University of Victoria

About: University of Victoria is a education organization based out in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Galaxy. The organization has 14994 authors who have published 41051 publications receiving 1447972 citations. The organization is also known as: Victoria College.

Flavor physics of leptons and dipole moments

Abstract: This chapter of the report of the “Flavor in the era of the LHC” Workshop discusses the theoretical, phenomenological and experimental issues related to flavor phenomena in the charged lepton sector and in flavor conserving CP-violating processes. We review the current experimental limits and the main theoretical models for the flavor structure of fundamental particles. We analyze the phenomenological consequences of the available data, setting constraints on explicit models beyond the standard model, presenting benchmarks for the discovery potential of forthcoming measurements both at the LHC and at low energy, and exploring options for possible future experiments.

Managing the whole landscape: historical, hybrid, and novel ecosystems

Abstract: The reality confronting ecosystem managers today is one of heterogeneous, rapidly transforming landscapes, particularly in the areas more affected by urban and agricultural development. A landscape management framework that incorporates all systems, across the spectrum of degrees of alteration, provides a fuller set of options for how and when to intervene, uses limited resources more effectively, and increases the chances of achieving management goals. That many ecosystems have departed so substantially from their historical trajectory that they defy conventional restoration is not in dispute. Acknowledging novel ecosystems need not constitute a threat to existing policy and management approaches. Rather, the development of an integrated approach to management interventions can provide options that are in tune with the current reality of rapid ecosystem change.

Size-Tunable, Ultrasmall NaGdF4 Nanoparticles: Insights into Their T1 MRI Contrast Enhancement

Abstract: We report on the size-tunable synthesis of thermodynamically stable (β) NaGdF4 nanoparticles (NPs) below 10 nm. Paramagnetic β-NaGdF4 NPs of four different sizes (2.5–8.0 nm with a narrow size distribution) were synthesized by simple modifications of the reaction conditions affecting nanoparticle growth dynamics. The synthesized NPs were transferred to water by exchanging the oleate ligands with biocompatible polyvinylpyrrolidone, and analyzed for their ability to affect magnetic resonance (MR) T1 longitudinal relaxivity at 1.5 T. The ionic relaxivity (unit Gd3+ concentration) values increased from 3.0 mM–1 s–1 to 7.2 mM–1 s–1 with decreasing particle size, and the relaxivity of the 2.5-nm particle is almost twice that of clinically used Gd-DTPA (Magnevist) relaxivity. The relaxivity per contrast agent (i.e., per nanoparticle) for these NPs is 200–3000 times larger than the clinical agent, showing great potential as local contrast enhancement probes. The rate of increase in ionic relaxivity with decreasin...

The efficiency of a turbine in a tidal channel

Abstract: There is an upper bound to the amount of power that can be generated by turbines in tidal channels as too many turbines merely block the flow. One condition for achievement of the upper bound is that the turbines are deployed uniformly across the channel, with all the flow through them, but this may interfere with other uses of the channel. An isolated turbine is more effective in a channel than in an unbounded flow, but the current downstream is non-uniform between the wake of the turbines and the free stream. Hence some energy is lost when these streams merge, as may occur in a long channel. We show here, for ideal turbine models, that the fractional power loss increases from 1/3 to 2/3 as the fraction of the channel cross-section spanned by the turbines increases from 0 to close to 1. In another scenario, possibly appropriate for a short channel, the speed of the free stream outside the turbine wake is controlled by separation at the channel exit. In this case, the maximum power obtainable is slightly less than proportional to the fraction of the channel cross-section occupied by turbines.

Galaxy pairs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey – IV. Interactions trigger active galactic nuclei

Abstract: Galaxy–galaxy interactions are predicted to cause gas inflows leading to enhanced nuclear star formation. This prediction is borne out observationally, and is also supported by the gas-phase metallicity dilution in the inner regions of galaxies in close pairs. In this paper we test the further prediction that the gas inflows lead to enhanced accretion on to the central supermassive black hole, triggering activity in the nucleus. Based on a sample of 11 060 Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies with a close companion (rp < 80 h−170 kpc, ΔV < 200 km s−1), we classify active galactic nuclei (AGN) based either on emission line ratios or on spectral classification as a quasar. The AGN fraction in the close pairs sample is compared to a control sample of 110 600 mass- and redshift-matched control galaxies with no nearby companion. We find a clear increase in the AGN fraction in close pairs of galaxies with projected separations < 40 h−170 kpc by up to a factor of 2.5 relative to the control sample [although the enhancement depends on the chosen signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) cut of the sample]. The increase in AGN fraction is strongest in equal-mass galaxy pairings, and weakest in the lower mass component of an unequal-mass pairing. The increased AGN fraction at small separations is accompanied by an enhancement in the number of ‘composite’ galaxies whose spectra are the result of photoionization by both AGN and stars. Our results indicate that AGN activity occurs (at least in some cases) well before final coalescence and concurrently with ongoing star formation. Finally, we find a marked increase at small projected separations of the fraction of pairs in which both galaxies harbour AGN. We demonstrate that the fraction of double AGN exceeds the expected random fraction, indicating that some pairs undergo correlated nuclear activity. We discuss some of the factors that have led to conflicting results in previous studies of AGN in close pairs. Taken together with complementary studies, we favour an interpretation where interactions trigger AGN, but are not the only cause of nuclear activity.