379 research outputs found
Evaluation of portable water in five provinces of Zambia using a water pollution index
Five provinces with different environmental characteristics were evaluated for water pollution with the aim of identifying the major sources and area(s) most affected. The results indicate that the water in Lusaka Province is significantly high in nitrate and sodium concentration compared to other provinces considered in this study. The results further reveal that ground water is most affected by nitrate and sodium. On the contrary, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was found to be significantly higher in surface water but no particular province registered a higher amount compared to others. The results further reveal that the pollution is primarily a function of human activities, social amenities and industrial activities in the study areas.Key words: Nitrate, sulphate, groundwater, Lusaka, ion exchange/cation-exchange chromatography
Exactly solvable strings in Minkowski spacetime
We study the integrability of the equations of motion for the Nambu-Goto
strings with a cohomogeneity-one symmetry in Minkowski spacetime. A
cohomogeneity-one string has a world surface which is tangent to a Killing
vector field. By virtue of the Killing vector, the equations of motion can be
reduced to the geodesic equation in the orbit space. Cohomogeneity-one strings
are classified into seven classes (Types I to VII). We investigate the
integrability of the geodesic equations for all the classes and find that the
geodesic equations are integrable. For Types I to VI, the integrability comes
from the existence of Killing vectors on the orbit space which are the
projections of Killing vectors on Minkowski spacetime. For Type VII, the
integrability is related to a projected Killing vector and a nontrivial Killing
tensor on the orbit space. We also find that the geodesic equations of all
types are exactly solvable, and show the solutions.Comment: 11 pages, a reference added, some points clarifie
Research on Dynamics of Ablated Vapor from Liquid Wall in Laser Fusion Reactor by Discharge Method
All-optical switching and strong coupling using tunable whispering-gallery-mode microresonators
We review our recent work on tunable, ultrahigh quality factor
whispering-gallery-mode bottle microresonators and highlight their applications
in nonlinear optics and in quantum optics experiments. Our resonators combine
ultra-high quality factors of up to Q = 3.6 \times 10^8, a small mode volume,
and near-lossless fiber coupling, with a simple and customizable mode structure
enabling full tunability. We study, theoretically and experimentally, nonlinear
all-optical switching via the Kerr effect when the resonator is operated in an
add-drop configuration. This allows us to optically route a single-wavelength
cw optical signal between two fiber ports with high efficiency. Finally, we
report on progress towards strong coupling of single rubidium atoms to an
ultra-high Q mode of an actively stabilized bottle microresonator.Comment: 20 pages, 24 figures. Accepted for publication in Applied Physics B.
Changes according to referee suggestions: minor corrections to some figures
and captions, clarification of some points in the text, added references,
added new paragraph with results on atom-resonator interactio
Accelerated expansion from structure formation
We discuss the physics of backreaction-driven accelerated expansion. Using
the exact equations for the behaviour of averages in dust universes, we explain
how large-scale smoothness does not imply that the effect of inhomogeneity and
anisotropy on the expansion rate is small. We demonstrate with an analytical
toy model how gravitational collapse can lead to acceleration. We find that the
conjecture of the accelerated expansion being due to structure formation is in
agreement with the general observational picture of structures in the universe,
and more quantitative work is needed to make a detailed comparison.Comment: 44 pages, 1 figure. Expanded treatment of topics from the Gravity
Research Foundation contest essay astro-ph/0605632. v2: Added references,
clarified wordings. v3: Published version. Minor changes and corrections,
added a referenc
UÄinkovitost u zadacima fine motorike i prostornih odnosa tijekom menstrualnog ciklusa
Various studies have shown fl uctuations in task performance during the menstrual cycle. The aim of this study was to see the effects of the menstrual cycle on performing fi ne motor and spatial tasks of different level of complexity in twenty students aged 18 to 21 years, with regular menstrual cycle (28 to 30 days).
The students performed OâConnor Finger Dexterity Test and mental rotation test during the menstrual, late follicular, and midluteal phase. Before the tests were performed, we administered Spielbergerâs State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for each phase. After the tasks were completed, the subjects ranked their
diffi culty on Borgâs scale.
The results showed the best performance in both tests in the midluteal phase (with sex hormones at their peak). The anxiety level and task diffi culty ranking were the highest in the menstrual phase, when the hormone levels were the lowest.RazliÄita su istraĆŸivanja pokazala promjene uÄinkovitosti tijekom menstrualnog ciklusa. U zadacima u kojima su uspjeĆĄnije ĆŸene, najveÄa uÄinkovitost dogaÄa se tijekom kasne folikularne ili srednje lutealne faze. U zadacima u kojima su pak uspjeĆĄniji muĆĄkarci najveÄa je uÄinkovitost naÄena u menstrualnoj fazi. Na osnovi uporabe zadataka fi ne motorike i prostornih zadataka razliÄitih razina kompleksnosti, cilj ovog istraĆŸivanja bio je ispitati utjecaj menstrualnog ciklusa na kognitivne funkcije.
U istraĆŸivanju je sudjelovalo dvadeset ispitanica, dobi od 18 do 21 godinu, s redovitim menstrualnim ciklusima (28 do 30 dana). Ispitanice su izvodile OâConnorov deksterimetar i zadatke mentalne rotacije tijekom menstrualne, kasne folikularne i srednje lutealne faze. Prije izvoÄenja zadataka, u svakoj fazi ciklusa primijenjen je Spielbergerov upitnik stanja anksioznosti. Nakon izvoÄenja zadataka, ispitanice su procjenjivale njihovu teĆŸinu na Borgovoj skali.
Rezultati su pokazali najbolju uÄinkovitost u oba zadatka u fazi visokih razina spolnih hormona (srednja lutealna faza). Stanje anksioznosti i procijenjene teĆŸine zadataka bili su najviĆĄi u menstrualnoj fazi, kada su razine spolnih hormona najniĆŸe
Photometric, geometric, and perceptual factors in illumination-independent lightness constancy
The effect of inhomogeneous expansion on the supernova observations
We consider an inhomogeneous but spherically symmetric Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi
model to demonstrate that spatial variations of the expansion rate can have a
significant effect on the cosmological supernova observations. A model with no
dark energy but a local Hubble parameter about 15% larger than its global value
fits the supernova data better than the homogeneous model with the cosmological
constant. The goodness of the fit is not sensitive to inhomogeneities in the
present-day matter density, and our best fit model has Omega_M ~ 0.3, in
agreement with galaxy surveys. We also compute the averaged expansion rate,
defined by the Buchert equations, of the best fit model and show explicitly
that there is no average acceleration.Comment: minor corrections to match the version published in JCA
Identification and Functional Analysis of Epigenetically Silenced MicroRNAs in Colorectal Cancer Cells
Abnormal microRNA (miRNA) expression has been linked to the development and progression of several human cancers, and such dysregulation can result from aberrant DNA methylation. While a small number of miRNAs is known to be regulated by DNA methylation, we postulated that such epigenetic regulation is more prevalent. By combining MBD-isolated Genome Sequencing (MiGS) to evaluate genome-wide DNA methylation patterns and microarray analysis to determine miRNA expression levels, we systematically searched for candidate miRNAs regulated by DNA methylation in colorectal cancer cell lines. We found 64 miRNAs to be robustly methylated in HCT116 cells; eighteen of them were located in imprinting regions or already reported to be regulated by DNA methylation. For the remaining 46 miRNAs, expression levels of 18 were consistent with their DNA methylation status. Finally, 8 miRNAs were up-regulated by 5-aza-2âČ-deoxycytidine treatment and identified to be novel miRNAs regulated by DNA methylation. Moreover, we demonstrated the functional relevance of these epigenetically silenced miRNAs by ectopically expressing select candidates, which resulted in inhibition of growth and migration of cancer cells. In addition to reporting these findings, our study also provides a reliable, systematic strategy to identify DNA methylation-regulated miRNAs by combining DNA methylation profiles and expression data
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