5,263 research outputs found
Determinants of male fitness: disentangling intra- and inter-sexual selection.
Both intra- and inter-sexual selection may crucially determine a male's fitness. Their interplay, which has rarely been experimentally investigated, determines a male's optimal reproductive strategy and thus is of fundamental importance to the understanding of a male's behaviour. Here we investigated the relative importance of intra- and inter-sexual selection for male fitness in the common lizard. We investigated which male traits predict a male's access to reproduction allowing for both selective pressures and comparing it with a staged mating experiment excluding all types of intra-sexual selection. We found that qualitatively better males were more likely to reproduce and that sexual selection was two times stronger when allowing for both selective pressures, suggesting that inter- and intra-sexual selection determines male fitness and confirming the existence of multi-factorial sexual selection. Consequently, to optimize fitness, males should trade their investment between the traits, which are important for inter- and intra-sexual selection
Evolution of phytosterols in Chardonnay grape berry skins during last stages of ripening
This study presents the results of rapid phytosterols analysis in grape skins during last stages of ripening. The analysis is related to the evolution of sterol content by comparison with ripening degree on two vineyards of Chardonnay grape variety in Burgundy: Meursault ler Cru and Hautes Cotes de Beaune. The characterization of sterols is realized by using combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry from trimethylsilyl ethers of sterols. After optimization of extraction by azeotropic mixture (chloroform/methanol 2:1 v/v), the analysis allows to identify four sterols in grape skins: beta-sitosterol, campesterol, stigmasterol and lanosterol. In all the samples, beta-sitosterol is the major phytosterol (86 to 89 % of the total detected phytosterols). The evolution of phytosterols content during last stages of ripening shows a similar comportment of β-sitosterol, campesterol and stigmasterol in grape skins: the maturation induces a loss of phytosterols in grape skins. An increase of phytosterol contents occurs at peak maturity and can be related with over-maturation phenomenon. The relationship between phytosterol content in grape skins and S/A ratio indicates a markedly negative correlation
Uniform Time Average Consistency of Monte Carlo Particle Filters
We prove that bootstrap type Monte Carlo particle filters approximate the
optimal nonlinear filter in a time average sense uniformly with respect to the
time horizon when the signal is ergodic and the particle system satisfies a
tightness property. The latter is satisfied without further assumptions when
the signal state space is compact, as well as in the noncompact setting when
the signal is geometrically ergodic and the observations satisfy additional
regularity assumptions.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur
Chiral phase transitions: focus driven critical behavior in systems with planar and vector ordering
The fixed point that governs the critical behavior of magnets described by
the -vector chiral model under the physical values of () is
shown to be a stable focus both in two and three dimensions. Robust evidence in
favor of this conclusion is obtained within the five-loop and six-loop
renormalization-group analysis in fixed dimension. The spiral-like approach of
the chiral fixed point results in unusual crossover and near-critical regimes
that may imitate varying critical exponents seen in physical and computer
experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Discussion enlarge
Subjective quality assessment of error concealment strategies for 3DTV in the presence of asymmetric transmission errors
International audienceThe transmission of 3DTV sequences over packet based networks may result in degradations of the video quality due to packet loss. In the conventional 2D case, several different strategies are known for extrapolating the missing information and thus concealing the error. In 3D however, the residual error after concealment of one view might leads to binocular rivalry with the correctly received second view. In this paper, three simple alternatives are presented: frame freezing, a reduced playback speed, and displaying only a single view for both eyes, thus effectively switching to 2D presentation. In a subjective experiment the performance in terms of quality of experience of the three methods is evaluated for different packet loss scenarios. Error-free encoded videos at different bit rates have been included as anchor conditions. The subjective experiment method contains special precautions for measuring the Quality of Experience (QoE) for 3D content and also contains an indicator for visual discomfort. The results indicate that switching to 2D is currently the best choice but difficulties with visual discomfort should be expected even for this method
On the validity of the reduced Salpeter equation
We adapt a general method to solve both the full and reduced Salpeter
equations and systematically explore the conditions under which these two
equations give equivalent results in meson dynamics. The effects of constituent
mass, angular momentum state, type of interaction, and the nature of
confinement are all considered in an effort to clearly delineate the range of
validity of the reduced Salpeter approximations. We find that for
the solutions are strikingly similar for all
constituent masses. For zero angular momentum states the full and reduced
Salpeter equations give different results for small quark mass especially with
a large additive constant coordinate space potential. We also show that
corrections to heavy-light energy levels can be accurately
computed with the reduced equation.Comment: Latex (uses epsf macro), 24 pages of text, 12 postscript figures
included. Slightly revised version, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Anomalous behavior of the Debye temperature in Fe-rich Fe-Cr alloys
Debye temperature, , of Fe-rich FeCr disordered
alloys with was determined from the temperature dependence of
the central shift of M\"ossbauer spectra recorded in the temperature range of
60 -- 300 K. Its compositional dependence shows a maximum at with
a relative increase of % compared to a pure iron. The composition at
which the effect occurs correlates well with that at which several other
quantities, e. g. the Curie temperature and the spin-wave stiffness
coefficient, , show their maxima, but the enhancement of is
significantly greater and comparable with the enhancement of the hyperfine
field (spin-density of itinerant -like electrons) in the studied system. The
results suggest that the electron-phonon interaction is important in this alloy
system
Instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter equation: utmost analytic approach
The Bethe-Salpeter formalism in the instantaneous approximation for the
interaction kernel entering into the Bethe-Salpeter equation represents a
reasonable framework for the description of bound states within relativistic
quantum field theory. In contrast to its further simplifications (like, for
instance, the so-called reduced Salpeter equation), it allows also the
consideration of bound states composed of "light" constituents. Every
eigenvalue equation with solutions in some linear space may be (approximately)
solved by conversion into an equivalent matrix eigenvalue problem. We
demonstrate that the matrices arising in these representations of the
instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter equation may be found, at least for a wide class
of interactions, in an entirely algebraic manner. The advantages of having the
involved matrices explicitly, i.e., not "contaminated" by errors induced by
numerical computations, at one's disposal are obvious: problems like, for
instance, questions of the stability of eigenvalues may be analyzed more
rigorously; furthermore, for small matrix sizes the eigenvalues may even be
calculated analytically.Comment: LaTeX, 23 pages, 2 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
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