923 research outputs found

    "Sleeping with the enemy"—predator-induced diapause in a mite

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    Diapause in arthropods is a physiological state of dormancy that is generally thought to promote survival during harsh seasons and dispersal, but it may also serve to avoid predation in space and time. Here, we show that predation-related odours induce diapause in female adult spider mites. We argue that this response allows them to move into an area where they are free of enemies, yet forced to survive without food. Spider mites are specialised leaf feeders, but—in late summer—they experience severe predation on leaves. Hence, they face a dilemma: to stay on the leaf and risk being eaten or to move away from the leaf and risk death from starvation and thirst. Female two-spotted spider mites solve this dilemma by dramatically changing their physiology when exposed to predation-associated cues. This allows them to disperse away from leaves and to survive in winter refuges in the bark of trees or in the soil. We conclude that the mere presence of predation-associated cues causes some herbivorous mites to seek refuge, thereby retarding the growth rate of the population as a whole: a trait-mediated indirect effect that may have consequences for the stability of predator-prey systems and for ecosystem structure

    Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering at the K Edge of Ge

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    We study the resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the KK edge of Ge. We measure RIXS spectra with systematically varying momenta in the final state. The spectra are a measure of exciting an electron-hole pair. We find a single peak structure (except the elastic peak) as a function of photon energy, which is nearly independent of final-state momenta. We analyze the experimental data by means of the band structure calculation. The calculation reproduces well the experimental shape, clarifying the implication of the spectral shape.Comment: 17 pages,9 figures, Please also see our related paper: cond-mat/040500

    Auxiliary fermion approach to the resonant inelastic x-ray scattering response in an underdoped cuprate

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    We describe a method for calculating the resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) response—including the dynamics of the transient core hole—of many-body systems with nontrivial gap structure encoded in their single particle Green's function. Our approach introduces auxiliary fermions in order to obtain a form amenable to the determinant method of Benjamin et al., [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 247002 (2014)], and is applicable to systems where interactions are most strongly felt through a renormalization of the single particle propagator. As a test case we consider the Yang-Rice-Zhang ansatz for cuprate phenomena in the underdoped “pseudogap” regime, which remains a popular tool for interpreting the results of experimental probes. We show that taking the core hole dynamics into account for a system described by this ansatz pushes the RIXS peaks towards higher energy transfer, improving agreement with experiments

    Increasing feasibility and patient comfort of MRI in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

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    MRI is the most sensitive imaging modality in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), but has practical limitations. Optimizing the scanning protocol is, therefore, necessary to increase feasibility and patient comfort. To determine the feasibility of bilateral non-contrast-enhanced open-bore MRI of knees and to assess the presence of literature-based MRI features in unsedated children with JIA. Children were classified into two clinical subgroups: active arthritis (group 1; n = 29) and inactive disease (group 2; n = 18). MRI features were evaluated using a literature-based score, comprising synovial hypertrophy, cartilage lesions, bone erosions, bone marrow changes, infrapatellar fat pad heterogeneity, effusion, tendinopathy and popliteal lymphadenopathy. The MRI examination was successfully completed in all 47 children. No scan was excluded due to poor image quality. Synovial hypertrophy was more frequent in group 1 (36.2%), but was also seen in 19.4% of the knees in group 2. Infrapatellar fat pad heterogeneity was more prevalent in group 2 (86.1%; P = 0.008). Reproducibility of the score was good (Cohen kappa, 0.49-0.96). Bilateral non-contrast-enhanced open-bore knee MRI is feasible in the assessment of disease activity in unsedated children with JIA. Signs differing among chidren with active and inactive disease include infrapatellar fat pad heterogeneity and synovial hypertroph

    Comment on ``Spin Polarization and Magnetic Circular Dichroism in Photoemission from the 2p Core Level of Ferromagnetic Ni''

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    Although the Ni_4 cluster includes more information regarding the Ni band structure with respect to the Anderson impurity model, it also favors very peculiar ground states which are incompatible with a coherent picture of all dichroism experiments.Comment: 1 page, RevTeX, 1 epsf figur
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