8,961 research outputs found
Screened alpha decay in dense astrophysical plasmas and magnetars
This paper shows that ultrastrong magnetic fields (such as those of
magnetars) and dense astrophysical plasmas can reduce the half life of alpha
decaying nuclei by many orders of magnitude. In such environments the
conventional Geiger-Nuttall law is modifed so that all half lives are shifted
to dramatically lower values. Those effects, which have never been investigated
before, may have significant implications on the universal abundances of heavy
radioactive elements and the cosmochronological methods that rely on them.Comment: 15 RevTex pages, 3 ps figures (minor revision). This work was
presented during the conference ''Supernova, 10 years of SN1993J'', April
2003, Valencia, Spain. Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.
Monitoring Ion Channel Function In Real Time Through Quantum Decoherence
In drug discovery research there is a clear and urgent need for non-invasive
detection of cell membrane ion channel operation with wide-field capability.
Existing techniques are generally invasive, require specialized nano
structures, or are only applicable to certain ion channel species. We show that
quantum nanotechnology has enormous potential to provide a novel solution to
this problem. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre in nano-diamond is currently of
great interest as a novel single atom quantum probe for nanoscale processes.
However, until now, beyond the use of diamond nanocrystals as fluorescence
markers, nothing was known about the quantum behaviour of a NV probe in the
complex room temperature extra-cellular environment. For the first time we
explore in detail the quantum dynamics of a NV probe in proximity to the ion
channel, lipid bilayer and surrounding aqueous environment. Our theoretical
results indicate that real-time detection of ion channel operation at
millisecond resolution is possible by directly monitoring the quantum
decoherence of the NV probe. With the potential to scan and scale-up to an
array-based system this conclusion may have wide ranging implications for
nanoscale biology and drug discovery.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Delayed Senescence in Soybean: Terminology, Research Update, and Survey Results from Growers
The terms used to describe symptoms of delayed senescence in soybean often are used inconsistently or interchangeably and do not adequately distinguish the observed symptoms in the field. Various causes have been proposed to explain the development of delayed senescence symptoms. In this article, we review published reports on delayed senescence symptoms in soybean, summarize current research findings, provide examples of terms related to specific symptoms, and present an overview of the results of a multi-state survey directed to soybean growers to understand their concerns about delayed soybean senescence. Some of these terms, such as green bean syndrome and green stem syndrome, describe symptoms induced by biotic factors, while other terms describe symptoms associated with abiotic factors. Some delayed senescence terms involve the whole plant remaining green while other terms include just the stem and other plant parts such as pods. In the grower survey, 77% reported observing soybean plants or plant parts that remained green after most plants in the field were fully mature with ripe seed. Most respondents attributed these symptoms to changes in breeding and choice of cultivars. At the end of this article, we standardized the terms used to describe delayed senescence in soybean
Characterizing the limitations to the coupling between Saturn's ionosphere and middle magnetosphere
Bacterial porin disrupts mitochondrial membrane potential and sensitizes host cells to apoptosis
The bacterial PorB porin, an ATP-binding beta-barrel protein of pathogenic Neisseria gonorrhoeae, triggers host cell apoptosis by an unknown mechanism. PorB is targeted to and imported by host cell mitochondria, causing the breakdown of the mitochondrial membrane potential (delta psi m). Here, we show that PorB induces the condensation of the mitochondrial matrix and the loss of cristae structures, sensitizing cells to the induction of apoptosis via signaling pathways activated by BH3-only proteins. PorB is imported into mitochondria through the general translocase TOM but, unexpectedly, is not recognized by the SAM sorting machinery, usually required for the assembly of beta-barrel proteins in the mitochondrial outer membrane. PorB integrates into the mitochondrial inner membrane, leading to the breakdown of delta psi m. The PorB channel is regulated by nucleotides and an isogenic PorB mutant defective in ATP-binding failed to induce delta psi m loss and apoptosis, demonstrating that dissipation of delta psi m is a requirement for cell death caused by neisserial infection
The Tides They Are A-Changin': A Comprehensive Review of Past and Future Nonastronomical Changes in Tides, Their Driving Mechanisms, and Future Implications:A comprehensive review of past and future non‐astronomical changes in tides, their driving mechanisms and future implications
Scientists and engineers have observed for some time that tidal amplitudes at many locations are shifting considerably due to non-astronomical factors. Here we review comprehensively these important changes in tidal properties, many of which remain poorly understood. Over long geological time-scales, tectonic processes drive variations in basin size, depth, and shape, and hence the resonant properties of ocean basins. On shorter geological time-scales, changes in oceanic tidal properties are dominated by variations in water depth. A growing number of studies have identified widespread, sometimes regionally-coherent, positive and negative trends in tidal constituents and levels during the 19th, 20th and early 21st centuries. Determining the causes is challenging because a tide measured at a coastal gauge integrates the effects of local, regional, and oceanic changes. Here, we highlight six main factors that can cause changes in measured tidal statistics on local scales, and a further eight possible regional/global driving mechanisms. Since only a few studies have combined observations and models, or modelled at a temporal/spatial resolution capable of resolving both ultra-local and large-scale global changes, the individual contributions from local and regional mechanisms remain uncertain. Nonetheless, modelling studies project that sea-level rise and climate change will continue to alter tides over the next several centuries, with regionally coherent modes of change caused by alterations to coastal morphology and ice sheet extent. Hence, a better understanding of the causes and consequences of tidal variations is needed to help assess the implications for coastal defense, risk assessment, and ecological change
Human Movement Is Both Diffusive and Directed
Understanding the influence of the built environment on human movement requires quantifying spatial structure in a general sense. Because of the difficulty of this task, studies of movement dynamics often ignore spatial heterogeneity and treat movement through journey lengths or distances alone. This study analyses public bicycle data from central London to reveal that, although journey distances, directions, and frequencies of occurrence are spatially variable, their relative spatial patterns remain largely constant, suggesting the influence of a fixed spatial template. A method is presented to describe this underlying space in terms of the relative orientation of movements toward, away from, and around locations of geographical or cultural significance. This produces two fields: one of convergence and one of divergence, which are able to accurately reconstruct the observed spatial variations in movement. These two fields also reveal categorical distinctions between shorter journeys merely serving diffusion away from significant locations, and longer journeys intentionally serving transport between spatially distinct centres of collective importance. Collective patterns of human movement are thus revealed to arise from a combination of both diffusive and directed movement, with aggregate statistics such as mean travel distances primarily determined by relative numbers of these two kinds of journeys
Measurements of the Branching Fractions and Helicity Amplitudes in B --> D* rho Decays
Using 9.1 fb-1 of e+ e- data collected at the Upsilon(4S) with the CLEO
detector using the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, measurements are reported for
both the branching fractions and the helicity amplitudes for the decays B- ->
D*0 rho- and B0bar -> D*+ rho-. The fraction of longitudinal polarization in
B0bar -> D*+ rho- is found to be consistent with that in B0bar -> D*+ l- nubar
at q^2 = M^2_rho, indicating that the factorization approximation works well.
The longitudinal polarization in the B- mode is similar. The measurements also
show evidence of non-trivial final-state interaction phases for the helicity
amplitudes.Comment: 11 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, submitted to PR
Measurement of the B-Meson Inclusive Semileptonic Branching Fraction and Electron-Energy Moments
We report a new measurement of the B-meson semileptonic decay momentum
spectrum that has been made with a sample of 9.4/fb of electron-positron
annihilation data collected with the CLEO II detector at the Y(4S) resonance.
Electrons from primary semileptonic decays and secondary charm decays were
separated by using charge and angular correlations in Y(4S) events with a
high-momentum lepton and an additional electron. We determined the semileptonic
branching fraction to be (10.91 +- 0.09 +- 0.24)% from the normalization of the
electron-energy spectrum. We also measured the moments of the electron energy
spectrum with minimum energies from 0.6 GeV to 1.5 GeV.Comment: 36 pages postscript, als available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/, Submitted to PRD (back-to-back with
preceding preprint hep-ex/0403052
Search for Lepton-Flavor-Violating Decays of B Mesons
We have searched a sample of 9.6 million BB-bar events for the
lepton-flavor-violating decays B --> h e^{+-} mu^{-+}, B^+ --> h^- e^+ e^+, B^+
--> h^- e^+ mu^+, and B^+ --> h^- mu^+ mu^+, where h is pi, K, rho, and
K*(892), a total of sixteen modes. We find no evidence for these decays, and
place 90% confidence level upper limits on their branching fractions that range
from 1.0 to 8.3 X 10^{-6}.Comment: 8 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, PRD R
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