9,503 research outputs found
Serendipity Face and Edge VEM Spaces
We extend the basic idea of Serendipity Virtual Elements from the previous
case (by the same authors) of nodal (-conforming) elements, to a more
general framework. Then we apply the general strategy to the case of
and conforming Virtual Element Methods, in two and three dimensions
Serendipity Nodal VEM spaces
We introduce a new variant of Nodal Virtual Element spaces that mimics the
"Serendipity Finite Element Methods" (whose most popular example is the 8-node
quadrilateral) and allows to reduce (often in a significant way) the number of
internal degrees of freedom. When applied to the faces of a three-dimensional
decomposition, this allows a reduction in the number of face degrees of
freedom: an improvement that cannot be achieved by a simple static
condensation. On triangular and tetrahedral decompositions the new elements
(contrary to the original VEMs) reduce exactly to the classical Lagrange FEM.
On quadrilaterals and hexahedra the new elements are quite similar (and have
the same amount of degrees of freedom) to the Serendipity Finite Elements, but
are much more robust with respect to element distortions. On more general
polytopes the Serendipity VEMs are the natural (and simple) generalization of
the simplicial case
Lowest order Virtual Element approximation of magnetostatic problems
We give here a simplified presentation of the lowest order Serendipity
Virtual Element method, and show its use for the numerical solution of linear
magneto-static problems in three dimensions. The method can be applied to very
general decompositions of the computational domain (as is natural for Virtual
Element Methods) and uses as unknowns the (constant) tangential component of
the magnetic field on each edge, and the vertex values of the
Lagrange multiplier (used to enforce the solenoidality of the magnetic
induction ). In this respect the method can be seen
as the natural generalization of the lowest order Edge Finite Element Method
(the so-called "first kind N\'ed\'elec" elements) to polyhedra of almost
arbitrary shape, and as we show on some numerical examples it exhibits very
good accuracy (for being a lowest order element) and excellent robustness with
respect to distortions
Acquisition of fungi from the environment modifies ambrosia beetle mycobiome during invasion
Microbial symbionts can play critical roles when their host attempts to colonize a new habitat. The lack of symbiont adaptation can in fact hinder the invasion process of their host. This scenario could change if the exotic species are able to acquire microorganisms from the invaded environment. Understanding the ecological factors that influence the take-up of new microorganisms is thus essential to clarify the mechanisms behind biological invasions. In this study, we tested whether different forest habitats influence the structure of the fungal communities associated with ambrosia beetles. We collected individuals of the most widespread exotic (Xylosandrus germanus) and native (Xyleborinus saxesenii) ambrosia beetle species in Europe in several old-growth and restored forests. We characterized the fungal communities associated with both species via metabarcoding. We showed that forest habitat shaped the community of fungi associated with both species, but the effect was stronger for the exotic X. germanus. Our results support the hypothesis that the direct contact with the mycobiome of the invaded environment might lead an exotic species to acquire native fungi. This process is likely favored by the occurrence of a bottleneck effect at the mycobiome level and/or the disruption of the mechanisms sustaining co-evolved insect-fungi symbiosis. Our study contributes to the understanding of the factors affecting insect-microbes interactions, helping to clarify the mechanisms behind biological invasions
Evidence of a pressure-induced metallization process in monoclinic VO
Raman and combined trasmission and reflectivity mid infrared measurements
have been carried out on monoclinic VO at room temperature over the 0-19
GPa and 0-14 GPa pressure ranges, respectively. The pressure dependence
obtained for both lattice dynamics and optical gap shows a remarkable stability
of the system up to P*10 GPa. Evidence of subtle modifications of V ion
arrangements within the monoclinic lattice together with the onset of a
metallization process via band gap filling are observed for PP*. Differently
from ambient pressure, where the VO metal phase is found only in
conjunction with the rutile structure above 340 K, a new room temperature
metallic phase coupled to a monoclinic structure appears accessible in the high
pressure regime, thus opening to new important queries on the physics of
VO.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Analysis of enhanced-performance fibre Brillouin ring laser for Brillouin sensing applications
In this work, we present an enhanced design for a Brillouin ring laser (BRL), which employs a double resonant cavity (DRC) with short fiber length, paired with a heterodyne-based wavelength-locking system, to be employed as a pump-probe source for Brillouin sensing. The enhanced source is compared to traditional long-cavity pump-probe source, showing a significantly lower relative intensity noise (~-145 dB/Hz in the whole 0\u2013800 MHz range), a narrow linewidth (10 kHz), and large tunability features, resulting in an effective pump-probe source in BOTDA systems, with an excellent pump-probe frequency stability (~200 Hz), which is uncommon for fiber lasers. The enhanced source showed an improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of about 22 dB with respect to standard BRL schemes, resulting in an improved temperature/strain resolution in BOTDA applications up to 5.5 dB, with respect to previous high-noise BRL designs
Positive regional species-people correlations: A sampling artefact or a key issue for sustainable development?
Many studies are documenting positive large-scale species–
people correlations (Luck, 2007; Schuldt & Assmann, 2010).
The issue is scale dependent: the local association of species
richness and people is in many cases a negative one (Pautasso,
2007; Pecher et al., 2010). This biogeographical
pattern is thus important for conservation. If species-rich
regions are also densely populated, preserving biodiversity
becomes more difficult, ceteris paribus, than if species-rich
regions were sparsely populated. At the same time, positive,
regional species–people correlations are an opportunity for
the biodiversity education of the majority of the human
population and underline the importance of conservation in
human-modified landscapes (e.g. Sheil & Meijaard, 2010;
Ward, 2010)
Is the human population a large-scale indicator of the species richness of ground beetles?
Aim Positive regional correlations between biodiversity and human population
have been detected for several taxonomic groups and geographical regions.
Such correlations could have important conservation implications and have
been mainly attributed to ecological factors, with little testing for an artefactual
explanation: more populated regions may show higher biodiversity because they
are more thoroughly surveyed. We tested the hypothesis that the correlation
between people and herptile diversity in Europe is influenced by survey effor
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