12,945 research outputs found
Endocrine disrupting effects on the nesting behaviour of male three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L
The analysis of patterns of temporal variability in the nesting behaviour of male threespined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) exposed to the synthetic oestrogen, 17β-ethinylestradiol, revealed immediate, but transient, treatment-related effects. Gluing frequency and time spent near nest were significantly reduced in exposed fish at the beginning of the experiment. The expression of these behaviours subsequently recovered and there was no effect of treatment on nest building success. The potential causes and implications of these findings are discussed
High-Velocity Features in Type Ia Supernova Spectra
We use a sample of 58 low-redshift (z <= 0.03) Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia)
having well-sampled light curves and spectra near maximum light to examine the
behaviour of high-velocity features (HVFs) in SN Ia spectra. We take advantage
of the fact that Si II 6355 is free of HVFs at maximum light in all SNe Ia,
allowing us to quantify the strength of HVFs by comparing the structure of
these two lines. We find that the average HVF strength increases with
decreasing light-curve decline rate, and rapidly declining SNe Ia (dm_15(B) >=
1.4 mag) show no HVFs in their maximum-light spectra. Comparison of HVF
strength to the light-curve colour of the SNe Ia in our sample shows no
evidence of correlation. We find a correlation of HVF strength with the
velocity of Si II 6355 at maximum light (v_Si), such that SNe Ia with lower
v_Si have stronger HVFs, while those SNe Ia firmly in the "high-velocity"
(i.e., v_Si >= 12,000 km/s) subclass exhibit no HVFs in their maximum-light
spectra. While v_Si and dm_15(B) show no correlation in the full sample of SNe
Ia, we find a significant correlation between these quantities in the subset of
SNe Ia having weak HVFs. In general, we find that slowly declining (low
dm_15(B)) SNe Ia, which are more luminous and more energetic than average SNe
Ia, tend to produce either high photospheric ejecta velocities (i.e., high
v_Si) or strong HVFs at maximum light, but not both. Finally, we examine the
evolution of HVF strength for a sample of SNe Ia having extensive pre-maximum
spectroscopic coverage and find significant diversity of the pre-maximum HVF
behaviour.Comment: Version accepted by MNRA
Baryon Electromagnetic Properties in Partially Quenched Heavy Hadron Chiral Perturbation Theory
The electromagnetic properties of baryons containing a heavy quark are
calculated at next-to-leading order in partially quenched heavy hadron chiral
perturbation theory. Calculations are performed for three light flavors in the
isospin limit and additionally for two light non-degenerate flavors. We use
partially-quenched charge matrices that are easy to implement on the lattice.
The results presented are necessary for the light quark mass extrapolation and
zero-momentum extrapolation of lattice QCD and partially quenched lattice QCD
calculations of heavy hadron electromagnetic properties. Additionally relations
between the sextet electromagnetic form factors and transition form factors are
derived.Comment: 29 pages, 3 figures, RevTex
Distribution and Host Plants of \u3ci\u3eCorthylus Punctatissimus\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan
(excerpt)
The pitted ambrosia beetle. Corthylus punctatissimus Zimmerman, infests woody saplings and shrubs 14 mm in diameter or less. The beetle bores an entrance hole into the main stem at soil level and constructs a main gallery tunnel which generally spirals downward in the stem. Egg-niche construction is followed by inoculation of symbiotic fungi and oviposition. The main stem of the host tree wilts as a result of the girdling activity of the beetle. Finnegan (1967) described the life history of C. punctatissimus infesting Acer saccharum Marshall in Ontario and Quebec
Superconducting Junctions with Ferromagnetic, Antiferromagnetic or Charge-Density-Wave Interlayers
Spectra and spin structures of Andreev interface states and the Josephson
current are investigated theoretically in junctions between clean
superconductors (SC) with ordered interlayers. The Josephson current through
the ferromagnet-insulator-ferromagnet interlayer can exhibit a nonmonotonic
dependence on the misorientation angle. The characteristic behavior takes place
if the pi state is the equilibrium state of the junction in the particular case
of parallel magnetizations. We find a novel channel of quasiparticle reflection
(Q reflection) from the simplest two-sublattice antiferromagnet (AF) on a
bipartite lattice. As a combined effect of Andreev and Q reflections, Andreev
states arise at the AF/SC interface. When the Q reflection dominates the
specular one, Andreev bound states have almost zero energy on AF/ s-wave SC
interfaces, whereas they lie near the edge of the continuous spectrum for
AF/d-wave SC boundaries. For an s-wave SC/AF/s-wave SC junction, the bound
states are found to split and carry the supercurrent. Our analytical results
are based on a novel quasiclassical approach, which applies to interfaces
involving itinerant antiferromagnets. Similar effects can take place on
interfaces of superconductors with charge density wave materials (CDW),
including the possible d-density wave state (DDW) of the cuprates.Comment: LT24 conference proceeding, 2 pages, 1 figur
Dynamic Transformations of Genome-wide Epigenetic Marking and Transcriptional Control Establish T Cell Identity
T cell development comprises a stepwise process of commitment from a multipotent precursor. To define molecular mechanisms controlling this progression, we probed five stages spanning the commitment process using RNA-seq and ChIP-seq to track genome-wide shifts in transcription, cohorts of active transcription factor genes, histone modifications at diverse classes of cis-regulatory elements, and binding repertoire of GATA-3 and PU.1, transcription factors with complementary roles in T cell development. The results highlight potential promoter-distal cis-regulatory elements in play and reveal both activation sites and diverse mechanisms of repression that silence genes used in alternative lineages. Histone marking is dynamic and reversible, and though permissive marks anticipate, repressive marks often lag behind changes in transcription. In vivo binding of PU.1 and GATA-3 relative to epigenetic marking reveals distinctive factor-specific rules for recruitment of these crucial transcription factors to different subsets of their potential sites, dependent on dose and developmental context
Large Scale Anisotropy of Cosmic Rays and Directional Neutrino Signals from Galactic Sources
We investigate the neutrino - cosmic ray connection for sources in the Galaxy
in terms of two observables: the shape of the energy spectrum and the
distribution of arrival directions. We also study the associated gamma ray
emission from these sources.Comment: Proceedings of the 2nd Cosmic Ray Anisotropy Workshop, 26-28
September 2013, Madison, Wisconsin. To appear in IOP Conference Serie
Terrestrial Consequences of Spectral and Temporal Variability in Ionizing Photon Events
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) directed at Earth from within a few kpc may have
damaged the biosphere, primarily though changes in atmospheric chemistry which
admit greatly increased Solar UV. However, GRBs are highly variable in spectrum
and duration. Recent observations indicate that short (~0.1 s) burst GRBs,
which have harder spectra, may be sufficiently abundant at low redshift that
they may offer an additional significant effect. A much longer timescale is
associated with shock breakout luminosity observed in the soft X-ray (~10^3 s)
and UV (~10^5 s) emission, and radioactive decay gamma-ray line radiation
emitted during the light curve phase of supernovae (~10^7 s). Here we
generalize our atmospheric computations to include a broad range of peak photon
energies and investigate the effect of burst duration while holding total
fluence and other parameters constant. The results can be used to estimate the
probable impact of various kinds of ionizing events (such as short GRBs, X-ray
flashes, supernovae) upon the terrestrial atmosphere. We find that the ultimate
intensity of atmospheric effects varies only slightly with burst duration from
10^-1 s to 10^8 s. Therefore, the effect of many astrophysical events causing
atmospheric ionization can be approximated without including time development.
Detailed modeling requires specification of the season and latitude of the
event. Harder photon spectra produce greater atmospheric effects for spectra
with peaks up to about 20 MeV, because of greater penetration into the
stratosphere.Comment: 30 pages, to be published in ApJ. Replaced for conformity with
published version, including correction of minor typos and updated reference
Observations of the Habits of \u3ci\u3eCorthylus Punctatissimus\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) Infesting Maple Saplings in Central Michigan
Corthylus punctatissimus, the pitted ambrosia beetle, infested and killed maple saplings that were 3-12 years of age with a basal diameter of 4-14 mm. The habits of the parental pair of adults are described. The beetles construct a spiral gallery system with about five egg niches per host. Half the brood reaches adult stage during the summer with a sex ratio of 1:1. No relationship was found between the number of niches, length of gallery system, or diameter of stem
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