2,742 research outputs found
Sexual dimorphisms in the dermal denticles of thelesser-spotted catshark, Scyliorhinus canicula (Linnaeus, 1758)
The dermal layers of several elasmobranch species have been shown to be sexually dimorphic. Generally, when this occurs the females have thicker dermal layers compared to those of males. This sexual dimorphism has been suggested to occur as a response to male biting during mating. Although male biting as a copulatory behaviour in Scyliorhinus canicula has been widely speculated to occur, only relatively recently has this behaviour been observed. Male S. canicula use their mouths to bite the female's pectoral and caudal fins as part of their pre-copulatory behaviour and to grasp females during copulation. Previous work has shown that female S. canicula have a thicker epidermis compared to that of males. The structure of the dermal denticles in females may also differ from that of males in order to protect against male biting or to provide a greater degree of friction in order to allow the male more purchase. This study reveals that the length, width and density of the dermal denticles of mature male and female S. canicula are sexually dimorphic across the integument in areas where males have been observed to bite and wrap themselves around females (pectoral fin, area posterior to the pectoral fin, caudal fin, and pelvic girdle). No significant differences in the dermal denticle dimensions were found in other body areas examined (head, dorsal skin and caudal peduncle). Sexually dimorphic dermal denticles in mature S. canicula could be a response to male biting/wrapping as part of the copulatory process
On the Quantum Jarzynski Identity
In this note, we will discuss how to compactly express and prove the
Jarzynski identity for an open quantum system with dissipative dynamics. We
will avoid explicitly measuring the work directly, which is tantamount to
continuously monitoring the system, and instead measure the heat flow from the
environment. We represent the measurement of heat flow with Hermitian map
superoperators that act on the system density matrix. Hermitian maps provide a
convenient and compact representation of sequential measurement and correlation
functions.Comment: 4 page
Transient fluctuation theorem in closed quantum systems
Our point of departure are the unitary dynamics of closed quantum systems as
generated from the Schr\"odinger equation. We focus on a class of quantum
models that typically exhibit roughly exponential relaxation of some observable
within this framework. Furthermore, we focus on pure state evolutions. An
entropy in accord with Jaynes principle is defined on the basis of the quantum
expectation value of the above observable. It is demonstrated that the
resulting deterministic entropy dynamics are in a sense in accord with a
transient fluctuation theorem. Moreover, we demonstrate that the dynamics of
the expectation value are describable in terms of an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck
process. These findings are demonstrated numerically and supported by
analytical considerations based on quantum typicality.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Posterior probability and fluctuation theorem in stochastic processes
A generalization of fluctuation theorems in stochastic processes is proposed.
The new theorem is written in terms of posterior probabilities, which are
introduced via the Bayes theorem. In usual fluctuation theorems, a forward path
and its time reversal play an important role, so that a microscopically
reversible condition is essential. In contrast, the microscopically reversible
condition is not necessary in the new theorem. It is shown that the new theorem
adequately recovers various theorems and relations previously known, such as
the Gallavotti-Cohen-type fluctuation theorem, the Jarzynski equality, and the
Hatano-Sasa relation, when adequate assumptions are employed.Comment: 4 page
Nonequilibrium candidate Monte Carlo: A new tool for efficient equilibrium simulation
Metropolis Monte Carlo simulation is a powerful tool for studying the
equilibrium properties of matter. In complex condensed-phase systems, however,
it is difficult to design Monte Carlo moves with high acceptance probabilities
that also rapidly sample uncorrelated configurations. Here, we introduce a new
class of moves based on nonequilibrium dynamics: candidate configurations are
generated through a finite-time process in which a system is actively driven
out of equilibrium, and accepted with criteria that preserve the equilibrium
distribution. The acceptance rule is similar to the Metropolis acceptance
probability, but related to the nonequilibrium work rather than the
instantaneous energy difference. Our method is applicable to sampling from both
a single thermodynamic state or a mixture of thermodynamic states, and allows
both coordinates and thermodynamic parameters to be driven in nonequilibrium
proposals. While generating finite-time switching trajectories incurs an
additional cost, driving some degrees of freedom while allowing others to
evolve naturally can lead to large enhancements in acceptance probabilities,
greatly reducing structural correlation times. Using nonequilibrium driven
processes vastly expands the repertoire of useful Monte Carlo proposals in
simulations of dense solvated systems
Microscopic analysis of the microscopic reversibility in quantum systems
We investigate the robustness of the microscopic reversibility in open
quantum systems which is discussed by Monnai [arXiv:1106.1982 (2011)]. We
derive an exact relation between the forward transition probability and the
reversed transition probability in the case of a general measurement basis. We
show that the microscopic reversibility acquires some corrections in general
and discuss the physical meaning of the corrections. Under certain processes,
some of the correction terms vanish and we numerically confirmed that the
remaining correction term becomes negligible; the microscopic reversibility
almost holds even when the local system cannot be regarded as macroscopic.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure
The impact of urgency of umbilical hernia repair on adverse outcomes in patients with cirrhosis: a population-based cohort study from England
\ua9 2023, The Author(s). Introduction: Umbilical hernia is common in patients with cirrhosis; however, there is a paucity of dedicated studies on postoperative outcomes in this group of patients. This population-based cohort study aimed to determine the outcomes after emergency and elective umbilical hernia repair in patients with cirrhosis. Methods: Two linked electronic healthcare databases from England were used to identify all patients undergoing umbilical hernia repair between January 2000 and December 2017. Patients were grouped into those with and without cirrhosis and stratified by severity into compensated and decompensated cirrhosis. Length of stay, readmission, 90-day case fatality rate and the odds ratio of 90-day postoperative mortality were defined using logistic regression. Results: In total, 22,163 patients who underwent an umbilical hernia repair were included and 297 (1.34%) had cirrhosis. More patients without cirrhosis had an elective procedure, 86% compared with 51% of those with cirrhosis (P < 0.001). In both the elective and emergency settings, patients with cirrhosis had longer hospital length of stay (elective: 0 vs 1 day, emergency: 2 vs 4 days, P < 0.0001) and higher readmission rates (elective: 4.87% vs 11.33%, emergency:11.39% vs 29.25%, P < 0.0001) than those without cirrhosis. The 90-day case fatality rates were 2% and 0.16% in the elective setting, and 19% and 2.96% in the emergency setting in patients with and without cirrhosis respectively. Conclusion: Emergency umbilical hernia repair in patients with cirrhosis is associated with poorer outcomes in terms of length of stay, readmissions and mortality at 90 days
Use of \u3cem\u3eTris\u3c/em\u3e-Quaternary Ammonium Salts as Pain Modulating Agents
Provided are tris-quatemary ammonium compounds which are modulators of nociception and pain
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