Water loss in insects: An environmental change perspective

In the context of global environmental change much of the focus has been on changing temperatures. However, patterns of rainfall and water availability have also been changing and are expected to continue doing so. In consequence, understanding the responses of insects to water availability is important, especially because it has a pronounced influence on insect activity, distribution patterns, and species richness. Here we therefore provide a critical review of key questions that either are being or need to be addressed in this field. First, an overview of insect behavioural responses to changing humidity conditions and the mechanisms underlying sensing of humidity variation is provided. The primary sensors in insects belong to the temperature receptor protein superfamily of cation channels. Temperature-activated transient receptor potential ion channels, or thermoTRPs, respond to a diverse range of stimuli and may be a primary integrator of sensory information, such as environmental temperature and moisture. Next we touch briefly on the components of water loss, drawing attention to a new, universal model of the water costs of gas exchange and its implications for responses to a warming, and in places drying, world. We also provide an overview of new understanding of the role of the sub-elytral chamber for water conservation, and developments in understanding of the role of cuticular hydrocarbons in preventing water loss. Because of an increasing focus on the molecular basis of responses to dehydration stress we touch briefly on this area, drawing attention to the role of sugars, heat shock proteins, aquaporins, and LEA proteins. Next we consider phenotypic plasticity or acclimation responses in insect water balance after initial exposures to altered humidity, temperature or nutrition. Although beneficial acclimation has been demonstrated in several instances, this is not always the case. Laboratory studies show that responses to selection for enhanced ability to survive water stress do evolve and that genetic variation for traits underlying such responses does exist in many species. However, in others, especially tropical, typically narrowly distributed species, this appears not to be the case. Using the above information we then demonstrate that habitat alteration, climate change, biological invasions, pollution and overexploitation are likely to be having considerable effects on insect populations mediated through physiological responses (or the lack thereof) to water stress, and that these effects may often be non-intuitive

One- and many-body effects on mirages in quantum corrals

Recent interesting experiments used scanning tunneling microscopy to study systems involving Kondo impurities in quantum corrals assembled on Cu or noble metal surfaces. The solution of the two-dimensional one-particle Schrodinger equation in a hard wall corral without impurity is useful to predict the conditions under which the Kondo effect can be projected to a remote location (the quantum mirage). To model a soft circular corral, we solve this equation under the potential W*delta(r-r0), where r is the distance to the center of the corral and r0 its radius. We expand the Green's function of electron surface states Gs0 for r<r0 as a discrete sum of contributions from single poles at energies epsilon_i-I*delta_i. The imaginary part delta_i is the half-width of the resonance produced by the soft confining potential, and turns out to be a simple increasing function of epsilon_i. In presence of an impurity, we solve the Anderson model at arbitrary temperatures using the resulting expression for Gs0 and perturbation theory up to second order in the Coulomb repulsion U. We calculate the resulting change in the differential conductance Delta dI/dV as a function of voltage and space, in circular and elliptical corrals, for different conditions, including those corresponding to recent experiments. The main features are reproduced. The role of the direct hybridization between impurity and bulk, the confinement potential, the size of the corral and temperature on the intensity of the mirage are analyzed. We also calculate spin-spin correlation functions.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B. Calculations of spin correlations within an additional approximation adde

Measurement schemes for the spin quadratures on an ensemble of atoms

We consider how to measure collective spin states of an atomic ensemble based on the recent multi-pass approaches for quantum interface between light and atoms. We find that a scheme with two passages of a light pulse through the atomic ensemble is efficient to implement the homodyne tomography of the spin state. Thereby, we propose to utilize optical pulses as a phase-shifter that rotates the quadrature of the spins. This method substantially simplifies the geometry of experimental schemes.Comment: 4pages 2 figure

Entangling Two Bose-Einstein Condensates by Stimulated Bragg Scattering

We propose an experiment for entangling two spatially separated Bose-Einstein condensates by Bragg scattering of light. When Bragg scattering in two condensates is stimulated by a common probe, the resulting quasiparticles in the two condensates get entangled due to quantum communication between the condensates via probe beam. The entanglement is shown to be significant and occurs in both number and quadrature phase variables. We present two methods of detecting the generated entanglement.Comment: 4 pages, Revte

Decoherence in trapped ions due to polarization of the residual background gas

We investigate the mechanism of damping and heating of trapped ions associated with the polarization of the residual background gas induced by the oscillating ions themselves. Reasoning by analogy with the physics of surface electrons in liquid helium, we demonstrate that the decay of Rabi oscillations observed in experiments on 9Be+ can be attributed to the polarization phenomena investigated here. The measured sensitivity of the damping of Rabi oscillations with respect to the vibrational quantum number of a trapped ion is also predicted in our polarization model.Comment: 26 pdf pages with 5 figures, http://www.df.ufscar.br/~quantum

ICZM and WTP of stakeholders for beach conservation: Policymaking suggestions from an Italian case study

In accordance with integrated coastal zone management (ICZM), private stakeholders could be asked to pay for the benefits from beach conservation projects. Since a private contribution is measured by the amount of other goods a person is willing to give up for beach quality, it can be solicited in monetary terms or, when possible, in other forms, such as specific works. In this paper, by analysing the results of two surveys in Italy concerning stakeholders' perceptions of ICZM and their willingness to pay for these benefits, suggestions for beach management are provided to policymakers. One survey focuses on beach visitors who are asked to pay in monetary terms, while the other focuses on sunbathing establishment managers, who are asked to pay not only in monetary terms but also through beach works. The results show that the majority of these stakeholders are fully or partially aware of what ICZM is, and are unwilling to pay. However, regression analysis of those willing to pay suggests that promoting an information and education campaign about ICZM may be important if stakeholders' probability of paying is to be increased

Doppler Effect in Resonant Photoemission from SF6 : Correlation between Doppler Profile and Auger Emission Anisotropy

Fragmentation of the SF6 molecule upon F 1s excitation has been studied by resonant photoemission. The F atomiclike Auger line exhibits the characteristic Doppler profile that depends on the direction of the photoelectron momentum relative to the polarization vector of the radiation as well as on the photon energy. The measured Doppler profiles are analyzed by the model simulation that takes account of the anisotropy of the Auger emission in the molecular frame. The Auger anisotropy extracted from the data decreases with an increase in the F–SF5 internuclear distance

Probing doubly excited ionic states of N2+ via a triple excitation above the N 1s threshold in the N2 molecule

Angle-resolved resonant Auger-electron spectroscopy has been carried out on the nitrogen molecule at selected photon energies around 419 eV, where a 1s core electron and two valence electrons are promoted into the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital 1πg. Significant enhancement of a specific band, which cannot be disentangled in direct photoionization, is observed at a binding energy of 37.6 eV, with a value of the anisotropy parameter β much smaller than 2. We assign this new band to the transition to a doubly excited cationic state of N2, in which two of the excited valence electrons remain in the 1πg orbital, proposing a "double spectator" type decay mechanism. This observation shows how to preferentially probe multiply excited configurations of cations using multiple resonant excitation

Experimental and theoretical near edge x ray absorption fine structure studies of NO

Experimental near edge x ray absorption fine structure NEXAFS spectra of the nitrosonium NO ion are presented and theoretically analyzed. While neutral NO has an open shell, the cation is a closed shell species, which for NEXAFS leads to the simplicity of a closed shell spectrum. Compared to neutral NO, the electrons in the cation experience a stronger Coulomb potential, which introduces a shift of the ionization potential towards higher energies, a depletion of intensity in a large interval above the amp; 960; amp; 8727; resonance, and a shift of the amp; 963; amp; 8727; resonance from the continuum to below the ionization threshold. NEXAFS features at the nitrogen and oxygen K edges of NO are compared, as well as NEXAFS features at the nitrogen edges of the isoelectronic closed shell species NO , N2, and N2