Effects of Wind-Hardened Snow on Foraging by Reindeer (Rangifer Tarandus)

Various methods were investigated for assessing the relationship between wind-hardened snow (upsik) and forage availability to reindeer. Mean bottom area of individual craters was not a function of depth, hardness or integrated hardness. Individual crater area was partially dependent on specific cratering time (r2 = .60). Cratering time per active period increased with integrated snow hardness (r2 = .88). Number of craters and total area cratered increased with decreasing site hardness. Reindeer always cratered microsites of lesser depth and hardness than found in the general feeding site. A threefold decrease in snow hardness resulted in a fourfold increase in forage availability.Key words: Rangifer, snow hardness, snow depth, forage availabilityMots clés: Rangifer, dureté de la neige, profondeur de la neige, accessibilité aux plantes fourragère

Comparative Evolution of Jupiter and Saturn

We present evolutionary sequences for Jupiter and Saturn, based on new nongray model atmospheres, which take into account the evolution of the solar luminosity and partitioning of dense components to deeper layers. The results are used to set limits on the extent to which possible interior phase separation of hydrogen and helium may have progressed in the two planets. When combined with static models constrained by the gravity field, our evolutionary calculations constrain the helium mass fraction in Jupiter to be between 0.20 and 0.27, relative to total hydrogen and helium. This is in agreement with the Galileo determination. The helium mass fraction in Saturn's atmosphere lies between 0.11 and 0.25, higher than the Voyager determination. Based on the discrepancy between the Galileo and Voyager results for Jupiter, and our models, we predict that Cassini measurements will yield a higher atmospheric helium mass fraction for Saturn relative to the Voyager value.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures. submitted to ``Planetary and Space Science.'

Conditions for spontaneous homogenization of the Universe

The present-day Universe appears to be homogeneous on very large scales. Yet when the casual structure of the early Universe is considered, it becomes apparent that the early Universe must have been highly inhomogeneous. The current paradigm attempts to answer this problem by postulating the inflation mechanism However, inflation in order to start requires a homogeneous patch of at least the horizon size. This paper examines if dynamical processes of the early Universe could lead to homogenization. In the past similar studies seem to imply that the set of initial conditions that leads to homogenization is of measure zero. This essay proves contrary: a set of initial conditions for spontaneous homogenization of cosmological models can form a set of non-zero measure.Comment: 7 pages. Fifth Award in the 2010 Gravity Research Foundation essay competitio

Single-Inclusive Jet Production in Polarized pp Collisions at O(alpha_s^3)

We present a next-to-leading order QCD calculation for single-inclusive high-p_T jet production in longitudinally polarized pp collisions within the ``small-cone'' approximation. The fully analytical expressions obtained for the underlying partonic hard-scattering cross sections greatly facilitate the analysis of upcoming BNL-RHIC data on the double-spin asymmetry A_{LL}^{jet} for this process in terms of the unknown polarization of gluons in the nucleon. We simultaneously rederive the corresponding QCD corrections to unpolarized scattering and confirm the results existing in the literature. We also numerically compare to results obtained with Monte-Carlo methods and assess the range of validity of the ``small-cone'' approximation for the kinematics relevant at BNL-RHIC.Comment: 23 pages, 8 eps-figure

Stealth Branes

We discuss the brane world model of Dvali, Gabadadze and Porrati in which branes evolve in an infinite bulk and the brane curvature term is added to the action. If Z_2 symmetry between the two sides of the brane is not imposed, we show that the model admits the existence of "stealth branes" which follow the standard 4D internal evolution and have no gravitational effect on the bulk space. Stealth branes can nucleate spontaneosly in a Minkowski bulk. This process is described by the standard 4D quantum cosmology formalism with tunneling boundary conditions for the brane world wave function. The notorious ambiguity in the choice of boundary conditions is fixed in this case due to the presence of the embedding spacetime. We also point to some problematic aspects of models admitting stealth brane solutions.Comment: 24 pages; Final version, to appear in Phys. Rev. D. The discussion of "embeddability obstruction" is removed (thanks to Takahiro Tanaka who convinced us that there is no such obstruction

Spherically symmetric dissipative anisotropic fluids: A general study

The full set of equations governing the evolution of self--gravitating spherically symmetric dissipative fluids with anisotropic stresses is deployed and used to carry out a general study on the behaviour of such systems, in the context of general relativity. Emphasis is given to the link between the Weyl tensor, the shear tensor, the anisotropy of the pressure and the density inhomogeneity. In particular we provide the general, necessary and sufficient, condition for the vanishing of the spatial gradients of energy density, which in turn suggests a possible definition of a gravitational arrow of time. Some solutions are also exhibited to illustrate the discussion.Comment: 28 pages Latex. To appear in Phys.Rev.

Two-Loop Helicity Amplitudes for Quark-Quark Scattering in QCD and Gluino-Gluino Scattering in Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theory

We present the two-loop QCD helicity amplitudes for quark-quark and quark-antiquark scattering. These amplitudes are relevant for next-to-next-to-leading order corrections to (polarized) jet production at hadron colliders. We give the results in the `t Hooft-Veltman and four-dimensional helicity (FDH) variants of dimensional regularization and present the scheme dependence of the results. We verify that the finite remainder, after subtracting the divergences using Catani's formula, are in agreement with previous results. We also provide the amplitudes for gluino-gluino scattering in pure N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We describe ambiguities in continuing the Dirac algebra to D dimensions, including ones which violate fermion helicity conservation. The finite remainders after subtracting the divergences using Catani's formula, which enter into physical quantities, are free of these ambiguities. We show that in the FDH scheme, for gluino-gluino scattering, the finite remainders satisfy the expected supersymmetry Ward identities.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:hep-ph/030416

Effect of Purity and Substrate on Field Emission Properties of Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) have been synthesized by chemical vapour decomposition (CVD) of acetylene over Rare Earth (RE) based AB2(DyNi2) alloy hydride catalyst. The as-grown carbon nanotubes were purified by acid and heat treatments and characterized using powder X-ray diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Thermo Gravimetric Analysis and Raman Spectroscopy. Fully carbon based field emitters have been fabricated by spin coating a solutions of both as-grown and purified MWNT and dichloro ethane (DCE) over carbon paper with and without graphitized layer. The use of graphitized carbon paper as substrate opens several new possibilities for carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters, as the presence of the graphitic layer provides strong adhesion between the nanotubes and carbon paper and reduces contact resistance. The field emission characteristics have been studied using an indigenously fabricated set up and the results are discussed. CNT field emitter prepared by spin coating of the purified MWNT–DCE solution over graphitized carbon paper shows excellent emission properties with a fairly stable emission current over a period of 4 h. Analysis of the field emission characteristics based on the Fowler–Nordheim (FN) theory reveals current saturation effects at high applied fields for all the samples

Fit for purpose? A cross-sectional study to evaluate the acceptability and usability of HeadUp, a novel neck support collar for neurological neck weakness

The HeadUp collar (previously known as the Sheffield Support Snood) provides support for neck weakness caused by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and has shown to be superior to alternative options in a small cohort of patients from one single center. Here we report the assessment of the HeadUp collar in a larger cohort of patients, exploring the use in other neurological conditions and expanding to other centers across the UK and Ireland. An interventional cross-sectional study design was implemented to investigate the usability and acceptability of the HeadUp collar. A total of 139 patients were recruited for the study, 117 patients had a diagnosis of ALS and 22 patients presented with neck weakness due to other neurological conditions. Participants were assessed at baseline, fitted a HeadUp collar and followed-up one month later. The performance of the HeadUp collar was rated favorably compared to previously worn collars in terms of the ability to eat, drink and swallow. Findings suggest that the collar also permitted a more acceptable range of head movements whilst maintaining a good level of support. We conclude that the HeadUp collar is a suitable option for patients with neck weakness due to ALS and other neurological conditions