7,518 research outputs found
Four Decades of Andean Timberline Migration and Implications for Biodiversity Loss with Climate Change
Rapid 21st-century climate change may lead to large population decreases and extinction in tropical montane cloud forest species in the Andes. While prior research has focused on species migrations per se, ecotones may respond to different environmental factors than species. Even if species can migrate in response to climate change, if ecotones do not they can function as hard barriers to species migrations, making ecotone migrations central to understanding species persistence under scenarios of climate change. We examined a 42-year span of aerial photographs and high resolution satellite imagery to calculate migration rates of timberline–the grassland-forest ecotone–inside and outside of protected areas in the high Peruvian Andes. We found that timberline in protected areas was more likely to migrate upward in elevation than in areas with frequent cattle grazing and fire. However, rates in both protected (0.24 m yr-1) and unprotected (0.05 m yr-1) areas are only 0.5–2.3% of the rates needed to stay in equilibrium with projected climate by 2100. These ecotone migration rates are 12.5 to 110 times slower than the observed species migration rates within the same forest, suggesting a barrier to migration for mid- and high-elevation species. We anticipate that the ecotone will be a hard barrier to migration under future climate change, leading to drastic population and biodiversity losses in the region unless intensive management steps are taken
Constructive Dimension and Turing Degrees
This paper examines the constructive Hausdorff and packing dimensions of
Turing degrees. The main result is that every infinite sequence S with
constructive Hausdorff dimension dim_H(S) and constructive packing dimension
dim_P(S) is Turing equivalent to a sequence R with dim_H(R) <= (dim_H(S) /
dim_P(S)) - epsilon, for arbitrary epsilon > 0. Furthermore, if dim_P(S) > 0,
then dim_P(R) >= 1 - epsilon. The reduction thus serves as a *randomness
extractor* that increases the algorithmic randomness of S, as measured by
constructive dimension.
A number of applications of this result shed new light on the constructive
dimensions of Turing degrees. A lower bound of dim_H(S) / dim_P(S) is shown to
hold for the Turing degree of any sequence S. A new proof is given of a
previously-known zero-one law for the constructive packing dimension of Turing
degrees. It is also shown that, for any regular sequence S (that is, dim_H(S) =
dim_P(S)) such that dim_H(S) > 0, the Turing degree of S has constructive
Hausdorff and packing dimension equal to 1.
Finally, it is shown that no single Turing reduction can be a universal
constructive Hausdorff dimension extractor, and that bounded Turing reductions
cannot extract constructive Hausdorff dimension. We also exhibit sequences on
which weak truth-table and bounded Turing reductions differ in their ability to
extract dimension.Comment: The version of this paper appearing in Theory of Computing Systems,
45(4):740-755, 2009, had an error in the proof of Theorem 2.4, due to
insufficient care with the choice of delta. This version modifies that proof
to fix the error
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Evaluation of person-level heterogeneity of treatment effects in published multiperson N-of-1 studies: systematic review and reanalysis.
OBJECTIVE:Individual patients with the same condition may respond differently to similar treatments. Our aim is to summarise the reporting of person-level heterogeneity of treatment effects (HTE) in multiperson N-of-1 studies and to examine the evidence for person-level HTE through reanalysis. STUDY DESIGN:Systematic review and reanalysis of multiperson N-of-1 studies. DATA SOURCES:Medline, Cochrane Controlled Trials, EMBASE, Web of Science and review of references through August 2017 for N-of-1 studies published in English. STUDY SELECTION:N-of-1 studies of pharmacological interventions with at least two subjects. DATA SYNTHESIS:Citation screening and data extractions were performed in duplicate. We performed statistical reanalysis testing for person-level HTE on all studies presenting person-level data. RESULTS:We identified 62 multiperson N-of-1 studies with at least two subjects. Statistical tests examining HTE were described in only 13 (21%), of which only two (3%) tested person-level HTE. Only 25 studies (40%) provided person-level data sufficient to reanalyse person-level HTE. Reanalysis using a fixed effect linear model identified statistically significant person-level HTE in 8 of the 13 studies (62%) reporting person-level treatment effects and in 8 of the 14 studies (57%) reporting person-level outcomes. CONCLUSIONS:Our analysis suggests that person-level HTE is common and often substantial. Reviewed studies had incomplete information on person-level treatment effects and their variation. Improved assessment and reporting of person-level treatment effects in multiperson N-of-1 studies are needed
A young star-forming galaxy at z = 3.5 with an extended Ly\, halo seen with MUSE
Spatially resolved studies of high redshift galaxies, an essential insight
into galaxy formation processes, have been mostly limited to stacking or
unusually bright objects. We present here the study of a typical (L,
M = 6 ) young lensed galaxy at , observed
with MUSE, for which we obtain 2D resolved spatial information of Ly
and, for the first time, of CIII] emission. The exceptional signal-to-noise of
the data reveals UV emission and absorption lines rarely seen at these
redshifts, allowing us to derive important physical properties (T15600
K, n300 cm, covering fraction f) using multiple
diagnostics. Inferred stellar and gas-phase metallicities point towards a low
metallicity object (Z = 0.07 Z and
Z 0.16 Z). The Ly emission extends over
10 kpc across the galaxy and presents a very uniform spectral profile,
showing only a small velocity shift which is unrelated to the intrinsic
kinematics of the nebular emission. The Ly extension is 4 times
larger than the continuum emission, and makes this object comparable to
low-mass LAEs at low redshift, and more compact than the Lyman-break galaxies
and Ly emitters usually studied at high redshift. We model the
Ly line and surface brightness profile using a radiative transfer code
in an expanding gas shell, finding that this model provides a good description
of both observables.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, accepted in MNRA
Electronic Structure and Thermoelectric Prospects of Phosphide Skutterudites
The prospects for high thermoelectric performance in phosphide skutterudites
are investigated based on first principles calculations. We find that
stoichiometric CoP_3 differs from the corresponding arsenide and antimonide in
that it is metallic. As such the band structure must be modified if high
thermopowers are to be achieved. In analogy to the antimonides it is expected
that this may be done by filling with La. Calculations for LaFe_4P_12 show that
a gap can in fact be opened by La filling, but that the valence band is too
light to yield reasonable p-type thermopowers at appropriate carrier densities;
n-type La filled material may be more favorable.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
Constitutional Analogies in the International Legal System
This Article explores issues at the frontier of international law and constitutional law. It considers five key structural and systemic challenges that the international legal system now faces: (1) decentralization and disaggregation; (2) normative and institutional hierarchies; (3) compliance and enforcement; (4) exit and escape; and (5) democracy and legitimacy. Each of these issues raises questions of governance, institutional design, and allocation of authority paralleling the questions that domestic legal systems have answered in constitutional terms. For each of these issues, I survey the international legal landscape and consider the salience of potential analogies to domestic constitutions, drawing upon and extending the writings of international legal scholars and international relations theorists. I also offer some preliminary thoughts about why some treaties and institutions, but not others, more readily lend themselves to analysis in constitutional terms. And I distinguish those legal and political issues that may generate useful insights for scholars studying the growing intersections of international and constitutional law from other areas that may be more resistant to constitutional analogies
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