1,734 research outputs found
Complete homochirality induced by the nonlinear autocatalysis and recycling
A nonlinear autocatalysis of a chiral substance is shown to achieve
homochirality in a closed system, if the back-reaction is included. Asymmetry
in the concentration of two enantiomers or the enantiometric excess increases
due to the nonlinear autocatalysis. Furthermore, when the back-reaction is
taken into account, the reactant supplied by the decomposition of the
enantiomers is recycled to produce more and more the dominant one, and
eventually the homochirality is established.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Orthorhombically Mixed s and d Wave Superconductivity and Josephson Tunneling
The effect of orthorhombicity on Josephson tunneling in high T
superconductors such as YBCO is studied for both single crystals and highly
twinned crystals. It is shown that experiments on highly twinned crystals
experimentally determine the symmetry of the superconducting twin boundaries
(which can be either even or odd with respect to a reflection in the twinning
plane). Conversely, Josephson experiments on highly twinned crystals can not
experimentally determine whether the superconductivity is predominantly
-wave or predominantly -wave. The direct experimental determination of
the order-parameter symmetry by Josephson tunneling in YBCO thus comes from the
relatively few experiments which have been carried out on untwinned single
crystals.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX file, 1 figure available on request
([email protected]
Identifying predictable foraging habitats for a wide-ranging marine predator using ensemble ecological niche models
Aim
Ecological niche modelling can provide valuable insight into species' environmental preferences and aid the identification of key habitats for populations of conservation concern. Here, we integrate biologging, satellite remote-sensing and ensemble ecological niche models (EENMs) to identify predictable foraging habitats for a globally important population of the grey-headed albatross (GHA) Thalassarche chrysostoma.
Location
Bird Island, South Georgia; Southern Atlantic Ocean.
Methods
GPS and geolocation-immersion loggers were used to track at-sea movements and activity patterns of GHA over two breeding seasons (n = 55; brood-guard). Immersion frequency (landings per 10-min interval) was used to define foraging events. EENM combining Generalized Additive Models (GAM), MaxEnt, Random Forest (RF) and Boosted Regression Trees (BRT) identified the biophysical conditions characterizing the locations of foraging events, using time-matched oceanographic predictors (Sea Surface Temperature, SST; chlorophyll a, chl-a; thermal front frequency, TFreq; depth). Model performance was assessed through iterative cross-validation and extrapolative performance through cross-validation among years.
Results
Predictable foraging habitats identified by EENM spanned neritic ( 0.5 mg mâ3) and frequent manifestation of mesoscale thermal fronts. Our results confirm previous indications that GHA exploit enhanced foraging opportunities associated with frontal systems and objectively identify the APFZ as a region of high foraging habitat suitability. Moreover, at the spatial and temporal scales investigated here, the performance of multi-model ensembles was superior to that of single-algorithm models, and cross-validation among years indicated reasonable extrapolative performance.
Main conclusions
EENM techniques are useful for integrating the predictions of several single-algorithm models, reducing potential bias and increasing confidence in predictions. Our analysis highlights the value of EENM for use with movement data in identifying at-sea habitats of wide-ranging marine predators, with clear implications for conservation and management
Analyzing Transatlantic Network Traffic over Scientific Data Caches
Large scientific collaborations often share huge volumes of data around the
world. Consequently a significant amount of network bandwidth is needed for
data replication and data access. Users in the same region may possibly share
resources as well as data, especially when they are working on related topics
with similar datasets. In this work, we study the network traffic patterns and
resource utilization for scientific data caches connecting European networks to
the US. We explore the efficiency of resource utilization, especially for
network traffic which consists mostly of transatlantic data transfers, and the
potential for having more caching node deployments. Our study shows that these
data caches reduced network traffic volume by 97% during the study period. This
demonstrates that such caching nodes are effective in reducing wide-area
network traffic
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âIf you look the part youâll get the jobâ: should career professionals help clients to enhance their career image?
This article presents a critical exploration of the role of career professionals in supporting people to reflect on and enhance their appearance, attractiveness and self-presentation (career image). The article is conceptual and based on a review of the broader literature on career success, appearance and attractiveness. It explores the evidence for a relationship between attractiveness and career, and the authors propose a conceptual framework in which career image is comprised of three elements (interpersonal skills, aesthetic presentation and beauty). The paper examines a possible role for career professionals in relation to this and then critically examines this role and concludes with the proposition of a research agenda in this area
Assessing the Performance of Recent Density Functionals for Bulk Solids
We assess the performance of recent density functionals for the
exchange-correlation energy of a nonmolecular solid, by applying accurate
calculations with the GAUSSIAN, BAND, and VASP codes to a test set of 24 solid
metals and non-metals. The functionals tested are the modified
Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof generalized gradient approximation (PBEsol GGA), the
second-order GGA (SOGGA), and the Armiento-Mattsson 2005 (AM05) GGA. For
completeness, we also test more-standard functionals: the local density
approximation, the original PBE GGA, and the Tao-Perdew-Staroverov-Scuseria
(TPSS) meta-GGA. We find that the recent density functionals for solids reach a
high accuracy for bulk properties (lattice constant and bulk modulus). For the
cohesive energy, PBE is better than PBEsol overall, as expected, but PBEsol is
actually better for the alkali metals and alkali halides. For fair comparison
of calculated and experimental results, we consider the zero-point phonon and
finite-temperature effects ignored by many workers. We show how Gaussian basis
sets and inaccurate experimental reference data may affect the rating of the
quality of the functionals. The results show that PBEsol and AM05 perform
somewhat differently from each other for alkali metal, alkaline earth metal and
alkali halide crystals (where the maximum value of the reduced density gradient
is about 2), but perform very similarly for most of the other solids (where it
is often about 1). Our explanation for this is consistent with the importance
of exchange-correlation nonlocality in regions of core-valence overlap.Comment: 32 pages, single pdf fil
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Legionella in Puerto Rico cooling towers
Water samples from air conditioning cooling towers receiving different treatment protocols on five large municipal buildings in San Juan, Puerto Rico were assayed for various species and serogroups of Legionella spp. using direct immunofluorescence. Several water quality parameters were also measured with each sample. Guinea pigs were inoculated with water samples to confirm pathogenicity and recover viable organisms. Legionella pneumophila (1-6), L. bozemanii, L. micdadei, L. dumoffii, and L. gormanii were observed in at least one of the cooling towers. L. pneumophila was the most abundant species, reaching 10{sup 5} cells/ml, within the range that is considered potentially pathogenic to humans. A significantly higher density of L. pneumophila was observed in the cooling tower water that was not being treated with biocides. Percent respiration (INT) and total cell activity (AODC), were inversely correlated with bacterial density. This study demonstrates that Legionella spp. are present in tropical air-conditioning cooling systems, and without continuous biocide treatment may reach densities that present a health risk
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Survival and activity of Streptococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli in tropical freshwater
The survival of Streptococcus facecalis and Escherichia coli was studied in situ in a tropical rain forest watershed using membrane diffusion chambers. Densities were determined by acridine orange direct count and Coulter Counter. Population activity was determined by microautoradiography, cell respiration, and by nucleic acid composition. Densities of S. facecalis and E. coli decreased less than 1 log unit after 105 h as measured by direct count methods. Activity as measured by respiration, acridine orange activity, and microautoradiography indicated that both bacteria remained moderately active during the entire study. After 12 h, E. coli was more active than S. faecalis as measured by nucleic acid composition. E. coli and S. faecalis survived and remained active for more than 5 days. Consequently, both would seem to be unsuitable as indicators of recent fecal contamination in tropical waters
Systematics of c-axis Phonons in the Thallium and Bismuth Based Cuprate Superconductors
We present grazing incidence reflectivity measurements in the far infrared
region at temperatures above and below Tc for a series of thallium (Tl2Ba2CuO6,
Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8) and bismuth (Bi2Sr2CuO6, Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8, and
Bi(2-x)Pb(x)Sr2CaCu2O8) based cuprate superconductors. From the spectra, which
are dominated by the c-axis phonons, longitudinal frequencies (LO) are directly
obtained. The reflectivity curves are well fitted by a series of Lorentz
oscillators. In this way the transverse (TO) phonon frequencies were accurately
determined. On the basis of the comparative study of the Bi and Tl based
cuprates with different number of CuO2 layers per unit cell, we suggest
modifications of the assignment of the main oxygen modes. We compare the LO
frequencies in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 and Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3O10 obtained from intrinsic
Josephson junction characteristics with our measurements, and explain the
discrepancy in LO frequencies obtained by the two different methods.Comment: 8 pages Revtex, 6 eps figures, 3 tables, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Electron Correlation and the c-axis Dispersion of Cu d_z^2: a New Band Structure for High Temperature Superconductors
Previously we showed the major effect of electron correlation in the cuprate
superconductors is to lower the energy of the Cu d_x^2-y^2/O p_sigma (x^2-y^2)
band with respect to the Cu d_z^2/O' p_z (z^2) band. In our 2D Hubbard model
for La_1.85Sr_0.15CuO_4 (LaSCO), the z^2 band is narrow and crosses the
standard x^2-y^2 band just below the Fermi level. In this work, we introduce
c-axis dispersion to the model and find the z^2 band to have considerable
anisotropic 3D character. An additional hole-like surface opens up in the z^2
band at (0,0,2pi/c) which expands with doping. At sufficient doping levels, a
symmetry allowed x^2-y^2/z^2 band crossing along the (0,0)-(pi,pi) direction of
the Brillouin zone appears at the Fermi level. At this point, Cooper pairs
between the two bands (e.g. (k uparrow x^2-y^2/k downarrow z^2)) can form,
providing the basis for the Interband Pairing Theory of superconductivity in
these materials.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. Related publications: Phys. Rev. B 58,
12303 (1998); Phys. Rev. B 58, 12323 (1998); cond-mat/9903088;
cond-mat/990310
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