System for sterilizing objects

A system for producing a stream of humidified sterilizing gas for sterilizing objects such as the water systems of space vehicles and the like includes a source of sterilant gas which is fed to a mixing chamber which has inlet and outlet ports. The level of the water only partially fills the mixing chamber so as to provide an empty space adjacent the top of the chamber. A heater is provided for heating the water in the chamber so as to produce a humidified atmosphere. The sterilant gas is fed through an arcuate shaped tubular member connected to the inlet port of the mixing chamber for producing a vortex type of flow of sterilant gas into the chamber for humidification. A tubular member extends from the mixing chamber for supplying the humidified sterilant gas to the object for being sterilized. Scrubbers are provided for removing the sterilant gas after use

The `Periodic Nulls' of Radio Pulsar J1819+1305

We present a single-pulse study of the four-component pulsar J1819+1305, whose ``null'' pulses bunch at periodic intervals of around 57 times the rotation period. The emission bursts between the null bunches exhibit characteristic modulations at two shorter periodicities of approximately 6.2 and 3 times the rotation period, the former found largely in the two outer components, and the latter only in the first component. Many bursts commence with bright emission in second component, exhibit positive six-period drift across the full profile width, and end with 3-period modulation in the leading component. The 57-period cycle can be modelled geometrically as a sparsely filled subbeam carousel with nulls appearing whenever our line of sight intersects a circulating empty region. This interpretation is compatible with other recent evidence for periodic, carousel-related nulling and appears to support the physics of a polar-gap emission model for ``drifting'' subpulses, but the subtle structure of the emission bursts defies an easy explanation.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

Cas9 interrogates DNA in discrete steps modulated by mismatches and supercoiling.

The CRISPR-Cas9 nuclease has been widely repurposed as a molecular and cell biology tool for its ability to programmably target and cleave DNA. Cas9 recognizes its target site by unwinding the DNA double helix and hybridizing a 20-nucleotide section of its associated guide RNA to one DNA strand, forming an R-loop structure. A dynamic and mechanical description of R-loop formation is needed to understand the biophysics of target searching and develop rational approaches for mitigating off-target activity while accounting for the influence of torsional strain in the genome. Here we investigate the dynamics of Cas9 R-loop formation and collapse using rotor bead tracking (RBT), a single-molecule technique that can simultaneously monitor DNA unwinding with base-pair resolution and binding of fluorescently labeled macromolecules in real time. By measuring changes in torque upon unwinding of the double helix, we find that R-loop formation and collapse proceed via a transient discrete intermediate, consistent with DNA:RNA hybridization within an initial seed region. Using systematic measurements of target and off-target sequences under controlled mechanical perturbations, we characterize position-dependent effects of sequence mismatches and show how DNA supercoiling modulates the energy landscape of R-loop formation and dictates access to states competent for stable binding and cleavage. Consistent with this energy landscape model, in bulk experiments we observe promiscuous cleavage under physiological negative supercoiling. The detailed description of DNA interrogation presented here suggests strategies for improving the specificity and kinetics of Cas9 as a genome engineering tool and may inspire expanded applications that exploit sensitivity to DNA supercoiling

Full-time dynamics of modulational instability in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

We describe the full-time dynamics of modulational instability in F=1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensates for the case of the integrable three-component model associated with the matrix nonlinear Schroedinger equation. We obtain an exact homoclinic solution of this model by employing the dressing method which we generalize to the case of the higher-rank projectors. This homoclinic solution describes the development of modulational instability beyond the linear regime, and we show that the modulational instability demonstrates the reversal property when the growth of the modulation amplitude is changed by its exponential decay.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, text slightly extended, a reference adde

Network analysis identifies weak and strong links in a metapopulation system

The identification of key populations shaping the structure and connectivity of metapopulation systems is a major challenge in population ecology. The use of molecular markers in the theoretical framework of population genetics has allowed great advances in this field, but the prime question of quantifying the role of each population in the system remains unresolved. Furthermore, the use and interpretation of classical methods are still bounded by the need for a priori information and underlying assumptions that are seldom respected in natural systems. Network theory was applied to map the genetic structure in a metapopulation system by using microsatellite data from populations of a threatened seagrass, Posidonia oceanica, across its whole geographical range. The network approach, free from a priori assumptions and from the usual underlying hypotheses required for the interpretation of classical analyses, allows both the straightforward characterization of hierarchical population structure and the detection of populations acting as hubs critical for relaying gene flow or sustaining the metapopulation system. This development opens perspectives in ecology and evolution in general, particularly in areas such as conservation biology and epidemiology, where targeting specific populations is crucial

Chaotic properties of quantum many-body systems in the thermodynamic limit

By using numerical simulations, we investigate the dynamics of a quantum system of interacting bosons. We find an increase of properly defined mixing properties when the number of particles increases at constant density or the interaction strength drives the system away from integrability. A correspondence with the dynamical chaoticity of an associated $c$-number system is then used to infer properties of the quantum system in the thermodynamic limit.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 4 postscript figures included with psfig; Completely restructured version with new results on mixing properties added

On the scaling and ageing behaviour of the alternating susceptibility in spin glasses and local scale-invariance

The frequency-dependent scaling of the dispersive and dissipative parts of the alternating susceptibility is studied for spin glasses at criticality. An extension of the usual $\omega t$-scaling is proposed. Simulational data from the three-dimensional Ising spin glass agree with this new scaling form and moreover reproduce well the scaling functions explicitly calculated for systems satisfying local scale-invariance. There is also a qualitative agreement with existing experimental data.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, to appear in special issue of J. Phys. Cond. Matt. dedicated to Lothar Schaefer on the occasion of his 60th birthday, final form with IOP macro