29,681 research outputs found
Is string theory a theory of quantum gravity?
Some problems in finding a complete quantum theory incorporating gravity are
discussed. One is that of giving a consistent unitary description of
high-energy scattering. Another is that of giving a consistent quantum
description of cosmology, with appropriate observables. While string theory
addresses some problems of quantum gravity, its ability to resolve these
remains unclear. Answers may require new mechanisms and constructs, whether
within string theory, or in another framework.Comment: Invited contribution for "Forty Years of String Theory: Reflecting on
the Foundations," a special issue of Found. Phys., ed. by G 't Hooft, E.
Verlinde, D. Dieks, S. de Haro. 32 pages, 5 figs., harvmac. v2: final version
to appear in journal (small revisions
Fish farming in Anambra State: economic criteria
The paper is based on the premise that an understanding of the role and potentials of fish farming entrepreneurs in terms of their activities and expectations would enhance fish production and productivity. To this end, the present paper investigates the activities of 24 fish farmers in Anambra State, Nigeria. Based on the fish farmers' experience, the paper presents fish farming investments, budgets and recommendations that could ensure fish farming development as a profitable business venture and at the same time ensure greater fish production in the countr
Reproductive biology of Rastrineobola argentea (Pellegrin) in the northern waters of Lake Victoria
Size at first maturity, breeding periods and condition factor were determined for the small pelagic cyprinid Rastrineobola argentea (Pellegrin) in the Jinja waters of Lake Victoria in 1996-1997. Females showed a reduced size at maturity compared to ten years earlier when exploitation of the species was minimal. The males, however, have changed little. Although the species breeds throughout the year, two breeding peaks were observed during the drier months of August and December-January. Minimal breeding was observed in the rainy months of April-May and October-November. Fish from the open water station at Bugaia showed a higher proportion of breeding individuals than those from inshore areas. The mean monthly condition factor of fish from Napoleon Gulf confirmed breeding peaks obtained from examination of gonad development
Making each and every African fisher count: women do fish
Role of women, Fisheries, Africa, east, Africa, west,
A dual Stage ion engine for high impulse missions
In this paper, the applicability of dual stage ion opticsand in particular of the so-called dual stage ion engine to highpower, high specific impulse missions will be evaluated. First, theperformance limits of conventional two gridded ion engines (GIE)will be discussed and the advantages provided by dual stage ionengines reported. The limits of applicability of a dual stage ionengine will be analyzed analytically and the results confirmednumerically. The lifetime and performance of a three griddeddual stage ion engine (DS3G) will be numerically investigated andcompared to those of a conventional GIE assessing for the firsttime in the open literature under what condition dual stage ionoptics provide performance improvements over conventional GIEsand what is its impact on the thruster lifetime. Dual stage ionengines have been found to be capable of providing higher thrustdensity and longer lifetime with respect to conventional griddedion engines
Survival probability and order statistics of diffusion on disordered media
We investigate the first passage time t_{j,N} to a given chemical or
Euclidean distance of the first j of a set of N>>1 independent random walkers
all initially placed on a site of a disordered medium. To solve this
order-statistics problem we assume that, for short times, the survival
probability (the probability that a single random walker is not absorbed by a
hyperspherical surface during some time interval) decays for disordered media
in the same way as for Euclidean and some class of deterministic fractal
lattices. This conjecture is checked by simulation on the incipient percolation
aggregate embedded in two dimensions. Arbitrary moments of t_{j,N} are
expressed in terms of an asymptotic series in powers of 1/ln N which is
formally identical to those found for Euclidean and (some class of)
deterministic fractal lattices. The agreement of the asymptotic expressions
with simulation results for the two-dimensional percolation aggregate is good
when the boundary is defined in terms of the chemical distance. The agreement
worsens slightly when the Euclidean distance is used.Comment: 8 pages including 9 figure
Hollow cathode chemical modelling
In this paper the state of hollow cathode life time modelling at the University of Southampton will be reported. Two models have been developed: one for BaO depletion from the hollow cathode insert and another for low work function compounds deposition and desorption. The model developed to predict BaO depletion from hollow cathode insert will be presented together with some comparison between experimental and numerical data to prove its validity.A model for low work function compounds deposition and desorption will also be presented. This model will be used to simulate the NSTAR cathode showing a very conservative estimate of the cathode life due to conservative character of the hypotheses made in the model development and due to the chosen criteria for the end of life
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