Optical high voltage breakdown prediction using thermal lensing effect in transformer oil

We describe an optical system to monitor microscopic pre-breakdown events in liquid insulation. The system has successfully demonstrated its ability to predict high voltage breakdown in transformer oil. A simple theory based on a thermal lens build up between electrodes as a result of applied voltage is presented to explain the system operation and obtained measured results

Higgs, di-Higgs and tri-Higgs production via SUSY processes at the LHC with 14 TeV

We have systematically investigated the production of a Higgs boson with a mass of about $125$ GeV in the decays of supersymmetric particles within the phenomenological MSSM (pMSSM). We find regions of parameter space that are consistent with all world data and that predict a sizeable rate of anomalous Higgs, di-Higgs and even tri-Higgs events at the 14 TeV LHC. All relevant SUSY production processes are investigated. We find that Higgs bosons can be produced in a large variety of SUSY processes, resulting in a large range of different detector signatures containing missing transverse momentum. Such Higgs events are outstanding signatures for new physics already for the early 14 TeV LHC data. SUSY processes are also important to interprete deviations found in upcoming Standard Model Higgs and di-Higgs production measurements.Comment: Version submitted to JHE

Reconciling timber extraction with biodiversity conservation in tropical forests using reduced-impact logging

Over 20% of the world's tropical forests have been selectively logged, and large expanses are allocated for future timber extraction. Reduced-impact logging (RIL) is being promoted as best practice forestry that increases sustainability and lowers CO2 emissions from logging, by reducing collateral damage associated with timber extraction. RIL is also expected to minimize the impacts of selective logging on biodiversity, although this is yet to be thoroughly tested. We undertake the most comprehensive study to date to investigate the biodiversity impacts of RIL across multiple taxonomic groups. We quantified birds, bats and large mammal assemblage structures, using a before-after control-impact (BACI) design across 20 sample sites over a 5-year period. Faunal surveys utilized point counts, mist nets and line transects and yielded >250 species. We examined assemblage responses to logging, as well as partitions of feeding guild and strata (understorey vs. canopy), and then tested for relationships with logging intensity to assess the primary determinants of community composition. Community analysis revealed little effect of RIL on overall assemblages, as structure and composition were similar before and after logging, and between logging and control sites. Variation in bird assemblages was explained by natural rates of change over time, and not logging intensity. However, when partitioned by feeding guild and strata, the frugivorous and canopy bird ensembles changed as a result of RIL, although the latter was also associated with change over time. Bats exhibited variable changes post-logging that were not related to logging, whereas large mammals showed no change at all. Indicator species analysis and correlations with logging intensities revealed that some species exhibited idiosyncratic responses to RIL, whilst abundance change of most others was associated with time. Synthesis and applications. Our study demonstrates the relatively benign effect of reduced-impact logging (RIL) on birds, bats and large mammals in a neotropical forest context, and therefore, we propose that forest managers should improve timber extraction techniques more widely. If RIL is extensively adopted, forestry concessions could represent sizeable and important additions to the global conservation estate – over 4 million km2

Speech at the Nuneaton Wreath-laying

Almost twenty years ago, for the first time, I joined the small group of admirers who annually pay tribute to the memory of Nuneaton\u27s famous daughter. It is perhaps fitting that my last public duty, albeit as ex-Curator, should be connected with George Eliot. Over the years I have listened with interest to the various speakers, each with their own particular reason for being honoured with the responsibility for laying the Fellowship tribute. I have heard Lewes and Evans descendants recount family memories handed down with pride. Last year we heard John Letts tell us of the close bond which developed between Sculptor and Authoress as his wonderful interpretation of George Eliot was being created. With John last year you had the sublime; this year, with me, you have the ridiculous, or, at least, the mundane. For, over the years, with that part of my work connected with George Eliot, I developed the feeling that I was her housekeeper. I kept her \u27home\u27 in good order, I polished her piano and cleaned her shoes. I received her visitors and showed them the Mistress\u27s needlework, her father\u27s wood carving and the art work of her friends

Using geographic profiling to locate elusive nocturnal animals: A case study with spectral tarsiers

© 2015 The Zoological Society of London. Estimates of biodiversity, population size, population density and habitat use have important implications for management of both species and habitats, yet are based on census data that can be extremely difficult to collect. Traditional assessment techniques are often limited by time and money and by the difficulties of working in certain habitats, and species become more difficult to find as population size decreases. Particular difficulties arise when studying elusive species with cryptic behaviours. Here, we show how geographic profiling (GP) - a statistical tool originally developed in criminology to prioritize large lists of suspects in cases of serial crime - can be used to address these problems. We ask whether GP can be used to locate sleeping sites of spectral tarsiers Tarsius tarsier in Sulawesi, Southeast Asia, using as input the positions at which tarsier vocalizations were recorded in the field. This novel application of GP is potentially of value as tarsiers are cryptic and nocturnal and can easily be overlooked in habitat assessments (e.g. in dense rainforest). Our results show that GP provides a useful tool for locating sleeping sites of this species, and indeed analysis of a preliminary dataset during field work strongly suggested the presence of a sleeping tree at a previously unknown location; two sleeping trees were subsequently found within 5m of the predicted site. We believe that GP can be successfully applied to locating the nests, dens or roosts of elusive animals such as tarsiers, potentially improving estimates of population size with important implications for management of both species and habitats.We thank Operation Wallacea for supporting S.C.F. in thisproject and for providing logistical support for the fieldwork,and Aidan Kelsey for invaluable assistance in the field. Wethank the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) andKementerian Riset dan Teknologi Republik Indonesia(RISTEK) for providing permission to undertake the work(RISTEK permit no. 211/SIP/FRP/SM/VI/2013, and BalaiKonservasi Sumber Daya Alam (BKSDA) for theirassistance

Mixed policies give more options in multifunctional tropical forest landscapes

This archive stores data utilised in: Mixed policies give more options in multifunctional tropical forest landscapesLaw E.A., Bryan B.A., Meijaard E., Mallawaarachchi T., Struebig M.J., Watts M., Wilson K.A.Journal of Applied Ecology 2016Corresponding author:Elizabeth A. Law*The University of Queensland, School of Biological [email protected]: Jan 18, 2016----------------------DETAILS:Along with this txt file, this archive contains five csv files included, and one folder containing a shape file. These are in the typical format required for input into Marxan with Zones, available from http://www.uq.edu.au/marxan/ (also see new cloud development on Marxan.net). The data time frames relate to a start year of 2008 (see associated publication for further details.Readme.txt - this documentZones.csv - contains zone identification numbers (zoneid) and names (zonenames)FeatureTargets.csv - contains feature id (id), the targets (target; units are specified in supplementary material), species penalty factor (spf; weighting number to determine if the feature is considered as an optimisation threshold constraint, 1, or not, 0), and feature names (name; features 1-9 and 19-20 represent primate species, 10-14 forest types, and 15-17 production values smallholder agriculture, timber, and oil palm, and 18 carbon emissions reduction.Extant.csv - contains planning unit id (pu), the extant class (class; using descriptive codes), and the area (area.ha, in hectares).PuVsFeatures.csv - for every planning unit and feature combination, the 'amount' gives the maximum possible achievement for that feature in that planning unit. Units of measurement are indicated in the main text/supplementary methods and associated papers detailing data development.BaselineZoneContributions.csv - for every zone, planning unit, and feature combination (identified using zoneid, puid, featid codes found in their respective files), this gives the fraction of the full amount possible to achieve within that pu for that feature. Pulayer folder - contains a shape file created in arcgis for the planning units. Coordinate reference system is WGS 84 / UTM zone 49S. One column in the attribute table, indicating the planning unit number (pu)

Michel Butor: The Mytho-Fantastic Function of Naming

Michel Butor, a contemporary writer of the French New Novel, now the New New Novel, makes extensive use of naming, repetition of epithet -like phrases, distortions of q notations, sight -sound similarities of words and phrases, to create stories within stories and from other stories, and to evoke an oneiric level which allows times and locations to blend while still remaining separated. Carrying to the extreme the practice of immersion of text within text and meaning within meaning in Boomerang, the novel of 1978, the author combines eight different story lines, printed in four different colors, skillfully interweaving with his own narrative the elliptic citation of twenty-three sources ranging from the accounts of adventurers and explorers such as Cook and Bougainville to fantasy voyage writers like Jules Verne, and even aborigine story-tellers. In this study, the method and purpose of this type of creation is analyzed to show relationship between new literary production and new society, and the role that naming, as a creative technique, plays in that relationship. But or himself in Repertoire II has indicated that because the world only appears to us for the most part through what we are told about it, in conversations, classrooms, news media, a vital role of the literary text is to restructure information in such a way as to reveal hitherto unsuspected relationships, thereby enriching us with new perspectives and transforming our submission to the media into positive use of them (89-90). Butor\u27s statement introduces indirectly his method of restructuring or re-using information from a myriad of sources to create his own literature, and sets this study in motion. To discuss mytho-fantastic function in Michel Butor\u27s work, we must begin with a retrospective glance at this creativity, and we must define mythic function both globally .and as it performs in this author\u27s texts. By extending this definition of mythic function in a literary text to encompass the introduction of fantastic levels in writing we can observe the growth not only of Michel Butor as a writer, but of new writings and their reason for being

Anticipated climate and land-cover changes reveal refuge areas for Borneo's orang-utans

Habitat loss and climate change pose a double jeopardy for many threatened taxa, making the identification of optimal habitat for the future a conservation priority. Using a case study of the endangered Bornean orang-utan, we identify environmental refuges by integrating bioclimatic models with projected deforestation and oil-palm agriculture suitability from the 1950s to 2080s. We coupled a maximum entropy algorithm with information on habitat needs to predict suitable habitat for the present day and 1950s. We then projected to the 2020s, 2050s and 2080s in models incorporating only land-cover change, climate change or both processes combined. For future climate, we incorporated projections from four model and emission scenario combinations. For future land cover, we developed spatial deforestation predictions from 10 years of satellite data. Refuges were delineated as suitable forested habitats identified by all models that were also unsuitable for oil palm – a major threat to tropical biodiversity. Our analyses indicate that in 2010 up to 260 000 km2 of Borneo was suitable habitat within the core orang-utan range; an 18–24% reduction since the 1950s. Land-cover models predicted further decline of 15–30% by the 2080s. Although habitat extent under future climate conditions varied among projections, there was majority consensus, particularly in northeastern and western regions. Across projections habitat loss due to climate change alone averaged 63% by 2080, but 74% when also considering land-cover change. Refuge areas amounted to 2000–42 000 km2 depending on thresholds used, with 900–17 000 km2 outside the current species range. We demonstrate that efforts to halt deforestation could mediate some orang-utan habitat loss, but further decline of the most suitable areas is to be expected given projected changes to climate. Protected refuge areas could therefore become increasingly important for ongoing translocation efforts. We present an approach to help identify such areas for highly threatened species given environmental changes expected this century

Simultaneous multi-frequency observation of the unknown redshift blazar PG 1553+113 in March-April 2008

The blazar PG 1553+113 is a well known TeV gamma-ray emitter. In this paper, we determine its spectral energy distribution using simultaneous multi-frequency data in order to study its emission processes. An extensive campaign was carried out between March and April 2008, where optical, X-ray, high-energy (HE) gamma-ray, and very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray data were obtained with the KVA, Abastumani, REM, RossiXTE/ASM, AGILE and MAGIC telescopes, respectively. This is the first simultaneous broad-band (i.e., HE+VHE) gamma-ray observation, though AGILE did not detect the source. We combine data to derive source's spectral energy distribution and interpret its double peaked shape within the framework of a synchrotron self compton modelComment: 5 pages, 2 figures, publishe