4,446 research outputs found
Renormalized coordinate approach to the thermalization process
We consider a particle in the harmonic approximation coupled linearly to an
environment. modeled by an infinite set of harmonic oscillators. The system
(particle--environment) is considered in a cavity at thermal equilibrium. We
employ the recently introduced notion of renormalized coordinates to
investigate the time evolution of the particle occupation number. For
comparison we first present this study in bare coordinates. For a long ellapsed
time, in both approaches, the occupation number of the particle becomes
independent of its initial value. The value of ocupation number of the particle
is the physically expected one at the given temperature. So we have a Markovian
process, describing the particle thermalization with the environment. With
renormalized coordinates no renormalization procedure is required, leading
directly to a finite result.Comment: 16 pages, LATEX, 2 figure
4-Methoxycinnamic acid – An unusual phenylpropanoid involved in phenylphenalenone biosynthesis in Anigozanthos preissii
AbstractIn vitro root cultures of Anigozanthos preissii and Wachendorfia thyrsiflora (Haemodoraceae) are suitable biological systems for studying the biosynthesis of phenylphenalenones. Here we report how we used these root cultures to investigate precursor–product relationships between phenylpropanoids and phenylphenalenones whose phenyl rings share identical substitution patterns. Four phenylpropanoic acids, including ferulic acid and the unusual 4-methoxycinnamic acid, were used in 13C-labeled form as substrates to study their incorporation into phenylphenalenones. In addition to the previously reported 2-hydroxy-9-(4′-hydroxy-3′-methoxyphenyl)-1H-phenalen-1-one (trivial name musanolone F), 2-hydroxy-9-(4′-methoxyphenyl)-1H-phenalen-1-one (proposed trivial name 4′-methoxyanigorufone) was found as a biosynthetic product in A. preissii. The carbon skeleton of 4′-methoxycinnamic acid was biosynthetically incorporated as an intact unit including its 4′-O-methyl substituent at the lateral phenyl ring. 4′-Methoxyanigorufone is reported here for the first time as a natural product
Aphids associated with shrubs, herbaceous plants and crops in the Maltese Archipelago (Hemiptera, Aphidoidea)
A survey of the aphids associated with Maltese shrubs, herbaceous
plants and crops was carried out. Sixty six aphid species were recorded from more
than 90 species of host plants. Forty eight aphids were recorded from the Maltese
islands for the fi rst time bringing the total number of aphid species known from these
islands to 99. New records include: Acyrthosiphon lactucae, A. pisum, Anoecia
vagans, Aphis alienus, A. euphorbiae, A. hederae, A. lambersi, A. multifl orae,
A. nasturtii, A. parietariae, A. picridicola, A. ruborum, A. sedi, Aulacorthum
solani, Brachycaudus helichrysi, Capitophorus sp. nr. similis, Clypeoaphis
suaedae, Cryptomyzus korschelti, Dysaphis apiifolia, D. foeniculus, D. pyri, D.
tulipae, Hyadaphis coriandri, H. foeniculi, H. passerinii, Hyperomyzus lactucae,
Idiopterus nephrelepidis, Macrosiphoniella absinthii, M. artemisiae, M. sanborni,
Macrosiphum euphorbiae, Ma. rosae, Melanaphis donacis, Metopolophium
dirhodum, Pterochloroides persicae, Rectinasus buxtoni, Rhopalosiphum maidis,
R. padi, R. rufi abdominale, Schizaphis graminum, Semiaphis dauci, Sipha
maydis, Sitobion avenae, S. fragariae, Therioaphis alatina, Uroleucon inulae,
U. hypochoeridis and U. sonchi. Of these 99 aphid species, 58 are of economic
importance and 16 are alien introductions. For 15 of the aphid species, a total of 22
new host-plant records are made. Ten species of ants were found attending 18 aphid
species.peer-reviewe
Diffuse Ionized Gas in the Dwarf Irregular Galaxy DDO 53
The spectral characteristics throughout the dwarf irregular galaxy DDO 53 are
studied. The results are very similar to those for other irregular galaxies:
high excitation and low values of the [SII]/Halpha ratio. The most likely
ionization source is photon leakage from the classical HII regions, without any
other source, although the interstellar medium of the galaxy is quite
perturbed. Moreover, the physical conditions throughout the galaxy do not
change very much because both the photon leakage percentage and the ionization
temperature are very similar. In addition, the determined metal content for two
HII regions indicates that DDO 53 is a low-metallicity galaxy.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures, 7 tables. AJ, in pres
Effect of influenza-induced fever on human bioimpedance values
BACKGROUND AND AIMS:
Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a widely used technique to assess body composition and nutritional status. While bioelectrical values are affected by diverse variables, there has been little research on validation of BIA in acute illness, especially to understand prognostic significance. Here we report the use of BIA in acute febrile states induced by influenza.
METHODS:
Bioimpedance studies were conducted during an H1N1 influenza A outbreak in Venezuelan Amerindian villages from the Amazonas. Measurements were performed on 52 subjects between 1 and 40 years of age, and 7 children were re-examined after starting Oseltamivir treatment. Bioelectrical Impedance Vector Analysis (BIVA) and permutation tests were applied.
RESULTS:
For the entire sample, febrile individuals showed a tendency toward greater reactance (p=0.058) and phase angle (p=0.037) than afebrile individuals, while resistance and impedance were similar in the two groups. Individuals with repeated measurements showed significant differences in bioimpedance values associated with fever, including increased reactance (p<0.001) and phase angle (p=0.007), and decreased resistance (p=0.007) and impedance (p<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS:
There are bioelectrical variations induced by influenza that can be related to dehydration, with lower extracellular to intracellular water ratio in febrile individuals, or a direct thermal effect. Caution is recommended when interpreting bioimpedance results in febrile states
The Dynamics of Nestedness Predicts the Evolution of Industrial Ecosystems
In economic systems, the mix of products that countries make or export has
been shown to be a strong leading indicator of economic growth. Hence, methods
to characterize and predict the structure of the network connecting countries
to the products that they export are relevant for understanding the dynamics of
economic development. Here we study the presence and absence of industries at
the global and national levels and show that these networks are significantly
nested. This means that the less filled rows and columns of these networks'
adjacency matrices tend to be subsets of the fuller rows and columns. Moreover,
we show that nestedness remains relatively stable as the matrices become more
filled over time and that this occurs because of a bias for industries that
deviate from the networks' nestedness to disappear, and a bias for the missing
industries that reduce nestedness to appear. This makes the appearance and
disappearance of individual industries in each location predictable. We
interpret the high level of nestedness observed in these networks in the
context of the neutral model of development introduced by Hidalgo and Hausmann
(2009). We show that, for the observed fills, the model can reproduce the high
level of nestedness observed in these networks only when we assume a high level
of heterogeneity in the distribution of capabilities available in countries and
required by products. In the context of the neutral model, this implies that
the high level of nestedness observed in these economic networks emerges as a
combination of both, the complementarity of inputs and heterogeneity in the
number of capabilities available in countries and required by products. The
stability of nestedness in industrial ecosystems, and the predictability
implied by it, demonstrates the importance of the study of network properties
in the evolution of economic networks.Comment: 26 page
Vortices on demand in multicomponent Bose-Einstein condensates
We present a simple mechanism to produce vortices at any desired spatial
locations in harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) with
multicomponent spin states coupled to external transverse and axial magnetic
fields. The vortices appear at the spatial points where the spin-transverse
field interaction vanishes and, depending on the multipolar magnetic field
order, the vortices can acquire different predictable topological charges. We
explicitly demonstrate our findings, both numerically and analytically, by
analyzing a 2D BEC via the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for atomic systems with
either two or three internal states. We further show that, by an spontaneous
symmetry breaking mechanism, vortices can appear in any spin component, unless
symmetry is externally broken at the outset by an axial field. We suggest that
this scenario may be tested using an ultracold gas of Rb occupying all
three states in an optical trap.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, (Accepted in PRA
Modelling non-dust fluids in cosmology
Currently, most of the numerical simulations of structure formation use
Newtonian gravity. When modelling pressureless dark matter, or `dust', this
approach gives the correct results for scales much smaller than the
cosmological horizon, but for scenarios in which the fluid has pressure this is
no longer the case. In this article, we present the correspondence of
perturbations in Newtonian and cosmological perturbation theory, showing exact
mathematical equivalence for pressureless matter, and giving the relativistic
corrections for matter with pressure. As an example, we study the case of
scalar field dark matter which features non-zero pressure perturbations. We
discuss some problems which may arise when evolving the perturbations in this
model with Newtonian numerical simulations and with CMB Boltzmann codes.Comment: 5 pages; v2: typos corrected and refs added, submitted version; v3:
version to appear in JCA
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