1,442 research outputs found
Genetic variation in Rhabdomys pumilio (Sparrman 1784) - an allozyme study
The striped-mouse, Rhabdomys pumilio, is widely distributed throughout southern Africa. It prefers grasslands but is also found in vlei areas and dry river beds and its attraction to cultivated land has resulted in extensive damage to plants. An allozyme study of R. pumilio populations in different regions of southern Africa was undertaken to evaluate the genetic structure within and between 23 populations and to draw conclusions about the taxonomic status of populations within this species. Fifteen of the 26 loci examined were polymorphic. The mean heterozygosity (0.073) was high for a mammal, although relatively low heterozygosities (0.036â0.054) were recorded for three localities from the peninsular region of the Western Cape. The high mean value for local genetic differentiation (Fst) of 0.459 and the low mean value for the effective number of migrants (Nm) of 0.179 indicated low levels of gene flow between the different localities of R. pumilio.The negative, near zero Fis value of -0.01 indicated a balance between heterozygotes and homozygotes. Rogers (1972) genetic similarity ranged between 0.796 and 0.988, and Nei's (1978) unbiased genetic distance varied between 0.000 and 0.189 between the samples of R. pumilio. The phenogram based on Nei's (1978) unbiased genetic distance showed some degree of geographical subgrouping. The Mantel test indicated a significant relationship between the Fst values and the geographical distances between sample pairs, supporting an isolation by distance model for R. pumilio. Although the genetic evidence for geographical divergence does suggest the possible existence of subspecies, this remains to be substantiated
A 25-year review of fertilizer consumption and plant nutrient removal in the prairie provinces
Non-Peer ReviewedNutrient removal I replacement ratios were calculated in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta from 1965 to 1989 by dividing total fertilizer (N, P, and K) sales by the total crop removal of plant nutrients. The nutrient removal I replacement ratios revealed that significant depletions of soil reserves of N, P, and K have taken place over the past 25 years. The average negative balance of N, P2O5, and K2O on the prairies is estimated at 640, 125, and 490 thousand tonnes. Even with the substantial increase in the use of fertilizers in the past five years compared to the 25 year average, the nutrient deficit continues to be unacceptably high for nitrogen (485,000 tonnes), only modest for phosphorus (86,000 tonnes), and as could be expected for potassium, has increased significantly to 570,000 tonnes. Overall, the calculations suggest that Manitoba is very close to nitrogen and phosphorus balance. Alberta has a relatively close balance, while Saskatchewan has not only experienced an unacceptably high N and P deficit for the past
25 years, but continues to do so at the present time
Electronic polarization in pentacene crystals and thin films
Electronic polarization is evaluated in pentacene crystals and in thin films
on a metallic substrate using a self-consistent method for computing charge
redistribution in non-overlapping molecules. The optical dielectric constant
and its principal axes are reported for a neutral crystal. The polarization
energies P+ and P- of a cation and anion at infinite separation are found for
both molecules in the crystal's unit cell in the bulk, at the surface, and at
the organic-metal interface of a film of N molecular layers. We find that a
single pentacene layer with herring-bone packing provides a screening
environment approaching the bulk. The polarization contribution to the
transport gap P=(P+)+(P-), which is 2.01 eV in the bulk, decreases and
increases by only ~ 10% at surfaces and interfaces, respectively. We also
compute the polarization energy of charge-transfer (CT) states with fixed
separation between anion and cation, and compare to electroabsorption data and
to submolecular calculations. Electronic polarization of ~ 1 eV per charge has
a major role for transport in organic molecular systems with limited overlap.Comment: 10 revtex pages, 6 PS figures embedde
The shock compression of microorganism-loaded broths and emulsions: Experiments and simulations
By carefully selecting flyer plate thickness and the geometry of a target capsule for
bacterial broths and emulsions, we have successfully subjected the contents of the capsule to
simultaneous shock and dynamic compression when subjected to a flyer-plate impact
experiment. The capsules were designed to be recovered intact so that post experimental
analysis could be done on the contents. ANSYSÂź AUTODYN hydrocode simulations were
carried out to interrogate the deformation of the cover plate and the wave propagation in the
fluid. Accordingly, we have shown that microorganisms such as Escherichia coli,
Enterococcus faecalis and Zygosaccharomyces bailii are not affected by this type of loading
regime. However, by introducing a cavity behind the broth we were able to observe limited
kill in the yeast sample. Further, on using this latter technique with emulsions it was shown
that greater emulsification of an oil-based emulsion occurred due to the cavitation that was
introduced
Thermal Starch Properties in Corn Belt and Exotic Corn Inbred Lines and Their Crosses
More knowledge is needed about variability of starch functional traits in adapted and exotic germplasm and possible genetic effects of these traits before conducting rigorous inheritance studies and breeding programs for starch quality. We studied and compared the range of variability for starch functional traits in a set of Corn Belt inbred lines with a set of exotic inbred lines from Argentina, Uruguay, and South Africa. Reciprocal hybrids of some of the lines within each set were compared with their parents. Functional traits were examined by using differential scanning calorimetry on starch extracted from single kernels of genotypes. The set of Corn Belt lines had a wider range of values for most traits than did the set of exotic lines. For both sets of lines, the maximum value for peak height index was as high as that previously reported for the waxy endosperm mutant. Although the Corn Belt lines exhibited a wider range of values for range of retrogradation than the exotic lines, the exotic lines showed a wider range of values for percentage retrogradation. Hybrid values were not consistently higher, lower, midpoint, or similar with respect to the values of their parents. This was true regardless of germplasm type or functional trait. Reciprocal cross values showed trends suggesting reciprocal differences, although there was no trend suggesting greater effect of the female parent. These traits seem to be controlled by many modifying effects in addition to major effects. Results indicate that sufficient variability exists in Corn Belt germplasm to conduct breeding and inheritance studies effectively and that there should be potential for breeding for functional traits
A Mechanism-Based Explanation of the Institutionalization of Semantic Technologies in the Financial Industry
Part 3: Creating Value through ApplicationsInternational audienceThis paper explains how the financial industry is solving its data, risk management, and associated vocabulary problems using semantic technologies. The paper is the first to examine this phenomenon and to identify the social and institutional mechanisms being applied to socially construct a standard common vocabulary using ontology-based models. This standardized ontology-based common vocabulary will underpin the design of next generation of semantically-enabled information systems (IS) for the financial industry. The mechanisms that are helping institutionalize this common vocabulary are identified using a longitudinal case study, whose embedded units of analysis focus on central agents of changeâthe Enterprise Data Management Council and the Object Management Group. All this has important implications for society, as it is intended that semantically-enabled IS will, for example, provide stakeholders, such as regulators, with better transparency over systemic risks to national and international financial systems, thereby mitigating or avoiding future financial crises
General Relativity as an Attractor in Scalar-Tensor Stochastic Inflation
Quantum fluctuations of scalar fields during inflation could determine the
very large-scale structure of the universe. In the case of general
scalar-tensor gravity theories these fluctuations lead to the diffusion of
fundamental constants like the Planck mass and the effective Brans--Dicke
parameter, . In the particular case of Brans--Dicke gravity, where
is constant, this leads to runaway solutions with infinitely large
values of the Planck mass. However, in a theory with variable we find
stationary probability distributions with a finite value of the Planck mass
peaked at exponentially large values of after inflation. We conclude
that general relativity is an attractor during the quantum diffusion of the
fields.Comment: LaTeX (with RevTex) 11 pages, 2 uuencoded figures appended, also
available on WWW via http://star.maps.susx.ac.uk/index.htm
A new photon recoil experiment: towards a determination of the fine structure constant
We report on progress towards a measurement of the fine structure constant to
an accuracy of or better by measuring the ratio of the
Planck constant to the mass of the cesium atom. Compared to similar
experiments, ours is improved in three significant ways: (i) simultaneous
conjugate interferometers, (ii) multi-photon Bragg diffraction between same
internal states, and (iii) an about 1000 fold reduction of laser phase noise to
-138 dBc/Hz. Combining that with a new method to simultaneously stabilize the
phases of four frequencies, we achieve 0.2 mrad effective phase noise at the
location of the atoms. In addition, we use active stabilization to suppress
systematic effects due to beam misalignment.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure
Long-lived oscillons from asymmetric bubbles
The possibility that extremely long-lived, time-dependent, and localized
field configurations (``oscillons'') arise during the collapse of asymmetrical
bubbles in 2+1 dimensional phi^4 models is investigated. It is found that
oscillons can develop from a large spectrum of elliptically deformed bubbles.
Moreover, we provide numerical evidence that such oscillons are: a) circularly
symmetric; and b) linearly stable against small arbitrary radial and angular
perturbations. The latter is based on a dynamical approach designed to
investigate the stability of nonintegrable time-dependent configurations that
is capable of probing slowly-growing instabilities not seen through the usual
``spectral'' method.Comment: RevTeX 4, 9 pages, 11 figures. Revised version with a new approach to
stability. Accepted to Phys. Rev.
Mutation of the Human Circadian Clock Gene CRY1 in Familial Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder
Patterns of daily human activity are controlled by an intrinsic circadian clock that promotes âŒ24 hr rhythms in many behavioral and physiological processes. This system is altered in delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD), a common form of insomnia in which sleep episodes are shifted to later times misaligned with the societal norm. Here, we report a hereditary form of DSPD associated with a dominant coding variation in the core circadian clock gene CRY1, which creates a transcriptional inhibitor with enhanced affinity for circadian activator proteins Clock and Bmal1. This gain-of-function CRY1 variant causes reduced expression of key transcriptional targets and lengthens the period of circadian molecular rhythms, providing a mechanistic link to DSPD symptoms. The allele has a frequency of up to 0.6%, and reverse phenotyping of unrelated families corroborates late and/or fragmented sleep patterns in carriers, suggesting that it affects sleep behavior in a sizeable portion of the human population. © 2017 Elsevier Inc
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