336 research outputs found
High maternal androstenedione levels during pregnancy in a small precocial mammal with female genital masculinisation
-Masculinisation of female genitalia is an intriguing phenomenon amongst some mammalian species and its endocrinological basis as well as its adaptive value is still heavily debated. We recently reported female genital masculinisation in Cavia magna. The closely related C. aperea, does not show such masculinisation providing an unique opportunity to investigate potential endocrinological mechanisms underlying this difference. For both species we determined plasma levels of androstenedione and testosterone in adults of both sexes, and in females during different stages of pregnancy. Consistent with the normal mammalian pattern males showed higher levels of both androgens than conspecific females. Androgen profiles during pregnancy differed significantly between C. magna and C. aperea females: during mid-pregnancy androstenedione levels were strongly elevated in the masculinised C. magna, but not in C. aperea, indicating that high levels of this androgen may be involved in the differentiation of masculinized genitalia in female C. magna, as has been suggested for the spotted hyena. In both C. magna and the spotted hyena the pups show a highly advanced state of maturation, but in contrast to the hyena female C. magna are not overly aggressive. We therefore propose that female genital masculinisation might be a side effect of early exposure to elevated levels of maternal androgens that might be selected for to speed up precocial development.
Effects of Electron Correlations on Hofstadter Spectrum
By allowing interactions between electrons, a new Harper's equation is
derived to examine the effects of electron correlations on the Hofstadter
energy spectra. It is shown that the structure of the Hofstadter butterfly ofr
the system of correlated electrons is modified only in the band gaps and the
band widths, but not in the characteristics of self-similarity and the Cantor
set.Comment: 13 pages, 5 Postscript figure
Influence of shape of quantum dots on their far-infrared absorption
We investigate the effects of the shape of quantum dots on their far-infrared
absorption in an external magnetic field by a model calculation. We focus our
attention on dots with a parabolic confinement potential deviating from the
common circular symmetry, and dots having circular doughnut shape. For a
confinement where the generalized Kohn theorem does not hold we are able to
interprete the results in terms of a mixture of a center-of-mass mode and
collective modes reflecting an excitation of relative motion of the electrons.
The calculations are performed within the time-dependent Hartree approximation
and the results are compared to available experimental results.Comment: RevTeX, 16 pages with 10 postscript figures included. Submitted to
Phys. Rev.
Magnetization of noncircular quantum dots
We calculate the magnetization of quantum dots deviating from circular
symmetry for noninteracting electrons or electrons interacting according to the
Hartree approximation. For few electrons the magnetization is found to depend
on their number, and the shape of the dot. The magnetization is an ideal probe
into the many-electron state of a quantum dot.Comment: 11 RevTeX pages with 6 included Postscript figure
Increased exposure to yolk testosterone has feminizing effects in chickens, Gallus gallus domesticus
Competing for food by altricial and semiprecocial bird nestlings is a behaviour well known for its sensitivity to maternal androgens during prenatal development. Whether a similar effect is present in precocial species that do not beg is less well known. We therefore increased yolk testosterone levels within the physiological range at the onset of incubation to study its effects on food competition behaviour in the domestic chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus. We found an increase in competitiveness in testosterone-treated male domestic chicks, raising their level to that of the females. This is in line with the decrease in circulating plasma levels of males in the direction of the levels in females, and the overall decrease in androgen receptor densities after prenatal treatment as found previously. Hormones are known to have long-lasting organizing effects on behaviour and to affect sexual differentiation in vertebrates. Although research into hormone-mediated maternal effects has been productive, only a few studies describe (the ambiguous) effects into adulthood. Therefore we followed our animals into adulthood and recorded androgen-dependent social behaviour and secondary sexual characteristics, body mass and circulating plasma testosterone levels and checked whether these variables were treatment dependent. Treatment had a near significant effect on comb colour (both brightness and chroma). Again treatment caused a shift towards a more female-like phenotype. This suggests that, in contrast to earlier suggestions, maternal androgens may interact with (but not disrupt) sexual differentiation of brain and behaviour and the development of secondary sexual characteristics.
Cotunneling-mediated transport through excited states in the Coulomb blockade regime
We present finite bias transport measurements on a few-electron quantum dot.
In the Coulomb blockade regime, strong signatures of inelastic cotunneling
occur which can directly be assigned to excited states observed in the
non-blockaded regime. In addition, we observe structures related to sequential
tunneling through the dot, occuring after it has been excited by an inelastic
cotunneling process. We explain our findings using transport calculations
within the real-time Green's function approach, including diagrams up to fourth
order in the tunneling matrix elements.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Pseudo-spin Kondo effect versus hybridized molecular states in parallel Double Quantum Dots
A two quantum-dot device is coupled in parallel for studying the competition
between the pseudo-spin Kondo effect and strongly hybridized molecular states.
Cryogenic measurements are performed in the regime of weak coupling of the two
dots to lead states under linear transport conditions. Detailed simulations
verify the finding of the transition between the two different regimes.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure
Macrofaunal assemblages from mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Cadiz: abundance, biodiversity and diversity partitioning across spatial scales
The Gulf of Cadiz is an extensive seepage area in the south Iberian margin (NE Atlantic) encompassing over 40 mud volcanoes (MVs) at depths ranging from 200 to 4000 m. The area has a long geologic history and a central biogeographic location with a complex circulation ensuring oceanographic connectivity with the Mediterranean Sea, equatorial and North Atlantic regions. The geodynamics of the region promotes a notorious diversity in the seep regime despite the relatively low fluxes of hydrocarbon-rich gases. We analyse quantitative samples taken during the cruises TTR14, TTR15 and MSM01-03 in seven mud volcanoes grouped into Shallow MVs (Mercator: 350 m, Kidd: 500 m, Meknes: 700 m) and Deep MVs (Captain Arutyunov: 1300 m, Carlos Ribeiro: 2200 m, Bonjardim: 3000 m, Porto: 3900 m) and two additional Reference sites (ca. 550 m). Macrofauna (retained by a 500 mu m sieve) was identified to species level whenever possible. The samples yielded modest abundances (70-1567 individuals per 0.25m(2)), but the local and regional number of species is among the highest ever reported for cold seeps. Among the 366 recorded species, 22 were symbiont-hosting bivalves (Thyasiridae, Vesicomyidae, Solemyidae) and tubeworms (Siboglinidae). The multivariate analyses supported the significant differences between Shallow and Deep MVs: The environmental conditions at the Shallow MVs make them highly permeable to the penetration of background fauna leading to high diversity of the attendant assemblages (H': 2.92-3.94; ES(100): 28.3-45.0; J': 0.685-0.881). The Deep MV assemblages showed, in general, contrasting features but were more heterogeneous (H': 1.41-3.06; ES(100): 10.5-30.5; J': 0.340-0.852) and often dominated by one or more siboglinid species. The rarefaction curves confirmed the differences in biodiversity of Deep and Shallow MVs as well as the convergence of the latter to the Reference sites. The Bray-Curtis dissimilarity demonstrated the high beta-diversity of the assemblages, especially in pairwise comparisons involving samples from the Deep MVs. Diversity partitioning assessed for species richness, Hurlbert's expected number of species and Shannon-Wiener index confirmed the high beta-diversity across different spatial scales (within MVs, between MVs, between Deep and Shallow MVs). We suggest that historical and contemporary factors with differential synergies at different depths contribute to the high alpha-, beta- and gamma-diversity of the mud volcano faunal assemblages in the Gulf of Cadiz
Distortion of Wigner molecules : pair function approach
We considered a two dimensional three electron quantum dot in a magnetic
field in the Wigner limit. A unitary coordinate transformation decouples the
Hamiltonian (with Coulomb interaction between the electrons included) into a
sum of three independent pair Hamiltonians. The eigen-solutions of the pair
Hamiltonian provide a spectrum of pair states. Each pair state defines the
distance of the two electrons involved in this state. In the ground state for
given pair angular momentum , this distance increases with increasing .
The pair states have to be occupied under consideration of the Pauli exclusion
principle, which differs from that for one-electron states and depends on the
total spin and the total orbital angular momentum (sum over
all pair angular momenta). We have shown that the three electrons in the ground
state of the Wigner molecule form an equilateral triangle (as might be
expected) only, if the state is a quartet () and the orbital angular
momentum is a magic quantum number ( integer). Otherwise the
triangle in the ground state is isosceles. For one of the sides is
longer and for one of the sides is shorter than the other two
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