293 research outputs found
Contemporary remotely sensed data products refine invasive plants risk mapping in data poor regions
Invasive weeds are a serious problem worldwide, threatening biodiversity and damaging economies. Modeling potential distributions of invasive weeds can prioritize locations for monitoring and control efforts, increasing management efficiency. Forecasts of invasion risk at regional to continental scales are enabled by readily available downscaled climate surfaces together with an increasing number of digitized and georeferenced species occurrence records and species distribution modeling techniques. However, predictions at a finer scale and in landscapes with less topographic variation may require predictors that capture biotic processes and local abiotic conditions. Contemporary remote sensing (RS) data can enhance predictions by providing a range of spatial environmental data products at fine scale beyond climatic variables only. In this study, we used the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and empirical maximum entropy (MaxEnt) models to model the potential distributions of 14 invasive plant species across Southeast Asia (SEA), selected from regional and Vietnamâs lists of priority weeds. Spatial environmental variables used to map invasion risk included bioclimatic layers and recent representations of global land cover, vegetation productivity (GPP), and soil properties developed from Earth observation data. Results showed that combining climate and RS data reduced predicted areas of suitable habitat compared with models using climate or RS data only, with no loss in model accuracy. However, contributions of RS variables were relatively limited, in part due to uncertainties in the land cover data. We strongly encourage greater adoption of quantitative remotely sensed estimates of ecosystem structure and function for habitat suitability modeling. Through comprehensive maps of overall predicted area and diversity of invasive species, we found that among lifeforms (herb, shrub, and vine), shrub species have higher potential invasion risk in SEA. Native invasive species, which are often overlooked in weed risk assessment, may be as serious a problem as non-native invasive species. Awareness of invasive weeds and their environmental impacts is still nascent in SEA and information is scarce. Freely available global spatial datasets, not least those provided by Earth observation programs, and the results of studies such as this one provide critical information that enables strategic management of environmental threats such as invasive species
Cultural adaptations of cognitive behavioural therapy for Latin American patients: unexpected findings from a systematic review
The current literature extensively recommends making cultural adaptations to psychological therapies, in order to address the differences in values, beliefs and attitudes that patients from different ethnic groups might hold. Although this approach has shown positive outcomes in some settings, it is not well established yet whether such adaptations are needed for all therapies and in all cultures. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to systematically review the literature regarding culturally adapted and âconventionalâ cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for Latin American patients, within Latin American and non-Latin American countries. Sixty empirical studies regarding the effectiveness of culturally adapted and conventional CBT were included in this review. The included studies were carried out in Latin American and non-Latin American countries. The information from all studies was synthesized and assessed, including intervention effect sizes, patient retention rates, methodological quality of the papers, and the type of cultural adaptation made to the therapy. There were no differences between the sets of studies in terms of effectiveness, retention rates, methodological quality, or proportion of statistically significant interventions. Most of the cultural adaptations were peripheral or unspecified. The evidence to date indicates that both conventional and culturally adapted CBT offer the same benefits for Latin American patients in terms of effectiveness and retention rates. Rather than focusing on cultural adaptations, clinicians are encouraged to improve the way they deliver CBT through training and supervision.
Key learning aims
(1) Cultural adaptations of CBT do not seem to offer any significant benefits to conventional, non-adapted CBT in Latin American patients.
(2) Most of the adaptations made to CBT for Latin American patients are either peripheral or not disclosed.
(3) We discuss the implications of adapting CBT for Latin American patients when there is no apparent need to do so
Influence of Gap Extrema on the Tunneling Conductance Near an Impurity in an Anisotropic Superconductor
Changes: figures added in postscript form, Eq. (7) and various typos
corrected. We examine the effect of an impurity on the nearby tunneling
conductance in an anisotropically-gapped superconductor. The variation of the
conductance has pronounced spatial dependence which depends strongly on the
Fermi surface location of gap extrema. In particular, different gap symmetries
produce profoundly different spatial features in the conductance. These effects
may be detectable with an STM measurement on the surface of a high-temperature
superconductor.Comment: 12 pages (revtex) + 3 figures (included - postscript), NSF-ITP-93-8
Tilt Grain-Boundary Effects in S- and D-Wave Superconductors
We calculate the s- and d-wave superconductor order parameter in the vicinity
of a tilt grain boundary. We do this self-consistently within the Bogoliubov de
Gennes equations, using a realistic microscopic model of the grain boundary. We
present the first self-consistent calculations of supercurrent flows in such
boundaries, obtaining the current-phase characteristics of grain boundaries in
both s-wave and d-wave superconductors
Anisotropic London Penetration Depth and Superfluid Density in Single Crystals of Iron-based Pnictide Superconductors
In- and out-of-plane magnetic penetration depths were measured in three
iron-based pnictide superconducting systems. All studied samples of both 122
systems show a robust power-law behavior, , with the
sample-dependent exponent n=2-2.5, which is indicative of unconventional
pairing. This scenario could be possible either through scattering in a state or due to nodes in the superconducting gap. In the Nd-1111 system, the
interpretation of data may be obscured by the magnetism of rare-earth ions. The
overall anisotropy of the pnictide superconductors is small. The 1111 system is
about two times more anisotropic than the 122 system. Our data and analysis
suggest that the iron-based pnictides are complex superconductors in which a
multiband three-dimensional electronic structure and strong magnetic
fluctuations play important roles.Comment: submitted to a special issue of Physica C on superconducting
pnictide
Pairing symmetry and long range pair potential in a weak coupling theory of superconductivity
We study the superconducting phase with two component order parameter
scenario, such as, , where . We show, that in absence of orthorhombocity, the usual
does not mix with usual symmetry gap in an anisotropic band
structure. But the symmetry does mix with the usual d-wave for . The d-wave symmetry with higher harmonics present in it also mixes with
higher order extended wave symmetry. The required pair potential to obtain
higher anisotropic and extended s-wave symmetries, is derived by
considering longer ranged two-body attractive potential in the spirit of tight
binding lattice. We demonstrate that the dominant pairing symmetry changes
drastically from to like as the attractive pair potential is obtained
from longer ranged interaction. More specifically, a typical length scale of
interaction , which could be even/odd multiples of lattice spacing leads
to predominant wave symmetry. The role of long range interaction on
pairing symmetry has further been emphasized by studying the typical interplay
in the temperature dependencies of these higher order and wave pairing
symmetries.Comment: Revtex 8 pages, 7 figures embeded in the text, To appear in PR
Antihydrogen formation dynamics in a multipolar neutral anti-atom trap
Antihydrogen production in a neutral atom trap formed by an octupole-based
magnetic field minimum is demonstrated using field-ionization of weakly bound
anti-atoms. Using our unique annihilation imaging detector, we correlate
antihydrogen detection by imaging and by field-ionization for the first time.
We further establish how field-ionization causes radial redistribution of the
antiprotons during antihydrogen formation and use this effect for the first
simultaneous measurements of strongly and weakly bound antihydrogen atoms.
Distinguishing between these provides critical information needed in the
process of optimizing for trappable antihydrogen. These observations are of
crucial importance to the ultimate goal of performing CPT tests involving
antihydrogen, which likely depends upon trapping the anti-atom
Search For Trapped Antihydrogen
We present the results of an experiment to search for trapped antihydrogen
atoms with the ALPHA antihydrogen trap at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator.
Sensitive diagnostics of the temperatures, sizes, and densities of the trapped
antiproton and positron plasmas have been developed, which in turn permitted
development of techniques to precisely and reproducibly control the initial
experimental parameters. The use of a position-sensitive annihilation vertex
detector, together with the capability of controllably quenching the
superconducting magnetic minimum trap, enabled us to carry out a
high-sensitivity and low-background search for trapped synthesised antihydrogen
atoms. We aim to identify the annihilations of antihydrogen atoms held for at
least 130 ms in the trap before being released over ~30 ms. After a three-week
experimental run in 2009 involving mixing of 10^7 antiprotons with 1.3 10^9
positrons to produce 6 10^5 antihydrogen atoms, we have identified six
antiproton annihilation events that are consistent with the release of trapped
antihydrogen. The cosmic ray background, estimated to contribute 0.14 counts,
is incompatible with this observation at a significance of 5.6 sigma. Extensive
simulations predict that an alternative source of annihilations, the escape of
mirror-trapped antiprotons, is highly unlikely, though this possibility has not
yet been ruled out experimentally.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Pulse-Shape discrimination with the Counting Test Facility
Pulse shape discrimination (PSD) is one of the most distinctive features of
liquid scintillators. Since the introduction of the scintillation techniques in
the field of particle detection, many studies have been carried out to
characterize intrinsic properties of the most common liquid scintillator
mixtures in this respect. Several application methods and algorithms able to
achieve optimum discrimination performances have been developed. However, the
vast majority of these studies have been performed on samples of small
dimensions. The Counting Test Facility, prototype of the solar neutrino
experiment Borexino, as a 4 ton spherical scintillation detector immersed in
1000 tons of shielding water, represents a unique opportunity to extend the
small-sample PSD studies to a large-volume setup. Specifically, in this work we
consider two different liquid scintillation mixtures employed in CTF,
illustrating for both the PSD characterization results obtained either with the
processing of the scintillation waveform through the optimum Gatti's method, or
via a more conventional approach based on the charge content of the
scintillation tail. The outcomes of this study, while interesting per se, are
also of paramount importance in view of the expected Borexino detector
performances, where PSD will be an essential tool in the framework of the
background rejection strategy needed to achieve the required sensitivity to the
solar neutrino signals.Comment: 39 pages, 17 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instr. Meth.
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