1,499 research outputs found
An assessment of the antibacterial activity in larval excretion/secretion of four species of insects recorded in association with corpses, using Lucilia sericata Meigen as the marker species
The relative antibacterial activities of excretion/secretion (ES) from two carrion-feeding
insects, Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy and Dermestes maculatus
DeGeer, and a detritivore, Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus, were compared to that of
Lucilia sericata Meigen, a species with ES of known antibacterial capacity, in order
to explore the antimicrobial potential of other carrion and detritivore species.
Viable counts were used to assess time-kill of ES against five bacterial species,
Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and
Proteus mirabilis. Antibacterial activity was recorded in all four insect species
although T. molitor and D. maculatus were the most effective in controlling growth
of P. mirabilis. The blowflies were more effective in controlling a wider range of
both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The larval ES from all species was
shown to reduce bacterial growth rate although differences in antibacterial
spectrum were noted and the degree of potency varied between the four species.
These differences may be explained ecologically by the different colonisation times
of each insect species on the corpse. Overall, this study demonstrates that research
into other carrion-feeding insect species has potential to provide an increased
source of antimicrobial chemicals to broaden the range of bacterial species beyond
that currently controlled using L. sericata
Characterizing Multi-planet Systems with Classical Secular Theory
Classical secular theory can be a powerful tool to describe the qualitative
character of multi-planet systems and offer insight into their histories. The
eigenmodes of the secular behavior, rather than current orbital elements, can
help identify tidal effects, early planet-planet scattering, and dynamical
coupling among the planets, for systems in which mean-motion resonances do not
play a role. Although tidal damping can result in aligned major axes after all
but one eigenmode have damped away, such alignment may simply be fortuitous. An
example of this is 55 Cancri (orbital solution of Fischer et al., 2008) where
multiple eigenmodes remain undamped. Various solutions for 55 Cancri are
compared, showing differing dynamical groupings, with implications for the
coupling of eccentricities and for the partitioning of damping among the
planets. Solutions for orbits that include expectations of past tidal evolution
with observational data, must take into account which eigenmodes should be
damped, rather than expecting particular eccentricities to be near zero.
Classical secular theory is only accurate for low eccentricity values, but
comparison with other results suggests that it can yield useful qualitative
descriptions of behavior even for moderately large eccentricity values, and may
have advantages for revealing underlying physical processes and, as large
numbers of new systems are discovered, for triage to identify where more
comprehensive dynamical studies should have priority.Comment: Published in Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 25 pages,
10 figure
Local thermal equilibrium and ideal gas Stephani universes
The Stephani universes that can be interpreted as an ideal gas evolving in
local thermal equilibrium are determined. Five classes of thermodynamic schemes
are admissible, which give rise to five classes of regular models and three
classes of singular models. No Stephani universes exist representing an exact
solution to a classical ideal gas (one for which the internal energy is
proportional to the temperature). But some Stephani universes may approximate a
classical ideal gas at first order in the temperature: all of them are
obtained. Finally, some features about the physical behavior of the models are
pointed out.Comment: 20 page
Unit circle elliptic beta integrals
We present some elliptic beta integrals with a base parameter on the unit
circle, together with their basic degenerations.Comment: 15 pages; minor corrections, references updated, to appear in
Ramanujan
Sources of Differences in On-Orbit Total Solar Irradiance Measurements and Description of Proposed Laboratory Intercomparison
There is a 5 W/sq m (about 0.35 %) difference between current on-orbit Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) measurements. On 18-20 July 2005, a workshop was held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland that focused on understanding possible reasons for this difference, through an examination of the instrument designs, calibration approaches, and appropriate measurement equations. The instruments studied in that workshop included the Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor III (ACRIM III) on the Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor SATellite (ACRIMSAT), the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) on the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), the Variability of solar IRradiance and Gravity Oscillations (VIRGO) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) on the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS). Presentations for each instrument included descriptions of its design, its measurement equation and uncertainty budget, and the methods used to assess on-orbit degradation. The workshop also included a session on satellite- and ground-based instrument comparisons and a session on laboratory-based comparisons and the application of new laboratory comparison techniques. The workshop has led to investigations of the effects of diffraction and of aperture area measurements on the differences between instruments. In addition, a laboratory-based instrument comparison is proposed that uses optical power measurements (with lasers that underEll the apertures of the TSI instruments), irradiance measurements (with lasers that overfill the apertures of the TSI instrument), and a cryogenic electrical substitution radiometer as a standard for comparing the instruments. A summary of the workshop and an overview of the proposed research efforts are presented here
Constructing Hybrid Baryons with Flux Tubes
Hybrid baryon states are described in quark potential models as having
explicit excitation of the gluon degrees of freedom. Such states are described
in a model motivated by the strong coupling limit of Hamiltonian lattice gauge
theory, where three flux tubes meeting at a junction play the role of the glue.
The adiabatic approximation for the quark motion is used, and the flux tubes
and junction are modeled by beads which are attracted to each other and the
quarks by a linear potential, and vibrate in various string modes. Quantum
numbers and estimates of the energies of the lightest hybrid baryons are
provided.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX. Submitted to Physical Review Letter
The Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search
The detailed study of the exoplanetary systems HD189733 and HD209458 has
given rise to a wealth of exciting information on the physics of exoplanetary
atmospheres. To further our understanding of the make-up and processes within
these atmospheres we require a larger sample of bright transiting planets. We
have began a project to detect more bright transiting planets in the southern
hemisphere by utilising precision radial-velocity measurements. We have
observed a constrained sample of bright, inactive and metal-rich stars using
the HARPS instrument and here we present the current status of this project,
along with our first discoveries which include a brown dwarf/extreme-Jovian
exoplanet found in the brown dwarf desert region around the star HD191760 and
improved orbits for three other exoplanetary systems HD48265, HD143361 and
HD154672. Finally, we briefly discuss the future of this project and the
current prospects we have for discovering more bright transiting planets.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the conference proceedings "New
Technologies for Probing the Diversity of Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanets"
Shanghai 200
The 3D Structure of N132D in the LMC: A Late-Stage Young Supernova Remnant
We have used the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) on the 2.3m telescope at
Siding Spring Observatory to map the [O III] 5007{\AA} dynamics of the young
oxygen-rich supernova remnant N132D in the Large Magellanic Cloud. From the
resultant data cube, we have been able to reconstruct the full 3D structure of
the system of [O III] filaments. The majority of the ejecta form a ring of
~12pc in diameter inclined at an angle of 25 degrees to the line of sight. We
conclude that SNR N132D is approaching the end of the reverse shock phase
before entering the fully thermalized Sedov phase of evolution. We speculate
that the ring of oxygen-rich material comes from ejecta in the equatorial plane
of a bipolar explosion, and that the overall shape of the SNR is strongly
influenced by the pre-supernova mass loss from the progenitor star. We find
tantalizing evidence of a polar jet associated with a very fast oxygen-rich
knot, and clear evidence that the central star has interacted with one or more
dense clouds in the surrounding ISM.Comment: Accepted for Publication in Astrophysics & Space Science, 18pp, 8
figure
Kaon-Nucleon Scattering Amplitudes and Z-Enhancements from Quark Born Diagrams
We derive closed form kaon-nucleon scattering amplitudes using the ``quark
Born diagram" formalism, which describes the scattering as a single interaction
(here the OGE spin-spin term) followed by quark line rearrangement. The low
energy I=0 and I=1 S-wave KN phase shifts are in reasonably good agreement with
experiment given conventional quark model parameters. For Gev
however the I=1 elastic phase shift is larger than predicted by Gaussian
wavefunctions, and we suggest possible reasons for this discrepancy. Equivalent
low energy KN potentials for S-wave scattering are also derived. Finally we
consider OGE forces in the related channels K, KN and K,
and determine which have attractive interactions and might therefore exhibit
strong threshold enhancements or ``Z-molecule" meson-baryon bound states.
We find that the minimum-spin, minimum-isospin channels and two additional
K channels are most conducive to the formation of bound states.
Related interesting topics for future experimental and theoretical studies of
KN interactions are also discussed.Comment: 34 pages, figures available from the authors, revte
Evidence for the fourth P11 resonance predicted by the constituent quark model
It is pointed out that the third of five low-lying P11 states predicted by a
constituent quark model can be identified with the third of four states in a
solution from a three-channel analysis by the Zagreb group. This is one of the
so-called ``missing'' resonances, predicted at 1880 MeV. The fit of the Zagreb
group to the pi N -> eta N data is the crucial element in finding this fourth
resonance in the P11 partial wave.Comment: 8 pages, revtex; expanded acknowledgement
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