Iron-stimulated N2 fixation and growth in natural and cultured populations of the planktonic marine cyanobacteria Trichodesmium spp.

In light of recent proposals that iron (Fe) availability may play an important role in controlling oceanic primary production and nutrient flux, its regulatory impact on N2 fixation and production dynamics was investigated in the widespread and biogeochemically important diazotrophic, planktonic cyanobacteria Trichodesmium spp. Fe additions, as FeCl3 and EDTA- chelated FeCl3, enhanced N2 fixation (nitrogenase activity), photosynthesis (CO2 fixation), and growth (chlorophyll a production) in both naturally occurring and cultured (on unenriched oligotrophic seawater) Trichodesmium populations. Maximum enhancement of these processes occurred under FeEDTA- amended conditions. On occasions, EDTA alone led to enhancement. No evidence for previously proposed molybdenum or phosphorus limitation was found. Our findings geographically extend support for Fe limitation of N2 fixation and primary production to tropical and subtropical oligotrophic ocean waters often characterized by Trichodesmium blooms

Combinatorial Voter Control in Elections

Voter control problems model situations such as an external agent trying to affect the result of an election by adding voters, for example by convincing some voters to vote who would otherwise not attend the election. Traditionally, voters are added one at a time, with the goal of making a distinguished alternative win by adding a minimum number of voters. In this paper, we initiate the study of combinatorial variants of control by adding voters: In our setting, when we choose to add a voter~$v$, we also have to add a whole bundle $\kappa(v)$ of voters associated with $v$. We study the computational complexity of this problem for two of the most basic voting rules, namely the Plurality rule and the Condorcet rule.Comment: An extended abstract appears in MFCS 201

Proton-Antiproton Annihilation into a Lambda_c-Antilambda_c Pair

The process p-pbar -> Lambda_c-Antilambda_c is investigated within the handbag approach. It is shown that the dominant dynamical mechanism, characterized by the partonic subprocess u-ubar -> c-cbar factorizes in the sense that only the subprocess contains highly virtual partons, a gluon to lowest order of perturbative QCD, while the hadronic matrix elements embody only soft scales and can be parameterized in terms of helicity flip and non-flip generalized parton distributions. Modelling these parton distributions by overlaps of light-cone wave functions for the involved baryons we are able to predict cross sections and spin correlation parameters for the process of interest.Comment: 39 pages, 7 figures, problems with printout of figures resolved, Ref. 33 and referring sentences in section 4 change

Nucleon-nucleon momentum correlation function for light nuclei

Nucleon-nucleon momentum correlation function have been presented for nuclear reactions with neutron-rich or proton-rich projectiles using a nuclear transport theory, namely Isospin-Dependent Quantum Molecular Dynamics model. The relationship between the binding energy of projectiles and the strength of proton-neutron correlation function at small relative momentum has been explored, while proton-proton correlation function shows its sensitivity to the proton density distribution. Those results show that nucleon-nucleon correlation function is useful to reflect some features of the neutron- or proton-halo nuclei and therefore provide a potential tool for the studies of radioactive beam physics.Comment: Talk given at the 18th International IUPAP Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics (FB18), Santos, Brasil, August 21-26, 2006. To appear in Nucl. Phys.

Neutron/proton ratio of nucleon emissions as a probe of neutron skin

The dependence between neutron-to-proton yield ratio ($R_{np}$) and neutron skin thickness ($\delta_{np}$) in neutron-rich projectile induced reactions is investigated within the framework of the Isospin-Dependent Quantum Molecular Dynamics (IQMD) model. The density distribution of the Droplet model is embedded in the initialization of the neutron and proton densities in the present IQMD model. By adjusting the diffuseness parameter of neutron density in the Droplet model for the projectile, the relationship between the neutron skin thickness and the corresponding $R_{np}$ in the collisions is obtained. The results show strong linear correlation between $R_{np}$ and $\delta_{np}$ for neutron-rich Ca and Ni isotopes. It is suggested that $R_{np}$ may be used as an experimental observable to extract $\delta_{np}$ for neutron-rich nuclei, which is very significant to the study of the nuclear structure of exotic nuclei and the equation of state (EOS) of asymmetric nuclear matter.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; accepted by Phys. Lett.

Carbon clusters near the crossover to fullerene stability

The thermodynamic stability of structural isomers of $\mathrm{C}_{24}$, $\mathrm{C}_{26}$, $\mathrm{C}_{28}$ and $\mathrm{C}_{32}$, including fullerenes, is studied using density functional and quantum Monte Carlo methods. The energetic ordering of the different isomers depends sensitively on the treatment of electron correlation. Fixed-node diffusion quantum Monte Carlo calculations predict that a $\mathrm{C}_{24}$ isomer is the smallest stable graphitic fragment and that the smallest stable fullerenes are the $\mathrm{C}_{26}$ and $\mathrm{C}_{28}$ clusters with $\mathrm{C}_{2v}$ and $\mathrm{T}_{d}$ symmetry, respectively. These results support proposals that a $\mathrm{C}_{28}$ solid could be synthesized by cluster deposition.Comment: 4 pages, includes 4 figures. For additional graphics, online paper and related information see http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~prck

Search for Bc(ns)B_c(ns) via the Bc(ns)→Bc(ms)π+π−B_c(ns)\to B_c(ms)\pi^+\pi^- transition at LHCb and Z0Z_0 factory

It is interesting to study the characteristics of the whole family of $B_c$ which contains two different heavy flavors. LHC and the proposed $Z^0$ factory provide an opportunity because a large database on the $B_c$ family will be achieved. $B_c$ and its excited states can be identified via their decay modes. As suggested by experimentalists, $B_c^*(ns)\to B_c+\gamma$ is not easy to be clearly measured, instead, the trajectories of $\pi^+$ and $\pi^-$ occurring in the decay of $B_c(ns)\to B_c(ms)+\pi^+\pi^-$ ($n>m$) can be unambiguously identified, thus the measurement seems easier and more reliable, therefore this mode is more favorable at early running stage of LHCb and the proposed $Z^0$ factory. In this work, we calculate the rate of $B_c(ns)\to B_c(ms)+\pi^+\pi^-$ in terms of the QCD multipole-expansion and the numerical results indicate that the experimental measurements with the luminosity of LHC and $Z^0$ factory are feasible.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figures and 4 tables, acceptted by SCIENCE CHINA Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy (Science in China Series G

Bridging the gap between building information modelling education and practice : a competency-based education perspective

This study reports a case study that investigates the gap between BIM tertiary education and the building industry’s needs in New Zealand (NZ). In specific, it aims to (1) identify the industry’s requirements on BIM competencies, (2) examine the status quo of BIM tertiary education in NZ, and (3) identify and analyse the gaps between current BIM education and the industry’s needs. Data were collected through BIM job advertisement to identify the industry’s requirements of BIM competencies and top BIM uses. Data of thirty-three courses were also collected from nine tertiary institutions. Results indicated that there were discrepancies between the type and level (i.e. cognitive levels) of BIM competencies. It was indicated that missing links existed in almost all BIM uses that were taught, except 4D modelling. A large proportion of learning outcomes were focused on ‘understanding’ for several BIM uses, while NZ BIM Handbook requires higher levels of application and evaluation. To bridge the gaps, core competence sets should be determined by disciplines. BIM competencies can also be classified based on BIM uses, BIM processes and phases, and project roles. This paper proposed a conceptual framework, which suggests the way ahead towards future competency-based BIM education.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Scaling of anisotropy flows in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions

Anisotropic flows ($v_1$, $v_2$ and $v_4$) of light nuclear clusters are studied by a nucleonic transport model in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. The number-of-nucleon scalings of the directed flow ($v_1$) and elliptic flow ($v_2$) are demonstrated for light nuclear clusters. Moreover, the ratios of $v_4/v_2^2$ of nuclear clusters show a constant value of 1/2 regardless of the transverse momentum. The above phenomena can be understood by the coalescence mechanism in nucleonic level and are worthy to be explored in experiments.Comment: Invited talk at "IX International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions", Rio de Janeiro, Aug 28- Sept 1, 2006; to appear on the proceeding issue in Nuclear Physics