16,208 research outputs found
Lexicographic choice functions without archimedeanicity
We investigate the connection between choice functions and lexicographic probabilities, by means of the convexity axiom considered by Seidenfeld, Schervisch and Kadane (2010) but without imposing any Archimedean condition. We show that lexicographic probabilities are related to a particular type of sets of desirable gambles, and investigate the properties of the coherent choice function this induces via maximality. Finally, we show that the convexity axiom is necessary but not sufficient for a coherent choice function to be the infimum of a class of lexicographic ones
Keeping an Eye on Wild Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) Populations: Correlation Between Temperature, Environmental Parameters, and Proliferative Kidney Disease.
Proliferative kidney disease (PKD) is an emerging disease of salmonids caused by the myxozoan parasite Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae, which plays a major role in the decrease of wild brown trout (Salmo trutta) populations in Switzerland. Strong evidence demonstrated that water temperature modulates parasite infection. However, less knowledge exists on how seasonal water temperature fluctuations influence PKD manifestation under field conditions, how further environmental factors such as water quality may modulate the disease, and whether these factors coalesce with temperatures role possibly giving rise to cumulative effects on PKD. The aims of this study were to (1) determine the correlation between seasonal course of water temperature and PKD prevalence and intensity in wild brown trout populations, (2) assess if other factors such as water quality or ecomorphology correlate with the infection, and (3) quantitatively predict the implication of these factors on PKD prevalence with a statistical model. Young-of-the-year brown trout were sampled in 45 sites through the Canton of Vaud (Switzerland). For each site, longitudinal time series of water temperature, water quality (macroinvertebrate community index, presence of wastewater treatment plant effluent) and ecomorphological data were collected and correlated with PKD prevalence and intensity. 251 T. bryosalmonae-infected trout of 1,118 were found (overall prevalence 22.5%) at 19 of 45 study sites (42.2%). Relation between PKD infection and seasonal water temperature underlined that the mean water temperature for June and the number of days with mean temperature ≥15°C were the most significantly correlated parameters with parasite prevalence and intensity. The presence of a wastewater treatment plant effluent was significantly correlated with the prevalence and infection intensity. In contrast, macroinvertebrate diversity and river ecomorphology were shown to have little impact on disease parameters. Linear and logistic regressions highlighted quantitatively the prediction of PKD prevalence depending on environmental parameters at a given site and its possible increase due to rising temperatures. The model developed within this study could serve as a useful tool for identifying and predicting disease hot spots. These results support the importance of temperature for PKD in salmonids and provides evidence for a modulating influence of additional environmental stress factors
The Nature and Frequency of Outflows from Stars in the Central Orion Nebula Cluster
Recent Hubble Space Telescope images have allowed the determination with
unprecedented accuracy of motions and changes of shocks within the inner Orion
Nebula. These originate from collimated outflows from very young stars, some
within the ionized portion of the nebula and others within the host molecular
cloud. We have doubled the number of Herbig-Haro objects known within the inner
Orion Nebula. We find that the best-known Herbig-Haro shocks originate from a
relatively few stars, with the optically visible X-ray source COUP 666 driving
many of them.
While some isolated shocks are driven by single collimated outflows, many
groups of shocks are the result of a single stellar source having jets oriented
in multiple directions at similar times. This explains the feature that shocks
aligned in opposite directions in the plane of the sky are usually blue shifted
because the redshifted outflows pass into the optically thick Photon Dominated
Region behind the nebula. There are two regions from which optical outflows
originate for which there are no candidate sources in the SIMBAD data base.Comment: 152 pages, 46 figures, 7 tables. Accepted by A
An Investigation of a Method for the Analysis of Smokes According to Particle Size
An electrical precipitation method for the analysis of smokes according to particle size has been investigated. A thin stream of smoke particles moving under laminar conditions in a wind tunnel of rectangular cross section is electrically charged in a small region. The charged particles are then precipitated by the uniform field existing between the charged upper plate and the grounded lower plate of the wind tunnel as a long track along the lower plate. The size-frequency distributions of the particles precipitated at various points on the lower plate were determined from measurements on enlargements of electron-microscope photographs of samples of the smoke precipitated at various points. The agreement between theory and experiment is fair, but the range of sizes of the particles precipitated at a given point is rather large
The X-ray CCD camera of the MAXI Experiment on the ISS/JEM
MAXI, Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image, is the X-ray observatory on the
Japanese experimental module (JEM) Exposed Facility (EF) on the International
Space Station (ISS). MAXI is a slit scanning camera which consists of two kinds
of X-ray detectors: one is a one-dimensional position-sensitive proportional
counter with a total area of , the Gas Slit Camera (GSC), and
the other is an X-ray CCD array with a total area , the
Solid-state Slit Camera (SSC). The GSC subtends a field of view with an angular
dimension of 1 while the SSC subtends a field of view
with an angular dimension of 1 times a little less than 180. In
the course of one station orbit, MAXI can scan almost the entire sky with a
precision of 1 and with an X-ray energy range of 0.5-30 keV. We have
developed the engineering model of CCD chips and the analogue electronics for
the SSC. The energy resolution of EM CCD for Mn K has a full-width at
half maximum of 182 eV. Readout noise is 11 e^- rms.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures Accepted for Nuclear Instruments and Method in
Physics Researc
Zeta-Functions for Non-Minimal Operators
We evaluate zeta-functions at for invariant non-minimal
2nd-order vector and tensor operators defined on maximally symmetric even
dimensional spaces. We decompose the operators into their irreducible parts and
obtain their corresponding eigenvalues. Using these eigenvalues, we are able to
explicitly calculate for the cases of Euclidean spaces and
-spheres. In the -sphere case, we make use of the Euler-Maclaurin formula
to develop asymptotic expansions for the required sums. The resulting
values for dimensions 2 to 10 are given in the Appendix.Comment: 26 pages, additional reference
Existence and stability of hole solutions to complex Ginzburg-Landau equations
We consider the existence and stability of the hole, or dark soliton,
solution to a Ginzburg-Landau perturbation of the defocusing nonlinear
Schroedinger equation (NLS), and to the nearly real complex Ginzburg-Landau
equation (CGL). By using dynamical systems techniques, it is shown that the
dark soliton can persist as either a regular perturbation or a singular
perturbation of that which exists for the NLS. When considering the stability
of the soliton, a major difficulty which must be overcome is that eigenvalues
may bifurcate out of the continuous spectrum, i.e., an edge bifurcation may
occur. Since the continuous spectrum for the NLS covers the imaginary axis, and
since for the CGL it touches the origin, such a bifurcation may lead to an
unstable wave. An additional important consideration is that an edge
bifurcation can happen even if there are no eigenvalues embedded in the
continuous spectrum. Building on and refining ideas first presented in Kapitula
and Sandstede (Physica D, 1998) and Kapitula (SIAM J. Math. Anal., 1999), we
show that when the wave persists as a regular perturbation, at most three
eigenvalues will bifurcate out of the continuous spectrum. Furthermore, we
precisely track these bifurcating eigenvalues, and thus are able to give
conditions for which the perturbed wave will be stable. For the NLS the results
are an improvement and refinement of previous work, while the results for the
CGL are new. The techniques presented are very general and are therefore
applicable to a much larger class of problems than those considered here.Comment: 41 pages, 4 figures, submitte
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