487 research outputs found
Environmental policy-making networks and the future of the Amazon
This article examines four periods of environmental policy-making in the Amazon region of Brazil. It specifically analyses the role of pro-environment and pro-development policy networks in affecting policy design and implementation. It argues that the efforts of environmentalist networks trying to advocate or block relative developmentalist policies in the Amazon depend on three critical factors—whether they are able to attract the support of elites (or at least block their developmentalist policy initiatives); the type and level of international support they have; and the organizational and financial resources that they are able to mobilize. In analysing the four periods, this article finds that while international influences and resources have been substantial in enabling environmentalist networks to flourish and influence the policy, their effectiveness has been nearly always outweighed by Brazilian developmentalist interests. The outcome in each phase has been a different form of stalemate on environmental protection, and the deforestation continued each time, albeit at slower rates. These findings suggest that the key for significantly lower rates of deforestation on the Amazon may be in the ability of pro-environment networks to neutralize opposition by creating an incentive structure that ‘compensates’ potential losers of policies that promote conservation
Universality in two-dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang growth
We analyze simulations results of a model proposed for etching of a
crystalline solid and results of other discrete models in the 2+1-dimensional
Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) class. In the steady states, the moments W_n of
orders n=2,3,4 of the heights distribution are estimated. Results for the
etching model, the ballistic deposition (BD) model and the
temperature-dependent body-centered restricted solid-on-solid model (BCSOS)
suggest the universality of the absolute value of the skewness S = W_3 /
(W_2)^(3/2) and of the value of the kurtosis Q = W_4 / (W_2)^2 - 3. The sign of
the skewness is the same of the parameter \lambda of the KPZ equation which
represents the process in the continuum limit. The best numerical estimates,
obtained from the etching model, are |S| = 0.26 +- 0.01 and Q = 0.134 +- 0.015.
For this model, the roughness exponent \alpha = 0.383 +- 0.008 is obtained,
accounting for a constant correction term (intrinsic width) in the scaling of
the squared interface width. This value is slightly below previous estimates of
extensive simulations and rules out the proposal of the exact value \alpha=2/5.
The conclusion is supported by results for the ballistic deposition model.
Independent estimates of the dynamical exponent and of the growth exponent are
1.605 <= z <= 1.64 and \beta = 0.229 +- 0.005, respectively, which are
consistent with the relations \alpha + z = 2 and z = \alpha / \beta.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Vacuum fluctuations and topological Casimir effect in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies with compact dimensions
We investigate the Wightman function, the vacuum expectation values of the
field squared and the energy-momentum tensor for a massless scalar field with
general curvature coupling parameter in spatially flat
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes with an arbitrary number of toroidally
compactified dimensions. The topological parts in the expectation values are
explicitly extracted and in this way the renormalization is reduced to that for
the model with trivial topology. In the limit when the comoving lengths of the
compact dimensions are very short compared to the Hubble length, the
topological parts coincide with those for a conformal coupling and they are
related to the corresponding quantities in the flat spacetime by standard
conformal transformation. In the opposite limit of large comoving lengths of
the compact dimensions, in dependence of the curvature coupling parameter, two
regimes are realized with monotonic or oscillatory behavior of the vacuum
expectation values. In the monotonic regime and for nonconformally and
nonminimally coupled fields the vacuum stresses are isotropic and the equation
of state for the topological parts in the energy density and pressures is of
barotropic type. In the oscillatory regime, the amplitude of the oscillations
for the topological part in the expectation value of the field squared can be
either decreasing or increasing with time, whereas for the energy-momentum
tensor the oscillations are damping.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figure
Towards a holographic dual of large-N_c QCD
We study N_f D6-brane probes in the supergravity background dual to N_c
D4-branes compactified on a circle with supersymmetry-breaking boundary
conditions. In the limit in which the resulting Kaluza--Klein modes decouple,
the gauge theory reduces to non-supersymmetric, four-dimensional QCD with N_c
colours and N_f << N_c flavours. As expected, this decoupling is not fully
realised within the supergravity/Born--Infeld approximation. For N_f = 1 and
massless quarks, m_q = 0, we exhibit spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking by a
quark condensate, \neq 0, and find the associated massless
`pion' in the spectrum. The latter becomes massive for m_q > 0, obeying the
Gell-Mann--Oakes--Renner relation: M_pi^2= - m_q / \f_pi^2. In
the case N_f > 1 we provide a holographic version of the Vafa--Witten theorem,
which states that the U(N_f) flavour symmetry cannot be spontaneously broken.
Further we find N_f^2 - 1 unexpectedly light pseudo-scalar mesons in the
spectrum. We argue that these are not (pseudo) Goldstone bosons and speculate
on the string mechanism responsible for their lightness. We then study the
theory at finite temperature and exhibit a phase transition associated with a
discontinuity in the chiral condensate. D6/anti-D6 pairs are also briefly
discussed.Comment: 43 pages, LaTeX; v3: Scalar vs. pseudo-scalar nature of mesons
clarified, references added. v4: Small change in Acknowledgment
Lattice dynamics effects on small polaron properties
This study details the conditions under which strong-coupling perturbation
theory can be applied to the molecular crystal model, a fundamental theoretical
tool for analysis of the polaron properties. I show that lattice dimensionality
and intermolecular forces play a key role in imposing constraints on the
applicability of the perturbative approach. The polaron effective mass has been
computed in different regimes ranging from the fully antiadiabatic to the fully
adiabatic. The polaron masses become essentially dimension independent for
sufficiently strong intermolecular coupling strengths and converge to much
lower values than those tradition-ally obtained in small-polaron theory. I find
evidence for a self-trapping transition in a moderately adiabatic regime at an
electron-phonon coupling value of .3. Our results point to a substantial
independence of the self-trapping event on dimensionality.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
The Relativistic Factor in the Orbital Dynamics of Point Masses
There is a growing population of relativistically relevant minor bodies in
the Solar System and a growing population of massive extrasolar planets with
orbits very close to the central star where relativistic effects should have
some signature. Our purpose is to review how general relativity affects the
orbital dynamics of the planetary systems and to define a suitable relativistic
correction for Solar System orbital studies when only point masses are
considered. Using relativistic formulae for the N body problem suited for a
planetary system given in the literature we present a series of numerical
orbital integrations designed to test the relevance of the effects due to the
general theory of relativity in the case of our Solar System. Comparison
between different algorithms for accounting for the relativistic corrections
are performed. Relativistic effects generated by the Sun or by the central star
are the most relevant ones and produce evident modifications in the secular
dynamics of the inner Solar System. The Kozai mechanism, for example, is
modified due to the relativistic effects on the argument of the perihelion.
Relativistic effects generated by planets instead are of very low relevance but
detectable in numerical simulations
Towards a nanospecific approach for risk assessment.
In the current paper, a new strategy for risk assessment of nanomaterials is described, which builds upon
previous project outcomes and is developed within the FP7 NANoREG project. NANoREG has the aim to
develop, for the long term, new testing strategies adapted to a high number of nanomaterials where
many factors can affect their environmental and health impact. In the proposed risk assessment strategy,
approaches for (Quantitative) Structure Activity Relationships ((Q)SARs), grouping and read-across are
integrated and expanded to guide the user how to prioritise those nanomaterial applications that may
lead to high risks for human health. Furthermore, those aspects of exposure, kinetics and hazard
assessment that are most likely to be influenced by the nanospecific properties of the material under
assessment are identified. These aspects are summarised in six elements, which play a key role in the
strategy: exposure potential, dissolution, nanomaterial transformation, accumulation, genotoxicity and
immunotoxicity.
With the current approach it is possible to identify those situations where the use of nanospecific
grouping, read-across and (Q)SAR tools is likely to become feasible in the future, and to point towards the
generation of the type of data that is needed for scientific justification, which may lead to regulatory
acceptance of nanospecific applications of these tools.The research leading to these results has been partially funded
by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/
2007e2013) under the project NANoREG (A common European
approach to the regulatory testing of nanomaterials), grant agreement
310584.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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