A versatile electrostatic trap

A four electrode electrostatic trap geometry is demonstrated that can be used to combine a dipole, quadrupole and hexapole field. A cold packet of 15ND3 molecules is confined in both a purely quadrupolar and hexapolar trapping field and additionally, a dipole field is added to a hexapole field to create either a double-well or a donut-shaped trapping field. The profile of the 15ND3 packet in each of these four trapping potentials is measured, and the dependence of the well-separation and barrier height of the double-well and donut potential on the hexapole and dipole term are discussed.Comment: submitted to pra; 7 pages, 9 figure

Dynamics of confined water reconstructed from inelastic x-ray scattering measurements of bulk response functions

Nanoconfined water and surface-structured water impacts a broad range of fields. For water confined between hydrophilic surfaces, measurements and simulations have shown conflicting results ranging from “liquidlike” to “solidlike” behavior, from bulklike water viscosity to viscosity orders of magnitude higher. Here, we investigate how a homogeneous fluid behaves under nanoconfinement using its bulk response function: The Green's function of water extracted from a library of S(q,ω) inelastic x-ray scattering data is used to make femtosecond movies of nanoconfined water. Between two confining surfaces, the structure undergoes drastic changes as a function of surface separation. For surface separations of ≈9 Å, although the surface-associated hydration layers are highly deformed, they are separated by a layer of bulklike water. For separations of ≈6 Å, the two surface-associated hydration layers are forced to reconstruct into a single layer that modulates between localized “frozen’ and delocalized “melted” structures due to interference of density fields. These results potentially reconcile recent conflicting experiments. Importantly, we find a different delocalized wetting regime for nanoconfined water between surfaces with high spatial frequency charge densities, where water is organized into delocalized hydration layers instead of localized hydration shells, and are strongly resistant to `freezing' down to molecular distances (<6 Å)

Mastication in the tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus (reptilia: Rhynchocephalia): Structure and activity of the motor system

The masticatory pattern of Sphenodon punctatus , the sole remaining rhynchocephalian, now restricted to islands off the coast of New Zealand, has been analyzed by detailed anatomy, cinematography, cinefluoroscopy, and electromyography. Food reduction consists of a closing, crushing bite followed by a propalineal sliding of the dentary row between the maxillary and palatine ones. The large, fleshy tongue can be protruded to pick up small prey, and also plays a major role in prey manipulation. The rotational closing movement of the jaw, supporting the basic crushing movement, is induced by the main adductor musculature. It is followed by a propalineal anterior displacement relying heavily on the action of the M. pterygoideus. The fiber lengths of the several muscles reflect the extent of shortening. The most obvious modification appears in the M. pterygoideus, which contains a central slip of pinnately arranged short fibers that act a period different from that of the rest of the muscle; their action increases the power during the terminal portion of the propalineal phase. This also allows the animal to use its short teeth in an effective shearing bite that cuts fragments off large prey. The action of single cusped dentary teeth acting between the maxillary and palatine tooth rows provides a translational crushing-cutting action that may be an analog of the mammalian molar pattern. However, this strictly fore-aft slide does not incorporate capacity for later development of lateral movement.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50277/1/1051710307_ftp.pd

Non-Markovian effects on non-locality of a qubit-oscillator system

Non-Markovian evolutions are responsible for a wide variety of physically interesting effects. Here, we study non-locality of the non-classical state of a system consisting of a qubit and an oscillator exposed to the effects of non-Markovian evolutions. We find that the different facets of non-Markovianity affect non-locality in different and non-obvious ways: ranging from pronounced insensitivity of the Bell function to quite a spectacular evidence of information kick-back.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX

Adoption des Technologies Agro-Écologiques : Perception et Préférence des Agriculteurs de la Zone Cotonnière du Bénin

La promotion des pratiques agro-écologiques est devenue l’une des options favorables pouvant contribuer durablement à la gestion des sols et à la préservation des écosystèmes pour la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle dans le contexte actuel des changements climatiques. Cette étude vise à analyser la perception et la préférence des producteurs sur les pratiques agroécologiques innovantes promues dans le cadre du « projet d’appui à la Transition Agro-écologique dans les Zones Cotonnières du Bénin (TAZCO) ». Pour faciliter l’adoption de telles technologies par les producteurs, il faut agir sur les déterminants qui leurs sont favorables. La perception étant un déterminant de l’adoption et la présente étude a été réalisée pour proposer par commune, au moins cinq technologies pour lesquelles les producteurs ont une bonne préférence. Cette étude a été conduite dans la zone d’intervention du TAZCO, constituée de Banikoara, Kandi, Oussa-Péhunco, Parakou et Savalou. En utilisant la méthode d’échantillonnage aléatoire avec le paramètre de disponibilité des producteurs impliqués, 282 producteurs ont été enquêtés lors de la collecte des données parmi les 300 impliqués dans la phase pilote du projet. Les données ont été collectées à l’aide d’un questionnaire structuré, développé sur smartphones avec l’application ‘’KoBocollect’’. Ces données ont été analysées à l’aide de méthode multicritère d’aide à la décision et une liste de cinq technologies variant d’une zone à l’autre a été établie. L’étude a montré que les technologies de la famille « Gestion Intégrée de la Fertilité du&nbsp;Sol » et « Gestion Intégrée Agriculture-Elevage » viennent en tête dans la majorité des zones d’intervention du TAZCO. Agro-ecological practices promotion become one of the favorable options that can sustainably contribute to soil management and ecosystem preservation for food and nutrition security under climate change context. This study aims to analyze producers’ perception and preference on agro-ecological practices promoted by TAZCO project (Agro-ecological Transition in Benin Cotton Areas). To facilitate promoted technologies adoption by producers, it is necessary to act on determinants affecting thempositively. Based on the fact that perception is one of the technology adoption determinants, the study was carried out to suggesting each of the municipalities involved in the study at least five technologies which received producers’ favorable preference. The study was conducted in the area covered by TAZCO activities (Banikoara, Kandi, Oussa-Péhunco, Parakou and Savalou). Using the random sampling method with producers involved’s availability parameter, 282 producers over to the 300 involved in the pilot project were interwied during data collecting. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire developed under ''Kobocollect'' application on smartphones. The multi-criteria decision-support&nbsp;method was used to analyze collected data and a list of five technologies varying from one zone to another was established. The study showed that the technologies named "IntegratedManagement of Soil Fertility" and "Integrated Management Agriculture-Livestock" revealed to be the most important in the majority of TAZCO intervention areas

Clackamas County - City of Milwaukie Urban Services Study: Financial Analysis

The provision of local government services within the urbanizing area of northwest Clackamas County has posed a difficult challenge for a number of years. This report examines the financial aspects of providing urban services to a study area with the following boundaries: the Clackamas County/Multnomah County line to the north, Interstate 205 to the east, highway 224 to the south, and the City of Milwaukie to the west

Producing translationally cold, ground-state CO molecules

Carbon monoxide molecules in their electronic, vibrational, and rotational ground state are highly attractive for trapping experiments. The optical or ac electric traps that can be envisioned for these molecules will be very shallow, however, with depths in the sub-milliKelvin range. Here we outline that the required samples of translationally cold CO (X$^1\Sigma^+$, $v"$=0, $N"$=0) molecules can be produced after Stark deceleration of a beam of laser-prepared metastable CO (a$^3\Pi_1$) molecules followed by optical transfer of the metastable species to the ground state \emph{via} perturbed levels in the A$^1\Pi$ state. The optical transfer scheme is experimentally demonstrated and the radiative lifetimes and the electric dipole moments of the intermediate levels are determined

Quenching of Star Formation

In the last decade we have seen an enormous increase in the size and quality of spectroscopic galaxy surveys, both at low and high redshift. New statistical techniques to analyse large portions of galaxy spectra are now finding favour over traditional index based methods. Here we will review a new robust and iterative Principal Component Analysis (PCA) algorithm, which solves several common issues with classic PCA. Application to the 4000AA break region of galaxies in the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey (VVDS) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) gives new high signal-to-noise ratio spectral indices easily interpretable in terms of recent star formation history. In particular, we identify a sample of post-starburst galaxies at z~0.7 and z~0.07. We quantify for the first time the importance of post-starburst galaxies, consistent with being descendants of gas-rich major mergers, for building the red sequence. Finally, we present a comparison with new low and high redshift "mock spectroscopic surveys" derived from a Millennium Run semi-analytic model.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Conference proceedings in "Classification and Discovery in Large Astronomical Surveys", 2008, C.A.L. Bailer-Jones (ed.

Delayed presentation of traumatic aortocaval fistula: A report of two cases and a review of the associated compensatory hemodynamic and structural changes

Chronic aortocaval fistula (ACF) is a rare complication of gunshot wounds to the abdomen. Herein we report two cases of traumatic ACF: one asymptomatic and the other presenting with congestive heart failure (CHF) 20 and 30 years, respectively, after their initial injury. The recent onset of CHF, the presence of a continuous abdominal bruit, and, in the second patient, a history of penetrating trauma suggested the diagnosis of ACF. The diagnosis was confirmed by computed tomography scanning in both patients. Surgical repair of the ACF in the symptomatic patient resulted in resolution of the CHF and reversed the dilatation of the aorta and inferior vena cava. The asymptomatic patient was lost to follow-up. CHF in a young male patient with a history of penetrating abdominal trauma should alert the surgeon to this rare complication