"Quantum Interference with Slits" Revisited

Marcella [arXiv:quant-ph/0703126] has presented a straightforward technique employing the Dirac formalism to calculate single- and double-slit interference patterns. He claims that no reference is made to classical optics or scattering theory and that his method therefore provides a purely quantum mechanical description of these experiments. He also presents his calculation as if no approximations are employed. We show that he implicitly makes the same approximations found in classical treatments of interference and that no new physics has been introduced. At the same time, some of the quantum mechanical arguments Marcella gives are, at best, misleading.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Late Holocene expansion of ponderosa pine (\u3ci\u3ePinus ponderosa\u3c/i\u3e) in the Central Rocky Mountains, USA

Aim: Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) experienced one of the most extensive and rapid post-glacial plant migrations in western North America. We used plant macrofossils from woodrat (Neotoma) middens to reconstruct its spread in the Central Rocky Mountains, identify other vegetation changes coinciding with P. ponderosa expansion at the same sites, and relate P. ponderosa migrational history to both its modern phylogeography and to a parallel expansion by Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma). Location: Central Rocky Mountains, Wyoming and Montana, and Black Hills, Wyoming and South Dakota, USA. Methods: Plant macrofossils were analysed in 90 middens collected at 14 widely separated sites in the northern part of the range of P. ponderosa var. scopulorum. Middens with and without P. ponderosa were 14C dated to pinpoint time of appearance at each site. Sensitivity experiments using a bioclimatic model were used to evaluate potential climatic drivers of late Holocene expansion. Results: Pinus ponderosa colonized the Black Hills region by at least 3850 yr bp (all ages given in calendar years before present). It expanded into the eastern Bighorn Mountains of northern Wyoming by 2630 yr bp, quickly spreading north in the western Bighorns from 1400 to 1000 yr bp. Concurrent with the latter expansion, P. ponderosa spread c. 350 km to the Little Belt and Big Belt Mountains in western Montana, establishing its northern limit and the modern introgression zone between var. scopulorum and var. ponderosa. Expansion in the Central Rockies of P. ponderosa involved two known haplotypes

A Paleoecological Test of a Classical Hydrosere in the Lake Michigan Dunes

Aquatic vegetation varies along a chronosequence of dune ponds at Miller Woods, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Submersed and floating-leaved macrophytes dominate the vegetation of the youngest ponds. Older ponds contain mixed assemblages of submersed, floating-leaved, and emergent plant taxa. The oldest ponds are dominated by emergent plants, especially Typha angustifolia. We conducted paleoecological studies at one of the oldest ponds to test the hypothesis that the modern vegetational array along the pond chronosequence represents a hydrarch successional sequence. Macrofossil stratigraphy of the 3000-yr-old pond indicates no significant changes in pond vegetation following early colonization until \u3c 150 BP. Pond vegetation before 150 BP consisted of a diverse assemblage of submersed, floating-leaved, and emergent macrophyte taxa. Pollen and macrofossil data indicate a major, rapid vegetational change at \u3c150 BP, evidently in response to local human disturbance. Pollen data reveal that the extensive Typha stands in the older ponds have developed recently, following postsettlement disturbance. Modern vegetational differences along the chronosequence reflect differential effects of disturbance rather than autogenic hydrarch succession. This study illustrates a major pitfall in inferring successional trends from spatial sequences of vegetation

Differentiating Climatic And Successional Influences On Long-Term Development Of A Marsh

Comparison of long-term records of local wetland vegetation dynamics with regional, climate-forced terrestrial vegetation changes can be used to differentiate the rates and effects of autogenic successional processes and allogenic environmental change on wetland vegetation dynamics. We studied Holocene plant macrofossil and pollen sequences from Portage Marsh, a shallow, 18-ha marsh in northeastern Indiana. Between 10 000 and 5700 yr BP the basin was occupied by a shallow, open lake, while upland vegetation consisted of mesic forests of Pinus, Quercus, Ulmus, and Carya. At 5700 yr BP the open lake was replaced rapidly by a shallow marsh, while simultaneously Quercus savanna developed on the surrounding uplands. The marsh was characterized by periodic drawdowns, and the uplands by periodic fires. Species composition of the marsh underwent further changes between 3000 and 2000 yr BP. Upland pollen spectra at Portage Marsh and other sites in the region shifted towards more mesic vegetation during that period. The consistency and temporal correspondence between the changes in upland vegetation and marsh vegetation indicate that the major vegetational changes in the marsh during the Holocene resulted from hydrologic changes forced by regional climate change. Progressive shallowing of the basin by autogenic accumulation of organic sediment constrained vegetational responses to climate change but did not serve as the direct mechanism of change

Radiation from a Charge Uniformly Accelerated for All Time

A recent paper of Singal [Gen. Rel. Grav. 27 (1995), 953-967] argues that a uniformly accelerated particle does not radiate, in contradiction to the consensus of the research literature over the past 30 years. This note points out some questionable aspects of Singal's argument and shows how similar calculations can lead to the opposite conclusion.Comment: LaTeX, 9 pages, to appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio

Cervical cancer control research in Vietnamese American communities.

Census data show that the U.S. Vietnamese population now exceeds 1,250,000. Cervical cancer among Vietnamese American women has been identified as an important health disparity. Available data indicate the cervical cancer disparity may be due to low Papanicolaou (Pap) testing rates rather than variations in human papillomavirus infection rates and/or types. The cervical cancer incidence rates among Vietnamese and non-Latina White women in California during 2000 to 2002 were 14.0 and 7.3 per 100,000, respectively. Only 70% of Vietnamese women who participated in the 2003 California Health Interview Survey reported a recent Pap smear compared with 84% of non-Latina White women. Higher levels of cervical cancer screening participation among Vietnamese women are strongly associated with current/previous marriage, having a usual source of care/doctor, and previous physician recommendation. Vietnamese language media campaigns and lay health worker intervention programs have been effective in increasing Pap smear use in Vietnamese American communities. Cervical cancer control programs for Vietnamese women should address knowledge deficits, enable women who are without a usual source of care to find a primary care doctor, and improve patient-provider communication by encouraging health-care providers to recommend Pap testing as well as by empowering women to ask for testing

Provenance of invaders has scale-dependent impacts in a changing wetland ecosystem

Exotic species are associated with a variety of impacts on biodiversity, but it is unclear whether impacts of exotic species differ from those of native species with similar growth forms or native species invading disturbed sites. We compared presence and abundance of native and exotic invaders with changes in wetland plant species diversity over a 28-year period by re-surveying 22 ponds to identify factors correlated with observed changes. We also compared communities found within dense patches of native and exotic emergent species with similar habits. Within patches, we found no categorical diversity differences between areas dominated by native or exotic emergent species. At the pond scale, the cover of the exotic grass Phragmites australis best predicted change in diversity and evenness over time, likely owing to its significant increase in coverage over the study period. These changes in diversity and evenness were strongest in younger, less successionally-advanced ponds. Changes associated with cover of P. australis in these ponds were not consistent with expected diversity decreases, but instead with a dampening of diversity gains, such that the least-invaded ponds increased in diversity the most over the study period. There were more mixed effects on evenness, ranging from a reduction in evenness gains to actual losses of evenness in the ponds with highest invader cover. In this wetland complex, the habit, origin and invasiveness of species contribute to diversity responses in a scale- and context-dependent fashion. Future efforts to preserve diversity should focus on preventing the arrival and spread of invaders that have the potential to cover large areas at high densities, regardless of their origin. Future studies should also investigate more thoroughly how changes in diversity associated with species invasions are impacted by other ongoing ecosystem changes

Spatial Fingerprint of Younger Dryas Cooling and Warming in Eastern North America

The Younger Dryas (YD, 12.9–11.7 ka) is the most recent, near‐global interval of abrupt climate change with rates similar to modern global warming. Understanding the causes and biodiversity effects of YD climate changes requires determining the spatial fingerprints of past temperature changes. Here we build pollen‐based and branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether‐based temperature reconstructions in eastern North America (ENA) to better understand deglacial temperature evolution. YD cooling was pronounced in the northeastern United States and muted in the north central United States. Florida sites warmed during the YD, while other southeastern sites maintained a relatively stable climate. This fingerprint is consistent with an intensified subtropical high during the YD and demonstrates that interhemispheric responses were more complex spatially in ENA than predicted by the bipolar seesaw model. Reduced‐amplitude or antiphased millennial‐scale temperature variability in the southeastern United States may support regional hotspots of biodiversity and endemism