Quantum Mechanics with Trajectories: Quantum Trajectories and Adaptive Grids

Although the foundations of the hydrodynamical formulation of quantum mechanics were laid over 50 years ago, it has only been within the past few years that viable computational implementations have been developed. One approach to solving the hydrodynamic equations uses quantum trajectories as the computational tool. The trajectory equations of motion are described and methods for implementation are discussed, including fitting of the fields to gaussian clusters.Comment: Prepared for CiSE, Computing in Science and Engineering IEEE/AIP special issue on computational chemistr

BACTERIOLOGICAL STANDARDS AND FOOD QUALITY/SAFETY

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

The effect of habitat type and month on variation in community structure of fruit and frugivorous Lepidoptera in a tropical lowland forest landscape

Tropical rainforests are one of the most diverse biomes on the planet and provide vital ecological services, including climate regulation through carbon sequestration. Borneo has incredibly high biodiversity that is under threat due to anthropogenic pressure, which leads to widespread deforestation due to mining, logging and the conversion of land to plantations. Protecting this biodiversity, as well as documenting and monitoring it to inform conservation strategies, are of great priority. This study centres on the unprotected Rungan Forest Landscape in Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesian Borneo. This lowland forest is a mosaic of different habitats, including peat swamp forests (Low Pole), the sandy soil heath forest (Kerangas) and a transitional forest between the two (Mixed Swamp). Peatlands are relatively well studied and are known to be a key habitat for critically endangered species such as orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) as well as storing large quantities of carbon. Lowland Kerangas habitats, on the other hand are less well studied and, unlike peat forest, are currently not represented in any protected areas, despite its potential to harbour a rich and unique biodiversity. High heterogeneity in the Rungan landscape is hypothesised to allow it to support higher biodiversity than expected from peat swamp or Kerangas by itself, due to habitat complementarity, but this has not yet been tested. Here, I investigate this by studying spatial and temporal variation in the community of frugivorous Lepidoptera and their fruit resources. Using ground fruit surveys and baited Lepidoptera traps, 17 plots of three different habitats (Kerangas, Mixed Swamp and Low Pole) were surveyed monthly for five consecutive months between April and August 2019. In chapter 2 I use this data to test whether there are significant differences in frugivorous Lepidoptera abundance, richness and diversity between the habitat types and months and whether this correlates with variation in fruit abundance, richness and diversity. I show that there are significant differences in: fruit abundance and diversity; butterfly abundance; and moth abundance and species richness. I also show that there was no correlation between Lepidoptera abundance, richness and diversity with fruit abundance, richness and diversity. In chapter 3 I use the same data set to test whether species composition of Lepidoptera and fruit differs between the habitats. Secondly, I test whether similarity in Lepidoptera species composition among sample sites correlates with similarity in fruit species composition among sample sites. Thirdly, I test for spatial correlation in species composition regardless of habitat. I show that species composition of Lepidoptera and fruit differs between the habitats and has a correlation between them. Finally I show there is spatial correlation within the study. Temporal variation in abundance, richness and diversity over the five study months indicates that further study is required to identify the drivers of this, for example seasonality, which may lead to asynchrony in resource availability among the habitats, providing a further source of complementarity. Further, it is noted that among Lepidoptera, the results are not always consistent between moths and butterflies and this raises questions about assumptions underlaying the use of ‘indicator taxa’, such as butterflies. Using this study as a baseline for community structures across several habitats and months, future surveys will be able to quickly detect any changes due to any external pressures like mining or fragmentation due to logging. Being able to quickly identify the effect of such threats on community structures can help guide protection measures. Together, the results indicate that the heterogeneous landscape could be leading to greater overall species diversity of the region, and therefore the principal of habitat complementarity stresses that all the habitats within the mosaic of the Rungan landscape should be protected

Summary of DSN (Deep Space Network) reimbursable launch support

The Deep Space Network is providing ground support to space agencies of foreign governments as well as to NASA and other agencies of the Federal government which are involved in space activities. DSN funding for support of missions other than NASA are on either a cooperative or a reimbursable basis. Cooperative funding and support are accomplished in the same manner as NASA sponsored missions. Reimbursable launch funding and support methods are described

Hydrodynamic View of Wave-Packet Interference: Quantum Caves

Wave-packet interference is investigated within the complex quantum Hamilton-Jacobi formalism using a hydrodynamic description. Quantum interference leads to the formation of the topological structure of quantum caves in space-time Argand plots. These caves consist of the vortical and stagnation tubes originating from the isosurfaces of the amplitude of the wave function and its first derivative. Complex quantum trajectories display counterclockwise helical wrapping around the stagnation tubes and hyperbolic deflection near the vortical tubes. The string of alternating stagnation and vortical tubes is sufficient to generate divergent trajectories. Moreover, the average wrapping time for trajectories and the rotational rate of the nodal line in the complex plane can be used to define the lifetime for interference features.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (major revisions with respect to the previous version have been carried out

Marine-Nonmarine Relationships in the Cenozoic Section of California

Highly fossiliferous marine sediments of Cenozoic age are widely distributed in the coastal parts of central and southern California, as well as in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley region farther inland. Even more widespread are nonmarine, chiefly terrestrial, sequences of Cenozoic strata, many of which contain vertebrate faunas characterized by a dominance of mammalian forms. These strata are most abundant in the Mojave Desert region and in the interior parts of areas that lie nearer the coast. Marine and nonmarine strata are in juxtaposition or interfinger with one another at many places, especially in the southern Coast Ranges and the San Joaquin basin to the east, in the Transverse Ranges and adjacent basins, and in several parts of the Peninsular Range region and the Coachella-Imperial Valley to the east. These occurrences of closely related marine and nonmarine deposits permit critical comparisons between the Pacific Coast mammalian (terrestrial) and invertebrate (marine) chronologies, and it is with these comparisons-examined in the light of known stratigraphic relations-that this paper is primarily concerned. The writers have drawn freely upon the published record for geologic and paleontologic data. In addition, Durham has reviewed many of the invertebrate faunas and has checked the field relations of marine strata in parts of the Ventura and Soledad basins, the Tejon Hills, and the Cammatta Ranch; Jahns has studied new vertebrate material from the Soledad basin and has mapped this area and critical areas in the vicinity of San Diego, in the Ventura basin, and in the Caliente Range; and Savage has made a detailed appraisal of the vertebrate assemblages, and has mapped critical areas in the Tejon Hills. The areas and localities that have been most carefully scrutinized are shown in figure 1. The manuscript was reviewed in detail by G. Edward Lewis of the U. S. Geological Survey, who made numerous comments and suggestions that resulted in considerable improvement. It should be noted that his views are not wholly compatible with some of those expressed in this paper, and that his critical appraisal thus was particularly helpful