The Feasibility of Counting Songbirds Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Obtaining unbiased survey data for vocal bird species is inherently challenging due to observer biases, habitat coverage biases, and logistical constraints. We propose that combining bioacoustic monitoring with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology could reduce some of these biases and allow bird surveys to be conducted in less accessible areas. We tested the feasibility of the UAV approach to songbird surveys using a low-cost quadcopter with a simple, lightweight recorder suspended 8 m below the vehicle. In a field experiment using playback of bird recordings, we found that small variations in UAV altitude (it hovered at 28, 48, and 68 m) didn\u27t have a significant effect on detections by the recorder attached to the UAV, and we found that the detection radius of our equipment was comparable with detection radii of standard point counts. We then field tested our equipment, comparing songbird detections from our UAV-mounted recorder with standard point-count data from 51 count stations. We found that the number of birds per point on UAV counts was comparable with standard counts for most species, but there were significant underestimates for some—specifically, issues of song masking for a species with a low-frequency song, the Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura); and underestimation of the abundance of a species that was found in very high densities, the Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis). Species richness was lower on UAV counts (mean = 5.6 species point−1) than on standard counts (8.3 species point−1), but only slightly lower than on standard counts if nonaudible detections are omitted (6.5 species point−1). Excessive UAV noise is a major hurdle to using UAVs for bioacoustic monitoring, but we are optimistic that technological innovations to reduce motor and rotor noise will significantly reduce this issue. We conclude that UAV-based bioacoustic monitoring holds great promise, and we urge other researchers to consider further experimentation to refine techniques

Fractal scattering dynamics of the three-dimensional HOCl molecule

We compare the 2D and 3D classical fractal scattering dynamics of Cl and HO for energies just above dissociation of the HOCl molecule, using a realistic potential energy surface for the HOCl molecule and techniques developed to analyze 3D chaotic scattering processes. For parameter regimes where the HO dimer initially has small vibrational energy, only small intervals of initial conditions show fractal scattering behavior and the scattering process is well described by a 2D model. For parameter regimes where the HO dimer initially has large vibrational energy, the scattering process is fully 3D and is dominated by fractal behavior.Robert A. Welch Foundation F-1051CONACyT 79988DGAPA IN110110Physic

Fermion Doubling and a Natural Solution of the Strong CP Problem

We suggest the fermion doubling for all quarks and leptons. It is a generalization of the neutrino doubling of the seesaw mechanism. The new quarks and leptons are $SU(2)$ singlets and carry the electromagnetic charges of their lighter counterparts. An $SU(3)$ {\it anomaly free global symmetry} or a discrete symmetry can be introduced to restrict the Yukawa couplings. The form of mass matrix is belonging to that of Nelson and Barr even though our model does not belong to Barr's criterion. The weak CP violation of the Kobayashi-Maskawa form is obtained through the spontaneous breaking of CP symmetry at high energy scale. The strong CP solution is through a specific form of the mass matrix. At low energy, the particle content is the same as in the standard model. For a model with a global symmetry, in addition there exists a massless majoron.Comment: SNUTP 93-68, 19 pages 1 TeX figure, ReVTeX 3.

Natural Gauge Hierarchy in SO(10)

It is shown that a natural gauge hierarchy and doublet-triplet splitting can be achieved in SO(10) using the Dimopoulos-Wilczek mechanism. Artificial cancellations (fine-tuning) and arbitrary forms of the superpotential are avoided, the superpotential being the most general compatible with a symmetry. It is shown by example that the Dimopoulos-Wilczek mechanism can be protected against the effects of higher-dimension operators possibly induced by Planck-scale physics. Natural implementation of the mechanism leads to an automatic Peccei-Quinn symmetry. The same local symmetries that would protect the gauge hierarchy against Planck-scale effects tend to protect the axion also. It is shown how realistic quark and lepton masses might arise in this framework. It is also argued that ``weak suppression'' of proton decay can be implemented more economically than can ``strong suppression'', offering some grounds to hope (in the context of SO(10)) that proton decay could be seen at Superkamiokande.Comment: 26 pages in plain LaTeX, 5 figures available on request, BA-94-0

Leadership, social determinants of health and health equity: the case of Costa Rica

Costa Rica has long been a country of special interest in the Americas and in global health because of its good health. The United Nations Development Programme ranks countries according to their level of human development based on life expectancy, education and national income. Although Costa Rica is ranked at 63 and classified as 'High', in terms of health it belongs in the 'Very High' group. In 2018 mean life expectancy for the 'Very High' countries was 79.5, while in Costa Rica it was 80. In 2018, under five mortality was 8.8/1000 live births, lower than countries ranked in the 'Very High' human development group. Expected years of schooling in Costa Rica is 15.4, closer to the average, 16.4 years, of the 'Very High' human development group than the average of the 'High' group. The country is much healthier than would be predicted by its national income; rather, other features of society's development are likely to have played a key role in the development of good health. These include (i) the decision to cease investment in national defence, which freed up money to invest in health, education and the welfare of the population; (ii) the decision to create a universal health system financed by the State, employers and workers in the 1940s; and (iii) the educational system, that generated opportunities to lift important sectors of the population out of poverty, allowing them to have basic sanitary conditions that increase their possibilities to live longer and in better conditions. Despite these advances, inequalities in terms of income and social conditions persist, presenting challenges in the field of health, particularly for lower-income populations and those of African and indigenous descent. These inequalities must be addressed using decisions based on scientific evidence, a greater use of disaggregated data to reveal progress in addressing these inequalities, and with a broader articulation of the health sector with policies that act on the social determinants of health

Are the distributions of Fast Radio Burst properties consistent with a cosmological population?

High time resolution radio surveys over the last few years have discovered a population of millisecond-duration transient bursts called Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), which remain of unknown origin. FRBs exhibit dispersion consistent with propagation through a cold plasma and dispersion measures indicative of an origin at cosmological distances. In this paper we perform Monte Carlo simulations of a cosmological population of FRBs, based on assumptions consistent with observations of their energy distribution, their spatial density as a function of redshift and the properties of the interstellar and intergalactic media. We examine whether the dispersion measures, fluences, inferred redshifts, signal-to-noises and effective widths of known FRBs are consistent with a cosmological population. Statistical analyses indicate that at least 50 events at Parkes are required to distinguish between a constant co-moving FRB density, and a FRB density that evolves with redshift like the cosmological star formation rate density.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 3 table

An investigation of pulsar searching techniques with the Fast Folding Algorithm

Here we present an in-depth study of the behaviour of the Fast Folding Algorithm, an alternative pulsar searching technique to the Fast Fourier Transform. Weaknesses in the Fast Fourier Transform, including a susceptibility to red noise, leave it insensitive to pulsars with long rotational periods (P > 1 s). This sensitivity gap has the potential to bias our understanding of the period distribution of the pulsar population. The Fast Folding Algorithm, a time-domain based pulsar searching technique, has the potential to overcome some of these biases. Modern distributed-computing frameworks now allow for the application of this algorithm to all-sky blind pulsar surveys for the first time. However, many aspects of the behaviour of this search technique remain poorly understood, including its responsiveness to variations in pulse shape and the presence of red noise. Using a custom CPU-based implementation of the Fast Folding Algorithm, ffancy, we have conducted an in-depth study into the behaviour of the Fast Folding Algorithm in both an ideal, white noise regime as well as a trial on observational data from the HTRU-S Low Latitude pulsar survey, including a comparison to the behaviour of the Fast Fourier Transform. We are able to both confirm and expand upon earlier studies that demonstrate the ability of the Fast Folding Algorithm to outperform the Fast Fourier Transform under ideal white noise conditions, and demonstrate a significant improvement in sensitivity to long-period pulsars in real observational data through the use of the Fast Folding Algorithm.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, 3 table

Simple supersymmetric solution to the strong CP problem

It is shown that the minimal supersymmetric left-right model can provide a natural solution to the strong {\it CP} problem without the need for an axion, nor any additional symmetries beyond supersymmetry and parity.Comment: Plain Latex. 10 pages, including two figures which are part of the Latex file. Shortened version, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. 7