902 research outputs found
Chapter 07: Vulnerability of macroalgae of the Great Barrier Reef to climate change
Assessing the vulnerability of benthic macroalgae is complicated by the fact that the taxon âalgaeâ is an unnatural (and, some suggest, outdated) grouping that encompasses several distinct and diverse evolutionary lines. Adl et al.3 suggest that âalgaeâ remains a useful functional term, denoting photosynthetic protists and their multicellular derivatives which are not embryophytes (higher plants), as well as cyanobacteria. However, they also show that âalgaeâ, like âprotistsâ, is not a formal taxon (and therefore should not be capitalised), nor a single, homogeneous group.This is Chapter 7 of Climate change and the Great Barrier Reef: a vulnerability assessment. The entire book can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/11017/13
Light and Life: Exotic Photosynthesis in Binary Star Systems
The potential for hosting photosynthetic life on Earth-like planets within
binary/multiple stellar systems was evaluated by modelling the levels of
photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) such planets receive. Combinations of
M and G stars in: (i) close-binary systems; (ii) wide-binary systems and (iii)
three-star systems were investigated and a range of stable radiation
environments found to be possible. These environmental conditions allow for the
possibility of familiar, but also more exotic forms of photosynthetic life,
such as infrared photosynthesisers and organisms specialised for specific
spectral niches.Comment: Accepted for publication in: Astrobiolog
Terrace Standard, March, 01, 1995
Observation has lead to a conclusion that the physics analysis jobs run by LHCb physicists on a local computing farm (i.e. non-grid) require more efficient access to the data which resides on the Grid. Our experiments have shown that the I/O bound nature of the analysis jobs in combination with the latency due to the remote access protocols (e.g. rfio, dcap) cause a low CPU efficiency of these jobs. In addition to causing a low CPU efficiency, the remote access protocols give rise to high overhead (in terms of amount of data transferred). This paper gives an overview of the concept of pre-fetching and caching of input files in the proximity of the processing resources, which is exploited to cope with the I/O bound analysis jobs. The files are copied from Grid storage elements (using GridFTP), while concurrently performing computations, inspired from a similar idea used in the ATLAS experiment. The results illustrate that this file staging approach is relatively insensitive to the original location of the data, and a significant improvement can be achieved in terms of the CPU efficiency of an analysis job. Dealing with scalability of such a solution on the Grid environment is discussed briefly
Residual cognitive deficits 50 years after lead poisoning during childhood
The long term neurobehavioural consequences of childhood lead poisoning are not known. In this study adult subjects with a documented history of lead poisoning before age 4 and matched controls were examined with an abbreviated battery of neuropsychological tests including measures of attention, reasoning, memory, motor speed, and current mood. The subjects exposed to lead were inferior to controls on almost all of the cognitive tasks. This pattern of widespread deficits resembles that found in children evaluated at the time of acute exposure to lead rather than the more circumscribed pattern typically seen in adults exposed to lead. Despite having completed as many years of schooling as controls, the subjects exposed to lead were lower in lifetime occupational status. Within the exposed group, performance on the neuropsychological battery and occupational status were related, consistent with the presumed impact of limitations in neuropsychological functioning on everyday life. The results suggest that many subjects exposed to lead suffered acute encephalopathy in childhood which resolved into a chronic subclinical encephalopathy with associated cognitive dysfunction still evident in adulthood. These findings lend support to efforts to limit exposure to lead in childhood
Quantitative predictions on auxin-induced polar distribution of PIN proteins during vein formation in leaves
The dynamic patterning of the plant hormone auxin and its efflux facilitator
the PIN protein are the key regulator for the spatial and temporal organization
of plant development. In particular auxin induces the polar localization of its
own efflux facilitator. Due to this positive feedback auxin flow is directed
and patterns of auxin and PIN arise. During the earliest stage of vein
initiation in leaves auxin accumulates in a single cell in a rim of epidermal
cells from which it flows into the ground meristem tissue of the leaf blade.
There the localized auxin supply yields the successive polarization of PIN
distribution along a strand of cells. We model the auxin and PIN dynamics
within cells with a minimal canalization model. Solving the model analytically
we uncover an excitable polarization front that triggers a polar distribution
of PIN proteins in cells. As polarization fronts may extend to opposing
directions from their initiation site we suggest a possible resolution to the
puzzling occurrence of bipolar cells, such we offer an explanation for the
development of closed, looped veins. Employing non-linear analysis we identify
the role of the contributing microscopic processes during polarization.
Furthermore, we deduce quantitative predictions on polarization fronts
establishing a route to determine the up to now largely unknown kinetic rates
of auxin and PIN dynamics.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, supplemental information included, accepted for
publication in Eur. Phys. J.
Time-integrated luminosity recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider
This article is the Preprint version of the final published artcile which can be accessed at the link below.We describe a measurement of the time-integrated luminosity of the data collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at the Ï(4S), Ï(3S), and Ï(2S) resonances and in a continuum region below each resonance. We measure the time-integrated luminosity by counting e+e-âe+e- and (for the Ï(4S) only) e+e-âÎŒ+ÎŒ- candidate events, allowing additional photons in the final state. We use data-corrected simulation to determine the cross-sections and reconstruction efficiencies for these processes, as well as the major backgrounds. Due to the large cross-sections of e+e-âe+e- and e+e-âÎŒ+ÎŒ-, the statistical uncertainties of the measurement are substantially smaller than the systematic uncertainties. The dominant systematic uncertainties are due to observed differences between data and simulation, as well as uncertainties on the cross-sections. For data collected on the Ï(3S) and Ï(2S) resonances, an additional uncertainty arises due to Ïâe+e-X background. For data collected off the Ï resonances, we estimate an additional uncertainty due to time dependent efficiency variations, which can affect the short off-resonance runs. The relative uncertainties on the luminosities of the on-resonance (off-resonance) samples are 0.43% (0.43%) for the Ï(4S), 0.58% (0.72%) for the Ï(3S), and 0.68% (0.88%) for the Ï(2S).This work is supported by the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the Commissariat Ă lâEnergie Atomique and Institut National de Physique NuclĂ©aire et de Physiquedes Particules (France), the Bundesministerium fĂŒr Bildung und Forschung and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy), the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (The Netherlands), the Research Council of Norway, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciĂłn (Spain), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union) and the A.P. Sloan Foundation (USA)
Measurement of the W+W-gamma Cross Section and Direct Limits on Anomalous Quartic Gauge Boson Couplings at LEP
The process e+e- -> W+W-gamma is analysed using the data collected with the
L3 detector at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 188.6GeV, corresponding to an
integrated luminosity of 176.8pb^-1. Based on a sample of 42 selected W+W-
candidates containing an isolated hard photon, the W+W-gamma cross section,
defined within phase-space cuts, is measured to be: sigma_WWgamma = 290 +/- 80
+/- 16 fb, consistent with the Standard Model expectation. Including the
process e+e- -> nu nu gamma gamma, limits are derived on anomalous
contributions to the Standard Model quartic vertices W+W- gamma gamma and W+W-Z
gamma at 95% CL: -0.043 GeV^-2 < a_0/Lambda^2 < 0.043 GeV^-2 0.08 GeV^-2 <
a_c/Lambda^2 < 0.13 GeV^-2 0.41 GeV^-2 < a_n/Lambda^2 < 0.37 GeV^-2
Production of Single W Bosons at \sqrt{s}=189 GeV and Measurement of WWgamma Gauge Couplings
Single W boson production in electron-positron collisions is studied with the
L3 detector at LEP. The data sample collected at a centre-of-mass energy of
\sqrt{s} = 188.7GeV corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 176.4pb^-1.
Events with a single energetic lepton or two acoplanar hadronic jets are
selected. Within phase-space cuts, the total cross-section is measured to be
0.53 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.03 pb, consistent with the Standard Model expectation.
Including our single W boson results obtained at lower \sqrt{s}, the WWgamma
gauge couplings kappa_gamma and lambda_gamma are determined to be kappa_gamma =
0.93 +/- 0.16 +/- 0.09 and lambda_gamma = -0.31 +0.68 -0.19 +/- 0.13
Search for an invisibly decaying Higgs boson in e^+e^- collisions at \sqrt{s} = 183 - 189 GeV
A search for a Higgs boson decaying into invisible particles is performed
using the data collected at LEP by the L3 experiment at centre-of-mass energies
of 183 GeV and 189 GeV. The integrated luminosities are respectively 55.3 pb^-1
and 176.4 pb^-1. The observed candidates are consistent with the expectations
from Standard Model processes. In the hypothesis that the production cross
section of this Higgs boson equals the Standard Model one and the branching
ratio into invisible particles is 100%, a lower mass limit of 89.2 GeV is set
at 95% confidence level
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