2,931 research outputs found
Isospin breaking in the vector current of the nucleon
Extraction of the nucleon's strange form factors from experimental data
requires a quantitative understanding of the unavoidable contamination from
isospin violation. A number of authors have addressed this issue during the
past decade, and their work is reviewed here. The predictions from early models
are largely consistent with recent results that rely as much as possible on
input from QCD symmetries and related experimental data. The resulting bounds
on isospin violation are sufficiently precise to be of value to on-going
experimental and theoretical studies of the nucleon's strange form factors.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Presented at the International Workshop "From
Parity Violation to Hadronic Structure and more...", Milos, Greece, 16-20 May
2006. Version 2 is only to update Refs. [21] and [25
First-principles extrapolation method for accurate CO adsorption energies on metal surfaces
We show that a simple first-principles correction based on the difference
between the singlet-triplet CO excitation energy values obtained by DFT and
high-level quantum chemistry methods yields accurate CO adsorption properties
on a variety of metal surfaces.
We demonstrate a linear relationship between the CO adsorption energy and the
CO singlet-triplet splitting, similar to the linear dependence of CO adsorption
energy on the energy of the CO 2* orbital found recently {[Kresse {\em et
al.}, Physical Review B {\bf 68}, 073401 (2003)]}. Converged DFT calculations
underestimate the CO singlet-triplet excitation energy ,
whereas coupled-cluster and CI calculations reproduce the experimental . The dependence of on is used
to extrapolate for the top, bridge and hollow sites for the
(100) and (111) surfaces of Pt, Rh, Pd and Cu to the values that correspond to
the coupled-cluster and CI value. The correction
reproduces experimental adsorption site preference for all cases and obtains
in excellent agreement with experimental results.Comment: Table sent as table1.eps. 3 figure
Strange form factors in the context of SAMPLE, HAPPEX, and A4 experiments
The strange properties of the nucleon are investigated within the framework
of the SU(3) chiral quark-soliton model assuming isospin symmetry and applying
the symmetry conserving SU(3) quantization. We present the form factors
, and the electric and magnetic strange form
factors incorporating pion and kaon asymptotics. The results
show a fairly good agreement with the recent experimental data from the SAMPLE
and HAPPEX collaborations. We also present predictions for future measurements
including the A4 experiment at MAMI (Mainz).Comment: 10 pages with four figures. RevTeX4 is used. Few lines are changed.
Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.
The skull evolution of oviraptorosaurian dinosaurs: the role of niche-partitioning in diversification
Oviraptorosaurs are bird-like theropod dinosaurs that thrived in the final pre-extinction ecosystems during the latest Cretaceous, and the beaked, toothless skulls of derived species are regarded as some of the most peculiar among dinosaurs. Their aberrant morphologies are hypothesized to have been caused by rapid evolution triggered by an ecological/biological driver, but little is known about how their skull shapes and functional abilities diversified. Here, we use quantitative techniques to study oviraptorosaur skull form and mandibular function. We demonstrate that the snout is particularly variable, that mandibular and upper/lower beak form are significantly correlated with phylogeny, and that there is a strong and significant correlation between mandibular function and mandible/lower beak shape, suggesting a form-function association. The form-function relationship and phylogenetic signals, along with a moderate allometric signal in lower beak form, indicate that similar mechanisms governed beak shape in oviraptorosaurs and extant birds. The two derived oviraptorosaur clades, oviraptorids and caenagnathids, are significantly separated in morphospace and functional space, indicating that they partitioned niches. Oviraptorids coexisting in the same ecosystem are also widely spread in morphological and functional space, suggesting that they finely partitioned feeding niches, whereas caenagnathids exhibit extreme disparity in beak size. The diversity of skull form and function was likely key to the diversification and evolutionary success of oviraptorosaurs in the latest Cretaceous. [Abstract copyright: © 2019 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2019 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.
Development of the preterm gut microbiome in twins at risk of necrotising enterocolitis and sepsis
The preterm gut microbiome is a complex dynamic community influenced by genetic and environmental factors and is implicated in the pathogenesis of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) and sepsis. We aimed to explore the longitudinal development of the gut microbiome in preterm twins to determine how shared environmental and genetic factors may influence temporal changes and compared this to the expressed breast milk (EBM) microbiome. Stool samples (n = 173) from 27 infants (12 twin pairs and 1 triplet set) and EBM (n = 18) from 4 mothers were collected longitudinally. All samples underwent PCR-DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) analysis and a selected subset underwent 454 pyrosequencing. Stool and EBM shared a core microbiome dominated by Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcaceae, and Staphylococcaceae. The gut microbiome showed greater similarity between siblings compared to unrelated individuals. Pyrosequencing revealed a reduction in diversity and increasing dominance of Escherichia sp. preceding NEC that was not observed in the healthy twin. Antibiotic treatment had a substantial effect on the gut microbiome, reducing Escherichia sp. and increasing other Enterobacteriaceae.
This study demonstrates related preterm twins share similar gut microbiome development, even within the complex environment of neonatal intensive care. This is likely a result of shared genetic and immunomodulatory factors as well as exposure to the same maternal microbiome during birth, skin contact and exposure to EBM. Environmental factors including antibiotic exposure and feeding are additional significant determinants of community structure, regardless of host genetics
Response of vegetation to fire disturbance: short-term dynamics in two savanna physiognomies
Fire is a constitutive ecological force in savanna ecosystems, but few studies have monitored its short-term effects on plant community dynamics. This study investigated changes in plant diversity in the South American savanna (Cerrado) after severe disturbance by fire. We monitored 30 permanent plots (10 m × 5 m) distributed in two Cerrado physiognomies (tÃpico: more forested; ralo: grass-dominated), being 10 plots in the area disturbed by fire, and five in a preserved control area (undisturbed). From August 2010 to June 2011, we evaluated changes in species richness, abundance and composition of savanna vegetation. Monitoring started one week after the fire; disturbed plots were surveyed monthly, while control plots were surveyed every two months. We observed rapid reassembling in both physiognomies: plots affected by fire showed rapid increase in species richness and plant density during the first four months after the disturbance. Concerning species composition, disturbed plots in the cerrado tÃpico tended to converge to control plots after one year, but each local assemblage followed particular temporal trajectories. A different pattern characterized cerrado ralo plots, which showed heterogeneous trajectories and lack of convergence between disturbed and control plots; the structure of these assemblages will likely change in next years. In conclusion, our results showed that fire significantly affected plant diversity in the two savanna physiognomies (cerrado tÃpico and ralo), but also indicated that community reassembling is fast, with different dynamics between Cerrado physiognomies
Insights into the function of silver as an oxidation catalyst by ab initio, atomistic thermodynamics
To help understand the high activity of silver as an oxidation catalyst,
e.g., for the oxidation of ethylene to epoxide and the dehydrogenation of
methanol to formaldehyde, the interaction and stability of oxygen species at
the Ag(111) surface has been studied for a wide range of coverages. Through
calculation of the free energy, as obtained from density-functional theory and
taking into account the temperature and pressure via the oxygen chemical
potential, we obtain the phase diagram of O/Ag(111). Our results reveal that a
thin surface-oxide structure is most stable for the temperature and pressure
range of ethylene epoxidation and we propose it (and possibly other similar
structures) contains the species actuating the catalysis. For higher
temperatures, low coverages of chemisorbed oxygen are most stable, which could
also play a role in oxidation reactions. For temperatures greater than about
775 K there are no stable oxygen species, except for the possibility of O atoms
adsorbed at under-coordinated surface sites Our calculations rule out thicker
oxide-like structures, as well as bulk dissolved oxygen and molecular
ozone-like species, as playing a role in the oxidation reactions.Comment: 15 pages including 9 figures, Related publications can be found at
http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm
Nucleon Charge and Magnetization Densities from Sachs Form Factors
Relativistic prescriptions relating Sachs form factors to nucleon charge and
magnetization densities are used to fit recent data for both the proton and the
neutron. The analysis uses expansions in complete radial bases to minimize
model dependence and to estimate the uncertainties in radial densities due to
limitation of the range of momentum transfer. We find that the charge
distribution for the proton is significantly broad than its magnetization
density and that the magnetization density is slightly broader for the neutron
than the proton. The neutron charge form factor is consistent with the Galster
parametrization over the available range of Q^2, but relativistic inversion
produces a softer radial density. Discrete ambiguities in the inversion method
are analyzed in detail. The method of Mitra and Kumari ensures compatibility
with pQCD and is most useful for extrapolating form factors to large Q^2.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. C. Two new figures and accompanying text have
been added and several discussions have been clarified with no significant
changes to the conclusions. Now contains 47 pages including 21 figures and 2
table
- …