A Redshift Survey of the Strong Lensing Cluster Abell 383

Abell 383 is a famous rich cluster (z = 0.1887) imaged extensively as a basis for intensive strong and weak lensing studies. Nonetheless there are few spectroscopic observations. We enable dynamical analyses by measuring 2360 new redshifts for galaxies with r$_{petro} \leq 20.5$ and within 50$^\prime$ of the BCG (Brightest Cluster Galaxy: R.A.$_{2000} = 42.014125^\circ$, Decl$_{2000} = -03.529228^\circ$). We apply the caustic technique to identify 275 cluster members within 7$h^{-1}$ Mpc of the hierarchical cluster center. The BCG lies within $-11 \pm 110$ km s$^{-1}$ and 21 $\pm 56 h^{-1}$ kpc of the hierarchical cluster center; the velocity dispersion profile of the BCG appears to be an extension of the velocity dispersion profile based on cluster members. The distribution of cluster members on the sky corresponds impressively with the weak lensing contours of Okabe et al. (2010) especially when the impact of foreground and background structure is included. The values of R$_{200}$ = $1.22\pm 0.01 h^{-1}$ Mpc and M$_{200}$ = $(5.07 \pm 0.09)\times 10^{14} h^{-1}$ M$_\odot$ obtained by application of the caustic technique agree well with recent completely independent lensing measures. The caustic estimate extends direct measurement of the cluster mass profile to a radius of $\sim 5 h^{-1}$ Mpc.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures, ApJ accepte

Effects of land cover change on evapotranspiration and streamflow of small catchments in the Upper Xingu River Basin, Central Brazil

© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 4B (2015): 108-122, doi:10.1016/j.ejrh.2015.05.010.This study assessed the influence of land cover changes on evapotranspiration and streamflow in small catchments in the Upper Xingu River Basin (Mato Grosso state, Brazil). Streamflow was measured in catchments with uniform land use for September 1, 2008 to August 31, 2010. We used models to simulate evapotranspiration and streamflow for the four most common land cover types found in the Upper Xingu: tropical forest, cerrado (savanna), pasture, and soybean croplands. We used INLAND to perform single point simulations considering tropical rainforest, cerrado and pasturelands, and AgroIBIS for croplands. Converting natural vegetation to agriculture substantially modifies evapotranspiration and streamflow in small catchments. Measured mean streamflow in soy catchments was about three times greater than that of forest catchments, while the mean annual amplitude of flow in soy catchments was more than twice that of forest catchments. Simulated mean annual evapotranspiration was 39% lower in agricultural ecosystems (pasture and soybean cropland) than in natural ecosystems (tropical rainforest and cerrado). Observed and simulated mean annual streamflows in agricultural ecosystems were more than 100% higher than in natural ecosystems. The accuracy of the simulations was improved by using field-measured soil hydraulic properties. The inclusion of local measurements of key soil parameters is likely to improve hydrological simulations in other tropical regions.This study was supported by the US National Science Foundation (DEB-0949996, DEB-0743703), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, process 135648/2011-4)

THEORIES AND MAJOR HYPOTHESES IN ETHNOBOTANY: CULTURAL KEYSTONE SPECIES, UTILITARIAN REDUNDANCY, ETHNOBOTANY OF THE SHIPIBO-KONIBO, AND EFFECTS OF HARVEST ON AYAHUASCA

Ph.D.Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 201

Design and Analysis of Bio-inspired Nacelle for Current Energy Turbine

he world’s oceans contain a substantial amount of energy, stored in ocean currents and waves. Ocean current energy can be extracted using similar principles to existing wind energy platforms. A problem with such extraction methods is that the velocity of the fluid in ocean currents is too low for efficient energy generation. A potential solution to this problem is the use of a concentrator or diffuser to increase fluid velocity to the blades, but this carries with it extra costs. A more cost effective solution to this problem is presented by the use of a down flow current turbine in which the body geometry can be changed to increase velocity across the turbine blades. A scale of a commercial down flow turbine is tested in a wind tunnel in order to validate CFD simulations. A biologically inspired nacelle based on the Box fish (Ostracion cubicus) is presented and CFD simulations performed using the validated model. It is shown that by changing the body geometry of this down flow turbine, the velocity incident on the turbine blades can be increased for a given free stream velocity and such a design can cost less than a commercially available turbine

Surprisingly modest water quality impacts from expansion and intensification of large-scale commercial agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon-Cerrado region

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Tropical Conservation Science 10 (2017): 1-5, doi:10.1177/1940082917720669.Large-scale commercial cropping of soybeans expanded in the tropical Amazon and Cerrado biomes of Brazil after 1990. More recently, cropping intensified from single-cropping of soybeans to double-cropping of soybeans with corn or cotton. Cropland expansion and intensification, and the accompanying use of mineral fertilizers, raise concerns about whether nutrient runoff and impacts to surface waters will be similar to those experienced in commercial cropland regions at temperate latitudes. We quantified water infiltration through soils, water yield, and streamwater chemistry in watersheds draining native tropical forest and single- and double-cropped areas on the level, deep, highly weathered soils where cropland expansion and intensification typically occurs. Although water yield increased four-fold from croplands, streamwater chemistry remained largely unchanged. Soil characteristics exerted important control over the movement of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) into streams. High soil infiltration rates prevented surface erosion and movement of particulate P, while P fixation in surface soils restricted P movement to deeper soil layers. Nitrogen retention in deep soils, likely by anion exchange, also appeared to limit N leaching and export in streamwater from both single- and double-cropped watersheds that received nitrogen fertilizer. These mechanisms led to lower streamwater P and N concentrations and lower watershed N and P export than would be expected, based on studies from temperate croplands with similar cropping and fertilizer application practices.The work described here was supported by National Science Foundation grants EF 1655432, IOS 1457662 and ICER 1342953 and grants from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Ancient Maya Writing and Calligraphy

Maya hieroglyphic writing was carved on stone monuments, written in bark-paper codices, and painted upon funerary pottery. The stone inscriptions, formerly thought to record only calendrical information, have been found to contain dynastic histories. The codices treat exclusively of ritual matters, while the texts and pictures on the pottery are concerned with the perilous voyage of the soul to the underworld. The script evolved from a highly pictographic system into one that had a strong phonetic-syllabic component. As calligraphy, Maya writing was a basically painterly art

Cyclic Heat Transfer Solver for OpenFOAM

Channels with periodically repeating geometries are often simulated using periodic or cyclic boundary conditions. By calculating the temperature and flow field in one periodic module, the resulting distributions can be generalized to multiple modules. This reduces the computational load by simulating a single module versus the whole structure. This is a particularly useful approach when performing large optimisation studies of periodic geometries, such as compact heat exchangers. Currently, OpenFOAM only supports cyclic boundary conditions for pressure and momentum, but not heat transfer. The present work introduces a steady and an unsteady solver for cyclic heat transfer with constant wall temperature boundary conditions. The solver is validated against analytical Hagen-Poiseuille flow and two configurations of periodic wavy channels. In the latter case, the results are compared to existing literature.</jats:p

CLASH: Precise New Constraints on the Mass Profile of Abell 2261

We precisely constrain the inner mass profile of Abell 2261 (z=0.225) for the first time and determine this cluster is not "over-concentrated" as found previously, implying a formation time in agreement with {\Lambda}CDM expectations. These results are based on strong lensing analyses of new 16-band HST imaging obtained as part of the Cluster Lensing and Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). Combining this with revised weak lensing analyses of Subaru wide field imaging with 5-band Subaru + KPNO photometry, we place tight new constraints on the halo virial mass M_vir = 2.2\pm0.2\times10^15 M\odot/h70 (within r \approx 3 Mpc/h70) and concentration c = 6.2 \pm 0.3 when assuming a spherical halo. This agrees broadly with average c(M,z) predictions from recent {\Lambda}CDM simulations which span 5 <~ 8. Our most significant systematic uncertainty is halo elongation along the line of sight. To estimate this, we also derive a mass profile based on archival Chandra X-ray observations and find it to be ~35% lower than our lensing-derived profile at r2500 ~ 600 kpc. Agreement can be achieved by a halo elongated with a ~2:1 axis ratio along our line of sight. For this elongated halo model, we find M_vir = 1.7\pm0.2\times10^15 M\odot/h70 and c_vir = 4.6\pm0.2, placing rough lower limits on these values. The need for halo elongation can be partially obviated by non-thermal pressure support and, perhaps entirely, by systematic errors in the X-ray mass measurements. We estimate the effect of background structures based on MMT/Hectospec spectroscopic redshifts and find these tend to lower Mvir further by ~7% and increase cvir by ~5%.Comment: Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal. 19 pages, 14 figure