238 research outputs found
The chemical equilibration volume: measuring the degree of thermalization
We address the issue of the degree of equilibrium achieved in a high energy
heavy-ion collision. Specifically, we explore the consequences of incomplete
strangeness chemical equilibrium. This is achieved over a volume V of the order
of the strangeness correlation length and is assumed to be smaller than the
freeze-out volume. Probability distributions of strange hadrons emanating from
the system are computed for varying sizes of V and simple experimental
observables based on these are proposed. Measurements of such observables may
be used to estimate V and as a result the degree of strangeness chemical
equilibration achieved. This sets a lower bound on the degree of kinetic
equilibrium. We also point out that a determination of two-body correlations or
second moments of the distributions are not sufficient for this estimation.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, revtex
Stream Microbial Communities Show Resistance to Pharmaceutical Exposure
Residues of pharmaceuticals are increasingly detected in surface waters throughout the world. In four streams in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, we detected analgesics, stimulants, antihistamines, and antibiotics using passive organic samplers. We exposed biofilm communities in these streams to the common drugs caffeine, cimetidine, ciprofloxacin, and diphenhydramine. Respiration rates in the least urban stream were suppressed when exposed to these drugs, but biofilm functioning in the most urban stream was resistant to drug exposure. Exposure to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin altered bacterial community composition at all sites, with the greatest change occurring in the most urban stream. These results indicated that continuous exposure to drugs in urban streams may select for subâpopulations of highly resistant bacteria that maintain community function in response to urban contaminants
Urban stream microbial communities show resistance to pharmaceutical exposure
Residues of pharmaceuticals are increasingly detected in surface waters throughout the world. In four streams in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, we detected analgesics, stimulants, antihistamines, and antibiotics using passive organic samplers. We exposed biofilm communities in these streams to the common drugs caffeine, cimetidine, ciprofloxacin, and diphenhydramine. Respiration rates in the least urban stream were suppressed when exposed to these drugs, but biofilm functioning in the most urban stream was resistant to drug exposure. Exposure to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin altered bacterial community composition at all sites, with the greatest change occurring in the most urban stream. These results indicated that continuous exposure to drugs in urban streams may select for sub-populations of highly resistant bacteria that maintain community function in response to urban contaminants
Chemical equilibration and thermal dilepton production from the quark gluon plasma at finite baryon density
The chemical equilibration of a highly unsaturated quark-gluon plasma has
been studied at finite baryon density. It is found that in the presence of
small amount of baryon density, the chemical equilibration for gluon becomes
slower and the temperature decreases less steeply as compared to the baryon
free plasma. As a result, the space time integrated yield of dilepton is
enhanced if the initial temperature of the plasma is held fixed. Even at a
fixed initial energy density, the suppression of the dilepton yields at higher
baryo-chemical potential is compensated, to a large extent, by the slow cooling
of the plasma.Comment: Latex, 19 pages, 8 postscript figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
The Ter-Mikayelian Effect on QCD Radiative Energy Loss
The color dielectric modification of the gluon dispersion relation in a dense
QCD medium suppresses both the soft and collinear gluon radiation associated
with jet production. We compute both the longitudinal and transverse plasmon
contributions to the zeroth order in opacity radiative energy loss. This QCD
analog of the Ter-Mikayelian effect in QED leads to reduction of the
energy loss of high transverse momentum charm quarks produced in a QCD plasma
with a characteristic Debye mass GeV.Comment: 18 Pages, 16 Figure
Trapped and excited w modes of stars with a phase transition and R>=5M
The trapped -modes of stars with a first order phase transition (a density
discontinuity) are computed and the excitation of some of the modes of these
stars by a perturbing shell is investigated. Attention is restricted to odd
parity (``axial'') -modes. With the radius of the star, its mass,
the radius of the inner core and the mass of such core, it is
shown that stars with can have several trapped -modes, as long
as . Excitation of the least damped -mode is confirmed for
a few models. All of these stars can only exist however, for values of the
ratio between the densities of the two phases, greater than . We also
show that stars with a phase transition and a given value of can have far
more trapped modes than a homogeneous single density star with the same value
of , provided both and are smaller than 3. If the
phase transition is very fast, most of the stars with trapped modes are
unstable to radial oscillations. We compute the time of instability, and find
it to be comparable to the damping of the -mode excited in most cases where
-mode excitation is likely. If on the other hand the phase transition is
slow, all the stars are stable to radial oscillations.Comment: To appear in Physical Review
Narrow genetic base in forest restoration with holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) in Sicily
In order to empirically assess the effect of actual seed sampling strategy on
genetic diversity of holm oak (Quercus ilex) forestations in Sicily, we have
analysed the genetic composition of two seedling lots (nursery stock and
plantation) and their known natural seed origin stand by means of six nuclear
microsatellite loci. Significant reduction in genetic diversity and significant
difference in genetic composition of the seedling lots compared to the seed
origin stand were detected. The female and the total effective number of
parents were quantified by means of maternity assignment of seedlings and
temporal changes in allele frequencies. Extremely low effective maternity
numbers were estimated (Nfe 2-4) and estimates accounting for both
seed and pollen donors gave also low values (Ne 35-50). These values
can be explained by an inappropriate forestry seed harvest strategy limited to
a small number of spatially close trees
Midgut microbiota of the malaria mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae and Interactions with plasmodium falciparum Infection
The susceptibility of Anopheles mosquitoes to Plasmodium infections relies on complex interactions between the insect vector and the malaria parasite. A number of studies have shown that the mosquito innate immune responses play an important role in controlling the malaria infection and that the strength of parasite clearance is under genetic control, but little is known about the influence of environmental factors on the transmission success. We present here evidence that the composition of the vector gut microbiota is one of the major components that determine the outcome of mosquito infections. A. gambiae mosquitoes collected in natural breeding sites from Cameroon were experimentally challenged with a wild P. falciparum isolate, and their gut bacterial content was submitted for pyrosequencing analysis. The meta-taxogenomic approach revealed a broader richness of the midgut bacterial flora than previously described. Unexpectedly, the majority of bacterial species were found in only a small proportion of mosquitoes, and only 20 genera were shared by 80% of individuals. We show that observed differences in gut bacterial flora of adult mosquitoes is a result of breeding in distinct sites, suggesting that the native aquatic source where larvae were grown determines the composition of the midgut microbiota. Importantly, the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae in the mosquito midgut correlates significantly with the Plasmodium infection status. This striking relationship highlights the role of natural gut environment in parasite transmission. Deciphering microbe-pathogen interactions offers new perspectives to control disease transmission.Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD); French Agence Nationale pour la Recherche [ANR-11-BSV7-009-01]; European Community [242095, 223601]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Effect of pre-existing baryon inhomogeneities on the dynamics of quark-hadron transition
Baryon number inhomogeneities may be generated during the epoch when the
baryon asymmetry of the universe is produced, e.g. at the electroweak phase
transition. The regions with excess baryon number will have a lower temperature
than the background temperature of the universe. Also the value of the quark
hadron transition temperature will be different in these regions as
compared to the background region. Since a first-order quark hadron transition
is very susceptible to small changes in temperature, we investigate the effect
of the presence of such baryonic lumps on the dynamics of quark-hadron
transition. We find that the phase transition is delayed in these lumps for
significant overdensities. Consequently, we argue that baryon concentration in
these regions grows by the end of the transition. We briefly discuss some
models which may give rise to such high overdensities at the onset of the
quark-hadron transition.Comment: 16 pages, no figures, minor changes, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
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