631 research outputs found
An assessment of mussel mortality caused by a drop in the water level of Lake Kariba
The level of Lake Kariba steadily fell during the period 1 June 1979 to 2 Feb 1980, except for a 2-wk period during Dec when it was allowed to rise slightly. Following this the level was again drawn down in anticipation of the Upper Zambezi flood water reaching the lake. At its highest level in June 1979 the lake was 487.42 m above sea level but by Feb 1980 it had dropped to 484.53 m, a total drop of 2.89 m. This left a considerable area of exposed shoreline and a large number of stranded mussels. This report presents the results of an attempt to estimate the mussel mortality, carried out from 28 Jan to 1 Feb 1980. The study area extended from the Charara river mouth to Andora harbour with a total of 24 stations
Genetic Assimilation and Canalisation in the Baldwin Effect
The Baldwin Effect indicates that individually learned behaviours acquired during an organism’s lifetime can influence the evolutionary path taken by a population, without any direct Lamarckian transfer of traits from phenotype to genotype. Several computational studies modelling this effect have included complications that restrict its applicability. Here we present a simplified model that is used to reveal the essential mechanisms and highlight several conceptual issues that have not been clearly defined in prior literature. In particular, we suggest that canalisation and genetic assimilation, often conflated in previous studies, are separate concepts and the former is actually not required for non-heritable phenotypic variation to guide genetic variation. Additionally, learning, often considered to be essential for the Baldwin Effect, can be replaced with a more general phenotypic plasticity model. These simplifications potentially permit the Baldwin Effect to operate in much more general circumstances
Misleading signatures of quantum chaos
The main signature of chaos in a quantum system is provided by spectral
statistical analysis of the nearest neighbor spacing distribution and the
spectral rigidity given by . It is shown that some standard
unfolding procedures, like local unfolding and Gaussian broadening, lead to a
spurious increase of the spectral rigidity that spoils the
relationship with the regular or chaotic motion of the system. This effect can
also be misinterpreted as Berry's saturation.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Fluorescence resonance energy transfer between organic dyes adsorbed onto nano-clay and Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films
In this communication we investigate two dyes N,N' -dioctadecyl thiacyanine
perchlorate (NK) and octadecyl rhodamine B chloride (RhB) in Langmuir and
Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films with or with out a synthetic clay laponite.
Observed changes in isotherms of RhB in absence and presence of nano-clay
platelets indicate the incorporation of clay platelets onto RhB-clay hybrid
films. AFM image confirms the incorporation of clay in hybrid films. FRET was
observed in clay dispersion and LB films with and without clay. Efficiency of
energy transfer was maximum in LB films with clay.Comment: 15 pages 5 figures, 1 tabl
Structure of wavefunctions in (1+2)-body random matrix ensembles
Abstrtact: Random matrix ensembles defined by a mean-field one-body plus a
chaos generating random two-body interaction (called embedded ensembles of
(1+2)-body interactions) predict for wavefunctions, in the chaotic domain, an
essentially one parameter Gaussian forms for the energy dependence of the
number of principal components NPC and the localization length {\boldmath
l}_H (defined by information entropy), which are two important measures of
chaos in finite interacting many particle systems. Numerical embedded ensemble
calculations and nuclear shell model results, for NPC and {\boldmath l}_H,
are compared with the theory. These analysis clearly point out that for
realistic finite interacting many particle systems, in the chaotic domain,
wavefunction structure is given by (1+2)-body embedded random matrix ensembles.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures (1a-c, 2a-b, 3a-c), prepared for the invited talk
given in the international conference on `Perspectives in Theoretical
Physics', held at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad during January
8-12, 200
Custom training and technical support for the fishery stock assessment software ‘stock synthesis’
Spectral fluctuation properties of spherical nuclei
The spectral fluctuation properties of spherical nuclei are considered by use
of NNSD statistic. With employing a generalized Brody distribution included
Poisson, GOE and GUE limits and also MLE technique, the chaoticity parameters
are estimated for sequences prepared by all the available empirical data. The
ML-based estimated values and also KLD measures propose a non regular dynamic.
Also, spherical odd-mass nuclei in the mass region, exhibit a slight deviation
to the GUE spectral statistics rather than the GOE.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
Time-Dependent Models for a decade of SN 1993J
A classical and a relativistic law of motion for a supernova remnant (SNR)
are deduced assuming an inverse power law behavior for the density of the
interstellar medium and applying the thin layer approximation. A third equation
of motion is found in the framework of relativistic hydrodynamics with
pressure, applying momentum conservation. These new formulas are calibrated
against a decade of observations of \snr. The existing knowledge of the
diffusive processes of ultrarelativistic electrons is reviewed in order to
explain the behavior of the `U' shaped profile of intensity versus distance
from the center of SN 1993J.Comment: 20 pages 19 figures, Accepted for pubblication in Astrophysics and
Space Science 201
A Solvable Regime of Disorder and Interactions in Ballistic Nanostructures, Part I: Consequences for Coulomb Blockade
We provide a framework for analyzing the problem of interacting electrons in
a ballistic quantum dot with chaotic boundary conditions within an energy
(the Thouless energy) of the Fermi energy. Within this window we show that the
interactions can be characterized by Landau Fermi liquid parameters. When ,
the dimensionless conductance of the dot, is large, we find that the disordered
interacting problem can be solved in a saddle-point approximation which becomes
exact as (as in a large-N theory). The infinite theory shows a
transition to a strong-coupling phase characterized by the same order parameter
as in the Pomeranchuk transition in clean systems (a spontaneous
interaction-induced Fermi surface distortion), but smeared and pinned by
disorder. At finite , the two phases and critical point evolve into three
regimes in the plane -- weak- and strong-coupling regimes separated
by crossover lines from a quantum-critical regime controlled by the quantum
critical point. In the strong-coupling and quantum-critical regions, the
quasiparticle acquires a width of the same order as the level spacing
within a few 's of the Fermi energy due to coupling to collective
excitations. In the strong coupling regime if is odd, the dot will (if
isolated) cross over from the orthogonal to unitary ensemble for an
exponentially small external flux, or will (if strongly coupled to leads) break
time-reversal symmetry spontaneously.Comment: 33 pages, 14 figures. Very minor changes. We have clarified that we
are treating charge-channel instabilities in spinful systems, leaving
spin-channel instabilities for future work. No substantive results are
change
Exercise, Service and Support: Client Experiences of Physical Activity Referral Schemes(PARS)
Physical activity referral schemes (PARS) represent one of the most prevalent interventions in the fight against chronic illness such as coronary heart disease and obesity. Despite this, issues surrounding low retention and adherence continue to hinder the potential effectiveness of such schemes on public health. This article reports on the second stage of a larger investigation into client experiences of PARS focusing specifically on findings from five client-based focus groups and interviews with five Scheme Organisers. The resulting analysis reveals three main factors impacting participant perceptions of the quality of service and support received: the organisation of PARS provision, client engagement with the PARS community and the nature and extent of client support networks. The article demonstrates that staff have a considerable role to play in engaging clients in the PARS system and that Scheme Organisers should give serious thought to ensuring that clients have valuable and sustainable networks of support. Furthermore, it is suggested that Scheme Organisers need to facilitate a system in which staff are genuinely engaged with the needs of clients and are able to provide individualised programmes of physical activity
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