741 research outputs found
Issues and solutions for researching weed eradication target species
Species biology drives the frequency, duration and extent of survey and control activities in weed eradication programs. Researching the key biological characters can be difficult when plants occur at limited locations and are controlled immediately by field crews who are dedicated to preventing reproduction. Within the National Four Tropical Weeds Eradication Program and the former National Siam Weed Eradication Program, key information needed by the eradication teams has been obtained through a combination of field, glasshouse and laboratory studies without jeopardising the eradication objective.
Information gained on seed longevity, age to reproductive maturity, dispersal and control options has been used to direct survey and control activities. Planned and opportunistic data collections will continue to provide biological information to refine eradication activities
Issues and solutions for researching weed eradication target species
Species biology drives the frequency, duration and extent of survey and control activities in weed eradication programs. Researching the key biological characters can be difficult when plants occur at limited locations and are controlled immediately by field crews who are dedicated to preventing reproduction. Within the National Four Tropical Weeds Eradication Program and the former National Siam Weed Eradication Program, key information needed by the eradication teams has been obtained through a combination of field, glasshouse and laboratory studies without jeopardising the eradication objective.
Information gained on seed longevity, age to reproductive maturity, dispersal and control options has been used to direct survey and control activities. Planned and opportunistic data collections will continue to provide biological information to refine eradication activities
On Risks and Opportunities in Financial Markets
Investing in financial securities inevitably involves risks on the one hand and opportunities on the other hand. This thesis bundles four different studies on risks and/or opportunities in financial markets. In one study, we examine the cross-sectional explanatory power of different risk-measures in pricing U.S. stocks and find that investors dislike downside risk. In the second study, we show that conventional short-term reversal strategies exhibit dynamic exposures to systematic risks. Eliminating these risk exposures vastly improves the opportunity to exploit investorsâ overreaction exhibited in stock-price movements. Furthermore, this thesis shows that the potential for an âactiveâ manager to add value beyond passively investing in the index is not related to the efficiency of markets. It is, however, positively related to the number of independent investment opportunities, or breadth, available to the active manager. Finally, this thesis provides a study to the behaviour of mutual fund investors subsequent to a replacement of the fund manager. We find that investors perceive turnover of bad performing managers as a bad signal as capital flowing to (withdrawn from) these funds is subsequently lower (higher)
Sorting out Downside Beta
Downside risk, when properly defined and estimated, helps to explain the cross-section of US stock returns. Sorting stocks by a proper estimate of downside market beta leads to a substantially larger cross-sectional spread in average returns than sorting on regular market beta. This result arises despite the fact that downside beta is based on fewer return observations and therefore is more difficult to estimate and predict. The explanatory power of downside risk remains after controlling for other stock characteristics, including firm-level size, value and momentum
Recursion Relations for One-Loop Gravity Amplitudes
We study the application of recursion relations to the calculation of finite
one-loop gravity amplitudes. It is shown explicitly that the known four, five,
and six graviton one-loop amplitudes for which the external legs have identical
outgoing helicities, and the four graviton amplitude with helicities (-,+,+,+)
can be derived from simple recursion relations. The latter amplitude is derived
by introducing a one-loop three-point vertex of gravitons of positive helicity,
which is the counterpart in gravity of the one-loop three-plus vertex in
Yang-Mills. We show that new issues arise for the five point amplitude with
helicities (-,+,+,+,+), where the application of known methods does not appear
to work, and we discuss possible resolutions.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX, 12 figures. v2:typos and references correcte
Power, norms and institutional change in the European Union: the protection of the free movement of goods
How do institutions of the European Union change? Using an institutionalist approach, this article highlights the interplay between power, cognitive limits, and the normative order that underpins institutional settings and assesses their impact upon the process of institutional change. Empirical evidence from recent attempts to reinforce the protection of the free movement of goods in the EU suggests that, under conditions of uncertainty, actors with ambiguous preferences assess attempts at institutional change on the basis of the historically defined normative order which holds a given institutional structure together. Hence, path dependent and incremental change occurs even when more ambitious and functionally superior proposals are on offer
Towards lattice simulation of the gauge theory duals to black holes and hot strings
A generalization of the AdS/CFT conjecture postulates a duality between IIA
string theory and 16 supercharge Yang-Mills quantum mechanics in the large N 't
Hooft limit. At low temperatures string theory describes black holes, whose
thermodynamics may hence be studied using the dual quantum mechanics. This
quantum mechanics is strongly coupled which motivates the use of lattice
techniques. We argue that, contrary to expectation, the theory when discretized
naively will nevertheless recover continuum supersymmetry as the lattice
spacing is sent to zero. We test these ideas by studying the 4 supercharge
version of this Yang-Mills quantum mechanics in the 't Hooft limit. We use both
a naive lattice action and a manifestly supersymmetric action. Using Monte
Carlo methods we simulate the Euclidean theories, and study the lattice
continuum limit, for both thermal and non-thermal periodic boundary conditions,
confirming continuum supersymmetry is recovered for the naive action when
appropriate. We obtain results for the thermal system with N up to 12. These
favor the existence of a single deconfined phase for all non-zero temperatures.
These results are an encouraging indication that the 16 supercharge theory is
within reach using similar methods and resources.Comment: 49 pages, 14 figure
The Taming of Closed Time-like Curves
We consider a orbifold, where acts by time and space
reversal, also known as the embedding space of the elliptic de Sitter space.
The background has two potentially dangerous problems: time-nonorientability
and the existence of closed time-like curves. We first show that closed causal
curves disappear after a proper definition of the time function. We then
consider the one-loop vacuum expectation value of the stress tensor. A naive
QFT analysis yields a divergent result. We then analyze the stress tensor in
bosonic string theory, and find the same result as if the target space would be
just the Minkowski space , suggesting a zero result for the
superstring. This leads us to propose a proper reformulation of QFT, and
recalculate the stress tensor. We find almost the same result as in Minkowski
space, except for a potential divergence at the initial time slice of the
orbifold, analogous to a spacelike Big Bang singularity. Finally, we argue that
it is possible to define local S-matrices, even if the spacetime is globally
time-nonorientable.Comment: 37 pages, LaTeX2e, uses amssymb, amsmath and epsf macros, 8 eps and 3
ps figures; (v2): Two additional comments + one reference added; (v3):
corrections in discussion of CTCs + some clarification
A tachyonic scalar field with mutually interacting components
We investigate the tachyonic cosmological potential in two
different cases of the quasi-exponential expansion of universe and discuss
various forms of interaction between the two components---matter and the
cosmological constant--- of the tachyonic scalar field, which leads to the
viable solutions of their respective energy densities. The distinction among
the interaction forms is shown to appear in the diagnostic. Further,
the role of the high- and low-redshift observations of the Hubble parameter is
discussed to determine the proportionality constants and hence the correct form
of matter--cosmological constant interaction.Comment: 14 page
Bailing Out the Milky Way: Variation in the Properties of Massive Dwarfs Among Galaxy-Sized Systems
Recent kinematical constraints on the internal densities of the Milky Way's
dwarf satellites have revealed a discrepancy with the subhalo populations of
simulated Galaxy-scale halos in the standard CDM model of hierarchical
structure formation. This has been dubbed the "too big to fail" problem, with
reference to the improbability of large and invisible companions existing in
the Galactic environment. In this paper, we argue that both the Milky Way
observations and simulated subhalos are consistent with the predictions of the
standard model for structure formation. Specifically, we show that there is
significant variation in the properties of subhalos among distinct host halos
of fixed mass and suggest that this can reasonably account for the deficit of
dense satellites in the Milky Way. We exploit well-tested analytic techniques
to predict the properties in a large sample of distinct host halos with a
variety of masses spanning the range expected of the Galactic halo. The
analytic model produces subhalo populations consistent with both Via Lactea II
and Aquarius, and our results suggest that natural variation in subhalo
properties suffices to explain the discrepancy between Milky Way satellite
kinematics and these numerical simulations. At least ~10% of Milky Way-sized
halos host subhalo populations for which there is no "too big to fail" problem,
even when the host halo mass is as large as M_host = 10^12.2 h^-1 M_sun.
Follow-up studies consisting of high-resolution simulations of a large number
of Milky Way-sized hosts are necessary to confirm our predictions. In the
absence of such efforts, the "too big to fail" problem does not appear to be a
significant challenge to the standard model of hierarchical formation.
[abridged]Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures; accepted by JCAP. Replaced with published
versio
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