Diffusion and Home Range Parameters for Rodents: Peromyscus maniculatus in New Mexico

We analyze data from a long term field project in New Mexico, consisting of repeated sessions of mark-recaptures of Peromyscus maniculatus (Rodentia: Muridae), the host and reservoir of Sin Nombre Virus (Bunyaviridae: Hantavirus). The displacements of the recaptured animals provide a means to study their movement from a statistical point of view. We extract two parameters from the data with the help of a simple model: the diffusion constant of the rodents, and the size of their home range. The short time behavior shows the motion to be approximately diffusive and the diffusion constant to be 470+/-50m^2/day. The long time behavior provides an estimation of the diameter of the rodent home ranges, with an average value of 100+/-25m. As in previous investigations directed at Zygodontomys brevicauda observations in Panama, we use a box model for home range estimation. We also use a harmonic model in the present investigation to study the sensitivity of the conclusions to the model used and find that both models lead to similar estimates.Comment: The published paper in Ecol. Complexity has an old version of Figure 6. Here we have put the correct version of Figure

Quantum Monte Carlo with Directed Loops

We introduce the concept of directed loops in stochastic series expansion and path integral quantum Monte Carlo methods. Using the detailed balance rules for directed loops, we show that it is possible to smoothly connect generally applicable simulation schemes (in which it is necessary to include back-tracking processes in the loop construction) to more restricted loop algorithms that can be constructed only for a limited range of Hamiltonians (where back-tracking can be avoided). The "algorithmic discontinuities" between general and special points (or regions) in parameter space can hence be eliminated. As a specific example, we consider the anisotropic S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet in an external magnetic field. We show that directed loop simulations are very efficient for the full range of magnetic fields (zero to the saturation point) and anisotropies. In particular for weak fields and anisotropies, the autocorrelations are significantly reduced relative to those of previous approaches. The back-tracking probability vanishes continuously as the isotropic Heisenberg point is approached. For the XY-model, we show that back-tracking can be avoided for all fields extending up to the saturation field. The method is hence particularly efficient in this case. We use directed loop simulations to study the magnetization process in the 2D Heisenberg model at very low temperatures. For LxL lattices with L up to 64, we utilize the step-structure in the magnetization curve to extract gaps between different spin sectors. Finite-size scaling of the gaps gives an accurate estimate of the transverse susceptibility in the thermodynamic limit: chi_perp = 0.0659 +- 0.0002.Comment: v2: Revised and expanded discussion of detailed balance, error in algorithmic phase diagram corrected, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Taenia solium Cysticercosis, Irian Jaya, Indonesia

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Toni, Wandra ; Akira, Ito ; Hiroshi, Yamasaki ; Thomas, Suroso ; Sri S. Margono, Emerging Infectious Diseases, 9(7), 2003, 884-885. publishe

Nitrate stable isotopes and major ions in snow and ice samples from four Svalbard sites

Increasing reactive nitrogen (N-r) deposition in the Arctic may adversely impact N-limited ecosystems. To investigate atmospheric transport of N-r to Svalbard, Norwegian Arctic, snow and firn samples were collected from glaciers and analysed to define spatial and temporal variations (1 10 years) in major ion concentrations and the stable isotope composition (delta N-15 and delta O-18) of nitrate (NO3-) across the archipelago. The delta N-15(NO3-) and delta O-18(NO3-) averaged -4 parts per thousand and 67 parts per thousand in seasonal snow (2010-11) and -9 parts per thousand and 74 parts per thousand in firn accumulated over the decade 2001-2011. East-west zonal gradients were observed across the archipelago for some major ions (non-sea salt sulphate and magnesium) and also for delta N-15(NO3-) and delta O-18(NO3-) in snow, which suggests a different origin for air masses arriving in different sectors of Svalbard. We propose that snowfall associated with long-distance air mass transport over the Arctic Ocean inherits relatively low delta N-15(NO3-) due to in-transport N isotope fractionation. In contrast, faster air mass transport from the north-west Atlantic or northern Europe results in snowfall with higher delta N-15(NO3-) because in-transport fractionation of N is then time-limited

Cluster Monte Carlo and dynamical scaling for long-range interactions

Many spin systems affected by critical slowing down can be efficiently simulated using cluster algorithms. Where such systems have long-range interactions, suitable formulations can additionally bring down the computational effort for each update from O($N^2$) to O($N\ln N$) or even O($N$), thus promising an even more dramatic computational speed-up. Here, we review the available algorithms and propose a new and particularly efficient single-cluster variant. The efficiency and dynamical scaling of the available algorithms are investigated for the Ising model with power-law decaying interactions.Comment: submitted to Eur. Phys. J Spec. Topic

A review of diagnostic and functional imaging in headache

The neuroimaging of headache patients has revolutionised our understanding of the pathophysiology of primary headaches and provided unique insights into these syndromes. Modern imaging studies point, together with the clinical picture, towards a central triggering cause. The early functional imaging work using positron emission tomography shed light on the genesis of some syndromes, and has recently been refined, implying that the observed activation in migraine (brainstem) and in several trigeminal-autonomic headaches (hypothalamic grey) is involved in the pain process in either a permissive or triggering manner rather than simply as a response to first-division nociception per se. Using the advanced method of voxel-based morphometry, it has been suggested that there is a correlation between the brain area activated specifically in acute cluster headache — the posterior hypothalamic grey matter — and an increase in grey matter in the same region. No structural changes have been found for migraine and medication overuse headache, whereas patients with chronic tension-type headache demonstrated a significant grey matter decrease in regions known to be involved in pain processing. Modern neuroimaging thus clearly suggests that most primary headache syndromes are predominantly driven from the brain, activating the trigeminovascular reflex and needing therapeutics that act on both sides: centrally and peripherally

Optical properties of dust

http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.4123Except in a few cases cosmic dust can be studied in situ or in terrestrial laboratories, essentially all of our information concerning the nature of cosmic dust depends upon its interaction with electromagnetic radiation. This chapter presents the theoretical basis for describing the optical properties of dust -- how it absorbs and scatters starlight and reradiates the absorbed energy at longer wavelengths.Partial support by a Chandra Theory program and HST Theory Programs is gratefully acknowledged