A Two Term Truncation of the Multiple Ising Model Coupled to 2d Gravity

We consider a model of p independent Ising spins on a dynamical planar phi-cubed graph. Truncating the free energy to two terms yields an exactly solvable model that has a third order phase transition from a pure gravity region (gamma=-1/2) to a tree-like region (gamma=1/2), with gamma=1/3 on the critical line. We are able to make an order of magnitude estimate of the value of p above which there exists a branched polymer (ie tree-like) phase in the full model, that is, p is approximately 13-23, which corresponds to a central charge c of about 6-12.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 12 figure

The Hausdorff dimension in polymerized quantum gravity

We calculate the Hausdorff dimension, $d_H$, and the correlation function exponent, $\eta$, for polymerized two dimensional quantum gravity models. If the non-polymerized model has correlation function exponent $\eta_0 >3$ then $d_H=\gamma^{-1}$ where $\gamma$ is the susceptibility exponent. This suggests that these models may be in the same universality class as certain non-generic branched polymer models.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. A meaning-free sentence has been rewritte

Evolving an Effective Electronic Commerce Strategy: A Supplier's Perspective

This presentation illustrates the development of an IS and e-business strategy at HP Bulmer in the 1990s to respond to demands from their major customers for e-business trading. It outlines how, based on a sound technology strategy, this drinks company was able to respond proactively to the requirements of the major supermarkets to use EDI for a range of transactions. Then, with Whitbread, one of their major on-trade customers, the comapny helped pioneer the development of co-managed inventory (CMI), bringing trading benefits to both customer and supplier

Single-crystal growth and magnetic properties of the metallic molybdate pyrochlore Sm2Mo2O7

We have successfully grown cm3-size single crystals of the metallic-ferromagnet Sm2Mo2O7 by the floating-zone method using an infrared-red image furnace. The growth difficulties and the remedies found using a 2-mirror image furnace are discussed. Magnetization studies along the three crystalline axes of the compound are presented and discussed based on our recent proposal of an ordered spin-ice ground state for this compoun

Cryogenic mechanical loss of a single-crystalline GaP coating layer for precision measurement applications

The first direct observations of gravitational waves have been made by the Advanced LIGO detectors. However, the quest to improve the sensitivities of these detectors remains, and epitaxially grown single-crystal coatings show considerable promise as alternatives to the ion-beam sputtered amorphous mirror coatings typically used in these detectors and other such precision optical measurements. The mechanical loss of a 1 μm thick single-crystalline gallium phosphide (GaP) coating, incorporating a buffer layer region necessary for the growth of high quality epitaxial coatings, has been investigated over a broad range of frequencies and with fine temperature resolution. It is shown that at 20 K the mechanical loss of GaP is a factor of 40 less than an undoped tantala film heat-treated to 600 °C and is comparable to the loss of a multilayer GaP/AlGaP coating. This is shown to translate into possible reductions in coating thermal noise of a factor of 2 at 120 K and 5 at 20 K over the current best IBS coatings (alternating stacks of silica and titania-doped tantala). There is also evidence of a thermally activated dissipation process between 50 and 70 K

Quantifying land surface temperature variability for two Sahelian mesoscale regions during the wet season

Land-atmosphere feedbacks play an important role in the weather and climate of many semi-arid regions. These feedbacks are strongly controlled by how the surface responds to precipitation events, which regulate the return of heat and moisture to the atmosphere. Characteristics of the surface can result in both differing amplitudes and rates of warming following rain. We used spectral analysis to quantify these surface responses to rainfall events using land surface temperature (LST) derived from Earth Observations (EO). We analysed two mesoscale regions in the Sahel and identified distinct differences in the strength of the short-term (< 5–day) spectral variance, notably a shift towards lower frequency variability in forest pixels relative to non-forest areas, and an increase in amplitude with decreasing vegetation cover. Consistent with these spectral signatures, we found that areas of forest, and to a lesser extent grassland regions, warm up more slowly than sparsely vegetated or barren pixels. We applied the same spectral analysis method to simulated LST data from the the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) land surface model. We found a reasonable level of agreement with the EO spectral analysis, for two contrasting land surface regions. However JULES shows a significant underestimate in the magnitude of the observed response to rain compared to EO. A sensitivity analysis of the JULES model highlights an unrealistically high level of soil water availability as a key deficiency, which dampens the models response to rainfall events

Heterogeneity in Residential Yard Care: Evidence from Boston, Miami, and Phoenix

The management of residential landscapes occurs within a complex socio-ecological system linking household decision-making with ecological properties, multi-scalar human drivers, and the legacy effects of past management. Conventional wisdom suggests that resource-intensive turf grass yards are the most common landscaping outcome, resulting in a presumed homogeneous set of residential landscaping practices throughout North America. We examine this homogenization thesis through an interview-based, cross-site study of residential landscape management in Boston, Phoenix, and Miami. Counter to the homogeneity thesis, we find that yard management practices often exhibit heterogeneity, for example, in groundcover choice or use of chemical inputs. The degree of heterogeneity in management practices varies according to the scale of analysis, and is the outcome of a range of constraints and opportunities to which households respond differently depending on their existing yard and landscaping preferences. This study highlights the importance of multi-scalar and cross-site analyses of decision-making in socio-ecological systems, and presents opportunities for longitudinal and cross-site research to examine the extent to which homogeneity is actually present in the management of residential landscapes over time and in diverse places

Mangarara Formation: exhumed remnants of a middle Miocene, temperate carbonate, submarine channel-fan system on the eastern margin of Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

The middle Miocene Mangarara Formation is a thin (1–60 m), laterally discontinuous unit of moderately to highly calcareous (40–90%) facies of sandy to pure limestone, bioclastic sandstone, and conglomerate that crops out in a few valleys in North Taranaki across the transition from King Country Basin into offshore Taranaki Basin. The unit occurs within hemipelagic (slope) mudstone of Manganui Formation, is stratigraphically associated with redeposited sandstone of Moki Formation, and is overlain by redeposited volcaniclastic sandstone of Mohakatino Formation. The calcareous facies of the Mangarara Formation are interpreted to be mainly mass-emplaced deposits having channelised and sheet-like geometries, sedimentary structures supportive of redeposition, mixed environment fossil associations, and stratigraphic enclosure within bathyal mudrocks and flysch. The carbonate component of the deposits consists mainly of bivalves, larger benthic foraminifers (especially Amphistegina), coralline red algae including rhodoliths (Lithothamnion and Mesophyllum), and bryozoans, a warm-temperate, shallow marine skeletal association. While sediment derivation was partly from an eastern contemporary shelf, the bulk of the skeletal carbonate is inferred to have been sourced from shoal carbonate factories around and upon isolated basement highs (Patea-Tongaporutu High) to the south. The Mangarara sediments were redeposited within slope gullies and broad open submarine channels and lobes in the vicinity of the channel-lobe transition zone of a submarine fan system. Different phases of sediment transport and deposition (lateral-accretion and aggradation stages) are identified in the channel infilling. Dual fan systems likely co-existed, one dominating and predominantly siliciclastic in nature (Moki Formation), and the other infrequent and involving the temperate calcareous deposits of Mangarara Formation. The Mangarara Formation is an outcrop analogue for middle Miocene-age carbonate slope-fan deposits elsewhere in subsurface Taranaki Basin, New Zealand