Activity patterns of nesting Mexican spotted owls

We collected 2,665 hr of behavioral information using video surveillance on 19 Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis lucida) pairs between 25 April and 26 July 1996, Prey deliveries per day increased as the nesting season progressed, with an average of 2.68 prey deliveries during incubation, 4.10 items during brooding, and 4.51 items during the nestling phase. The highest delivery rates were concentrated between 1-3 hours before sunrise (02:00-05:00) and 1-3 hours after sunset(18:00-21:00). Trip duration during diurnal hours increased 14 fold from incubation through the nestling phase, compared with a 7.2 fold increase during nocturnal hours. Nest bout duration decreased during both diurnal (36%) and nocturnal hours (76%) across the nesting season. Nest attentiveness decreased as the nesting season progressed, from 97% during the incubation phase to 47% during the nestling phase. Owls attended nests at higher rates during diurnal hours than nocturnal hours across all nesting phases. Activity patterns of Mexican Spotted Owls showed marked cyclical changes in response to ecological factors. Fluctuations in nesting behavior were related to changes in nesting phase and time of day

Recoil correction to the ground state energy of hydrogenlike atoms

The recoil correction to the ground state energy of hydrogenlike atoms is calculated to all orders in \alpha Z in the range Z = 1-110. The nuclear size corrections to the recoil effect are partially taken into account. In the case of hydrogen, the relativistic recoil correction beyond the Salpeter contribution and the nonrelativistic nuclear size correction to the recoil effect, amounts to -7.2(2) kHz. The total recoil correction to the ground state energy in hydrogenlike uranium (^{238}U^{91+}) constitutes 0.46 eV.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure (eps), Latex, submitted to Phys.Rev.

Calculated Electron Fluxes at Airplane Altitudes

A precision measurement of atmospheric electron fluxes has been performed on a Japanese commercial airliner (Enomoto, {\it et al.}, 1991). We have performed a monte carlo calculation of the cosmic ray secondary electron fluxes expected in this experiment. The monte carlo uses the hadronic portion of our neutrino flux cascade program combined with the electromagnetic cascade portion of the CERN library program GEANT. Our results give good agreement with the data, provided we boost the overall normalization of the primary cosmic ray flux by 12\% over the normalization used in the neutrino flux calculation.Comment: in REVTEX, 12 pages + 4 figures available upon reques

Toward high-precision values of the self energy of non-S states in hydrogen and hydrogen-like ions

The method and status of a study to provide numerical, high-precision values of the self-energy level shift in hydrogen and hydrogen-like ions is described. Graphs of the self energy in hydrogen-like ions with nuclear charge number between 20 and 110 are given for a large number of states. The self-energy is the largest contribution of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) to the energy levels of these atomic systems. These results greatly expand the number of levels for which the self energy is known with a controlled and high precision. Applications include the adjustment of the Rydberg constant and atomic calculations that take into account QED effects.Comment: Minor changes since previous versio

Three-flavor atmospheric neutrino anomaly

We investigate the indications of flavor oscillations that come from the anomalous flavor composition of the atmospheric neutrino flux observed in some underground experiments. We study the information coming from the neutrino-induced $\mu$-like and $e$-like events both in the sub-GeV energy range (Kamiokande, IMB, Fr{\'e}jus, and NUSEX experiments) and in the multi-GeV energy range (Kamiokande experiment). First we analyze all the data in the limits of pure $\nu_\mu\leftrightarrow\nu_\tau$ and $\nu_\mu\leftrightarrow\nu_e$ oscillations. We obtain that $\nu_\mu\leftrightarrow\nu_e$ oscillations provide a better fit, in particular to the multi-GeV data. Then we perform a three-flavor analysis in the hypothesis of dominance of one neutrino square mass difference, $m^2$, implying that the neutrino mixing is parametrized by two angles, $(\psi,\,\phi)\in[0,\,\pi/2]$. We explore the space $(m^2,\,\psi,\,\phi)$ exhaustively, and find the regions favored by the oscillation hypothesis. The results are displayed in a form suited to the comparison with other flavor oscillation searches at accelerator, reactor, and solar $\nu$ experiments. In the analysis, we pay particular attention to the earth matter effects, to the correlation of the uncertainties, and to the symmetry properties of the oscillation probability.Comment: 25 pages (RevTeX) + 12 figures, requires epsfig.sty. All the figures are bitmapped. Postscript figures with full resolution are available at ftp://ftp.sns.ias.edu/pub/lisi/atmpaper

HITRAP: A facility at GSI for highly charged ions

An overview and status report of the new trapping facility for highly charged ions at the Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung is presented. The construction of this facility started in 2005 and is expected to be completed in 2008. Once operational, highly charged ions will be loaded from the experimental storage ring ESR into the HITRAP facility, where they are decelerated and cooled. The kinetic energy of the initially fast ions is reduced by more than fourteen orders of magnitude and their thermal energy is cooled to cryogenic temperatures. The cold ions are then delivered to a broad range of atomic physics experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure

Vacuum polarization calculations for hydrogenlike and alkalilike ions

Complete vacuum polarization calculations incorporating finite nuclear size are presented for hydrogenic ions with principal quantum numbers n=1-5. Lithiumlike, sodiumlike, and copperlike ions are also treated starting with Kohn-Sham potentials, and including first-order screening corrections. In both cases dominant Uehling terms are calculated with high accuracy, and smaller Wichmann- Kroll terms are obtained using numerical electron Green's functions.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figur

Rabies screen reveals GPe control of cocaine-triggered plasticity.

Identification of neural circuit changes that contribute to behavioural plasticity has routinely been conducted on candidate circuits that were preselected on the basis of previous results. Here we present an unbiased method for identifying experience-triggered circuit-level changes in neuronal ensembles in mice. Using rabies virus monosynaptic tracing, we mapped cocaine-induced global changes in inputs onto neurons in the ventral tegmental area. Cocaine increased rabies-labelled inputs from the globus pallidus externus (GPe), a basal ganglia nucleus not previously known to participate in behavioural plasticity triggered by drugs of abuse. We demonstrated that cocaine increased GPe neuron activity, which accounted for the increase in GPe labelling. Inhibition of GPe activity revealed that it contributes to two forms of cocaine-triggered behavioural plasticity, at least in part by disinhibiting dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area. These results suggest that rabies-based unbiased screening of changes in input populations can identify previously unappreciated circuit elements that critically support behavioural adaptations

Estimation of heterogeneity in malaria transmission by stochastic modelling of apparent deviations from mass action kinetics

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Quantifying heterogeneity in malaria transmission is a prerequisite for accurate predictive mathematical models, but the variance in field measurements of exposure overestimates true micro-heterogeneity because it is inflated to an uncertain extent by sampling variation. Descriptions of field data also suggest that the rate of <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>infection is not proportional to the intensity of challenge by infectious vectors. This appears to violate the principle of mass action that is implied by malaria biology. Micro-heterogeneity may be the reason for this anomaly. It is proposed that the level of micro-heterogeneity can be estimated from statistical models that estimate the amount of variation in transmission most compatible with a mass-action model for the relationship of infection to exposure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The relationship between the entomological inoculation rate (EIR) for falciparum malaria and infection risk was reanalysed using published data for cohorts of children in Saradidi (western Kenya). Infection risk was treated as binomially distributed, and measurement-error (Poisson and negative binomial) models were considered for the EIR. Models were fitted using Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms and model fit compared for models that assume either mass-action kinetics, facilitation, competition or saturation of the infection process with increasing EIR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The proportion of inocula that resulted in infection in Saradidi was inversely related to the measured intensity of challenge. Models of facilitation showed, therefore, a poor fit to the data. When sampling error in the EIR was neglected, either competition or saturation needed to be incorporated in the model in order to give a good fit. Negative binomial models for the error in exposure could achieve a comparable fit while incorporating the more parsimonious and biologically plausible mass action assumption. Models that assume negative binomial micro-heterogeneity predict lower incidence of infection at a given average exposure than do those assuming exposure to be uniform. The negative binomial model moreover provides an estimate of the variance of the within-cohort distribution of the EIR and hence of within cohort heterogeneity in exposure.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Apparent deviations from mass action kinetics in parasite transmission can arise from spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the inoculation rate, and from imprecision in its measurement. For parasites like <it>P. falciparum</it>, where there is no plausible biological rationale for deviations from mass action, this provides a strategy for estimating true levels of heterogeneity, since if mass-action is assumed, the within-population variance in exposure becomes identifiable in cohort studies relating infection to transmission intensity. Statistical analyses relating infection to exposure thus provide a valid general approach for estimating heterogeneity in transmission but only when they incorporate mass action kinetics and shrinkage estimates of exposure. Such analyses make it possible to include realistic levels of heterogeneity in dynamic models that predict the impact of control measures on transmission intensity.</p

Motilitätsstörungen des Ösophagus

Zusammenfassung: Motilitätsstörungen des Ösophagus umfassen ein heterogenes Spektrum von Erkrankungen. Primäre Fehlbildungen des Ösophagus sind heute zwar einer verbesserten chirurgischen und gastroenterologischen Therapie zugänglich, führen jedoch zu langfristig persistierender ösophagealer Dysmotilität. Die Achalasie resultiert aus einer gestörten Relaxation des gastroösophagealen Sphinkters. Systemische Erkrankungen können mit einer sekundären ösophagealen Motilitätsstörung einhergehen. Zahlreiche neuromuskuläre Erkrankungen mit viszeraler Manifestation zeigen eine ösophageale Beteiligung. Selten kann eine Aganglionose bis in den Ösophagus reichen. Die wachsende Gruppe der Myopathien schließt metabolische und mitochondriale Störungen ein, deren zunehmende Charakterisierung genetischer Defekte vereinzelt bereits therapeutische Ansätze eröffnet. Infektbedingte Ösophagitiden zeigen besonders bei immunkompromittierten Patienten eine schwere Störung der Motilität. Immunologisch vermittelte Entzündungsprozesse im und um den Ösophagus werden allmählich besser verstanden. Schließlich können seltene Tumoren und tumorartige Läsionen eine Dysmotilität des Ösophagus verursache