Some are more equal than others : the role of ‘keystone’ species in the degradation of recalcitrant substrates

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Slope of the Isgur-Wise function in the heavy mass limit of quark models \`a la Bakamjian-Thomas

The slope of the Isgur-Wise function for ground state mesons is evaluated for the heavy mass limit of quark models \`a la Bakamjian-Thomas, which has been previously discussed by us in general terms. A full calculation in various spectroscopic models with relativistic kinetic energy gives a rather stable result $\rho^2 \approx 1$, much lower than previous estimates. Attention is paid to a careful comparison of this result with the ones of QCD fundamental methods (lattice QCD, QCD sum rules) and with experimental data.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, AMS-LaTe

Impact of innovation platforms

Available in Chinese, English, Hindi, Thai and Vietnames

Smearing of charge fluctuations in a grain by spin-flip assisted tunneling

We investigate the charge fluctuations of a grain (large dot) coupled to a lead via a small quantum dot in the Kondo regime. We show that the strong entanglement of charge and spin flips in this setup can result in a stable SU(4) Kondo fixed point, which considerably smears out the Coulomb staircase behavior already in the weak tunneling limit. This behavior is robust enough to be experimentally observable.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, final version for PRB Rapid Com

Fractional plateaus in the Coulomb blockade of coupled quantum dots

Ground-state properties of a double-large-dot sample connected to a reservoir via a single-mode point contact are investigated. When the interdot transmission is perfect and the dots controlled by the same dimensionless gate voltage, we find that for any finite backscattering from the barrier between the lead and the left dot, the average dot charge exhibits a Coulomb-staircase behavior with steps of size e/2 and the capacitance peak period is halved. The interdot electrostatic coupling here is weak. For strong tunneling between the left dot and the lead, we report a conspicuous intermediate phase in which the fractional plateaus get substantially altered by an increasing slope.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, final versio

Summary of CPWF research in the Nile river basin

Three major river basins flow out of Ethiopia into Sudan, constituting the Eastern Nile basin (the White Nile flows from the south). These are the Tekeze-Atbara flowing out of northern Ethiopia, the Baro-Akoba- Sobat flowing from southern Ethiopia, and the Blue Nile (Abay) sandwiched between the other two. The Blue Nile Basin, called the Abay in Ethiopia, is the largest branch of the Nile draining the Ethiopian highlands. It covers an estimated area of 311,437 square kilometers and is shared by Ethiopia and Sudan. It joins the White Nile in Khartoum, Sudan. The Ethiopian highlands portion of the Blue Nile river basin was the focus of the Nile Basin Development Challenge under the Challenge Program on Water and Food

High throughput methodology for synthesis, screening, and optimization of solid state Lithium ion electrolytes

A study of the lithium ion conductor Li3xLa2/3–xTiO3 solid solution and the surrounding composition space was carried out using a high throughput physical vapor deposition system. An optimum total ionic conductivity value of 5.45 × 10–4 S cm–1 was obtained for the composition Li0.17La0.29Ti0.54 (Li3xLa2/3–xTiO3x = 0.11). This optimum value was calculated using an artificial neural network model based on the empirical data. Due to the large scale of the data set produced and the complexity of synthesis, informatics tools were required to analyze the data. Partition analysis was carried out to determine the synthetic parameters of importance and their threshold values. Multivariate curve resolution and principal component analysis were applied to the diffraction data set. This analysis enabled the construction of phase distribution diagrams, illustrating both the phases obtained and the compositional zones in which they occur. The synthetic technique presented has significant advantages over other thin film and bulk methodologies, in terms of both the compositional range covered and the nature of the materials produce

How does reviewing the evidence change veterinary surgeons' beliefs regarding the treatment of ovine footrot? A quantitative and qualitative study

Footrot is a widespread, infectious cause of lameness in sheep, with major economic and welfare costs. The aims of this research were: (i) to quantify how veterinary surgeons’ beliefs regarding the efficacy of two treatments for footrot changed following a review of the evidence (ii) to obtain a consensus opinion following group discussions (iii) to capture complementary qualitative data to place their beliefs within a broader clinical context. Grounded in a Bayesian statistical framework, probabilistic elicitation (roulette method) was used to quantify the beliefs of eleven veterinary surgeons during two one-day workshops. There was considerable heterogeneity in veterinary surgeons’ beliefs before they listened to a review of the evidence. After hearing the evidence, seven participants quantifiably changed their beliefs. In particular, two participants who initially believed that foot trimming with topical oxytetracycline was the better treatment, changed to entirely favour systemic and topical oxytetracycline instead. The results suggest that a substantial amount of the variation in beliefs related to differences in veterinary surgeons’ knowledge of the evidence. Although considerable differences in opinion still remained after the evidence review, with several participants having non-overlapping 95% credible intervals, both groups did achieve a consensus opinion. Two key findings from the qualitative data were: (i) veterinary surgeons believed that farmers are unlikely to actively seek advice on lameness, suggesting a proactive veterinary approach is required (ii) more attention could be given to improving the way in which veterinary advice is delivered to farmers. In summary this study has: (i) demonstrated a practical method for probabilistically quantifying how veterinary surgeons’ beliefs change (ii) revealed that the evidence that currently exists is capable of changing veterinary opinion (iii) suggested that improved transfer of research knowledge into veterinary practice is needed (iv) identified some potential obstacles to the implementation of veterinary advice by farmers

Hsp21potentiates antifungal drug tolerance in Candida albicans

Peer reviewedPublisher PD