9,497 research outputs found
On the validity of mean-field amplitude equations for counterpropagating wavetrains
We rigorously establish the validity of the equations describing the
evolution of one-dimensional long wavelength modulations of counterpropagating
wavetrains for a hyperbolic model equation, namely the sine-Gordon equation. We
consider both periodic amplitude functions and localized wavepackets. For the
localized case, the wavetrains are completely decoupled at leading order, while
in the periodic case the amplitude equations take the form of mean-field
(nonlocal) Schr\"odinger equations rather than locally coupled partial
differential equations. The origin of this weakened coupling is traced to a
hidden translation symmetry in the linear problem, which is related to the
existence of a characteristic frame traveling at the group velocity of each
wavetrain. It is proved that solutions to the amplitude equations dominate the
dynamics of the governing equations on asymptotically long time scales. While
the details of the discussion are restricted to the class of model equations
having a leading cubic nonlinearity, the results strongly indicate that
mean-field evolution equations are generic for bimodal disturbances in
dispersive systems with \O(1) group velocity.Comment: 16 pages, uuencoded, tar-compressed Postscript fil
Bioterrorism and U.S. domestic preparedness: Bureaucratic fragmentation and American vulnerability
This article takes a closer look at the United States’ domestic preparedness program. Beginning in the mid-1990s, the domestic preparedness program has served as the United States’ disaster response and management option in the case of a biological or chemical weapons attack. In its early years, the program focused solely on chemical weapons, but eventually expanded to cover the threat of biological weapons as well. The program, however, is fragmented, leaving authority in the hands of over a dozen different agencies. This leaves the authorities, capabilities, and resources needed to effectively implement the program divided across multiple bureaucracies. In addition, the program is essentially made up of a series of legislative initiatives, causing it to be desperately uncoordinated. Given this organizational fragmentation, we ask: does the domestic preparedness program really prepare the United States for a biological weapons attack
Quantum Films Adsorbed on Graphite: Third and Fourth Helium Layers
Using a path-integral Monte Carlo method for simulating superfluid quantum
films, we investigate helium layers adsorbed on a substrate consisting of
graphite plus two solid helium layers. Our results for the promotion densities
and the dependence of the superfluid density on coverage are in agreement with
experiment. We can also explain certain features of the measured heat capacity
as a function of temperature and coverage.Comment: 13 pages in the Phys. Rev. two-column format, 16 Figure
Anisakis infection in allis shad, Alosa alosa (Linnaeus, 1758), and twaite shad, Alosa fallax (Lacépède, 1803), from Western Iberian Peninsula Rivers : zoonotic and ecological implications
Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank M. N. Cueto and J.M. Antonio (ECOBIOMAR) for their excellent technical support and also Rodrigo López for making the map of the study area. We also thank the personal of the Vigo IEO, for providing information about shad captures at sea collected on the basis of national program (AMDES) included in the European Data Collection Framework (DCF) project. We are also grateful to Comandancia Naval de Tui for providing fishing data. M. Bao is supported by a PhD grant from the University of Aberdeen and also by financial support of the contract from the EU Project PARASITE (grant number 312068). This study was partially supported by a PhD grant from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) SFRH/BD/44892/2008) and partially supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE—Operational Competitiveness Programme and national funds through Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), under the project BPEst-C/MAR/ LA0015/2013. The authors thank the staff of the Station of Hydrobiology of the USC BEncoro do Con^ due their participation in the surveys. This work has been partially supported by the project 10PXIB2111059PR of the Xunta de Galicia and the project MIGRANET of the Interreg IV BSUDOE (South-West Europe) Territorial Cooperation Programme (SOE2/P2/E288). D.J. Nachón is supported by a PhD grant from the Xunta de Galicia (PRE/2011/198)Peer reviewedPostprin
A Sound and Complete Abstraction for Reasoning about Parallel Prefix Sums
Prefix sums are key building blocks in the implementation of many concurrent software applications, and recently much work has gone into efficiently implementing prefix sums to run on massively par-allel graphics processing units (GPUs). Because they lie at the heart of many GPU-accelerated applications, the correctness of prefix sum implementations is of prime importance. We introduce a novel abstraction, the interval of summations, that allows scalable reasoning about implementations of prefix sums. We present this abstraction as a monoid, and prove a sound-ness and completeness result showing that a generic sequential pre-fix sum implementation is correct for an array of length n if and only if it computes the correct result for a specific test case when instantiated with the interval of summations monoid. This allows correctness to be established by running a single test where the in
Soleus stretch reflex during cycling
The modulation and strength of the human soleus short latency stretch reflex was investigated by mechanically perturbing the ankle during an unconstrained pedaling task. Eight subjects pedaled at 60 rpm against a preload of 10 Nm. A torque pulse was applied to the crank at various positions during the crank cycle, producing ankle dorsiflexion perturbations of similar trajectory. The stretch reflex was greatest during the power phase of the crank cycle and was decreased to the level of background EMG during recovery. Matched perturbations were induced under static conditions at the same crank angle and background soleus EMG as recorded during the power phase of active pedaling. The magnitude of the stretch reflex was not statistically different from that during the static condition throughout the power phase of the movement. The results of this study indicate that the stretch reflex is not depressed during active cycling as has been shown with the H-reflex. This lack of depression may reflect a decreased susceptibility of the stretch reflex to inhibition, possibly originating from presynaptic mechanisms
Multi-year evaluation of stocking rate and animal genotype on milk production per hectare within intensive pasture-based production systems
peer-reviewedThe objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of stocking rate (SR) and animal genotype (BR) on milk production, body weight (BW), and body condition score (BCS) within intensive pasture-based systems. A total of 533 lactation records, from 246 elite genetic merit dairy cows were available for analysis; 68 Holstein-Friesian (HF) and 71 Jersey × Holstein-Friesian (JxHF) crossbred cows in each of 4 consecutive years (2013–2016, inclusive). Cows from each BR were randomly allocated to 1 of 3 whole-farm comparative SR treatments, low (LSR; 1,200 kg of BW/ha), medium (MSR; 1,400 kg of BW/ha), and high (HSR; 1,600 kg of BW/ha), and remained in the same SR treatments for the duration of the experiment. The effects of SR, BR, and their interaction on milk production/cow and per hectare, BW, BCS, and grazing characteristics were analyzed. Total pasture utilization per hectare consumed in the form of grazed pasture increased linearly as SR increased: least in LSR (10,237 kg of dry matter/ha), intermediate in MSR (11,016 kg of dry matter/ha), and greatest in HSR (11,809 kg of dry matter/ha). Milk and milk solids (MS) yield per hectare was greatest for HSR (15,942 and 1,354 kg, respectively), intermediate for MSR (14,191 and 1,220 kg, respectively), and least for LSR (13,186 and 1,139 kg, respectively) with similar trends evident for fat, protein, and lactose yield/ha. At higher SR (MSR and HSR), MS yield per kg of BW per ha was reduced (0.85 and 0.82 kg of MS/kg of BW, respectively) compared with LSR (0.93 kg of MS/kg of BW/ha). Holstein-Friesian cows achieved fewer grazing days per hectare (−37 d), and produced more milk (+561 kg/ha) but less fat plus protein (−57 kg/ha) compared with JxHF cows; the JxHF cows were lighter. At similar BW per hectare, JxHF cows produced more fat plus protein/ha during the grazing season at low (1,164 vs. 1,113 kg), medium (1,254 vs. 1,185 kg), and high (1,327 vs. 1,380 kg) SR. In addition, JxHF cows produced more fat plus protein per kg of BW/ha (0.90 kg) compared with HF cows (0.84 kg). The results highlight the superior productive efficiency of high genetic potential crossbred dairy cows within intensive pasture-based production systems
Persuading consumers to reduce their consumption of electricity in the home
Previous work has identified that providing real time feedback or interventions to consumers can persuade consumers to change behaviour and reduce domestic electricity consumption. However, little work has investigated what exactly those feedback mechanisms should be. Most past work is based on an in-home display unit, possibly complemented by lower tariffs and delayed use of non-essential home appliances such as washing machines. In this paper we focus on four methods for real time feedback on domestic energy use, developed to gauge the impact on energy consumption in homes. Their feasibility had been tested using an experimental setup of 24 households collecting minute-by-minute electricity consumption data readings over a period of 18 months. Initial results are mixed, and point to the difficulties of sustaining a reduction in energy consumption, i.e. persuading consumers to change their behaviour. Some of the methods we used exploit small group social dynamics whereby people want to conform to social norms within groups they identify with. It may be that a variety of feedback mechanisms and interventions are needed in order to sustain user interest
Entropy Encoding, Hilbert Space and Karhunen-Loeve Transforms
By introducing Hilbert space and operators, we show how probabilities,
approximations and entropy encoding from signal and image processing allow
precise formulas and quantitative estimates. Our main results yield orthogonal
bases which optimize distinct measures of data encoding.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figur
Anomalous prompt photon production in hadronic collisions at low-
We investigate the discrepancy that exists at low- between
the next--to--leading order QCD calculations of prompt photon production and
the measured cross section. The central values of the measured cross section
are of order 100\% larger than QCD predictions in this region. It has been
suggested that the bremsstrahlung contribution may account for this
discrepancy. The quark fragmentation function has not been
measured and an exactly known asymptotic form is normally used in calculations.
We examine the effect of much larger fragmentation functions on the QCD
predictions. After illustrating the effect of the large fragmentation functions
in some detail for recent CDF data at =1.8~TeV, we perform a
fit to 8 prompt photon data sets ranging in CMS energy from 24~GeV to 1.8~TeV.
While a large fragmentation function normalization may prove to play an
important role in resolving the discrepancy, the present theoretical and
experimental uncertainties prevent any definite normalization value from being
determined.Comment: 14 pages, LBL-33122 and UCB-PTH-92/38. 13 figures available by email,
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