1,560 research outputs found
Cholesterol in condensed and fluid phosphatidylcholine monolayers studied by epifluorescence microscopy
Epifluorescence microscopy was used to investigate the effect of cholesterol on monolayers of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and 1 -palmitoyl-2-oleoyl phosphatidylcholine (POPC) at 21 +/- 2 degrees C using 1 mol% 1-palmitoyl-2-[12-[(7-nitro-2–1, 3-benzoxadizole-4-yl)amino]dodecanoyl]phosphatidylcholine (NBD-PC) as a fluorophore. Up to 30 mol% cholesterol in DPPC monolayers decreased the amounts of probe-excluded liquid-condensed (LC) phase at all surface pressures (pi), but did not effect the monolayers of POPC, which remained in the liquid-expanded (LE) phase at all pi. At low pi (2–5 mN/m), 10 mol% or more cholesterol in DPPC induced a lateral phase separation into dark probe-excluded and light probe-rich regions. In POPC monolayers, phase separation was observed at low pi when > or =40 mol% or more cholesterol was present. The lateral phase separation observed with increased cholesterol concentrations in these lipid monolayers may be a result of the segregation of cholesterol-rich domains in ordered fluid phases that preferentially exclude the fluorescent probe. With increasing pi, monolayers could be transformed from a heterogeneous dark and light appearance into a homogeneous fluorescent phase, in a manner that was dependent on pi and cholesterol content. The packing density of the acyl chains may be a determinant in the interaction of cholesterol with phosphatidylcholine (PC), because the transformations in monolayer surface texture were observed in phospholipid (PL)/sterol mixtures having similar molecular areas. At high pi (41 mN/m), elongated crystal-like structures were observed in monolayers containing 80–100 mol% cholesterol, and these structures grew in size when the monolayers were compressed after collapse. This observation could be associated with the segregation and crystallization of cholesterol after monolayer collapse
Effect of microwave radiation on seed mortality of rubber vine (Cryptostegia grandiflora R.Br.), parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorous L.) and bellyache bush (Jatropha gossypiifolia L.)
A trial was undertaken to evaluate the effect of microwaves on seed mortality of three weed species. Seeds of rubber vine (Cryptostegia grandiflora R.Br.), parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorous L.) and bellyache bush (Jatropha gossypiifolia L.) were buried at six depths (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20 and 40 cm) in coarse sand maintained at one of two moisture levels, oven dry or wet (field capacity), and then subjected to one of five microwave radiation durations of (0, 2, 4, 8 and 16 min). Significant interactions between soil moisture level, microwave radiation duration, seed burial depth and species were detected for mortality of seeds of all three species. Maximum seed mortality of rubber vine (88%), parthenium (67%) and bellyache bush (94%) occurred in wet soil irradiated for 16 min. Maximum seed mortality of rubber vine and bellyache bush seeds occurred in seeds buried at 2.5 cm depth whereas that of parthenium occurred in seeds buried at 10 cm depth. Maximum soil temperatures of 114.1 and 87.5°C in dry and wet soil respectively occurred at 2.5 cm depth following 16 min irradiation. Irrespective of the greater soil temperatures recorded in dry soil, irradiating seeds in wet soil generally increased seed mortality 2.9-fold compared with dry soil. Moisture content of wet soil averaged 5.7% compared with 0.1% for dry soil. Results suggest that microwave radiation has the potential to kill seeds located in the soil seed bank. However, many factors, including weed species susceptibility, determine the effectiveness of microwave radiation on buried seeds. Microwave radiation may be an alternative to conventional methods at rapidly depleting soil seed banks in the field, particularly in relatively wet soils that contain long lived weed seeds
Effect of microwave radiation on seed mortality of rubber vine (Cryptostegia grandiflora R.Br.), parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorous L.) and bellyache bush (Jatropha gossypiifolia L.)
A trial was undertaken to evaluate the effect of microwaves on seed mortality of three weed species. Seeds of rubber vine (Cryptostegia grandiflora R.Br.), parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorous L.) and bellyache bush (Jatropha gossypiifolia L.) were buried at six depths (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20 and 40 cm) in coarse sand maintained at one of two moisture levels, oven dry or wet (field capacity), and then subjected to one of five microwave radiation durations of (0, 2, 4, 8 and 16 min). Significant interactions between soil moisture level, microwave radiation duration, seed burial depth and species were detected for mortality of seeds of all three species. Maximum seed mortality of rubber vine (88%), parthenium (67%) and bellyache bush (94%) occurred in wet soil irradiated for 16 min. Maximum seed mortality of rubber vine and bellyache bush seeds occurred in seeds buried at 2.5 cm depth whereas that of parthenium occurred in seeds buried at 10 cm depth. Maximum soil temperatures of 114.1 and 87.5°C in dry and wet soil respectively occurred at 2.5 cm depth following 16 min irradiation. Irrespective of the greater soil temperatures recorded in dry soil, irradiating seeds in wet soil generally increased seed mortality 2.9-fold compared with dry soil. Moisture content of wet soil averaged 5.7% compared with 0.1% for dry soil. Results suggest that microwave radiation has the potential to kill seeds located in the soil seed bank. However, many factors, including weed species susceptibility, determine the effectiveness of microwave radiation on buried seeds. Microwave radiation may be an alternative to conventional methods at rapidly depleting soil seed banks in the field, particularly in relatively wet soils that contain long lived weed seeds
Magnetic monopoles from gauge theory phase transitions
Thermal fluctuations of the gauge field lead to monopole formation at the
grand unified phase transition in the early Universe, even if the transition is
merely a smooth crossover. The dependence of the produced monopole density on
various parameters is qualitatively different from theories with global
symmetries, and the monopoles have a positive correlation at short distances.
The number density of monopoles may be suppressed if the grand unified symmetry
is only restored for a short time by, for instance, nonthermal symmetry
restoration after preheating.Comment: 5 pages, updated to match the version published in PRD
(http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRD/v68/e021301) on 11 July 200
Dynamics of a classical gas including dissipative and mean field effects
By means of a scaling ansatz, we investigate an approximated solution of the
Boltzmann-Vlasov equation for a classical gas. Within this framework, we derive
the frequencies and the damping of the collective oscillations of a
harmonically trapped gas and we investigate its expansion after release of the
trap. The method is well suited to studying the collisional effects taking
place in the system and in particular to discussing the crossover between the
hydrodynamic and the collisionless regimes. An explicit link between the
relaxation times relevant for the damping of the collective oscillations and
for the expansion is established.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Large Scale Structure Formation with Global Topological Defects. A new Formalism and its implementation by numerical simulations
We investigate cosmological structure formation seeded by topological defects
which may form during a phase transition in the early universe. First we derive
a partially new, local and gauge invariant system of perturbation equations to
treat microwave background and dark matter fluctuations induced by topological
defects or any other type of seeds. We then show that this system is well
suited for numerical analysis of structure formation by applying it to seeds
induced by fluctuations of a global scalar field. Our numerical results are
complementary to previous investigations since we use substantially different
methods. The resulting microwave background fluctuations are compatible with
older simulations. We also obtain a scale invariant spectrum of fluctuations
with about the same amplitude. However, our dark matter results yield a smaller
bias parameter compatible with on a scale of in contrast to
previous work which yielded to large bias factors. Our conclusions are thus
more positive. According to the aspects analyzed in this work, global
topological defect induced fluctuations yield viable scenarios of structure
formation and do better than standard CDM on large scales.Comment: uuencoded, compressed tar-file containing the text in LaTeX and 12
Postscript Figures, 41 page
Laser cooling of a trapped two-component Fermi gas
The collective Raman cooling of a trapped two-component Fermi gas is
analyzed. We develop the quantum master equation that describes the collisions
and the laser cooling, in the festina lente regime, where the heating due to
photon reabsorption can be neglected. The numerical results based on Monte
Carlo simulations show, that three-dimensional temperatures of the order of
0.008 T_F can be achieved. We analyze the heating related to the background
losses, and conclude that our laser-cooling scheme can maintain the temperature
of the gas without significant additional losses. Finally we derive an analytic
expression for the temperature of a trapped Fermi gas heated by background
collisions, that agrees very well with the data obtained from the numerical
simulation.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Hydrodynamic behavior in expanding thermal clouds of Rb-87
We study hydrodynamic behavior in expanding thermal clouds of Rb-87 released
from an elongated trap. At our highest densities the mean free path is smaller
than the radial size of the cloud. After release the clouds expand
anisotropically. The cloud temperature drops by as much as 30%. This is
attributed to isentropic cooling during the early stages of the expansion. We
present an analytical model to describe the expansion and to estimate the
cooling. Important consequences for time-of-flight thermometry are discussed.Comment: 7 pages with 2 figure
Community Engagement in US Biobanking: Multiplicity of Meaning and Method
Efforts to improve individual and population health increasingly rely on large scale collections of human biological specimens and associated data. Such collections or “biobanks” are hailed as valuable resources for facilitating translational biomedical research. However, biobanks also raise important ethical considerations, such as whether, how and why biobanks might engage with those who contributed specimens. This paper examines perceptions and practices of community engagement (CE) among individuals who operate six diverse biobanks in the U.S
Treatment of backscattering in a gas of interacting fermions confined to a one-dimensional harmonic atom trap
An asymptotically exact many body theory for spin polarized interacting
fermions in a one-dimensional harmonic atom trap is developed using the
bosonization method and including backward scattering. In contrast to the
Luttinger model, backscattering in the trap generates one-particle potentials
which must be diagonalized simultaneously with the two-body interactions.
Inclusion of backscattering becomes necessary because backscattering is the
dominant interaction process between confined identical one-dimensional
fermions. The bosonization method is applied to the calculation of one-particle
matrix elements at zero temperature. A detailed discussion of the validity of
the results from bosonization is given, including a comparison with direct
numerical diagonalization in fermionic Hilbert space. A model for the
interaction coefficients is developed along the lines of the Luttinger model
with only one coupling constant . With these results, particle densities,
the Wigner function, and the central pair correlation function are calculated
and displayed for large fermion numbers. It is shown how interactions modify
these quantities. The anomalous dimension of the pair correlation function in
the center of the trap is also discussed and found to be in accord with the
Luttinger model.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, journal-ref adde
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