751 research outputs found
Reproduction of western yellow pine in the Southwest
Western yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) has by far the greatest commercial importance of any tree in the Southwest. In 1908 it constituted 96.5 per cent of the lumber cut of Arizona and 87.7 per cent of the cut in New Mexico. The extensive pure stands of it in this region are now being heavily logged, and this exploitation will undoubtedly increase. Therefore the perpetuation of the trees becomes a problem of vital importance. Reproduction has not been satisfactory, either in the virgin forest or after lumbering operations, and large areas once overed with good stands of yellow pine are now practically bare. The artificial reforestation of denuded areas is impracticable at present, yet a study made in 1908 indicates that proper methods of management will insure a satisfactory second growth
Management of ponderosa pine in the Southwest
Ponderosa pine, from the very beginning of the conservation movement, has figured as a leading timber species. In 1908 G. A. Pearson, a year out of forest school, was sent to Arizona to study natural regeneration of this tree, then called western yellow pine
Continent stabilisation by lateral accretion of subduction zone-processed depleted mantle residues; insights from Zealandia
To examine how the mantle lithosphere stabilises continents, we present a synthesis of the mantle beneath Zealandia in the SW Pacific Ocean. Zealandia, Earth's â8th continentâ, occurs over 4.9 M km2 and comprises a fore-arc, arc and back-arc fragment rifted from the AustraliaâAntarctica Gondwana margin 85 Myr ago. The oldest extant crust is âŒ500 Ma and the majority is PermianâJurassic. Peridotitic rocks from most known locations reveal the underpinning mantle to comprise regional domains varying from refractory (Al2O3 < 1 wt%, olivine Mg# > 92, spinel Cr# up to 80, Pt/Ir < 1) to moderately depleted (Al2O3 = 2â4 wt%, olivine Mg# âŒ90.5, spinel Cr# < âŒ60). There is no systematic distribution of these domains relative to the former arc configuration and some refractory domains underlie crust that is largely devoid of magmatic rocks. Re-depletion Os model ages have no correlation with depletion indices but do have a distribution that is very similar to global convecting mantle. Whole rock, mineral and isotopic data are interpreted to show that the Zealandia mantle lithosphere was constructed from isotopically heterogeneous convecting mantle fragments swept into the sub-arc environment, amalgamated, and variably re-melted under low-P hydrous conditions. The paucity of mafic melt volumes in most of the overlying crust that could relate to the depleted domains requires melting to have been followed by lateral accretion either during subduction or slab rollback. Recent AustraliaâPacific convergence has thickened portions of the Zealandia mantle to >160 km. Zealandia shows that the generation of refractory and/or thick continental lithosphere is not restricted to the Archean. Since Archean cratons also commonly display crustâmantle age decoupling, contain spinel peridotites with extreme Cr# numbers that require low-P hydrous melting, and often have a paucity of mafic melts relative to the extreme depletion indicated by their peridotitic roots, they too may â in part â be compilations of peridotite shallowly melted and then laterally accreted at subduction margins
Surface Incompressibility from Semiclassical Relativistic Mean Field Calculations
By using the scaling method and the Thomas-Fermi and Extended Thomas-Fermi
approaches to Relativistic Mean Field Theory the surface contribution to the
leptodermous expansion of the finite nuclei incompressibility has been
self-consistently computed. The validity of the simplest expansion, which
contains volume, volume-symmetry, surface and Coulomb terms, is examined by
comparing it with self-consistent results of the finite nuclei
incompressibility for some currently used non-linear sigma-omega parameter
sets. A numerical estimate of higher-order contributions to the leptodermous
expansion, namely the curvature and surface-symmetry terms, is made.Comment: 18 pages, REVTeX, 3 eps figures, changed conten
Nuclear matter incompressibility coefficient in relativistic and nonrelativistic microscopic models
We systematically analyze the recent claim that nonrelativistic and
relativistic mean field (RMF) based random phase approximation (RPA)
calculations for the centroid energy E_0 of the isoscalar giant monopole
resonance yield for the nuclear matter incompressibility coefficient, K_{nm},
values which differ by about 20%. For an appropriate comparison with the RMF
based RPA calculations, we obtain the parameters for the Skyrme force used in
the nonrelativistic model by adopting the same procedure as employed in the
determination of the NL3 parameter set of an effective Lagrangian used in the
RMF model. Our investigation suggest that the discrepancy between the values of
K_{nm} predicted by the relativistic and nonrelativistic models is
significantly less than 20%.Comment: Revtex file (13 pages), appearing in PRC-Rapid Com
Be outraged: there are alternatives
Pushed to extremes, austerity is bad economics, bad
arithmetic, and ignores the lessons of history. We, an
international group of economists and social scientists, are
outraged at the narrow range of austerity policies which are
bringing so many people around the world to their knees,
especially in Europe. Austerity and cutbacks are reducing
growth and worsening poverty. In our professional opinions,
there are alternatives â for Britain, Europe and all countries
that currently imagine that government cutbacks are the
only way out of debt. The low-growth, no-growth trap
means that the share of debt in GNP falls ever more slowly,
if at all. It may even rise â as it has in some countries
Replacement of soya bean meal with peas and faba beans in growing/finishing pig diets: effect on performance, carcass composition and nutrient excretion
There is now an increasing debate about the viability of using temperate-grown legumes in pig diets as a potential replacement for imported soya bean meal (SBM) and this is due to food security, sustainability and environmental concerns. Two trials were designed to examine nitrogen (N) retention, growth performance and carcass quality of grower and finisher pigs when fed nutritionally balanced SBM-free diets formulated to contain peas or faba beans at 300 g/kg, compared to an SBM-containing, pulse-free control diet. Trial 1 evaluated N digestibility/retention in four iso-energetic diets, comparing the SBM control with one diet formulated with peas and two with faba bean cultivars; a tannin-containing and a tannin-free variety. This trial employed a four by four Latin Square design with four male pigs housed in metabolism crates, fed twice daily at 0.9 of assumed ad libitum intake over four time periods during grower (30â55 kg) and finisher (55â95 kg) phases. Quantitative faecal and urine collection allowed determination of N coefficient of total tract apparent digestibility, coefficient of apparent metabolisability, and N balance. Results revealed that dietary treatment did not affect these N parameters (P > 0.05) during either the grower or finisher phase. Trial 2 evaluated growth performance (feed intake, daily live weight gain and feed conversion ratio) and carcass quality parameters. Five diets (based on SBM, peas and one of three faba bean cultivars) balanced for standard ileal digestible amino acids and net energy were each fed to eight replicates of individually housed entire male pigs over the same growth phases as Trial 1. The inclusion of three faba bean varieties allowed comparison of animal responses between tannin/tannin-free and spring vs. winter bean cultivars. At âŒ95 kg, pigs were slaughtered and a comprehensive range of carcass measurements undertaken. Samples of shoulder backfat were also taken at slaughter to determine skatole and indole concentrations. As with N balance, feeding treatment did not affect performance data. Carcass parameters revealed pigs fed with the pea-based diet had a greater dressing percentage than those animals on faba bean-based diets. Pigs fed with the SBM or pea-based diets also had greater lean meat percentages than those on faba-bean diets. Mean skatole concentrations for all pigs were below the accepted maximum threshold level of 0.2 ÎŒg/g. In conclusion, it is suggested that peas and faba beans can be successfully fed in balanced pig diets throughout the grower/finisher periods as alternatives to SBM
Probing Ion-Ion and Electron-Ion Correlations in Liquid Metals within the Quantum Hypernetted Chain Approximation
We use the Quantum Hypernetted Chain Approximation (QHNC) to calculate the
ion-ion and electron-ion correlations for liquid metallic Li, Be, Na, Mg, Al,
K, Ca, and Ga. We discuss trends in electron-ion structure factors and radial
distribution functions, and also calculate the free-atom and metallic-atom
form-factors, focusing on how bonding effects affect the interpretation of
X-ray scattering experiments, especially experimental measurements of the
ion-ion structure factor in the liquid metallic phase.Comment: RevTeX, 19 pages, 7 figure
Towards Machine Wald
The past century has seen a steady increase in the need of estimating and
predicting complex systems and making (possibly critical) decisions with
limited information. Although computers have made possible the numerical
evaluation of sophisticated statistical models, these models are still designed
\emph{by humans} because there is currently no known recipe or algorithm for
dividing the design of a statistical model into a sequence of arithmetic
operations. Indeed enabling computers to \emph{think} as \emph{humans} have the
ability to do when faced with uncertainty is challenging in several major ways:
(1) Finding optimal statistical models remains to be formulated as a well posed
problem when information on the system of interest is incomplete and comes in
the form of a complex combination of sample data, partial knowledge of
constitutive relations and a limited description of the distribution of input
random variables. (2) The space of admissible scenarios along with the space of
relevant information, assumptions, and/or beliefs, tend to be infinite
dimensional, whereas calculus on a computer is necessarily discrete and finite.
With this purpose, this paper explores the foundations of a rigorous framework
for the scientific computation of optimal statistical estimators/models and
reviews their connections with Decision Theory, Machine Learning, Bayesian
Inference, Stochastic Optimization, Robust Optimization, Optimal Uncertainty
Quantification and Information Based Complexity.Comment: 37 page
Active Galactic Nuclei at the Crossroads of Astrophysics
Over the last five decades, AGN studies have produced a number of spectacular
examples of synergies and multifaceted approaches in astrophysics. The field of
AGN research now spans the entire spectral range and covers more than twelve
orders of magnitude in the spatial and temporal domains. The next generation of
astrophysical facilities will open up new possibilities for AGN studies,
especially in the areas of high-resolution and high-fidelity imaging and
spectroscopy of nuclear regions in the X-ray, optical, and radio bands. These
studies will address in detail a number of critical issues in AGN research such
as processes in the immediate vicinity of supermassive black holes, physical
conditions of broad-line and narrow-line regions, formation and evolution of
accretion disks and relativistic outflows, and the connection between nuclear
activity and galaxy evolution.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures; review contribution; "Exploring the Cosmic
Frontier: Astrophysical Instruments for the 21st Century", ESO Astrophysical
Symposia Serie
- âŠ