11,709 research outputs found
A new puzzle for random interaction
We continue a series of numerical experiments on many-body systems with
random two-body interactions, by examining correlations in ratios in excitation
energies of yrast = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 states. Previous studies, limited only to
= 0,2,4 states, had shown strong correlations in boson systems but not
fermion systems. By including states and considering different
scatter plots, strong and realistic correlations appear in both boson and
fermion systems. Such correlations are a challenge to explanations of random
interactions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Decision Support Systems in Australian Agriculture: State of the Art and Future Development
This paper reports and discusses the results of a survey conducted with experts working in the field of decision support systems (DSS) in Australian agriculture. It also reviews the literature on DSS in the light of these experts' responses. The findings from this survey have consolidated our understanding of the current state of DSS in Australian agriculture. The uptake of DSS by farmers has been slow and various issues said to be contributing to this include fear of using computers, time constraints, poor marketing, complexity, lack of local relevance, lack of end-user involvement, and mismatched objectives between developers and users. The future prospect for the development of DSS was generally regarded to be poor. Never-the-less, the authors believe that new DSS which embrace the suggested criteria could be widely accepted by farmers. These criteria mean that to be widely used by farmers, any successful DSS needs to address widespread problems: they need to be location specific, and gain strong support from initial users. They also need to be simple to use, relevant, effective, low cost, and user friendly and it is most likely that farmers would have been involved in their development. We believe that farmers' personalities, and their attitudes towards risk management and decision making, will influence the pattern of adoption of DSS in Australian agriculture while the intergenerational change that is occurring in the management of Australian farms is a positive factor that may encourage more widespread use of these tools.DSS, farmers' decision-making, expert opinion, management decisions, Farm Management, D7, D8, Q12, Q13, Q16,
Helices at Interfaces
Helically coiled filaments are a frequent motif in nature. In situations
commonly encountered in experiments coiled helices are squeezed flat onto two
dimensional surfaces. Under such 2-D confinement helices form "squeelices" -
peculiar squeezed conformations often resembling looped waves, spirals or
circles. Using theory and Monte-Carlo simulations we illuminate here the
mechanics and the unusual statistical mechanics of confined helices and show
that their fluctuations can be understood in terms of moving and interacting
discrete particle-like entities - the "twist-kinks". We show that confined
filaments can thermally switch between discrete topological twist quantized
states, with some of the states exhibiting dramatically enhanced
circularization probability while others displaying surprising
hyperflexibility
Treatment of Metal Wastes Containing Ni, Co and Mn with Deep-Sea Manganese Nodules
The spent Ni-Cd battery and the spent catalyst containing cobalt were treated by reductionsmelting process with deep-sea Manganese nodules for recovery of nickel and cobalt metals. The nickel in the spent Ni-Cd battery could be recovered with adding 5% coke as a reducing
agent regardless of the amount of battery added. However, to recover cobalt from the spent catalyst, it is required to add more coke for reduction of cobalt oxide in the catalyst. The treatment of metal wastes with manganese nodules can contribute to lower the cost for the proce-ssing of nodules and to facilitate the recycling of metal wastes
Dependence of quantum-Hall conductance on the edge-state equilibration position in a bipolar graphene sheet
By using four-terminal configurations, we investigated the dependence of
longitudinal and diagonal resistances of a graphene p-n interface on the
quantum-Hall edge-state equilibration position. The resistance of a p-n device
in our four-terminal scheme is asymmetric with respect to the zero point where
the filling factor () of the entire graphene vanishes. This resistance
asymmetry is caused by the chiral-direction-dependent change of the
equilibration position and leads to a deeper insight into the equilibration
process of the quantum-Hall edge states in a bipolar graphene system.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, will be published in PR
An effective thermodynamic potential from the instanton with Polyakov-loop contributions
We derive an effective thermodynamic potential (Omega_eff) at finite
temperature (T>0) and zero quark-chemical potential (mu_R=0), using the
singular-gauge instanton solution and Matsubara formula for N_c=3 and N_f=2 in
the chiral limit. The momentum-dependent constituent-quark mass is also
obtained as a function of T, employing the Harrington-Shepard caloron solution
in the large-N_c limit. In addition, we take into account the imaginary quark
chemical potential mu_I = A_4, translated as the traced Polayakov-loop (Phi) as
an order parameter for the Z(N_c) symmsetry, characterizing the confinement
(intact) and deconfinement (spontaneously broken) phases. As a result, we
observe the crossover of the chiral (chi) order parameter sigma^2 and Phi. It
also turns out that the critical temperature for the deconfinment phase
transition, T^Z_c is lowered by about (5-10)% in comparison to the case with a
constant constituent-quark mass. This behavior can be understood by
considerable effects from the partial chiral restoration and nontrivial QCD
vacuum on Phi. Numerical calculations show that the crossover transitions occur
at (T^chi_c,T^Z_c) ~ (216,227) MeV.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure
Risk Management Strategies by Australian Farmers
Australian farmers operate in one of the most risky environment in the world. They have to cope with various sources of risk in their businesses. This paper reports results of two case studies undertaken to examine the issues of farming risks and risk management strategies in Australia. The first case study found that climate variability, financial risk, marketing risk, and personal risk were regarded as the major sources of farming risk in the Upper Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. The main management strategies used by farmers included diversifying varieties, minimising tillage, minimising area of risky crops and maximising area of the least-risky crop, having high equity, having farm management deposits and other off-farm investments, and "leaving marketing to experts". The second case study revealed that climate variability was ranked as the most important source of farming risk in southwest Queensland. This was then followed by financial risks, government policy, and marketing risks. The main management strategies used were enterprise diversification (having predominantly cattle and farming cash crops), conserving moisture, using zero till planting, diversified sales (selling only part of the farm's production at any one time), and having off-farm investments. The paper then attempts to reconcile the two case studies by comparing the results with studies from the United States of America, Canada, Netherlands, and New Zealand.risk, risk management, strategies, farmers, Australia, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty,
First Astronomical Application of a Cryogenic TES Spectrophotometer
We report on the first astronomical observations with a photon counting pixel
detector that provides arrival time- (delta t = 100ns) and energy- (delta
E_gamma < 0.15eV) resolved measurements from the near IR through the near UV.
Our test observations were performed by coupling this Transition Edge Sensor
(TES) device to a 0.6m telescope; we have obtained the first simultaneous
optical near-IR phase-resolved spectra of the Crab pulsar. A varying infrared
turnover gives evidence of self-absorption in the pulsar plasma. The potential
of such detectors in imaging arrays from a space platform are briefly
described.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Entanglement between more than two hundred macroscopic atomic ensembles in a solid
We create a multi-partite entangled state by storing a single photon in a
crystal that contains many large atomic ensembles with distinct resonance
frequencies. The photon is re-emitted at a well-defined time due to an
interference effect analogous to multi-slit diffraction. We derive a lower
bound for the number of entangled ensembles based on the contrast of the
interference and the single-photon character of the input, and we
experimentally demonstrate entanglement between over two hundred ensembles,
each containing a billion atoms. In addition, we illustrate the fact that each
individual ensemble contains further entanglement. Our results are the first
demonstration of entanglement between many macroscopic systems in a solid and
open the door to creating even more complex entangled states.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures; see also parallel submission by Frowis et a
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