865 research outputs found
Status of the PICASSO Project
The Picasso project is a dark matter search experiment based on the
superheated droplet technique. Preliminary runs performed at the Picasso Lab in
Montreal have showed the suitability of this detection technique to the search
for weakly interacting cold dark matter particles. In July 2002, a new phase of
the project started. A batch of six 1-liter detectors with an active mass of
approximately 40g was installed in a gallery of the SNO observatory in Sudbury,
Ontario, Canada at a depth of 6,800 feet (2,070m). We give a status report on
the new experimental setup, data analysis, and preliminary limits on
spin-dependent neutralino interaction cross section.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the Proceedings of the TAUP 2003
conference, 5-9 September, 2003, University of Washington, Seattle, US
Evidence of selection for resistance to paralytic shellfish toxins during the early life history of soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria) populations
Abstract This study identifies early, postmetamorphic soft-shell clams, Mya arenaria, as the life-history stage most susceptible to effects of blooms of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxin-producing Alexandrium spp. Laboratory experiments used progeny from predominantly susceptible (naïve) or resistant (annually exposed) NW Atlantic populations. Growth and survival of toxified veliger larvae did not differ from those fed nontoxic algae. In contrast, postlarvae (4-12-mm shell length) from both populations exposed to a highly toxic Alexandrium tamarense isolate (, 100 cells mL 21 , 64-69 pg saxitoxin equivalents [STXeq] cell 21 ) suffered burrowing incapacitation, toxin accumulation, and mortalities within 1 week of toxin exposure. These effects were greater and occurred sooner in the naïve population. Short-term toxification in the laboratory caused a significant shift in the genotypic composition of this population, determined with a molecular marker for sodium-channel resistance. Clams with the sensitive genotype were selectively eliminated relative to resistant or heterozygote clams. Ingestion of toxic cells (too large for larval capture) is thus required to elicit toxic effects. Exposure to mixed, toxic, and nontoxic algal suspensions demonstrated that adverse effects to fitness (survival and growth) were dose-dependent, occurring only at $ 50 cells mL 21 of the isolate used (PR18b). Paralysis and thus increased predatory risk occurred even at 10 cells mL 21 . Postlarvae , 12 mm, which can co-occur with red tides throughout the Atlantic range of M. arenaria, were more susceptible to PSP than large (. 30 mm) juveniles. Natural selection for resistance in Atlantic populations will thus vary latitudinally with the timing, duration, and intensity of toxic blooms
A Model of Vertical Oligopolistic Competition
This paper develops a model of successive oligopolies with endogenous market entry, allowing for varying degrees of product differentiation and entry costs in both markets. Our analysis shows that the downstream conditions dominate the overall profitability of the two-tier structure while
the upstream conditions mainly affect the distribution of profits. We compare the welfare effects of upstream versus downstream deregulation policies and show that the impact of deregulation may be overvalued when ignoring feedback effects from the other market. Furthermore, we analyze how different forms of vertical restraints influence the endogenous market structure and show when they are welfare enhancing
Women We Loved: Paradoxes of public and private in the biographical television drama
Broadcast to critical acclaim and relatively large audiences for its niche channel, the Women We Loved season consisted of biographical dramatisations of three prominent female figures of 20th-century British culture. These dramas shared in common narratives that centre on the two aspects of ‘the public’ and ‘the private’: the tension between public career and personal life and the discrepancy between celebrity persona and private individual. Combining theoretical insights from feminist studies of biography with close textual analysis, this article analyses how performance, aesthetics and narrative express the ambivalent placement of their protagonists between public and private
spheres
Ordering of droplets and light scattering in polymer dispersed liquid crystal films
We study the effects of droplet ordering in initial optical transmittance
through polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films prepared in the presence
of an electrical field. The experimental data are interpreted by using a
theoretical approach to light scattering in PDLC films that explicitly relates
optical transmittance and the order parameters characterizing both the
orientational structures inside bipolar droplets and orientational distribution
of the droplets. The theory relies on the Rayleigh-Gans approximation and uses
the Percus-Yevick approximation to take into account the effects due to droplet
positional correlations.Comment: revtex4, 18 pages, 8 figure
An Investigation of sexuality and life satisfaction of institutionalized aged
One concern of this study is sexuality among the aged, since every person, regardless of age, is a sexual being. Society, however, has been slow to recognize this fact and has not accepted sexual activity among the aged. Along with the lack of social sanctioning, elderly persons are very susceptible to the myriad of myths, half-truths, misinformation, and incomplete data which affect their attitudes toward sexuality. Furthermore, older persons are susceptible to negative stereotypes of themselves as sexual beings. However, the effect of actual sexual activity upon overall life satisfaction among the aged has yet to be determined. Because there has been no empirical evidence concerning this, the degree of relationship between sexual activity and life satisfaction remains unknown. Since human beings remain sexual throughout life, and a large proportion of the elderly are institutionalized, this study will focus attention on the relationship between life satisfaction and sexuality among the institutionalized aged. It is important for social workers to explore these concepts, as empirically validated knowledge can be used as guidelines for professional values and practice
The Supercooling of a Nematic Liquid Crystal
We investigate the supercooling of a nematic liquid crystal using fluctuating
non-linear hydrodynamic equations. The Martin-Siggia-Rose formalism is used to
calculate renormalized transport coefficients to one-loop order. Similar
theories for isotropic liquids have shown substantial increases of the
viscosities as the liquid is supercooled or compressed due to feedback from the
density fluctuations which are freezing. We find similar results here for the
longitudinal and various shear viscosities of the nematic. However, the two
viscosities associated with the nematic director motion do not grow in any
dramatic way; i.e.\ there is no apparent freezing of the director modes within
this hydrodynamic formalism. Instead a glassy state of the nematic may arise
from a ``random anisotropy" coupling of the director to the frozen density.Comment: Late
Topological Defects and Interactions in Nematic Emulsions
Inverse nematic emulsions in which surfactant-coated water droplets are
dispersed in a nematic host fluid have distinctive properties that set them
apart from dispersions of two isotropic fluids or of nematic droplets in an
isotropic fluid. We present a comprehensive theoretical study of the
distortions produced in the nematic host by the dispersed droplets and of
solvent mediated dipolar interactions between droplets that lead to their
experimentally observed chaining. A single droplet in a nematic host acts like
a macroscopic hedgehog defect. Global boundary conditions force the nucleation
of compensating topological defects in the nematic host. Using variational
techniques, we show that in the lowest energy configuration, a single water
droplet draws a single hedgehog out of the nematic host to form a tightly bound
dipole. Configurations in which the water droplet is encircled by a
disclination ring have higher energy. The droplet-dipole induces distortions in
the nematic host that lead to an effective dipole-dipole interaction between
droplets and hence to chaining.Comment: 17 double column pages prepared by RevTex, 15 eps figures included in
text, 2 gif figures for Fig. 1
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