714 research outputs found
Active and Passive Fields in Turbulent Transport: the Role of Statistically Preserved Structures
We have recently proposed that the statistics of active fields (which affect
the velocity field itself) in well-developed turbulence are also dominated by
the Statistically Preserved Structures of auxiliary passive fields which are
advected by the same velocity field. The Statistically Preserved Structures are
eigenmodes of eigenvalue 1 of an appropriate propagator of the decaying
(unforced) passive field, or equivalently, the zero modes of a related
operator. In this paper we investigate further this surprising finding via two
examples, one akin to turbulent convection in which the temperature is the
active scalar, and the other akin to magneto-hydrodynamics in which the
magnetic field is the active vector. In the first example, all the even
correlation functions of the active and passive fields exhibit identical
scaling behavior. The second example appears at first sight to be a
counter-example: the statistical objects of the active and passive fields have
entirely different scaling exponents. We demonstrate nevertheless that the
Statistically Preserved Structures of the passive vector dominate again the
statistics of the active field, except that due to a dynamical conservation law
the amplitude of the leading zero mode cancels exactly. The active vector is
then dominated by the sub-leading zero mode of the passive vector. Our work
thus suggests that the statistical properties of active fields in turbulence
can be understood with the same generality as those of passive fields.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Eyes wide shut? UK consumer perceptions on aviation climate impacts and travel decisions to New Zealand
The purview of climate change concern has implicated air travel, as evidenced in a growing body of academic literature concerned with aviation CO2 emissions. This article assesses the relevance of climate change to long haul air travel decisions to New Zealand for United Kingdom consumers. Based on 15 semi-structured open-ended interviews conducted in Bournemouth, UK during June 2009, it was found that participants were unlikely to forgo potential travel decisions to New Zealand because of concern over air travel emissions. Underpinning the intervieweesâ understandings and responses to air travelâs climate impact was a spectrum of awareness and attitudes to air travel and climate change. This spectrum ranged from individuals who were unaware of air travelâs climate impact to those who were beginning to consume air travel with a âcarbon conscienceâ. Within this spectrum were some who were aware of the impact but not willing to change their travel behaviours at all. Rather than implicating long haul air travel, the empirical evidence instead exemplifies changing perceptions towards frequent short haul air travel and voices calls for both government and media in the UK to deliver more concrete messages on air travelâs climate impact
Binge flying: Behavioural addiction and climate change
Recent popular press suggests that âbinge flyingâ constitutes a new site of behavioural addiction. We theoretically appraise and empirically support this proposition through interviews with consumers in Norway and the United Kingdom conducted in 2009. Consistent findings from across two national contexts evidence a growing negative discourse towards frequent short-haul tourist air travel and illustrate strategies of guilt suppression and denial used to span a cognitive dissonance between the short-term personal benefits of tourism and the air travelâs associated long-term consequences for climate change. Tensions between tourism consumption and changing social norms towards acceptable flying practice exemplify how this social group is beginning to (re)frame what constitutes âexcessiveâ holiday flying, despite concomitantly continuing their own frequent air travels
The E5 oncoprotein of BPV-4 does not interfere with the biosynthetic pathway of non-classical MHC class I
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I region in mammals contains both classical and non-classical MHC class I genes. Classical MHC class I molecules present antigenic peptides to cytotoxic T lymphocytes, whereas non-classical MHC class I molecules have a variety of functions. Both classical and non-classical MHC molecules interact with natural killer cell receptors and may under some circumstances prevent cell death by natural killer cytotoxicity. The E5 oncoprotein of BPV-4 down-regulates the expression of classical MHC class I on the cell surface and retains the complex in the Golgi apparatus. The inhibition of classical MHC class I to the cell surface results from both the impaired acidification of the Golgi, due to the interaction of E5 with subunit c of the H+ V-ATPase, and to the physical binding of E5 to the heavy chain of MHC class I. Despite the profound effect of E5 on classical MHC class I, E5 does not retain a non-classical MHC class I in the Golgi, does not inhibit its transport to the cell surface and does not bind its heavy chain. We conclude that, as is the case for HPV-16 E5, BPV-4 E5 does not down-regulate certain non-classical MHC class I, potentially providing a mechanism for the escape of the infected cell from attack by both cytotoxic T lymphocytes and NK cells
Fermion scattering off electroweak phase transition kink walls with hypermagnetic fields
We study the scattering of fermions off a finite width kink wall during the
electroweak phase transition in the presence of a background hypermagnetic
field. We derive and solve the Dirac equation for such fermions and compute the
reflection and transmission coefficients for the case when the fermions move
from the symmetric to the broken symmetry phase. We show that the chiral nature
of the fermion coupling with the background field in the symmetric phase
generates an axial asymmetry in the scattering processes. We discuss possible
implications of such axial charge segregation for baryon number generation.Comment: 9 pages, 3 Postscript figures, uses RevTeX4. Expanded discussion,
published versio
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Metabolism and gastrointestinal absorption of neptunium and protactinium in adult baboons
The metabolism of neptunium and protactinium was studied in adult female baboons following intravenous injection and intragastric intubation. Immediately following intravenous injection (10/sup -1/ to 10/sup -10/ mg Np per kg body wt), neptunium cleared rapidly from blood, deposited primarily in the skeleton (54 +- 5%) and liver (3 +- 0.2%), and was excreted predominantly via urine (40 +- 3%). For the first year post injection, neptunium was retained with a biological half-time of approx.100 days in liver and 1.5 +- 0.2 yr in bone. In comparison, injected protactinium (10/sup -9/ mg/kg) was retained in blood in higher concentrations and was initially eliminated in urine to a lesser extent (6 +- 3%). In vivo measurements indicated that protactinium was retained in bone (65 +- 0.3%) with a half-time of 3.5 +- 0.6 yr. Differences in the physicochemical states of the neptunium or protactinium solutions injected did not alter the metabolic behavior of these nuclides. The gastrointestinal absorption value for neptunium in two fasted baboons, sacrificed at 1 day post administration, was determined to be 0.92 +- 0.04%. Of the total amount of neptunium absorbed, 52 +- 3% was retained in bone, 6 +- 2% was in liver, and 42 +- 0.1% was excreted in urine. A method was developed to estimate GI absorption values for both nuclides in baboons which were not sacrificed. Absorption values calculated by this method for neptunium and protactinium in fasted baboons were 1.8 +- 0.8% and 0.65 +- 0.01%, respectively. Values for fed animals were 1 to 2 orders of magnitude less than those for fasted animals. 14 refs., 3 figs., 4 tabs. (DT
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Influence of chemical form, feeding regimen, and animal species on the gastrointestinal absorption of plutonium
We evaluated the effect of chemical form and feeding regimen on the gastrointestinal (GI) absorption of plutonium in adult mice at plutonium concentrations relevant to the establishment of drinking water standards. Mean fractional GI absorption values in fasted adult mice were: Pu(VI) bicarbonate, 15 x 10/sup -4/; Pu(IV) bicarbonate, 20 x 10/sup -4/; Pu(IV) nitrate (pH2), 17 x 10/sup -4/; Pu(IV) citrate, 24 x 10/sup -4/; and Pu(IV) polymer, 3 x 10/sup -4/. Values in fed adult mice were: Pu(VI) bicarbonate, 1.4 x 10/sup -4/; Pu(IV) polymer, 0.3 x 10/sup -4/. Pu(VI) is the oxidation state in chlorinated drinking waters and Pu(IV) is the oxidation state in many untreated natural waters. To assess the validity of extrapolating data from mice to humans, we also determined the GI absorption of Pu(VI) bicarbonate in adult baboons with a dual-isotope method that does not require animal sacrifice. Fractional GI absorption values obtained by this method were 23 +- 10 x 10/sup -4/ for fasted baboons (n=5) and 1.4 +- 0.9 x 10/sup -4/ for fed baboons (n=3). We have so far validated this method in one baboon and are currently completing validation in two additional animals. At low plutonium concentrations, plutonium oxidation state (Pu(VI) vs Pu(IV)) and administration medium (bicarbonate vs nitrate vs citrate) had little effect on the GI absorption of plutonium in mice. Formation of Pu(IV) polymers and animal feeding decreased the GI absorption of plutonium 5- to 10-fold. The GI absorption of Pu(VI) bicarbonate in both fed and fasted adult baboons appeared to be the same as in fed and fasted adult mice, respectively. 17 refs., 2 tabs
Canary in the coalmine: Norwegian attitudes towards climate change and extreme long-haul air travel to Aotearoa/New Zealand
Accelerating global climate change poses considerable challenges to all societies and
economies. The European Union now targets a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. Indeed, the
Labour-led Norwegian government is committed to carbon neutrality across all sectors of the economy
by 2030. Aviation has been identified as a rapidly growing contributor to CO2 emissions. This article
reports on a research project that explored Norwegian attitudes towards climate change, particularly
as they relate to extreme long-haul air travel to Aotearoa/New Zealand. It reveals that the 'dream trip'
to New Zealand for Norwegians is still largely intact. It also finds evidence of 'air travel with a carbon
conscience' arising from growing concern for high frequency discretionary air travel. Evidence of
denial of the climate impact of air travel that recent studies have revealed was largely absent.
Interviewees expressed a greater concern for short-haul air travel emissions than for the climate
impact of long-haul travel. However, intentions to adapt long-haul travel behaviours were expressed,
highlighting the need to monitor consumer attitudes towards the impact of air travel on climate
change. We conclude that Norway is a vanguard European tourism market in terms of climate
sensitivity
Axially asymmetric fermion scattering off electroweak phase transition bubble walls with hypermagnetic fields
We show that in the presence of large scale primordial hypermagnetic fields,
it is possible to generate an axial asymmetry for a first order electroweak
phase transition. This happens during the reflection and transmission of
fermions off the true vacuum bubbles, due to the chiral nature of the fermion
coupling with the background field in the symmetric phase. We derive and solve
the Dirac equation for such fermions and compute the reflection and
transmission coefficients for the case when these fermions move from the
symmetric to the symmetry broken phase. We also comment on the possible
implications of such axial charge segregation processes for baryon number
generation.Comment: 8 pages, 2 Encapsulated Postscript figures, uses ReVTeX and
epsfig.sty, expanded discussion, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Magnetic Catalysis: A Review
We give an overview of the magnetic catalysis phenomenon. In the framework of
quantum field theory, magnetic catalysis is broadly defined as an enhancement
of dynamical symmetry breaking by an external magnetic field. We start from a
brief discussion of spontaneous symmetry breaking and the role of a magnetic
field in its a dynamics. This is followed by a detailed presentation of the
essential features of the phenomenon. In particular, we emphasize that the
dimensional reduction plays a profound role in the pairing dynamics in a
magnetic field. Using the general nature of underlying physics and its
robustness with respect to interaction types and model content, we argue that
magnetic catalysis is a universal and model-independent phenomenon. In support
of this claim, we show how magnetic catalysis is realized in various models
with short-range and long-range interactions. We argue that the general nature
of the phenomenon implies a wide range of potential applications: from certain
types of solid state systems to models in cosmology, particle and nuclear
physics. We finish the review with general remarks about magnetic catalysis and
an outlook for future research.Comment: 37 pages, to appear in Lect. Notes Phys. "Strongly interacting matter
in magnetic fields" (Springer), edited by D. Kharzeev, K. Landsteiner, A.
Schmitt, H.-U. Yee. Version 2: references adde
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