1,515 research outputs found
Influencia de factores bióticos a escala local y de paisaje en la distribución del muérdago en pinares mediterráneos
The study of the spatial patterns of species allows the examination of hypotheses on the most plausible ecological processes and factors determining their distribution. To investigate the determinants of parasite species on Mediterranean forests at regional scales, occurrence data of the European Misletoe (Viscum album) in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula) were extracted from forest inventory data and combined with different types of explanatory variables by means of generalized linear mixed models. The presence of mistletoes in stands of Pinus halepensis seems to be determined by multiple factors (climatic conditions, and characteristics of the host tree and landscape structure) operating at different spatial scales, with the availability of orchards of Olea europaea in the surroundings playing a relevant role. These results suggest that host quality and landscape structure are important mediators of plant-plant and plant-animal interactions and, therefore, management of mistletoe populations should be conducted at both local (i.e. clearing of infected host trees) and landscape scales (e.g. controlling the availability of nutrient-rich food sources that attract bird dispersers). Research and management at landscape-scales are necessary to anticipate the negative consequence of land-use changes in Mediterranean forests.El estudio de los patrones espaciales de las especies permite examinar hipótesis sobre los procesos ecológicos y factores más plausibles que determinan su distribución. Para investigar los determinantes de una especie parásita en bosques mediterráneos a escala regional, se combinaron datos sobre la presencia de muérdago (Viscum album) en Cataluña (NE de la Península Ibérica) extraídos del inventario forestal con diferentes variables explicativas por medio de modelos mixtos generalizados. La presencia de muérdago en masas de Pinus halepensis parece estar determinada por múltiples factores (condiciones climáticas, características del árbol hospedante, y estructura del paisaje) que operan a diferentes escalas espaciales, jugando los cultivos de Olea europaea un papel relevante. Los resultados sugieren que la calidad de los árboles hospedantes y la estructura del paisaje son importantes mediadores de las interacciones planta-planta y planta- animal y, por tanto, la gestión de las poblaciones de muérdago debería llevarse a cabo tanto a nivel local (es decir, cortando árboles hospedantes infectados) como de paisaje (por ejemplo, controlando la disponibilidad de hábitats ricos en nutrientes que atraen a las aves dispersantes). La investigación y gestión a escala de paisaje son necesarias para prevenir las consecuencias negativas de los cambios de uso del suelo en los bosques mediterráneos
Inflationary Scenarios from Branes at Angles
We describe a simple mechanism that can lead to inflation within string-based
brane-world scenarios. The idea is to start from a supersymmetric configuration
with two parallel static Dp-branes, and slightly break the supersymmetry
conditions to produce a very flat potential for the field that parametrises the
distance between the branes, i.e. the inflaton field. This breaking can be
achieved in various ways: by slight relative rotations of the branes with small
angles, by considering small relative velocities between the branes, etc. If
the breaking parameter is sufficiently small, a large number of e-folds can be
produced within the D-brane, for small changes of the configuration in the
compactified directions. Such a process is local, i.e. it does not depend very
strongly on the compactification space nor on the initial conditions. Moreover,
the breaking induces a very small velocity and acceleration, which ensures very
small slow-roll parameters and thus an almost scale invariant spectrum of
metric fluctuations, responsible for the observed temperature anisotropies in
the microwave background. Inflation ends as in hybrid inflation, triggered by
the negative curvature of the string tachyon potential. In this paper we
elaborate on one of the simplest examples: two almost parallel D4-branes in a
flat compactified space.Comment: 29 pages, 9 eps figures, using JHEP3.cls, published in JHE
Rapid Rotation of Low-Mass Red Giants Using APOKASC: A Measure of Interaction Rates on the Post-main-sequence
We investigate the occurrence rate of rapidly rotating (10 km
s), low-mass giant stars in the APOGEE-Kepler (APOKASC) fields with
asteroseismic mass and surface gravity measurements. Such stars are likely
merger products and their frequency places interesting constraints on stellar
population models. We also identify anomalous rotators, i.e. stars with 5 km
s10 km s that are rotating significantly faster
than both angular momentum evolution predictions and the measured rates of
similar stars. Our data set contains fewer rapid rotators than one would expect
given measurements of the Galactic field star population, which likely
indicates that asteroseismic detections are less common in rapidly rotating red
giants. The number of low-mass moderate (5-10 km s) rotators in our
sample gives a lower limit of 7% for the rate at which low-mass stars interact
on the upper red giant branch because single stars in this mass range are
expected to rotate slowly. Finally, we classify the likely origin of the rapid
or anomalous rotation where possible. KIC 10293335 is identified as a merger
product and KIC 6501237 is a possible binary system of two oscillating red
giants.Comment: 39 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journal. For a brief video discussing key results from this
paper see http://youtu.be/ym_0nV7_YqI . The full table 1 is available at
http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~tayar/tab1_full.tx
Improving the Electrical Parameters of a Photovoltaic Panel by Means of an Induced or Forced Air Stream
The main priority in photovoltaic (PV) panels is the production of electricity. The transformation of solar energy into electricity depends on the operating temperature in such a way that the performance increases with the decreasing temperatures. In the existing literature, different cooling techniques can be found. The purpose of most of them is to use air or water as thermal energy carriers. This work is focused on the use of air as a working fluid whose movement is either induced by natural convection or forced by means of a fan. The aim of this study is to characterise the electrical behaviour of the solar panels in order to improve the design of photovoltaic installations placed in roof applications ensuring low operating temperatures which will correct and reverse the effects produced on efficiency by high temperature. To do this, a test installation has been constructed at the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena in Spain. In this paper, the results of the tests carried out on two identical solar panels are included. One of them has been modified and mounted on different channels through which air flows. The different studies conducted show the effects of the air channel cross-section, the air velocity, and the panel temperature on the electrical parameters of the solar panels, such as the voltage, current, power, and performance. The results conclude that the air space between the photovoltaic panels and a steel roof must be high enough to allow the panel to be cooled and consequently to achieve higher efficiency
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