Cosmological equations and thermodynamics on apparent horizon in thick braneworld

We derive the generalized Friedmann equation governing the cosmological evolution inside the thick brane model in the presence of two curvature correction terms: a four-dimensional scalar curvature from induced gravity on the brane, and a five-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet curvature term. We find two effective four-dimensional reductions of the generalized Friedmann equation in some limits and demonstrate that the reductions but not the generalized Friedmann equation can be rewritten as the first law of equilibrium thermodynamics on the apparent horizon of thick braneworld.

AN ORGANIC-PHASE ENZYME ELECTRODE BASED ON AN APPARENT DIRECT ELECTRON-TRANSFER BETWEEN A GRAPHITE ELECTRODE AND IMMOBILIZED HORSERADISH-PEROXIDASE

A mediatorless horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme electrode operated in nonaqueous media is constructed by cryohydrogel immobilization.

Outer wave number spectrum and statistical distribution of apparent wave number vector

Based on the ray theory and Longuet-Higgins's linear,model of sea waves, the joint distribution of wave envelope and apparent wave number vector is established. From the joint distribution, we define a new concept, namely the outer wave number spectrum, to describe the outer characteristics of ocean waves. The analytical form of the outer wave number spectrum, the probability distributions of the apparent wave number vector and its components are then derived. The outer wave number spectrum is compared with the inner wave number spectrum for the average status of wind-wave development corresponding to a peakness factor P = 3. Discussions on the similarity and difference between the outer wave number spectrum and inner one are also presented in the paper. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Live-weight gain, apparent digestibility, and economic benefits of yaks fed different diets during winter on the Tibetan plateau

Our goal was to determine the effect of diets with different crude protein (CP) contents and metabolizable energy (W) levels on daily live-weight gain, apparent digestibility, and economic benefit of feedlot yaks on the Tibetan plateau during winter. Yaks were either 2- or 3-years old and randomly selected from the same herd. The 3-year-olds were placed into one of two experimental groups (A and B) and a control (CK1), and the two-year-olds were placed into one of three experimental groups (C, D and E) and a control (CK2) (N per group = 5). Yak in the control groups were allow graze freely, while those in the experimental groups yaks were fed diets higher in contains crude protein and metabolizable energy through a winter period inside a warming shed. Results indicated that live-weight gain of treatment groups was higher than their respective controls during experiment, and that daily live-weight gain of every 10 days among different treatments was significant difference (P < 0.05). In addition, apparent digestibility of different diets was linearly and positively related to feedlotting time, and feed conversion efficiency for A, C, D and E groups was quadratically related to feedlotting time (P < 0.01), however, feed conversion efficiency for B group was linearly and positively related to feedlotting time (P < 0.05). The economic benefit was 1.15 for A, 1.89 for B, 1.16 for C, 1.54 for D, and 4,52 for E. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rapid Losses of Surface Elevation following Tree Girdling and Cutting in Tropical Mangroves.

Discussion Conclusions Materials and Methods Acknowledgments Author Contributions References Reader Comments (0) Figures Abstract The importance of mangrove forests in carbon sequestration and coastal protection has been widely acknowledged. Large-scale damage of these forests, caused by hurricanes or clear felling, can enhance vulnerability to erosion, subsidence and rapid carbon losses. However, it is unclear how small-scale logging might impact on mangrove functions and services. We experimentally investigated the impact of small-scale tree removal on surface elevation and carbon dynamics in a mangrove forest at Gazi bay, Kenya. The trees in five plots of a Rhizophora mucronata (Lam.) forest were first girdled and then cut. Another set of five plots at the same site served as controls. Treatment induced significant, rapid subsidence (−32.1±8.4 mm yr−1 compared with surface elevation changes of +4.2±1.4 mm yr−1 in controls). Subsidence in treated plots was likely due to collapse and decomposition of dying roots and sediment compaction as evidenced from increased sediment bulk density. Sediment effluxes of CO2 and CH4 increased significantly, especially their heterotrophic component, suggesting enhanced organic matter decomposition. Estimates of total excess fluxes from treated compared with control plots were 25.3±7.4 tCO2 ha−1 yr−1 (using surface carbon efflux) and 35.6±76.9 tCO2 ha−1 yr−1 (using surface elevation losses and sediment properties). Whilst such losses might not be permanent (provided cut areas recover), observed rapid subsidence and enhanced decomposition of soil sediment organic matter caused by small-scale harvesting offers important lessons for mangrove management. In particular mangrove managers need to carefully consider the trade-offs between extracting mangrove wood and losing other mangrove services, particularly shoreline stabilization, coastal protection and carbon storage.

On the Efficiency and Fairness of Transmission Control Loops: A Case for Exogenous Losses

We postulate that exogenous losses-which are typically regarded as introducing undesirable "noise" that needs to be filtered out or hidden from end points-can be surprisingly beneficial. In this paper we evaluate the effects of exogenous losses on transmission control loops, focusing primarily on efficiency and convergence to fairness properties. By analytically capturing the effects of exogenous losses, we are able to characterize the transient behavior of TCP. Our numerical results suggest that "noise" resulting from exogenous losses should not be filtered out blindly, and that a careful examination of the parameter space leads to better strategies regarding the treatment of exogenous losses inside the network. Specifically, we show that while low levels of exogenous losses do help connections converge to their fair share, higher levels of losses lead to inefficient network utilization. We draw the line between these two cases by determining whether or not it is advantageous to hide, or more interestingly introduce, exogenous losses. Our proposed approach is based on classifying the effects of exogenous losses into long-term and short-term effects. Such classification informs the extent to which we control exogenous losses, so as to operate in an efficient and fair region. We validate our results through simulations.