9,291 research outputs found
Surface magnetic canting in a ferromagnet
The surface magnetic canting (SMC) of a semi-infinite film with ferromagnetic
exchange interaction and competing bulk and surface anisotropies is
investigated via a nonlinear mapping formulation of mean-field theory
previously developed by our group [L. Trallori et al., Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 10,
1935-1988 (1996)], and extended to the case where an external magnetic field is
applied to the system. When the field H is parallel to the film plane, the
condition for SMC is found to be the same as that recently reported by Popov
and Pappas [Phys. Rev. B 64, 184401 (2001)]. The case of a field H applied
perpendicularly to the film plane is also investigated. In both cases, the
zero-temperature equilibrium configuration is easily determined by our
theoretical approach.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Phase transitions in simplified models with long-range interactions
We study the origin of phase transitions in some simplified models with long
range interactions. For the ring model, we show that a possible new phase
transition predicted in a recent paper by Nardini and Casetti from an energy
landscape analysis does not occur. Instead of such phase transitions we observe
a sharp, although without any non-analiticity, change from a core-halo to an
only core configuration in the spatial distribution functions for low energies.
By introducing a new class of solvable simplified models without any critical
points in the potential energy, we show that a similar behaviour to the ring
model is obtained, with a first order phase transition from an almost
homogeneous high energy phase to a clustered phase, and the same core-halo to
core configuration transition at lower energies. We discuss the origin of these
features of the simplified models, and show that the first order phase
transition comes from the maximization of the entropy of the system as a
function of energy an an order parameter, as previously discussed by Kastner,
which seems to be the main mechanism causing phase transitions in long-range
interacting systems
Role of plasma-induced defects in the generation of 1/f noise in graphene
It has already been reported that 1/f noise in graphene can be dominated by fluctuations of charge carrier mobility. We show here that the increasing damage induced by oxygen plasma on graphene samples result in two trends: at low doses, the magnitude of the 1/f noise increases with the dose; and at high doses, it decreases with the dose. This behaviour is interpreted in the framework of 1/f noise generated by carrier mobility fluctuations where the concentration of mobility fluctuation centers and the mean free path of the carriers are competing factors. Published by AIP Publishing
Evaluation of the burden of HPV-related hospitalizations as a useful tool to increase awareness: 2007–2017 data from the sicilian hospital discharge records
In light of the implementation of human papillomavirus (HPV) prevention strategies, epidemiological studies in different geographical areas are required in order to assess the impact of HPV-related diseases. The purpose of the present study was to describe the burden of HPV-related hospitalizations in Sicily. A retrospective observational study estimated 43,531 hospitalizations attributable to HPV from 2007 to 2017. During the observed period, there was a decrease for all HPV-related conditions with a higher reduction, among neoplasms, for cervical cancer (annual percent change (APC) = −9.9%, p < 0.001). The median age for cervical cancer was 45 years old, with an increasing value from 43 to 47 years (p < 0.001). The age classes with greater decreases in hospital admissions for invasive cancers were women aged 35 years or more (APC range from −5.5 to −9.86) and 25–34 years old (APC = −11.87, p < 0.001) for women with cervical carcinoma in situ. After ten years for vaccine introduction and sixteen years for cervical cancer screening availability, a relatively large decrease in hospital admissions for cervical cancer and other HPV-related diseases in Sicily was observed. Some clinical characteristics of hospitalization, such as increasing age, are suggestive clues for the impact of preventive strategies, but further research is needed to confirm this relationship
Kinetic approaches to particle acceleration at cosmic ray modified shocks
Kinetic approaches provide an effective description of the process of
particle acceleration at shock fronts and allow to take into account the
dynamical reaction of the accelerated particles as well as the amplification of
the turbulent magnetic field as due to streaming instability. The latter does
in turn affect the maximum achievable momentum and thereby the acceleration
process itself, in a chain of causality which is typical of non-linear systems.
Here we provide a technical description of two of these kinetic approaches and
show that they basically lead to the same conclusions. In particular we discuss
the effects of shock modification on the spectral shape of the accelerated
particles, on the maximum momentum, on the thermodynamic properties of the
background fluid and on the escaping and advected fluxes of accelerated
particles.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Role of cholinergic neurons in the motor effects of glucagon-like peptide-2 in mouse colon.
Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) reduces
mouse gastric tone and small intestine transit, but its action on
large intestine motility is still unknown. The purposes of the present
study were 1) to examine the influence of GLP-2 on spontaneous
mechanical activity and on neurally evoked responses, by recording
intraluminal pressure from mouse isolated colonic segments; 2) to
characterize GLP-2 mechanism of action; and 3) to determine the
distribution of GLP-2 receptor (GLP-2R) in the mouse colonic
muscle coat by immunohistochemistry. Exogenous GLP-2 (0.1\u2013
300 nM) induced a concentration-dependent reduction of the spontaneous
mechanical activity, which was abolished by the desensitization
of GLP-2 receptor or by tetrodotoxin, a voltage-dependent
Na+-channel blocker. GLP-2 inhibitory effect was not affected by
Nomega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor),
apamin (a blocker of small conductance Ca2+-dependent K+
channels), or [Lys1,Pro2,5,Arg3,4,Tyr6]VIP7\u201328 (a VIP receptor
antagonist), but it was prevented by atropine or pertussis toxin
(PTX), a Gi/o protein inhibitor. Proximal colon responses to electrical
field stimulation were characterized by nitrergic relaxation,
which was followed by cholinergic contraction. GLP-2 reduced
only the cholinergic evoked contractions. This effect was almost
abolished by GLP-2 receptor desensitization or PTX. GLP-2 failed
to affect the contractile responses to exogenous carbachol. GLP-2R
immunoreactivity (IR) was detected only in the neuronal cells of
both plexuses of the colonic muscle coat. More than 50% of
myenteric GLP-2R-IR neurons shared the choline acetyltransferase
IR. In conclusion, the activation of GLP-2R located on cholinergic
neurons may modulate negatively the colonic spontaneous and
electrically evoked contractions through inhibition of acetylcholine
release. The effect is mediated by Gi protein
ITS2 in calanoid copepods: reconstructing phylogenetic relationships and identifying a newly introduced species in the Mediterranean
Phylogenetic inference and molecular taxonomy are becoming increasingly important approaches to classical morphological systematics and marine ecology. The number of molecular markers suitable for such goals is quite high, but general use restricts the list to a few of them, mainly mitochondrial (namely cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, COI and Cytochrome b), especially in copepods. The ribosomal cistronic regions have been widely used for broad phylogenetic analyses in different taxa. Among them, the internal transcribed spacers (ITS rDNA) are powerful tools for phylogenetic reconstructions at the different taxonomic levels, although not yet extensively used for copepods. In the present work, we tested the suitability of ITS2 rDNA marker to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of calanoid copepods using sequences retrieved from GenBank, complementing the phylogenetic positions of the species studied with their morphological and ecological traits. Through ITS2 rDNA we provided the first molecular evidence for the invasive calanoid Pseudodiaptomus marinus from the Mediterranean Sea (Lake Faro, Sicily, Italy), and compared it with the GenBank ITS2 sequences for P. marinus from Korea and other calanoid species. The divergence of the sequences of our P. marinus from those of Korean specimens was quite prominent (4.4%) and allowed us to hypothesise either a new forma living in the Mediterranean or a cryptic species. This study highlights the appropriateness of ITS2 for phylogenetic reconstructions and species identification, as well as for barcoding, meta-barcoding and phylogeographic approaches, and evidences the need for a more thorough knowledge of ribosomal regions in copepods from different sites
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