Change in the distribution of a member of the strand line community: the seaweed fly (Diptera: Coelopidae)

1. Coastal organisms are predicted to be particularly susceptible to the impact of global warming. In this study the distribution and relative abundance of two coastal invertebrates, Coelopa frigida (Fabricius) and C. pilipes are investigated. 2. Coelopa pilipes has a more southerly distribution than C. frigida , and prefers a warmer climate. Coelopa pilipes is less resistant to sub-zero temperatures than C. frigida and its northerly distribution is probably limited by cold winter days. 3. The most recent distribution map of C. frigida and C. pilipes in northern Europe was published a decade ago and showed the northerly extent of the distribution of C. pilipes reaching the north coast of mainland Scotland but its complete absence from the Western and Northern Isles. 4. C. pilipes has now spread throughout the Western Isles and the Orkney Islands but is still absent from Shetland. There has also been an increase in the relative frequency of C. pilipes at sites harbouring coelopids on the British mainland. A similar pattern of distribution change along the west coast of Sweden is reported. 5. It is proposed that these changes have occurred primarily as a result of global warming and in particular due to the recent increase in winter temperatures. A number of other indirect effects may have also contributed to these changes, including a probable change in macroalgae distribution. The implications of these changes for the wrack bed ecosystem and at higher trophic levels are considered

Determining Histories of Slip on Normal Faults With Bedrock Scarps Using Cosmogenic Nuclide Exposure Data

Cosmogenic exposure data can be used to calculate time-varying fault slip rates on normal faults with exposed bedrock scarps. The method relies on assumptions related to how the scarp is preserved, which should be consistent at multiple locations along the same fault. Previous work commonly relied on cosmogenic data from a single sample locality to determine the slip rate of a fault. Here we show that by applying strict sampling criteria and using geologically informed modeling parameters in a Bayesian-inference Markov chain Monte Carlo method, similar patterns of slip rate changes can be modeled at multiple sites on the same fault. Consequently, cosmogenic data can be used to resolve along-strike fault activity. We present cosmogenic 36Cl concentrations from seven sites on two faults in the Italian Apennines. The average slip rate varies between sites on the Campo Felice Fault (0.84 ± 0.23 to 1.61 ± 0.27 mm yr−1), and all sites experienced a period of higher than average slip rate between 0.5 and 2 ka and a period of lower than average slip rate before 3 ka. On the Roccapreturo fault, slip rate in the center of the fault is 0.55 ± 0.11 and 0.35 ± 0.05 mm yr−1 at the fault tip near a relay zone. The estimated time since the last earthquake is the same at each site along the same fault (631 ± 620 years at Campo Felice and 2,603 ± 1,355 years at Roccapreturo). These results highlight the potential for cosmogenic exposure data to reveal the detailed millennial history of earthquake slip on active normal faults

Intraperitoneal sertraline and fluvoxamine increase contextual fear conditioning but are without effect on overshadowing between cues

Treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can reduce contextual conditioning. Since contexts present a variety of potentially competing cues, impaired overshadowing may provide an account of such effects. The present study therefore compared the effects of two SSRIs on overshadowing and contextual conditioning, testing suppression of an ongoing behavioral response (licking) by cues previously paired with foot shock. Conditioning to a 5s light stimulus was reduced when this was presented in compound with a 5s noise, thus overshadowing was demonstrated. In two experiments, this overshadowing was unaffected by treatment with either sertraline or fluvoxamine. However, unconditioned suppression to the noise (tested in the control group previously conditioned to the light alone) was reduced after sertraline (10mg/kg, i.p.). The successful demonstration of overshadowing required the use of a second conditioning session or an additional conditioning trial within the same conditioning session. Neither weak nor strong overshadowing (of the light by the tone) was affected by any drug treatment. Moreover, counter to prediction, conditioning to contextual cues was increased rather than impaired by treatment with sertraline (10mg/kg, i.p.) and fluvoxamine (30mg/kg, i.p.)

Cluster Interpretation of Properties of Alternating Parity Bands in Heavy Nuclei

The properties of the states of the alternating parity bands in actinides, Ba, Ce and Nd isotopes are analyzed within a cluster model. The model is based on the assumption that cluster type shapes are produced by the collective motion of the nuclear system in the mass asymmetry coordinate. The calculated spin dependences of the parity splitting and of the electric multipole transition moments are in agreement with the experimental data.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figure

Collective dynamics of internal states in a Bose gas

Theory for the Rabi and internal Josephson effects in an interacting Bose gas in the cold collision regime is presented. By using microscopic transport equation for the density matrix the problem is mapped onto a problem of precession of two coupled classical spins. In the absence of an external excitation field our results agree with the theory for the density induced frequency shifts in atomic clocks. In the presence of the external field, the internal Josephson effect takes place in a condensed Bose gas as well as in a non-condensed gas. The crossover from Rabi oscillations to the Josephson oscillations as a function of interaction strength is studied in detail.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figure

Isotope Effect for the Penetration Depth in Superconductors

We show that various factors can lead to an isotopic dependence of the penetration depth $\delta$. Non-adiabaticity (Jahn-Teller crossing) leads to the isotope effect of the charge carrier concentration $n$ and, consequently, of $\delta$ in doped superconductors such as the cuprates. A general equation relating the isotope coefficients of $T_c$ and of $\delta$ is presented for London superconductors. We further show that the presence of magnetic impurities or a proximity contact also lead to an isotopic dependence of $\delta$; the isotope coefficient turns out to be temperature dependent, $\beta(T)$, in these cases. The existence of the isotope effect for the penetration depth is predicted for conventional as well as for high-temperature superconductors. Various experiments are proposed and/or discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Structure of the icosahedral Ti-Zr-Ni quasicrystal

The atomic structure of the icosahedral Ti-Zr-Ni quasicrystal is determined by invoking similarities to periodic crystalline phases, diffraction data and the results from ab initio calculations. The structure is modeled by decorations of the canonical cell tiling geometry. The initial decoration model is based on the structure of the Frank-Kasper phase W-TiZrNi, the 1/1 approximant structure of the quasicrystal. The decoration model is optimized using a new method of structural analysis combining a least-squares refinement of diffraction data with results from ab initio calculations. The resulting structural model of icosahedral Ti-Zr-Ni is interpreted as a simple decoration rule and structural details are discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Green functions for generalized point interactions in 1D: A scattering approach

Recently, general point interactions in one dimension has been used to model a large number of different phenomena in quantum mechanics. Such potentials, however, requires some sort of regularization to lead to meaningful results. The usual ways to do so rely on technicalities which may hide important physical aspects of the problem. In this work we present a new method to calculate the exact Green functions for general point interactions in 1D. Our approach differs from previous ones because it is based only on physical quantities, namely, the scattering coefficients, $R$ and $T$, to construct $G$. Renormalization or particular mathematical prescriptions are not invoked. The simple formulation of the method makes it easy to extend to more general contexts, such as for lattices of $N$ general point interactions; on a line; on a half-line; under periodic boundary conditions; and confined in a box.Comment: Revtex, 9 pages, 3 EPS figures. To be published in PR