Prevention of corn oats smut

Since the admirable experiments of Jensen in Denmark, Dr . J. C. Arthur, of Indiana,1 and Profs. Kellerman and Swingle in Kansas,2 there is no longer any doubt as to the advisability of treating to prevent oats smut and bunt of wheat with hot water. Kellerman and Swingle3 have shown that loose smut of wheat cannot be prevented by treating the seed. They also conducted a series of experiments to determine whether com smut can be prevented by treating the seed. Their results show that the treated contained as much smut as the check. The same year Pammel4 reported an experiment with corn in which the results were also of a negative character. This was in line with results of Brefeld’s5 investigations, but overlooked by the writer at that time. Brefeld’s work indicates that smut of corn can enter any merismatic or growing tissue

Specific gravity and weight of wheat seeds.

Little work has been done in this country on the specific weights of our seeds. Such studies have been made of European wheats by Harz1, Nobbe2, Koemicke and Werner3, and others. Our work was started primarily to determine the influence latitude and climate had on the germination of seeds, but as there appeared to be so much difference in the size of wheat, it occurred to us that a study of the specific gravity and number of seeds per pound and bushel might be of interest

Locally extracting scalar, vector and tensor modes in cosmological perturbation theory

Cosmological perturbation theory relies on the decomposition of perturbations into so-called scalar, vector and tensor modes. This decomposition is non-local and depends on unknowable boundary conditions. The non-locality is particularly important at second- and higher-order because perturbative modes are sourced by products of lower-oder modes, which must be integrated over all space in order to isolate each mode. However, given a trace-free rank-2 tensor, a locally defined scalar mode may be trivially derived by taking two divergences, which knocks out the vector and tensor degrees of freedom. A similar local differential operation will return a pure vector mode. This means that scalar and vector degrees of freedom have local descriptions. The corresponding local extraction of the tensor mode is unknown however. We give it here. The operators we define are useful for defining gauge-invariant quantities at second-order. We perform much of our analysis using an index-free `vector-calculus' approach which makes manipulating tensor equations considerably simpler.Comment: 13 pages. Final version to appear in CQ

The population of propellers in Saturn's A Ring

We present an extensive data set of ~150 localized features from Cassini images of Saturn's Ring A, a third of which are demonstrated to be persistent by their appearance in multiple images, and half of which are resolved well enough to reveal a characteristic "propeller" shape. We interpret these features as the signatures of small moonlets embedded within the ring, with diameters between 40 and 500 meters. The lack of significant brightening at high phase angle indicates that they are likely composed primarily of macroscopic particles, rather than dust. With the exception of two features found exterior to the Encke Gap, these objects are concentrated entirely within three narrow (~1000 km) bands in the mid-A Ring that happen to be free from local disturbances from strong density waves. However, other nearby regions are similarly free of major disturbances but contain no propellers. It is unclear whether these bands are due to specific events in which a parent body or bodies broke up into the current moonlets, or whether a larger initial moonlet population has been sculpted into bands by other ring processes.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures; Accepted at A

Dissociation of μ- and δ-opioid inhibition of glutamatergic synaptic transmission in superficial dorsal horn

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is anatomical and behavioural evidence that μ- and δ-opioid receptors modulate distinct nociceptive modalities within the superficial dorsal horn. The aim of the present study was to examine whether μ- and δ-opioid receptor activation differentially modulates TRP sensitive inputs to neurons within the superficial dorsal horn. To do this, whole cell patch clamp recordings were made from lamina I - II neurons in rat spinal cord slices <it>in vitro </it>to examine the effect of opioids on TRP agonist-enhanced glutamatergic spontaneous miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Under basal conditions the μ-opioid agonist DAMGO (3 μM) reduced the rate of miniature EPSCs in 68% of neurons, while the δ- and κ-opioid agonists deltorphin-II (300 nM) and U69593 (300 nM) did so in 13 - 17% of neurons tested. The TRP agonists menthol (400 μM) and icilin (100 μM) both produced a Ca²⁺-dependent increase in miniature EPSC rate which was unaffected by the voltage dependent calcium channel (VDCC) blocker Cd²⁺. The proportion of neurons in which deltorphin-II reduced the miniature EPSC rate was enhanced in the presence of icilin (83%), but not menthol (0%). By contrast, the proportion of DAMGO and U69593 responders was unaltered in the presence of menthol (57%, 0%), or icilin (57%, 17%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings demonstrate that δ-opioid receptor activation selectively inhibits inputs activated by icilin, whereas μ-opioid receptor activation has a more widespread effect on synaptic inputs to neurons in the superficial dorsal horn. These findings suggest that δ-opioids may provide a novel analgesic approach for specific, TRPA1-like mediated pain modalities.</p

Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Electron-doped Superconductor, Sm_{1.85}Ce_{0.15}CuO_{4-delta}

Temperature-dependent magnetization (M(T)) and specific heat (C_p(T)) measurements were carried out on single crystal Sm_{1.85}Ce_{0.15}CuO_{4-delta} (T_c = 16.5 K). The magnetic anisotropy in the static susceptibility, chi {equiv} M/H, is apparent not only in its magnitude but also in its temperature dependence, with chi_{perp} for H{perp}c larger than chi_{parallel} for H{parallel}c. For both field orientations, chi does not follow the Curie-Weiss behavior due to the small energy gap of the J = 7/2 multiplet above the J = 5/2 ground-state multiplet. However, with increasing temperature, chi_{parallel}(T) exhibits a broad minimum near 100 K and then a slow increase while chi_{perp}(T) shows a monotonic decrease. A sharp peak in C_p(T) at 4.7 K manifests an antiferromagnetic ordering. The electronic contribution, gamma, to C_p(T) is estimated to be gamma = 103.2 (7) mJ/moleSmK^2. The entropy associated with the magnetic ordering is much smaller than Rln2, where R is the gas constant, which is usually expected for the doublet ground state of Sm^{+3}. The unusual magnetic and electronic properties evident in M(T) and C_p(T) are probably due to a strong anisotropic interaction between conduction electrons and localized electrons at Sm^{+3} sites.Comment: 5 pages, 5 encapsulated postscript figures, late

Pair Correlations, Short Range Order and Dispersive Excitations in the Quasi-Kagome Quantum Magnet Volborthite

We present spatial and dynamic information on the s=1/2 distorted kagome antiferromagnet volborthite, Cu3V2O7(OD)2.2D2O, obtained by polarized and inelastic neutron scattering. The instantaneous structure factor, S(Q), is dominated by nearest neighbor pair correlations, with short range order at wave vectors Q1=0.65(3) {\AA}^-1 and Q2=1.15(5) {\AA}^-1 emerging below 5 K. The excitation spectrum, S(Q,{\omega}), reveals two steep branches dispersing from Q1 and Q2, and a flat mode at {\omega}=5.0(2) meV. The results allow us to identify the cross-over at T*=1 K in 51V NMR and specific heat measurements as the build-up of correlations at Q_1. We compare our data to theoretical models proposed for volborthite, and demonstrate that the excitation spectrum can be explained by spin-wave-like excitations with anisotropic exchange parameters, as also suggested by recent local density calculations.Comment: Rewritten article resubmitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. 021

Inelastic neutron scattering studies of methyl chloride synthesis over alumina

Not only is alumina the most widely used catalyst support material in the world, it is also an important catalyst in its own right. One major chemical process that uses alumina in this respect is the industrial production of methyl chloride. This is a large scale process (650 000 metric tons in 2010 in the United States), and a key feedstock in the production of silicones that are widely used as household sealants. In this Account, we show how, in partnership with conventional spectroscopic and reaction testing methods, inelastic neutron scattering (INS) spectroscopy can provide additional insight into the active sites present on the catalyst, as well as the intermediates present on the catalyst surface.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; INS spectroscopy is a form of vibrational spectroscopy, where the spectral features are dominated by modes involving hydrogen. Because of this, most materials including alumina are largely transparent to neutrons. Advantageously, in this technique, the entire “mid-infrared”, 0–4000 cm&lt;sup&gt;–1&lt;/sup&gt;, range is accessible; there is no cut-off at 1400 cm&lt;sup&gt;–1&lt;/sup&gt; as in infrared spectroscopy. It is also straightforward to distinguish fundamental modes from overtones and combinations. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; A key parameter in the catalyst’s activity is the surface acidity. In infrared spectroscopy of adsorbed pyridine, the shifts in the ring stretching modes are dependent on the strength of the acid site. However, there is a very limited spectral range available. We discuss how we can observe the low energy ring deformation modes of adsorbed pyridine by INS spectroscopy. These modes can undergo shifts that are as large as those seen with infrared inspectroscopy, potentially enabling finer discrimination between acid sites. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; Surface hydroxyls play a key role in alumina catalysis, but in infrared spectroscopy, the presence of electrical anharmonicity complicates the interpretation of the O–H stretch region. In addition, the deformations lie below the infrared cut-off. Both of these limitations are irrelevant to INS spectroscopy, and all the modes are readily observable. When we add HCl to the catalyst surface, the acid causes changes in the spectra. We can then deduce both that the surface chlorination leads to enhanced Lewis acidity and that the hydroxyl group must be threefold coordinated. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; When we react η-alumina with methanol, the catalyst forms a chemisorbed methoxy species. Infrared spectroscopy clearly shows its presence but also indicates the possible coexistence of a second species. Because of INS spectroscopy’s ability to discriminate between fundamental modes and combinations, we were able to unambiguously show that there is a single intermediate present on the surface of the active catalyst. This work represents a clear example where an understanding of the chemistry at the molecular level can help rationalize improvements in a large scale industrial process with both financial and environmental benefits. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt

Commutator Relations Reveal Solvable Structures in Unambiguous State Discrimination

We present a criterion, based on three commutator relations, that allows to decide whether two self-adjoint matrices with non-overlapping support are simultaneously unitarily similar to quasidiagonal matrices, i.e., whether they can be simultaneously brought into a diagonal structure with 2x2-dimensional blocks. Application of this criterion to unambiguous state discrimination provides a systematic test whether the given problem is reducible to a solvable structure. As an example, we discuss unambiguous state comparison.Comment: 5 pages, discussion of related work adde