139 research outputs found
Using Mussel Isotope Ratios to Assess Anthropogenic Nitrogen Inputs to Freshwater Ecosystems
Stable nitrogen isotope ratios (δ15N) of freshwater mussels from a series of lakes and ponds were related to watershed land use characteristics to assess their utility in determining the source of nitrogen inputs to inland water bodies. Nitrogen isotope ratios measured in freshwater mussels from 19 lakes and ponds in Rhode Island, U.S.A., ranged from 4.9–12.6% and were found to significantly correlate with the fraction of residential development in 100 and 200 m buffer zones around the ponds. Mussel δ15N values in 12 of the 19 ponds also showed significant correlation with average dissolved nitrate concentrations, which ranged from 23–327 μg L-1. These observations, in light of previous studies which link elevated δ15N values of nitrogen derived from septic wastewater with those seen in biota, suggest that mussel isotope ratios may reflect nitrogen source in freshwater ecosystems. We followed an iterative approach using multiple regression analysis to assess the relationship between mussel δ15N and the land use categories fraction residential development, fraction feedlot agriculture, fraction row-crop agriculture, and fraction natural vegetation in 100 and 200 m buffer zones and pond watersheds. From this we developed a simple regression model to predict mussel δ15N from the fraction of residential development in the 200 m buffer zone around the pond. Subsequent testing with data from 16 additional sites in the same ecoregion led us to refine the model by incorporating the fraction of natural vegetation. The overall average absolute difference between measured and predicted δ15N values using the two-parameter model was 1.6%. Potential sources of error in the model include differences in the scale and categorization of land-use data used to generate and test the model, differences in physical characteristics, such as retention time and range of residential development, and exclusion of sources of enriched nitrogen such as runoff from feedlot operations or increased nitrogen loading from inefficient or failed septic systems
Effects of acceleration on the collision of particles in the rotating black hole spacetime
We study the collision of two geodesic particles in the accelerating and
rotating black hole spacetime and probe the effects of the acceleration of
black hole on the center-of-mass energy of the colliding particles and on the
high-velocity collision belts. We find that the dependence of the
center-of-mass energy on the acceleration in the near event-horizon collision
is different from that in the near acceleration-horizon case. Moreover, the
presence of the acceleration changes the shape and position of the
high-velocity collision belts. Our results show that the acceleration of black
holes brings richer physics for the collision of particles.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, The corrected version accepted for publication in
EPJ
Phonon thermal conductivity in doped : Relevant scattering mechanisms
Results of in-plane and out-of-plane thermal conductivity measurements on
() single crystals are
presented. The most characteristic features of the temperature dependence are a
pronounced phonon peak at low temperatures and a steplike anomaly at ,
i.e., at the transition to the low temperature tetragonal phase (LTT-phase),
which gradually decrease with increasing Sr-content. Comparison of these
findings with the thermal conductivity of and clearly reveals that in the most effective
mechanism for phonon scattering is impurity-scattering (dopants), as well as
scattering by soft phonons that are associated with the lattice instability in
the low temperature orthorhombic phase (LTO-phase). There is no evidence that
stripe correlations play a major role in suppressing the phonon peak in the
thermal conductivity of .Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Prioritizing Stream Barrier Removal to Maximize Connected Aquatic Habitat and Minimize Water Scarcity
Instream barriers, such as dams, culverts, and diversions, alter hydrologic processes and aquatic habitat. Removing uneconomical and aging instream barriers is increasingly used for river restoration. Historically, selection of barrier removal projects used score‐and‐rank techniques, ignoring cumulative change and the spatial structure of stream networks. Likewise, most water supply models prioritize either human water uses or aquatic habitat, failing to incorporate both human and environmental water use benefits. Here, a dual‐objective optimization model identifies barriers to remove that maximize connected aquatic habitat and minimize water scarcity. Aquatic habitat is measured using monthly average streamflow, temperature, channel gradient, and geomorphic condition as indicators of aquatic habitat suitability. Water scarcity costs are minimized using economic penalty functions while a budget constraint specifies the money available to remove barriers. We demonstrate the approach using a case study in Utah\u27s Weber Basin to prioritize removal of instream barriers for Bonneville cutthroat trout, while maintaining human water uses. Removing 54 instream barriers reconnects about 160 km of quality‐weighted habitat and costs approximately US$10 M. After this point, the cost‐effectiveness of removing barriers to connect river habitat decreases. The modeling approach expands barrier removal optimization methods by explicitly including both economic and environmental water uses
Gravitational Lensing and f(R) theories in the Palatini approach
We investigate gravitational lensing in the Palatini approach to the f(R)
extended theories of gravity. Starting from an exact solution of the f(R) field
equations, which corresponds to the Schwarzschild-de Sitter metric and, on the
basis of recent studies on this metric, we focus on some lensing observables,
in order to evaluate the effects of the non linearity of the gravity
Lagrangian. We give estimates for some astrophysical events, and show that
these effects are tiny for galactic lenses, but become interesting for
extragalactic ones.Comment: 7 Pages, RevTex, 1 eps figure; references added; revised to match the
version accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitatio
A Theory for High- Superconductors Considering Inhomogeneous Charge Distribution
We propose a general theory for the critical and pseudogap
temperature dependence on the doping concentration for high- oxides,
taking into account the charge inhomogeneities in the planes. The well
measured experimental inhomogeneous charge density in a given compound is
assumed to produce a spatial distribution of local . These differences
in the local charge concentration is assumed to yield insulator and metallic
regions, possibly in a stripe morphology. In the metallic region, the
inhomogeneous charge density yields also spatial distributions of
superconducting critical temperatures and zero temperature gap
. For a given sample, the measured onset of vanishing gap
temperature is identified as the pseudogap temperature, that is, , which
is the maximum of all . Below , due to the distribution of
's, there are some superconducting regions surrounded by insulator or
metallic medium. The transition to a superconducting state corresponds to the
percolation threshold among the superconducting regions with different
's. To model the charge inhomogeneities we use a double branched
Poisson-Gaussian distribution. To make definite calculations and compare with
the experimental results, we derive phase diagrams for the BSCO, LSCO and YBCO
families, with a mean field theory for superconductivity using an extended
Hubbard Hamiltonian. We show also that this novel approach provides new
insights on several experimental features of high- oxides.Comment: 7 pages, 5 eps figures, corrected typo
Topological Charged Black Holes in High Dimensional Spacetimes and Their Formation from Gravitational Collapse of a Type II Fluid
Topological charged black holes coupled with a cosmological constant in
spacetimes are studied, where is an Einstein
space of the form . The global structure for
the four-dimensional spacetimes with is investigated systematically.
The most general solutions that represent a Type fluid in such a high
dimensional spacetime are found, and showed that topological charged black
holes can be formed from the gravitational collapse of such a fluid. When the
spacetime is (asymptotically) self-similar, the collapse always forms black
holes for , in contrast to the case , where it can form
either balck holes or naked singularities.Comment: 14 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Vortex structure in d-density wave scenario of pseudogap
We investigate the vortex structure assuming the d-density wave scenario of
the pseudogap. We discuss the profiles of the order parameters in the vicinity
of the vortex, effective vortex charge and the local density of states. We find
a pronounced modification of these quantities when compared to a purely
superconducting case. Results have been obtained for a clean system as well as
in the presence of a nonmagnetic impurity. We show that the competition between
superconductivity and the density wave may explain some experimental data
recently obtained for high-temperature superconductors. In particular, we show
that the d-density wave scenario explains the asymmetry of the gap observed in
the vicinity of the vortex core.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure
A Study of the S=1/2 Alternating Chain using Multiprecision Methods
In this paper we present results for the ground state and low-lying
excitations of the alternating Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain. Our
more conventional techniques include perturbation theory about the dimer limit
and numerical diagonalization of systems of up to 28 spins. A novel application
of multiple precision numerical diagonalization allows us to determine
analytical perturbation series to high order; the results found using this
approach include ninth-order perturbation series for the ground state energy
and one magnon gap, which were previously known only to third order. We also
give the fifth-order dispersion relation and third-order exclusive neutron
scattering structure factor for one-magnon modes and numerical and analytical
binding energies of S=0 and S=1 two-magnon bound states.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures. for submission to Phys.Rev.B. PICT files of figs
available at http://csep2.phy.ornl.gov/theory_group/people/barnes/barnes.htm
Cosmological expansion and local systems: a Lema\^{i}tre-Tolman-Bondi model
We propose a Lema\^{i}tre-Tolman-Bondi system mimicking a two-body system to
address the problem of the cosmological expansion versus local dynamics. This
system is strongly bound but participates in the cosmic expansion and is
exactly comoving with the cosmic substratum
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