824 research outputs found
Acoutic-oceanographic buoy - An easily deployable, reconfigurable, and multifunctional acoustic-oceanographic system
The concept of an easy to use and easy to deploy ocean acoustic tomographic (OAT) system is presented. The system is composed of a network of buoys and a data inversion online processor. This study concerns the individual node of that network—the acoustic-oceanographic buoy (AOB)—the data inversion technique and the testing of the system at sea. The AOB is a lightweight surface buoy with a vertical array of acoustic and temperature sensors to be hand deployed in a free-drifting configuration from a small boat. The data are locally stored and transmitted online to a remote station for processing and monitoring. Data inversion is based on a broadband matched-field tomography technique where known and unknown parameters are simultaneously searched for (focalization). In situ recorded temperature data serve for algorithm initialization and calibration. The AOB was successfully deployed in several consecutive days during two rapid environmental assessment sea trials in 2003 (Mediterranean) and 2004 (Atlantic). Data collected at sea also show that the AOB can be reconfigured as a receiving array for underwater coherent communications in the band up to 15 kHz
Nonequilibrium fluctuations of a remodeling in vitro cytoskeleton
Motor proteins actively contract the actin cytoskeleton of cells and thereby give rise to nonequilibrium fluctuations as well as changes in the architecture of the cytoskeleton. Here, we show, by video microrheology of a reconstituted cytoskeleton, that motors generate time-dependent nonequilibrium fluctuations, which evolve as the network is remodeled. At earlier times, the fluctuation spectrum is dominated by strong non-Gaussian fluctuations, which arise from large displacements. At later times, directed displacements are infrequent and finally disappear. We show that these effects are due to contractile coarsening of the network into large actin-myosin foci. © 2012 American Physical Society
Occurrence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in greater rheas (Rhea americana) at the Reproduction Centre for Wild Animals in Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Constructing and Characterising Solar Structure Models for Computational Helioseismology
In this paper, we construct background solar models that are stable against
convection, by modifying the vertical pressure gradient of Model S
(Christensen-Dalsgaard et al., 1996, Science, 272, 1286) relinquishing
hydrostatic equilibrium. However, the stabilisation affects the eigenmodes that
we wish to remain as close to Model S as possible. In a bid to recover the
Model S eigenmodes, we choose to make additional corrections to the sound speed
of Model S before stabilisation. No stabilised model can be perfectly
solar-like, so we present three stabilised models with slightly different
eigenmodes. The models are appropriate to study the f and p1 to p4 modes with
spherical harmonic degrees in the range from 400 to 900. Background model CSM
has a modified pressure gradient for stabilisation and has eigenfrequencies
within 2% of Model S. Model CSM_A has an additional 10% increase in sound speed
in the top 1 Mm resulting in eigenfrequencies within 2% of Model S and
eigenfunctions that are, in comparison with CSM, closest to those of Model S.
Model CSM_B has a 3% decrease in sound speed in the top 5 Mm resulting in
eigenfrequencies within 1% of Model S and eigenfunctions that are only
marginally adversely affected. These models are useful to study the interaction
of solar waves with embedded three-dimensional heterogeneities, such as
convective flows and model sunspots. We have also calculated the response of
the stabilised models to excitation by random near-surface sources, using
simulations of the propagation of linear waves. We find that the simulated
power spectra of wave motion are in good agreement with an observed SOHO/MDI
power spectrum. Overall, our convectively stabilised background models provide
a good basis for quantitative numerical local helioseismology. The models are
available for download from http://www.mps.mpg.de/projects/seismo/NA4/.Comment: 35 pages, 23 figures Changed title Updated Figure 1
Soft lepton-flavor violation in a multi-Higgs-doublet seesaw model
We consider the Standard Model with an arbitrary number n_H of Higgs doublets
and enlarge the lepton sector by adding to each lepton family \ell a
right-handed neutrino singlet \nu_{\ell R}. We assume that all Yukawa-coupling
matrices are diagonal, but the Majorana mass matrix M_R of the right-handed
neutrino singlets is an arbitrary symmetric matrix, thereby introducing an
explicit but soft violation of all lepton numbers. We investigate
lepton-flavor-violating processes within this model. We pay particular
attention to the large-m_R behavior of the amplitudes for these processes,
where m_R is the order of magnitude of the matrix elements of M_R. While the
amplitudes for processes like tau^- --> mu^- gamma and Z --> tau^+ mu^- drop as
1/m_R^2 for arbitrary n_H, processes like tau^- --> mu^- e^+ e^- and mu^- -->
e^- e^+ e^- obey this power law only for n_H = 1. For n_H \geq 2, on the
contrary, those amplitudes do not fall off when m_R increases, rather they
converge towards constants. This non-decoupling of the right-handed scale
occurs because of the sub-process ell^- --> ell'^- {S_b^0}^*, where S_b^0 is a
neutral scalar which subsequently decays to e^+ e^-. That sub-process has a
contribution from charged-scalar exchange which, for n_H \geq 2, does not
decrease when m_R tends to infinity. We also perform a general study of the
non-decoupling and argue that, after performing the limit m_R --> \infty and
removing the \nu_R from the Lagrangian, our model becomes a multi-Higgs-doublet
Standard Model with suppressed flavor-changing Yukawa couplings. Finally, we
show that, with the usual assumptions about the mass scales in the seesaw
mechanism, the branching ratios of all lepton-flavor-changing processes are
several orders of magnitude smaller than present experimental limits.Comment: 46 pages, 2 figures, Revte
Role of personality in behavioral responses to new environments in captive panthera leo persica
Studying personality in captive animals may enable the development of more individual-based management decisions in terms of husbandry, enrichment, and breeding, which may help to
improve overall animal welfare. The Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica) at London Zoo represent an opportunity to research an understudied species\u2019 response to new environments. In the last few
years, these lions have experienced several social and physical changes, such as new enclosures and increased social interaction with humans. This project aimed to investigate the role of personality in behavioral responses to these new environments. Lion personality questionnaires completed by keepers and direct focal animal observations were used to create personality profiles. Time budgets
and enclosure use were determined and compared between control nights and human social event nights, and between the lions\u2019 previous enclosure and their new one. The results showed a lack of a
difference in time budget and enclosure use between control nights and social event nights, and overall the Spread of Participation Index values revealed the lions use their enclosures unevenly.
Personality profiles identified various traits (e.g., curious and eccentric) that could assist with individual-based management decisions, such as enrichment strategies. As the first study to assess
Asiatic lions personality, this research contributes to the creation of consistent and valid methodology for evaluating captive animal personality. Personality assessment may help to improve
husbandry and welfare protocols for individual lions, leading to the improved health and success of the species
Chemical Quality of Rainwater and Surface Runoff Water in the Proximity of the Abstractions That Supply the São Pedro do Sul Medical Spa (Portugal)
São Pedro do Sul medical spa provides health services using hot natural groundwater superiorly classified as natural mineral water. The main source of supply of that medical spa, has been over time, the Traditional Spring, which in recent decades has been systematically controlled, and shows spectacular constancy in its chemical quality, if there are no outside contaminations. Within the context presented, the detailed physical-chemical quality of rainwater and surface runoff water was studied, in the proximity of the Traditional Spring, as there is a potential for them to infiltrate at depth and evolve into the natural mineral water aquifer system. Thus, in the present chapter, after presenting the physical-chemical quality of the natural mineral water from the Traditional Spring, as well as some elements of the literature on the physical-chemical quality of rainwater, the methodology of work is followed, and then the results obtained from the physical-chemical composition of rainwater and surface run-off water are presented and discussed, comparing them with the quality of the water from the Traditional Spring. Finally, the main conclusions are presented, and some recommendations are made on research into potential sources of pollution, which justify the poor quality of the rainwater studied
Ward Identities, B-> \rho Form Factors and |V_ub|
The exclusive FCNC beauty semileptonic decay B-> \rho is studied using Ward
identities in a general vector meson dominance framework, predicting vector
meson couplings involved. The long distance contributions are discussed which
results to obtain form factors and |V_ub|. A detailed comparison is given with
other approaches.Comment: 30 pages+four postscript figures, an Appendix adde
Image Quality of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) Onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
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