13,536 research outputs found
Can morphotaxa be assessed with photographs? Estimating the accuracy of two-dimensional cranial geometric morphometrics for the study of threatened populations of African monkeys
The classification of most mammalian orders and families is under debate and the number of species is likely greater than currently recognized. Improving taxonomic knowledge is crucial, as biodiversity is in rapid decline. Morphology is a source of taxonomic knowledge, and geometric morphometrics applied to two dimensional (2D) photographs of anatomical structures is commonly employed for quantifying differences within and among lineages. Photographs are informative, easy to obtain, and low cost. 2D analyses, however, introduce a large source of measurement error when applied to crania and other highly three dimensional (3D) structures. To explore the potential of 2D analyses for assessing taxonomic diversity, we use patas monkeys (Erythrocebus), a genus of large, semi-terrestrial, African guenons, as a case study. By applying a range of tests to compare ventral views of adult crania measured both in 2D and 3D, we show that, despite inaccuracies accounting for up to one-fourth of individual shape differences, results in 2D almost perfectly mirror those in 3D. This apparent paradox might be explained by the small strength of covariation in the component of shape variance related to measurement error. A rigorous standardization of photographic settings and the choice of almost coplanar landmarks are likely to further improve the correspondence of 2D to 3D shapes. 2D geometric morphometrics is, thus, appropriate for taxonomic comparisons of patas ventral crania. Although it is too early to generalize, our results corroborate similar findings from previous research in mammals, and suggest that 2D shape analyses are an effective heuristic tool for morphological investigation of small differences
Nonuniversal Shot Noise in Disordered Quantum Wires with Channel-Number Imbalance
The number of conducting channels for one propagating direction is equal to
that for the other direction in ordinary quantum wires. However, they can be
imbalanced in graphene nanoribbons with zigzag edges. Employing the model
system in which a degree of channel-number imbalance can be controlled, we
calculate the shot-noise power at zero frequency by using the
Boltzmann-Langevin approach. The shot-noise power in an ordinary diffusive
conductor is one-third of the Poisson value. We show that with increasing the
degree of channel-number imbalance, the universal one-third suppression breaks
down and a highly nonuniversal behavior of shot noise appears.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Structure of Disk Dominated Galaxies I. Bulge/Disk Parameters, Simulations, and Secular Evolution
(Abridged) A robust analysis of galaxy structural parameters, based on the
modeling of bulge and disk brightnesses in the BVRH bandpasses, is presented
for 121 face-on and moderately inclined late-type spirals. Each surface
brightness (SB) profile is decomposed into a sum of a generalized Sersic bulge
and an exponential disk. The reliability and limitations of our bulge-to-disk
(B/D) decompositions are tested with extensive simulations of galaxy brightness
profiles (1D) and images (2D). Galaxy types are divided into 3 classes
according to their SB profile shapes; Freeman Type-I and Type-II, and a third
``Transition'' class for galaxies whose profiles change from Type-II in the
optical to Type-I in the infrared. We discuss possible interpretations of
Freeman Type-II profiles. The Sersic bulge shape parameter for nearby Type-I
late-type spirals shows a range between n=0.1-2 but, on average, the underlying
surface density profile for the bulge and disk of these galaxies is adequately
described by a double-exponential distribution. We confirm a coupling between
the bulge and disk with a scale length ratio r_e/h=0.22+/-0.09, or
h_bulge/h_disk=0.13+/-0.06 for late-type spirals, in agreement with recent
N-body simulations of disk formation and models of secular evolution. This
ratio increases from ~0.20 for late-type spirals to ~0.24 for earlier types.
The similar scaling relations for early and late-type spirals suggest
comparable formation and/or evolution scenarios for disk galaxies of all Hubble
types.Comment: 78 pages with 23 embedded color figures + tables of galaxy structural
parameters. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. The
interested reader is strongly encouraged to ignore some of the low res
figures within; instead, download the high resolution version from
http://www.astro.ubc.ca/people/courteau/public/macarthur02_disks.ps.g
Kondo hybridisation and the origin of metallic states at the (001) surface of SmB6
SmB6, a well-known Kondo insulator, has been proposed to be an ideal
topological insulator with states of topological character located in a clean,
bulk electronic gap, namely the Kondo hybridisation gap. Seeing as the Kondo
gap arises from many body electronic correlations, this would place SmB6 at the
head of a new material class: topological Kondo insulators. Here, for the first
time, we show that the k-space characteristics of the Kondo hybridisation
process is the key to unravelling the origin of the two types of metallic
states observed directly by ARPES in the electronic band structure of
SmB6(001). One group of these states is essentially of bulk origin, and cuts
the Fermi level due to the position of the chemical potential 20 meV above the
lowest lying 5d-4f hybridisation zone. The other metallic state is more
enigmatic, being weak in intensity, but represents a good candidate for a
topological surface state. However, before this claim can be substantiated by
an unequivocal measurement of its massless dispersion relation, our data raises
the bar in terms of the ARPES resolution required, as we show there to be a
strong renormalisation of the hybridisation gaps by a factor 2-3 compared to
theory, following from the knowledge of the true position of the chemical
potential and a careful comparison with the predictions from recent
LDA+Gutzwiler calculations. All in all, these key pieces of evidence act as
triangulation markers, providing a detailed description of the electronic
landscape in SmB6, pointing the way for future, ultrahigh resolution ARPES
experiments to achieve a direct measurement of the Dirac cones in the first
topological Kondo insulator.Comment: 9 pages, 4 Figures and supplementary material (including Movies and
CORPES13 "best prize" poster
Evolving temporal association rules with genetic algorithms
A novel framework for mining temporal association rules by discovering itemsets with a genetic algorithm is introduced. Metaheuristics have been applied to association rule mining, we show the efficacy of extending this to another variant - temporal association rule mining. Our framework is an enhancement to existing temporal association rule mining methods as it employs a genetic algorithm to simultaneously search the rule space and temporal space. A methodology for validating the ability of the proposed framework isolates target temporal itemsets in synthetic datasets. The Iterative Rule Learning method successfully discovers these targets in datasets with varying levels of difficulty
Toward a Commonly Shared Public Policy Perspective for Analyzing Risk Coping Strategies
The concept of risk has received scholarly attention from a variety of angles in the social, technical, and natural sciences. However, public policy scholars have not yet generated a comprehensive overview, shared understanding and conceptual framework of the main problem-solving approaches applied by governments in coping with risks. In this regard, our main aim is to examine existing perspectives on prevailing risk coping strategies, find a common denominator among them and contribute to current policy and risk science literature through providing a conceptual framework that systematically spans the spectrum of risk coping strategies and incorporates the essence of the most relevant insights. To this end, we first examine the concept of risk in-depth by exploring various definitions and types of risk. We then review different approaches proposed by different strands of research for addressing risk. Finally, we assess current knowledge and develop an amalgamated perspective for examining how risks can be addressed by classifying them into six general types of response (no response; prevention; control; precaution; toleration; and adaptation) as well as indicators to identify these responses. We argue that these strategies can function as a heuristic tool fo
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