803 research outputs found
Nondiffractive sonic crystals
We predict theoretically the nondiffractive propagation of sonic waves in
periodic acoustic media (sonic crystals), by expansion into a set of plane
waves (Bloch mode expansion), and by finite difference time domain calculations
of finite beams. We also give analytical evaluations of the parameters for
nondiffractive propagation, as well as the minimum size of the nondiffractively
propagating acoustic beams.Comment: 7 figures, submitted to J. Acoust. Soc. A
Heterologous expression of AtNPR1 gene in olive for increasing fungal tolerance
The NPR1 gene encodes a key component of SAR signaling mediated by salicylic acid (SA). After a pathogen infection, the accumulation of SA releases NPR1 monomers in the cytosol that are translocated to the nucleus, activating the expression of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes. Overexpression of NPR1 has conferred resistance to fungal, viral and bacterial pathogens in several plant species. The aim of this research was to generate transgenic olive plants expressing the gene AtNPR1 from Arabidopsis thaliana to obtain material resistant to fungal pathogens. Three transgenic lines expressing AtNPR1 gene under the control of the constitutive promoter CaMV35S were obtained following the protocol of Torreblanca et al. (2010), using an embryogenic line derived from a seed of cv. Picual. Level of AtNPR1 expression in transgenic calli varied greatly among the different lines, being higher in the line NPR1-780. The elicitation of embryogenic calli in liquid medium with AS did not increase endochitinase activity, a PR protein. However, jasmonic acid induced a transient increase in chitinase activity after 24 h of treatment in all the lines, being the increment higher in transgenic NPR1 than in control. After maturation and germination of transgenic somatic embryos, plants were micropropagated and acclimated to ex vitro conditions. The expression of AtNPR1 did not alter the growth of transgenic plants neither in vitro nor in the greenhouse. Experiments are in progress to determine the resistance of transgenic AtNPR1 plants to V. dalihae and R. necatrix.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.
Research projects: Plan Nacional AGL2014-52518-C2-1-R; AGL2017-83368-C2-1-R and Junta de Andalucía P11-AGR799
Persistence of biogeochemical alterations of deep-sea sediments by bottom trawling
© 2020. The Authors. Bottom trawling grounds have been expanding to deeper areas of the oceans since the mid-XXth century, and mitigating strategies aimed to protect fish stocks, such as temporal trawling closures, have recently been implemented. Here we investigated the biogeochemical properties of sediment from a deep-sea trawling ground in Palamós Canyon (NW Mediterranean) to assess the effects of a 2-months trawling closure in the recovery of sedimentary organic matter. In comparison to untrawled areas, the continuous erosion and sediment mixing in trawling grounds led to coarser reworked sediments impoverished in organic carbon (∼30% loss) and promoted the degradation of labile compounds (52–70% loss). These impacts persisted after the temporal trawling closure, highlighting that this management strategy is insufficient to restore the seafloor. Considering the continuous expansion of bottom trawling grounds, this activity could have significant and irreversible biogeochemical impacts on ocean margins at a global scale, hampering their carbon burial capacity
Theory of quantum fluctuations of optical dissipative structures and its application to the squeezing properties of bright cavity solitons
We present a method for the study of quantum fluctuations of dissipative
structures forming in nonlinear optical cavities, which we illustrate in the
case of a degenerate, type I optical parametric oscillator. The method consists
in (i) taking into account explicitly, through a collective variable
description, the drift of the dissipative structure caused by the quantum
noise, and (ii) expanding the remaining -internal- fluctuations in the
biorthonormal basis associated to the linear operator governing the evolution
of fluctuations in the linearized Langevin equations. We obtain general
expressions for the squeezing and intensity fluctuations spectra. Then we
theoretically study the squeezing properties of a special dissipative
structure, namely, the bright cavity soliton. After reviewing our previous
result that in the linear approximation there is a perfectly squeezed mode
irrespectively of the values of the system parameters, we consider squeezing at
the bifurcation points, and the squeezing detection with a plane--wave local
oscillator field, taking also into account the effect of the detector size on
the level of detectable squeezing.Comment: 10 figure
High-speed noise-free optical quantum memory
Quantum networks promise to revolutionise computing, simulation, and
communication. Light is the ideal information carrier for quantum networks, as
its properties are not degraded by noise in ambient conditions, and it can
support large bandwidths enabling fast operations and a large information
capacity. Quantum memories, devices that store, manipulate, and release on
demand quantum light, have been identified as critical components of photonic
quantum networks, because they facilitate scalability. However, any noise
introduced by the memory can render the device classical by destroying the
quantum character of the light. Here we introduce an intrinsically noise-free
memory protocol based on two-photon off-resonant cascaded absorption (ORCA). We
consequently demonstrate for the first time successful storage of GHz-bandwidth
heralded single photons in a warm atomic vapour with no added noise; confirmed
by the unaltered photon statistics upon recall. Our ORCA memory platform meets
the stringent noise-requirements for quantum memories whilst offering technical
simplicity and high-speed operation, and therefore is immediately applicable to
low-latency quantum networks
Quadrature and polarization squeezing in a dispersive optical bistability model
We theoretically study quadrature and polarization squeezing in dispersive
optical bistability through a vectorial Kerr cavity model describing a
nonlinear cavity filled with an isotropic chi(3) medium in which self-phase and
cross-phase modulation, as well as four--wave mixing, occur. We derive
expressions for the quantum fluctuations of the output field quadratures as a
function of which we express the spectrum of fluctuations of the output field
Stokes parameters. We pay particular attention to study how the bifurcations
affecting the non-null linearly polarized output mode squeezes the orthogonally
polarized vacuum mode, and show how this produces polarization squeezing.Comment: 10 text pages + 12 figure
On the organization of the nucleosomes associated with telomeric sequences
AbstractThe functions of telomeres and, probably, of interstitial telomeric sequences (ITSs) are influenced by their chromatin structure and organization. Telomeres in higher eukaryotes fold into nucleosomes that are about 20–40 bp shorter than the nucleosomes associated with bulk chromatin. Although the functional relevance of this short nucleosomal organization remains unknown, it is believed that short nucleosomes should contribute to telomere function. Whereas telomeric nucleosomes have been widely studied in different organisms, very little is known about the nucleosomal organization of ITSs. Chinese hamster ITSs have been found to associate with short nucleosomes. However, we have found that Arabidopsis thaliana ITSs fold into nucleosomes that have a repeat length similar to bulk chromatin. We discuss how the primary sequence of telomeres and ITSs could influence their nucleosomal organization
Validation of models with constant bias: an applied approach
Objective. This paper presents extensions to the statistical validation method based on the procedure of Freese when a model shows constant bias (CB) in its predictions and illustrate the method with data from a new mechanistic model that predict weight gain in cattle. Materials and methods. The extensions were the hypothesis tests and maximum anticipated error for the alternative approach, and the confidence interval for a quantile of the distribution of errors. Results. The model evaluated showed CB, once the CB is removed and with a confidence level of 95%, the magnitude of the error does not exceed 0.575 kg. Therefore, the validated model can be used to predict the daily weight gain of cattle, although it will require an adjustment in its structure based on the presence of CB to increase the accuracy of its forecasts. Conclusions. The confidence interval for the 1-α quantile of the distribution of errors after correcting the constant bias, allows determining the top limit for the magnitude of the error of prediction and use it to evaluate the evolution of the model in the forecasting of the system. The confidence interval approach to validate a model is more informative than the hypothesis tests for the same purpose
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