3,657 research outputs found
Effect of ageing on phase evolution and mechanical properties of a high tungsten super-duplex stainless steel
Peer reviewedPostprin
Dynamic modelling to predict the likelihood of plant species persisting in fragmented landscapes in the face of climate change
Many species are threatened by global climate change, but plants are particularly vulnerable because, as sessile organisms, they are unable to move to areas with more suitable conditions as the climate changes. Instead they must rely on their seeds dispersing far and often to keep pace with a changing climate. This problem is exacerbated by the fragmentation of natural landscapes by clearing for agricultural or urban development, or similarly by a species requirement for particular soil types or topography.
Models can help predict how different species will be affected by climate change. Most previous modelling work on predicting the persistence of plant and other species under climate change has been static, regression style modelling, known as climate envelope modelling. This has focussed on predicting where suitable environments for a species will likely occur under possible future climatic conditions, based on the speciesâ distribution under current conditions. While the existence of suitable environments in a new climate is a necessary condition for a speciesâ persistence, for sessile organisms such as plants, the ability of a species to move and colonise these suitable environments is also likely to be a major limitation. There is therefore a need for models that account for the dynamic processes involved in plant speciesâ migration and colonisation in changing climates.
This paper presents such a dynamic model, called PPunCC (Plant Persistence under Climate Change). We describe how the PPunCC model represents the important factors and processes likely to affect a plant speciesâ capacity to migrate across a landscape fast enough to keep pace with a changing climate, such as the rate of climate change, the degree of landscape fragmentation, and the plant speciesâ life history, seed production, dispersal, and establishment. We also discuss how the model could be used to inform management decisions regarding adaptation options such as assisted migration or the creation of large-scale corridors that increase the connectivity of fragmented landscapes in order to help species migrate naturally and find suitable environments in new climates
Precise bounds on the Higgs boson mass
We study the renormalization group evolution of the Higgs quartic coupling
and the Higgs mass in the Standard Model. The one loop
equation for is non linear and it is of the Riccati type which we
numerically and analytically solve in the energy range where
is the mass of the top quark and GeV. We find that
depending on the value of the solution for
may have singularities or zeros and become negative in the
former energy range so the ultra violet cut off of the standard model should be
below the energy where the zero or singularity of occurs. We find
that for the Standard Model is valid in
the whole range . We consider two cases of the Higgs mass
relation to the parameters of the standard model: (a) the effective potential
method and (b) the tree level mass relations. The limits for
correspond to the following Higgs mass relation GeV. We also plot the dependence of the ultra violet cut
off on the value of the Higgs mass. We analyze the evolution of the vacuum
expectation value of the Higgs field and show that it depends on the value of
the Higgs mass. The pattern of the energy behavior of the VEV is different for
the cases (a) and (b). The behavior of , and
indicates the existence of a phase transition in the standard model. For the
effective potential this phase transition occurs at the mass range
GeV and for the tree level mass relations at GeV.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Expanded the discussion of the Higgs mass
relation between the parameters of the Standard Model. Included the method of
the Higgs effective potentia
Estimating the effects of Bose-Einstein correlations on the W mass measurement at LEP2
The influence of Bose-Einstein correlations on the determination of the mass
of the W boson in e+e- -> WW -> 4jet events at LEP2 energies is studied, using
a global event weighting method. We find that it is possible to keep the
systematic error on the W mass from this source below 20 MeV, if suitable
precautions are taken in the experimental analysis.Comment: 12 pages including 3 .eps figures. Paper revised to correct for a
software bug which overestimated heavy quark contributio
Photosynthesis at an extreme end of the leaf trait spectrum: how does it relate to high leaf dry mass per area and associated structural parameters?
Leaf dry mass per area (LMA) is a composite parameter relating to a suite of structural traits that have the potential to influence photosynthesis. However, the extent to which each of these traits contributes to variation in LMA and photosynthetic rates is not well understood, especially at the high end of the LMA spectrum. In this study, the genus Banksia (Proteaceae) was chosen as a model group, and key structural traits such as LMA, leaf thickness, and density were measured in 49 species. Based on the leaf trait variation obtained, a subset of 18 species displaying a wide range in LMA of 134â507âg mâ2 was selected for analyses of relationships between leaf structural and photosynthetic characteristics. High LMA was associated with more structural tissue, lower mass-based chlorophyll and nitrogen concentrations, and therefore lower mass-based photosynthesis. In contrast, area-based photosynthesis did not correlate with LMA, despite mesophyll volume per area increasing with increases in LMA. Photosynthetic rate per unit mesophyll volume declined with increasing LMA, which is possibly associated with structural limitations and, to a lesser extent, with lower nitrogen allocation. Mesophyll cell wall thickness significantly increased with LMA, which would contribute to lower mesophyll conductance at high LMA. Photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency and the nitrogen allocation to Rubisco and thylakoids tended to decrease at high LMA. The interplay between anatomy and physiology renders area-based photosynthesis independent of LMA in Banksia species
Three Methods of Determining Hardness of Increment Core Segments
Three methods were devised to measure the hardness of small wood samples: a sanding test, a diamond point indentation test, and a saw blade tooth deformity test. Based on step-wise multiple regression analysis with 19 and with five important independent variables, the sanding test was best, followed by the indentation test. The saw blade test gave poor results and was discarded. The order of important independent variables among the four plots analyzed individually showed a nearly perfect relationship with the sanding test, but no consistent order of the variables among plots for the indentation test. Again this indicated that the sanding test was best
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