2,925 research outputs found
The Bailey Point Region and Other Muskox Refugia in the Canadian Arctic: A Short Review
The muskox (Ovibos moschatus) is widely distributed over much of arctic Canada but only at a few locations do their densities remain high and populations relatively stable. These refugia constitute the most favourable muskox ranges in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago .... Refugia for muskoxen in the High Arctic include lowlands on eastern Axel Heiberg Island in the Mokka Fiord region, the lowlands of northeastern Devon Island, and the Bailey Point region of Melville Island .... All of those regions historically have supported high densities of muskoxen from time to time but the Bailey Point region must be considered the best habitat for muskoxen in the Canadian High Arctic. ..
The Author and the Authors of the 'Vita Ædwardi Regis:' Women's Literary Culture and Digital Humanities
Commissioned by Queen Edith in the 1060s, the Vita Ædwardi Regis (hereafter VER) has recently received substantial scholarly attention, including focus on identification of the author of this putatively anonymous text; the quest for authorial identification has until now proceeded with the assumption of sole authorship of the text. Lexomics, an open-access vocabulary analysis tool, adds digital strategies to more traditional literary and historical analyses; the Lexomic evidence indicates that the VER is a composite text built by multiple contributors under the direction of the queen. Not only did Edith's patronage cause the VER to be written, but her knowledge, and her personal and political interests, shaped the Life's content. Hers was the active, guiding intellect behind the entire text, and in two passages the VER appears not only to communicate the queen's intentions but also to preserve her voice. If any one person is to be identified as the 'author' of the VER, therefore, it is Edith, guiding a team of writers and scribes to tell her story
Benchmarking best manufacturing practices: a study into four sectors of Turkish industry
Reports on a benchmarking study conducted to quantify how well companies operating in various sectors of Turkish industry match up to best practice, both in the practices they adopt and in the operational outcomes that result, and to test the hypothesis that the closer a company is to best practice, the more likely it is for that company to achieve higher business performance. The survey conducted in 1997 and 1998 included 82 companies from the Turkish electronics, cement, automotive sectors and part and component suppliers to the appliance industry. For data gathering. employs the Competitive Strategies and Best Practices Benchmarking Questionnaire, supported ly, some follow-up interviews and one-day site visits. Classifies two small groups of companies as leaders and laggers, depending on how close they were to best practice. Shows that the leaders have performed better than the laggers in adopting best manufacturing practices and in the achievement of high performance La,els. The leaders also have achieved substantially higher business performance than the laggers. Furthermore, observes that large-sized companies outperform the rest both in terms of their success in implementing best manufacturing practices and in achieving high operational outcomes and that there is no appreciable difference between industrial sectors in implementing best manufacturing practices and in achieving high operational outcomes
Mach-Zehnder fiber interferometer test of the anisotropy of the speed of light
Two optical fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometers were constructed in an
environment with a temperature stabilization of better than 1 mK per day. One
interferometer with a length of 12 m optical fiber in each arm with the main
direction of the arms perpendicular to each other. Another with a length of 2 m
optical fiber in each arm where the main direction of the arms are parallel as
a control. In each arm 1 m of fiber was wound around a ring made of piezo
material enabling the control of the length of the arms by means of a voltage.
The influence of the temperature on the optical phase difference between the
interferometer arms was measured. It is attributed to the temperature change
induced variation of the interaction region of the optical fiber couplers.
Further, the influence of rotation of the interferometers at the Earth surface
on the observed phase differences was determined. For one interferometer (with
the long and perpendicular arms) it was found that the phase difference depends
on the azimuth of the interferometer. For the other one (with the short and
parallel arms) no relevant dependence on the azimuth has been measured.Comment: Errata: data of interferometers were interchange
Evidence for Adiabatic Magnetization of cold Dy_N Clusters
Magnetic properties of Dy_N clusters in a molecular beam generated with a
liquid helium cooled nozzle are investigated by Stern-Gerlach experiments. The
cluster magnetizations \mu_z are measured as a function of magnetic field (B =
0 - 1.6T) and cluster size (16 < N < 56). The most important observation is the
saturation of the magnetization \mu_z(B) at large field strengths. The
magnetization approaches saturation following the power law |\mu_z-\mu_0|
proportional to 1/\sqrt{B}, where \mu_0 denotes the magnetic moment. This gives
evidence for adiabatic magnetization.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Polymorphism in a Plasmodium falciparum Erythrocyte-binding Ligand Changes Its Receptor Specificity
Recognition of human erythrocytes by Plasmodium species depends in part on Region II of the Duffy binding-like family of parasite ligands, which includes BA erythrocyte binding ligand (BAEBL) of P. falciparum. In previous studies of BAEBL from two clones, Dd2/Nm from Vietnam and E12 from Papua New Guinea (PNG), it was found that BAEBL bound different erythrocyte receptors. Because of variation in binding specificity, we studied the sequence and erythrocyte binding specificity of Region II of BAEBL in P. falciparum clones from different parts of the world. We observed five nucleotide substitutions leading to five amino acid changes and five polymorphisms in Region II of BAEBL in parasites from both PNG and other parts of the world. We expressed four of the polymorphisms on COS cells and determined their binding to enzyme-treated erythrocytes and to Gerbich-negative erythrocytes. We also performed erythrocyte-binding assay using the native protein from radiolabeled culture supernatant. Both assays demonstrated that each of the four polymorphisms in the parasite ligand, BAEBL, bound to a different receptor on erythrocytes. These results suggest that P. falciparum has evolved multiple invasion pathways dependent on polymorphisms in the BAEBL ligand
Vector lattice model for stresses in granular materials
A vector lattice model for stresses in granular materials is proposed. A two
dimensional pile built by pouring from a point is constructed numerically
according to this model. Remarkably, the pile violates the Mohr Coulomb
stability criterion for granular matter, probably because of the inherent
anisotropy of such poured piles. The numerical results are also compared to the
earlier continuum FPA model and the (scalar) lattice -model
Eigenmodes of index-modulated layers with lateral PMLs
Maxwell equations are solved in a layer comprising a finite number of
homogeneous isotropic dielectric regions ended by anisotropic perfectly matched
layers (PMLs). The boundary-value problem is solved and the dispersion relation
inside the PML is derived. The general expression of the eigenvalues equation
for an arbitrary number of regions in each layer is obtained, and both
polarization modes are considered. The modal functions of a single layer ended
by PMLs are found, and their orthogonality relation is derived. The present
method is useful to simulate scattering problems from dielectric objects as
well as propagation in planar slab waveguides. Its potential to deal with more
complex problems such as the scattering from an object with arbitrary cross
section in open space using the multilayer modal method is briefly discussed.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure
Density of states "width parity" effect in d-wave superconducting quantum wires
We calculate the density of states (DOS) in a clean mesoscopic d-wave
superconducting quantum wire, i.e. a sample of infinite length but finite width
. For open boundary conditions, the DOS at zero energy is found to be zero
if is even, and nonzero if is odd. At finite chemical potential, all
chains are gapped but the qualtitative differences between even and odd
remain.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, new figures and extended discussio
- …