Resipientundersøkelse av Begna, Storelva og Nordfjorden i 1997 ved Norske Skogindustrier ASA - Follum

Rapporten dokumenterer effektene av at det biologiske renseanlegget for fjerning av løst organisk stoff ble satt i drift i juni 1995. Det er også gjort sammenligninger med forholdene før og etter installeringen av kjemisk fellingsanlegg sommeren 1991. Etter installeringen av det biologiske renseanlegget, er TOC redusert fra ca 5000 tonn til ca 2000 tonn karbon pr. år. Tilførslene av fosfor er imidlertid økt fra ca 3 tonn til ca 8 tonn fordi fosfor må tilsettes til det biologiske anlegget. Follums egne og mer nøyaktige utslippsmålinger avviker noe fra elvemålingene, men trendene er de samme, klar reduksjon av organisk stoff og like klar økning av fosfor. Undersøkelse av bunndyr og begroing viser at Begna fortsatt er påvirket av utslipp av organisk stoff nedstrøms Follum. Det er en klar bedring i miljøkvalitet etter samløp med Randselva, men Storelva får igjen en redusert vannkvalitet ved Busund (nedstrøms Monserud). Forholdene i Begna (nedstrøms Monserud). Forholdene i Begna (nedstrøms Follum) er i 1997 merkbart bedre enn i 1993. Dette gir seg utslag i bedret biologisk mangfold, dvs. flere dyre- og plantegrupper (arter). Elvebunnen er også mindre dekket av bakterier og sopp, som vanligvis indikerer overbelastning av organisk stoff, noe som hovedsakelig skyldes tilførsler fra tidligere år. Hovedvannmassene i Tyrifjorden er imidlertid fortsatt i bedring, og algeinnholdet er nå på et nivå som tilsvarer miljømålet satt opp av Vannbruksplanutvalget

Sink i ferskvann - kjemi, tilførsler og biologiske effekter

Det er laget en kunnskapsstatus for betydningen av sink i ferskvann med særlig vekt på tilførsler fra gruveavrenning. I tillegg ble det utført en undersøkelse av biologiske effekter i et vassdrag. Sveselva, med sink-belastning, men få andre metaller. Alle levende organismer har behov for sink, men det er begrensede kunnskaper om mekanismene bak giftigheten til metallet. Effekt-grenser for akvatiske organismer varier fra 10 til over 1000 µg/l. Blant de mest følsomme organismene er enkelte alger, planktoniske krepsdyr og utviklingsstadier hos fisk. I Sveselva var det tilsynelatende effekter på vegetasjon (begroing) allerede ved 20-30 µg/l, men det er usikkert om dette var det reelle belastningsnivået. Både vegetasjon og bunndyr var klart påvirket på stasjoner med konsentrasjoner i området 250-670 µg/l. Kadmium og sink akkumulerte i gjellene til utplassert dammusling på alle stasjoner nedenfor tilførslene og førte til noe forhøyede konsentrasjoner av metallotionein. Dammusling med høye metall-nivåer i gjellene filtrerte mindre alger og hadde høyere respirasjon enn dammusling med lavere metall-nivåer i gjellene. Resultatene viser at det er viktig å benytte flere mål for biologiske effekter i overvåking av effektene av metall-forurensning og å integrere kjemisk og biologisk overvåking

Upper estimate of martingale dimension for self-similar fractals

We study upper estimates of the martingale dimension $d_m$ of diffusion processes associated with strong local Dirichlet forms. By applying a general strategy to self-similar Dirichlet forms on self-similar fractals, we prove that $d_m=1$ for natural diffusions on post-critically finite self-similar sets and that $d_m$ is dominated by the spectral dimension for the Brownian motion on Sierpinski carpets.Comment: 49 pages, 7 figures; minor revision with adding a referenc

Ecosystem effects of thermal manipulation of a whole lake, Lake Breisjøen, southern Norway (THERMOS project)

International audienceWe conducted a 3-year artificial deepening of the thermocline in the dimictic Lake Breisjøen, southern Norway, by means of a large submerged propeller. An adjacent lake served as untreated reference. The manipulation increased thermocline depth from 6 to 20 m, caused a significant increase in the heat content, and delayed ice-on by about 20 days. There were only minor changes in water chemistry. Concentrations of sulphate declined, perhaps due to greater reduction of sulphate at the sediment-water interface. Concentrations of particulate carbon and nitrogen decreased, perhaps due to increased sedimentation velocity. Water transparency increased. There was no significant change in concentration of phosphorus, the growth-limiting nutrient. There were few significant changes in principal biological components. Phytoplankton biomass and productivity did not change, although the chlorophyll-a concentration showed a small decrease. Phytoplankton species richness increased, and the species composition shifted. Growth of periphyton increased. There was no change in the macrophyte community. The manipulation did not affect the zooplankton biodiversity, but caused a significant shift in the relative abundance (measured as biomass) in the two major copepod species. The manipulation did not affect the individual density, but appeared to have changed the vertical distribution of zoobenthos. Fish populations were not affected. The lake is oligotrophic and clearwater and the manipulation did not change the supply of phosphorus, and thus there were only minor changes in lake chemistry and biology. Effects might be larger in eutrophic and dystrophic lakes in which internal processes are stronger

Niches of marine mammals in the European Arctic

The Arctic is warming rapidly, with concomitant sea ice losses and ecosystem changes. The animals most vulnerable to Arctic food web changes are long-lived and slow-growing such as marine mammals, which may not be able to adapt rapidly enough to respond to changes in their resource bases. To determine the current extent and sources of these resource bases, we examined isotopic and trophic niches for marine mammals in the European Arctic using skin carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ 15N) stable isotope (SI) compositions from 10 species: blue, fin, humpback, minke, sperm and white whales, bearded and ringed seals, walruses and polar bears, and dietary fatty acids (FAs) in polar bears, walruses and most of the whale species listed here. SI values showed clear species separation by trophic behaviour and carbon sources. Bearded seals, walruses and white whales had the smallest isotopic niches; these species are all resident High Arctic species and are likely to be particularly vulnerable to changes in Arctic ecosystems. We found clear separation between FA groupings driven by pelagic, benthic and planktonic/algal sources: pelagic FAs in all whales, benthic FAs in walruses, and copepod/algae/dinoflagellate FAs in polar bears, with some polar bear compositions approaching those of the whales and walruses. There is strong niche partitioning between study species with minimal functional redundancy, which could impact Arctic ecosystem structure and connectivity if populations of these large nutrient vectors are reduced or lost

Spin bit models from non-planar N=4 SYM

We study spin models underlying the non-planar dynamics of ${\cal N}=4$ SYM gauge theory. In particular, we derive the non-local spin chain Hamiltonian generating dilatations in the gauge theory at leading order in $g_{\rm YM}^2 N$ but exact in ${1\over N}$. States in the spin chain are characterized by a spin-configuration and a linking variable describing how sites in the chain are connected. Joining and splitting of string/traces are mimicked by a twist operator acting on the linking variable. The results are applied to a systematic study of non-planar anomalous dimensions and operator mixing in ${\cal N}=4$ SYM. Intriguingly, we identify a sequence of SYM operators for which corrections to the one-loop anomalous dimensions stop at the first ${1\over N}$ non-planar order.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, some typos corrected in eqs. (2.6), (2.8), (2.11), (2.14

Limnologiske undersøkelser i Breisjøen og Store Gryta, 1998/1999 - Bakgrunnsrapport Thermosprosjektet

Årsliste 2000Denne rapporten er en bakgrunnsrapport fra innsjøene Breisjøen og Store Gryta i Lillomarka, Oslo kommune. Rapporten inneholder informasjon om sentrale fysiske, kjemiske og biologiske forhold i innsjøene. Dette bakgrunnsmaterialet er viktig fordi termoklinen (sprangsjiktet) i den ene innsjøen (Breisjøen) skal brytes ved hjelp av en sakte-roterende propell f.o.m. våren 2001. Store Gryta, en nærliggende innsjø, vil fungere som kontrollsjø. Dette øker mulighetene for å skille naturlige variasjoner fra effekter av manipuleringen. Manipuleringen gjøres for å øke kunnskapen om de økologiske effekter av variasjoner i termoklindyp, en sentral problemstilling i lys av framtidige klimaendringer og effekter på våre innsjøer. Klima prognosene antyder høyere lufttemperaturer og sterkere vind. Dette er de viktigste faktorene for årsvariasjonene i termoklindyp i en innsjø. To år med bakgrunnsdata ligger til grunn for de fysisk, kjemiske og biologiske beskrivelsene og sammenlikningene av innsjøene. Sammendrag, både på norsk og engelsk, finnes først i rapporten, mens primærdata i stor grad finnes i rapportens vedlegg.Norsk institutt for vannforskning (NIVA) (Strategisk institutt program

Laplace Operators on Fractals and Related Functional Equations

We give an overview over the application of functional equations, namely the classical Poincar\'e and renewal equations, to the study of the spectrum of Laplace operators on self-similar fractals. We compare the techniques used to those used in the euclidean situation. Furthermore, we use the obtained information on the spectral zeta function to define the Casimir energy of fractals. We give numerical values for this energy for the Sierpi\'nski gasket

<i>Gaia</i> Data Release 1. Summary of the astrometric, photometric, and survey properties

Context. At about 1000 days after the launch of Gaia we present the first Gaia data release, Gaia DR1, consisting of astrometry and photometry for over 1 billion sources brighter than magnitude 20.7. Aims. A summary of Gaia DR1 is presented along with illustrations of the scientific quality of the data, followed by a discussion of the limitations due to the preliminary nature of this release. Methods. The raw data collected by Gaia during the first 14 months of the mission have been processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) and turned into an astrometric and photometric catalogue. Results. Gaia DR1 consists of three components: a primary astrometric data set which contains the positions, parallaxes, and mean proper motions for about 2 million of the brightest stars in common with the HIPPARCOS and Tycho-2 catalogues – a realisation of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) – and a secondary astrometric data set containing the positions for an additional 1.1 billion sources. The second component is the photometric data set, consisting of mean G-band magnitudes for all sources. The G-band light curves and the characteristics of ∼3000 Cepheid and RR-Lyrae stars, observed at high cadence around the south ecliptic pole, form the third component. For the primary astrometric data set the typical uncertainty is about 0.3 mas for the positions and parallaxes, and about 1 mas yr−1 for the proper motions. A systematic component of ∼0.3 mas should be added to the parallax uncertainties. For the subset of ∼94 000 HIPPARCOS stars in the primary data set, the proper motions are much more precise at about 0.06 mas yr−1. For the secondary astrometric data set, the typical uncertainty of the positions is ∼10 mas. The median uncertainties on the mean G-band magnitudes range from the mmag level to ∼0.03 mag over the magnitude range 5 to 20.7. Conclusions. Gaia DR1 is an important milestone ahead of the next Gaia data release, which will feature five-parameter astrometry for all sources. Extensive validation shows that Gaia DR1 represents a major advance in the mapping of the heavens and the availability of basic stellar data that underpin observational astrophysics. Nevertheless, the very preliminary nature of this first Gaia data release does lead to a number of important limitations to the data quality which should be carefully considered before drawing conclusions from the data

Generation and acceleration of electron bunches from a plasma photocathode

Plasma waves generated in the wake of intense, relativistic laser1,2 or particle beams3,4 can accelerate electron bunches to gigaelectronvolt energies in centimetre-scale distances. This allows the realization of compact accelerators with emerging applications ranging from modern light sources such as the free-electron laser to energy frontier lepton colliders. In a plasma wakefield accelerator, such multi-gigavolt-per-metre wakefields can accelerate witness electron bunches that are either externally injected5,6 or captured from the background plasma7,8. Here we demonstrate optically triggered injection9–11 and acceleration of electron bunches, generated in a multi-component hydrogen and helium plasma employing a spatially aligned and synchronized laser pulse. This ‘plasma photocathode’ decouples injection from wake excitation by liberating tunnel-ionized helium electrons directly inside the plasma cavity, where these cold electrons are then rapidly boosted to relativistic velocities. The injection regime can be accessed via optical11 density down-ramp injection12–16 and is an important step towards the generation of electron beams with unprecedented low transverse emittance, high current and 6D-brightness17. This experimental path opens numerous prospects for transformative plasma wakefield accelerator applications based on ultrahigh-brightness beams