1,604 research outputs found
Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, Puffinus pacificus, and development on Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia
The Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus pacificus, colony on Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, has been the subject of a long-term study since 1984 to monitor the effects of development. During this time, there has been considerable development in the tourist resort, university research station and national park ranger quarters. Several methods have been used to record and analyse the effects of development.
Prior to the development of specialised burrow-viewing equipment, Wedge-tailed Shearwater population estimates had been based on indirect methods such as footprints and cleared burrow entrances. Investigation of actual burrow contents, relayed electronically from a camera inserted into burrows showed that all previous population estimates needed revision, even halving earlier populations estimates. We also used a photographic record and surveys to record the changes to island habitats over time. The Ultimate Environmental Threshold (UET) technique was used to estimate the effects of development on several environmental factors. Traditional breeding areas have been lost to the shearwater population through construction of buildings, paving of areas, blocking of flight paths and compaction of tracks.
However, the species appears to have compensated despite significant modification to the island's natural habitats. Nesting behaviour has been altered in disturbed areas of the island and egg-hatching rates have been lowered. Because the life span of a shearwater could be up to 30 years, more long-term research is needed to analyse the true effects of development
Alien Registration- De Rosier, P J. (Baldwin, Cumberland County)
https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/32917/thumbnail.jp
Estimate of blow-up and relaxation time for self-gravitating Brownian particles and bacterial populations
We determine an asymptotic expression of the blow-up time t_coll for
self-gravitating Brownian particles or bacterial populations (chemotaxis) close
to the critical point. We show that t_coll=t_{*}(eta-eta_c)^{-1/2} with
t_{*}=0.91767702..., where eta represents the inverse temperature (for Brownian
particles) or the mass (for bacterial colonies), and eta_c is the critical
value of eta above which the system blows up. This result is in perfect
agreement with the numerical solution of the Smoluchowski-Poisson system. We
also determine the asymptotic expression of the relaxation time close but above
the critical temperature and derive a large time asymptotic expansion for the
density profile exactly at the critical point
Harbour Light. Port and transport related EU policy and regulations: The professionals' guide
Document type: Boo
Can soil moisture be mapped onto the terrain?
International audienceSoil moisture heterogeneity has an effect on the rainfall?runoff characteristics of a landscape. The aggregate effect on the mean water balance over an area can be quantified successfully using models such as the PDM (Moore, 1986) and TOPMODEL (Beven and Kirkby, 1979). These rainfall?runoff models have been embedded in the large-scale land surface schemes used in meteorological models. However, there is also a requirement (e.g. model validation) to identify the spatial structure of the fine-scale soil moisture heterogeneity that makes up these aggregate models. In some types of landscape, this will be dictated by topography, in others by soil characteristics, or by a combination of both. A method to distribute area-average soil moisture according to the likely effect of local topography is presented and tested. The heterogeneity of the soil moisture is described by the Xinanxiang distribution (Zhao et al., 1980), commonly used to describe the natural spatial heterogeneity of the landscape. This distribution is then mapped onto the terrain using a topographic index to locate the wettest and driest areas. Soil moisture data from the Wye catchment in Wales and from the Pang catchment in Berkshire, England, are used to test the method. It is found that soil moisture data from the Wye catchment follow the topographic index reasonably well, whereas data from the quick-draining, chalky Pang catchment do not. The conclusion that topographic index is a useful indicator only in some landscapes applies equally to using this mapping method and those models that use topographic index directly. Keywords: soil moisture, heterogeneity, topographic index, dat
A Fixed-Target ExpeRiment at the LHC (AFTER@LHC) : luminosities, target polarisation and a selection of physics studies
We report on a future multi-purpose fixed-target experiment with the proton
or lead ion LHC beams extracted by a bent crystal. The multi-TeV LHC beams
allow for the most energetic fixed-target experiments ever performed. Such an
experiment, tentatively named AFTER for "A Fixed-Target ExperRiment", gives
access to new domains of particle and nuclear physics complementing that of
collider experiments, in particular at RHIC and at the EIC projects. The
instantaneous luminosity at AFTER using typical targets surpasses that of RHIC
by more than 3 orders of magnitude. Beam extraction by a bent crystal offers an
ideal way to obtain a clean and very collimated high-energy beam, without
decreasing the performance of the LHC. The fixed-target mode also has the
advantage of allowing for spin measurements with a polarised target and for an
access over the full backward rapidity domain up to xF ~ - 1. Here, we
elaborate on the reachable luminosities, the target polarisation and a
selection of measurements with hydrogen and deuterium targets.Comment: 6 pages. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Quarks
and Nuclear Physics QNP2012 (16-20 April 2012, Ecole Polytechnique,
Palaiseau,France
Spin physics at A Fixed-Target ExpeRiment at the LHC (AFTER@LHC)
We outline the opportunities for spin physics which are offered by a next
generation and multi-purpose fixed-target experiment exploiting the proton LHC
beam extracted by a bent crystal. In particular, we focus on the study of
single transverse spin asymetries with the polarisation of the target.Comment: Contributed to the 20th International Spin Physics Symposium,
SPIN2012, 17-22 September 2012, Dubna, Russia, 4 pages, LaTe
Prospectives for A Fixed-Target ExpeRiment at the LHC: AFTER@LHC
We argue that the concept of a multi-purpose fixed-target experiment with the
proton or lead-ion LHC beams extracted by a bent crystal would offer a number
of ground-breaking precision-physics opportunities. The multi-TeV LHC beams
will allow for the most energetic fixed-target experiments ever performed. The
fixed-target mode has the advantage of allowing for high luminosities, spin
measurements with a polarised target, and access over the full backward
rapidity domain --uncharted until now-- up to x_F ~ -1.Comment: 6 pages, 1 table, LaTeX. Proceedings of the 36th International
Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP2012), 4-11 July 2012, Melbourne,
Australi
Thermodynamics of self-gravitating systems
Self-gravitating systems are expected to reach a statistical equilibrium
state either through collisional relaxation or violent collisionless
relaxation. However, a maximum entropy state does not always exist and the
system may undergo a ``gravothermal catastrophe'': it can achieve ever
increasing values of entropy by developing a dense and hot ``core'' surrounded
by a low density ``halo''. In this paper, we study the phase transition between
``equilibrium'' states and ``collapsed'' states with the aid of a simple
relaxation equation [Chavanis, Sommeria and Robert, Astrophys. J. 471, 385
(1996)] constructed so as to increase entropy with an optimal rate while
conserving mass and energy. With this numerical algorithm, we can cover the
whole bifurcation diagram in parameter space and check, by an independent
method, the stability limits of Katz [Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 183, 765 (1978)]
and Padmanabhan [Astrophys. J. Supp. 71, 651 (1989)]. When no equilibrium state
exists, our relaxation equation develops a self-similar collapse leading to a
finite time singularity.Comment: 54 pages. 25 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Continuous Uniform Finite Time Stabilization of Planar Controllable Systems
Continuous homogeneous controllers are utilized in a full state feedback setting for the uniform finite time stabilization of a perturbed double integrator in the presence of uniformly decaying piecewise continuous disturbances. Semiglobal strong Lyapunov functions are identified to establish uniform asymptotic stability of the closed-loop planar system. Uniform finite time stability is then proved by extending the homogeneity principle of discontinuous systems to the continuous case with uniformly decaying piecewise continuous nonhomogeneous disturbances. A finite upper bound on the settling time is also computed. The results extend the existing literature on homogeneity and finite time stability by both presenting uniform finite time stabilization and dealing with a broader class of nonhomogeneous disturbances for planar controllable systems while also proposing a new class of homogeneous continuous controllers
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