Systematics of species of the genus Akodon (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae) in southeastern Brazil and implications for the biogeography of the Campos de Altitude

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111041/1/MP197.pd

A Monte Carlo approach to study neutron and fragment emission in heavy-ion reactions

Quantum Molecular Dynamics models (QMD) are Monte Carlo approaches targeted at the description of nucleon-ion and ion-ion collisions. We have developed a QMD code, which has been used for the simulation of the fast stage of ion-ion collisions, considering a wide range of system masses and system mass asymmetries. The slow stage of the collisions has been described by statistical methods. The combination of both stages leads to final distributions of particles and fragments, which have been compared to experimental data available in literature. A few results of these comparisons, concerning neutron double-differential production cross-sections for C, Ne and Ar ions impinging on C, Cu and Pb targets at 290 - 400 MeV/A bombarding energies and fragment isotopic distributions from Xe + Al at 790 MeV/A, are shown in this paper.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, submitted for publication in Adv. Space Re

Systematics of species of the genus Akodon (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae) in southeastern Brazil and implications for the biogeography of the Campos de Altitude.

Faunal inventories of the highest peaks of the Atlantic forests of South America, in the Caparaó and Itatiaia mountain ranges in Southeastern Brazil, have revealed a new community of small mammals. The species making up this community appear to be restricted to the highest altitudinal zones and are found in close association with scattered montane grasslands (campos de altitude). Their phylogenetic relationships can provide insights into speciation in mountaintop communities of the Atlantic forest. In this paper we review the taxonomic identity and systematic relationships of Akodon mystax, a high- altitude endemic described from Caparaó. We demonstrate that populations from Itatiaia previously assigned to mystax are morphologically, cytogenetically and genetically distinct from that species and appear to represent a northern isolate of Akodon paranaensis, and that Akodon mystax is closely related to Akodon lindberghi from the Central Brazilian grasslands. Phylogenetic relationships among these populations demonstrate that differentiation of the mountaintop endemics of Caparaó and Itatiaia is not solely attributable the isolation of campos de altitude from southern grasslands of Brazil and Uruguay as grasslands retreated southward, phylogenetic analyses of some groups suggest connections between the campos de altitude and Central Brazil."http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102734/1/MP197.pd

The FLUKA atmospheric neutrino flux calculation

The 3-dimensional (3-D) calculation of the atmospheric neutrino flux by means of the FLUKA Monte Carlo model is here described in all details, starting from the latest data on primary cosmic ray spectra. The importance of a 3-D calculation and of its consequences have been already debated in a previous paper. Here instead the focus is on the absolute flux. We stress the relevant aspects of the hadronic interaction model of FLUKA in the atmospheric neutrino flux calculation. This model is constructed and maintained so to provide a high degree of accuracy in the description of particle production. The accuracy achieved in the comparison with data from accelerators and cross checked with data on particle production in atmosphere certifies the reliability of shower calculation in atmosphere. The results presented here can be already used for analysis by current experiments on atmospheric neutrinos. However they represent an intermediate step towards a final release, since this calculation does not yet include the bending of charged particles in atmosphere. On the other hand this last aspect, while requiring a considerable effort in a fully 3-D description of the Earth, if a high level of accuracy has to be maintained, does not affect in a significant way the analysis of atmospheric neutrino events.Comment: Papper has been corrected since the cosine of Zenith angle in flux tables was erraneously inverted. Also, fig. 17 and 18 have been correcte

Charged AdS Black Holes and Catastrophic Holography

We compute the properties of a class of charged black holes in anti-de Sitter space-time, in diverse dimensions. These black holes are solutions of consistent Einstein-Maxwell truncations of gauged supergravities, which are shown to arise from the inclusion of rotation in the transverse space. We uncover rich thermodynamic phase structures for these systems, which display classic critical phenomena, including structures isomorphic to the van der Waals-Maxwell liquid-gas system. In that case, the phases are controlled by the universal `cusp' and `swallowtail' shapes familiar from catastrophe theory. All of the thermodynamics is consistent with field theory interpretations via holography, where the dual field theories can sometimes be found on the world volumes of coincident rotating branes.Comment: 19 pages, revtex, psfig, 6 multicomponent figures, typos, references and a few remarks have been repaired, and adde

Dimensional Dependence of Black Hole Formation in Self-Similar Collapse of Scalar Field

We study classical and quantum self-similar collapses of a massless scalar field in higher dimensions, and examine how the increase in the number of dimensions affects gravitational collapse and black hole formation. Higher dimensions seem to favor formation of black hole rather than other final states, in that the initial data space for black hole formation enlarges as dimension increases. On the other hand, the quantum gravity effect on the collapse lessens as dimension increases. We also discuss the gravitational collapse in a brane world with large but compact extra dimensions.Comment: Improved a few arguments and added a figur

The Modern Design of Experiments for Configuration Aerodynamics: A Case Study

The effects of slowly varying and persisting covariate effects on the accuracy and precision of experimental result is reviewed, as is the rationale for run-order randomization as a quality assurance tactic employed in the Modern Design of Experiments (MDOE) to defend against such effects. Considerable analytical complexity is introduced by restrictions on randomization in configuration aerodynamics tests because they involve hard-to-change configuration variables that cannot be randomized conveniently. Tradeoffs are examined between quality and productivity associated with varying degrees of rigor in accounting for such randomization restrictions. Certain characteristics of a configuration aerodynamics test are considered that may justify a relaxed accounting for randomization restrictions to achieve a significant reduction in analytical complexity with a comparably negligible adverse impact on the validity of the experimental results

Organizational and Leadership Implications for Transformational Development

Transformational development is a concept of change that originated in the Christian context but has now become generally used in the work of both secular and faith-based organizations. The growing use of the concept by organizations that are fundamentally different has naturally led to some confusion about what the concept means and what it takes to effectively implement it. In this article, we describe the key features of the concept and how they are important in determining the organizational requirements for its effective implementation. Drawing on a few cases, the paper highlights the centrality of faith in transformational development work

Lorentz breaking Effective Field Theory and observational tests

Analogue models of gravity have provided an experimentally realizable test field for our ideas on quantum field theory in curved spacetimes but they have also inspired the investigation of possible departures from exact Lorentz invariance at microscopic scales. In this role they have joined, and sometime anticipated, several quantum gravity models characterized by Lorentz breaking phenomenology. A crucial difference between these speculations and other ones associated to quantum gravity scenarios, is the possibility to carry out observational and experimental tests which have nowadays led to a broad range of constraints on departures from Lorentz invariance. We shall review here the effective field theory approach to Lorentz breaking in the matter sector, present the constraints provided by the available observations and finally discuss the implications of the persisting uncertainty on the composition of the ultra high energy cosmic rays for the constraints on the higher order, analogue gravity inspired, Lorentz violations.Comment: 47 pages, 4 figures. Lecture Notes for the IX SIGRAV School on "Analogue Gravity", Como (Italy), May 2011. V.3. Typo corrected, references adde

Detector Description and Performance for the First Coincidence Observations between LIGO and GEO

For 17 days in August and September 2002, the LIGO and GEO interferometer gravitational wave detectors were operated in coincidence to produce their first data for scientific analysis. Although the detectors were still far from their design sensitivity levels, the data can be used to place better upper limits on the flux of gravitational waves incident on the earth than previous direct measurements. This paper describes the instruments and the data in some detail, as a companion to analysis papers based on the first data.Comment: 41 pages, 9 figures 17 Sept 03: author list amended, minor editorial change