Avalanche Size Scaling in Sheared Three-Dimensional Amorphous Solid

We have studied the statistics of plastic rearrangement events in a simulated amorphous solid at T=0. Events are characterized by the energy release and the ``slip volume'', the product of plastic strain and system volume. Their distributions for a given system size $L$ appear to be exponential, but a characteristic event size cannot be inferred, because the mean values of these quantities increase as $L^{\alpha}$ with $\alpha \sim 3/2$. In contrast to results obtained in 2D models, we do not see simply connected avalanches. The exponent suggests a fractal shape of the avalanches, which is also evidenced by the mean fractal dimension and participation ratio.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Domain size effects in Barkhausen noise

The possible existence of self-organized criticality in Barkhausen noise is investigated theoretically through a single interface model, and experimentally from measurements in amorphous magnetostrictive ribbon Metglas 2605TCA under stress. Contrary to previous interpretations in the literature, both simulation and experiment indicate that the presence of a cutoff in the avalanche size distribution may be attributed to finite size effects.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted so Physical Review

Variants of fattening and flavor symmetry restoration

We study the effects of different "fat link" actions for Kogut-Susskind quarks on flavor symmetry breaking. Our method is mostly empirical - we compute the pion spectrum with different valence quark actions on common sets of sample lattices. Different actions are compared, as best we can, at equivalent physical points. We find significant reductions in flavor symmetry breaking relative to the conventional or to the "link plus staple" actions, with a reasonable cost in computer time. We also develop and test a scheme for approximate unitarization of the fat links. While our tests have concentrated on the valence quark action, our results will be useful in designing simulations with dynamical quarks.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, PostScript figures include

Severe pneumonia due to Parachlamydia acanthamoebae following intranasal inoculation: a mice model.

Parachlamydia acanthamoebae is an obligate intracellular bacterium naturally infecting free-living amoebae. The role of this bacterium as an agent of pneumonia is suggested by sero-epidemiological studies and molecular surveys. Furthermore, P. acanthamoebae may escape macrophages microbicidal effectors. Recently, we demonstrated that intratracheal inoculation of P. acanthamoebae induced pneumonia in 100% of infected mice. However, the intratracheal route of infection is not the natural way of infection and we therefore developed an intranasal murine model. Mice inoculated with P. acanthamoebae by intranasal inoculation lost 18% of their weight up to 8 days post-inoculation. All mice presented histological signs of pneumonia at day 2, 4, 7, and 10 post-inoculation, whereas no control mice harboured signs of pneumonia. A 5-fold increase in bacterial load was observed from day 0 to day 4 post-inoculation. Lungs of inoculated mice were positive by Parachlamydia-specific immunohistochemistry 4 days post-inoculation, and P. acanthamoebae were localized within macrophages. Thus, we demonstrated that P. acanthamoebae induce a severe pneumonia in mice. This animal model (i) further supports the role of P. acanthamoebae as an agent of pneumonia, confirming the third Koch postulate, and (ii) identified alveolar macrophages as one of the initial cells where P. acanthamoebae is localized following infection

Life cycle assessment of biogas production in small-scale household digesters in Vietnam

Small-scale household digesters have been promoted across Asia as a sustainable way of handling manure. The major advantages are that they produce biogas and reduce odor. However their disadvantages include the low recycling of nutrients, because digestate is dilute and therefore difficult to transport, and the loss of biogas as a result of cracks and the intentional release of excess biogas. In this study, life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used to assess the environmental impacts associated with biogas digesters in Vietnam. Handling 1,000 kg of liquid manure and 100 kg of solid manure in a system with a biogas digester reduced the impact potential from 4.4 kg carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents to 3.2 kg CO2 equivalents compared with traditional manure management. However, this advantage could easily be compromised if digester construction is considered in the LCA or in situations where there is an excess of biogas which is intentionally released. A sensitivity analysis showed that biogas digesters could be a means of reducing global warming if methane emissions can be kept low. In terms of eutrophication, farms with biogas digesters had 3 to 4 times greater impacts. In order to make biogas digesters sustainable, methods for recycling digestates are urgently required

Localization transition of random copolymers at interfaces

We consider adsorption of random copolymer chains onto an interface within the model of Garel et al. Europhysics Letters 8, 9 (1989). By using the replica method the adsorption of the copolymer at the interface is mapped onto the problem of finding the ground state of a quantum mechanical Hamiltonian. To study this ground state we introduce a novel variational principle for the Green's function, which generalizes the well-known Rayleigh-Ritz method of Quantum Mechanics to nonstationary states. Minimization with an appropriate trial Green's function enables us to find the phase diagram for the localization-delocalization transition for an ideal random copolymer at the interface.Comment: 5 page

Deep rooting secondary vegetation - an indispensable component of shifting cultivation?

Editado por Reinhard Lieberei, Helmut Bianchi, Vera Boehm, Christoph Reisdorff

Water and nutrient balance under slash-and-burn agriculture in the eastern Amazon, Brasil - the role of a deep rooting fallow vegetation.

Proceedings of 14º International Plant Nutrition Colloquiu