832 research outputs found
Statistics of selectively neutral genetic variation
Random models of evolution are instrumental in extracting rates of
microscopic evolutionary mechanisms from empirical observations on genetic
variation in genome sequences. In this context it is necessary to know the
statistical properties of empirical observables (such as the local homozygosity
for instance). Previous work relies on numerical results or assumes Gaussian
approximations for the corresponding distributions. In this paper we give an
analytical derivation of the statistical properties of the local homozygosity
and other empirical observables assuming selective neutrality. We find that
such distributions can be very non-Gaussian.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Impact of sensory differences on consumer acceptability of yoghurt and yoghurt-like products
8 pages, 5 tables, 6 figures.-- Available online 7 October 2010.The aim of this work was to obtain information about how perceptible sensory differences affect consumer acceptability for yoghurt and a yoghurt-like product. Descriptive sensory profiles of six commercial samples, three of plain yoghurt and three of plain fermented milk, were determined using a trained panel (n = 10). Sample acceptance was determined by a group of consumers (n = 120). Initially, two groups of consumers were identified using Cluster analyses. For one group 46 (38%) of the consumers, variability in sensory attributes did not affect sample acceptability. For the second group, of 74 (62%) of the consumers, variability in sensory attributes had a significant effect and three consumer subgroups with different preference criteria were detected. Partial least squares regression was used to determine the sensory factors driving liking/disliking for each consumer subgroup. The information obtained can be important in predicting or explaining the market response to these types of products.MICINN of Spain for financial support (Project AGL 2007-63444) and Fondo Social Europeo for financing the contract of author S. Bayarri in the program I3P from CSIC.Peer reviewe
Modulational instability in periodic quadratic nonlinear materials
We investigate the modulational instability of plane waves in quadratic
nonlinear materials with linear and nonlinear quasi-phase-matching gratings.
Exact Floquet calculations, confirmed by numerical simulations, show that the
periodicity can drastically alter the gain spectrum but never completely
removes the instability. The low-frequency part of the gain spectrum is
accurately predicted by an averaged theory and disappears for certain gratings.
The high-frequency part is related to the inherent gain of the homogeneous
non-phase-matched material and is a consistent spectral feature.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures corrected minor misprint
SRAO CO Observation of 11 Supernova Remnants in l = 70 to 190 deg
We present the results of 12CO J = 1-0 line observations of eleven Galactic
supernova remnants (SNRs) obtained using the Seoul Radio Astronomy Observatory
(SRAO) 6-m radio telescope. The observation was made as a part of the SRAO CO
survey of SNRs between l = 70 and 190 deg, which is intended to identify SNRs
interacting with molecular clouds. The mapping areas for the individual SNRs
are determined to cover their full extent in the radio continuum. We used
halfbeam grid spacing (60") for 9 SNRs and full-beam grid spacing (120") for
the rest. We detected CO emission towards most of the remnants. In six SNRs,
molecular clouds showed a good spatial relation with their radio morphology,
although no direct evidence for the interaction was detected. Two SNRs are
particularly interesting: G85.4+0.7, where there is a filamentary molecular
cloud along the radio shell, and 3C434.1, where a large molecular cloud appears
to block the western half of the remnant. We briefly summarize the results
obtained for individual SNRs.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Science. 12 pages,
12 figures, and 3 table
NuSTAR and Suzaku X-ray Spectroscopy of NGC 4151: Evidence for Reflection from the Inner Accretion Disk
We present X-ray timing and spectral analyses of simultaneous 150 ks Nuclear
Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and Suzaku X-ray observations of the
Seyfert 1.5 galaxy NGC 4151. We disentangle the continuum emission, absorption,
and reflection properties of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) by applying
inner accretion disk reflection and absorption-dominated models. With a
time-averaged spectral analysis, we find strong evidence for relativistic
reflection from the inner accretion disk. We find that relativistic emission
arises from a highly ionized inner accretion disk with a steep emissivity
profile, which suggests an intense, compact illuminating source. We find a
preliminary, near-maximal black hole spin a>0.9 accounting for statistical and
systematic modeling errors. We find a relatively moderate reflection fraction
with respect to predictions for the lamp post geometry, in which the
illuminating corona is modeled as a point source. Through a time-resolved
spectral analysis, we find that modest coronal and inner disk reflection flux
variation drives the spectral variability during the observations. We discuss
various physical scenarios for the inner disk reflection model, and we find
that a compact corona is consistent with the observed features.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Articular cartilage mineralization in osteoarthritis of the hip
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to examine the frequency of articular cartilage calcification in patients with end-stage hip OA. Further, its impact on the clinical situation and the OA severity are analyzed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eighty patients with OA of the hip who consecutively underwent total hip replacement were prospectively evaluated, and 10 controls were included. The patients' X-rays were analyzed for the presence of articular cartilage mineralization. A Harris Hip Score (HHS) was preoperatively calculated for every patient.</p> <p>Slab specimens from the femoral head of bone and cartilage and an additional square centimeter of articular cartilage from the main chondral defect were obtained from each patient for analysis of mineralization by digital contact radiography (DCR). Histological grading was also performed. In a subset of 20 patients, minerals were characterized with an electron microscope (FE-SEM).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Calcifications were seen in all OA cartilage and slab specimens using DCR, while preoperative X-rays revealed calcification in only 17.5%. None of the control cartilage specimens showed mineralization. There was a highly significant inverse correlation between articular cartilage calcification and preoperative HHS. Histological OA grade correlated positively with the amount of matrix calcification. FE-SEM analysis revealed basic calcium phosphate (BCP) as the predominant mineral; CPPD crystals were found in only two patients.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Articular cartilage calcification is a common event in osteoarthritis of the hip. The amount of calcification correlates with clinical symptoms and histological OA grade.</p
Modulational Instability in Equations of KdV Type
It is a matter of experience that nonlinear waves in dispersive media,
propagating primarily in one direction, may appear periodic in small space and
time scales, but their characteristics --- amplitude, phase, wave number, etc.
--- slowly vary in large space and time scales. In the 1970's, Whitham
developed an asymptotic (WKB) method to study the effects of small
"modulations" on nonlinear periodic wave trains. Since then, there has been a
great deal of work aiming at rigorously justifying the predictions from
Whitham's formal theory. We discuss recent advances in the mathematical
understanding of the dynamics, in particular, the instability of slowly
modulated wave trains for nonlinear dispersive equations of KdV type.Comment: 40 pages. To appear in upcoming title in Lecture Notes in Physic
Radio Frequency Spectra of 388 Bright 74 MHz Sources
As a service to the community, we have compiled radio frequency spectra from
the literature for all sources within the VLA Low Frequency Sky Survey (VLSS)
that are brighter than 15 Jy at 74 MHz. Over 160 references were used to
maximize the amount of spectral data used in the compilation of the spectra,
while also taking care to determine the corrections needed to put the flux
densities from all reference on the same absolute flux density scale. With the
new VLSS data, we are able to vastly improve upon previous efforts to compile
spectra of bright radio sources to frequencies below 100 MHz because (1) the
VLSS flux densities are more reliable than those from some previous low
frequency surveys and (2) the VLSS covers a much larger area of the sky
(declination >-30 deg.) than many other low frequency surveys (e.g., the 8C
survey). In this paper, we discuss how the spectra were constructed and how
parameters quantifying the shapes of the spectra were derived. Both the spectra
and the shape parameters are made available here to assist in the calibration
of observations made with current and future low frequency radio facilities.Comment: Accepted to ApJ
A Spontaneous Mutation in Contactin 1 in the Mouse
Mutations in the gene encoding the immunoglobulin-superfamily member cell adhesion molecule contactin1 (CNTN1) cause lethal congenital myopathy in human patients and neurodevelopmental phenotypes in knockout mice. Whether the mutant mice provide an accurate model of the human disease is unclear; resolving this will require additional functional tests of the neuromuscular system and examination of Cntn1 mutations on different genetic backgrounds that may influence the phenotype. Toward these ends, we have analyzed a new, spontaneous mutation in the mouse Cntn1 gene that arose in a BALB/c genetic background. The overt phenotype is very similar to the knockout of Cntn1, with affected animals having reduced body weight, a failure to thrive, locomotor abnormalities, and a lifespan of 2–3 weeks. Mice homozygous for the new allele have CNTN1 protein undetectable by western blotting, suggesting that it is a null or very severe hypomorph. In an analysis of neuromuscular function, neuromuscular junctions had normal morphology, consistent with previous studies in knockout mice, and the muscles were able to generate appropriate force when normalized for their reduced size in late stage animals. Therefore, the Cntn1 mutant mice do not show evidence for a myopathy, but instead the phenotype is likely to be caused by dysfunction in the nervous system. Given the similarity of CNTN1 to other Ig-superfamily proteins such as DSCAMs, we also characterized the expression and localization of Cntn1 in the retinas of mutant mice for developmental defects. Despite widespread expression, no anomalies in retinal anatomy were detected histologically or using a battery of cell-type specific antibodies. We therefore conclude that the phenotype of the Cntn1 mice arises from dysfunction in the brain, spinal cord or peripheral nervous system, and is similar in either a BALB/c or B6;129;Black Swiss background, raising a possible discordance between the mouse and human phenotypes resulting from Cntn1 mutations
Strategies for keeping dairy cows and calves together - a cross-sectional survey study
Although it is still most common to rear dairy calves separately from adult cattle, the interest in pro-longed contact between dairy calves and lactating cows during early life is increasing. Previous research has documented positive effects of cow-calf contact (CCC) on for example early calf growth and udder health of suckled cows, but also negative effects such as increased separation distress and reduced weight gains after weaning. The aim of this study was to use information from European farms with prolonged cow-calf contact to identify innovative solutions to common challenges for CCC farms. Commercial dairy farms that kept calves with adult lactating cows for seven days or more after birth were invited to participate, and interviews were performed with 104 farmers from six countries. During interviews, information about farm management, calf rearing, farmers' perception of animal health on their farm, and farmers' drivers and barriers for implementing CCC were collected. We found that CCC was practised in a large variety of housing and management systems, and that calves could be reared together with their dam, with foster cows, or using a combination of the two. The contact period varied considerably (7-305 days) between farms and about 25% of the farms manually milk fed the calves during parts of the milk feeding period. Daily contact time varied between farms, from 30 minutes per day to permanent contact except at milking. Behaviours indicative of separation distress, most commonly vocalisation in cows and calves, were reported by 87% of the farmers. Strategies to alleviate separation distress, for example simultaneous gradual weaning and separation, were used on some farms. Building constraints were most often mentioned as a barrier for implementing CCC. Our findings suggest that CCC is practised in a variety of commonly used husbandry systems. Reported challenges were primarily related to weaning and separation, and to building constraints; these aspects should be areas of future research.@2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Animal Consortium. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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