41,867 research outputs found
Effect of Edwardsiella ictaluri Infection on Plasma Corticosterone Levels in Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)
Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) were innoculated with a new host specific bacterium, Edwardsiella ictaluri, to observe the influence of bacterial infection on plasma corticosterone levels at various temperatures. The fish were innoculated intraperitoneally. The infected fish were separated from the controls. Plasma corticosterone concentrations were determined by radioimmunoassay. The plasma corticosterone concentrations in non-innoculated catfish were about 6.15 ng/ml and nearly 5.63 ng/ml in the infected fish. The lower level of the hormone in the infected catfish was not significantly different from the control level. High temperature was a stress factor which increased plasma corticosterone levels whereas E. ictaluri retarded the response of corticosterone secreting cells of the fish kidneys
Eigenvalue Distributions for a Class of Covariance Matrices with Applications to Bienenstock-Cooper-Munro Neurons Under Noisy Conditions
We analyze the effects of noise correlations in the input to, or among, BCM
neurons using the Wigner semicircular law to construct random,
positive-definite symmetric correlation matrices and compute their eigenvalue
distributions. In the finite dimensional case, we compare our analytic results
with numerical simulations and show the effects of correlations on the
lifetimes of synaptic strengths in various visual environments. These
correlations can be due either to correlations in the noise from the input LGN
neurons, or correlations in the variability of lateral connections in a network
of neurons. In particular, we find that for fixed dimensionality, a large noise
variance can give rise to long lifetimes of synaptic strengths. This may be of
physiological significance.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
Shape invariant hypergeometric type operators with application to quantum mechanics
A hypergeometric type equation satisfying certain conditions defines either a
finite or an infinite system of orthogonal polynomials. The associated special
functions are eigenfunctions of some shape invariant operators. These operators
can be analysed together and the mathematical formalism we use can be extended
in order to define other shape invariant operators. All the considered shape
invariant operators are directly related to Schrodinger type equations.Comment: More applications available at http://fpcm5.fizica.unibuc.ro/~ncotfa
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Material Morphology and energy barriers to electrical ageing
A distribution of the parameters representing activation energy of the ageing process within the Dissado-Montanari-Mazzanti (DMM) lifetime model has been shown to model experimental lifetime distributions of PET films well. The results imply small differences in the local environments of the moieties involved in the ageing process. Very small changes in the minimum activation energy values have a pronounced effect on the resultant lifetimes of polymer specimens. Changes in the distributions of activation energies with field and temperature can be explained by assuming the ageing process to be one whereby polymer segments on lamella surfaces crystallise to create free volume within the polymer
Observation of narrow-band noise accompanying the breakdown of insulating states in high Landau levels
Recent magnetotransport experiments on high mobility two-dimensional electron
systems have revealed many-body electron states unique to high Landau levels.
Among these are re-entrant integer quantum Hall states which undergo sharp
transitions to conduction above some threshold field. Here we report that these
transitions are often accompanied by narrow- and broad-band noise with
frequencies which are strongly dependent on the magnitude of the applied dc
current.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Metastable Resistance Anisotropy Orientation of Two-Dimensional Electrons in High Landau Levels
In half-filled high Landau levels, two-dimensional electron systems possess
collective phases which exhibit a strongly anisotropic resistivity tensor. A
weak, but as yet unknown, rotational symmetry-breaking potential native to the
host semiconductor structure is necessary to orient these phases in macroscopic
samples. Making use of the known external symmetry-breaking effect of an
in-plane magnetic field, we find that the native potential can have two
orthogonal local minima. It is possible to initialize the system in the higher
minimum and then observe its relaxation toward equilibrium.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Figure references corrected. Version accepted for
publication in Physical Review Letter
Nuclear magnetic resonance probes for the Kondo scenario for the 0.7 feature in semiconductor quantum point contact devices
We propose a probe based on nuclear relaxation and Knight shift measurements
for the Kondo scenario for the "0.7 feature" in semiconductor quantum point
contact (QPC) devices. We show that the presence of a bound electron in the QPC
would lead to a much higher rate of nuclear relaxation compared to nuclear
relaxation through exchange of spin with conduction electrons. Furthermore, we
show that the temperature dependence of this nuclear relaxation is very
non-monotonic as opposed to the linear-T relaxation from coupling with
conduction electrons. We present a qualitative analysis for the additional
relaxation due to nuclear spin diffusion (NSD) and study the extent to which
NSD affects the range of validity of our method. The conclusion is that nuclear
relaxation, in combination with Knight shift measurements, can be used to
verify whether the 0.7 feature is indeed due to the presence of a bound
electron in the QPC.Comment: Published version. Appears in a Special Section on the 0.7 Feature
and Interactions in One-Dimensional Systems. 16 page
Oceanic stochastic parametrizations in a seasonal forecast system
We study the impact of three stochastic parametrizations in the ocean
component of a coupled model, on forecast reliability over seasonal timescales.
The relative impacts of these schemes upon the ocean mean state and ensemble
spread are analyzed. The oceanic variability induced by the atmospheric forcing
of the coupled system is, in most regions, the major source of ensemble spread.
The largest impact on spread and bias came from the Stochastically Perturbed
Parametrization Tendency (SPPT) scheme - which has proven particularly
effective in the atmosphere. The key regions affected are eddy-active regions,
namely the western boundary currents and the Southern Ocean. However, unlike
its impact in the atmosphere, SPPT in the ocean did not result in a significant
decrease in forecast error. Whilst there are good grounds for implementing
stochastic schemes in ocean models, our results suggest that they will have to
be more sophisticated. Some suggestions for next-generation stochastic schemes
are made.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure
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University Research Ethics Committees as learning communities: Identifying and utilising collaboratively produced knowledge in decision-making
Effects of Disorder and Momentum Relaxation on the Intertube Transport of Incommensurate Carbon Nanotube Ropes and Multiwall Nanotubes
We study theoretically the electrical transport between aligned carbon
nanotubes in nanotube ropes, and between shells in multiwall carbon nanotubes.
We focus on transport between two metallic nanotubes (or shells) of different
chiralities with mismatched Fermi momenta and incommensurate periodicities. We
perform numerical calculations of the transport properties of such systems
within a tight-binding formalism. For clean (disorder-free) nanotubes the
intertube transport is strongly suppressed as a result of momentum
conservation. For clean nanotubes, the intertube transport is typically
dominated by the loss of momentum conservation at the contacts. We discuss in
detail the effects of disorder, which also breaks momentum conservation, and
calculate the effects of localised scatterers of various types. We show that
physically relevant disorder potentials lead to very dramatic enhancements of
the intertube conductance. We show that recent experimental measurements of the
intershell transport in multiwall nanotubes are consistent with our theoretical
results for a model of short-ranged correlated disorder.Comment: References adde
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