2,546 research outputs found
Evaluating the promise and pitfalls of a potential climate change–tolerant sea urchin fishery in southern California
Marine fishery stakeholders are beginning to consider and implement adaptation strategies in the face of growing consumer demand and potential deleterious climate change impacts such as ocean warming, ocean acidification, and deoxygenation. This study investigates the potential for development of a novel climate change-tolerant sea urchin fishery in southern California based on Strongylocentrotus fragilis (pink sea urchin), a deep-sea species whose peak density was found to coincide with a current trap-based spot prawn fishery (Pandalus platyceros) in the 200–300-m depth range. Here we outline potential criteria for a climate change-tolerant fishery by examining the distribution, life-history attributes, and marketable qualities of S. fragilis in southern California. We provide evidence of seasonality of gonad production and demonstrate that peak gonad production occurs in the winter season. S. fragilis likely spawns in the spring season as evidenced by consistent minimum gonad indices in the spring/summer seasons across 4 years of sampling (2012–2016). The resiliency of S. fragilis to predicted future increases in acidity and decreases in oxygen was supported by high species abundance, albeit reduced relative growth rate estimates at water depths (485–510 m) subject to low oxygen (11.7–16.9 µmol kg−1) and pHTotal (<7.44), which may provide assurances to stakeholders and managers regarding the suitability of this species for commercial exploitation. Some food quality properties of the S. fragilis roe (e.g. colour, texture) were comparable with those of the commercially exploited shallow-water red sea urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus), while other qualities (e.g. 80% reduced gonad size by weight) limit the potential future marketability of S. fragilis. This case study highlights the potential future challenges and drawbacks of climate-tolerant fishery development in an attempt to inform future urchin fishery stakeholders
Homotopy on spatial graphs and generalized Sato-Levine invariants
Edge-homotopy and vertex-homotopy are equivalence relations on spatial graphs
which are generalizations of Milnor's link-homotopy. Fleming and the author
introduced some edge (resp. vertex)-homotopy invariants of spatial graphs by
applying the Sato-Levine invariant for the constituent 2-component
algebraically split links. In this paper, we construct some new edge (resp.
vertex)-homotopy invariants of spatial graphs without any restriction of
linking numbers of the constituent 2-component links by applying the
generalized Sato-Levine invariant.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figure
Extreme storms cause rapid but short‐lived shifts in nearshore subtropical bacterial communities
Climate change scenarios predict tropical cyclones will increase in both frequency and intensity, which will escalate the amount of terrestrial run‐off and mechanical disruption affecting coastal ecosystems. Bacteria are key contributors to ecosystem functioning, but relatively little is known about how they respond to extreme storm events, particularly in nearshore subtropical regions. In this study, we combine field observations and mesocosm experiments to assess bacterial community dynamics and changes in physicochemical properties during early‐ and late‐season tropical cyclones affecting Okinawa, Japan. Storms caused large and fast influxes of freshwater and terrestrial sediment – locally known as red soil pollution – and caused moderate increases of macronutrients, especially SiO2 and PO43−, with up to 25 and 0.5 μM respectively. We detected shifts in relative abundances of marine and terrestrially derived bacteria, including putative coral and human pathogens, during storm events. Soil input alone did not substantially affect marine bacterial communities in mesocosms, indicating that other components of run‐off or other storm effects likely exert a larger influence on bacterial communities. The storm effects were short‐lived and bacterial communities quickly recovered following both storm events. The early‐ and late‐season storms caused different physicochemical and bacterial community changes, demonstrating the context‐dependency of extreme storm responses in a subtropical coastal ecosystem
Magnetar Driven Bubbles and the Origin of Collimated Outflows in Gamma-ray Bursts
We model the interaction between the wind from a newly formed rapidly
rotating magnetar and the surrounding supernova shock and host star. The
dynamics is modeled using the two-dimensional, axisymmetric thin-shell
equations. In the first ~10-100 seconds after core collapse the magnetar
inflates a bubble of plasma and magnetic fields behind the supernova shock. The
bubble expands asymmetrically because of the pinching effect of the toroidal
magnetic field, just as in the analogous problem of the evolution of pulsar
wind nebulae. The degree of asymmetry depends on E_mag/E_tot. The correct value
of E_mag/E_tot is uncertain because of uncertainties in the conversion of
magnetic energy into kinetic energy at large radii in relativistic winds; we
argue, however, that bubbles inflated by newly formed magnetars are likely to
be significantly more magnetized than their pulsar counterparts. We show that
for a ratio of magnetic to total power supplied by the central magnetar
L_mag/L_tot ~ 0.1 the bubble expands relatively spherically. For L_mag/L_tot ~
0.3, however, most of the pressure in the bubble is exerted close to the
rotation axis, driving a collimated outflow out through the host star. This can
account for the collimation inferred from observations of long-duration
gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Outflows from magnetars become increasingly
magnetically dominated at late times, due to the decrease in neutrino-driven
mass loss as the young neutron star cools. We thus suggest that the
magnetar-driven bubble initially expands relatively spherically, enhancing the
energy of the associated supernova, while at late times it becomes
progressively more collimated, producing the GRB.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
MICE: The muon ionization cooling experiment. Step I: First measurement of emittance with particle physics detectors
Copyright @ 2011 APSThe Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) is a strategic R&D project intended to demonstrate the only practical solution to providing high brilliance beams necessary for a neutrino factory or muon collider. MICE is under development at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in the United Kingdom. It comprises a dedicated beamline to generate a range of input muon emittances and momenta, with time-of-flight and Cherenkov detectors to ensure a pure muon beam. The emittance of the incoming beam will be measured in the upstream magnetic spectrometer with a scintillating fiber tracker. A cooling cell will then follow, alternating energy loss in Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) absorbers to RF cavity acceleration. A second spectrometer, identical to the first, and a second muon identification system will measure the outgoing emittance. In the 2010 run at RAL the muon beamline and most detectors were fully commissioned and a first measurement of the emittance of the muon beam with particle physics (time-of-flight) detectors was performed. The analysis of these data was recently completed and is discussed in this paper. Future steps for MICE, where beam emittance and emittance reduction (cooling) are to be measured with greater accuracy, are also presented.This work was supported by NSF grant PHY-0842798
An operative case of hepatic pseudolymphoma difficult to differentiate from primary hepatic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue
Hepatic pseudolymphoma (HPL) and primary hepatic marginal zone B cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT lymphoma) are rare diseases and the differential diagnosis between these two entities is sometimes difficult. We herein report a 56-year-old Japanese woman who was pointed out to have a space occupying lesion in the left lateral segment of the liver. Hepatitis viral-associated antigen/antibody was negative and liver function tests including lactic dehydrogenase, peripheral blood count, tumor markers and soluble interleukin-2 receptor were all within normal limit. Imaging study using computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging were not typical for hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, or other metastatic cancer. Fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography examination integrated with computed tomography scanning showed high standardized uptake value in the solitary lesion in the liver. Under a diagnosis of primary liver neoplasm, laparoscopic-assisted lateral segmentectomy was performed. Liver tumor of maximal 1.0 cm in diameter was consisted of aggregation of lymphocytes of predominantly B-cell, containing multiple lymphocyte follicles positive for CD10 and bcl-2, consistent with a diagnosis of HPL rather than MALT lymphoma, although a definitive differentiation was pending. The background liver showed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/early non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. The patient is currently doing well with no sign of relapse 13 months after the surgery. Since the accurate diagnosis is difficult, laparoscopic approach would provide a reasonable procedure of diagnostic and therapeutic advantage with minimal invasiveness for patients. Considering that the real nature of this entity remains unclear, vigilant follow-up of patient is essential
Measurement of the Associated Production Cross Section in Collisions at TeV
We present the first measurement of associated direct photon + muon
production in hadronic collisions, from a sample of 1.8 TeV
collisions recorded with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. Quantum
chromodynamics (QCD) predicts that these events are primarily from the Compton
scattering process , with the final state charm quark producing
a muon. Hence this measurement is sensitive to the charm quark content of the
proton. The measured cross section of is compared to a
leading-order QCD parton shower model as well as a next-to-leading-order QCD
calculation.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures Added more detailed description of muon
background estimat
The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC
The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current
status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for
making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of
RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program
available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix
Search for Kaluza-Klein Graviton Emission in Collisions at TeV using the Missing Energy Signature
We report on a search for direct Kaluza-Klein graviton production in a data
sample of 84 of \ppb collisions at = 1.8 TeV, recorded
by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We investigate the final state of large
missing transverse energy and one or two high energy jets. We compare the data
with the predictions from a -dimensional Kaluza-Klein scenario in which
gravity becomes strong at the TeV scale. At 95% confidence level (C.L.) for
=2, 4, and 6 we exclude an effective Planck scale below 1.0, 0.77, and 0.71
TeV, respectively.Comment: Submitted to PRL, 7 pages 4 figures/Revision includes 5 figure
Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at TeV with the ATLAS detector
This paper presents measurements of the and cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a
function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were
collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with
the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity
of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements
varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the
1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured
with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with
predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various
parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between
them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables,
submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at
https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13
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