The Effect of Air Temperature on the Incubation Period and Hatching Success of In Situ Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) Clutches in Broward County, Florida

The survival rates of pre-emergent sea turtle hatchlings are critically dependent upon temperature. This study aims to determine if changes in air temperature have influenced the incubation time and/or the survivorship of the pre-emergent loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) hatchlings for past sea turtle nesting seasons in Broward County. Air temperature data within the hatching seasons of 1999 to 2009 was obtained from the NOAA National Climatic Data Center’s Fort Lauderdale beach station. The loggerhead sea turtle hatching data collected by the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program from the same time period was examined to assess the potential effects of air temperature on the hatching success and the incubation duration. This was performed primarily to determine if any trends or significance exist in the relationships among the aforementioned parameters. More specifically an analysis of trends in mean yearly sea turtle incubation durations was assessed and any correlations between incubation times and hatching success were also examined. Furthermore the relationship between incubation durations and mean seasonal and intraseasonal air temperature fluctuations was tested for significance. Preliminary results for this study have shown a significant upward trend in the seasonal average incubation durations from 2003 to 2009 (t-test, p \u3c 0.05). The mean incubation period for this study was 50.78 + 1.2 (mean + SD). Over the seasons the mean daily air temperature fluctuated between yearly averages of 23.3 and 26.9 °C and had an overall mean of 25.98 + 1.9 °C (mean + SD). Statistical analyses indicate a significant negative association between the incubation duration and the average daily air temperature (t-test, p \u3c\u3c 0.001). Further work pertaining to intra-seasonal analysis continues to be in progress. In Broward County alone, there was a continuous reduction in the number of loggerhead nests deposited each year throughout this study period. Determining if the effects of air temperature have significantly influenced loggerhead sea turtle clutches in Broward County might provide future insights for sustaining the survival rates of sea turtles in this area

Relativistic Corrections to the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect for Clusters of Galaxies. IV. Analytic fitting formula for the Numerical Results

We present an accurate analytic fitting formula for the numerical results for the relativistic corrections to the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect for clusters of galaxies. The numerical results for the relativistic corrections have been obtained by numerical integration of the collision term of the Boltzmann equation. The fitting is carried out for the ranges 0.02 < theta_{e} < 0.05 and 0 < X < 20, where theta_{e} = k_{B}T_{e}/m_{e}c^{2}, X = omega/k_{B}T_{0}, T_{e} is the electron temperature, omega is the angular frequency of the photon, and T_{0} is the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation. The accuracy of the fitting is generally better than 0.1%. The present analytic fitting formula will be useful for the analyses of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect for high-temperature galaxy clusters.Comment: 11 pages + 1 table + 2 figures, LaTeX with AASMS macro. Accepted by Astrophysical Journal for publicatio

Dewetting of Glassy Polymer Films

Dynamics and morphology of hole growth in a film of power hardening viscoplastic solid (yield stress ~ [strain-rate]^n) is investigated. At short-times the growth is exponential and depends on the initial hole size. At long-times, for n > 1/3, the growth is exponential with a different exponent. However, for n < 1/3, the hole growth slows; the hole radius approaches an asymptotic value as time tends to infinity. The rim shape is highly asymmetric, the height of which has a power law dependence on the hole radius (exponent close to unity for 0.25 < n < 0.4). The above results explain recent intriguing experiments of Reiter, Phys. Rev. Lett, 87, 186101 (2001).Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, RevTe

Diurnal variation and size dependence of the hygroscopicity of organic aerosol at a forest site in Wakayama, Japan: their relationship to CCN concentrations

Formation of biogenic secondary organic aerosol (BSOA) and its subsequent evolution can modify the hygroscopicity of the organic aerosol component (OA) in the forest atmosphere, and affect the concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) there. In this study, size-resolved aerosol hygroscopic growth at 85&thinsp;% relative humidity and size-resolved aerosol composition were measured using a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer and an aerosol mass spectrometer, respectively, at a forest site in Wakayama, Japan, in August and September 2015. The hygroscopicity parameter of OA (κorg) presented daily minima in the afternoon hours, and it also showed an increase with the increase in particle dry diameter. The magnitudes of the diurnal variations in κorg for particles with dry diameters of 100 and 300&thinsp;nm were on average 0.091 and 0.096, respectively, and the difference in κorg between particles with dry diameters of 100 and 300&thinsp;nm was on average 0.056. The relative contributions of the estimated fresh BSOA and regional OA to total OA could explain 40&thinsp;% of the observed diurnal variations and size dependence of κorg. The hygroscopicity parameter of fresh BSOA was estimated to range from 0.089 to 0.12 for particles with dry diameters from 100 to 300&thinsp;nm. Compared with the use of time- and size-resolved κorg, the use of time- and size-averaged κorg leads to under- and over-estimation of the fractional contribution of OA to CCN number concentrations in the range from −5.0&thinsp;% to 26&thinsp;%. This indicates that the diurnal variations and size dependence of κorg strongly affect the overall contribution of OA to CCN concentrations. The fractional contribution of fresh BSOA to CCN number concentrations could reach 0.28 during the period of intensive BSOA formation. The aging of the fresh BSOA, if it occurs, increases the estimated contribution of BSOA to CCN number concentrations by 52&thinsp;%–84&thinsp;%.</p

Phenomenological theory of a scalar electronic order: application to skutterudite PrFe4P12

By phenomenological Landau analysis, it is shown that a scalar order parameter with the point-group symmetry $\Gamma_{1g}$ explains most properties associated with the phase transition in PrFe$_4$P$_{12}$ at 6.5 K. The scalar-order model reproduces magnetic and elastic properties in PrFe$_4$P$_{12}$ consistently such as (i) the anomaly of the magnetic susceptibility and elastic constant at the transition temperature, (ii) anisotropy of the magnetic susceptibility in the presence of uniaxial pressure, and (iii) the anomaly in the elastic constant in magnetic field. An Ehrenfest relation is derived which relates the anomaly of the magnetic susceptibility to that of the elastic constant at the transition.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure