246 research outputs found
Occurrence of double-stranded RNA species in champignon and their relation to Mushroom Virus X symptoms
Mycoviruses are known to infect fungi of different habitats and life style. Some of them, like the Mushroom Virus X (MVX) complex, cause abnormal development of fruiting bodies and severe yield losses in mushroom cultivation. Most mycoviruses have a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) genome, therefore dsRNA-detection is frequently used as a first step to identify virus infection. In relation with MVX 23 dsRNAs species have been described, occurring in variable number and combination in diseased mushrooms. The aim of our experiments was to find out whether dsRNA-immunoblotting can be used to detect dsRNA in small samples of cultivated A. bisporus varieties and of wild growing Agaricus species. We found that by immunoblotting, the same dsRNA species were detected in apparently healthy cultivated champignon fruiting bodies and in MVX-infected reference samples, respectively, as by conventional CF11 chromatography, but for immunoblotting a much smaller sample size was needed. In two out of three deformed fruit bodies of cultivated A. bisporus from Hungary we detected a 4.1 kbp dsRNA species which was also present in the MVX infected reference samples. Diverse and variable dsRNA patterns were observed in apparently healthy samples of 12 wild growing Agaricus species, indicating that extreme care should be taken when non-cultivated Agaricus is used for breeding new varieties. Non-sterile cultures and environmental mushroom specimens are fairly often mixed with parasitic and endofungal organisms, therefore, we also tested fungi isolated from mushroom cultures. Here again, 1â7 dsRNA species were found in extracts of Trichoderma and Dactylium isolates and of Mycogone-infected sporophores. Our results demonstrate clearly that dsRNAs from very different origins can be present in cultivated champignon and support the view that the MVX symptom-associated dsRNAs are probably of polyphyletic origin and do not represent one defined virus
Probing topological order with R\'enyi entropy
We present an analytical study of the quantum phase transition between the
topologically ordered toric-code-model ground state and the disordered
spin-polarized state. The phase transition is induced by applying an external
magnetic field, and the variation in topological order is detected via two
non-local quantities: the Wilson loop and the topological Renyi entropy of
order 2. By exploiting an equivalence with the transverse-field Ising model and
considering two different variants of the problem, we investigate the field
dependence of these quantities by means of an exact treatment in the exactly
solvable variant and complementary perturbation theories around the limits of
zero and infinite fields in both variants. We find strong evidence that the
phase transition point between topological order and disorder is marked by a
discontinuity in the topological Renyi entropy and that the two phases around
the phase transition point are characterized by its different constant values.
Our results therefore indicate that the topological Renyi entropy is a proper
topological invariant: its allowed values are discrete and can be used to
distinguish between different phases of matter.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, published version with structural changes onl
Chaos and stability in a two-parameter family of convex billiard tables
We study, by numerical simulations and semi-rigorous arguments, a
two-parameter family of convex, two-dimensional billiard tables, generalizing
the one-parameter class of oval billiards of Benettin--Strelcyn [Phys. Rev. A
17, 773 (1978)]. We observe interesting dynamical phenomena when the billiard
tables are continuously deformed from the integrable circular billiard to
different versions of completely-chaotic stadia. In particular, we conjecture
that a new class of ergodic billiard tables is obtained in certain regions of
the two-dimensional parameter space, when the billiards are close to skewed
stadia. We provide heuristic arguments supporting this conjecture, and give
numerical confirmation using the powerful method of Lyapunov-weighted dynamics.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures. Submitted for publication. Supplementary video
available at http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~dsanders
Random Matrices and the Convergence of Partition Function Zeros in Finite Density QCD
We apply the Glasgow method for lattice QCD at finite chemical potential to a
schematic random matrix model (RMM). In this method the zeros of the partition
function are obtained by averaging the coefficients of its expansion in powers
of the chemical potential. In this paper we investigate the phase structure by
means of Glasgow averaging and demonstrate that the method converges to the
correct analytically known result. We conclude that the statistics needed for
complete convergence grows exponentially with the size of the system, in our
case, the dimension of the Dirac matrix. The use of an unquenched ensemble at
does not give an improvement over a quenched ensemble.
We elucidate the phenomenon of a faster convergence of certain zeros of the
partition function. The imprecision affecting the coefficients of the
polynomial in the chemical potential can be interpeted as the appearance of a
spurious phase. This phase dominates in the regions where the exact partition
function is exponentially small, introducing additional phase boundaries, and
hiding part of the true ones. The zeros along the surviving parts of the true
boundaries remain unaffected.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, typos correcte
Experimental determination of the He(,)Be reaction cross section above the Be proton separation threshold
The He(,)Be reaction plays a major role both in the
BBN producing the majority of the primordial Li, and in the pp-chain, where
it is the branching point. As a few-nucleon system, this reaction is often used
to validate ab-initio theoretical calculations and/or test R-matrix theory and
code implementations. For the latter, experimental data in an extended energy
range is of crucial importance to test the fit and extrapolation capabilities
of the different codes. The He(,)Be reaction cross
section has been measured by several groups up to the first resonance
( MeV) in the reaction. However, only one dataset exists
above the Be proton separation threshold measured in a narrow energy range
( MeV). In this work we extend the available experimental
capture cross section database to the energy range of known Be levels. The
activation method was used. The experiment was performed using a thin-window
gas cell with two high-purity Al foils as entrance and exit windows. The
activity of the Be nuclei implanted in the exit/catcher foil was measured
by detecting the yield of the emitted ~rays using shielded high-purity
germanium detectors. New experimental He(,)Be reaction
cross section data were obtained for the first time in the
MeV energy region. The new dataset with about 0.2 MeV step covers the energy
range of known levels and particle separation thresholds. No prominent
structures are observer around the Be levels. The reaction cross section is
slowly increasing with increasing energy. Above the Li threshold, a
decrease starts in the cross section trend. The overall structure of the cross
section suggest a broad resonance peaking around MeV Be
excitation energy, with a width of 8 MeV.Comment: Accepted for publication in PR
Book reviews
Foods, nutrients and food ingredients with authorised EU health claims.
M.J. SADLER (Ed.).
Woodhead Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier, Cambridge, UK, Waltham, US, Kidlington, UK, Series in Food
Science, Technology and Nutrition: Number 263, 2014
ISBN 978-0-85709-842-9 (print), ISBN 978-0-85709-848-1 (e-book), 397 page
Measurements of Gd 152 (p,Îł) Tb 153 and Gd 152 (p,n) Tb 152 reaction cross sections for the astrophysical Îł process
The total cross sections for the Gd152(p,Îł)Tb153 and Gd152(p,n)152Tb reactions have been measured by the activation method at effective center-of-mass energies 3.47â€Ec.m.effâ€7.94 MeV and 4.96â€Ec.m.effâ€7.94 MeV, respectively. The targets were prepared by evaporation of 30.6% isotopically enriched Gd152 oxide on aluminum backing foils, and bombarded with proton beams provided by a cyclotron accelerator. The cross sections were deduced from the observed Îł-ray activity, which was detected off-line by an HPGe detector in a low background environment. The results are presented and compared with predictions of statistical model calculations. This comparison supports a modified optical proton+Gd152 potential suggested earlier.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
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