Navigation mechanisms of herring during feeding migration: the role of ecological gradients on an oceanic scale

The feeding migration of Norwegian spring-spawning herring was studied in relation to prey abundance and environmental factors that may affect their feeding migration. Temperature, salinity, chlorophyll a, nitrate concentration, abundance of Calanus finmarchicus, zooplankton biomass, acoustic data on herring and trawl samples were collected during four basin-scale surveys in the Norwegian Sea from April to August 1995. Herring abundance was positively associated with the overwintering population of C. finmarchicus. We suggest that spatial gradients and temporal dynamics of the seasonal ascent of the C. finmarchicus overwintering generation provide stimuli for and affect the feeding migration of herring. The clockwise migration pattern of herring, observed during the 1990s, can be explained by delayed ascent and development of C. finmarchicus toward the west and north in the Norwegian Sea. We further suggest that herring leave a specific area before their zooplankton prey is depleted. The first generation of C. finmarchicus likely has a minor influence in directing the herring feeding migration due to the low abundance of older stages available as prey. The feeding migration was constantly directed toward colder water, and temperature probably has a secondary effect on herring distribution

Unifying Magnons and Triplons in Stripe-Ordered Cuprate Superconductors

Based on a two-dimensional model of coupled two-leg spin ladders, we derive a unified picture of recent neutron scattering data of stripe-ordered La_(15/8)Ba_(1/8)CuO_4, namely of the low-energy magnons around the superstructure satellites and of the triplon excitations at higher energies. The resonance peak at the antiferromagnetic wave vector Q_AF in the stripe-ordered phase corresponds to a saddle point in the dispersion of the magnetic excitations. Quantitative agreement with the neutron data is obtained for J= 130-160 meV and J_cyc/J = 0.2-0.25.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures included updated version taking new data into account; factor in spectral weight corrected; Figs. 2 and 4 change

Doping, density of states and conductivity in polypyrrole and poly(p-phenylene vinylene)

The evolution of the density of states (DOS) and conductivity as function of well controlled doping levels in OC_1C_10-poly(p-phenylene vinylene) [OC_1C_10-PPV] doped by FeCl_3 and PF_6, and PF_6 doped polypyrrole (PPy-PF_6 have been investigated. At a doping level as high as 0.2 holes per monomer, the former one remains non-metallic, while the latter crosses the metal-insulator transition. In both systems a similar almost linear increase in DOS as function of charges per unit volume c* has been observed from the electrochemical gated transistor data. In PPy-PF_6, when compared to doped OC_1C_10-PPV, the energy states filled at low doping are closer to the vacuum level; by the higher c* at high doping more energy states are available, which apparently enables the conduction to change to metallic. Although both systems on the insulating side show log(sigma) proportional to T^-1/4 as in variable range hopping, for highly doped PPy-PF_6 the usual interpretation of the hopping parameters leads to seemingly too high values for the density of states.Comment: 4 pages (incl. 6 figures) in Phys. Rev.

Requirement of a Plasmid-Encoded Catalase for Survival of \u3cem\u3eRhizobium etli\u3c/em\u3e CFN42 in a Polyphenol-Rich Environment

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria collectively called rhizobia are adapted to live in polyphenol-rich environments. The mechanisms that allow these bacteria to overcome toxic concentrations of plant polyphenols have not been clearly elucidated. We used a crude extract of polyphenols released from the seed coat of the black bean to simulate a polyphenol-rich environment and analyze the response of the bean-nodulating strain Rhizobium etli CFN42. Our results showed that the viability of the wild type as well as that of derivative strains cured of plasmids p42a, p42b, p42c, and p42d or lacking 200 kb of plasmid p42e was not affected in this environment. In contrast, survival of the mutant lacking plasmid p42f was severely diminished. Complementation analysis revealed that the katG gene located on this plasmid, encoding the only catalase present in this bacterium, restored full resistance to testa polyphenols. Our results indicate that oxidation of polyphenols due to interaction with bacterial cells results in the production of a high quantity of H2O2, whose removal by the katG-encoded catalase plays a key role for cell survival in a polyphenol-rich environment

High-bias stability of monatomic chains

For the metals Au, Pt and Ir it is possible to form freely suspended monatomic chains between bulk electrodes. The atomic chains sustain very large current densities, but finally fail at high bias. We investigate the breaking mechanism, that involves current-induced heating of the atomic wires and electromigration forces. We find good agreement of the observations for Au based on models due to Todorov and coworkers. The high-bias breaking of atomic chains for Pt can also be described by the models, although here the parameters have not been obtained independently. In the limit of long chains the breaking voltage decreases inversely proportional to the length.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Density of states and magnetoconductance of disordered Au point contacts

We report the first low temperature magnetotransport measurements on electrochemically fabricated atomic scale gold nanojunctions. As $T \to 0$, the junctions exhibit nonperturbatively large zero bias anomalies (ZBAs) in their differential conductance. We consider several explanations and find that the ZBAs are consistent with a reduced local density of states (LDOS) in the disordered metal. We suggest that this is a result of Coulomb interactions in a granular metal with moderate intergrain coupling. Magnetoconductance of atomic scale junctions also differs significantly from that of less geometrically constrained devices, and supports this explanation.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Accepted to PRB as Brief Repor

Shot noise suppression in multimode ballistic Fermi conductors

We have derived a general formula describing current noise in multimode ballistic channels connecting source and drain electrodes with Fermi electron gas. In particular (at $eV\gg k_{B}T$), the expression describes the nonequilibrium ''shot'' noise, which may be suppressed by both Fermi correlations and space charge screening. The general formula has been applied to an approximate model of a 2D nanoscale, ballistic MOSFET. At large negative gate voltages, when the density of electrons in the channel is small, shot noise spectral density $S_{I}(0)$ approaches the Schottky value $2eI$, where $I$ is the average current. However, at positive gate voltages, when the maximum potential energy in the channel is below the Fermi level of the electron source, the noise can be at least an order of magnitude smaller than the Schottky value, mostly due to Fermi effects.Comment: 4 page

The metallic state in disordered quasi-one-dimensional conductors

The unusual metallic state in conjugated polymers and single-walled carbon nanotubes is studied by dielectric spectroscopy (8--600 GHz). We have found an intriguing correlation between scattering time and plasma frequency. This relation excludes percolation models of the metallic state. Instead, the carrier dynamics can be understood in terms of the low density of delocalized states around the Fermi level, which arises from the competion between disorder-induced localization and interchain-interactions-induced delocalization.Comment: 4 pages including 4 figure

A Current Induced Transition in atomic-sized contacts of metallic Alloys

We have measured conductance histograms of atomic point contacts made from the noble-transition metal alloys CuNi, AgPd, and AuPt for a concentration ratio of 1:1. For all alloys these histograms at low bias voltage (below 300 mV) resemble those of the noble metals whereas at high bias (above 300 mV) they resemble those of the transition metals. We interpret this effect as a change in the composition of the point contact with bias voltage. We discuss possible explanations in terms of electromigration and differential diffusion induced by current heating.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Shot noise suppression at room temperature in atomic-scale Au junctions

Shot noise encodes additional information not directly inferable from simple electronic transport measurements. Previous measurements in atomic-scale metal junctions at cryogenic temperatures have shown suppression of the shot noise at particular conductance values. This suppression demonstrates that transport in these structures proceeds via discrete quantum channels. Using a high frequency technique, we simultaneously acquire noise data and conductance histograms in Au junctions at room temperature and ambient conditions. We observe noise suppression at up to three conductance quanta, with possible indications of current-induced local heating and $1/f$ noise in the contact region at high biases. These measurements demonstrate the quantum character of transport at room temperature at the atomic scale. This technique provides an additional tool for studying dissipation and correlations in nanodevices.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures + supporting information (6 pages, 6 figures