1,721,087 research outputs found
A novel ensemble in statistical physics
No full textWe present a theoretical model of a statistical ensemble, in which, unlike in conventional physics, the total number of particles and the energy are not fixed but bounded. It is shown that the temperature and the chemical potential play a dual role: they determine the average energy and the population of the levels in the system and at the same time they act as an imbalance between the energy and population ceilings and the corresponding average values. Different types of statistics (Boltzmann, Bose-Einstein, Fermi-Dirac and one corresponding to the description of a simple ecosystem) are considered. In all cases, we show that the systems may undergo a first or a second order phase transition akin to Bose-Einstein condensation for a non-interacting gas. We discuss numerical schemes for studying the new ensemble. The results of simulations are found to be in excellent agreement with theory
Organization of ecosystems in the vicinity of a novel phase transition
No full textIt is shown that an ecosystem in equilibrium is generally organized in a state which is poised in the vicinity of a novel phase transition
Comment on "Computational improvements reveal great bacterial diversity and high metal toxicity in soil"
No full textBased on analysis of the reassociation kinetics of bacterial DNA in soil, Gans et al. (Reports, 26 August 2005, p. 1387) claimed that millions of microbe species existed in 10 grams of pristine soil and that 99.9% of the diversity was lost as a result of toxic metals. We show that the data do not support these startling conclusions unambiguously
Applications of the principle of maximum entropy: from physics to ecology
No full textThere are numerous situations in physics and other disciplines which can be described at different levels of detail in terms of probability distributions. Such descriptions arise either intrinsically as in quantum mechanics, or because of the vast amount of details necessary for a complete description as, for example, in Brownian motion and in many-body systems. We show that an application of the principle of maximum entropy for estimating the underlying probability distribution can depend on the variables used for describing the system. The choice of characterization of the system carries with it implicit assumptions about fundamental attributes such as whether the system is classical or quantum mechanical or equivalently whether the individuals are distinguishable or indistinguishable. We show that the correct procedure entails the maximization of the relative entropy subject to known constraints and, additionally, requires knowledge of the behavior of the system in the absence of these constraints. We present an application of the principle of maximum entropy to understanding species diversity in ecology and introduce a new statistical ensemble corresponding to the distribution of a variable population of individuals into a set of species not defined a priori
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Patterns of relative species abundance in rainforests and coral reefs
No full textA formidable many-body problem in ecology is to understand the complex of factors controlling patterns of relative species abundance (RSA) in communities of interacting species. Unlike many problems in physics, the nature of the interactions in ecological communities is not completely known. Although most contemporary theories in ecology start with the basic premise that species interact, here we show that a theory in which all interspecific interactions are turned off leads to analytical results that are in agreement with RSA data from tropical forests and coral reefs. The assumption of non-interacting species leads to a sampling theory for the RSA that yields a simple approximation at large scales to the exact theory. Our results show that one can make significant theoretical progress in ecology by assuming that the effective interactions among species are weak in the stationary states in species-rich communities such as tropical forests and coral reefs
Density dependence explains tree species abundance and diversity in tropical forests
No full textThe recurrent patterns in the commonness and rarity of species in ecological communities - the relative species abundance - have puzzled ecologists for more than half a century(1,2). Here we show that the framework of the current neutral theory in ecology(3 - 10) can easily be generalized to incorporate symmetric density dependence(11 - 14). We can calculate precisely the strength of the rare- species advantage that is needed to explain a given RSA distribution. Previously, we demonstrated that a mechanism of dispersal limitation also fits RSA data well(3,4). Here we compare fits of the dispersal and density- dependence mechanisms for empirical RSA data on tree species in six New and Old World tropical forests and show that both mechanisms offer sufficient and independent explanations. We suggest that RSA data cannot by themselves be used to discriminate among these explanations of RSA patterns(15) - empirical studies will be required to determine whether RSA patterns are due to one or the other mechanism, or to some combination of both
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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