A study on the suitability of some soils in Northern Surinam for Pinus caribaea var. Hondurensis.

The soils developed on the Coesewijne deposits and belonging to the entisol, spodosol and oxisol orders, were grouped into five sub-divided classes according to their suitability. Characteristics used to determine suitability were influence of ground-water, texture, organic matter distribution and distribution of biopores. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

Children balance theories and evidence in exploration, explanation, and learning

We look at the effect of evidence and prior beliefs on exploration, explanation and learning. In Experiment 1, we tested children both with and without differential prior beliefs about balance relationships (Center Theorists, mean: 82 months; Mass Theorists, mean: 89 months; No Theory children, mean: 62 months). Center and Mass Theory children who observed identical evidence explored the block differently depending on their beliefs. When the block was balanced at its geometric center (belief-violating to a Mass Theorist, but belief-consistent to a Center Theorist), Mass Theory children explored the block more, and Center Theory children showed the standard novelty preference; when the block was balanced at the center of mass, the pattern of results reversed. The No Theory children showed a novelty preference regardless of evidence. In Experiments 2 and 3, we follow-up on these findings, showing that both Mass and Center Theorists selectively and differentially appeal to auxiliary variables (e.g., a magnet) to explain evidence only when their beliefs are violated. We also show that children use the data to revise their predictions in the absence of the explanatory auxiliary variable but not in its presence. Taken together, these results suggest that children’s learning is at once conservative and flexible; children integrate evidence, prior beliefs, and competing causal hypotheses in their exploration, explanation, and learning.American Psychological Foundation (Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Fellowship)James S. McDonnell Foundation (Collaborative Interdisciplinary Grant on Causal Reasoning)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award)Templeton Foundation (Award

Theory of band gap bowing of disordered substitutional II-VI and III-V semiconductor alloys

For a wide class of technologically relevant compound III-V and II-VI semiconductor materials AC and BC mixed crystals (alloys) of the type A(x)B(1-x)C can be realized. As the electronic properties like the bulk band gap vary continuously with x, any band gap in between that of the pure AC and BC systems can be obtained by choosing the appropriate concentration x, granted that the respective ratio is miscible and thermodynamically stable. In most cases the band gap does not vary linearly with x, but a pronounced bowing behavior as a function of the concentration is observed. In this paper we show that the electronic properties of such A(x)B(1-x)C semiconductors and, in particular, the band gap bowing can well be described and understood starting from empirical tight binding models for the pure AC and BC systems. The electronic properties of the A(x)B(1-x)C system can be described by choosing the tight-binding parameters of the AC or BC system with probabilities x and 1-x, respectively. We demonstrate this by exact diagonalization of finite but large supercells and by means of calculations within the established coherent potential approximation (CPA). We apply this treatment to the II-VI system Cd(x)Zn(1-x)Se, to the III-V system In(x)Ga(1-x)As and to the III-nitride system Ga(x)Al(1-x)N.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure

Extended hypoxia in the alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata, increases survival but causes sub-lethal effects

AbstractMany insects are tolerant of hypoxic conditions, but survival may come at a cost to long-term health. The alfalfa leaf-cutting bee, Megachile rotundata, develops in brood cells inside natural cavities, and may be exposed to hypoxic conditions for extended periods of time. Whether M. rotundata is tolerant of hypoxia, and whether exposure results in sub-lethal effects, has never been investigated. Overwintering M. rotundata prepupae were exposed to 10%, 13%, 17%, 21% and 24% O2 for 11months. Once adults emerged, five indicators of quality — emergence weight, body size, feeding activity, flight performance, and adult longevity, — were measured to determine whether adult bees that survived past exposure to hypoxia were competent pollinators. M. rotundata prepupae are tolerant of hypoxic condition and have higher survival rates in hypoxia, than in normoxia. Under hypoxia, adult emergence rates did not decrease over the 11months of the experiment. In contrast, bees reared in normoxia had decreased emergence rates by 8months, and were dead by 11months. M. rotundata prepupae exposed to extended hypoxic conditions had similar emergence weight, head width, and cross-thorax distance compared to bees reared in standard 21% oxygen. Despite no significant morphological differences, hypoxia-exposed bees had lower feeding rates and shorter adult lifespans. Hypoxia may play a role in post-diapause physiology of M. rotundata, with prepupae showing better survival under hypoxic conditions. Extended exposure to hypoxia, while not fatal, causes sub-lethal effects in feeding rates and longevity in the adults, indicating that hypoxia tolerance comes at a cost

Poly-instanton Inflation

We propose a new inflationary scenario in type IIB Calabi-Yau compactifications, where the inflaton is a K\"ahler modulus parameterising the volume of an internal four-cycle. The inflaton potential is generated via poly-instanton corrections to the superpotential which give rise to a naturally flat direction due to their double exponential suppression. Given that the volume mode is kept stable during inflation, all the inflaton-dependent higher dimensional operators are suppressed. Moreover, string loop effects can be shown to be negligible throughout all the inflationary dynamics for natural values of the underlying parameters. The model is characterised by a reheating temperature of the order $T_{\rm rh}\simeq 10^6$ GeV which requires $N_e \simeq 54$ e-foldings of inflation. All the inflationary observables are compatible with current observations since the spectral index is $n_s \simeq 0.96$, while the tensor-to-scalar ratio is $r\simeq 10^{-5}$. The volume of the Calabi-Yau is of order $10^3$ in string units, corresponding to an inflationary scale around $10^{15}$ GeVComment: 20 pages, 4 figure

Anomalous thickness dependence of the Hall effect in ultrathin Pb layers on Si(111)

The magnetoconductive properties of ultrathin Pb films deposited on Si(111) are measured and compared with density-functional electronic band-structure calculations on two-dimensional, free-standing, 1 to 8 monolayers thick Pb(111) slabs. A description with free-standing slabs is possible because it turned out that the Hall coefficient is independent of the substrate and of the crystalline order in the film. We show that the oscillations in sign of the Hall coefficient observed as a function of film thickness can be explained directly from the thickness dependent variations of the electronic bandstructure at the Fermi energy.Comment: 4 pages incl. 3 figures, RevTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev.

The Tensor to Scalar Ratio of Phantom Dark Energy Models

We investigate the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background in a class of models which possess a positive cosmic energy density but negative pressure, with a constant equation of state w = p/rho < -1. We calculate the temperature and polarization anisotropy spectra for both scalar and tensor perturbations by modifying the publicly available code CMBfast. For a constant initial curvature perturbation or tensor normalization, we have calculated the final anisotropy spectra as a function of the dark energy density and equation of state w and of the scalar and tensor spectral indices. This allows us to calculate the dependence of the tensor-to-scalar ratio on w in a model with phantom dark energy, which may be important for interpreting any future detection of long-wavelength gravitational waves.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Dielectric response of charge induced correlated state in the quasi-one-dimensional conductor (TMTTF)2PF6

Conductivity and permittivity of the quasi-one-dimensionsional organic transfer salt (TMTTF)2PF6 have been measured at low frequencies (10^3-10^7 Hz) between room temperature down to below the temperature of transition into the spin-Peierls state. We interpret the huge real part of the dielectric permittivity (up to 10^6) in the localized state as the realization in this compound of a charge ordered state of Wigner crystal type due to long range Coulomb interaction.Comment: 11 pages, 3 .eps figure

CuSiO_3 : a quasi - one - dimensional S=1/2 antiferromagnetic chain system

CuSiO_3, isotypic to the spin - Peierls compound CuGeO_3, was discovered recently as a metastable decomposition product of the silicate mineral dioptase, Cu_6Si_6O_{18}\cdot6H_2O. We investigated the physical properties of CuSiO_3 using susceptibility, magnetization and specific heat measurements on powder samples. The magnetic susceptibility \chi(T) is reproduced very well above T = 8 K by theoretical calculations for an S=1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg linear chain without frustration (\alpha = 0) and a nearest - neighbor exchange coupling constant of J/k_{B} = 21 K, much weaker than in CuGeO_3. Below 8 K the susceptibility exhibits a substantial drop. This feature is identified as a second - order phase transition at T_{0} = 7.9 K by specific heat measurements. The influence of magnetic fields on T_{0} is weak, and ac - magnetization measurements give strong evidence for a spin - flop - phase at \mu_0H_{SF} ~ 3 T. The origin of the magnetic phase transition at T_{0} = 7.9 K is discussed in the context of long - range antiferromagnetic order (AF) versus spin - Peierls(SP)order. Susceptibility and specific heat results support the AF ordered ground state. Additional temperature dependent ^{63,65}Cu nuclear quadrupole resonance experiments have been carried out to probe the Cu^{2+} electronic state and the spin dynamics in CuSiO_3