Spatial Patterns Emerging from a Stochastic Process Near Criticality

There is mounting empirical evidence that many communities of living organisms display key features which closely resemble those of physical systems at criticality. We here introduce a minimal model framework for the dynamics of a community of individuals which undergoes local birth-death, immigration, and local jumps on a regular lattice. We study its properties when the system is close to its critical point. Even if this model violates detailed balance, within a physically relevant regime dominated by fluctuations, it is possible to calculate analytically the probability density function of the number of individuals living in a given volume, which captures the close-to-critical behavior of the community across spatial scales. We find that the resulting distribution satisfies an equation where spatial effects are encoded in appropriate functions of space, which we calculate explicitly. The validity of the analytical formulae is confirmed by simulations in the expected regimes. We finally discuss how this model in the critical-like regime is in agreement with several biodiversity patterns observed in tropical rain forests

The stochastic quantization method and its application to the numerical simulation of volcanic conduit dynamics under random conditions

Stochastic Quantization (SQ) is a method for the approximation of a continuous probability distribution with a discrete one. The proposal made in this paper is to apply this technique to reduce the number of numerical simulations for systems with uncertain inputs, when estimates of the output distribution are needed. This question is relevant in volcanology, where realistic simulations are very expensive and uncertainty is always present. We show the results of a benchmark test based on a one-dimensional steady model of magma flow in a volcanic conduit

In Vitro and Ex Vivo Hemodynamic Testing of an Innovative Occluder for Paravalvular Leak After Transcather Aortic Valve Implantation

This study aims at achieving a proof-of-concept for a novel device designed to occlude the orifices that may form between transcatheter valves and host tissues after TAVI. The device effect on the performance of a SAPIEN XT with a paravalvular gap was assessed into an in vitro and ex vivo pulse duplicator. The in vitro tests were performed complying with the standard international regulations, measuring the trasvalvular pressure and regurgitant volumes with and without the paravalvular gap, and with the occluder correctly positioned into the gap. In the second series of tests, the leakage reduction due to the presence of the occluder was assessed for the same setup, into a beating swine heart. The occluder implantation decreased the regurgitant fraction of about 50% for the in vitro assessment and 75% for the ex vivo test, under rest operating conditions. These results suggest that suitably designed occluders can lead to important benefit in the PVL treatment

In vitro assessment of pacing as therapy for aortic regurgitation

Background and objective Clinical evaluation of pacing therapy in mitigating the aortic insufficiency after transchateter aortic valve implantation often gives contradictory outcomes. This study presents an in vitro investigation aimed at clarifying the effect of pacing on paravalvular leakage. Methods A series of in vitro tests reproducing the heart operating changes clinically obtained by pacing was carried out in a 26 mm Edwards Sapien XT prosthesis with mild paravalvular leakage. The effect of pacing on the regurgitant volumes per cycle and per minute was quantified, and the energy and power consumed by the left ventricle were calculated. Results Results indicate that though pacing results in some reduction in the total regurgitation per cycle, the volume of fluid regurgitating per minute increases substantially, causing overload of left ventricle. Conclusions Our tests indicate no effective haemodynamic benefit from pacing, suggesting a prudential clinical use of this therapy for the treatment of postoperative aortic regurgitation

Some remarks on the spectral functions of the Abelian Higgs Model

We consider the unitary Abelian Higgs model and investigate its spectral functions at one-loop order. This analysis allows to disentangle what is physical and what is not at the level of the elementary particle propagators, in conjunction with the Nielsen identities. We highlight the role of the tadpole graphs and the gauge choices to get sensible results. We also introduce an Abelian Curci-Ferrari action coupled to a scalar field to model a massive photon which, like the non-Abelian Curci-Ferarri model, is left invariant by a modified non-nilpotent BRST symmetry. We clearly illustrate its non-unitary nature directly from the spectral function viewpoint. This provides a functional analogue of the Ojima observation in the canonical formalism: there are ghost states with nonzero norm in the BRST-invariant states of the Curci-Ferrari model.Comment: 32 pages, 12 figure

Evolução de brotação em cultivares de macieiras com variações de exigência de frio tratadas com cianamida hidrogenada ao longo do período de endodormência.

O estudo pretendeu responder as seguintes questões: 1) De modo empírico, sabe-se que as plantas precisam de um certo acúmulo de horas de frio (HF) para que o tratamento com cianamida hidrogenada (CH) seja eficaz, porém qual o somatório de frio mínimo para que esse produto tenha efeito pleno? 2) Existe diferença nesta quantidade de HF acumulada para que a CH tenha efeito quando utiliza-se genótipos contrastes de exigência de frio

Relative yield of wheat in coexistence with concurrent plants as indicator of competitiveness.

One of the factors that limit the yield of wheat is the weed competition, being the competitive potential of plants affected by their morphophysiological characteristics. The objective of this study was to determine the competitiveness of wheat when in coexistence with Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) and radish (Raphanus sativus) competitive plants or with wheat as simulator competition plant. There were realized four experiments in the greenhouse of the Agricultural Department of Environmental Sciences of the UFSM, Campus of Frederico Westphalen ? RS, during July to September, 2012. The treatments were arranged in a replacement series, in the proportions of 100:00 (wheat monoculture), 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 100:00 (competitor plant monoculture) for wheat plants (cv. Fundacep Cristalino) and for Italian ryegrass, radish and wheat (cv. BRS Guamirim) as competitor plants. The wheat is more competitive than Italian ryegrass in initial coexistence, even in the smallest proportion of plants. The radish when intercropped with wheat demonstrates similar competitive potential for environmental resources to the crop. There is mutual beneficial effect when wheat cultivars Fundacep Cristalino and BRS Guamirim coexisted, and each cultivar seems to have mechanism to avoid competition

Macieiras contrastantes em exigência de frio apresentam a mesma evolução de brotação quando tratadas com cianamida hidrogenada ao longo da endodormência?

A macieira, sendo uma espécie de clima temperado, apresenta a entrada em endodormência no outono e requer um acúmulo de horas de frio (HF, soma de temperatura < 7,2°C) durante o inverno para superar esse estado fisiológico. As exigências de HF variam entre genótipos e quando o somatório de frio local é menor são recomendados tratamentos químicos indutores, como a cianamida hidrogenada (CH). Para que o tratamento com CH seja eficaz, sabe-se que as plantas precisam de um certo acúmulo de HF, tornando-se necessário determinar o somatório de frio mínimo para que esse produto tenha efeito pleno. Outra questão importante é definir se existe diferença na quantidade de HF acumulada para que a CH tenha efeito, quando utiliza-se genótipos contrastantes de exigência de frio. Buscando responder a estas questões, em maio/2013 foram coletadas brindilas de Castel Gala (K, exigência de 300HF) e Imperial Gala (G, 600 HF), as quais foram esterilizadas em hipoclorito, embaladas em sacos plásticos e submetidas a um frio constante de 3°C (BODs), por seis tempos de frio para K (50 a 350HF) e G (50 a 600HF). Em cada ponto de frio, 80 brindilas de cada genótipo foram transferidas para uma condição de 25°C e 70% de umidade (fitotron) para estimular e avaliar a brotação, sendo 40 como controle e 40 tratadas no dia da transferência com CH (1% Dormex® + 3% Assist® ). Diariamente, todas as brindilas foram avaliadas quanto à ocorrência de brotação (ponta verde) das gemas apicais e laterais, sendo esses dados ajustados em um modelo assimétrico de evolução da brotação (curva de Gompertz) para obter os parâmetros de precocidade, uniformidade e máximo percentual de brotação. Para K, os tratamentos de CH não proporcionaram diferenças significativas em relação ao controle. Em contrapartida, para G o efeito de CH foi desde 300 HF, o que corresponde a 50% da exigência de frio desta cultivar. Portanto, observa-se um comportamento distinto entre genótipos em relação à resposta a CH, o que deve ser considerado no manejo fitotécnico da dormência em pomares

Surpassing the resistance quantum with a geometric superinductor

The superconducting circuit community has recently discovered the promising potential of superinductors. These circuit elements have a characteristic impedance exceeding the resistance quantum $R_\text{Q} \approx 6.45~\text{k}\Omega$ which leads to a suppression of ground state charge fluctuations. Applications include the realization of hardware protected qubits for fault tolerant quantum computing, improved coupling to small dipole moment objects and defining a new quantum metrology standard for the ampere. In this work we refute the widespread notion that superinductors can only be implemented based on kinetic inductance, i.e. using disordered superconductors or Josephson junction arrays. We present modeling, fabrication and characterization of 104 planar aluminum coil resonators with a characteristic impedance up to 30.9 $\text{k}\Omega$ at 5.6 GHz and a capacitance down to $\leq1$ fF, with low-loss and a power handling reaching $10^8$ intra-cavity photons. Geometric superinductors are free of uncontrolled tunneling events and offer high reproducibility, linearity and the ability to couple magnetically - properties that significantly broaden the scope of future quantum circuits.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl