6,091 research outputs found
Frequency-dependent and correlational selection pressures have conflicting consequences for assortative mating in a color-polymorphic lizard, Uta stansburiana
Acknowledgments We would like to thank the numerous undergraduate researchers involved with this project for their invaluable assistance in lizard rearing and data collection. We also thank D. Haisten, A. Runemark, Y. Takahashi, and M. Verzijden for insightful comments on the manuscript. This project was funded by National Science Foundation DEBOS-15973 to A.G.M. and B.R.S.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Quantum Structure in Competing Lizard Communities
Almost two decades of research on applications of the mathematical formalism
of quantum theory as a modeling tool in domains different from the micro-world
has given rise to many successful applications in situations related to human
behavior and thought, more specifically in cognitive processes of
decision-making and the ways concepts are combined into sentences. In this
article, we extend this approach to animal behavior, showing that an analysis
of an interactive situation involving a mating competition between certain
lizard morphs allows to identify a quantum theoretic structure. More in
particular, we show that when this lizard competition is analyzed structurally
in the light of a compound entity consisting of subentities, the contextuality
provided by the presence of an underlying rock-paper-scissors cyclic dynamics
leads to a violation of Bell's inequality, which means it is of a non-classical
type. We work out an explicit quantum-mechanical representation in Hilbert
space for the lizard situation and show that it faithfully models a set of
experimental data collected on three throat-colored morphs of a specific lizard
species. Furthermore, we investigate the Hilbert space modeling, and show that
the states describing the lizard competitions contain entanglement for each one
of the considered confrontations of lizards with different competing
strategies, which renders it no longer possible to interpret these states of
the competing lizards as compositions of states of the individual lizards.Comment: 28 page
On sensitivity calculations for neutrino oscillation experiments
Calculations of sensitivities of future experiments are a necessary
ingredient in experimental high energy physics. Especially in the context of
measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters extensive studies are
performed to arrive at the optimal configuration. In this note we clarify the
definition of sensitivity as often applied in these studies. In addition we
examine two of the most common methods to calculate sensitivity from a
statistical perspective using a toy model. The importance of inclusion of
uncertainties in nuisance parameters for the interpretation of sensitivity
calculations is pointed out.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Signal Significance in Particle Physics
The concept of the "statistical significance" of an observation, and how it is used in particle physics experiments is reviewed. More properly known as a "p-value," the statistical foundations for this concept are reviewed from a freqentist perspective. The discovery of the top quark at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider and a more recent analysis of data recorded at Fermilab are used to illustrate practical applications of these concepts
New physics searches using top quarks
This review summarizes recent searches for new physics at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider using final states involving top quarks and their analogues. The DØ and CDF Collaborations have used samples as large as 5 fb−1 to search for charged Higgs bosons, massive resonances decaying to t ¯t pairs, massive vector bosons decaying to t¯b final states, fourth-generation t' quarks and supersymmetric stop (˜t) quarks. These analyses have resulted in some of the most sensitive searches for new phenomena in the 1.96TeV ¯pp collisions
Is the New Resonance Spin 0 or 2? Taking a Step Forward in the Higgs Boson Discovery
The observation of a new boson of mass \sim 125\gev at the CERN LHC may
finally have revealed the existence of a Higgs boson. Now we have the
opportunity to scrutinize its properties, determining its quantum numbers and
couplings to the standard model particles, in order to confirm or not its
discovery. We show that by the end of the 8 TeV run, combining the entire data
sets of ATLAS and CMS, it will be possible to discriminate between the
following discovery alternatives: a scalar or a tensor
particle with minimal couplings to photons, at a statistical
confidence level at least, using only diphotons events. Our results are based
on the calculation of a center-edge asymmetry measure of the reconstructed {\it
sPlot} scattering polar angle of the diphotons. The results based on
asymmetries are shown to be rather robust against systematic uncertainties with
comparable discrimination power to a log likelihood ratio statistic.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. References added, minor typos correcte
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Cooling requirements fueled the collapse of a desert bird community from climate change.
Climate change threatens global biodiversity by increasing extinction risk, yet few studies have uncovered a physiological basis of climate-driven species declines. Maintaining a stable body temperature is a fundamental requirement for homeothermic animals, and water is a vital resource that facilitates thermoregulation through evaporative cooling, especially in hot environments. Here, we explore the potential for thermoregulatory costs to underlie the community collapse of birds in the Mojave Desert over the past century in response to climate change. The probability of persistence was lowest for species occupying the warmest and driest sites, which imposed the greatest cooling costs. We developed a general model of heat flux to evaluate whether water requirements for evaporative cooling contributed to species' declines by simulating thermoregulatory costs in the Mojave Desert for 50 bird species representing the range of observed declines. Bird species' declines were positively associated with climate-driven increases in water requirements for evaporative cooling and exacerbated by large body size, especially for species with animal-based diets. Species exhibiting reductions in body size across their range saved up to 14% in cooling costs and experienced less decline than species without size reductions, suggesting total cooling costs as a mechanism underlying Bergmann's rule. Reductions in body size, however, are unlikely to offset the 50 to 78% increase in cooling costs threatening desert birds from future climate change. As climate change spreads warm, dry conditions across the planet, water requirements are increasingly likely to drive population declines, providing a physiological basis for climate-driven extinctions
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN SELECTED EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES
To exploit the research results commercially or otherwise has become increasingly important for universities. When pursuing this, universities have established Technology Transfer Offices and developing links to industries and businesses. This paper focuses on the ways selected European universities have established and organised their Technology Transfer (TT) activities. The study was made using the model developed by professor Allan Gibb as a framework. The data collection work was done in a series of interviews in four European universities. The background material and data was collected from public sources, mainly from the universities’ web pages. The study recognised certain elements, which affect the success of the TT activities. Technology Transfer operation requires top management support and a link to university’s strategy. The size of the economic area and the amount of cumulative research results are important factors in TT. Successful Technology Transfer can be organised centralised or decentralised way as long as the operating model is known to all involved parties. Creating an entrepreneurial atmosphere and showing that the university values the exploitation of the research results appears to be highly important in order get results from TT activities
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