Survey and monitoring of opium poppy and wheat in Afghanistan: 2003-2009

An integrated application of remote-sensing technology was devised and applied in Afghanistan during 2003–2009 providing critical information on cereal and poppy cultivation and poppy eradication. The results influenced UK and international policy and counter-narcotics actions in Afghanistan

Nanosecond molecular relaxations in lipid bilayers studied by high energy resolution neutron scattering and in-situ diffraction

We report a high energy-resolution neutron backscattering study to investigate slow motions on nanosecond time scales in highly oriented solid supported phospholipid bilayers of the model system DMPC -d54 (deuterated 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phoshatidylcholine), hydrated with heavy water. Wave vector resolved quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) is used to determine relaxation times $\tau$, which can be associated with different molecular components, i.e., the lipid acyl chains and the interstitial water molecules in the different phases of the model membrane system. The inelastic data are complemented both by energy resolved and energy integrated in-situ diffraction. From a combined analysis of the inelastic data in the energy and time domain, the respective character of the relaxation, i.e., the exponent of the exponential decay is also determined. From this analysis we quantify two relaxation processes. We associate the fast relaxation with translational diffusion of lipid and water molecules while the slow process likely stems from collective dynamics

Three-dimensional simulations of rotationally-induced line variability from a Classical T Tauri star with a misaligned magnetic dipole

We present three-dimensional (3-D) simulations of rotationally induced line variability arising from complex circumstellar environment of classical T Tauri stars (CTTS) using the results of the 3-D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of Romanova et al., who considered accretion onto a CTTS with a misaligned dipole magnetic axis with respect to the rotational axis. The density, velocity and temperature structures of the MHD simulations are mapped on to the radiative transfer grid, and corresponding line source function and the observed profiles of neutral hydrogen lines (H-beta, Pa-beta and Br-gamma) are computed using the Sobolev escape probability method. We study the dependency of line variability on inclination angles (i) and magnetic axis misalignment angles (Theta). By comparing our models with the Pa-beta profiles of 42 CTTS observed by Folha & Emerson, we find that models with a smaller misaligngment angle (Theta<~15 deg.) are more consistent with the observations which show that majority of Pa-beta are rather symmetric around the line centre. For a high inclination system with a small dipole misalignment angle (Theta ~ 15 deg.), only one accretion funnel (on the upper hemisphere) is visible to an observer at any given rotational phase. This can cause an anti-correlation of the line equivalent width in the blue wing (v0) over a half of a rotational period, and a positive correlation over other half. We find a good overall agreement of the line variability behaviour predicted by our model and those from observations. (Abridged)Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. A version with full resolution figures can be downloaded from http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~rk/preprint/inclined_dipole.pd

Preferred foliation effects in Quantum General Relativity

We investigate the infrared (IR) effects of Lorentz violating terms in the gravitational sector using functional renormalization group methods similar to Reuter and collaborators. The model we consider consists of pure quantum gravity coupled to a preferred foliation, described effectively via a scalar field with non-standard dynamics. We find that vanishing Lorentz violation is a UV attractive fixed-point of this model in the local potential approximation. Since larger truncations may lead to differing results, we study as a first example effects of additional matter fields on the RG running of the Lorentz violating term and provide a general argument why they are small.Comment: 12 pages, no figures, compatible with published versio

Finite key analysis for symmetric attacks in quantum key distribution

We introduce a constructive method to calculate the achievable secret key rate for a generic class of quantum key distribution protocols, when only a finite number n of signals is given. Our approach is applicable to all scenarios in which the quantum state shared by Alice and Bob is known. In particular, we consider the six state protocol with symmetric eavesdropping attacks, and show that for a small number of signals, i.e. below the order of 10^4, the finite key rate differs significantly from the asymptotic value for n approaching infinity. However, for larger n, a good approximation of the asymptotic value is found. We also study secret key rates for protocols using higher-dimensional quantum systems.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Quota discarding and distributive justice: The case of the under-10m fishing fleet in Sussex, England

Marine fish discarding has become a contentious environmental issue, but little attention has been paid to the moral grievances that sometimes underlie discarding practices. This article explores such a moral grievance through a case study of the under-10. m fishery in Sussex, England, where discarding of cod (Gadus morhua) has become a highly charged issue, skippers blaming it on unjust quota allocations. The moral claim to a greater quota allocation is analysed using two conceptions of distributive justice, entitlement and desert. The conclusion reached is that the under-10. m fleet's entitlement arguments for a higher quota are weaker than their desert arguments, but that entitlement arguments weigh more heavily than desert arguments with government when it allocates quota

Spherical harmonic based noise rejection and neuronal sampling with multi-axis OPMs

In this study we explore the interference rejection and spatial sampling properties of multi-axis Optically Pumped Magnetometer (OPM) data. We use both vector spherical harmonics and eigenspectra to quantify how well an array can separate neuronal signal from environmental interference while adequately sampling the entire cortex. We found that triaxial OPMs have superb noise rejection properties allowing for very high orders of interference (L=6) to be accounted for while minimally affecting the neural space (2dB attenuation for a 60-sensor triaxial system). We show that at least 11th order (143 spatial degrees of freedom) irregular solid harmonics or 95 eigenvectors of the lead field are needed to model the neural space for OPM data (regardless of number of axes measured). This can be adequately sampled with 75-100 equidistant triaxial sensors (225-300 channels) or 200 equidistant radial channels. In other words, ordering the same number of channels in triaxial (rather than purely radial) configuration may give significant advantages not only in terms of external noise rejection but also by minimizing cost, weight and cross-talk