235 research outputs found
Tuning gastropod locomotion: Modeling the influence of mucus rheology on the cost of crawling
Common gastropods such as snails crawl on a solid substrate by propagating
muscular waves of shear stress on a viscoelastic mucus. Producing the mucus
accounts for the largest component in the gastropod's energy budget, more than
twenty times the amount of mechanical work used in crawling. Using a simple
mechanical model, we show that the shear-thinning properties of the mucus favor
a decrease in the amount of mucus necessary for crawling, thereby decreasing
the overall energetic cost of locomotion.Comment: Corrected typo
Exposure to a firefighting overhaul environment without respiratory protection increases immune dysregulation and lung disease risk
Firefighting activities appear to increase the risk of acute and chronic lung disease, including malignancy. While self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBA) mitigate exposures to inhalable asphyxiates and carcinogens, firefighters frequently remove SCBA during overhaul
when the firegrounds appear clear of visible smoke. Using a mouse model of overhaul without airway protection, the impact of fireground environment exposure on lung gene expression was assessed to identify transcripts potentially critical to firefighter-related chronic pulmonary illnesses. Lung tissue was collected 2 hrs post-overhaul and evaluated
via whole genome transcriptomics by RNA-seq. Although gas metering showed that the fireground overhaul levels of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen cyanine (HCN), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and oxygen (O2) were within NIOSH ceiling recommendations, 3852 lung genes were differentially expressed when mice exposed to overhaul were compared to mice on the fireground but outside the overhaul environment. Importantly, overhaul exposure was associated with an up/down-regulation of 86 genes with a fold change of 1.5 or greater (p<0.5) including the immunomodulatory-linked genes S100a8 and
Tnfsf9 (downregulation) and the cancer-linked genes, Capn11 and Rorc (upregulation). Taken together these findings indicate that, without respiratory protection, exposure to the fireground overhaul environment is associated with transcriptional changes impacting proteins potentially related to inflammation-associated lung disease and cancer.This work was supported by the Department of Homeland Security Fire Prevention and Safety Grant #EMW-2013-FP-00766 to G.H. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ope
L\'evy-stable two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in GeV AuAu collisions
We present a detailed measurement of charged two-pion correlation functions
in 0%-30% centrality GeV AuAu collisions by the
PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The data are well
described by Bose-Einstein correlation functions stemming from L\'evy-stable
source distributions. Using a fine transverse momentum binning, we extract the
correlation strength parameter , the L\'evy index of stability
and the L\'evy length scale parameter as a function of average
transverse mass of the pair . We find that the positively and the
negatively charged pion pairs yield consistent results, and their correlation
functions are represented, within uncertainties, by the same L\'evy-stable
source functions. The measurements indicate a decrease of the
strength of the correlations at low . The L\'evy length scale parameter
decreases with increasing , following a hydrodynamically
predicted type of scaling behavior. The values of the L\'evy index of stability
are found to be significantly lower than the Gaussian case of
, but also significantly larger than the conjectured value that may
characterize the critical point of a second-order quark-hadron phase
transition.Comment: 448 authors, 25 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables, 2010 data. v2 is version
accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. C. Plain text data tables for the
points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or
will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Medium modification of jet fragmentation in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV measured in direct photon-hadron correlations
The jet fragmentation function is measured with direct photon-hadron
correlations in p+p and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV. The p_T of the
photon is an excellent approximation to the initial p_T of the jet and the
ratio z_T=p_T^h/p_T^\gamma is used as a proxy for the jet fragmentation
function. A statistical subtraction is used to extract the direct photon-hadron
yields in Au+Au collisions while a photon isolation cut is applied in p+p. I_
AA, the ratio of jet fragment yield in Au+Au to that in p+p, indicates
modification of the jet fragmentation function. Suppression, most likely due to
energy loss in the medium, is seen at high z_T. The fragment yield at low z_T
is enhanced at large angles. Such a trend is expected from redistribution of
the lost energy into increased production of low-momentum particles.Comment: 562 authors, 70 insitutions, 8 pages, and 3 figures. Submitted to
Phys. Rev. Lett. v2 has minor changes to improve clarity. Plain text data
tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX
publications are (or will be) publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Transverse energy production and charged-particle multiplicity at midrapidity in various systems from to 200 GeV
Measurements of midrapidity charged particle multiplicity distributions,
, and midrapidity transverse-energy distributions,
, are presented for a variety of collision systems and energies.
Included are distributions for AuAu collisions at ,
130, 62.4, 39, 27, 19.6, 14.5, and 7.7 GeV, CuCu collisions at
and 62.4 GeV, CuAu collisions at
GeV, UU collisions at GeV,
Au collisions at GeV, HeAu collisions at
GeV, and collisions at
GeV. Centrality-dependent distributions at midrapidity are presented in terms
of the number of nucleon participants, , and the number of
constituent quark participants, . For all collisions
down to GeV, it is observed that the midrapidity data
are better described by scaling with than scaling with . Also presented are estimates of the Bjorken energy density,
, and the ratio of to ,
the latter of which is seen to be constant as a function of centrality for all
systems.Comment: 706 authors, 32 pages, 20 figures, 34 tables, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010,
2011, and 2012 data. v2 is version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Inclusive cross section and double-helicity asymmetry for production at midrapidity in collisions at GeV
PHENIX measurements are presented for the cross section and double-helicity
asymmetry () in inclusive production at midrapidity from
collisions at ~GeV from data taken in 2012 and 2013 at
the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The next-to-leading-order
perturbative-quantum-chromodynamics theory calculation is in excellent
agreement with the presented cross section results. The calculation utilized
parton-to-pion fragmentation functions from the recent DSS14 global analysis,
which prefer a smaller gluon-to-pion fragmentation function. The
results follow an increasingly positive asymmetry trend with
and with respect to the predictions and are in excellent
agreement with the latest global analysis results. This analysis incorporated
earlier results on and jet , and suggested a positive
contribution of gluon polarization to the spin of the proton for the
gluon momentum fraction range . The data presented here extend to a
currently unexplored region, down to , and thus provide additional
constraints on the value of . The results confirm the evidence for
nonzero using a different production channel in a complementary
kinematic region.Comment: 413 authors, 8 pages, 4 figures. v2 is version accepted as PRD Rapid
Communication. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for
this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Measurement of higher cumulants of net-charge multiplicity distributions in AuAu collisions at GeV
We report the measurement of cumulants () of the net-charge
distributions measured within pseudorapidity () in AuAu
collisions at GeV with the PHENIX experiment at the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The ratios of cumulants (e.g. ,
) of the net-charge distributions, which can be related to volume
independent susceptibility ratios, are studied as a function of centrality and
energy. These quantities are important to understand the quantum-chromodynamics
phase diagram and possible existence of a critical end point. The measured
values are very well described by expectation from negative binomial
distributions. We do not observe any nonmonotonic behavior in the ratios of the
cumulants as a function of collision energy. The measured values of and can be directly compared to lattice
quantum-chromodynamics calculations and thus allow extraction of both the
chemical freeze-out temperature and the baryon chemical potential at each
center-of-mass energy.Comment: 512 authors, 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. v2 is version accepted for
publication in Phys. Rev. C as a Rapid Communication. Plain text data tables
for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications
are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Single electron yields from semileptonic charm and bottom hadron decays in AuAu collisions at GeV
The PHENIX Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has measured
open heavy-flavor production in minimum bias AuAu collisions at
GeV via the yields of electrons from semileptonic decays
of charm and bottom hadrons. Previous heavy-flavor electron measurements
indicated substantial modification in the momentum distribution of the parent
heavy quarks due to the quark-gluon plasma created in these collisions. For the
first time, using the PHENIX silicon vertex detector to measure precision
displaced tracking, the relative contributions from charm and bottom hadrons to
these electrons as a function of transverse momentum are measured in AuAu
collisions. We compare the fraction of electrons from bottom hadrons to
previously published results extracted from electron-hadron correlations in
collisions at GeV and find the fractions to be
similar within the large uncertainties on both measurements for
GeV/. We use the bottom electron fractions in AuAu and along
with the previously measured heavy flavor electron to calculate the
for electrons from charm and bottom hadron decays separately. We find
that electrons from bottom hadron decays are less suppressed than those from
charm for the region GeV/.Comment: 432 authors, 33 pages, 23 figures, 2 tables, 2011 data. v2 is version
accepted for publication by Phys. Rev. C. Plain text data tables for the
points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or
will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
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