4,905 research outputs found
Role of early experience in the development of preference for low-quality food in sheep
Domestic ruminant selectivity induces floristic changes in pasturelands, risking sustainability and limiting the subsequent availability of susceptible plant species. Development of preferences for species of lower nutritional quality may help to overcome those problems. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that early experience of sheep with a low-quality food (LQF) in a nutritional enriched context increases preference for LQF in adulthood. We predicted a higher proportional consumption of LQF in experienced lambs (EL) than in inexperienced lambs (IL) in choice situations involving LQF and alternative foods. Additionally, we determined intake of LQF by EL and IL at different levels of high-quality food (HQF) availability. From 60 to 210 days of age, EL were fed in separated feed bunks mature oat hay (LQF) simultaneously with sunflower meal (SM) and corn grain (CG), whereas IL were fed alfalfa hay (HQF) simultaneously with SM and CG. After exposure, EL and IL were offered LQF in free choice situations involving alternative foods, and also at five levels of HQF availability (100%, 75%, 50%, 25% and 0% of ad libitum intake). Proportional consumption of LQF was lower or similar in EL than IL. Intake of LQF was also lower or similar in EL than IL at all levels of HQF availability, except when the LQF was the only food available. Our results did not support the hypothesis that early experience with a LQF in a nutritional enriched context increases preference for LQF in adulthood. On the contrary, experience with LQF diminished subsequent preference for LQF in adulthood. It is proposed that, in the conditions of our study, continuous comparison between the LQF and the high-quality supplements (CG and SM) during the early exposure period lead to devaluation of LQF by EL through a simultaneous negative contrast effect.Fil: Catanese, Francisco Hernan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Centro de Recursos Naturales Renovables de la Zona Semiárida. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Centro de Recursos Naturales Renovables de la Zona Semiárida; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Distel, Roberto Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Centro de Recursos Naturales Renovables de la Zona Semiárida. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Centro de Recursos Naturales Renovables de la Zona Semiárida; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez Iglesias, R. M.. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Villalba, J. J.. State University of Utah; Estados Unido
Determinación del eje de la carretera y la distancia de visibilidad utilizando datos GPS y herramientas SIG
Hoy en día, tanto en el proceso de diseño de las carreteras como en el análisis del funcionamiento de las ya
construidas, se está dando cada vez más importancia a la seguridad vial. Entre los distintos aspectos que se
consideran se encuentra la distancia de visibilidad. Por otra parte, uno de los problemas que aparecen en la práctica
al tratar de analizar carreteras en servicio es la falta de datos de la geometría del eje que estén actualizados y
tengan la precisión requerida. En esta comunicación se presenta un procedimiento para determinar el eje de la
carretera mediante información GPS y calcular la distancia de visibilidad aplicando herramientas SIG. El
procedimiento se ha aplicado a un tramo de carretera convencional de doble sentido de circulación.
El método propuesto puede ser especialmente útil en aquellas carreteras en servicio y de las que, por no contar
con la información sobre su trazado (original o posteriores modificaciones), no es posible utilizar los programas de
diseño de carreteras para el cálculo de la distancia de visibilidad.Nowadays road safety aspects are very important, both for the designing process and for the analysis of already
built roads. Sight distance is one of the most important road safety aspects to consider. On the other hand, the
geometric definition of already built roads is one of the most difficult issues that arise in practice. This road geometry
must be accurate and up to date. In this paper, a procedure to determine the alignment of a road using a GPS and to
calculate sight distances using GIS tools is presented. Also, the use of this procedure in a two-lane rural road is
described.
The proposed method can be especially useful for those roads whose design data are not available because, on
them, road design software could not be used for sight distance calculation
Fossil group origins V. The dependence of the luminosity function on the magnitude gap
In nature we observe galaxy aggregations that span a wide range of magnitude
gaps between the two first-ranked galaxies of a system (). There
are systems with gaps close to zero (e.g., the Coma cluster), and at the other
extreme of the distribution, the largest gaps are found among the so-called
fossil systems. Fossil and non-fossil systems could have different galaxy
populations that should be reflected in their luminosity functions. In this
work we study, for the first time, the dependence of the luminosity function
parameters on using data obtained by the fossil group origins
(FOGO) project. We constructed a hybrid luminosity function for 102 groups and
clusters at . We stacked all the individual luminosity functions,
dividing them into bins of , and studied their best-fit
Schechter parameters. We additionally computed a relative luminosity function,
expressed as a function of the central galaxy luminosity, which boosts our
capacity to detect differences, especially at the bright end. We find trends as
a function of at both the bright and faint ends of the
luminosity function. In particular, at the bright end, the larger the magnitude
gap, the fainter the characteristic magnitude . We also find
differences at the faint end. In this region, the larger the gap, the flatter
the faint-end slope . The differences found at the bright end support a
dissipationless, dynamical friction-driven merging model for the growth of the
central galaxy in group- and cluster-sized halos. The differences in the faint
end cannot be explained by this mechanism. Other processes, such as enhanced
tidal disruption due to early infall and/or prevalence of eccentric orbits, may
play a role. However, a larger sample of systems with is
needed to establish the differences at the faint end.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Fossil Groups Origins III. The relation between optical and X-ray luminosities
This study is part of the FOssil Groups Origin (FOGO) project which aims at
carrying out a systematic and multiwavelength study of a large sample of fossil
systems. Here we focus on the relation between the optical luminosity (Lopt)
and X-ray luminosity (Lx). Out of a sample of 28 candidate fossil systems, we
consider a sample of 12 systems whose fossil classification has been confirmed
by a companion study. They are compared with the complementary sample of 16
systems whose fossil nature is not confirmed and with a subsample of 102 galaxy
systems from the RASS-SDSS galaxy cluster survey. Fossil and normal systems
span the same redshift range 0<z<0.5 and have the same Lx distribution. For
each fossil system, the Lx in the 0.1-2.4 keV band is computed using data from
the ROSAT All Sky Survey. For each fossil and normal system we homogeneously
compute Lopt in the r-band within the characteristic cluster radius, using data
from the SDSS DR7. We sample the Lx-Lopt relation over two orders of magnitude
in Lx. Our analysis shows that fossil systems are not statistically
distinguishable from the normal systems both through the 2D KS test and the fit
of the Lx-Lopt relation. The optical luminosity of the galaxy system does
strongly correlate with the X-ray luminosity of the hot gas component,
independently of whether the system is fossil or not. We conclude that our
results are consistent with the classical "merging scenario" of the brightest
galaxy formed via merger/cannibalism of other group galaxies, with conservation
of the optical light. We find no evidence for a peculiar state of the hot
intracluster medium.Comment: A&A, 12 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, typos corr. and paper re-numbe
Chirping compact stars: gravitational radiation and detection degeneracy with binary systems A conceptual pathfinder for space-based gravitational-wave observatories
Compressible, Riemann S-type ellipsoids can emit gravitational waves (GWs)
with a chirp-like behavior (hereafter chirping ellipsoids, CELs). We show that
the GW frequency-amplitude evolution of CELs (mass ~M, radius
~km, polytropic equation of state with index ) is
indistinguishable from that emitted by double white dwarfs (DWDs) and by
extreme mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) composed of an intermediate-mass
(e.g.~) black hole and a planet-like (e.g.~)
companion, in a specific frequency interval within the detector sensitivity
band in which the GWs of all these systems are quasi-monochromatic. We estimate
that for reasonable astrophysical assumptions, the rates in the local Universe
of CELs, DWDs and EMRIs in the mass range considered here, are very similar,
posing a detection-degeneracy challenge for space-based GW detectors. The
astrophysical implications of this CEL-binary detection degeneracy by
space-based GW-detection facilities, are outlined.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Fossil Groups Origins III. Characterization of the sample and observational properties of fossil systems
(Abridged) Fossil systems are group- or cluster-sized objects whose
luminosity is dominated by a very massive central galaxy. In the current cold
dark matter scenario, these objects formed hierarchically at an early epoch of
the Universe and then slowly evolved until present day. That is the reason why
they are called {\it fossils}. We started an extensive observational program to
characterize a sample of 34 fossil group candidates spanning a broad range of
physical properties. Deep band images were taken for each candidate and
optical spectroscopic observations were obtained for 1200 galaxies. This
new dataset was completed with SDSS DR7 archival data to obtain robust cluster
membership and global properties of each fossil group candidate. For each
system, we recomputed the magnitude gaps between the two brightest galaxies
() and the first and fourth ranked galaxies ()
within 0.5 . We consider fossil systems those with mag or mag within the errors. We find
that 15 candidates turned out to be fossil systems. Their observational
properties agree with those of non-fossil systems. Both follow the same
correlations, but fossils are always extreme cases. In particular, they host
the brightest central galaxies and the fraction of total galaxy light enclosed
in the central galaxy is larger in fossil than in non-fossil systems. Finally,
we confirm the existence of genuine fossil clusters. Combining our results with
others in the literature, we favor the merging scenario in which fossil systems
formed due to mergers of galaxies. The large magnitude gap is a
consequence of the extreme merger ratio within fossil systems and therefore it
is an evolutionary effect. Moreover, we suggest that at least one candidate in
our sample could represent a transitional fossil stage.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Logistic map driven by dichotomous noise
Bifurcation diagrams and invariant densities are computed and interpreted for a logistic map driven by dichotomous noise. Two deterministic limits are analyzed. Changes in the stability of such a system, when varying the correlation time of the noise, are numerically studied. The peaks of the invariant density in the white-noise case are identified as originating from the most stable attractors among those appearing in the deterministic limits
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