728 research outputs found
Temporal variations in the flow of a large Antarctic ice stream controlled by tidally induced changes in the subglacial water system
Observations show that the flow of Rutford Ice Stream (RIS) is strongly modulated by the ocean tides, with the strongest tidal response at the 14.77 day tidal period (Msf). This is striking because this period is absent in the tidal forcing. A number of mechanisms have been proposed to account for this effect, yet previous modeling studies have struggled to match the observed large amplitude and decay length scale. We use a nonlinear 3-D viscoelastic full-Stokes model of ice-stream flow to investigate this open issue. We find that the long period Msf modulation of ice-stream velocity observed in data cannot be reproduced quantitatively without including a coupling between basal sliding and tidal subglacial water pressure variations. Furthermore, the subglacial water system must be highly conductive and at low effective pressure, and the relationship between sliding velocity and effective pressure highly nonlinear in order for the model results to match GPS measurements. Hydrological and basal sliding model parameters that produced a best fit to observations were a mean effective pressure N of 105 kPa, subglacial drainage system conductivity K of 7 × 109 m2d-1, with sliding law exponents m = 3 and q =10. Coupled model results show the presence of tides result in a ~ 12% increase in mean surface velocity. Observations of tidally-induced variations in flow of ice-streams provide stronger constraints on basal sliding processes than provided by any other set of measurements
Carrying large fuel loads during sustained bird flight is cheaper than expected
Birds on migration alternate between consuming fuel stores during flights and accumulating fuel stores during stopovers. The optimal timing and length of flights and stopovers for successful migration depend heavily on the extra metabolic power input (fuel use) required to carry the fuel stores during flight(1,2). The effect of large fuel loads on metabolic power input has never been empirically determined. We measured the total metabolic power input of a long-distance migrant, the red knot (Calidris canutus), flying for 6 to 10 h in a wind tunnel, using the doubly labelled water technique(3). Here we show that total metabolic power input increased with fuel load, but proportionally less than the predicted mechanical power output from the flight muscles. The most likely explanation is that the efficiency with which metabolic power input is converted into mechanical output by the flight muscles increases with fuel load. This will influence current models of bird flight and bird migration. It may also help to explain why some shorebirds, despite the high metabolic power input required to fly, routinely make nonstop flights of 4,000 km longer(4).</p
Public sector reforms, privatisation and regimes of control in a Chinese enterprise
The Chinese economic reform has recently become a major focus of attention around the world. The underlying rationale for the Chinese government's privatisation and public sector reforms is the view that reformed state enterprises and privately managed firms will demonstrate superior management control and better performance, and hence encourage economic growth and employment. There are very few intensive case studies published in English journals studying whether firms privatised in China have reversed previous losses and introduced better management controls, leading to increased investment, productivity, and overall organizational effectiveness and efficiency. The researchers do not seek to deny the control problems of Chinese SOEs, but question the consequences of the new controls installed during the post-privatisation period. The paper also reveals a declining tendency in employment; altered distributions of wealth ? especially to the state ? and labour, and a lack of improvements in the accountability of privatised companies. Overall, the paper argues, the aims of reform policies in China, including better control, increased profitability and an improved working life for Chinese people, have not materialized. The paper calls for more research on the above issues in the Chinese context
A methodology for determining amino-acid substitution matrices from set covers
We introduce a new methodology for the determination of amino-acid
substitution matrices for use in the alignment of proteins. The new methodology
is based on a pre-existing set cover on the set of residues and on the
undirected graph that describes residue exchangeability given the set cover.
For fixed functional forms indicating how to obtain edge weights from the set
cover and, after that, substitution-matrix elements from weighted distances on
the graph, the resulting substitution matrix can be checked for performance
against some known set of reference alignments and for given gap costs. Finding
the appropriate functional forms and gap costs can then be formulated as an
optimization problem that seeks to maximize the performance of the substitution
matrix on the reference alignment set. We give computational results on the
BAliBASE suite using a genetic algorithm for optimization. Our results indicate
that it is possible to obtain substitution matrices whose performance is either
comparable to or surpasses that of several others, depending on the particular
scenario under consideration
Mersenne Primes, Polygonal Anomalies and String Theory Classification
It is pointed out that the Mersenne primes and associated
perfect numbers play a significant role in string
theory; this observation may suggest a classification of consistent string
theories.Comment: 10 pages LaTe
Periodic orbits in the restricted three-body problem and Arnold's -invariant
We apply Arnold's theory of generic smooth plane curves to Stark-Zeeman
systems. This is a class of Hamiltonian dynamical systems that describes the
dynamics of an electron in an external electric and magnetic field, and
includes many systems from celestial mechanics. Based on Arnold's
-invariant, we introduce invariants of periodic orbits in planar
Stark-Zeeman systems and study their behaviour.Comment: 36 Pages, 16 Figure
LOCV calculation for Beta-stable matter at finite temperature
The method of lowest-order constrained variational, which predicts reasonably
the nuclear matter semi-empirical data is used to calculate the equation of
state of beta-stable matter at finite temperature. The Reid soft-core with and
without the N- interactions which fits the N-N scattering data as well
as the potential plus the three-nucleon interaction are considered in
the nuclear many-body Hamiltonian. The electron and muon are treated
relativistically in the total Hamiltonian at given temperature, to make the
fluid electrically neutral and stable against beta decay. The calculation is
performed for a wide range of baryon density and temperature which are of
interest in the astrophysics. The free energy, entropy, proton abundance, etc.
of nuclear beta-stable matter are calculated.
It is shown that by increasing the temperature, the maximum proton abundance
is pushed to the lower density while the maximum itself increases as we
increase the temperature. The proton fraction is not enough to see any
gas-liquid phase transition. Finally we get an overall agreement with other
many-body techniques, which are available only at zero temperature.Comment: LaTex, 20 page
Conformal Invariance and Degrees of Freedom in the QCD String
We demonstrate that the Hagedorn-like growth of the number of observed meson
states can be used to constrain the degrees of freedom of the underlying
effective QCD string. We find that the temperature relevant for such string
theories is not given by the usual Hagedorn value MeV, but is
considerably higher. This resolves an apparent conflict with the results from a
static quark-potential analysis, and suggests that conformal invariance and
modular invariance are indeed reflected in the hadronic spectrum. We also find
that the scalar string is in excellent agreement with data.Comment: 13 pages (Standard LaTeX); --> replaced version emphasizes new
results, and agrees with version to appear in Physical Review Letters (Jan
1994
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