Magnetic field effects on the density of states of orthorhombic superconductors

The quasiparticle density of states in a two-dimensional d-wave superconductor depends on the orientation of the in-plane external magnetic field H. This is because. in the region of the gap nodes, the Doppler shift due to the circulating supercurrents around a vortex depend on the direction of H. For a tetragonal system the induced pattern is four-fold symmetric and, at zero energy, the density of states exhibits minima along the node directions. But YBa_2C_3O_{6.95} is orthorhombic because of the chains and the pattern becomes two-fold symmetric with the position of the minima occuring when H is oriented along the Fermi velocity at a node on the Fermi surface. The effect of impurity scattering in the Born and unitary limit is discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 11 Figure

Genetic gain in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) varieties 1973 to 2013

AbstractPerennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) forms the basis of grassland production in temperate pastures and is globally one of the most important forage grasses. Consequently, there has been large plant breeding industry investment over the past 40 years in producing new varieties and independent testing systems designed to identify and list those with the most improved performances. This study was conducted at the Plant Testing Station, Crossnacreevy, Northern Ireland and compared the DM yield and sward density of new varieties submitted from 1973 to 2013 and grass digestibility from 1980 to 2013, under conservation and simulated grazing managements. A variety × years matrix was compiled for each parameter and comparable means between varieties never in side by side performance trials were produced. Dry matter yields showed an overall significant (p &lt; 0.001) average annual increase of 0.52 % under conservation and 0.35 % under simulated grazing, with similar gain levels within maturity groups or ploidies. These rates were not constant over time, and periods of no gain occurred in various variety groupings. Sward density of the examined varieties did not change significantly. Herbage digestibility showed no improvement over the timeframe but had the largest differences between concurrent varieties, indicating that improvements were possible in the future. The study indicated that plant breeding gains were primarily DM yield focused with sward density remaining stagnant over the 40 years, while the lack of grass digestibility improvement appeared to only require more time to overcome. Evidence of benefits and risks of variety testing influences on plant breeding objectives was discussed.</jats:p

Design and Testing of a Novel Air-cooled Condenser for Concentrated Solar Power Plants

AbstractThis paper aims at developing a novel air-cooled condenser for concentrated solar power plants. The condenser offers two significant advantages over the existing state of the art. Firstly, it can be installed in a modular format where pre-assembled condenser modules reduce installation costs. Secondly, instead of using large, fixed speed fans, smaller speed controlled fans are incorporated into the individual modules. This facility allows the operating point of the condenser to change in order to maximise plant efficiency at all times. Two condenser designs were proposed and full-scale prototype modules were manufactured for experimental testing. Both designs comprise a bank of circular finned tubes, coupled to an array of axial fans. The air-side thermal and aerodynamic characteristics were measured using a purpose built steady-state test facility. The measurements were correlated and compared well with existing correlations in the relevant literature, thus validating their use in thermodynamic models to predict power plant performance. A plant performance analysis was conducted combing the experimental measurements with output data from a 50MW concentrated solar power plant. This analysis firstly verified that the plant efficiency can be continually maximised by altering the condenser fan speed. Furthermore, under certain conditions plant output can be increased by over 10% by varying fan speed by 10% of the full speed. The study also provides a comparison of the two designs in terms of their effect on the plant output power. With respect to the thermodynamic efficiency and cost-efficiency, the four row condenser substantially outperforms the initial six row design

Detection of transit timing variations in excess of one hour in the Kepler multi-planet candidate system KOI 806 with the GTC

We report the detection of transit timing variations (TTVs) well in excess of one hour in the Kepler multi-planet candidate system KOI 806. This system exhibits transits consistent with three separate planets -- a Super-Earth, a Jupiter, and a Saturn -- lying very nearly in a 1:2:5 resonance, respectively. We used the Kepler public data archive and observations with the Gran Telescopio de Canarias to compile the necessary photometry. For the largest candidate planet (KOI 806.02) in this system, we detected a large transit timing variation of -103.5$\pm$6.9 minutes against previously published ephemeris. We did not obtain a strong detection of a transit color signature consistent with a planet-sized object; however, we did not detect a color difference in transit depth, either. The large TTV is consistent with theoretical predictions that exoplanets in resonance can produce large transit timing variations, particularly if the orbits are eccentric. The presence of large TTVs among the bodies in this systems indicates that KOI806 is very likely to be a planetary system. This is supported by the lack of a strong color dependence in the transit depth, which would suggest a blended eclipsing binary.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted into A&A Letter

The Transit Light Curve Project. VI. Three Transits of the Exoplanet TrES-2

Of the nearby transiting exoplanets that are amenable to detailed study, TrES-2 is both the most massive and has the largest impact parameter. We present z-band photometry of three transits of TrES-2. We improve upon the estimates of the planetary, stellar, and orbital parameters, in conjunction with the spectroscopic analysis of the host star by Sozzetti and co-workers. We find the planetary radius to be 1.222 +/- 0.038 R_Jup and the stellar radius to be 1.003 +/- 0.027 R_Sun. The quoted uncertainties include the systematic error due to the uncertainty in the stellar mass (0.980 +/- 0.062 M_Sun). The timings of the transits have an accuracy of 25s and are consistent with a uniform period, thus providing a baseline for future observations with the NASA Kepler satellite, whose field of view will include TrES-2.Comment: 15 pages, including 2 figures, accepted Ap

Dry Matter Yield of Perennial Ryegrass Cultivars under Mechanical Cutting and Animal Grazing

Perennial ryegrass evaluation trials are essential to identifying and promoting the most productive cultivars for use at farm level to maximise sward productivity (Grogan and Gilliland 2011). Cultivar testing is predominantly conducted under simulated grazing trials to predict dry matter yield (DMY) performance under animal grazing. Previous studies have shown a high correlation in DMY between these two defoliation methods (Camlin and Stewart 1975; Creighton et al. 2010). In contrast, Binnie and Chestnutt (1991) demonstrated that swards grazed by animals had higher DMY performance than those exposed to simulated grazing managements. Animal pressures such as pulling, treading and nutrient return are not present in a simulated grazing management. The objective of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between the DMY of perennial ryegrass cultivars exposed to mechanical cutting compared to animal grazing

Fermi-Liquid Interactions in d-Wave Superconductor

This article develops a quantitative quasiparticle model of the low-temperature properties of d-wave superconductors which incorporates both Fermi-liquid effects and band-structure effects. The Fermi-liquid interaction effects are found to be classifiable into strong and negligible renormalizaton effects, for symmetric and antisymmetric combinations of the energies of $k\uparrow$ and $-k\downarrow$ quasiparticles, respectively. A particularly important conclusion is that the leading clean-limit temperature-dependent correction to the superfluid density is not renormalized by Fermi-liquid interactions, but is subject to a Fermi velocity (or mass) renormalization effect. This leads to difficulties in accounting for the penetration depth measurements with physically acceptable parameters, and hence reopens the question of the quantitative validity of the quasiparticle picture.Comment: 4 page

Utjecaj prinosa pašnjaka i pašnog obroka na kvalitetu travnjaka, unos paše i proizvodnju mlijeka.

Sixty-four Holstein-Friesian cows were randomly assigned to one of four treatments (M15, M20, H15 and H20) in a 2x2 factorial design, by considering: two pre-grazing pasture mass levels (PM, kg DM/ha): medium (M-1,600) vs. high (H-2,400); and two pasture allowance levels (PA, kg DM/cow/day): low (15) vs. high (20). Two periods (PI vs. PII) were studied. Sward density and pre-grazing sward height were higher in high compared to medium pre-grazing PM swards in PI (P<0.001, 255 vs. 235 kg DM/cm/ha and P<0.001, 14.8 vs. 10.9 cm, respectively) and PII (P<0.001, 216 vs. 196 kg DM/cm/ha and P<0.001, 14.3 vs. 13.0 cm, respectively). Lower post-grazing sward height and higher pasture utilization were obtained in low compared to high PA swards in PI (P<0.001, 4.1 vs. 4.9 cm and P<0.001, 98.8 vs. 89.9 %, respectively) and PII (P<0.001, 4.3 vs. 5.0 cm and P<0.001, 97.1 vs. 89.9 %, respectively). Pasture crude protein content and pasture organic matter digestibility were higher in medium compared to high pre-grazing PM swards in PI (P<0.001, 210 vs. 176 g/kg DM and P<0.05, 846 vs. 836 g/kg DM, respectively) and PII (P<0.05, 212 vs. 192 g/kg DM and P<0.05, 828 vs. 821 g/kg DM, respectively). This was due to higher leaf and lower dead proportions in medium than in high pre-grazing PM swards. Pasture dry matter intake (PDMI) (P<0.001, 16.5 vs. 14.7 kg DM/cow/day), milk yield (MY) (P<0.01, 23.8 vs. 22.7 kg/day) and milk solids yield (MSY) (P<0.05, 1.69 vs. 1.61 kg/cow) were higher in high compared to low PA swards in PI. Higher PDMI (P<0.001, 15.7 vs. 14.1 kg DM/cow/day), MY (P<0.001, 15.4 vs. 13.6 kg/day) and MSY (P<0.01, 1.19 vs. 1.08 kg/cow) were also found in high than in low PA swards in PII. The highest (P<0.001) milk output per ha (16,983 kg/ha) and milk solids per ha (1,268 kg/ha) were found in the group of dairy cows grazing in the M20 swards.Šezdeset četiri holštaj-frizijske krave nasumično su razvrstane u četiri skupine (M15, M20, H15 i H20), uzevši u obzir 2x2 faktorijalni dizajn s obzirom na: dvije razine prinosa pašnjaka prije napasivanja (PM, kg DM/ha) - srednja (M-1600) naprema visoka (H-2400), te dvije razine pašnog obroka (PA, kg DM / krava /dan) - niski (15) naprema visoki (20). Istražena su dva razdoblja (PI naprema PII). Između travnjaka s visokim i srednjim prinosom prije napasivanja (PM), u prvom razdoblju utvrđene su razlike s obzirom na gustoću travnjaka (P<0,001; H = 255 naprema M = 235 kg DM/cm/ha) i visinu trave (P<0,001; H = 14,8 naprema M = 10,9 cm). U drugom razdoblju, statistička značajnost i razlike između navedenih skupina iznosili su P<0,001; H = 216 naprema M = 196 kg DM/cm/ha i P<0,001; H = 14,3 naprema M = 13,0 cm. Najniža visina trave i najviša iskoristivost pašnjaka nakon napasivanja utvrđene su usporedbom niskog i visokog pašnog obroka tijekom prvog razdoblja (P<0,001; niski = 4,1 naprema visoki = 4,9 cm te P<0,001; niski = 98,8 naprema visoki = 89,9%) kao i tijekom drugog razdoblja (P<0,001; niski = 4,3 naprema visoki = 5,0 cm te P<0,001; niski = 97,1 naprema visoki = 89,9%). Sadržaj sirovih proteina i probavljivost organske tvari tijekom prvog razdoblja bili su viši kod pašnjaka sa srednjim prinosom pašnjaka prije napasivanja u odnosu na pašnjake s visokom razinom prinosa prije napasivanja (P<0,001; M = 210 naprema H = 176 g/kg DM i P<0,05; M = 846 naprema H = 836 g/kg DM. Tijekom drugog razdoblja, statistička značajnost i vrijednosti navedenih pokazatelja iznosili su (P<0,05; M = 212 naprema H = 192 g/kg DM i P<0,05; M = 828 naprema H = 821 g/kg DM). Navedeno se može pripisati većem udjelu lišća i manjem udjelu uvenule mase na pašnjacima sa srednjim prinosom prije napasivanja u odnosu na pašnjake s visokim prinosom prije napasivanja. Usporedba niskog i visokog pašnog obroka tijekom prvog razdoblja, pokazala je statistički značajne razlike za unos suhe tvari pašom (P<0,001; niski = 16,5 naprema visoki = 14,7 kg DM/krava/dnevno), proizvodnju mlijeka (P<0,01; niski = 23,8 naprema. visoki = 22,7 kg/day) te proizvodnju krute tvari mlijeka (P<0,05; niski = 1,69 naprema. visoki = 1,61 kg/krava). Tijekom drugog razdoblja, viši unos suhe tvari pašom utvrđen kod visokoga pašnog obroka u odnosu na niski pašni obrok (P<0,001; visoki = 15,7 naprema niski = 14,1 kg DM/krava/dnevno), viša je bila i proizvodnja mlijeka (P<0,001; visoki = 15,4 naprema niski = 13,6 kg/day) te proizvodnja krute tvari mlijeka (P<0,01; visoki = 1,19 naprema niski = 1,08 kg/krava). Najviša proizvodnja mlijeka po hektaru (P<0,001; 16,983 kg/ha) i krute tvari mlijeka po hektaru (1,268 kg/ha) utvrđena je kod krava koje su napasivane u skupini M20 travnjaka