1,052 research outputs found
Relative importance of environment, human activity and spatial situation in determining the distribution of terrestrial mammal diversity in Argentina
We recorded the number of terrestrial mammal species in each Argentinian
province, and the number of species belonging to particular groups (Marsupialia, Placentaria,
and among the latter, Xenarthra, Carnivora, Ungulates and Rodentia). We
performed multiple regressions of each group’s SR on environmental, human and spatial
variables, to determine the amounts of variation explained by these factors. We then
used a variance partitioning procedure to specify which proportion of the variation in SR
is explained by each of the three factors exclusively and which proportions are attributable
to interactions between factors
Geographical gradients in Argentinean terrestrial mammal species richness and their environmental correlates.
We analysed the main geographical trends of terrestrial mammal species richness (SR) in Argentina, assessing how broad-scale
environmental variation (defined by climatic and topographic variables) and the spatial form of the country (defined by spatial
filters based on spatial eigenvector mapping (SEVM)) influence the kinds and the numbers of mammal species along these
geographical trends. We also evaluated if there are pure geographical trends not accounted for by the environmental or spatial
factors. The environmental variables and spatial filters that simultaneously correlated with the geographical variables and SR
were considered potential causes of the geographic trends. We performed partial correlations between SR and the geographical
variables, maintaining the selected explanatory variables statistically constant, to determine if SR was fully explained by them or if
a significant residual geographic pattern remained. All groups and subgroups presented a latitudinal gradient not attributable to
the spatial form of the country. Most of these trends were not explained by climate.We used a variation partitioning procedure to
quantify the pure geographic trend (PGT) that remained unaccounted for. The PGT was larger for latitudinal than for longitudinal
gradients. This suggests that historical or purely geographical causes may also be relevant drivers of these geographical gradients
in mammal diversity
Langerhans cell histiocytosis of the suprasellar region: diagnosis based on thyroid cytology.
Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) may present as unifocal disease of the suprasellar region, with symptoms and signs of hypopituitarism, arginine vasopressin deficiency (AVP-D), and weight gain. Transcranial biopsy is necessary to define diagnosis and guide treatment decisions, but it is associated with significant morbidity. We describe a patient with Hashimoto thyroiditis and a single hypothalamic mass in whom LCH diagnosis was made by thyroid fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) performed despite nonspecific findings in thyroid imaging, on the basis of a slightly elevated [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) avidity on PET/CT and volume increase during follow-up
From cosmic deceleration to acceleration: new constraints from SN Ia and BAO/CMB
We use type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) data in combination with recent baryonic
acoustic oscillations (BAO) and cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations
to constrain a kink-like parametrization of the deceleration parameter ().
This -parametrization can be written in terms of the initial () and
present () values of the deceleration parameter, the redshift of the
cosmic transition from deceleration to acceleration () and the redshift
width of such transition (). By assuming a flat space geometry,
and adopting a likelihood approach to deal with the SN Ia data we obtain, at
the 68% confidence level (C.L.), that: ,
and when we combine
BAO/CMB observations with SN Ia data processed with the MLCS2k2 light-curve
fitter. When in this combination we use the SALT2 fitter we get instead, at the
same C.L.: , and
. Our results indicate, with a quite general and
model independent approach, that MLCS2k2 favors Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati-like
cosmological models, while SALT2 favors CDM-like ones. Progress in
determining the transition redshift and/or the present value of the
deceleration parameter depends crucially on solving the issue of the difference
obtained when using these two light-curve fitters.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figure
Rotating Black Branes in the presence of nonlinear electromagnetic field
In this paper, we consider a class of gravity whose action represents itself
as a sum of the usual Einstein-Hilbert action with cosmological constant and an
gauge field for which the action is given by a power of the Maxwell
invariant. We present a class of the rotating black branes with Ricci flat
horizon and show that the presented solutions may be interpreted as black brane
solutions with two event horizons, extreme black hole and naked singularity
provided the parameters of the solutions are chosen suitably. We investigate
the properties of the solutions and find that for the special values of the
nonlinear parameter, the solutions are not asymptotically anti-deSitter. At
last, we obtain the conserved quantities of the rotating black branes and find
that the nonlinear source effects on the electric field, the behavior of
spacetime, type of singularity and other quantities.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to appear in EPJ
Rings and bars: unmasking secular evolution of galaxies
Secular evolution gradually shapes galaxies by internal processes, in
contrast to early cosmological evolution which is more rapid. An important
driver of secular evolution is the flow of gas from the disk into the central
regions, often under the influence of a bar. In this paper, we review several
new observational results on bars and nuclear rings in galaxies. They show that
these components are intimately linked to each other, and to the properties of
their host galaxy. We briefly discuss how upcoming observations, e.g., imaging
from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G), will lead to
significant further advances in this area of research.Comment: Invited review at "Galaxies and their Masks", celebrating Ken
Freeman's 70-th birthday, Sossusvlei, Namibia, April 2010. To be published by
Springer, New York, editors D.L. Block, K.C. Freeman, & I. Puerari; minor
change
The exposure of the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Observatory is a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays.
It consists of a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level
and a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the
atmosphere above the array. The "hybrid" detection mode combines the
information from the two subsystems. We describe the determination of the
hybrid exposure for events observed by the fluorescence telescopes in
coincidence with at least one water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array. A
detailed knowledge of the time dependence of the detection operations is
crucial for an accurate evaluation of the exposure. We discuss the relevance of
monitoring data collected during operations, such as the status of the
fluorescence detector, background light and atmospheric conditions, that are
used in both simulation and reconstruction.Comment: Paper accepted by Astroparticle Physic
A constructive study of the module structure of rings of partial differential operators
The purpose of this paper is to develop constructive versions of Stafford's theorems on the module structure of Weyl algebras A n (k) (i.e., the rings of partial differential operators with polynomial coefficients) over a base field k of characteristic zero. More generally, based on results of Stafford and Coutinho-Holland, we develop constructive versions of Stafford's theorems for very simple domains D. The algorithmization is based on the fact that certain inhomogeneous quadratic equations admit solutions in a very simple domain. We show how to explicitly compute a unimodular element of a finitely generated left D-module of rank at least two. This result is used to constructively decompose any finitely generated left D-module into a direct sum of a free left D-module and a left D-module of rank at most one. If the latter is torsion-free, then we explicitly show that it is isomorphic to a left ideal of D which can be generated by two elements. Then, we give an algorithm which reduces the number of generators of a finitely presented left D-module with module of relations of rank at least two. In particular, any finitely generated torsion left D-module can be generated by two elements and is the homomorphic image of a projective ideal whose construction is explicitly given. Moreover, a non-torsion but non-free left D-module of rank r can be generated by r+1 elements but no fewer. These results are implemented in the Stafford package for D=A n (k) and their system-theoretical interpretations are given within a D-module approach. Finally, we prove that the above results also hold for the ring of ordinary differential operators with either formal power series or locally convergent power series coefficients and, using a result of Caro-Levcovitz, also for the ring of partial differential operators with coefficients in the field of fractions of the ring of formal power series or of the ring of locally convergent power series. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media
- …