Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Rapid Recovery Of A Coral Reef At Darwin Island, Galapagos Island, Peter W. Glynn, Bernhard Riegl, Adrienne M. S. Correa, Iliana B. Baums

Bernhard Riegl

Surveys at Darwin Island in 2006 and 2007 have demonstrated that this northernmost Galapagos Islands coral reef has recovered significantly since the 1982-3 El Nino event. When first surveyed in 1975, this structural reef exhibited actively accreting frameworks of pocilloporid and poritid corals. The coral suffered severe mortality in 1983, resulting in the near total loss of pocilloporids and extensive partial mortality of poritid corals. Large sections of the reef had not recovered by 1992 and dead frameworks were subject to bio-erosion, although small numbers of sexual recruits of pocilloporid corals and numerous recruits plus regenerating patches of Porites lobata …

Environmental Impacts Of Dredging And Other Sediment Disturbances On Corals: A Review, Paul. L. A. Erftemeijer, Bernhard Riegl, Bert W. Hoeksema, Peter A. Todd

Bernhard Riegl

A review of published literature on the sensitivity of corals to turbidity and sedimentation is presented, with an emphasis on the effects of dredging. The risks and severity of impact from dredging (and other sediment disturbances) on corals are primarily related to the intensity, duration and frequency of exposure to increased turbidity and sedimentation. The sensitivity of a coral reef to dredging impacts and its ability to recover depend on the antecedent ecological conditions of the reef, its resilience and the ambient conditions normally experienced. Effects of sediment stress have so far been investigated in 89 coral species (∼10% of …

Skyrmions, Rational Maps & Scaling Identities, E. G. Charalampidis, T. A. Ioannidou, N. S. Manton

Efstathios Charalampidis

Starting from approximate Skyrmion solutions obtained using the rational map ansatz, improved approximate Skyrmions are constructed using scaling arguments. Although the energy improvement is small, the change of shape clarifies whether the true Skyrmions are more oblate or prolate.

Vortex–Soliton Complexes In Coupled Nonlinear Schrödinger Equations With Unequal Dispersion Coefficients, E. G. Charalampidis, Panayotis G. Kevrekidis, D. J. Frantzeskakis, B. A. Malomed

Efstathios Charalampidis

We consider a two-component, two-dimensional nonlinear Schr¨odinger system with unequal dispersion coefficients and self-defocusing nonlinearities. In this setting, a natural waveform with a nonvanishing background in one component is a vortex, which induces an effective potential well in the second component. We show that the potential well may support not only the fundamental bound state, which forms a vortex–bright (VB) soliton, but also multi-ring excited radial state complexes for suitable ranges of values of the dispersion coefficient of the second component. We systematically explore the existence, stability, and nonlinear dynamics of these states. The complexes involving the excited radial states …

Rogue Waves In Nonlinear Schrodinger Models With Variable Coefficients : Application To Bose Einstein Condensates, J. S. He, E. G. Charalampidis, P. G. Kevrekidis, D. J. Frantzeskasis

Efstathios Charalampidis

We explore the form of rogue waves solution sin a select set of case examples of non linear Schrodinger equations with variable coefficients. We focus on systems with constant dispersion, and present three different models that describe atomic Bose Einstein condensates in different experimentally relevant settings. For these models, we identify exact rogue waves solutions. Our analytical findings are corroborated by direct numerical integration of the original equations, performed by two different schemes. Very good agreement between numerical results and analytical predictions for the emergence of the rogue waves is identified. Additionally, the nontrivial fate of small numerically induced perturbations …

Dark Bright Solitons In Coupled Nonlinear Schrodinger Equations With Unequal Dispersion Coefficients, E. G. Charalampidis, P. G. Kevrekidis, D. J. Frantzeskaki, B. A. Malomed

Efstathios Charalampidis

We study a two component nonlinear Schrodinger system with equal, repulsive cubic interactions and different dispersion coefficients in the two components. We consider states that have a dark solitary wave in one component. Treating it as a frozen one, we explore the possibility of the formation of bright solitonic structures in the other component. We identify bifurcation points at which such states emerge in the bright component in the linear limit and explore their continuation into the nonlinear regime. An additional analytically tractable limit is found to be that of vanishing dispersion of the bright component. We numerically identify regimes …

Lattice Three-Dimensional Skyrmions Revisited, E G. Charalampidis, T A. Ioannidou, Panayotis G. Kevrekidis

Efstathios Charalampidis

In the continuum a skyrmion is a topological nontrivial map between Riemannian manifolds, and a stationary point of a particular energy functional. This paper describes lattice analogues of the aforementioned skyrmions, namely a natural way of using the topological properties of the three dimensional continuum Skyrme model to achieve topological stability on the lattice. In particular, using fixed point iterations, numerically exact lattice skyrmions are constructed; and their stability under small perturbations is explored by means of linear stability analysis. While stable branches of such solutions are identified, it is also shown that they possess a particularly delicate bifurcation structure, …

Vector Rogue Waves And Dark Bright Boomeronic Solitons In Autonomous And Non Autonomous Settings, R. Babu Mareeswaran, E. G. Charalampidis, T. Kanna, P. G. Kevrekidis, D. J. Frantzeskakis

Efstathios Charalampidis

In this work, we consider the dynamics of vector rogue waves and ark bright solitons in two component nonlinear Schrodinger equations with various physically motivated time dependent non linearity coefficients, as well as spatio temporally dependent potentials. A similarity transformation is utilized to convert the system into the integrable Manakov system and subsequently the vector rogue and dark bright boomeron like soliton solutions of the latter are converted back into ones of the original non autonomous model. Using direct numerical simulations we find that, in most cases, the rogue waves formation is rapidly followed by a modulational instability that leads …

Exciting And Harvesting Vibrational States In Harmonically Driven Granular Chains, C. Chong, E. Kim, E. G. Charalampidis, H. Kim, F. Li, Panayotis G. Kevrekidis, J. Lydon, C. Daraio, J. Yang

Efstathios Charalampidis

This article explores the excitation of different vibrational states in a spatially extended dynamical system through theory and experiment. As a prototypical example, we consider a one-dimensional packing of spherical particles (a so-called granular chain) that is subject to harmonic boundary excitation. The combination of the multi-modal nature of the system and the strong coupling between the particles due to the nonlinear Hertzian contact force leads to broad regions in frequency where different vibrational states are possible. In certain parametric regions, we demonstrate that the Nonlinear Schrodinger (NLS) equation predicts the corresponding ¨ modes fairly well. We propose that nonlinear …

Generalizing Evidence From Randomized Trials Using Inverse Probability Of Sampling Weights, Ashley L. Buchanan, Michael G. Hudgens, Stephen R. Cole, Katie R. Mollan, Paul E. Sax, Eric S. Daar, Adaora A. Adimora, Joseph J. Eron, Michael J. Mugavero

Ashley Buchanan

Rogers-Ramanujan Computer Searches, James Mclaughlin, Andrew Sills, Peter Zimmer

James McLaughlin

We describe three computer searches (in PARI/GP, Maple, and Mathematica, respectively) which led to the discovery of a number of identities of Rogers–Ramanujan type and identities of false theta functions.

Strong Resistance To Bending Observed For Nanoparticle Membranes, Yifan Wang, Jianhui Liao, Sean P. Mcbride, Efi Efrati, Xiao-Min Lin, Heinrich M. Jaeger

Dr. Sean P. McBride

We demonstrate how gold nanoparticle monolayers can be curled up into hollow scrolls that make it possible to extract both bending and stretching moduli from indentation by atomic force microscopy. We find a bending modulus that is 2 orders of magnitude larger than predicted by standard continuum elasticity, an enhancement we associate with nonlocal microstructural constraints. This finding opens up new opportunities for independent control of resistance to bending and stretching at the nanoscale.

Fracture And Failure Of Nanoparticle Monolayers And Multilayers, Yifan Wang, Pongsakorn Kanjanaboos, Edward Barry Edward Barry, Sean P. Mcbride, Xiao-Min Lin, Heinrich M. Jaeger

Dr. Sean P. McBride

We present an experimental investigation of fracture in self-assembled gold nanoparticle mono- and multilayers attached to elastomer substrates and subjected to tensile stress. Imaging the fracture patterns down to the scale of single particles provides detailed information about the crack width distribution and allows us to compare the scaling of the average crack spacing as a function of strain with predictions by shear-lag models. With increasing particle size, the fracture strength is found to increase while it decreases as the film thickness is built up layer by layer, indicating stress inhomogeneity in the thickness dimension.

Long Reach Cantilevers For Sub-Cellular Force Measurements, Govind Paneru, Prem S. Thapa, Sean P. Mcbride

Dr. Sean P. McBride

Maneuverable, high aspect ratio poly 3-4 ethylene dioxythiophene (PEDOT) fibers are fabricated for use as cellular force probes that can interface with individual pseudopod adhesive contact sites without forming unintentional secondary contacts to the cell. The straight fibers have lengths between 5 and 40 μm and spring constants in the 0.07-23.2 nN μm-1 range. The spring constants of these fibers were measured directly using an atomic force microscope (AFM). These AFM measurements corroborate determinations based on the transverse vibrational resonance frequencies of the fibers, which is a more convenient method. These fibers are employed to characterize the time dependent forces …

Position-Sensitive Detection Of Ultracold Neutrons With An Imaging Camera And Its Implications To Spectroscopy, Wanchun Wei, Leah J. Broussard, Mark A. Hoffbauer, Mark Makela, Charles L. Morris, Zebo Tang, Evan R. Adamek, Nathan B. Callahan, Stephen M. Clayton, Chris Cude-Woods, Scott Currie, Eric B. Dees, Xinjian Ding, Peter Geltenbort, Kevin P. Hickerson, Anthony T. Holley, Takeyasu M. Ito, Kent K. Leung, Chenyu Y. Liu, Deborah J. Morley, Jose D. Ortiz, Robert W. Pattie, John C. Ramsey, Alexander Saunders, Susan J. Seestrom, Eduard I. Sharapov, S. K. Sjue, Judith Wexler, Tanner L. Womack, Albert R. Young, B. A. Zeck, Zhehui Wang

Robert W. Pattie Jr.

Prototype For Monitoring And Forecasting Fall Foliage Coloration In Real Time From Satellite Data, Xiaoyang Zhang, Mitchell D. Goldberg, Yunyue Yu

Xiaoyang Zhang

While determining vegetation phenology from the time series of historical satellite data has been widely investigated throughout the last decade, little effort has been devoted to real-time monitoring and short-term forecasting. The latter is more important for numerical weather modeling, ecosystem forecasting, forest and crop management, and health risk warning. In this study we developed a prototype approach for the real-time monitoring and short-term forecasting of fall foliage status (including low coloration, moderate coloration, near-peak coloration, peak coloration, and post-peak coloration) using temporal satellite observations. The algorithm combined the climatology of vegetation phenology and temporally available satellite observations to establish …

Interannual Variations And Trends In Global Land Surface Phenology Derived From Enhanced Vegetation Index During 1982–2010, Xiaoyang Zhang, Bin Tan, Yunyue Yu

Xiaoyang Zhang

Land surface phenology is widely retrieved from satellite observations at regional and global scales, and its long-term record has been demonstrated to be a valuable tool for reconstructing past climate variations, monitoring the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems in response to climate impacts, and predicting biological responses to future climate scenarios. This study detected global land surface phenology from the advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data from 1982 to 2010. Based on daily enhanced vegetation index at a spatial resolution of 0.05 degrees, we simulated the seasonal vegetative trajectory for each individual pixel …

Estimation Of Crop Gross Primary Production (Gpp): Ii. Do Scaled Modis Vegetation Indices Improve Performance?, Qingyuan Zhang, Yen-Ben Cheng, Alexei I. Lyapustin, Yujie Wang, Xiaoyang Zhang, Andrew Suyker, Shashi Verma, Yanmin Shuai, Elizabeth M. Middleton

Xiaoyang Zhang

Satellite remote sensing estimates of gross primary production (GPP) have routinely been made using spectral vegetation indices (VIs) over the past two decades. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), the green band Wide Dynamic Range Vegetation Index (WDRVI_green), and the green band Chlorophyll Index (CI_green) have been employed to estimate GPP under the assumption that GPP is proportional to the product of VI and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) (where VI is one of four VIs: NDVI, EVI, WDRVI_green, or CI_green). However, the empirical regressions between VI*PAR and …

Daily Modis 500 M Reflectance Anisotropy Direct Broadcast (Db) Products For Monitoring Vegetation Phenology Dynamics, Yanmin Shuai, Crystal Schaaf, Xiaoyang Zhang, Alan Strahler, David P. Roy, Jeffery Morisette, Zhuosen Wang, Joanne Nightingale, Jaime Nickerson, Andrew D. Richardson, Donghui Xie, Jindi Wang, Xiaowen Li, Kathleen Strabala, James E. Davies

Xiaoyang Zhang

Land surface vegetation phenology is an efficient bio-indicator for monitoring ecosystem variation in response to changes in climatic factors. The primary objective of the current article is to examine the utility of the daily MODIS 500 m reflectance anisotropy direct broadcast (DB) product for monitoring the evolution of vegetation phenological trends over selected crop, orchard, and forest regions. Although numerous model-fitted satellite data have been widely used to assess the spatio-temporal distribution of land surface phenological patterns to understand phenological process and phenomena, current efforts to investigate the details of phenological trends, especially for natural phenological variations that occur on …

A Comparison Of Tropical Rainforest Phenology Retrieved From Geostationary (Seviri) And Polar-Orbiting (Modis) Sensors Across The Congo Basin, Dong Yan, Xiaoyang Zhang, Yunyue Yu, Wei Guo

Xiaoyang Zhang

The seasonal and interannual dynamics of tropical rainforests play a critical role in the global carbon cycle and climate change. This paper retrieved and compared land surface phenology from observations acquired by the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) onboard geostationary satellites and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on polar-orbiting satellites over the Congo Basin. To achieve this,we first retrieved canopy greenness cycles (CGCs) and their transition timing from two-band enhanced vegetation index (EVI2) derived from SEVIRI and MODIS data between 2006 and 2013.We then assessed the influences of SEVIRI and MODIS data quality on the reconstruction of …

A Cross Comparison Of Spatiotemporally Enhanced Springtime Phenological Measurements From Satellites And Ground In A Northern U.S. Mixed Forest, Liang Liang, Mark D. Schwartz, Zhuosen Wang, Feng Gao, Crystal B. Schaaf, Bin Tan, Jeffrey T. Morisette, Xiaoyang Zhang

Xiaoyang Zhang

Cross comparison of satellite-derived land surface phenology (LSP) and ground measurements is useful to ensure the relevance of detected seasonal vegetation change to the underlying biophysical processes. While standard 16-day and 250-m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) vegetation index (VI)-based springtime LSP has been evaluated in previous studies, it remains unclear whether LSP with enhanced temporal and spatial resolutions can capture additional details of ground phenology. In this paper, we compared LSP derived from 500-m daily MODIS and 30-m MODIS-Landsat fused VI data with landscape phenology (LP) in a northern U.S. mixed forest. LP was previously developed from intensively observed …

Data-Driven Diagnostics Of Terrestrial Carbon Dynamics Over North America, Jingfeng Xiao, Scott V. Ollinger, Steve Frolking, George C. Hurtt, David Y. Hollinger, Kenneth J. Davis, Yude Pan, Xiaoyang Zhang, Feng Deng, Jiquan Chen, Dennis D. Baldocchi, Bevery E. Law, M. Altaf Arain, Ankur R. Desai, Andrew D. Richardson, Ge Sun, Brian Amiro, Hank Margolis, Lianhong Gu, Russell L. Scott, Peter D. Blanken, Andrew E. Suyker

Xiaoyang Zhang

The exchange of carbon dioxide is a key measure of ecosystem metabolism and a critical intersection between the terrestrial biosphere and the Earth's climate. Despite the general agreement that the terrestrial ecosystems in North America provide a sizeable carbon sink, the size and distribution of the sink remain uncertain. We use a data-driven approach to upscale eddy covariance flux observations from towers to the continental scale by integrating flux observations, meteorology, stand age, aboveground biomass, and a proxy for canopy nitrogen concentrations from AmeriFlux and Fluxnet-Canada Research Network as well as a variety of satellite data streams from the MODIS …

Targeting Residential Energy Reduction For City Utilities Using Historical Electrical Utility Data And Readily Available Building Data, Kevin P. Hallinan, J. Kelly Kissock, Robert J. Brecha, Austin Mitchell

J. Kissock

Energy use data for the eight-year period 2003–2010 was analyzed for over 1200 single family residences in Village of Yellow Springs, Ohio. Electricity, natural gas, residential building, and weather databases are merged to permit determination of the energy intensity of each home in the village. The energy use intensity for each home is disaggregated into weather independent and weather dependent electric and natural gas use. This use is compared to typical baseline, cooling, and heating energy use for the region. From this comparison, priority homes are identified for energy reduction investment. Collective potential low cost energy reduction is estimated for …

Prioritizing Investment In Residential Energy Efficiency And Renewable Energy: A Case Study For The U.S. Midwest, Robert J. Brecha, Austin Mitchell, Kevin P. Hallinan, J. Kelly Kissock

J. Kissock

Residential building energy use is an important contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and in the United States represents about 20% of total energy consumption. A number of previous macro-scale studies of residential energy consumption and energy-efficiency improvements are mainly concerned with national or international aggregate potential savings. In this paper we look into the details of how a collection of specific homes in one region might reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, with particular attention given to some practical limits to what can be achieved by upgrading the existing residential building stock. Using a simple model of residential, single-family home …

Permian Foraminifera From British Honduras, Charles A. Ross

Charles Ross

Fusulinids identified from the Macal Shale Group, Macal Series, south central British Honduras and Schwarerina gruperaensis Thompson and Miller, Schwagerina sp. A, Eoverbeekina aff. E. americana Thompson and Miller, Ozawainella? sp., and Staffella sp. One species of the Trochamminid genus Tetrataxis also occurs in these strata. These species suggest correlation with the lower part of the Chochal Limestone of Guatemala, the Grupera Formation of Chiapas, Mexico, and the Lenox Hills Formation (upper part of the standard Wolfcampian Series, Permian), Glass Mountains, Texas.

Early Permian Fusulinids From Macusani, Southern Peru, Charles A. Ross

Charles Ross

Triticites patulus Dunbar and Newell and Schwagerina adamsi sp. nov. from the early Wolfcampian (Permian) part of the Copacabana Group near Macusani, southern Peru, show morphological features that add new data concerning the evolution of the genera Schwagerina and Pseudoschwagerina from lineages arising within the genus Triticites near the close of the Pennsylvanian.

Optimization-Free Optical Focal Field Engineering Through Reversing The Radiation Pattern From A Uniform Line Source, Yanzhong Yu, Qiwen Zhan

Qiwen Zhan

A simple and flexible method is presented for the generation of optical focal field with prescribed characteristics. By reversing the field pattern radiated from a uniform line source, for which the electric current is constant along its extent, situated at the focus of a 4Pi focusing system formed by two confocal high-NA objective lenses, the required illumination distribution at the pupil plane for creating optical focal field with desired properties can be obtained. Numerical example shows that an arbitrary length optical needle with extremely high longitudinal polarization purity and consistent transverse size of ~0.36λ over the entire depth of focus …

Tailoring Optical Complex Fields With Nano-Metallic Surfaces, Guanghao Rui, Qiwen Zhan

Qiwen Zhan

Recently there is an increasing interest in complex optical fields with spatially inhomogeneous state of polarizations and optical singularities. Novel effects and phenomena have been predicted and observed for light beams with these unconventional states. Nanostructured metallic thin film offers unique opportunities to generate, manipulate and detect these novel fields. Strong interactions between nano-metallic surfaces and complex optical fields enable the development of highly compact and versatile functional devices and systems. In this review, we first briefly summarize the recent developments in complex optical fields. Various nano-metallic surface designs that can produce and manipulate complex optical fields with tailored characteristics …

Creation Of Identical Multiple Focal Spots With Prescribed Axial Distribution, Yanzhong Yu, Qiwen Zhan

Qiwen Zhan

We present a scheme for the construction of coaxially equidistant multiple focal spots with identical intensity profiles for each individual focus and a predetermined number and spacing. To achieve this, the radiation field from an antenna is reversed and then gathered by high numerical aperture objective lenses. Radiation patterns from three types of line sources, i.e., the electric current, magnetic current and electromagnetic current distributions, with cosine-squared taper are respectively employed to generate predominately longitudinally polarized bright spots, azimuthally polarized doughnuts, and focal spots with a perfect spherically symmetric intensity distribution. The required illuminations at the pupil plane of a …

Ignoring Nature: Why We Do It, The Dire Consequences, And The Need For A Paradigm Shift To Save Animals, Habitats, And Ourselves, Marc Bekoff, Sarah Bexell

Marc Bekoff, PhD

The article discusses the importance of biodiversity and on how people protect animals and habitats. It describes the conservation psychology and conservation social work. It suggests that there will be fewer people who will actually be able to make a positive difference in the relationships with animals and ecosystems.