376 research outputs found
Behavioural and physiological consequences of acute social defeat in growing gilts: effects of the social environment
Endocrine, behavioural and immunologic processes, together with body growth, were evaluated in gilts that were defeated at 10 weeks of age in resident-intruder tests. Immediately after defeat, gilts were either separated from or reunited with a familiar conspecific (litter-mate; always a barrow). Gilts were assigned to one of four treatments: (a) DI: defeat, followed by isolation (separation from original litter-mate; n=8); (b) I: no defeat, isolation (control group; n=9); (c) DP; defeat, followed by pair-housing (reunion with original litter-mate; n=8); and (d) P: no defeat, pair-housing (control group; n=8). The following general conclusions were derived: (1) social defeat caused pronounced short-term elevations in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and sympathetic-adrenal medullary activities, and of prolactin levels. Moreover, as soon as 1 h after defeat, percentages of blood lymphocytes and neutrophilic granulocytes were, respectively, decreased and increased; (2) social defeat had some long-lasting influence on behaviour and physiology, but isolation predominantly determined responses in the longer term. Defeat, as well as isolation, resulted in increased cardiovascular activities compared to P controls, as observed in a novel object test (NOT: +7 days) and an aversion test (AVT: +14 days). Moreover, defeated as well as isolated gilts did not habituate to a repeated novel environment test (NET: -7, +2 and +7 days) in terms of frequencies of vocalising, whereas P controls did. Isolation, through the separation from any other pig, was responsible for the other observed long-term characteristics, which developed progressively. Isolated gilts showed high mobilities and high cortisol responses in the repeated NET (+7 days), not being habituated. This contrasted the reactions of pair-housed gilts, which were much reduced. In addition to their high cardiovascular activities in the NOT and the AVT, isolated gilts also displayed higher heart rates in the repeated NET and during human presence following the NOT, compared to pair-housed gilts. Finally, isolated gilts were more inhibited to approach a novel object (in the NOT) than pair-housed pigs; and (3) stress responses of defeated gilts were modulated by the subsequent social environment. Stimulation of the HPA-axis (plasma- and salivary cortisol) was prolonged in those defeated gilts which were isolated (observed in the first hour). Changes in leucocyte subsets were still observed after 3 days in DI, but were `normalised' within 1 day in DP gilts. Two days after defeat, habituation to the repeated NET in terms of mobility and salivary cortisol responses occurred in control and DP gilts, but not in DI gilts. We argue that these effects of the social environment shortly after defeat were related to a stress-reducing effect of a stable social relationship, i.e. social support.
Statistical significance of fine structure in the frequency spectrum of Aharonov-Bohm conductance oscillations
We discuss a statistical analysis of Aharonov-Bohm conductance oscillations
measured in a two-dimensional ring, in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit
interaction. Measurements performed at different values of gate voltage are
used to calculate the ensemble-averaged modulus of the Fourier spectrum and, at
each frequency, the standard deviation associated to the average. This allows
us to prove the statistical significance of a splitting that we observe in the
h/e peak of the averaged spectrum. Our work illustrates in detail the role of
sample specific effects on the frequency spectrum of Aharonov-Bohm conductance
oscillations and it demonstrates how fine structures of a different physical
origin can be discriminated from sample specific features.Comment: accepted for publication in PR
Planar lattice gases with nearest-neighbour exclusion
We discuss the hard-hexagon and hard-square problems, as well as the
corresponding problem on the honeycomb lattice. The case when the activity is
unity is of interest to combinatorialists, being the problem of counting binary
matrices with no two adjacent 1's. For this case we use the powerful corner
transfer matrix method to numerically evaluate the partition function per site,
density and some near-neighbour correlations to high accuracy. In particular
for the square lattice we obtain the partition function per site to 43 decimal
places.Comment: 16 pages, 2 built-in Latex figures, 4 table
Implications of coping characteristics and social status for welfare and production of paired growing gilts
This paper considers the question whether knowledge on individual coping characteristics of growing pigs may be used to improve welfare and production after mixing. Gilts with either reactive or proactive coping characteristics were identified according to behavioural resistance in a backtest, respectively, being low (LR) and high resistant (HR) in this test. At 7 weeks of age, several pairs of unfamiliar gilts were formed, and pairs and dominance relationships were studied over a 3-week period. The following pairs (combinations) were established: two LR gilts (LR/LR; n = 12), two HR gilts (FIRM; n = 12), one LR and one HR gilt (LR gilt dominant: LR(d)/HR; n = 11), and one LR and one HR gilt (HR gilt dominant: LR/HR(d); n = 12). Results showed that on the day of mixing, aggression subsided less quickly and increases in body temperature were higher in LR/ HR(d) and HR/HR pairs. Also, during the first week post-mixing, feed efficiency was lower and skin damage was higher in LR/HR(d) and HR/HR pairs. Mixing of two HR gilts caused highest levels of stress, indicated by greater catecholamine concentrations in urine following the day of mixing, and higher baseline levels of plasma ACTH at I week post-mixing. The lower tendency of fearfulness. In contrast to gilts within HR/HR pairs to contact a novel object may present higher those of LR/HR(d) pairs, responses of LR(d)/HR pairs revealed much lower levels of stress, which emphasised the importance of dominance relationships, being independent of coping characteristics of individual gilts. We speculate that in LR/HR pairs, dominant LR gilts were able to suppress aggressiveness of HR subordinates. HR or proactive gilts, however, may become aggressive when being dominant. General effects of social status, independent of combination, were also found. Compared to dominants, subordinates showed higher acute cortisol, body temperature and vocal responses to mixing. In the longer term, they showed a higher vocal and parasympathetic responsitivity towards the novel object, and their body growth was impaired. Measures not influenced by combination and social status included those of leucocyte subsets, prolactin, and average heart rates during novelty tests. To conclude, aggressive conditions in newly formed groups. and consequently welfare and production, may largely depend on coping characteristics of individual pigs, but also on dominance relationships. Accordingly, the practical value of the backtest is being discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
Spins, charges and currents at Domain Walls in a Quantum Hall Ising Ferromagnet
We study spin textures in a quantum Hall Ising ferromagnet. Domain walls
between ferro and unpolarized states at are analyzed with a functional
theory supported by a microscopic calculation. In a neutral wall, Hartree
repulsion prevents the appearance of a fan phase provoked by a negative
stiffness. For a charged system, electrons become trapped as solitons at the
domain wall. The size and energy of the solitons are determined by both Hartree
and spin-orbit interactions. Finally, we discuss how electrical transport takes
place through the domain wall.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures include
Skyrmion Excitations in Quantum Hall Systems
Using finite size calculations on the surface of a sphere we study the
topological (skyrmion) excitation in quantum Hall system with spin degree of
freedom at filling factors around . In the absence of Zeeman energy, we
find, in systems with one quasi-particle or one quasi-hole, the lowest energy
band consists of states with , where and are the total orbital and
spin angular momentum. These different spin states are almost degenerate in the
thermodynamic limit and their symmetry-breaking ground state is the state with
one skyrmion of infinite size. In the presence of Zeeman energy, the skyrmion
size is determined by the interplay of the Zeeman energy and electron-electron
interaction and the skyrmion shrinks to a spin texture of finite size. We have
calculated the energy gap of the system at infinite wave vector limit as a
function of the Zeeman energy and find there are kinks in the energy gap
associated with the shrinking of the size of the skyrmion. breaking ground
state is the state with one skyrmion of infinite size. In the presence of
Zeeman energy, the skyrmion size is determined by the interplay of the Zeeman
energy and electron-electronComment: 4 pages, 5 postscript figures available upon reques
Vortex dynamics and states of artificially layered superconducting films with correlated defects
Linear resistances and -characteristics have been measured over a wide
range in the parameter space of the mixed phase of multilayered a-TaGe/Ge
films. Three films with varying interlayer coupling and correlated defects
oriented at an angle from the film normal were investigated.
Experimental data were analyzed within vortex glass models and a second order
phase transition from a resistive vortex liquid to a pinned glass phase.
Various vortex phases including changes from three to two dimensional behavior
depending on anisotropy have been identified. Careful analysis of
-characteristics in the glass phases revealed a distinctive and
-dependence of the glass exponent . The vortex dynamics in the
Bose-glass phase does not follow the predicted behavior for excitations of
vortex kinks or loops.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 3 table
Hamiltonian Theory of the Composite Fermion Wigner Crystal
Experimental results indicating the existence of the high magnetic field
Wigner Crystal have been available for a number of years. While variational
wavefunctions have demonstrated the instability of the Laughlin liquid to a
Wigner Crystal at sufficiently small filling, calculations of the excitation
gaps have been hampered by the strong correlations. Recently a new Hamiltonian
formulation of the fractional quantum Hall problem has been developed. In this
work we extend the Hamiltonian approach to include states of nonuniform
density, and use it to compute the excitation gaps of the Wigner Crystal
states. We find that the Wigner Crystal states near are
quantitatively well described as crystals of Composite Fermions with four
vortices attached. Predictions for gaps and the shear modulus of the crystal
are presented, and found to be in reasonable agreement with experiments.Comment: 41 page, 6 figures, 3 table
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