14,576 research outputs found
Ecosystem properties and principles of living systems as foundation for sustainable agriculture – Critical reviews of environmental assessment tools, key findings and questions from a course process
With increasing demands on limited resources worldwide, there is a growing interest in sustainable patterns of utilisation and production. Ecological agriculture is a response to these concerns.
To assess progress and compliance, standard and comprehensive measures of resource requirements, impacts and agro-ecological health are needed. Assessment tools should also be rapid, standardized, userfriendly, meaningful to public policy and applicable to management. Fully considering these requirements confounds the development of integrated methods.
Currently, there are many methodologies for monitoring performance, each with its own foundations, assumptions, goals, and outcomes, dependent upon agency agenda or academic orientation. Clearly, a concept of sustainability must address biophysical, ecological, economic, and sociocultural foundations.
Assessment indicators and criteria, however, are generally limited, lacking integration, and at times in conflict with one another. A result is that certification criteria, indicators, and assessment methods are not based on a consistent, underlying conceptual framework and often lack a management focus.
Ecosystem properties and principles of living systems, including self-organisation, renewal, embeddedness, emergence and commensurate response provide foundation for sustainability assessments and may be appropriate focal points for critical thinking in an evaluation of current methods and standards. A systems framework may also help facilitate a comprehensive approach and promote a context for meaningful discourse. Without holistic accounts, sustainable progress remains an illdefined concept and an elusive goal.
Our intent, in the work with this report, was to use systems ecology as a pedagogic basis for learning and discussion to:
- Articulate general and common characteristics of living systems.
- Identify principles, properties and patterns inherent in natural ecosystems.
- Use these findings as foci in a dialogue about attributes of sustainability to:
a. develop a model for communicating scientific rationale.
b. critically evaluate environmental assessment tools for application in land-use.
c. propose appropriate criteria for a comprehensive assessment and expanded definition of ecological land use
Timelike self-similar spherically symmetric perfect-fluid models
Einstein's field equations for timelike self-similar spherically symmetric
perfect-fluid models are investigated. The field equations are rewritten as a
first-order system of autonomous differential equations. Dimensionless
variables are chosen in such a way that the number of equations in the coupled
system is reduced as far as possible and so that the reduced phase space
becomes compact and regular. The system is subsequently analysed qualitatively
using the theory of dynamical systems.Comment: 23 pages, 6 eps-figure
Parametrizations of triaxial deformation and E2 transitions of the wobbling band
By the very definition the triaxial deformation parameter is related
to the expectation values of the K=0 and K=2 components of the intrinsic
quadrupole tensor operator. On the other hand, using the same symbol
"", various different parametrizations of triaxial deformation have
been employed, which are suitable for various types of the mean-field
potentials. It is pointed out that the values of various "" are quite
different for the same actual triaxial deformation, especially for the large
deformation; for example, the difference can be almost a factor two for the
case of the triaxial superdeformed bands recently observed in the Hf and Lu
nuclei. In our previous work, we have studied the wobbling band in Lu nuclei by
using the microscopic framework of the cranked Nilsson mean-field and the
random phase approximation, where the most serious problem is that the
calculated B(E2) value is about factor two smaller. It is shown that the origin
of this underestimation can be mainly attributed to the small triaxial
deformation; if is used the same triaxial deformation as in the analysis of the
particle-rotor model, the calculated B(E2) increases and gives correct
magnitude compared with the experimental data.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure
Quantum memory for non-stationary light fields based on controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening
We propose a new method for efficient storage and recall of non-stationary
light fields, e.g. single photon time-bin qubits, in optically dense atomic
ensembles. Our approach to quantum memory is based on controlled, reversible,
inhomogeneous broadening. We briefly discuss experimental realizations of our
proposal.Comment: 4 page
Spatially self-similar locally rotationally symmetric perfect fluid models
Einstein's field equations for spatially self-similar locally rotationally
symmetric perfect fluid models are investigated. The field equations are
rewritten as a first order system of autonomous ordinary differential
equations. Dimensionless variables are chosen in such a way that the number of
equations in the coupled system of differential equations is reduced as far as
possible. The system is subsequently analyzed qualitatively for some of the
models. The nature of the singularities occurring in the models is discussed.Comment: 27 pages, pictures available at
ftp://vanosf.physto.se/pub/figures/ssslrs.tar.g
Processing Issues in Top-Down Approaches to Quantum Computer Development in Silicon
We describe critical processing issues in our development of single atom
devices for solid-state quantum information processing. Integration of single
31P atoms with control gates and single electron transistor (SET) readout
structures is addressed in a silicon-based approach. Results on electrical
activation of low energy (15 keV) P implants in silicon show a strong dose
effect on the electrical activation fractions. We identify dopant segregation
to the SiO2/Si interface during rapid thermal annealing as a dopant loss
channel and discuss measures of minimizing it. Silicon nanowire SET pairs with
nanowire width of 10 to 20 nm are formed by electron beam lithography in SOI.
We present first results from Coulomb blockade experiments and discuss issues
of control gate integration for sub-40nm gate pitch levels
Wave functions in the neighborhood of a toroidal surface; hard vs. soft constraint
The curvature potential arising from confining a particle initially in
three-dimensional space onto a curved surface is normally derived in the hard
constraint limit, with the degree of freedom normal to the
surface. In this work the hard constraint is relaxed, and eigenvalues and wave
functions are numerically determined for a particle confined to a thin layer in
the neighborhood of a toroidal surface. The hard constraint and finite layer
(or soft constraint) quantities are comparable, but both differ markedly from
those of the corresponding two dimensional system, indicating that the
curvature potential continues to influence the dynamics when the particle is
confined to a finite layer. This effect is potentially of consequence to the
modelling of curved nanostructures.Comment: 4 pages, no fig
Spin-Orbit Pendulum: the Microscopic Stern-Gerlach Effect
The motion of a particle with a spin in spherical harmonic oscillator
potential with spin-orbit interaction is studied. We have focus our attention
on spatial motion of wave packets, giving a description complementary to motion
of spin discussed already in [1]. The particular initial conditions studied
here lead to the most transparent formulas and can be treated analytically. A
strong analogy with the Stern-Gerlach experiment is suggested. [1] R.Arvieu and
P.Rozmej, Phys.Rev.A50 (1994) 4376.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX (precisely RevTeX), attached 4 complicated Postscript
figures , Paper submitted to Phys.Rev.
Peculiarities in produced particles emission in 208Pb + Ag(Br) interactions at 158 A GeV/c
The angular structures of particles produced in 208Pb induced collisions with
Ag(Br) nuclei in an emulsion detector at 158 A GeV/c have been investigated.
Nonstatistical ring-like substructures in azimuthal plane of the collision have
been found and their parameters have been determined. The indication on the
formation of the ring-like substructures from two symmetrical emission cones -
one in the forward and other in the backward direction in the center-of mass
system have been obtained. The ring-like substructures parameters have been
determined. The experimental results are in an agreement with I.M. Dremin idea,
that mechanism of the ring-like substructures formation in nuclear collisions
is similar to that of Cherenkov electromagnetic radiation.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, Report at the HADRON STRUCTURE'04 Conference,
Smolenice, Slovakia, 30.8.-3.9.200
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