3,429 research outputs found
A hard coat, a tough choice? The effects of host seed morphology and mechanics on the egg laying behaviour of the bruchid beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus.
This study investigated whether the egg laying behaviour of Callosobruchus maculatus, an important storage pest of leguminous seed crops, was related to the mechanical properties of the host seed. The hypothesis was that females avoid laying eggs on seeds with particularly tough seed coats and hard cotyledons to reduce the resistance their larvae are subjected to when they bore into the seed to complete their development.
Females were presented with seeds from three leguminous species: Vigna unguiculata, V. angularis and V. radiata. The distribution of oviposition sites on the seed's surface was related to the morphology and mechanical properties of the seed. Vickers microhardness and fracture tests were used to investigate regional variation and compare the properties of seeds with and without eggs adhered to their surface.
There were no significant regional differences in the hardness of the cotyledon material along the longitudinal axis of the seed (P > 0.05). However, there were significant differences between the mechanical properties of the seed coat and the cotyledons; in V. unguiculata the seed coat was tougher, 1249 ± 80.8 J m−2, than the cotyledons, 402 ± 30.0 J m−2 (P 0.05). Mechanical data are discussed in relation to the egg laying behaviour of C. maculatus
Black hole information, unitarity, and nonlocality
The black hole information paradox apparently indicates the need for a
fundamentally new ingredient in physics. The leading contender is nonlocality.
Possible mechanisms for the nonlocality needed to restore unitarity to black
hole evolution are investigated. Suggestions that such dynamics arises from
ultra-planckian modes in Hawking's derivation are investigated and found not to
be relevant, in a picture using smooth slices spanning the exterior and
interior of the horizon. However, no simultaneous description of modes that
have fallen into the black hole and outgoing Hawking modes can be given without
appearance of a large kinematic invariant, or other dependence on
ultra-planckian physics; a reliable argument for information loss thus has not
been constructed. This suggests that strong gravitational dynamics is
important. Such dynamics has been argued to be fundamentally nonlocal in
extreme situations, such as those required to investigate the fate of
information.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures. Major revision of hep-th/0604047. v2: minor
corrections and added referenc
Nonlocality vs. complementarity: a conservative approach to the information problem
A proposal for resolution of the information paradox is that "nice slice"
states, which have been viewed as providing a sharp argument for information
loss, do not in fact do so as they do not give a fully accurate description of
the quantum state of a black hole. This however leaves an information
*problem*, which is to provide a consistent description of how information
escapes when a black hole evaporates. While a rather extreme form of
nonlocality has been advocated in the form of complementarity, this paper
argues that is not necessary, and more modest nonlocality could solve the
information problem. One possible distinguishing characteristic of scenarios is
the information retention time. The question of whether such nonlocality
implies acausality, and particularly inconsistency, is briefly addressed. The
need for such nonlocality, and its apparent tension with our empirical
observations of local quantum field theory, may be a critical missing piece in
understanding the principles of quantum gravity.Comment: 11 pages of text and figures, + references. v2 minor text. v3 small
revisions to match final journal versio
Locality in quantum gravity and string theory
Breakdown of local physics in string theory at distances longer than the
string scale is investigated. Such nonlocality would be expected to be visible
in ultrahigh-energy scattering. The results of various approaches to such
scattering are collected and examined. No evidence is found for non-locality
from strings whose length grows linearly with the energy. However, local
quantum field theory does apparently fail at scales determined by gravitational
physics, particularly strong gravitational dynamics. This amplifies locality
bound arguments that such failure of locality is a fundamental aspect of
physics. This kind of nonlocality could be a central element of a possible
loophole in the argument for information loss in black holes.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures, harvmac. v2: minor changes to bring into accord
with revised paper hep-th/060519
Response of hot element flush wall gauges in oscillating laminar flow
The time dependent response characteristics of flush-mounted hot element gauges used as instruments to measure wall shear stress in unsteady periodic air flows were investigated. The study was initiated because anomalous results were obtained from the gauges in oscillating turbulent flows for the phase relation of the wall shear stress variation, indicating possible gauge response problems. Flat plate laminar oscillating turbulent flows characterized by a mean free stream velocity with a superposed sinusoidal variation were performed. Laminar rather than turbulent flows were studied, because a numerical solution for the phase angle between the free stream velocity and the wall shear stress variation that is known to be correct can be obtained. The focus is on comparing the phase angle indicated by the hot element gauges with corresponding numerical prediction for the phase angle, since agreement would indicate that the hot element gauges faithfully follow the true wall shear stress variation
An interactive method for digitizing zone maps
A method is presented for digitizing maps that consist of zones, such as contour or climatic zone maps. A color-coded map is prepared by any convenient process. The map is then read into memory of an Image 100 computer by means of its table scanner, using colored filters. Zones are separated and stored in themes, using standard classification procedures. Thematic data are written on magnetic tape and these data, appropriately coded, are combined to make a digitized image on tape. Step-by-step procedures are given for digitization of crop moisture index maps with this procedure. In addition, a complete example of the digitization of a climatic zone map is given
Performance tests for the NASA Ames Research Center 20 cm x 40 cm oscillating flow wind tunnel
An evaluation is presented of initial tests conducted to assess the performance of the NASA Ames 20 cm x 40 cm oscillating flow wind tunnel. The features of the tunnel are described and two aspects of tunnel operation are discussed. The first is an assessment of the steady mainstream and boundary layer flows and the second deals with oscillating mainstream and boundary layer flows. Experimental results indicate that in steady flow the test section mainstream velocity is uniform in the flow direction and in cross section. The freestream turbulence intensity is about 0.2 percent. With minor exceptions the steady turbulent boundary layer generated on the top wall of the test section exhibits the characteristics of a zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer generated on a flat plate. The tunnel was designed to generate sinusoidal oscillating mainstream flows. Experiments confirm that the tunnel produces sinusoidal mainstream velocity variations for the range of frequencies (up to 15 Hz). The results of this study demonstrate that the tunnel essentially produces the flows that it was designed to produce
High energy QCD scattering, the shape of gravity on an IR brane, and the Froissart bound
High-energy scattering in non-conformal gauge theories is investigated using
the AdS/CFT dual string/gravity theory. It is argued that strong-gravity
processes, such as black hole formation, play an important role in the dual
dynamics. Further information about this dynamics is found by performing a
linearized analysis of gravity for a mass near an infrared brane; this gives
the far field approximation to black hole or other strong-gravity effects, and
in particular allows us to estimate their shape. From this shape, one can infer
a total scattering cross-section that grows with center of mass energy as ln^2
E, saturating the Froissart bound.Comment: 27 pages, 1 fig, harvmac. v2: references added, typos corrected v3:
typo correcte
Precursors, black holes, and a locality bound
We revisit the problem of precursors in the AdS/CFT correspondence.
Identification of the precursors is expected to improve our understanding of
the tension between holography and bulk locality and of the resolution of the
black hole information paradox. Previous arguments that the precursors are
large, undecorated Wilson loops are found to be flawed. We argue that the role
of precursors should become evident when one saturates a certain locality
bound. The spacetime uncertainty principle is a direct consequence of this
bound.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figs; reference added, minor clarification in sec. 2;
incorrect draft mistakenly used in version
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