2,505 research outputs found
Mapping landscape connectivity as a driver of species richness under tectonic and climatic forcing
Species distribution and richness ultimately result from complex interactions between biological, physical, and environmental factors. It has been recently shown for a static natural landscape that the elevational connectivity, which measures the proximity of a site to others with similar habitats, is a key physical driver of local species richness. Here we examine changes in elevational connectivity during mountain building using a landscape evolution model. We find that under uniform tectonic and variable climatic forcing, connectivity peaks at mid-elevations when the landscape reaches its geomorphic steady state and that the orographic effect on geomorphic evolution tends to favour lower connectivity on leeward-facing catchments. Statistical comparisons between connectivity distribution and results from a metacommunity model confirm that to the 1st order, landscape elevation connectivity explains species richness in simulated mountainous regions. Our results also predict that low-connectivity areas which favour isolation, a driver for in situ speciation, are distributed across the entire elevational range for simulated orogenic cycles. Adjustments of catchment morphology after the cessation of tectonic activity should reduce speciation by decreasing the number of isolated regions
Recuit laser de cellules solaires fonctionnant sous concentration
La résistance série élevée des cellules conventionnelles au silicium rend leur fonctionnement difficile sous concentration. Nous montrons ici que l'irradiation de la couche superficielle diffusée par un faisceau laser pulsé de grande intensité permet de réduire notamment la résistance série, de sorte que des rendements de conversion de 15 % sous 30 soleils et de 12,5 % sous 100 soleils (10 W/cm2) sont prévus par le calcul
Entropic Entanglement Criteria for Continuous Variables
We derive several entanglement criteria for bipartite continuous variable
quantum systems based on the Shannon entropy. These criteria are more sensitive
than those involving only second-order moments, and are equivalent to
well-known variance product tests in the case of Gaussian states. Furthermore,
they involve only a pair of quadrature measurements, and will thus should prove
extremely useful the experimental identification of entanglement.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
EFFETS DES TRAITEMENTS THERMIQUES SUR LES PROPRIETES ELECTRIQUES DES CELLULES SOLAIRES A BASE DE SILICIUM POLYCRISTALLIN
On a étudié l'effet de recuits à haute température sur les caractéristiques électriques à l'obscurité et sous éclairement de cellules solaires à base de silicium polycristallin dont la jonction était préparée à froid par incrustation ionique et recuit par laser pulsé. Dans certains cas des dégradations notables sont observées pour des recuits à 900°C
Evaluation of the short and medium term use of insoles for personalised footwear
The personalisation of footwear can be
beneficial for different population groups,
including older people, individuals with foot
pathologies or abnormalities and runners. For
runners in particular, footwear personalisation
has the potential to offer four main
advantages: optimum fit, improved comfort
perception, improved performance (by altering
lower limb alignment to reduce muscle
activity) and reducing injury risk through
personalisation of cushioning and support
requirements.
Additive manufacturing (AM) technology has
potential for making footwear personalisation
economically feasible due to its geometric
freedom, tool-less capability and direct
manufacture from CAD models. However, it is
not known how personalised footwear affects
discomfort and biomechanics following short
and medium term use.
The main objective of this research was to
evaluate the short and medium term use of
personalised insoles in terms of discomfort and
lower extremity biomechanics
USE OF UAV PLATFORM AS AN AUTONOMOUS TOOL FOR ESTIMATING EXPANSION ON INVADED AGRICULTURAL LAND
For a long time, in many countries, questions involving disputes about land ownership has generated demand for geoinformation and documentation. In most cases, access for researchers is restricted or humanely impossible by eminence of conflicts, even armed. In these cases, researchers use Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry to enable their studies. However, the dynamics of the phenomenon being studied often requires approaches that traditional techniques become unviable or unable to fulfil. This work shows the results of an approach that used a photogrammetric UAV platform to take pictures of an invaded rural area in Brazil and estimate its expansion over two years. From the taken images, mosaics were generated and then classified using Decision Tree to identify tents. Then it was developed a Matlab algorithm, to detect and quantify the tents on the classified Images. It was possible to infer that there was an expansion of 7.3% between the two analyzed dates and probably more than three thousand people occupied the invasion site
Influence of the disorder on tracer dispersion in a flow channel
Tracer dispersion is studied experimentally in periodic or disordered arrays
of beads in a capillary tube. Dispersion is measured from light absorption
variations near the outlet following a steplike injection of dye at the inlet.
Visualizations using dye and pure glycerol are also performed in similar
geometries. Taylor dispersion is dominant both in an empty tube and for a
periodic array of beads: the dispersivity increases with the P\'eclet
number respectively as and and is larger by a factor of 8
in the second case. In a disordered packing of smaller beads (1/3 of the tube
diameter) geometrical dispersion associated to the disorder of the flow field
is dominant with a constant value of reached at high P\'eclet numbers.
The minimum dispersivity is slightly higher than in homogeneous nonconsolidated
packings of small grains, likely due heterogeneities resulting from wall
effects. In a disordered packing with the same beads as in the periodic
configuration, is up to 20 times lower than in the latter and varies as
with or (depending on the fluid viscosity).
A simple model accounting for this latter result is suggested.Comment: available online at
http://www.edpsciences.org/journal/index.cfm?edpsname=epjap&niv1=contents&niv2=archive
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