111 research outputs found
What can the abundance of Grey Parrots on PrĂncipe Island tell us about large parrot conservation?
While populations of the Endangered Grey Parrot Psittacus erithacus have collapsed across its range, the species remains remarkably abundant on the island of PrĂncipe, Gulf of Guinea. We examine how aspects of its ecology interplay with local environmental conditions, to inform conservation strategies for this species and other large parrots. On PrĂncipe, parrots breed in large trees of common species, with nest densities (42 ± 34 km-2) greatly exceeding those for any comparably sized parrot. Productivity is high (1.9 chicks per cavity), probably reflecting the absence of nest competitors and predators. Food sources are abundant and much of the island is inaccessible to trappers, so many nests are successful each year. Historically harvest has involved taking only chicks from trees in a few traditional patches. These conditions have combined to allow Grey Parrots to thrive on PrĂncipe, while elsewhere nest trees are timber targets, nest competition and nest predation are likely to be more intense, trapping is indiscriminate, and few areas remain unexploited by trappers. Preservation of large trees as breeding refugia, and vigilance against the indiscriminate trapping of adult birds, are identified as key conditions to stabilize and recover mainland Grey Parrot populations and indeed large parrots generally, given their very similar ecological traits and anthropogenic circumstances
ORB5: a global electromagnetic gyrokinetic code using the PIC approach in toroidal geometry
This paper presents the current state of the global gyrokinetic code ORB5 as
an update of the previous reference [Jolliet et al., Comp. Phys. Commun. 177
409 (2007)]. The ORB5 code solves the electromagnetic Vlasov-Maxwell system of
equations using a PIC scheme and also includes collisions and strong flows. The
code assumes multiple gyrokinetic ion species at all wavelengths for the
polarization density and drift-kinetic electrons. Variants of the physical
model can be selected for electrons such as assuming an adiabatic response or a
``hybrid'' model in which passing electrons are assumed adiabatic and trapped
electrons are drift-kinetic. A Fourier filter as well as various control
variates and noise reduction techniques enable simulations with good
signal-to-noise ratios at a limited numerical cost. They are completed with
different momentum and zonal flow-conserving heat sources allowing for
temperature-gradient and flux-driven simulations. The code, which runs on both
CPUs and GPUs, is well benchmarked against other similar codes and analytical
predictions, and shows good scalability up to thousands of nodes
Non-Universal Soft SUSY Breaking and Dark Matter
An analysis is given of the effects of non-universal soft SUSY breaking
masses in the Higgs sector and in the third generation squark sector, and it is
shown that they are highly coupled. Analytic expressions are obtained for their
effects on the parameters and on the third generation squark masses.
Non-universality effects on dark matter event rates in neutralino-nucleus
scattering are analysed. It is found that the effects are maximal in the range
~GeV where the relic density is governed by the Z and
Higgs poles. In this range the minimum event rates can be increased or
decreased by factors of O(10) depending on the sign of non-universality. Above
this range Landau pole effects arising from the heavy top mass tend to suppress
the non-universality effects. The effect of more precise measurements of
cosmological parameters on event rates, which is expected to occur in the next
round of COBE like sattelite experiments, is also investigated. Implications
for the analysis for dark matter searches are discussed.Comment: 28 pages, latex, and 7 fig
The parakeet Brotogeris tirica feeds on and disperses the fruits of the palm Syagrus romanzoffiana in Southeastern Brazil
The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR: A Search for Neutrinoless Double-beta Decay of Germanium-76
The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay would determine whether the
neutrino is a Majorana particle and provide information on the absolute scale
of neutrino mass. The MAJORANA Collaboration is constructing the DEMONSTRATOR,
an array of germanium detectors, to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay
of 76-Ge. The DEMONSTRATOR will contain 40 kg of germanium; up to 30 kg will be
enriched to 86% in 76-Ge. The DEMONSTRATOR will be deployed deep underground in
an ultra-low-background shielded environment. Operation of the DEMONSTRATOR
aims to determine whether a future tonne-scale germanium experiment can achieve
a background goal of one count per tonne-year in a 4-keV region of interest
around the 76-Ge neutrinoless double-beta decay Q-value of 2039 keV.Comment: Submitted to AIP Conference Proceedings, 19th Particles & Nuclei
International Conference (PANIC 2011), Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, MA, USA, July 24-29, 2011; 3 pages, 1 figur
The Majorana experiment: an ultra-low background search for neutrinoless double-beta decay
The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay would resolve the Majorana
nature of the neutrino and could provide information on the absolute scale of
the neutrino mass. The initial phase of the Majorana experiment, known as the
Demonstrator, will house 40 kg of Ge in an ultra-low background shielded
environment at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Laboratory in Lead,
SD. The objective of the Demonstrator is to determine whether a future 1-tonne
experiment can achieve a background goal of one count per tonne-year in a
narrow region of interest around the 76Ge neutrinoless double-beta decay peak.Comment: Presentation for the Rutherford Centennial Conference on Nuclear
Physic
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