933 research outputs found
Systematic Review of Household Water Conservation Interventions Using the Information–Motivation–Behavioral Skills Model
Increasing droughts and water shortages are intensifying the need for residential water conservation. We identify and classify 24 water conservation studies using the information–motivation–behavioral skills (IMB) model by categorizing interventions based on content and water conservation effectiveness. This synthesis revealed several insights. First, all of the interventions used information, motivation, and/or behavioral skills, suggesting that water conservation interventions can be interpreted within the IMB framework. Second, interventions with two or more IMB components led to reductions in water usage, but the average effect sizes between different types of interventions were similar and there was a considerable range around these averages. To the extent that intervention effectiveness is driven by populations lacking specific IMB components, more elicitation research to identify gaps in specific populations could support greater effectiveness. Designing interventions explicitly with the IMB model would facilitate comparability across studies and could support a better understanding of water conservation interventions
The MSSM fine tuning problem: a way out
As is well known, electroweak breaking in the MSSM requires substantial
fine-tuning, mainly due to the smallness of the tree-level Higgs quartic
coupling, lambda_tree. Hence the fine tuning is efficiently reduced in
supersymmetric models with larger lambda_tree, as happens naturally when the
breaking of SUSY occurs at a low scale (not far from the TeV). We show, in
general and with specific examples, that a dramatic improvement of the fine
tuning (so that there is virtually no fine-tuning) is indeed a very common
feature of these scenarios for wide ranges of tan(beta) and the Higgs mass
(which can be as large as several hundred GeV if desired, but this is not
necessary). The supersymmetric flavour problems are also drastically improved
due to the absence of RG cross-talk between soft mass parameters.Comment: 28 pages, 9 PS figures, LaTeX Published versio
Temperature Dependence of Hall Response in Doped Antiferromagnets
Using finite-temperature Lanczos method the frequency-dependent Hall response
is calculated numerically for the t-J model on the square lattice and on
ladders. At low doping, both the high-frequency RH* and the d.c. Hall
coefficient RH0 follow qualitatively similar behavior at higher temperatures:
being hole-like for T > Ts~1.5J and weakly electron-like for T < Ts. Consistent
with experiments on cuprates, RH0 changes, in contrast to RH*, again to the
hole-like sign below the pseudogap temperature T*, revealing a strong
temperature variation for T->0.Comment: LaTeX, 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
The effect of chirality phenotype and genotype on the fecundity and viability of Partula suturalis and Lymnaea stagnalis: Implications for the evolution of sinistral snails
Why are sinistral snails so rare? Two main hypotheses are that selection acts against the establishment of new coiling morphs, because dextral and sinistral snails have trouble mating, or else a developmental constraint prevents the establishment of sinistrals. We therefore used an isolate of the snail Lymnaea stagnalis, in which sinistrals are rare, and populations of Partula suturalis, in which sinistrals are common, as well as a mathematical model, to understand the circumstances by which new morphs evolve. The main finding is that the sinistral genotype is associated with reduced egg viability in L. stagnalis, but in P. suturalis individuals of sinistral and dextral genotype appear equally fecund, implying a lack of a constraint. As positive frequency-dependent selection against the rare chiral morph in P. suturalis also operates over a narrow range (< 3%), the results suggest a model for chiral evolution in snails in which weak positive frequency-dependent selection may be overcome by a negative frequency-dependent selection, such as reproductive character displacement. In snails, there is not always a developmental constraint. As the direction of cleavage, and thus the directional asymmetry of the entire body, does not generally vary in other Spiralia (annelids, echiurans, vestimentiferans, sipunculids and nemerteans), it remains an open question as to whether this is because of a constraint and/or because most taxa do not have a conspicuous external asymmetry (like a shell) upon which selection can act
Suppressed supersymmetry breaking terms in the Higgs sector
We study the little hierarchy between mass parameters in the Higgs sector and
other SUSY breaking masses. This type of spectrum can relieve the fine-tuning
problem in the MSSM Higgs sector. Our scenario can be realized by
superconformal dynamics. The spectrum in our scenario has significant
implications in other phenomenological aspects like the relic abundance of the
lightest neutralino and relaxation of the unbounded-from-below constraints.Comment: 14 pages, late
Sublocalization, superlocalization, and violation of standard single parameter scaling in the Anderson model
We discuss the localization behavior of localized electronic wave functions
in the one- and two-dimensional tight-binding Anderson model with diagonal
disorder. We find that the distributions of the local wave function amplitudes
at fixed distances from the localization center are well approximated by
log-normal fits which become exact at large distances. These fits are
consistent with the standard single parameter scaling theory for the Anderson
model in 1d, but they suggest that a second parameter is required to describe
the scaling behavior of the amplitude fluctuations in 2d. From the log-normal
distributions we calculate analytically the decay of the mean wave functions.
For short distances from the localization center we find stretched exponential
localization ("sublocalization") in both, 1d and 2d. In 1d, for large
distances, the mean wave functions depend on the number of configurations N
used in the averaging procedure and decay faster that exponentially
("superlocalization") converging to simple exponential behavior only in the
asymptotic limit. In 2d, in contrast, the localization length increases
logarithmically with the distance from the localization center and
sublocalization occurs also in the second regime. The N-dependence of the mean
wave functions is weak. The analytical result agrees remarkably well with the
numerical calculations.Comment: 12 pages with 9 figures and 1 tabl
Stability of the Scalar Potential and Symmetry Breaking in the Economical 3-3-1 Model
A detailed study of the criteria for stability of the scalar potential and
the proper electroweak symmetry breaking pattern in the economical 3-3-1 model,
is presented. For the analysis we use, and improve, a method previously
developed to study the scalar potential in the two-Higgs-doublet extension of
the standard model. A new theorem related to the stability of the potential is
stated. As a consequence of this study, the consistency of the economical 3-3-1
model emerges.Comment: to be published in EPJ C, 13 page
- …