1,277 research outputs found
Avalanche Dynamics in Wet Granular Materials
We have studied the dynamics of avalanching wet granular media in a rotating
drum apparatus. Quantitative measurements of the flow velocity and the granular
flux during avalanches allow us to characterize novel avalanche types unique to
wet media. We also explore the details of viscoplastic flow (observed at the
highest liquid contents) in which there are lasting contacts during flow,
leading to coherence across the entire sample. This coherence leads to a
velocity independent flow depth at high rotation rates and novel robust pattern
formation in the granular surface.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures in color, REVTeX4, for smaller pdfs see
http://angel.elte.hu/~tegzes/condmat.htm
Physiological effects of tourism and associated food provisioning in an endangered iguana
© The Author 2013. Deliberately feeding wildlife is an increasingly popular tourism-related activity despite a limited understanding of long-term impacts on the species being fed. As a result, tourist behaviours that may have adverse impacts on imperiled species have often been encouraged without the necessary evaluation or oversight. Here, we report the responses of Northern Bahamian Rock Iguanas (Cyclura cychlura) to human-visitation pressure and associated food provisioning. We compared a variety of blood chemistry parameters of iguanas subjected to supplemental feeding at popular tourist destinations with iguanas occurring on islands where supplemental feeding does not take place. We demonstrate that male and female iguanas inhabiting tourist-visited islands where supplemental feeding occurs do not differ in body condition or baseline stress and stress response (determined by corticosterone levels) compared with iguanas from non-visited islands. Both males and females from tourist-visited sites experienced a greater incidence of endoparasitic infection and atypical loose faeces. Indicators of dietary nutrition, including glucose, potassium, and uric acid values, also differed for both sexes from tourist-visited and unvisited islands. Male iguanas from visited islands differed significantly from those on non-visited islands in calcium, cholesterol, cobalt, copper, magnesium, packed cell volume, selenium, and triglyceride concentrations, whereas female iguanas from visited islands differed significantly in ionized calcium. Although the interpretation of these differences is challenging, chronic biochemical stressors could compromise individual health over time or decrease survivorship during periods of environmental stress. We suggest protocols that can be adopted throughout the region to ensure that supplemental feeding has fewer impacts on these long-lived iguanas
First Observation of -odd Asymmetry in Polarized Neutron Capture on Hydrogen
We report the first observation of the parity-violating 2.2 MeV gamma-ray
asymmetry in neutron-proton capture using polarized cold
neutrons incident on a liquid parahydrogen target at the Spallation Neutron
Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. isolates the , \mbox{} component of the weak
nucleon-nucleon interaction, which is dominated by pion exchange and can be
directly related to a single coupling constant in either the DDH meson exchange
model or pionless EFT. We measured , which implies a DDH weak coupling of
and a pionless
EFT constant of MeV. We describe the experiment, data
analysis, systematic uncertainties, and the implications of the result.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Using PIV to measure granular temperature in saturated unsteady polydisperse granular flows
The motion of debris flows, gravity-driven fast
moving mixtures of rock, soil and water can be interpreted
using the theories developed to describe the shearing motion
of highly concentrated granular fluid flows. Frictional, collisional
and viscous stress transfer between particles and
fluid characterizes the mechanics of debris flows. To quantify
the influence of collisional stress transfer, kinetic models
have been proposed. Collisions among particles result in random
fluctuations in their velocity that can be represented by
their granular temperature, T. In this paper particle image
velocimetry, PIV, is used to measure the instantaneous velocity
field found internally to a physical model of an unsteady
debris flow created by using “transparent soil”—i.e. a mixture
of graded glass particles and a refractively matched fluid.
The ensemble possesses bulk properties similar to that of
real soil-pore fluid mixtures, but has the advantage of giving
optical access to the interior of the flow by use of plane laser
induced fluorescence, PLIF. The relationship between PIV
patch size and particle size distribution for the front and tail
of the flows is examined in order to assess their influences
on the measured granular temperature of the system. We find
that while PIV can be used to ascertain values of granular
temperature in dense granular flows, due to increasing spatial
correlation with widening gradation, a technique proposed to
infer the true granular temperature may be limited to flows
of relatively uniform particle size or large bulk
The DEEP Groth Strip Survey VI. Spectroscopic, Variability, and X-ray Detection of AGN
We identify active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the Groth-Westphal Survey Strip
(GSS) using the independent and complementary selection techniques of optical
spectroscopy and photometric variability. We discuss the X-ray properties of
these AGN using Chandra/XMM data for this region. From a sample of 576 galaxies
with high quality spectra we identify 31 galaxies with AGN signatures. Seven of
these have broad emission lines (Type 1 AGNs). We also identify 26 galaxies
displaying nuclear variability in HST WFPC2 images of the GSS separated by ~7
years. The primary overlap of the two selected AGN samples is the set of
broad-line AGNs, of which 80% appear as variable. Only a few narrow-line AGNs
approach the variability threshold. The broad-line AGNs have an average
redshift of z~1.1 while the other spectroscopic AGNs have redshifts closer to
the mean of the general galaxy population (z~0.7). Eighty percent of the
identified broad-line AGNs are detected in X-rays and these are among the most
luminous X-ray sources in the GSS. Only one narrow-line AGN is X-ray detected.
Of the variable nuclei galaxies within the X-ray survey, 27% are X-ray
detected. We find that 1.9+/-0.6% of GSS galaxies to V=24 are broad-line AGNs,
1.4+/-0.5% are narrow-line AGNs, and 4.5+/-1.4% contain variable nuclei. The
fraction of spectroscopically identified BLAGNs and NLAGNs at z~1 reveals a
marginally significant increase of 1.3+/-0.9% when compared to the local
population.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
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