X-ray and ultraviolet observations of AG Draconis during quiescence and outburst     

A. Cassatella  F. A. Córdova  M. Friedjung  J. Kenyon  L. Piro  R. Viotti 《Astrophysics and Space Science》1987,131(1-2):763-763

We describe the first X-ray monitoring of a symbiotic star during phases of enhanced activity. AG Dra is a Pop II object with a composite spectrum, characterized by a cool K-type component, prominent high ionization emission lines and a strong UV continuum which is attributed to a hot dwarf companion. Periodic variability of the UV radiation during minimum could be attributed to the orbital motion of the system. In April 1980 HEAO-2 detected an intense, soft X-ray flux from AG Dra, stronger than in other symbiotic stars. After one major outburst of November 1980, which continued until 1983, two more outbursts occurred in February 1985 and January 1986, and coordinated X-ray (EXOSAT) and ultraviolet (IUE) observations were organized to study the behaviour of AG Dra during different activity phases. EXOSAT observations made during decline after the 1985 outburst, revealed a weak X-ray flux in the Thin Lexan filter of the Low Energy dedtector. Observations made during minimum, in June and November 1985, at phases 0.22 and 0.50 of the UV light curve, disclosed the presence of an intense X-ray flux, which was not occulted in November. AG Dra was again observed with EXOSAT in February 1986 when the stellar luminosity was still at maximum. No X-ray flux was detected, in spite of the prominent, high ionization UV spectrum observed with IUE.A detailed discussion of the X-ray and ultraviolet results on AG Dra in the light of possible models is in progress.Paper presented at the IAU Colloquium No. 93 on Cataclysmic Variables. Recent Multi-Frequency Observations and Theoretical Developments, held at Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, F.R.G., 16–19 June, 1986.  相似文献   

GMOs and their contexts: A comparison of potential and actual performance of GM crops in a local agricultural setting     

A. Wendy Russell 《Geoforum》2008,39(1):213-222

In this paper, I argue that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have inherent potential to contribute to socially and environmentally sustainable agriculture by virtue of their ‘biological embeddedness’. Their actual ‘performance’ and how this contributes to sustainability depends on the ‘mutual shaping’ of technology and context. While much attention has been given to the design context of GMOs, this paper considers the influence of the application context and of users. A case study investigating the use of insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant GM cotton in the cotton-growing region of New South Wales in Australia is presented. The study was based on focus groups with farmers and other stakeholders in a cotton-growing community. It demonstrated a range of direct and indirect effects of GM cotton use, both positive and negative for sustainability, and the ways in which these effects were influenced by the local social context. The influences of the biotechnology industry context, in limiting the contributions that gene technologies can make to sustainability, were also considered, and remedies suggested. I argue that the polarity of the GM debate is hindering progress on these issues, and that a more balanced approach to our analysis of GMOs is necessary in order to fully understand, and to influence, their role in the future of rural spaces.  相似文献   

Functional responses for zooplankton feeding on multiple resources: a review of assumptions and biological dynamics     

Wendy Gentleman  Andrew Leising  Bruce Frost  Suzanne Strom  James Murray 《Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography》2003,50(22-26):2847

Modelers often need to quantify the rates at which zooplankton consume a variety of species, size classes and trophic types. Implicit in the equations used to describe the multiple resource functional response (i.e. how nutritional intake varies with resource densities) are assumptions that are not often stated, let alone tested. This is problematic because models are sensitive to the details of these formulations. Here, we enable modelers to make more informed decisions by providing them with a new framework for considering zooplankton feeding on multiple resources. We define a new classification of multiple resource responses that is based on preference, selection and switching, and we develop a set of mathematical diagnostics that elucidate model assumptions. We use these tools to evaluate the assumptions and biological dynamics inherent in published multiple resource responses. These models are shown to simulate different resource preferences, implied single resource responses, changes in intake with changing resource densities, nutritional benefits of generalism, and nutritional costs of selection. Certain formulations are further shown to exhibit anomalous dynamics such as negative switching and sub-optimal feeding. Such varied responses can have vastly different ecological consequences for both zooplankton and their resources; inappropriate choices may incorrectly quantify biologically-mediated fluxes and predict spurious dynamics. We discuss how our classes and diagnostics can help constrain parameters, interpret behaviors, and identify limitations to a formulation's applicability for both regional (e.g. High-Nitrate-Low-Chlorophyll regions comprising large areas of the Pacific) and large-scale applications (e.g. global biogeochemical or climate change models). Strategies for assessing uncertainty and for using the mathematics to guide future experimental investigations are also discussed.  相似文献   

Gravity torques for surface waves     

Kern E. Kenyon 《Journal of Oceanography》1997,53(1):89-92

The effects of the gravity torques acting on the angular momentum of surface gravity waves are calculated theoretically. For short crested waves the gravity torque is caused by the force of gravity on the orbiting fluid particles acting down the slopes of the crests and troughs and in the direction parallel to the crests and troughs. The gravity torque tries to rotate the angular momentum vectors, and thus the waves themselves, counterclockwise in the horizontal plane, as viewed from above, in both hemispheres. The amount of rotation per unit time is computed to be significant assuming reasonable values for the along-crest and trough slopes for waves in a storm area. The gravity torque has a frequency which is double the frequency of the waves. For long crested waves the gravity torque acts in the vertical plane of the orbit and tries to decelerate the particles when they rise and accelerate them when they fall. By disrupting the horizontal cyclostrophic balance of forces on the fluid particles (centrifugal force versus pressure force) the gravity torque accounts qualitatively for the three characteristics of breaking waves: that they break at the surface, that they break at the crest, and that the crest breaks in the direction of wave propagation.  相似文献   

Property differences in the central northeastern Pacific between April 1976 and July 1977     

Kern E. Kenyon 《Journal of Oceanography》1983,39(2):73-81

Hydrographic data taken at 25 equally spaced stations along 35°N in April 1976 and again in July 1977 are compared for the longitude range 139–163° W and the depth range 0–1,000 m. A continuous subsurface layer is found, centered at 100 m and extending more than 2,000 km in the east-west direction, in which the temperature and salinity were significantly lower and the density and concentrations of oxygen and three nutrients were higher in the summer of 1977 than in the spring of 1976. In the upper 50 m the temperature and salinity were higher and the density and concentrations of oxygen and nutrients were lower in the summer of 1977 than in the spring of 1976. These relationships are concluded to be due to an annual variation by association with other existing data sets in the same region. The annual variation of hydrographic properties in the upper 200 m can be qualitatively explained by an annual variation in the north-south component of the permanent circulation, which is caused by an annual variation in the large-scale north-south pressure gradient (related to the northward temperature gradient). The observations are consistent with a northward current near the surface and a southward current near 100 m which are both faster in summer than in winter (and spring).  相似文献   

Phytoplankton biomass and size fractions in surface waters of the Australian sector of the southern ocean     

Wendy Ehnert  C. Peter McRoy 《Journal of Oceanography》2007,63(2):179-187

We collected surface water along the 142nd E meridian from Tasmania to Antarctica in December 1999. We measured temperature, salinity and total chlorophyll a; additionally, we collected suspended particle size fractions and used fluorometric analysis to determine the quantity of chlorophyll a in each of four cell size classes: picoplankton (<3 μm), two nanoplankton fractions (3–10 μm and 10–20 μm) and microplankton (> 20 μm). Changes in temperature and salinity show that we crossed 6 water masses separated by 5 fronts. We found low abundance (<0.2 mg m⁻³) of chlorophyll in all size classes, with the exception of higher values near the continent (0.2 to 0.4 mg m⁻³). Lowest chlorophyll values (<0.1 mg m⁻³) were found in the Polar Frontal Zone (51° to 54°S). Microplankton made up the largest portion of total chlorophyll throughout most of the region. We conclude that biomass of all phytoplankton fractions, especially pico-and nanoplankton, was constrained by limiting factors, most probably iron, throughout the region and that ecosystem dynamics within a zone are not circumpolar but are regionalized within sectors.  相似文献   

A giant three-stage submarine slide off Norway   总被引：8，自引：0，他引：8  

Tom Bugge  Stein Befring  Robert H. Belderson  Tor Eidvin  Eystein Jansen  Neil H. Kenyon  Hans Holtedahl  Hans Petter Sejrup 《Geo-Marine Letters》1987,7(4):191-198

One of the largest submarine slides known, The Storegga Slide, is located on the Norwegian continental margin. The slide is up to 450 m thick and has a total volume of about 5,600 km3. The headwall of the slide scar is 290 km long and the total run-out distance is about 800 km. The slide involved sediments of Quaternary to Early Tertiary age and occurred in three stages. Earthquakes combined with decomposition of gas hydrates are believed to be the main triggering agents for the slides. The first slide event is tentatively dated to be about 30,000 to 50,000 years B.P. and the two last major events are dated to be at 6,000 to 8,000 years B.P.  相似文献   

Temperature fluctuations in interstellar dust grains     

Per A. Aannestad  Scott J. Kenyon 《Astrophysics and Space Science》1979,65(1):155-166

Temperature fluctuations in interstellar dust grains caused by absorption of ultraviolet photons are discussed. Temperature probability distributions are presented for various assumptions about the grain specific heat and far infrared emissivity. Grains smaller than or about 0.01 may suffer large temperature fluctuations and would spend most of their time at very low temperatures. The equilibrium temperature is not a good measure for most average temperatures of such grains. It is shown that, although small grains spend only a small fraction of their time at the higher temperatures, the emitted far infrared spectrum is significantly shifted towards shorter wavelengths than predicted for grains assumed to be at the equilibrium temperature.Invited contribution to the Proceedings of a Workshop onThermodynamics and Kinetics of Dust Formation in the Space Medium held at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, 6–8 September, 1978.  相似文献   

The expansion rate of the universe     

Wendy Freedman 《Astronomy& Geophysics》2002,43(1):1.10-1.13

Wendy Freedman presents the 2001 George Darwin Lecture on present and future advances in cosmology.
Modern cosmology is undergoing an explosion of observational and experimental results that is in turn driving significant theoretical advances and a dynamic interface between theory and experiment. As a consequence, cosmological parameters are becoming much more precisely constrained. In this, the George Darwin lecture for 2001, I look back at the some of the advances made since Edwin Hubble presented his George Darwin lecture in 1953, and look ahead to the resolution of significant cosmological uncertainties.  相似文献   

The making of Stars 'R' Us!     

Serena Viti  Wendy Brown  Martin McCoustra  Helen Fraser  Nigel Mason  Robert Massey 《Astronomy& Geophysics》2004,45(6):6.22-6.24

The team behind a successful project to broaden the understanding of astrochemistry – Serena Viti, Wendy Brown, Martin McCoustra, Helen Fraser, Nigel Mason and Robert Massey – recount how they went about it and what benefits resulted.  相似文献