15,419 research outputs found
Floristic variation in Sphagnum-dominated peatland communities of the Central Highlands, Victoria
The floristic composition of Sphagnum-dominated peatlands in the Central Highlands region of Victoria was surveyed (37º 25´ S; 145º 50´ E). NMDS ordination and cluster analysis divided the peatland sites into two broad groups with altitude being the most important factor separating these groups. Other important factors were aspect, slope and the amount of shade. Group 1 included subalpine sites that are similar to those found at higher altitudes further east in Victoria. Important species included Empodisma minus, Epacris paludosa, Richea continentis and Baeckea gunniana. The two species of Sphagnum present were Sphagnum cristatum and the more inundation-tolerant Sphagnum novozelandicum. Group 2 included montane peatlands with abundant Sphagnum cristatum. These sites range from broad wet heaths dominated by Richea victoriana and Carex appressa, to narrower cool temperate rainforest and riparian systems. The ‘rainforest’ peatlands are characterised by Leptospermum grandifolium, Nothofagus cunninghamii, Carex appressa and Blechnum penna-marina, and are in varying stages of post-fire succession regulated by sitespecific microclimate. The conservation status and catchment function of these peatlands are briefly discussed
Effective health communication in the mining industry
Historically, occupational health and safety has primarily presented as attempts to create a safer work environment for employees. The mining industry carries health and safety risks, often greater than other occupations. Whilst the mining industry is regulated by stringent workplace health and safety regulations, the very nature of the work and environmental influences expose employees to a greater number of injury risk factors than many other industries. The application of risk management techniques has resulted in a substantial decline in injury rates observed for mining operations in developed countries (Donoghue, 2004). This essential focus can be complemented by a more comprehensive approach to occupational health and safety that also supports the design and delivery of proactive health promotion programs..
Quantum Entanglement Capacity with Classical Feedback
For any quantum discrete memoryless channel, we define a quantity called
quantum entanglement capacity with classical feedback (), and we show that
this quantity lies between two other well-studied quantities. These two
quantities - namely the quantum capacity assisted by two-way classical
communication () and the quantum capacity with classical feedback ()
- are widely conjectured to be different: there exists quantum discrete
memoryless channel for which . We then present a general scheme to
convert any quantum error-correcting codes into adaptive protocols for this
newly-defined quantity of the quantum depolarizing channel, and illustrate with
Cat (repetition) code and Shor code. We contrast the present notion with
entanglement purification protocols by showing that whilst the Leung-Shor
protocol can be applied directly, recurrence methods need to be supplemented
with other techniques but at the same time offer a way to improve the
aforementioned Cat code. For the quantum depolarizing channel, we prove a
formula that gives lower bounds on the quantum capacity with classical feedback
from any protocols. We then apply this formula to the protocols
that we discuss to obtain new lower bounds on the quantum capacity with
classical feedback of the quantum depolarizing channel
Statistical mechanics of lossy compression using multilayer perceptrons
Statistical mechanics is applied to lossy compression using multilayer
perceptrons for unbiased Boolean messages. We utilize a tree-like committee
machine (committee tree) and tree-like parity machine (parity tree) whose
transfer functions are monotonic. For compression using committee tree, a lower
bound of achievable distortion becomes small as the number of hidden units K
increases. However, it cannot reach the Shannon bound even where K -> infty.
For a compression using a parity tree with K >= 2 hidden units, the rate
distortion function, which is known as the theoretical limit for compression,
is derived where the code length becomes infinity.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Room temperature crack growth rates and -20 deg F fracture toughness of welded 1 1/4 inch A-285 steel plate
Data are presented which were developed in support of a structural assessment of NASA-LEWIS' 10-foot by 10-foot supersonic wind tunnel, critical portions of which are fabricated from rolled and welded 1 1/4 inch thick A-285 steel plate. Test material was flame cut from the tunnel wall and included longitudinal and circumferential weld joints. Parent metal, welds, and weld heat affected zone were tested. Tensile strength and fracture toughness were determined at -20 F, the estimated lowest tunnel operating temperature. Crack growth rates were measured at room temperature, where growth rates in service are expected to be highest
The Role of School Counselors in Meeting Students\u27 Mental Health Needs: Examining Issues of Professional Identity
The professional identity of school counselors has evolved over time. This article traces the historical context driving this evolution, and suggests it is time for the profession to conjoin the roles of educational leader and mental health professional. This proposal is prompted by heightened awareness of unmet student mental health needs, referrals that go unmet, school counselors displaced by other mental health providers in schools, the potential loss of the unique school counselor role, and the natural link between the mental health professional role and the array of personal-social factors that impact student achievement. A conjoint professional school counselor identity that includes the roles of both educational leader and mental health professional positions school counselors to better respond to all students, including those with mental health needs. This article discusses potential roadblocks and offers suggestions for action
Entanglement can completely defeat quantum noise
We describe two quantum channels that individually cannot send any
information, even classical, without some chance of decoding error. But
together a single use of each channel can send quantum information perfectly
reliably. This proves that the zero-error classical capacity exhibits
superactivation, the extreme form of the superadditivity phenomenon in which
entangled inputs allow communication over zero capacity channels. But our
result is stronger still, as it even allows zero-error quantum communication
when the two channels are combined. Thus our result shows a new remarkable way
in which entanglement across two systems can be used to resist noise, in this
case perfectly. We also show a new form of superactivation by entanglement
shared between sender and receiver.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Generalized Hurst exponent and multifractal function of original and translated texts mapped into frequency and length time series
A nonlinear dynamics approach can be used in order to quantify complexity in
written texts. As a first step, a one-dimensional system is examined : two
written texts by one author (Lewis Carroll) are considered, together with one
translation, into an artificial language, i.e. Esperanto are mapped into time
series. Their corresponding shuffled versions are used for obtaining a "base
line". Two different one-dimensional time series are used here: (i) one based
on word lengths (LTS), (ii) the other on word frequencies (FTS). It is shown
that the generalized Hurst exponent and the derived curves
of the original and translated texts show marked differences. The original
"texts" are far from giving a parabolic function, - in contrast to
the shuffled texts. Moreover, the Esperanto text has more extreme values. This
suggests cascade model-like, with multiscale time asymmetric features as
finally written texts. A discussion of the difference and complementarity of
mapping into a LTS or FTS is presented. The FTS curves are more
opened than the LTS onesComment: preprint for PRE; 2 columns; 10 pages; 6 (multifigures); 3 Tables; 70
reference
Configurational entropy of network-forming materials
We present a computationally efficient method to calculate the
configurational entropy of network-forming materials. The method requires only
the atomic coordinates and bonds of a single well-relaxed configuration. This
is in contrast to the multiple simulations that are required for other methods
to determine entropy, such as thermodynamic integration. We use our method to
obtain the configurational entropy of well-relaxed networks of amorphous
silicon and vitreous silica. For these materials we find configurational
entropies of 1.02 kb and 0.97 kb per silicon atom, respectively, with kb the
Boltzmann constant.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Measuring the effective complexity of cosmological models
We introduce a statistical measure of the effective model complexity, called
the Bayesian complexity. We demonstrate that the Bayesian complexity can be
used to assess how many effective parameters a set of data can support and that
it is a useful complement to the model likelihood (the evidence) in model
selection questions. We apply this approach to recent measurements of cosmic
microwave background anisotropies combined with the Hubble Space Telescope
measurement of the Hubble parameter. Using mildly non-informative priors, we
show how the 3-year WMAP data improves on the first-year data by being able to
measure both the spectral index and the reionization epoch at the same time. We
also find that a non-zero curvature is strongly disfavored. We conclude that
although current data could constrain at least seven effective parameters, only
six of them are required in a scheme based on the Lambda-CDM concordance
cosmology.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, revised version accepted for publication in PRD,
updated with WMAP3 result
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