84 research outputs found
Migratory monarchs that encounter resident monarchs show life‐history differences and higher rates of parasite infection
Environmental change induces some wildlife populations to shift from migratory to resident behaviours. Newly formed resident populations could influence the health and behaviour of remaining migrants. We investigated migrant–resident interactions among monarch butterflies and consequences for life history and parasitism. Eastern North American monarchs migrate annually to Mexico, but some now breed year‐round on exotic milkweed in the southern US and experience high infection prevalence of protozoan parasites. Using stable isotopes (δ2H, δ13C) and cardenolide profiles to estimate natal origins, we show that migrant and resident monarchs overlap during fall and spring migration. Migrants at sites with residents were 13 times more likely to have infections and three times more likely to be reproductive (outside normal breeding season) compared to other migrants. Exotic milkweed might either attract migrants that are already infected or reproductive, or alternatively, induce these states. Increased migrant–resident interactions could affect monarch parasitism, migratory success and long‐term conservation.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146381/1/ele13144_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146381/2/ele13144.pd
A New Relativistic High Temperature Bose-Einstein Condensation
We discuss the properties of an ideal relativistic gas of events possessing
Bose-Einstein statistics. We find that the mass spectrum of such a system is
bounded by where is the usual chemical
potential, is an intrinsic dimensional scale parameter for the motion of an
event in space-time, and is an additional mass potential of the
ensemble. For the system including both particles and antiparticles, with
nonzero chemical potential the mass spectrum is shown to be bounded by
and a special type of high-temperature
Bose-Einstein condensation can occur. We study this Bose-Einstein condensation,
and show that it corresponds to a phase transition from the sector of
continuous relativistic mass distributions to a sector in which the boson mass
distribution becomes sharp at a definite mass This phenomenon
provides a mechanism for the mass distribution of the particles to be sharp at
some definite value.Comment: Latex, 22 page
Projective dynamics and classical gravitation
Given a real vector space V of finite dimension, together with a particular
homogeneous field of bivectors that we call a "field of projective forces", we
define a law of dynamics such that the position of the particle is a "ray" i.e.
a half-line drawn from the origin of V. The impulsion is a bivector whose
support is a 2-plane containing the ray. Throwing the particle with a given
initial impulsion defines a projective trajectory. It is a curve in the space
of rays S(V), together with an impulsion attached to each ray. In the simplest
example where the force is identically zero, the curve is a straight line and
the impulsion a constant bivector. A striking feature of projective dynamics
appears: the trajectories are not parameterized.
Among the projective force fields corresponding to a central force, the one
defining the Kepler problem is simpler than those corresponding to other
homogeneities. Here the thrown ray describes a quadratic cone whose section by
a hyperplane corresponds to a Keplerian conic. An original point of view on the
hidden symmetries of the Kepler problem emerges, and clarifies some remarks due
to Halphen and Appell. We also get the unexpected conclusion that there exists
a notion of divergence-free field of projective forces if and only if dim V=4.
No metric is involved in the axioms of projective dynamics.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure
Stark Effect in Lax-Phillips Theory
The scattering theory of Lax and Phillips, originally developed to describe
resonances associated with classical wave equations, has been recently extended
to apply as well to the case of the Schroedinger equation in the case that the
wave operators for the corresponding Lax-Phillips theory exist. It is known
that the bound state levels of an atom become resonances (spectral
enhancements) in the continuum in the presence of an electric field (in all
space) in the quantum mechanical Hilbert space. Such resonances appear as
states in the extended Lax-Phillips Hilbert space. We show that for a simple
version of the Stark effect, these states can be explicitly computed, and
exhibit the (necessarily) semigroup property of decay in time. The widths and
location of the resonances are those given by the poles of the resolvent of the
standard quantum mechanical form.Comment: Plain TeX, 19 page
Relativistic Calculation of the Meson Spectrum: a Fully Covariant Treatment Versus Standard Treatments
A large number of treatments of the meson spectrum have been tried that
consider mesons as quark - anti quark bound states. Recently, we used
relativistic quantum "constraint" mechanics to introduce a fully covariant
treatment defined by two coupled Dirac equations. For field-theoretic
interactions, this procedure functions as a "quantum mechanical transform of
Bethe-Salpeter equation". Here, we test its spectral fits against those
provided by an assortment of models: Wisconsin model, Iowa State model,
Brayshaw model, and the popular semi-relativistic treatment of Godfrey and
Isgur. We find that the fit provided by the two-body Dirac model for the entire
meson spectrum competes with the best fits to partial spectra provided by the
others and does so with the smallest number of interaction functions without
additional cutoff parameters necessary to make other approaches numerically
tractable. We discuss the distinguishing features of our model that may account
for the relative overall success of its fits. Note especially that in our
approach for QCD, the resulting pion mass and associated Goldstone behavior
depend sensitively on the preservation of relativistic couplings that are
crucial for its success when solved nonperturbatively for the analogous
two-body bound-states of QED.Comment: 75 pages, 6 figures, revised content
STRIDER (Sildenafil TheRapy in dismal prognosis early onset fetal growth restriction): An international consortium of randomised placebo-controlled trials
Background: Severe, early-onset fetal growth restriction due to placental insufficiency is associated with a high risk of perinatal mortality and morbidity with long-lasting sequelae. Placental insufficiency is the result of abnormal formation and function of the placenta with inadequate remodelling of the maternal spiral arteries. There is currently no effective therapy available. Some evidence suggests sildenafil citrate may improve uteroplacental blood flow, fetal growth, and meaningful infant outcomes. The objective of the Sildenafil TheRapy In Dismal prognosis Early onset fetal growth Restriction (STRIDER) collaboration is to evaluate the effectiveness of sildenafil versus placebo in achieving healthy perinatal survival through the conduct of randomised clinical trials and systematic review including individual patient data meta-analysis. Methods: Five national/bi-national multicentre randomised placebo-controlled trials have been launched. Women with a singleton pregnancy between 18 and 30 weeks with severe fetal growth restriction of likely placental origin, and where the likelihood of perinatal death/severe morbidity is estimated to be significant are included. Participants will receive either sildenafil 25 mg or matching placebo tablets orally three times daily from recruitment to 32 weeks gestation. Discussion: The STRIDER trials were conceived and designed through international collaboration. Although the individual trials have different primary outcomes for reasons of sample size and feasibility, all trials will collect a standard set of outcomes including survival without severe neonatal morbidity at time of hospital discharge. This is a summary of all the STRIDER trial protocols and provides an example of a prospectively planned international clinical research collaboration. All five individual trials will contribute to a pre-planned systematic review of the topic including individual patient data meta-analysis
All-sky search for long-duration gravitational wave transients with initial LIGO
We present the results of a search for long-duration gravitational wave transients in two sets of data collected by the LIGO Hanford and LIGO Livingston detectors between November 5, 2005 and September 30, 2007, and July 7, 2009 and October 20, 2010, with a total observational time of 283.0 days and 132.9 days, respectively. The search targets gravitational wave transients of duration 10-500 s in a frequency band of 40-1000 Hz, with minimal assumptions about the signal waveform, polarization, source direction, or time of occurrence. All candidate triggers were consistent with the expected background; as a result we set 90% confidence upper limits on the rate of long-duration gravitational wave transients for different types of gravitational wave signals. For signals from black hole accretion disk instabilities, we set upper limits on the source rate density between 3.4×10-5 and 9.4×10-4 Mpc-3 yr-1 at 90% confidence. These are the first results from an all-sky search for unmodeled long-duration transient gravitational waves. © 2016 American Physical Society
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