Material Morphology and energy barriers to electrical ageing

A distribution of the parameters representing activation energy of the ageing process within the Dissado-Montanari-Mazzanti (DMM) lifetime model has been shown to model experimental lifetime distributions of PET films well. The results imply small differences in the local environments of the moieties involved in the ageing process. Very small changes in the minimum activation energy values have a pronounced effect on the resultant lifetimes of polymer specimens. Changes in the distributions of activation energies with field and temperature can be explained by assuming the ageing process to be one whereby polymer segments on lamella surfaces crystallise to create free volume within the polymer

Chandra observations of the HII complex G5.89-0.39 and TeV gamma-ray source HESSJ1800-240B

We present the results of our investigation, using a Chandra X-ray observation, into the stellar population of the massive star formation region G5.89-0.39, and its potential connection to the coincident TeV gamma-ray source HESSJ1800-240B. G5.89-0.39 comprises two separate HII regions G5.89-0.39A and G5.89-0.39B (an ultra-compact HII region). We identified 159 individual X-ray point sources in our observation using the source detection algorithm \texttt{wavdetect}. 35 X-ray sources are associated with the HII complex G5.89-0.39. The 35 X-ray sources represent an average unabsorbed luminosity (0.3-10\,keV) of $\sim10^{30.5}$\,erg/s, typical of B7-B5 type stars. The potential ionising source of G5.89-0.39B known as Feldt's star is possibly identified in our observation with an unabsorbed X-ray luminosity suggestive of a B7-B5 star. The stacked energy spectra of these sources is well-fitted with a single thermal plasma APEC model with kT$\sim$5\,keV, and column density N$_{\rm H}=2.6\times10^{22}$\,cm$^{-2}$ (A$_{\rm V}\sim 10$). The residual (source-subtracted) X-ray emission towards G5.89-0.39A and B is about 30\% and 25\% larger than their respective stacked source luminosities. Assuming this residual emission is from unresolved stellar sources, the total B-type-equivalent stellar content in G5.89-0.39A and B would be 75 stars, consistent with an earlier estimate of the total stellar mass of hot stars in G5.89-0.39. We have also looked at the variability of the 35 X-ray sources in G5.89-0.39. Ten of these sources are flagged as being variable. Further studies are needed to determine the exact causes of the variability, however the variability could point towards pre-main sequence stars. Such a stellar population could provide sufficient kinetic energy to account for a part of the GeV to TeV gamma-ray emission in the source HESSJ1800-240B.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figure

Modeling Concept Combinations in a Quantum-theoretic Framework

We present modeling for conceptual combinations which uses the mathematical formalism of quantum theory. Our model faithfully describes a large amount of experimental data collected by different scholars on concept conjunctions and disjunctions. Furthermore, our approach sheds a new light on long standing drawbacks connected with vagueness, or fuzziness, of concepts, and puts forward a completely novel possible solution to the 'combination problem' in concept theory. Additionally, we introduce an explanation for the occurrence of quantum structures in the mechanisms and dynamics of concepts and, more generally, in cognitive and decision processes, according to which human thought is a well structured superposition of a 'logical thought' and a 'conceptual thought', and the latter usually prevails over the former, at variance with some widespread beliefsComment: 5 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1311.605

Feature integration in natural language concepts

Two experiments measured the joint influence of three key sets of semantic features on the frequency with which artifacts (Experiment 1) or plants and creatures (Experiment 2) were categorized in familiar categories. For artifacts, current function outweighed both originally intended function and current appearance. For biological kinds, appearance and behavior, an inner biological function, and appearance and behavior of offspring all had similarly strong effects on categorization. The data were analyzed to determine whether an independent cue model or an interactive model best accounted for how the effects of the three feature sets combined. Feature integration was found to be additive for artifacts but interactive for biological kinds. In keeping with this, membership in contrasting artifact categories tended to be superadditive, indicating overlapping categories, whereas for biological kinds, it was subadditive, indicating conceptual gaps between categories. It is argued that the results underline a key domain difference between artifact and biological concepts

Global Opportunities to Increase Agricultural Independence Through Phosphorus Recycling

Food production hinges largely upon access to phosphorus (P) fertilizer. Most fertilizer P used in the global agricultural system comes from mining of nonrenewable phosphate rock deposits located within few countries. However, P contained in livestock manure or urban wastes represents a recyclable source of P. To inform development of P recycling technologies and policies, we examined subnational, national, and global spatial patterns for two intersections of land use affording high P recycling potential: (a) manure‐rich cultivated areas and (b) populous cultivated areas. In turn, we examined overlap between P recycling potential and nation‐level P fertilizer import dependency. Populous cultivated areas were less abundant globally than manure‐rich cultivated areas, reflecting greater segregation between crops and people compared to crops and livestock, especially in the Americas. Based on a global hexagonal grid (290‐km2 grid cell area), disproportionately large shares of subnational “hot spots” for P recycling potential occurred in India, China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and parts of Africa. Outside of China, most of the remaining manure‐rich or populous cultivated areas occurred within nations that had relatively high imports of P fertilizer (net P import:consumption ratios ≥0.4) or substantial increases in fertilizer demand between the 2000s (2002–2006) and 2010s (2010–2014). Manure‐rich cultivated grid cells (those above the 75th percentiles for both manure and cropland extent) represented 12% of the global grid after excluding cropless cells. Annually, the global sum of animal manure P was at least 5 times that contained in human excreta, and among cultivated cells the ratio was frequently higher (median = 8.9). The abundance of potential P recycling hot spots within nations that have depended on fertilizer imports or experienced rising fertilizer demand could prove useful for developing local P sources and maintaining agricultural independence

Relative Equilibria in the Four-Vortex Problem with Two Pairs of Equal Vorticities

We examine in detail the relative equilibria in the four-vortex problem where two pairs of vortices have equal strength, that is, \Gamma_1 = \Gamma_2 = 1 and \Gamma_3 = \Gamma_4 = m where m is a nonzero real parameter. One main result is that for m > 0, the convex configurations all contain a line of symmetry, forming a rhombus or an isosceles trapezoid. The rhombus solutions exist for all m but the isosceles trapezoid case exists only when m is positive. In fact, there exist asymmetric convex configurations when m < 0. In contrast to the Newtonian four-body problem with two equal pairs of masses, where the symmetry of all convex central configurations is unproven, the equations in the vortex case are easier to handle, allowing for a complete classification of all solutions. Precise counts on the number and type of solutions (equivalence classes) for different values of m, as well as a description of some of the bifurcations that occur, are provided. Our techniques involve a combination of analysis and modern and computational algebraic geometry

The WiFeS S7 AGN survey: Current status and recent results on NGC 6300

The Siding Spring Southern Seyfert Spectroscopic Snapshot Survey (S7) is a targeted survey probing the narrow-line regions (NLRs) of a representative sample of ~140 nearby (z<0.02) Seyfert galaxies by means of optical integral field spectroscopy. The survey is based on a homogeneous data set observed using the Wide Field Spectrograph WiFeS. The data provide a 25x38 arcsec$^2$ field-of-view around the galaxy centre at typically ~1.5 arcsec spatial resolution and cover a wavelength range between ~3400 - 7100 $\AA$ at spectral resolutions of ~100 km s$^{-1}$ and ~50 km s$^{-1}$ in the blue and red parts, respectively. The survey is primarily designed to study gas excitation and star formation around AGN, with a special focus on the shape of the AGN ionising continuum, the interaction between radio jets and the NLR gas, and the nature of nuclear LINER emission. We provide an overview of the current status of S7-based results and present new results for NGC 6300.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, Refereed Proceeding of the "The Universe of Digital Sky Surveys" conference held at the INAF - Observatory of Capodimonte, Naples, on 25th-28th november 2014, to be published on Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, edited by Longo, Napolitano, Marconi, Paolillo, Iodic

Normal versus abnormal structure: considerations in morphologic responses of teleosts to pollutants.

Consideration of newer more quantitative morphologic approaches to the study of aquatic pollutants can provide opportunity for collaborative/integrated studies with other subdisciplines in toxicology. Current commonly employed morphologic approaches result largely in subjective findings difficult to analyze statistically and often are directed at levels of structural organization inconsistent with biochemical and physiological approaches. We review some of the methods and approaches available for correlated structure/function studies and present examples from normal and altered skin, gill, and liver of teleosts

Quantum Experimental Data in Psychology and Economics

We prove a theorem which shows that a collection of experimental data of probabilistic weights related to decisions with respect to situations and their disjunction cannot be modeled within a classical probabilistic weight structure in case the experimental data contain the effect referred to as the 'disjunction effect' in psychology. We identify different experimental situations in psychology, more specifically in concept theory and in decision theory, and in economics (namely situations where Savage's Sure-Thing Principle is violated) where the disjunction effect appears and we point out the common nature of the effect. We analyze how our theorem constitutes a no-go theorem for classical probabilistic weight structures for common experimental data when the disjunction effect is affecting the values of these data. We put forward a simple geometric criterion that reveals the non classicality of the considered probabilistic weights and we illustrate our geometrical criterion by means of experimentally measured membership weights of items with respect to pairs of concepts and their disjunctions. The violation of the classical probabilistic weight structure is very analogous to the violation of the well-known Bell inequalities studied in quantum mechanics. The no-go theorem we prove in the present article with respect to the collection of experimental data we consider has a status analogous to the well known no-go theorems for hidden variable theories in quantum mechanics with respect to experimental data obtained in quantum laboratories. For this reason our analysis puts forward a strong argument in favor of the validity of using a quantum formalism for modeling the considered psychological experimental data as considered in this paper.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure