Early History of the Wolf, Black Bear, and Mountain Lion in Arkansas

During the nineteenth century settlement of Arkansas, the red wolf (Canis rufos), black bear (Ursus americanus), and mourtain lion (Puma concolor) were not only the three largest and most dangerous predators, they also stirred the imaginations of explorers and settlers. References to these species appeared prominently in the journals of early explorers such as George W. Featherstonhaugh (1844) and Frederick Gerstaecker (1854), and their presence inspired voluminous collections of stories and tall tales. Black bears were so common that a large trade developed in pelts, oil, and other body parts, and Arkansas became commonly known as The Bear State. Wolves and mountain lions also were common and were despised for their suspected predation on livestock and their threat to human life. As a result, the General Assembly of the Arkansas Legislature enacted laws that provided bounties for killing these animals. The species were overexploited, and all three nearly were extirpated from the state by the 1920s- 1930s. A stable bear population has now been restored (due to a restoration program in the White River National Wildlife Refuge and re-stocking programs in the Interior Highlands undertaken by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission), the red wolf is considered to be extinct from the state, and the status of the mountain lion is uncertain

The D/H Ratio in Interstellar Gas Towards G191-B2B

We reinvestigate the question of spatial variation of the local D/H abundance, using both archival GHRS spectra, and new echelle spectra of G191-B2B obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) aboard HST. Our analysis uses stratified line-blanketed non-LTE model atmosphere calculations to determine the shape of the intrinsic WD Lyman-alpha profile and estimate the WD photospheric contamination of the interstellar lines. Although three velocity components were reported previously towards G191-B2B, we detect only two velocity components. The first component is at V(hel) ~ 8.6 km/s and the second at V(hel) ~ 19.3 km/s, which we identify with the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC). From the STIS data we derive D/H = 1.60(+0.39,-0.27)X10^-5 for the LIC component, and D/H > 1.26X10^-5 for the 8.6 km/s component (uncertainties denote 2-sigma or 95% confidence limits). The STIS data provide no evidence for local or component-to-component variation in the D/H ratio. Despite using two velocity components for the profile fitting and using a more physically realistic WD Lyman-alpha profile for G191-B2B, our re-analysis of the GHRS data indicates a component-to-component variation as well as a variation of the D/H ratio in the LISM, neither of which are supported by the newer STIS data. We believe the most probable cause for this difference is the characterization of the background due to scattered light in the GHRS and STIS spectrographs. The two-dimensional MAMA detectors of STIS measure both the spatial and wavelength dependences of scattered light, allowing more accurate scattered light corrections than was possible with GHRS.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters. 10 pages + 3 figures. (Abstract is abridged.

Phases of asymmetric nuclear matter with broken space symmetries

Isoscalar Cooper pairing in isospin asymmetric nuclear matter occurs between states populating two distinct Fermi surfaces, each for neutrons and protons. The transition from a BCS-like to the normal (unpaired) state, as the isospin asymmetry is increased, is intervened by superconducting phases which spontaneously break translational and rotational symmetries. One possibility is the formation of a condensate with a periodic crystallinelike structure where Cooper pairs carry net momentum (the nuclear Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell-phase). Alternatively, perturbations of the Fermi surfaces away from spherical symmetry allow for minima in the condensate free energy which correspond to a states with quadrupole deformations of Fermi surfaces and zero momentum of the Cooper pairs. In a combined treatment of these phases we show that, although the Cooper pairing with finite momentum might arise as a local minimum, the lowest energy state features are deformed Fermi surfaces and Cooper pairs with vanishing total momentum.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, RevTex; v2: matches published version; v3: changes in the frontmatter, content unchange

Acute Ethanol Administration Rapidly Increases Phosphorylation of Conventional Protein Kinase C in Specific Mammalian Brain Regions in Vivo

Background Protein kinase C (PKC) is a family of isoenzymes that regulate a variety of functions in the central nervous system including neurotransmitter release, ion channel activity, and cell differentiation. Growing evidence suggests that specific isoforms of PKC influence a variety of behavioral, biochemical, and physiological effects of ethanol in mammals. The purpose of this study was to determine whether acute ethanol exposure alters phosphorylation of conventional PKC isoforms at a threonine 674 (p-cPKC) site in the hydrophobic domain of the kinase, which is required for its catalytic activity. Methods Male rats were administered a dose range of ethanol (0, 0.5, 1, or 2 g/kg, intragastric) and brain tissue was removed 10 minutes later for evaluation of changes in p-cPKC expression using immunohistochemistry and Western blot methods. Results Immunohistochemical data show that the highest dose of ethanol (2 g/kg) rapidly increases p-cPKC immunoreactivity specifically in the nucleus accumbens (core and shell), lateral septum, and hippocampus (CA3 and dentate gyrus). Western blot analysis further showed that ethanol (2 g/kg) increased p-cPKC expression in the P2 membrane fraction of tissue from the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus. Although p-cPKC was expressed in numerous other brain regions, including the caudate nucleus, amygdala, and cortex, no changes were observed in response to acute ethanol. Total PKC? immunoreactivity was surveyed throughout the brain and showed no change following acute ethanol injection

Search for exchange-antisymmetric two-photon states

Atomic two-photon J=0 $\leftrightarrow$J'=1 transitions are forbidden for photons of the same energy. This selection rule is related to the fact that photons obey Bose-Einstein statistics. We have searched for small violations of this selection rule by studying transitions in atomic Ba. We set a limit on the probability $v$ that photons are in exchange-antisymmetric states: $v<1.2\cdot10^{-7}$.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, ReVTeX and .eps. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. Revised version 9/25/9

Crystalline ground state in chiral Gross-Neveu and Cooper pair models at finite densities

We study the possibility of spatially non-uniform ground state in (1+1)-dimensional models with quartic fermi interactions at finite fermion densities by introducing chemical potential \mu. We examine the chiral Gross-Neveu model and the Cooper pair model as toy models of the chiral symmetry breaking and the difermion pair condensates which are presumed to exist in QCD. We confirm in the chiral Gross-Neveu model that the ground state has a crystalline structure in which the chiral condensate oscillates in space with wave number 2\mu. Whereas in the Cooper pair model we find that the vacuum structure is spatially uniform. Some discussions are given to explain this difference.Comment: 18 pages, REVTeX, 3 eps figure

The substrate lends a hand

Duramycin is a small post-translationally modified peptide with antibody-like affinity for phosphatidylethanolamine. As it turns out, the same functionality that is essential for duramycin activity helps to catalyze the formation of its conformationally constrained and compact polycyclic architecture

Opening the Crystalline Color Superconductivity Window

Cold dense quark matter is in a crystalline color superconducting phase wherever pairing occurs between species of quarks with chemical potentials whose difference \delta\mu lies within an appropriate window. If the interaction between quarks is modeled as point-like, this window is rather narrow. We show that when the interaction between quarks is modeled as single-gluon exchange, the window widens by about a factor of ten at accessible densities and by much larger factors at higher density. This striking enhancement reflects the increasingly (1+1)-dimensional nature of the physics at weaker and weaker coupling. Our results indicate that crystalline color superconductivity is a generic feature of the phase diagram of cold dense quark matter, occurring wherever one finds quark matter which is not in the color-flavor locked phase. If it occurs within the cores of compact stars, a crystalline color superconducting region may provide a new locus for glitch phenomena.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure

Infrared Properties of Cataclysmic Variables from 2MASS: Results from the 2nd Incremental Data Release

Because accretion-generated luminosity dominates the radiated energy of most cataclysmic variables, they have been ``traditionally'' observed primarily at short wavelengths. Infrared observations of cataclysmic variables contribute to the understanding of key system components that are expected to radiate at these wavelengths, such as the cool outer disk, accretion stream, and secondary star. We have compiled the J, H, and Ks photometry of all cataclysmic variables located in the sky coverage of the 2 Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) 2nd Incremental Data Release. This data comprises 251 systems with reliably identified near-IR counterparts and S/N > 10 photometry in one or more of the three near-IR bands.Comment: 2 pages, including 1 figure. To appear in the proceedings of The Physics of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects, Goettingen, Germany. For our followup ApJ paper (in press), also see http://www.ctio.noao.edu/~hoard/research/2mass/index.htm

Artificial coherent states of light by multi-photon interference in a single-photon stream

Coherent optical states consist of a quantum superposition of different photon number (Fock) states, but because they do not form an orthogonal basis, no photon number states can be obtained from it by linear optics. Here we demonstrate the reverse, by manipulating a random continuous single-photon stream using quantum interference in an optical Sagnac loop, we create engineered quantum states of light with tunable photon statistics, including approximate weak coherent states. We demonstrate this experimentally using a true single-photon stream produced by a semiconductor quantum dot in an optical microcavity, and show that we can obtain light with $g^{(2)}(0)\rightarrow1$ in agreement with our theory, which can only be explained by quantum interference of at least 3 photons. The produced artificial light states are, however, much more complex than coherent states, containing quantum entanglement of photons, making them a resource for multi-photon entanglement.Comment: 6 pages + supplemental materia