48,203 research outputs found
Organic Farming - Nature Conceptions, Management and Cross Compliance
Organic farmers perceptions of qualities in nature do not clearly correspond with the biologists ideas of nature quality. The differences in perception hold both opportunities and conflicts
An improved 2.5 GHz electron pump: single-electron transport through shallow-etched point contacts driven by surface acoustic waves
We present an experimental study of a 2.5 GHz electron pump based on the
quantized acoustoelectric current driven by surface acoustic waves (SAWs)
through a shallow-etched point contact in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. At low
temperatures and with an additional counter-propagating SAW beam, up to n = 20
current plateaus at I=nef could be resolved, where n is an integer, e the
electron charge, and f the SAW frequency. In the best case the accuracy of the
first plateau at 0.40 nA was estimated to be dI/I = +/- 25 ppm over 0.25 mV in
gate voltage, which is better than previous results.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Non-Gaussianities in the local curvature of the 5-year WMAP data
Using the 5 year WMAP data, we re-investigate claims of non-Gaussianities and
asymmetries detected in local curvature statistics of the 1 year WMAP data. In
Hansen et al 2004, it was found that the northern ecliptic hemisphere was
non-Gaussian at the ~1% level testing the densities of hill-, lake and saddle
points based on the second derivatives of the CMB temperature map. The 5 year
WMAP data has a much lower noise level and better control of systematics. Using
these, we find that the anomalies are still present at a consistent level. Also
the direction of maximum non-Gaussianity remains. Due to limited availability
of computer resources, Hansen et al. 2004 were unable to calculate the full
covariance matrix for the chi^2 test used. Here we apply the full covariance
matrix instead of the diagonal approximation and find that the
non-Gaussianities disappear and there is no preferred non-Gaussian direction.
We compare with simulations of weak lensing to see if this may cause the
observed non-Gaussianity when using diagonal covariance matrix. We conclude
that weak lensing does not produce non-Gaussianity in the local curvature
statistics at the scales investigated in this paper. The cause of the
non-Gaussian detection in the case of a diagonal matrix remains unclear.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, included test on weak lensing simulation
Different quantization mechanisms in single-electron pumps driven by surface acoustic waves
We have studied the acoustoelectric current in single-electron pumps driven
by surface acoustic waves. We have found that in certain parameter ranges two
different sets of quantized steps dominate the acoustoelectric current versus
gate-voltage characteristics. In some cases, both types of quantized steps
appear simultaneously though at different current values, as if they were
superposed on each other. This could indicate two independent quantization
mechanisms for the acoustoelectric current.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Ammonia emissions from deciduous forest after leaf fall
The understanding of biochemical feedback mechanisms in the climate system is lacking knowledge in relation to bi-directional ammonia (NH3) exchange between natural ecosystems and the atmosphere. We therefore study the atmospheric NH3 fluxes during a 25-day period during autumn 2010 (21 October to 15 November) for the Danish beech forest Lille Bøgeskov to address the hypothesis that NH3 emissions occur from deciduous forests in relation to leaf fall. This is accomplished by using observations of vegetation status, NH3 fluxes and model calculations. Vegetation status was observed using plant area index (PAI) and leaf area index (LAI). NH3 fluxes were measured using the relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) method. The REA-based NH3 concentrations were compared to NH3 denuder measurements. Model calculations of the atmospheric NH3 concentration were obtained with the Danish Ammonia MOdelling System (DAMOS). The relative contribution from the forest components to the atmospheric NH3 flux was assessed using a simple two-layer bi-directional canopy compensation point model. A total of 57.7% of the fluxes measured showed emission and 19.5% showed deposition. A clear tendency of the flux going from deposition of −0.25 ± 0.30 μg NH3-N m−2 s−1 to emission of up to 0.67 ± 0.28 μg NH3-N m−2 s−1 throughout the measurement period was found. In the leaf fall period (23 October to 8 November), an increase in the atmospheric NH3 concentrations was related to the increasing forest NH3 flux. Following leaf fall, the magnitude and temporal structure of the measured NH3 emission fluxes could be adequately reproduced with the bi-directional resistance model; it suggested the forest ground layer (soil and litter) to be the main contributing component to the NH3 emissions. The modelled concentration from DAMOS fits well the measured concentrations before leaf fall, but during and after leaf fall, the modelled concentrations are too low. The results indicate that the missing contribution to atmospheric NH3 concentration from vegetative surfaces related to leaf fall are of a relatively large magnitude. We therefore conclude that emissions from deciduous forests are important to include in model calculations of atmospheric NH3 for forest ecosystems. Finally, diurnal variations in the measured NH3 concentrations were related to meteorological conditions, forest phenology and the spatial distribution of local anthropogenic NH3 sources. This suggests that an accurate description of ammonia fluxes over forest ecosystems requires a dynamic description of atmospheric and vegetation processes
Lattice model for cold and warm swelling of polymers in water
We define a lattice model for the interaction of a polymer with water. We
solve the model in a suitable approximation. In the case of a non-polar
homopolymer, for reasonable values of the parameters, the polymer is found in a
non-compact conformation at low temperature; as the temperature grows, there is
a sharp transition towards a compact state, then, at higher temperatures, the
polymer swells again. This behaviour closely reminds that of proteins, that are
unfolded at both low and high temperatures.Comment: REVTeX, 5 pages, 2 EPS figure
Økologisk Jordbrug - Naturoplevelser, natursyn og Cross-compliance
Økologiske landmænds opfattelse af naturkvalitet stemmer ikke entydigt overens med de biologiske definitioner. Forskellen i måderne at anskue naturværdier på rummer både konflikter og muligheder
Self-organization of heterogeneous topology and symmetry breaking in networks with adaptive thresholds and rewiring
We study an evolutionary algorithm that locally adapts thresholds and wiring
in Random Threshold Networks, based on measurements of a dynamical order
parameter. A control parameter determines the probability of threshold
adaptations vs. link rewiring. For any , we find spontaneous symmetry
breaking into a new class of self-organized networks, characterized by a much
higher average connectivity than networks without threshold
adaptation (). While and evolved out-degree distributions
are independent from for , in-degree distributions become broader
when , approaching a power-law. In this limit, time scale separation
between threshold adaptions and rewiring also leads to strong correlations
between thresholds and in-degree. Finally, evidence is presented that networks
converge to self-organized criticality for large .Comment: 4 pages revtex, 6 figure
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