2,315 research outputs found
The 'Lindholme Advance' and the extent of the Last Glacial Maximum in the Vale of York
The limits of the glacier that occupied the southwest part of the southern Vale of York at the Last Glacial Maximum are defined in relation to recent temporary exposures at Lindholme and previous regional mapping by Geoff Gaunt. Erratic content of associated diamicts indicates sources in the Yorkshire Dales, over Stainmore and along the Permo-Triassic outcrops on the west side of the Vale of York. The advance is dated to an episode associated with a high level of pro-glacial Lake Humber within the Last Glacial Maximum. Lidar imagery suggests that the northeastern ice limit is concealed beneath later alluvium of the rivers Ouse and Trent
Optoacoustic solitons in Bragg gratings
Optical gap solitons, which exist due to a balance of nonlinearity and
dispersion due to a Bragg grating, can couple to acoustic waves through
electrostriction. This gives rise to a new species of ``gap-acoustic'' solitons
(GASs), for which we find exact analytic solutions. The GAS consists of an
optical pulse similar to the optical gap soliton, dressed by an accompanying
phonon pulse. Close to the speed of sound, the phonon component is large. In
subsonic (supersonic) solitons, the phonon pulse is a positive (negative)
density variation. Coupling to the acoustic field damps the solitons'
oscillatory instability, and gives rise to a distinct instability for
supersonic solitons, which may make the GAS decelerate and change direction,
ultimately making the soliton subsonic.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Preliminary archaeoentomological analyses of permafrost-preserved cultural layers from the pre-contact Yup’ik Eskimo site of Nunalleq, Alaska : implications, potential and methodological considerations
Acknowledgements Site excavation and samples collection were conducted by archaeologists from the University of Aberdeen, with the help of archaeologists and student excavators from the University of Aberdeen University of Alaska Fairbanks and Bryn Mawr College, Kuskokwim Campus, College of Rural Alaska and residents of Quinhagak and Mekoryuk. This study is funded through AHRC grant to the project ‘Understanding Cultural Resilience and Climate Change on the Bering Sea through Yup’ik Ecological Knowledge, Lifeways, Learning and Archaeology’ to Rick Knecht, Kate Britton and Charlotta Hillderal (University of Aberdeen; AH/K006029/1). Thanks are due to Qanirtuuq Inc. and Quinhagak, Alaska for sampling permissions and to entomologists working at the CNC in Ottawa for allowing access to reference collections of beetles, lice and fleas. Yves Bousquet, Ales Smetana and Anthony E. Davies are specially acknowledged for their help with the identification of coleopteran specimens. Finally, we would also like to thank Scott Elias for useful comments on the original manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Density and distribution of western chimpanzees around a bauxite deposit in the Boé Sector, Guinea-Bissau
Funding: partial support by CEAUL (funded by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, through the project UID/MAT/00006/2019) (TAM).The Boé sector in southeast Guinea‐Bissau harbors a population of western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) that inhabits a mosaic of forest and savanna. The Boé sector contains a substantial bauxite deposit in a region called Ronde Hill, and there are plans for the construction of a mine, which may endanger the chimpanzee population. In 1‐week survey in May 2013, we used the standing crop nest counts method to obtain the number of chimpanzee nests and from that estimate the density and abundance of chimpanzees. We carried out five 1‐km line transects that covered the bauxite deposit and surrounding valleys. We used density surface modeling to analyze habitat preferences, then predicted chimpanzee nest density and distribution based on environmental variables. We found the projected location of the mine partially coincides with an area of high predicted abundances of chimpanzee nests and is surrounded by highly suitable areas for chimpanzees (northeast and southwest). We conclude the mine could have significant direct and indirect effects on this population of chimpanzees whose impacts must be carefully considered and properly mitigated if the mine is built.PostprintPeer reviewe
Clubbing masculinities: Gender shifts in gay men's dance floor choreographies
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Journal of Homosexuality, 58(5), 608-625, 2011 [copyright
Taylor & Francis], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00918369.2011.563660This article adopts an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the intersections of gender, sexuality, and dance. It examines the expressions of sexuality among gay males through culturally popular forms of club dancing. Drawing on political and musical history, I outline an account of how gay men's gendered choreographies changed throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Through a notion of “technologies of the body,” I situate these developments in relation to cultural levels of homophobia, exploring how masculine expressions are entangled with and regulated by musical structures. My driving hypothesis is that as perceptions of cultural homophobia decrease, popular choreographies of gay men's dance have become more feminine in expression. Exploring this idea in the context of the first decade of the new millennium, I present a case study of TigerHeat, one of the largest weekly gay dance club events in the United States
Low Pressure Negative Ion Drift Chamber for Dark Matter Search
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are an attractive candidate for
the dark matter thought to make up the bulk of the mass of our universe. We
explore here the possibility of using a low pressure negative ion drift chamber
to search for WIMPs. The innovation of drifting ions, instead of electrons,
allows the design of a detector with exceptional sensitivity to, background
rejection from, and signature of WIMPs.Comment: 5 pages submitted to PR
SUSY Dark Matter in the Universe- Theoretical Direct Detection Rates
Exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy or cosmological constant
seem to dominate in the Universe. An even higher density of such matter seems
to be gravitationally trapped in the Galaxy. Thus its direct detection is
central to particle physics and cosmology. Current supersymmetric models
provide a natural dark matter candidate which is the lightest supersymmetric
particle (LSP). Such models combined with fairly well understood physics like
the quark substructure of the nucleon and the nuclear structure (form factor
and/or spin response function), permit the evaluation of the event rate for
LSP-nucleus elastic scattering. The thus obtained event rates are, however,
very low or even undetectable. So it is imperative to exploit the modulation
effect, i.e. the dependence of the event rate on the earth's annual motion.
Also it is useful to consider the directional rate, i.e its dependence on the
direction of the recoiling nucleus. In this paper we study such a modulation
effect both in non directional and directional experiments. We calculate both
the differential and the total rates using both isothermal, symmetric as well
as only axially asymmetric, and non isothermal, due to caustic rings, velocity
distributions. We find that in the symmetric case the modulation amplitude is
small. The same is true for the case of caustic rings. The inclusion of
asymmetry, with a realistic enhanced velocity dispersion in the galactocentric
direction, yields an enhanced modulation effect, especially in directional
experiments.Comment: 17 LATEX pages, 1 table and 6 ps figures include
Sub MeV Particles Detection and Identification in the MUNU detector ((1)ISN, IN2P3/CNRS-UJF, Grenoble, France, (2)Institut de Physique, Neuch\^atel, Switzerland, (3) INFN, Padova Italy, (4) Physik-Institut, Z\"{u}rich, Switzerland)
We report on the performance of a 1 m TPC filled with CF at 3
bar, immersed in liquid scintillator and viewed by photomultipliers. Particle
detection, event identification and localization achieved by measuring both the
current signal and the scintillation light are presented. Particular features
of particle detection are also discussed. Finally, the Mn
photopeak, reconstructed from the Compton scattering and recoil angle is shown.Comment: Latex, 19 pages, 20 figure
Savjetovanje kod Glavne direkcije za slatkovodno ribarstvo
TAM thanks support by CEAUL (funded by FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, through the Project UID/MAT/00006/2013)Many simulation studies have examined the properties of distance sampling estimators of wildlife population size. When assumptions hold, if distances are generated from a detection model and fitted using the same model, they are known to perform well. However, in practice, the true model is unknown. Therefore, standard practice includes model selection, typically using model comparison tools like Akaike Information Criterion. Here we examine the performance of standard distance sampling estimators under model selection. We compare line and point transect estimators with distances simulated from two detection functions, hazard-rate and exponential power series (EPS), over a range of sample sizes. To mimic the real-world context where the true model may not be part of the candidate set, EPS models were not included as candidates, except for the half-normal parameterization. We found median bias depended on sample size (being asymptotically unbiased) and on the form of the true detection function: negative bias (up to 15% for line transects and 30% for point transects) when the shoulder of maximum detectability was narrow, and positive bias (up to 10% for line transects and 15% for point transects) when it was wide. Generating unbiased simulations requires careful choice of detection function or very large datasets. Practitioners should collect data that result in detection functions with a shoulder similar to a half-normal and use the monotonicity constraint. Narrow-shouldered detection functions can be avoided through good field procedures and those with wide shoulder are unlikely to occur, due to heterogeneity in detectability.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
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