336 research outputs found
Dr. Margaret Wragg Sloss: The Past and Future of Women in Veterinary Medicine
Margaret Wragg Sloss always liked to begin her lectures with a joke-like this one. The city boy came to visit his country cousin and found him in the barn milking a big cow and holding the pail between his legs. \u27Come in,\u27 he said. \u27Would you like to learn how to milk a cow? I\u27ll show you.\u27 The city boy hesitated, then replied, \u27Gee, thanks, but could I start with a calf
Rate limitation within a single enzyme is directly related to enzyme intermediate levels.
AbstractThe extents to which different rate constants limit the steady-state rate of an isolated enzyme can be quantified as the control coefficients of those constants and elemental steps. We have found that the sum of the control coefficients of rate constants characterising unidirectional rates depleting a particular enzyme intermediate is equal to the concentration of that enzyme intermediate as a fraction of the total enzyme concentration. Together with simple measurements this powerful relation may be used (i) to estimate certain enzyme intermediate levels, in particular the free enzyme concentration, and (ii) to estimate the control coefficients of rate constants and steps
Weak Interaction Rates Of sd-Shell Nuclei In Stellar Environment Calculated in the Proton-Neutron Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation
Allowed weak interaction rates for sd-shell nuclei in stellar environment are
calculated using a generalized form of proton-neutron quasiparticle RPA model
with separable Gamow-Teller forces. Twelve different weak rates are calculated
for each nucleus as a function of temperature and density. This project
consists of calculation of weak rates for a total of 709 nuclei with masses
ranging from A = 18 to 100. This paper contains calculated weak rates for
sd-shell nuclei. The calculated capture and decay rates take into consideration
the latest experimental energy levels and ft value compilations. The results
are also compared with earlier works. Particle emission processes from excited
states, previously ignored, are taken into account, and are found to
significantly affect some beta decay rates.Comment: 64 pages, 17 figures, rate tables are presented in an abbreviated
form to save space. Complete rate tables can be seen in the original pape
Peculiarities of the stochastic motion in antiferromagnetic nanoparticles
Antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials are widely used in spintronic devices as
passive elements (for stabilization of ferromangetic layers) and as active
elements (for information coding). In both cases switching between the
different AFM states depends in a great extent from the environmental noise. In
the present paper we derive the stochastic Langevin equations for an AFM vector
and corresponding Fokker-Planck equation for distribution function in the phase
space of generalised coordinate and momentum. Thermal noise is modeled by a
random delta-correlated magnetic field that interacts with the dynamic
magnetisation of AFM particle. We analyse in details a particular case of the
collinear compensated AFM in the presence of spin-polarised current. The energy
distribution function for normal modes in the vicinity of two equilibrium
states (static and stationary) in sub- and super-critical regimes is found. It
is shown that the noise-induced dynamics of AFM vector has pecuilarities
compared to that of magnetisation vector in ferromagnets.Comment: Submitted to EPJ ST, presented at the 4-th Conference on Statistical
Physics, Lviv, Ukraine, 201
DNA methylation in insects
Cytosine DNA methylation has been demonstrated in numerous eukaryotic organisms and has been shown to play an important role in human disease. The function of DNA methylation has been studied extensively in vertebrates, but establishing its primary role has proved difficult and controversial. Analysing methylation in insects has indicated an apparent functional diversity that seems to argue against a strict functional conservation. To investigate this hypothesis, we here assess the data reported in four different insect species in which DNA methylation has been analysed more thoroughly: the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the cabbage moth Mamestra brassicae, the peach-potato aphid Myzus persicae and the mealybug Planococcus citri
A Planck-scale axion and SU(2) Yang-Mills dynamics: Present acceleration and the fate of the photon
From the time of CMB decoupling onwards we investigate cosmological evolution
subject to a strongly interacting SU(2) gauge theory of Yang-Mills scale
eV (masquerading as the factor of the SM at
present). The viability of this postulate is discussed in view of cosmological
and (astro)particle physics bounds. The gauge theory is coupled to a spatially
homogeneous and ultra-light (Planck-scale) axion field. As first pointed out by
Frieman et al., such an axion is a viable candidate for quintessence, i.e.
dynamical dark energy, being associated with today's cosmological acceleration.
A prediction of an upper limit for the duration of the
epoch stretching from the present to the point where the photon starts to be
Meissner massive is obtained: billion years.Comment: v3: consequences of an error in evolution equation for coupling
rectified, only a minimal change in physics results, two refs. adde
Quantum Criticality via Magnetic Branes
Holographic methods are used to investigate the low temperature limit,
including quantum critical behavior, of strongly coupled 4-dimensional gauge
theories in the presence of an external magnetic field, and finite charge
density. In addition to the metric, the dual gravity theory contains a Maxwell
field with Chern-Simons coupling. In the absence of charge, the magnetic field
induces an RG flow to an infrared AdS geometry, which is
dual to a 2-dimensional CFT representing strongly interacting fermions in the
lowest Landau level. Two asymptotic Virasoro algebras and one chiral Kac-Moody
algebra arise as {\sl emergent symmetries} in the IR. Including a nonzero
charge density reveals a quantum critical point when the magnetic field reaches
a critical value whose scale is set by the charge density. The critical theory
is probed by the study of long-distance correlation functions of the boundary
stress tensor and current. All quantities of major physical interest in this
system, such as critical exponents and scaling functions, can be computed
analytically. We also study an asymptotically AdS system whose magnetic
field induced quantum critical point is governed by a IR Lifshitz geometry,
holographically dual to a D=2+1 field theory. The behavior of these holographic
theories shares important similarities with that of real world quantum critical
systems obtained by tuning a magnetic field, and may be relevant to materials
such as Strontium Ruthenates.Comment: To appear in Lect. Notes Phys. "Strongly interacting matter in
magnetic fields" (Springer), edited by D. Kharzeev, K. Landsteiner, A.
Schmitt, H.-U. Ye
Interacting New Agegraphic Dark Energy in a Cyclic Universe
The main goal of this work is investigation of NADE in the cyclic universe
scenario. Since, cyclic universe is explained by a phantom phase (),
it is shown when there is no interaction between matter and dark energy, ADE
and NADE do not produce a phantom phase, then can not describe cyclic universe.
Therefore, we study interacting models of ADE and NADE in the modified
Friedmann equation. We find out that, in the high energy regime, which it is a
necessary part of cyclic universe evolution, only NADE can describe this
phantom phase era for cyclic universe. Considering deceleration parameter tells
us that the universe has a deceleration phase after an acceleration phase, and
NADE is able to produce a cyclic universe. Also it is found valuable to study
generalized second law of thermodynamics. Since the loop quantum correction is
taken account in high energy regime, it may not be suitable to use standard
treatment of thermodynamics, so we turn our attention to the result of
\citep{29}, which the authors have studied thermodynamics in loop quantum
gravity, and we show that which condition can satisfy generalized second law of
thermodynamics.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Mating ecology explains patterns of genome elimination
This research has been supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship (AG), a Royal Society Newton International Fellowship (LR) and two NERC Independent Research Fellowships (AG & LR).Genome elimination – whereby an individual discards chromosomes inherited from one parent, and transmits only those inherited from the other parent – is found across thousands of animal species. It is more common in association with inbreeding, under male heterogamety, in males, and in the form of paternal genome elimination. However, the reasons for this broad pattern remain unclear. We develop a mathematical model to determine how degree of inbreeding, sex determination, genomic location, pattern of gene expression and parental origin of the eliminated genome interact to determine the fate of genome-elimination alleles. We find that: inbreeding promotes paternal genome elimination in the heterogametic sex; this may incur population extinction under female heterogamety, owing to eradication of males; and extinction is averted under male heterogamety, owing to countervailing sex-ratio selection. Thus, we explain the observed pattern of genome elimination. Our results highlight the interaction between mating system, sex-ratio selection and intragenomic conflict.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
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