104 research outputs found
Time Dependent Pairing Equations for Seniority One Nuclear Systems
When the time dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov intrinsic equations of motion
are solved in the case of seniority one nuclear systems, the unpaired nucleon
remains on the same orbital. The blocking effect hinders the possibility to
skip from one orbital to another. This unpleasant feature is by-passed with a
new set of pairing time dependent equations that allows the possibility that
the unpaired nucleon changes its single-particle level. These equations
generalize the time dependent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations of motion by
including the Landau-Zener effect. The derivation of these new equations is
presented in details. These equations are applied in the case of a
superasymmetric fission process, that is, in order to explain the fine
structure the 14C emission from 233Ra. A new version of the Woods-Saxon model
extended for two-center potentials is used in this context.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
Segregation of spermatozoa within sperm storage tubules of fowl and turkey hens
In avian species, spermatozoa reside in the oviduct for prolonged periods in specialized structures known as sperm storage tubules, but little is known about the relative distribution of spermatozoa in these tubules after successive inseminations by different males. The staining efficacies of various fluorescent dyes for fowl and turkey spermatozoa were evaluated to investigate one proposed mechanism of sperm competition. Hens were then inseminated at different intervals with stained and unstained spermatozoa to observe the spatial distribution of spermatozoa within the storage tubules. Several novel fluorescent lipophilic tracers that successfully stain mammalian spermatozoa either did not stain fowl or turkey spermatozoa, or greatly impaired sperm motility. In contrast, Hoechst 33342 readily stained sperm nuclei (fowl: 25 nmol l–1; turkey: 77 nmol l–1) within 4 h without inhibiting sperm motility, or affecting fertility or the hatching ability of the eggs. Hens were tandemly inseminated with equal numbers of stained or unstained spermatozoa at 24 h intervals and were killed 24 h after the final insemination to study sperm entry and storage within the tubules. Oviductal mucosa containing sperm storage tubules was removed, and individual tubules were classified as containing stained spermatozoa, unstained spermatozoa, a mixture of stained and unstained spermatozoa, or as not containing spermatozoa. Results from the present study indicate that spermatozoa from two different inseminations generally segregate into different storage tubules in both fowl and turkey hens. Storage tubules containing mixed populations of spermatozoa were found in only 4% of fowl and 12% of turkey storage tubules examined. Thus, the mechanism of last-male precedence does not appear to be due to the stratification of spermatozoa within the tubules
Asymptotic analysis of pollution filtration through thin random fissures between two porous media
We describe the asymptotic behaviour of a filtration problem from a
contaminated porous medium to a non-contaminated porous medium through thin
vertical fissures of fixed height h>0, of random thinness of order {\epsilon}
and which are -periodically distributed. We compute the limit
velocity of the flow and the limit flux of pollutant at the interfaces between
the two porous media and the intermediate one
Homogenization of the planar waveguide with frequently alternating boundary conditions
We consider Laplacian in a planar strip with Dirichlet boundary condition on
the upper boundary and with frequent alternation boundary condition on the
lower boundary. The alternation is introduced by the periodic partition of the
boundary into small segments on which Dirichlet and Neumann conditions are
imposed in turns. We show that under the certain condition the homogenized
operator is the Dirichlet Laplacian and prove the uniform resolvent
convergence. The spectrum of the perturbed operator consists of its essential
part only and has a band structure. We construct the leading terms of the
asymptotic expansions for the first band functions. We also construct the
complete asymptotic expansion for the bottom of the spectrum
Boundary Asymptotic Analysis for an Incompressible Viscous Flow: Navier Wall Laws
We consider a new way of establishing Navier wall laws. Considering a bounded
domain of R N , N=2,3, surrounded by a thin layer ,
along a part 2 of its boundary , we consider a
Navier-Stokes flow in with
Reynolds' number of order 1/ in . Using
-convergence arguments, we describe the asymptotic behaviour of the
solution of this problem and get a general Navier law involving a matrix of
Borel measures having the same support contained in the interface 2. We
then consider two special cases where we characterize this matrix of measures.
As a further application, we consider an optimal control problem within this
context
Low energy measurement of the 7Be(p,gamma)8B cross section
We have measured the cross section of the 7Be(p,gamma)8B reaction for E_cm =
185.8 keV, 134.7 keV and 111.7 keV using a radioactive 7Be target (132 mCi).
Single and coincidence spectra of beta^+ and alpha particles from 8B and 8Be^*
decay, respectively, were measured using a large acceptance spectrometer. The
zero energy S factor inferred from these data is 18.5 +/- 2.4 eV b and a
weighted mean value of 18.8 +/- 1.7 eV b (theoretical uncertainty included) is
deduced when combining this value with our previous results at higher energies.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Homogenization of Variational Inequalities for the p-Laplace Operator in Perforated Media Along Manifolds
We address homogenization problems of variational inequalities for the p-Laplace operator in a domain of Rn (n ? 3, p ? [2, n)) periodically perforated by balls of radius O(??) where ? > 1 and ? is the size of the period. The perforations are distributed along a (n ? 1)-dimensional manifold ? , and we impose constraints for solutions and their fluxes (associated with the p-Laplacian) on the boundary of the perforations. These constraints imply that the solution is positive and that the flux is bounded from above by a negative, nonlinear monotonic function of the solution multiplied by a parameter ? ?? , ? ? R and ? is a small parameter that we shall make to go to zero. We analyze different relations between the parameters p, n, ?, ? and ?, and obtain homogenized problems which are completely new in the literature even for the case p = 2.This work has been partially supported by the Spanish grant MINECO:MTM2013-44883-P
Trypan Blue Dye Enters Viable Cells Incubated with the Pore-Forming Toxin HlyII of Bacillus cereus
Trypan blue is a dye that has been widely used for selective staining of dead tissues or cells. Here, we show that the pore-forming toxin HlyII of Bacillus cereus allows trypan blue staining of macrophage cells, despite the cells remaining viable and metabolically active. These findings suggest that the dye enters viable cells through the pores. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that trypan blue may enter viable cells. Consequently, the use of trypan blue staining as a marker of vital status should be interpreted with caution. The blue coloration does not necessarily indicate cell lysis, but may rather indicate pore formation in the cell membranes and more generally increased membrane permeability
Virulence and Pathogen Multiplication: A Serial Passage Experiment in the Hypervirulent Bacterial Insect-Pathogen Xenorhabdus nematophila
The trade-off hypothesis proposes that the evolution of pathogens' virulence is shaped by a link between virulence and contagiousness. This link is often assumed to come from the fact that pathogens are contagious only if they can reach high parasitic load in the infected host. In this paper we present an experimental test of the hypothesis that selection on fast replication can affect virulence. In a serial passage experiment, we selected 80 lines of the bacterial insect-pathogen Xenorhabdus nematophila to multiply fast in an artificial culture medium. This selection resulted in shortened lag phase in our selected bacteria. We then injected these bacteria into insects and observed an increase in virulence. This could be taken as a sign that virulence in Xenorhabdus is linked to fast multiplication. But we found, among the selected lineages, either no link or a positive correlation between lag duration and virulence: the most virulent bacteria were the last to start multiplying. We then surveyed phenotypes that are under the control of the flhDC super regulon, which has been shown to be involved in Xenorhabdus virulence. We found that, in one treatment, the flhDC regulon has evolved rapidly, but that the changes we observed were not connected to virulence. All together, these results indicate that virulence is, in Xenorhabdus as in many other pathogens, a multifactorial trait. Being able to grow fast is one way to be virulent. But other ways exist which renders the evolution of virulence hard to predict
The PlcR Virulence Regulon of Bacillus cereus
PlcR is a Bacillus cereus transcriptional regulator, which activates gene expression by binding to a nucleotidic sequence called the ‘PlcR box’. To build a list of all genes included in the PlcR regulon, a consensus sequence was identified by directed mutagenesis. The reference strain ATCC14579 sequenced genome was searched for occurrences of this consensus sequence to produce a virtual regulon. PlcR control of these genes was confirmed by comparing gene expression in the reference strain and its isogenic Δ-plcR strain using DNA microarrays, lacZ fusions and proteomics methods. The resulting list included 45 genes controlled by 28 PlcR boxes. Forty of the PlcR controlled proteins were exported, of which 22 were secreted in the extracellular medium and 18 were bound or attached to cell wall structures (membrane or peptidoglycan layer). The functions of these proteins were related to food supply (phospholipases, proteases, toxins), cell protection (bacteriocins, toxins, transporters, cell wall biogenesis) and environment-sensing (two-component sensors, chemotaxis proteins, GGDEF family regulators). Four genes coded for cytoplasmic regulators. The PlcR regulon appears to integrate a large range of environmental signals, including food deprivation and self cell-density, and regulate the transcription of genes designed to overcome obstacles that hinder B. cereus growth within the host: food supply, host barriers, host immune defenses, and competition with other bacterial species. PlcR appears to be a key component in the efficient adaptation of B. cereus to its host environment
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