal nekton in the midshelf benthic environment off the Orange River, Namibia
A semi-quantitative assessment is made of the animals observed in archived videotapes taken from the research submersible Jago, during diamond mining and exploratory surveys off the mouth of the Orange River on the west coast of southern Africa (28°15´S, 29°11´S) in November 1996. The seabed environment is described and nekton associations with substratum features are identified. The area is characterized by heterogeneity to its physical and biological struture. The variety of observed nekton is low, and communities are dominated by goby Sufflogobius bibarbatus, juvenile hake Merluccius spp. and cuttlefish Sepia spp. (on soft substrata), as well as false jacopever Sebastes capensis and kingklip Genypterus capensis (on rocky substrata)
Pure spinor computation towards open string three-loop
Using the recent results in the pure spinor formulation, we lay out a
ground-work towards the full momentum space amplitudes of open superstrings at
three-loop. After briefly reviewing the one-loop amplitude, we directly work
out the two-loop and reproduce the result that was obtained by a symmetry
argument. For the three-loop, first we use the two-loop regulator as a warm-up
exercise. The result vanishes. We then employ the regulator that has been
recently proposed by Aisaka and Berkovits (AB). It is noted that the terms in
higher power in that render the two-loop
regulator disqualified for the three-loop do not contribute. This with a few
other indications suggests a possibility that the AB regulator might also lead
to a vanishing result. Nevertheless, we argue that it is possible to acquire
the three-loop amplitude, and present a result that we anticipate to be the
three-loop amplitude.Comment: 41 pages, latex, cosmetic change
Galilean quantum gravity with cosmological constant and the extended q-Heisenberg algebra
We define a theory of Galilean gravity in 2+1 dimensions with cosmological
constant as a Chern-Simons gauge theory of the doubly-extended Newton-Hooke
group, extending our previous study of classical and quantum gravity in 2+1
dimensions in the Galilean limit. We exhibit an r-matrix which is compatible
with our Chern-Simons action (in a sense to be defined) and show that the
associated bi-algebra structure of the Newton-Hooke Lie algebra is that of the
classical double of the extended Heisenberg algebra. We deduce that, in the
quantisation of the theory according to the combinatorial quantisation
programme, much of the quantum theory is determined by the quantum double of
the extended q-deformed Heisenberg algebra.Comment: 22 page
Maxwell-Chern-Simons Vortices and Holographic Superconductors
We investigate probe limit vortex solutions of a charged scalar field in
Einstein-Maxwell theory in 3+1 dimensions, for an asymptotically AdS
Schwarzschild black hole metric with the addition of an axionic coupling to the
Maxwell field. We show that the inclusion of such a term, together with a
suitable potential for the axion field, can induce an effective Chern-Simons
term on the 2+1 dimensional boundary. We obtain numerical solutions of the
equations of motion and find Maxwell-Chern-Simons like magnetic vortex
configurations, where the magnetic field profile varies with the size of the
effective Chern-Simons coupling. The axion field has a non-trivial profile
inside the AdS bulk but does not condense at spatial infinity.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, version accepted for publication in JHE
A Closed-Form Solution of the Multi-Period Portfolio Choice Problem for a Quadratic Utility Function
In the present paper, we derive a closed-form solution of the multi-period
portfolio choice problem for a quadratic utility function with and without a
riskless asset. All results are derived under weak conditions on the asset
returns. No assumption on the correlation structure between different time
points is needed and no assumption on the distribution is imposed. All
expressions are presented in terms of the conditional mean vectors and the
conditional covariance matrices. If the multivariate process of the asset
returns is independent it is shown that in the case without a riskless asset
the solution is presented as a sequence of optimal portfolio weights obtained
by solving the single-period Markowitz optimization problem. The process
dynamics are included only in the shape parameter of the utility function. If a
riskless asset is present then the multi-period optimal portfolio weights are
proportional to the single-period solutions multiplied by time-varying
constants which are depending on the process dynamics. Remarkably, in the case
of a portfolio selection with the tangency portfolio the multi-period solution
coincides with the sequence of the simple-period solutions. Finally, we compare
the suggested strategies with existing multi-period portfolio allocation
methods for real data.Comment: 38 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, changes: VAR(1)-CCC-GARCH(1,1) process
dynamics and the analysis of increasing horizon are included in the
simulation study, under revision in Annals of Operations Researc
Methods to estimate access to care and the effect of interventions on the outcomes of congenital disorders
In the absence of intervention, early-onset congenital disorders lead to pregnancy loss, early death, or disability. Currently, lack of epidemiological data from many settings limits the understanding of the burden of these conditions, thus impeding health planning, policy-making, and commensurate resource allocation. The Modell Global Database of Congenital Disorders (MGDb) seeks to meet this need by combining general biological principles with observational and demographic data, to generate estimates of the burden of congenital disorders. A range of interventions along the life course can modify adverse outcomes associated with congenital disorders. Hence, access to and quality of services available for the prevention and care of congenital disorders affects both their birth prevalence and the outcomes for affected individuals. Information on this is therefore important to enable burden estimates for settings with limited observational data, but is lacking from many settings. This paper, the third in this special issue on methods used in the MGDb for estimating the global burden of congenital disorders, describes key interventions that impact on outcomes of congenital disorders and methods used to estimate their coverage where empirical data are not available
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