Bifurcations and bistability in cavity-assisted photoassociation of Bose-Einstein-condensed molecules

We study the photoassociation of Bose-Einstein condensed atoms into molecules using an optical cavity field. The driven cavity field introduces a dynamical degree of freedom into the photoassociation process, whose role in determining the stationary behavior has not previously been considered. The semiclassical stationary solutions for the atom and molecules as well as the intracavity field are found and their stability and scaling properties are determined in terms of experimentally controllable parameters including driving amplitude of the cavity and the nonlinear interactions between atoms and molecules. For weak cavity driving, we find a bifurcation in the atom and molecule number occurs that signals a transition from a stable steady state to nonlinear Rabi oscillations. For a strongly driven cavity, there exists bistability in the atom and molecule number.

Sagnac rotational phase shifts in a mesoscopic electron interferometer with spin-orbit interactions

The Sagnac effect is an important phase coherent effect in optical and atom interferometers where rotations of the interferometer with respect to an inertial reference frame result in a shift in the interference pattern proportional to the rotation rate. Here, we analyze the Sagnac effect in a mesoscopic semiconductor electron interferometer. We include in our analysis the Rashba spin-orbit interactions in the ring. Our results indicate that spin-orbit interactions increase the rotation-induced phase shift. We discuss the potential experimental observability of the Sagnac phase shift in such mesoscopic systems.

Quantum control of electromagnetically induced transparency dispersion via atomic tunneling in a double-well Bose-Einstein condensate

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is an important tool for controlling light propagation and nonlinear wave mixing in atomic gases with potential applications ranging from quantum computing to table top tests of general relativity. Here we consider EIT in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) trapped in a double-well potential. A weak probe laser propagates through one of the wells and interacts with atoms in a three-level Lambda configuration. The well through which the probe propagates is dressed by a strong control laser with Rabi frequency Omega(mu), as in standard EIT systems. Tunneling between the wells at the frequency g provides a coherent coupling between identical electronic states in the two wells, which leads to the formation of interwell dressed states. The macroscopic interwell coherence of the BEC wave function results in the formation of two ultranarrow absorption resonances for the probe field that are inside of the ordinary EIT transparency window. We show that these new resonances can be interpreted in terms of the interwell dressed states and the formation of a type of dark state involving the control laser and the interwell tunneling. To either side of these ultranarrow resonances there is normal dispersion with very large slope controlled by g. We discuss prospects for observing these ultranarrow resonances and the corresponding regions of high dispersion experimentally.

The queer archive : teaching and learning sexualities in Australia

The article explores the use of the queer archive in teaching sex and sexuality in public schools. A background of the development of the archive in 1978 and its role in education is given. Policies that help guide appropriateness of content, such as Supporting Sexual Diversity in Schools in 2008, is discussed. The teaching approach in using the non-traditional archive-based education are also examined where learning can involve group-based workshops heavy on interative methods.

Ecological determinism in Australia : tracing the legacy of McHarg downunder and its key precedents

Ecological planning, as advocated by Ian McHarg, filtered extensively through North America following the publication of Design with Nature (1965). The integrated design and planning approach was also advanced by numerous graduates of McHarg's studios at the University of Pennsylvania where this approach was extensively trialled and proven. While a clear synthesis and theoretical framework was articulated and reinforced through a plethora of projects, monographs, and articles, the majority of these perspectives were North American, lacked clarity about the translation of the approach into legal strategic and statutory planning instruments, nor shed light upon what transpired in Australia. This paper reviews the development of the Conservation Plan created for the southern Mornington peninsula in Victoria, Australia, as well as its intent, structure and internal workings as a successful model of ecological statutory planning, in the context of the wider WPRPA activities that draws directly from the McHarg theory. Known as the Conservation Plan for the southern Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, a revolutionary planning structure devised in the early 1970s by several Australian proponents. The Conservation Plan continues in operation today curating a high scenic valued landscape protecting it from intrusion from the growing metropolitan city of Melbourne thus fulfilling its objectives of landscape quality conservation whilst still permitting sympathetic building and land use growth. Contextually, the Conservation Plan appears to be only statutory equivalent translation of the approach internationally other than the Pinelands Commission planning processes in New Jersey.

Yaringa and French Island Marine National Park habitat mapping

Deakin University and the Department of Primary Industries were commissioned by ParksVictoria (PV) to create two updated habitat maps for Yaringa and French Island MarineNational Parks. The team obtained a ground-truth data set using in situ video and still photographs. This dataset was used to develop and assess predictive models of benthic marine habitat distributions incorporating data from World-View-2 imagery atmospherically corrected by CSIRO and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) bathymetry. In addition, the team applied an unsupervised classification approach to an aerial photograph to assess the differences between the two remote sensors. This report describes the results of the mapping as well as the methodology used to produce these habitat maps.This study has provided mapping of intertidal and subtidal habitats of Yaringa and FrenchIsland MNPs at a 2 m resolution with fair to good accuracies (Kappa 0.40-0.75). These were combined with mangrove and saltmarsh habitats recently mapped by Boon et al. (2011) to provide compete-coverage habitat maps of Yaringa and French Island MNPs.The mapping showed that Yaringa MNP was dominated by mangroves, wet saltmarsh and dense Zostereaceae, covering 33%, 29% and 19%, respectively. Similarly, intertidalvegetation and subtidal vegetation (dominated by Zosteraceae) covered 26% and 25% ofFrench Island MNP. However, as a result of turbidity and missing satellite imagery 27% ofFrench Island MNP remains unmapped.The coupling of WV-2 and LiDAR reduced potential artefacts (e.g. sun glint causing whiteand black pixels known as the “salt and pepper effect”). The satellite classification appeared to provide better results than the aerial photography classification. However, since there is a two-year difference between the capture of the aerial photography and the collection of the ground-truth data this comparison is potentially temporally confounded. It must also be noted that there are differences in costs of the data,the spatial resolution between the two datasets (i.e. WV-2 = 2 m and the Aerial = 0.5 m) and the amount spectral information contained in the data (i.e. WV-2 = 8 bands and the aerial = 4 bands), which may ultimately determine its utility for a particular project.The spatial assessment using FRAGSTATs of habitat patches within Yaringa MNP provides a viable and cost effect way to assess habitat condition (i.e. shape, size and arrangement).This spatial assessment determined that dense Zosteraceae and NVSG habitat classeswere generally larger in patch size and continuity than the medium/sparse Zosteraceaehabitat. The application spatial techniques to time-series mapping may provide a way toremotely monitor the change in the spatial characteristics of marine habitats.This work was successful in providing new baseline habitat maps using a repeatable method meaning that any future changes in intertidal and shallow water marine habitats may be assessed in a consistent way with quantitative error assessments. In wider use, these maps should also allow improved conservation planning, fisheries and catchment management, and contribute toward infrastructure planning to limit impacts on Western Port.

Prediction interval estimation of electricity prices using PSO-tuned support vector machines

Uncertainty of the electricity prices makes the task of accurate forecasting quite difficult for the electricity market participants. Prediction intervals (PIs) are statistical tools which quantify the uncertainty related to forecasts by estimating the ranges of the future electricity prices. Traditional approaches based on neural networks (NNs) generate PIs at the cost of high computational burden and doubtful assumptions about data distributions. In this work, we propose a novel technique that is not plagued with the above limitations and it generates high-quality PIs in a short time. The proposed method directly generates the lower and upper bounds of the future electricity prices using support vector machines (SVM). Optimal model parameters are obtained by the minimization of a modified PI-based objective function using a particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique. The efficiency of the proposed method is illustrated using data from Ontario, Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) interconnection day-ahead and real-time markets.

Delaware Reservoirs’ Drought Risk Assessment: A Paleo View

The Delaware River provides half of New York City's drinking water, is a habitat for wild trout, American shad and the federally endangered dwarf wedge mussel. It has suffered four 100‐year floods in the last seven years. A drought during the 1960s stands as a warning of the potential vulnerability of the New York City area to severe water shortages if a similar drought were to recur. The water releases from three New York City dams on the Delaware River's headwaters impact not only the reliability of the city’s water supply, but also the potential impact of floods, and the quality of the aquatic habitat in the upper river. The goal of this work is to influence the Delaware River water release policies (FFMP/OST) to further benefit river habitat and fisheries without increasing New York City's drought risk, or the flood risk to down basin residents. The Delaware water release policies are constrained by the dictates of two US Supreme Court Decrees (1931 and 1954) and the need for unanimity among four states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware ‐‐ and New York City. Coordination of their activities and the operation under the existing decrees is provided by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). Questions such as the probability of the system approaching drought state based on the current FFMP plan and the severity of the 1960s drought are addressed using long record paleo‐reconstructions of flows. For this study, we developed reconstructed total annual flows (water year) for 3 reservoir inflows using regional tree rings going back upto 1754 (a total of 246 years). The reconstructed flows are used with a simple reservoir model to quantify droughts. We observe that the 1960s drought is by far the worst drought based on 246 years of simulations (since 1754).

Distribuição radicular de cultivares de aspargo em áreas irrigadas de Petrolina - PE

A distribuição radicular de duas cultivares de aspargo (New Jersey 220 e UC 157 F1), irrigadas por aspersão convencional, foi avaliada durante o ano de 1997 em solos de textura arenosa, em plantio experimental e comercial, respectivamente, nos Projetos de Irrigação de Bebedouro e Senador Nilo Coelho, em Petrolina (PE). O objetivo foi obter informações do sistema radicular do aspargo, empregando-se os métodos do monolito e do perfil de solo auxiliado pela análise de imagens digitais, para o manejo de solo e água nesse cultivo. Na área experimental, a maior parte da matéria seca, área e comprimento de raízes no perfil de solo e densidade de comprimento radicular foram encontradas até a profundidade de 0,4 m nas duas cultivares, enquanto que na comercial a maior parte da área e comprimento de raízes no perfil do solo estendeu-se até a profundidade de 0,6 m (cv. New Jersey 220). Nesses dois plantios, as raízes das cultivares atingiram a profundidade de 1 m. Na área experimental, a massa seca, a área e o comprimento no perfil de solo, e a densidade de comprimento radicular nas cultivares concentraram-se até a distância de 0,6 m à linha de plantas. No intervalo de diâmetro (d) de raízes 2

Modeling the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of deforestation-driven carbon emissions: the INPE-EM framework applied to the Brazilian Amazon

We present a generic spatially explicit modeling framework to estimate carbon emissions from deforestation (INPE-EM). The framework incorporates the temporal dynamics related to the deforestation process and accounts for the biophysical and socioeconomic heterogeneity of the region under study. We build an emission model for the Brazilian Amazon combining annual maps of new clearings, four maps of biomass, and a set of alternative parameters based on the recent literature. The most important results are as follows: (a) Using different biomass maps leads to large differences in estimates of emission; for the entire region of the Brazilian Amazon in the last decade, emission estimates of primary forest deforestation range from 0.21 to 0.26 similar to Pg similar to C similar to yr-1. (b) Secondary vegetation growth presents a small impact on emission balance because of the short duration of secondary vegetation. In average, the balance is only 5% smaller than the primary forest deforestation emissions. (c) Deforestation rates decreased significantly in the Brazilian Amazon in recent years, from 27 similar to Mkm2 in 2004 to 7 similar to Mkm2 in 2010. INPE-EM process-based estimates reflect this decrease even though the agricultural frontier is moving to areas of higher biomass. The decrease is slower than a non-process instantaneous model would estimate as it considers residual emissions (slash, wood products, and secondary vegetation). The average balance, considering all biomass, decreases from 0.28 in 2004 to 0.15 similar to Pg similar to C similar to yr-1 in 2009; the non-process model estimates a decrease from 0.33 to 0.10 similar to Pg similar to C similar to yr-1. We conclude that the INPE-EM is a powerful tool for representing deforestation-driven carbon emissions. Biomass estimates are still the largest source of uncertainty in the effective use of this type of model for informing mechanisms such as REDD+. The results also indicate that efforts to reduce emissions should focus not only on controlling primary forest deforestation but also on creating incentives for the restoration of secondary forests.

The Probe, Issue 167 – July 1996

Techniques and Expertise in Wildlife Damage Control: A Survey Among NADCA's Membership, by Dallas R. Virchow, University of Nebraska, and J. Russell Mason, Utah State University NADCA Membership Survey Rats' Rights Repealed in New Jersey Texas Predators Dine on Exotics Recipes for Nutria Wildlife Damage to Aircraft Tallied Airplane Hits Deer Golfers Get Teed Off at Coots Japanese Technologist Tackles Rodents ADC To Tackle Gophers Booklet Review: Missouri's Beaver: A Guide to Management, Nuisance Prevention, and Damage Control by Ron McNeely. Conservation Commission of the State of Missouri, 1995. Elk Reintroduction and Meningeal Worms South African Puppy, "Licky," Barely Survives Eagle Attack Publications Available: The Proceedings of the 12th Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop (1995); The proceedings for a conference, "Private Property Rights and Responsibilities of Rangeland Owners and Managers"; Proceedings, 6th Eastern Wildlife Damage Management Conference (1993); Rangeland Wildlife (1996), edited by Paul R. Krausman, and published by the Society for Range Management New "Animal Talk" Radio Program in Los Angeles, CA — Animal Issues Today NWRC Announces Bird Research Leader Sick Boy Who Wishes for Dream Hunt Incites Wrath of Animal Rightists A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words: From the WDAMAGE listserv: by Fred Lyass (pseudonym used by request)

THE EFFECTS OF ORNITROL ON WILD POPULATIONS OF RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS AND GRACKLES

For the past three years the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, in coop¬eration with the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, has conducted field evaluations on the effects of reproductive suppressants on wild populations of red-winged blackbirds. These studies have been performed in conjunction with the North East 49 (a Federally sponsored regional project which presently has nine states in the North East and Ohio cooperating to develop means to combat bird damage to agricultural crops) regional project on control of bird depredations. Field evaluations in 1968 and 1969 centered around the effects of TEM (tri-ethylene melamine) on the reproductive rates of red-winged blackbirds. At the close of the 1969 season further field testing of the chemical was discontinued because of the material's apparent lack of effectiveness as a reproductive inhibitor. In 1970 the field evaluations were conducted to determine the effects of Orni-trol (20, 25-diazocholesterol dihydrochloride, supplied by G. D. Searle and Company, Chicago, Illinois) on the reproductive rates of red-winged blackbirds. A small colony of common grackles was also studied during this same investigation.

SAMPLING OF CORN TO ASSESS BIRD DAMAGE: A Preliminary Review of a Comprehensive Study

"How large a sample is needed to survey the bird damage to corn in a county in Ohio or New Jersey or South Dakota?" Like those in the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife and the U.S.D.A. who have been faced with a question of this sort we found only meager information on which to base an answer, whether the problem related to a county in Ohio or to one in New Jersey, or elsewhere. Many sampling methods and rates of sampling did yield reliable estimates but the judgment was often intuitive or based on the reasonableness of the resulting data. Later, when planning the next study or survey, little additional information was available on whether 40 samples of 5 ears each or 5 samples of 200 ears should be examined, i.e., examination of a large number of small samples or a small number of large samples. What information is needed to make a reliable decision? Those of us involved with the Agricultural Experiment Station regional project concerned with the problems of bird damage to crops, known as NE-49, thought we might supply an ans¬wer if we had a corn field in which all the damage was measured. If all the damage were known, we could then sample this field in various ways and see how the estimates from these samplings compared to the actual damage and pin-point the best and most accurate sampling procedure. Eventually the investigators in four states became involved in this work1 and instead of one field we were able to broaden the geographical base by examining all the corn ears in 2 half-acre sections of fields in each state, 8 sections in all. When the corn had matured well past the dough stage, damage on each corn ear was assessed, without removing the ear from the stalk, by visually estimating the percent of the kernel surface which had been destroyed and rating it in one of 5 damage categories. Measurements (by row-centimeters) of the rows of kernels pecked by birds also were made on selected ears representing all categories and all parts of each field section. These measurements provided conversion factors that, when fed into a computer, were applied to the more than 72,000 visually assessed ears. The machine now had in its memory and could supply on demand a map showing each ear, its location and the intensity of the damage.

Giant magnetofossils and hyperthermal events

Magnetotactic bacteria biomineralize magnetic minerals with precisely controlled size, morphology, and stoichiometry. These cosmopolitan bacteria are widely observed in aquatic environments. If preserved after burial, the inorganic remains of magnetotactic bacteria act as magnetofossils that record ancient geomagnetic field variations. They also have potential to provide paleoenvironmental information. In contrast to conventional magnetofossils, giant magnetofossils (most likely produced by eukaryotic organisms) have only been reported once before from Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; 55.8 Ma) sediments on the New Jersey coastal plain. Here, using transmission electron microscopic observations, we present evidence for abundant giant magnetofossils, including previously reported elongated prisms and spindles, and new giant bullet-shaped magnetite crystals, in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica, not only during the PETM, but also shortly before and after the PETM. Moreover, we have discovered giant bullet-shaped magnetite crystals from the equatorial Indian Ocean during the Mid-Eocene Climatic Optimum (similar to 40 Ma). Our results indicate a more widespread geographic, environmental, and temporal distribution of giant magnetofossils in the geological record with a link to "hyperthermal" events. Enhanced global weathering during hyperthermals, and expanded suboxic diagenetic environments, probably provided more bioavailable iron that enabled biomineralization of giant magnetofossils. Our micromagnetic modelling indicates the presence of magnetic multi-domain (i.e., not ideal for navigation) and single domain (i.e., ideal for navigation) structures in the giant magnetite particles depending on their size, morphology and spatial arrangement. Different giant magnetite crystal morphologies appear to have had different biological functions, including magnetotaxis and other non-navigational purposes. Our observations suggest that hyperthermals provided ideal conditions for giant magnetofossils, and that these organisms were globally distributed. Much more work is needed to understand the interplay between magnetofossil morphology, climate, nutrient availability, and environmental variability.