915 research outputs found
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~, we also have to add a whole
bundle of voters associated with . 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 () and neutron
skin thickness () 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 in the collisions is obtained.
The results show strong linear correlation between and
for neutron-rich Ca and Ni isotopes. It is suggested that may be used
as an experimental observable to extract 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 ,
, and , 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 isomer is the smallest stable
graphitic fragment and that the smallest stable fullerenes are the
and clusters with and
symmetry, respectively. These results support proposals that a
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 via the transition at LHCb and factory
It is interesting to study the characteristics of the whole family of
which contains two different heavy flavors. LHC and the proposed factory
provide an opportunity because a large database on the family will be
achieved. and its excited states can be identified via their decay modes.
As suggested by experimentalists, is not easy to be
clearly measured, instead, the trajectories of and occurring in
the decay of () 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
factory. In this work, we calculate the rate of
in terms of the QCD multipole-expansion and the numerical results indicate that
the experimental measurements with the luminosity of LHC and 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 (, and ) 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 () and
elliptic flow () are demonstrated for light nuclear clusters. Moreover,
the ratios of 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
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