5,883 research outputs found
Use of materials in nest construction by Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca reflects localised habitat and geographical location.
Capsule Pied Flycatchers use different materials to construct their nests according to localised habitat and geographical location.
Aims This study tested the hypotheses that birds would use the leaves they normally encountered within their breeding territories and that nest composition varied between geographical locations.
Methods In Lancashire, Pied Flycatcher nests were collected from nestboxes built in locations dominated by different tree species and were deconstructed to determine which materials were used.
Results Materials found in nests generally reflected the localised habitat around the nest rather than showing evidence of active collection from distant sources of material. Nests from Lancashire were significantly different in composition when compared with published data for nests from north Wales and central Spain. The use of moss was dominated by the use of one species in all but two nests.
Conclusion Pied Flycatchers exhibit plasticity in nest construction behaviour because they were opportunistic in their choice of most nesting materials although they may be selective in their choice of moss
Experiment Simulation Configurations Used in DUNE CDR
The LBNF/DUNE CDR describes the proposed physics program and experimental
design at the conceptual design phase. Volume 2, entitled The Physics Program
for DUNE at LBNF, outlines the scientific objectives and describes the physics
studies that the DUNE collaboration will perform to address these objectives.
The long-baseline physics sensitivity calculations presented in the DUNE CDR
rely upon simulation of the neutrino beam line, simulation of neutrino
interactions in the far detector, and a parameterized analysis of detector
performance and systematic uncertainty. The purpose of this posting is to
provide the results of these simulations to the community to facilitate
phenomenological studies of long-baseline oscillation at LBNF/DUNE.
Additionally, this posting includes GDML of the DUNE single-phase far detector
for use in simulations. DUNE welcomes those interested in performing this work
as members of the collaboration, but also recognizes the benefit of making
these configurations readily available to the wider community.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, configurations in ancillary file
Ovariectomized rats as a model of postmenopausal osteoarthritis: validation and application
We aimed to assess the effect of ovariectomy on cartilage turnover and degradation, to evaluate whether ovariectomized (OVX) rats could form an experimental model of postmenopausal osteoarthritis. The effect of ovariectomy on cartilage was studied using two cohorts of female Sprague–Dawley rats, aged 5 and 7 months. In a third cohort, the effect of exogenous estrogen and a selective estrogen receptor modulator was analyzed. Knee joints were assessed by histological analysis of the articular cartilage after 9 weeks. Cartilage turnover was measured in urine by an immunoassay specific for collagen type II degradation products (CTX-II), and bone resorption was quantified in serum using an assay for bone collagen type I fragments (CTX-I). Surface erosion in the cartilage of the knee was more severe in OVX rats than in sham-operated animals, particularly in the 7-month-old cohort (P = 0.008). Ovariectomy also significant increased CTX-I and CTX-II. Both the absolute levels of CTX-II and the relative changes from baseline seen at week 4 correlated strongly with the severity of cartilage surface erosion at termination (r = 0.74, P < 0.01). Both estrogen and the selective estrogen receptor modulator inhibited the ovariectomy-induced acceleration of cartilage and bone turnover and significantly suppressed cartilage degradation and erosion seen in vehicle-treated OVX rats. The study indicates that estrogen deficiency accelerates cartilage turnover and increases cartilage surface erosion. OVX rats provide a useful experimental model for the evaluation of the chondroprotective effects of estrogens and estrogen-like substances and the model may be an in vivo representation of osteoarthritis in postmenopausal women
Scattering theory for Klein-Gordon equations with non-positive energy
We study the scattering theory for charged Klein-Gordon equations:
\{{array}{l} (\p_{t}- \i v(x))^{2}\phi(t,x) \epsilon^{2}(x,
D_{x})\phi(t,x)=0,[2mm] \phi(0, x)= f_{0}, [2mm] \i^{-1} \p_{t}\phi(0, x)=
f_{1}, {array}. where: \epsilon^{2}(x, D_{x})= \sum_{1\leq j, k\leq
n}(\p_{x_{j}} \i b_{j}(x))A^{jk}(x)(\p_{x_{k}} \i b_{k}(x))+ m^{2}(x),
describing a Klein-Gordon field minimally coupled to an external
electromagnetic field described by the electric potential and magnetic
potential . The flow of the Klein-Gordon equation preserves the
energy: h[f, f]:= \int_{\rr^{n}}\bar{f}_{1}(x) f_{1}(x)+
\bar{f}_{0}(x)\epsilon^{2}(x, D_{x})f_{0}(x) - \bar{f}_{0}(x) v^{2}(x) f_{0}(x)
\d x. We consider the situation when the energy is not positive. In this
case the flow cannot be written as a unitary group on a Hilbert space, and the
Klein-Gordon equation may have complex eigenfrequencies. Using the theory of
definitizable operators on Krein spaces and time-dependent methods, we prove
the existence and completeness of wave operators, both in the short- and
long-range cases. The range of the wave operators are characterized in terms of
the spectral theory of the generator, as in the usual Hilbert space case
Hadron beam test of a scintillating fibre tracker system for elastic scattering and luminosity measurement in ATLAS
A scintillating fibre tracker is proposed to measure elastic proton
scattering at very small angles in the ATLAS experiment at CERN. The tracker
will be located in so-called Roman Pot units at a distance of 240 m on each
side of the ATLAS interaction point. An initial validation of the design
choices was achieved in a beam test at DESY in a relatively low energy electron
beam and using slow off-the-shelf electronics. Here we report on the results
from a second beam test experiment carried out at CERN, where new detector
prototypes were tested in a high energy hadron beam, using the first version of
the custom designed front-end electronics. The results show an adequate
tracking performance under conditions which are similar to the situation at the
LHC. In addition, the alignment method using so-called overlap detectors was
studied and shown to have the expected precision.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Journal of Instrumentation (JINST
Magnetic moments of charged hyperons
Measurements of the magnetic moments of the Ξ−, Σ+ and Σ− baryons are presented. The values found are μΞ−=−.69±.04, μΣ+=2.31±.027 and μΣ−=−.89±.14, in units μN. The Ξ− and Σ− results are final, while the Σ+ value is based on a preliminary analysis of about 22% of the data sample.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87403/2/58_1.pd
Universality of Performance Indicators based on Citation and Reference Counts
We find evidence for the universality of two relative bibliometric indicators
of the quality of individual scientific publications taken from different data
sets. One of these is a new index that considers both citation and reference
counts. We demonstrate this universality for relatively well cited publications
from a single institute, grouped by year of publication and by faculty or by
department. We show similar behaviour in publications submitted to the arXiv
e-print archive, grouped by year of submission and by sub-archive. We also find
that for reasonably well cited papers this distribution is well fitted by a
lognormal with a variance of around 1.3 which is consistent with the results of
Radicchi, Fortunato, and Castellano (2008). Our work demonstrates that
comparisons can be made between publications from different disciplines and
publication dates, regardless of their citation count and without expensive
access to the whole world-wide citation graph. Further, it shows that averages
of the logarithm of such relative bibliometric indices deal with the issue of
long tails and avoid the need for statistics based on lengthy ranking
procedures.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, 11 pages of supplementary material. Submitted
to Scientometric
Time ordering and counting statistics
The basic quantum mechanical relation between fluctuations of transported
charge and current correlators is discussed. It is found that, as a rule, the
correlators are to be time-ordered in an unusual way. Instances where the
difference with the conventional ordering matters are illustrated by means of a
simple scattering model. We apply the results to resolve a discrepancy
concerning the third cumulant of charge transport across a quantum point
contact.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure; inconsequential mistake and typos correcte
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