619 research outputs found
Sierra Leone aquaculture assessment with special emphasis on Tonkolili and Bombali districts
This assessment set out to investigate why fish farming has spread in Tonkolili District yet been poorly adopted in neighboring Bombali District. The purpose was to analyze what was working in Tonkolili but not in Bombali and then extrapolate this beyond Tonkolili. The current study aims to consolidate the most recent FAO study and map out pond distribution in Tonkolili, the most popular aquaculture development district in Sierra Leone, while also trying to make sense of this distribution. It also tries to update existing GIS models for aquaculture site suitability, particularly Tonkolili, with a view to identifying the opportunities and challenges of developing aquaculture in the country
Sierra Leone fish value chain analysis with special emphasis on Tonkolili District
The USAID-funded Sierra Leone Feed the Future (FtF) Agriculture Project implemented by WorldFish has completed its initial pilot phase (July 2015 to September 2016). During this phase, the project identified and tested interventions to develop integrated agriculture-aquaculture (IAA) farming systems and associated value chains to enhance food, nutrition and livelihood outcomes for rural households in Tonkolili District. This project emphasizes rehabilitation and improvement of fish and rice farming systems combined with nutritious vegetable crops. The assessment of existing fish and rice value chains in Sierra Leone was a key component of this initial phase to improve understanding of current farming systems and identify opportunities for interventions to increase productivity and income and improve nutrition among rural households in Tonkolili District. This report presents the key findings of the fish value chain assessment, with an emphasis on the development of the aquaculture sector and recommendations for potential value chain interventions in marine and freshwater fisheries and aquaculture sectors
Extended electronic states in disordered 1-d lattices: an example
We discuss a very simple model of a 1-d disordered lattice, in which {\em
all} the electronic eigenstates are extended. The nature of these states is
examined from several viewpoints, and it is found that the eigenfunctions are
not Bloch functions although they extend throughout the chain. Some typical
wavefunctions are plotted. This problem originated in our earlier study of
extended states in the quasiperiodic copper-mean lattice [ Sil, Karmakar,
Moitra and Chakrabarti, Phys. Rev. B (1993) ]. In the present investigation
extended states are found to arise from a different kind of correlation than
that of the well-known dimer-type.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure available on request, LaTex version 2.09,
SINP-SSMP93-0
Delocalization and spin-wave dynamics in ferromagnetic chains with long-range correlated random exchange
We study the one-dimensional quantum Heisenberg ferromagnet with exchange
couplings exhibiting long-range correlated disorder with power spectrum
proportional to , where is the wave-vector of the modulations
on the random coupling landscape. By using renormalization group, integration
of the equations of motion and exact diagonalization, we compute the spin-wave
localization length and the mean-square displacement of the wave-packet. We
find that, associated with the emergence of extended spin-waves in the
low-energy region for , the wave-packet mean-square displacement
changes from a long-time super-diffusive behavior for to a
long-time ballistic behavior for . At the vicinity of ,
the mobility edge separating the extended and localized phases is shown to
scale with the degree of correlation as .Comment: PRB to appea
Signature of small rings in the Raman spectra of normal and compressed amorphous silica: A combined classical and ab initio study
We calculate the parallel (VV) and perpendicular (VH) polarized Raman spectra
of amorphous silica. Model SiO2 glasses, uncompressed and compressed, were
generated by a combination of classical and ab initio molecular-dynamics
simulations and their dynamical matrices were computed within the framework of
the density functional theory. The Raman scattering intensities were determined
using the bond-polarizability model and a good agreement with experimental
spectra was found. We confirm that the modes associated to the fourfold and
threefold rings produce most of the Raman intensity of the D1 and D2 peaks,
respectively, in the VV Raman spectra. Modifications of the Raman spectra upon
compression are found to be in agreement with experimental data. We show that
the modes associated to the fourfold rings still exist upon compression but do
not produce a strong Raman intensity, whereas the ones associated to the
threefold rings do. This result strongly suggests that the area under the D1
and D2 peaks is not directly proportional to the concentration of small rings
in amorphous SiO2.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures. Phys. Rev. B, in pres
Delocalization in harmonic chains with long-range correlated random masses
We study the nature of collective excitations in harmonic chains with masses
exhibiting long-range correlated disorder with power spectrum proportional to
, where is the wave-vector of the modulations on the random
masses landscape. Using a transfer matrix method and exact diagonalization, we
compute the localization length and participation ratio of eigenmodes within
the band of allowed energies. We find extended vibrational modes in the
low-energy region for . In order to study the time evolution of an
initially localized energy input, we calculate the second moment of
the energy spatial distribution. We show that , besides being dependent
of the specific initial excitation and exhibiting an anomalous diffusion for
weakly correlated disorder, assumes a ballistic spread in the regime
due to the presence of extended vibrational modes.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figure
An international network to monitor the structure, composition and dynamics of Amazonian forests (RAINFOR)
The Amazon basin is likely to be increasingly affected by environmental changes: higher temperatures, changes in precipitation, CO2 fertilization and habitat fragmentation. To examine the important ecological and biogeochemical consequences of these changes, we are developing an international network, RAINFOR, which aims to monitor forest biomass and dynamics across Amazonia in a co-ordinated fashion in order to understand their relationship to soil and climate. The network will focus on sample plots established by independent researchers, some providing data extending back several decades. We will also conduct rapid transect studies of poorly monitored regions. Field expeditions analysed local soil and plant properties in the first phase (2001–2002). Initial results suggest that the network has the potential to reveal much information on the continental-scale relations between forest and environment. The network will also serve as a forum for discussion between researchers, with the aim of standardising sampling techniques and methodologies that will enable Amazonian forests to be monitored in a coherent manner in the coming decades
Optical Properties of Layered Superconductors near the Josephson Plasma Resonance
We study the optical properties of crystals with spatial dispersion and show
that the usual Fresnel approach becomes invalid near frequencies where the
group velocity of the wave packets inside the crystal vanishes. Near these
special frequencies the reflectivity depends on the atomic structure of the
crystal provided that disorder and dissipation are very low. This is
demonstrated explicitly by a detailed study of layered superconductors with
identical or two different alternating junctions in the frequency range near
the Josephson plasma resonance. Accounting for both inductive and charge
coupling of the intrinsic junctions, we show that multiple modes are excited
inside the crystal by the incident light, determine their relative amplitude by
the microscopic calculation of the additional boundary conditions and finally
obtain the reflectivity.
Spatial dispersion also provides a novel method to stop light pulses, which
has possible applications for quantum information processing and the artificial
creation of event horizons in a solid.Comment: 25 pages, 20 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
The HO Southern Galactic Plane Survey (HOPS) - I. Techniques and HO maser data
The definitive version can be found at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ Copyright Royal Astronomical SocietyWe present first results of the HO Southern Galactic Plane Survey (HOPS), using the Mopra Radio Telescope with a broad-band backend and a beam size of about 2 arcmin. We have observed 100 deg of the southern Galactic plane at 12mm (19.5-27.5GHz), including spectral line emission from HO masers, multiple metastable transitions of ammonia, cyanoacetylene, methanol and radio recombination lines. In this paper, we report on the characteristics of the survey and HO maser emission. We find 540 HO masers, of which 334 are new detections. The strongest maser is 3933Jy and the weakest is 0.7Jy, with 62 masers over 100Jy. In 14 maser sites, the spread in the velocity of the HO maser emission exceeds 100kms. In one region, the HO maser velocities are separated by 351.3kms. The rms noise levels are typically between 1 and 2Jy, with 95 per cent of the survey under 2Jy. We estimate completeness limits of 98 per cent at around 8.4Jy and 50 per cent at around 5.5Jy. We estimate that there are between 800 and 1500 HO masers in the Galaxy that are detectable in a survey with similar completeness limits to HOPS. We report possible masers in NH (11,9) and (8,6) emission towards G19.61-0.23 and in the NH (3,3) line towards G23.33-0.30.Peer reviewe
Three-Nucleon Forces from Chiral Effective Field Theory
We perform the first complete analysis of nd scattering at
next-to-next-to-leading order in chiral effective field theory including the
corresponding three-nucleon force and extending our previous work, where only
the two-nucleon interaction has been taken into account. The three-nucleon
force appears first at this order in the chiral expansion and depends on two
unknown parameters. These two parameters are determined from the triton binding
energy and the nd doublet scattering length. We find an improved description of
various scattering observables in relation to the next-to-leading order results
especially at moderate energies (E_lab = 65 MeV). It is demonstrated that the
long-standing A_y-problem in nd elastic scattering is still not solved by the
leading 3NF, although some visible improvement is observed. We discuss
possibilities of solving this puzzle. The predicted binding energy for the
alpha-particle agrees with the empirical value.Comment: 36 pp, 20 figure
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