A comparison of methods to evaluate energy expenditure of incubating wandering albatrosses

Measurements of incubation energetics can vary depending on the method used to measure metabolism of an incubating bird. Therefore, we evaluated the energy expenditure of six male and four female wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans Linnaeus) using doubly labeled water (DLW), the rate of mass loss, and estimates of metabolic water production derived from water influx rate (WIR). Incubation metabolic rates (IMR) determined with DLW ( 169 ± 21 kJ kg d SD) were significantly lower than estimates derived from mass loss ( 277 ± 46kJ kg d SD) and WIR ( males=289 ± 60 kJ kg d vs. females = 400 ± 69 kJ kg d SD). Estimates of IMR from f WIR were similar to IMR (305 ± 39 kJ kg d SD) determined by respirometry in a previous study, and IMR from DLW was similar to estimates based on heart rate (HR; 147 ± 26 kJ d SD) determined in another study. Ap- 147 26 plying the different measurements of IMR to construct an en-ergy budget, we estimate that a breeding pair of wandering albatrosses spends 124--234 MJ to incubate the egg for 78 d. Finally, IMRs determined with DLW and HR were similar

Monte Carlo Simulations of Ultrathin Magnetic Dots

In this work we study the thermodynamic properties of ultrathin ferromagnetic dots using Monte Carlo simulations. We investigate the vortex density as a function of the temperature and the vortex structure in monolayer dots with perpendicular anisotropy and long-range dipole interaction. The interplay between these two terms in the hamiltonian leads to an interesting behavior of the thermodynamic quantities as well as the vortex density.Comment: 10 figure

Long-Time Behaviour and Self-Similarity in a Coagulation Equation with Input of Monomers

For a coagulation equation with Becker-Doring type interactions and time-independent monomer input we study the detailed long-time behaviour of nonnegative solutions and prove the convergence to a self-similar function.Comment: 30 pages, 5 Figures, now published in Markov Processes and Related Fields 12, 367-398, (2006

Effective restoration of chiral and axial symmetries at finite temperature and density

The effective restoration of chiral and axial symmetries is investigated within the framework of the SU(3) Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. The topological susceptibility, modeled from lattice data at finite temperature, is used to extract the temperature dependence of the coupling strength of the anomaly. The study of the scalar and pseudoscalar mixing angles is performed in order to discuss the evolution of the flavor combinations of $q \bar q$ pairs and its consequences for the degeneracy of chiral partners. A similar study at zero temperature and finite density is also realized.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Talk given at Strange Quark Matter 2004, Cape Town, South Africa, 15-20 September, 200

Speckle interferometry at SOAR in 2019

The results of speckle interferometric observations at the 4.1 m Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR) in 2019 are given, totaling 2555 measurements of 1972 resolved pairs with separations from 15 mas (median 0.21") and magnitude difference up to 6 mag, and non-resolutions of 684 targets. We resolved for the first time 90 new pairs or subsystems in known binaries. This work continues our long-term speckle program. Its main goal is to monitor orbital motion of close binaries, including members of high-order hierarchies and Hipparcos pairs in the solar neighborhood. We give a list of 127 orbits computed using our latest measurements. Their quality varies from excellent (25 orbits of grades 1 and 2) to provisional (47 orbits of grades 4 and 5).Comment: Accepted by The Astronomical Journal. 10 pages, 5 Figures. Measurements and non-resolutions, published electronically, are available from the first author. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1905.1043

A database for the study of marine mammal behavior: Gap analysis, data standardization, and future directions

A relational database that contained published information on the diving behavior and/or movement patterns of marine mammals was compiled to facilitate a modeling effort of the Effects of Sound on the Marine Environment (ESME) program. A total of 448 references from reports, books, and peer-reviewed journal articles were obtained. The metadata describing each animal studied, location of the study, and equipment used were entered into the database as well as empirical data describing the diving behavior and movement patterns of each animal. In total, the database contained 1815 entries from 51 different marine mammal species or subspecies. The majority of animals were seals and sea lions with 1560 entries from 29 individual species. More than half the number of animals studied were from high latitude regions (e.g., Arctic and Antarctic). Other problem areas identified were: 1) Data reduction in summaries, 2) inability to easily summarize qualitative and quantitative data, and 3) lack of standardization in data reporting. A solution is to create a common access data archive where researchers contribute raw published or unpublished geospatially referenced data sets. This would improve access to original data sets with large volumes of data, which, overall, enhances the power to develop robust behavioral or ecological models that could help define critical habitats of marine mammals

Distribution patterns of deep-sea benthopelagic fish off the Algarve coast (Portugal)

The present study characterises and compares the structure and diversity of the deep-sea benthopelagic ichthyofauna off the southern Portuguese coast, according to the biomass values -in kg/(nautical mile)²- of ten teleost and seven chondrichthyan species. The differences between the biomass of benthopelagic species were assessed by depth interval and sampling season. It seems clear that even at 100 m depth intervals there are differences within the fish assemblages, and that a few species make most of the contribution to such differences. No traces of seasonality or even differences between the sampling years have been found. There is a separation between slope habitats from 400-700 m depth and deeper ones, determined by a change in fish communities.Se han caracterizado y comparado la estructura y la diversidad de la ictiofauna nectobentónica de los fondos oceánicos de la costa sur de Portugal a partir de los valores de biomasa -en kg/(milla náutica)²- de diez especies de teleósteos y siete especies de condrictios. Las diferencias de biomasa entre las distintas especies nectobentónicas encontradas fueron determinadas por intervalos de profundidad y épocas de muestreo. Los resultados vienen a demostrar que, incluso por intervalos de profundidad de 100 m, hay diferencias significativas entre las comunidades de peces, y que hay algunas especies que contribuyen en la mayoría de estas diferencias. Sin embargo, no se pudo encontrar ninguna diferencia significativa entre épocas y tampoco entre los años de muestreo. Existe una separación entre los tipos de habitat del talud entre 400-700 m de profundidad y otros situados en zonas más profundas, resultado de un cambio en las comunidades piscícolas.Instituto Español de Oceanografí

Pseudoscalars Mesons in Hot, Dense Matter

Phase transitions in hot and dense matter and the in--medium behavior of pseudoscalar mesons ($\pi^{\pm}, \pi^0, K^{\pm}, K^0 ,\bar K^0,\eta {and} \eta'$) are investigated, in the framework of the three flavor Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model, including the 't Hooft interaction, which breaks the $U_A(1)$ symmetry. Three different scenarios are considered: zero density and finite temperature, zero temperature and finite density in quark matter with different degrees of strangeness, and finite temperature and density. At T=0, the role of strange valence quarks in the medium is discussed, in connection with the phase transition and the mesonic behavior. It is found that the appearance of strange quarks, above certain densities, leads to meaningful changes in different observables, especially in matter with \beta$--equilibrium. The behavior of mesons in the$T-\rho$ plane is analyzed in connection with possible signatures of restoration of symmetries.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures, PRC versio