22,571 research outputs found
High-severity wildfire leads to multi-decadal impacts on soil biogeochemistry in mixed-conifer forests.
During the past century, systematic wildfire suppression has decreased fire frequency and increased fire severity in the western United States of America. While this has resulted in large ecological changes aboveground such as altered tree species composition and increased forest density, little is known about the long-term, belowground implications of altered, ecologically novel, fire regimes, especially on soil biological processes. To better understand the long-term implications of ecologically novel, high-severity fire, we used a 44-yr high-severity fire chronosequence in the Sierra Nevada where forests were historically adapted to frequent, low-severity fire, but were fire suppressed for at least 70Â yr. High-severity fire in the Sierra Nevada resulted in a long-term (44Â +yr) decrease (>50%, PÂ <Â 0.05) in soil extracellular enzyme activities, basal microbial respiration (56-72%, PÂ <Â 0.05), and organic carbon (>50%, PÂ <Â 0.05) in the upper 5Â cm compared to sites that had not been burned for at least 115Â yr. However, nitrogen (N) processes were only affected in the most recent fire site (4Â yr post-fire). Net nitrification increased by over 600% in the most recent fire site (PÂ <Â 0.001), but returned to similar levels as the unburned control in the 13-yr site. Contrary to previous studies, we did not find a consistent effect of plant cover type on soil biogeochemical processes in mid-successional (10-50Â yr) forest soils. Rather, the 44-yr reduction in soil organic carbon (C) quantity correlated positively with dampened C cycling processes. Our results show the drastic and long-term implication of ecologically novel, high-severity fire on soil biogeochemistry and underscore the need for long-term fire ecological experiments
Impact of aerobic and resistance exercise combination on physical self-perceptions and self-esteem in women with obesity with one-year follow-up
The effectiveness of an exercise intervention including both aerobics and resistance training components in improving physical self-perceptions and global self-esteem (GSE) in women with obesity was examined. An experimental design with a one-year follow-up was used. Women with obesity (n = 72) participated in a structured exercise programme for 12 weeks after being randomised into a control and an exercise group. Exercise self-efficacy, body attractiveness, physical strength, sport competence, physical condition, physical self-worth, and GSE were measured at pre-intervention, early intervention, mid-intervention, immediately after the intervention, and five times following programme termination at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, respectively. Analyses of covariance revealed exercise effects for all of the dependent variables except for body attractiveness. Generally, exercise effects lasted between 6 and 12 months. A 12-week physical exercise programme including aerobic and resistance training components has the potential to improve physical self-perceptions and self-esteem in women with obesity
A Positivity Theorem for Gravitational Tension in Brane Spacetimes
We study transverse asymptotically flat spacetimes without horizons that
arise from brane matter sources. We assume that asymptotically there is a
spatial translation Killing vector that is tangent to the brane. Such
spacetimes are characterized by a tension, analogous to the ADM mass, which is
a gravitational charge associated with the asymptotic spatial translation
Killing vector. Using spinor techniques, we prove that the purely gravitational
contribution to the spacetime tension is positive definite.Comment: 8+1 page
An Automatic and Symbolic Parallelization System for Distributed Memory Parallel Computers
This paper describes ASPAR (Automatic and Symbolic PARallelization) which consists of a source-to-source parallelizer and a set of interactive graphic tools. While the issues of data dependency have already been explored and used in many parallel computer systems such as vector and shared memory machines, distributed memory parallel computers require, in addition, explicit data decomposition. New symbolic analysis and data-dependency analysis methods are used to determine an explicit data decomposition scheme. Automatic parallelization models using high level communications are also described in this paper. The target applications are of the “regular-mesh" type typical of many scientific calculations.
The system has been implemented for the language C, and is designed for easy modification for other languages such as Fortran
The critical window for the classical Ramsey-Tur\'an problem
The first application of Szemer\'edi's powerful regularity method was the
following celebrated Ramsey-Tur\'an result proved by Szemer\'edi in 1972: any
K_4-free graph on N vertices with independence number o(N) has at most (1/8 +
o(1)) N^2 edges. Four years later, Bollob\'as and Erd\H{o}s gave a surprising
geometric construction, utilizing the isoperimetric inequality for the high
dimensional sphere, of a K_4-free graph on N vertices with independence number
o(N) and (1/8 - o(1)) N^2 edges. Starting with Bollob\'as and Erd\H{o}s in
1976, several problems have been asked on estimating the minimum possible
independence number in the critical window, when the number of edges is about
N^2 / 8. These problems have received considerable attention and remained one
of the main open problems in this area. In this paper, we give nearly
best-possible bounds, solving the various open problems concerning this
critical window.Comment: 34 page
Relationships between Larval and Juvenile Abundance of Winter-Spawned Fishes in North Carolina, USA
We analyzed the relationships between the larval and juvenile abundances of selected estuarine-dependent fishes that spawn during the winter in continental shelf waters of the U.S. Atlantic coast. Six species were included in the analysis based on their ecological and economic importance and relative abundance in available surveys: spot Leiostomus xanthurus, pinfish Lagodon rhomboides, southern flounder Paralichthys lethostigma, summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus, Atlantic croaker Micropogonias undulatus, and Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus. Cross-correlation analysis was used to examine the relationships between the larval and juvenile abundances within species. Tests of synchrony across species were used to find similarities in recruitment dynamics for species with similar winter shelf-spawning life-history strategies. Positive correlations were found between the larval and juvenile abundances for three of the six selected species (spot, pinfish, and southern flounder). These three species have similar geographic ranges that primarily lie south of Cape Hatteras. There were no significant correlations between the larval and juvenile abundances for the other three species (summer flounder, Atlantic croaker, and Atlantic menhaden); we suggest several factors that could account for the lack of a relationship. Synchrony was found among the three southern species within both the larval and juvenile abundance time series. These results provide support for using larval ingress measures as indices of abundance for these and other species with similar geographic ranges and winter shelf-spawning life-history strategies
Birds of the Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park, South-East Sulawesi
The Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park was visited between 9 September and 9 November 1995 and surveys conducted from a range of localities within the park. This constitutes the first study of the avi fauna of this large protected area. A total of 157 different species were recorded (155 to species level) including Mycteria cimerea, Macrocephalon maleo, Cacatua sulphurea and Zoosterops consobrinorum. An annotated list of selected species is presented and a full species list appears as an. appendix
Fluorescent Silicon Clusters and Nanoparticles
The fluorescence of silicon clusters is reviewed. Atomic clusters of silicon
have been at the focus of research for several decades because of the relevance
of size effects for material properties, the importance of silicon in
electronics and the potential applications in bio-medicine. To date numerous
examples of nanostructured forms of fluorescent silicon have been reported.
This article introduces the principles and underlying concepts relevant for
fluorescence of nanostructured silicon such as excitation, energy relaxation,
radiative and non-radiative decay pathways and surface passivation.
Experimental methods for the production of silicon clusters are presented. The
geometric and electronic properties are reviewed and the implications for the
ability to emit fluorescence are discussed. Free and pure silicon clusters
produced in molecular beams appear to have properties that are unfavourable for
light emission. However, when passivated or embedded in a suitable host, they
may emit fluorescence. The current available data show that both quantum
confinement and localised transitions, often at the surface, are responsible
for fluorescence. By building silicon clusters atom by atom, and by embedding
them in shells atom by atom, new insights into the microscopic origins of
fluorescence from nanoscale silicon can be expected.Comment: 5 figures, chapter in "Silicon Nanomaterials Sourcebook", editor
Klaus D. Sattler, CRC Press, August 201
Blobs in Wolf-Rayet Winds: Random Photometric and Polarimetric Variability
Some isolated Wolf-Rayet stars present random variability in their optical
flux and polarization. We make the assumption that such variability is caused
by the presence of regions of enhanced density, i.e. blobs, in their envelopes.
In order to find the physical characteristics of such regions we have modeled
the stellar emission using a Monte Carlo code to treat the radiative transfer
in an inhomogeneous electron scattering envelope. We are able to treat multiple
scattering in the regions of enhanced density as well as in the envelope
itself. The finite sizes of the source and structures in the wind are also
taken into account. Most of the results presented here are based on a parameter
study of models with a single blob. The effects due to multiple blobs in the
envelope are considered to a more limited extent. Our simulations indicate that
the density enhancements must have a large geometric cross section in order to
produce the observed photopolarimetric variability. The sizes must be of the
order of one stellar radius and the blobs must be located near the base of the
envelope. These sizes are the same inferred from the widths of the sub-peaks in
optical emission lines of Wolf-Rayet stars. Other early-type stars show random
polarimetric fluctuations with characteristics similar to those observed in
Wolf-Rayet stars, which may also be interpreted in terms of a clumpy wind.
Although the origin of such structures is still unclear, the same mechanism may
be working in different types of hot stars envelopes to produce such
inhomogeneities.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 17 pages + 6 figure
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