Spatially Resolved Mapping of Local Polarization Dynamics in an Ergodic Phase of Ferroelectric Relaxor

Spatial variability of polarization relaxation kinetics in relaxor ferroelectric 0.9Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.1PbTiO3 is studied using time-resolved Piezoresponse Force Microscopy. Local relaxation attributed to the reorientation of polar nanoregions is shown to follow stretched exponential dependence, exp(-(t/tau)^beta), with beta~~0.4, much larger than the macroscopic value determined from dielectric spectra (beta~~0.09). The spatial inhomogeneity of relaxation time distributions with the presence of 100-200 nm "fast" and "slow" regions is observed. The results are analyzed to map the Vogel-Fulcher temperatures on the nanoscale.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, supplementary materials attached; to be submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Chronic Endometritis in Subfertile Mares With Presence of Chlamydial DNA

When endometritis becomes chronic in mares, infertility can follow. Among various causative agents, many bacteria are involved, and mono- or mixed-infections are common. In our study, 50 mares with a previous history of subfertility were subjected to clinical and ultrasonographic examination of the reproductive tract, and samples were collected for cytology, histology, bacteriology, and polymerase chain reaction for Chlamydia spp detection. The aim of this work was to highlight the presence of Chlamydia abortus in chronic endometritis of subfertile mares. Endometrial chronic lesions were detected in five of six Chlamydia-positive animals

Field ultrasound evaluation of some gestational parameters in jennies

The aim of this study was to collect and analyze ultrasound measurements of fetal-maternal structures during normal and pathological pregnancies in jennies, a livestock species of growing interest. For two breeding seasons, 38 jennies of different breeds and crossbreeds aged between 3 and 18 years were monitored weekly by transrectal examination using a portable Esaote ultrasound (MyLab\u2122 30 GOLD VET) with a 5\u20137.5 MHz probe. The jennies were divided into two groups, < 250 kg and >250 kg body weight, and the dates of conception and parturition/abortion were recorded to calculate pregnancy length. Descriptive statistics were performed for the following variables: pregnancy length and maternal-fetal parameters (measurements of the orbit, gastric bubble, thorax, abdomen, gonads, heart rate, umbilical artery velocimetry, and combined utero-placental thickness). A total of 68 pregnancies were studied, 36 of which ended during the study period. The average pregnancy length was 370.82 \ub1 16.6 days for full-term pregnancies (N = 28, 77.8%) and 316.13 \ub1 36.6 days for abortions (N = 8, 22.2%). The season of conception and fetal gender did not affect the pregnancy length. Pregnancy examination can reasonably be performed by two weeks after last service if ovulation date is not known. The orbital diameter was the most reliable parameter for monitoring the physiological development of the embryo and fetus, and it was strongly related to the gestational age. No differences in fetal development were observed in relation to the mother's body weight. The combined utero-placental thickness was not associated with the gestational age and thickening and edema, frequently observed, were not associated with fetal pathologies

Structural Measurements for Enhanced MAV Flight

Our sense of touch allows us to feel the forces in our limbs when we walk, swim, or hold our arms out the window of a moving car. We anticipate this sense is key in the locomotion of natural flyers. Inspired by the sense of touch, the overall goal of this research is to develop techniques for the estimation of aerodynamic loads from structural measurements for flight control applications. We submit a general algorithm for the direct estimation of distributed steady loads over bodies from embedded noisy deformation-based measurements. The estimation algorithm is applied to a linearly elastic membrane test problem where three applied distributed loads are estimated using three measurement configurations with various amounts of noise. We demonstrate accurate load estimates with simple sensor configurations, despite noisy measurements. Online real-time aerodynamic load estimates may lead to flight control designs that improve the stability and agility of micro air vehicles

Analytical continuation of imaginary axis data for optical conductivity

We compare different methods for performing analytical continuation of spectral data from the imaginary time or frequency axis to the real frequency axis for the optical conductivity sigma(omega). We compare the maximum entropy (MaxEnt), singular value decomposition (SVD), sampling and Pade methods for analytical continuation. We also study two direct methods for obtaining sigma(0). For the MaxEnt approach we focus on a recent modification. The data are split up in batches, a separate MaxEnt calculation is done for each batch and the results are averaged. For the problems studied here, we find that typically the SVD, sampling and modified MaxEnt methods give comparable accuracy, while the Pade approximation is usually less reliable.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure