Inelastic chaotic scattering on a Bose-Einstein condensate

We devise a microscopic scattering approach to probe the excitation spectrum of a Bose-Einstein condensate. We show that the experimentally accessible scattering cross section exhibits universal Ericson fluctuations, with characteristic properties rooted in the underlying classical field equations.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

An Expert System for Determining Compliance with the Texas Building Energy Design Standard

Demonstration of compliance with the Texas Building Energy Conservation Design Standard involves completion of a summary checklist for each of its sections. This manual checking is tedious. Furthermore, no comprehensive documentation of the user's compliance is provided and the compliance checker must manage the data collected. To assist designers in complying with the Standard and to reduce the time required, the Center for Energy Studies (CES) at the University of Texas at Austin has developed an expert system to serve as both the compliance procedure and its documentation. This expert system directs the user with queries (screen menus), prompting the user for all relevant information. A graphical user interface has been developed to facilitate quick navigation through the Standard, easy data entry, and identification of compliance failures. This paper describes the research approach to the expert system, the system features, current status of project, and the benefits to be derived from this innovative compliance tool

Ion implantation of epitaxial GaN films: damage, doping and activation

Single-crystal GaN films grown on AlN buffer layers previously deposited on 6H-SiC(0001) were studied for radiation damage and its recovery using Rutherford backscattering/channeling, photoluminescence, and cross-sectional TEM. The highest fluence of (1e15 cm{sup -2}) 110 keV Mg and 160 keV Si produced little damage at implantation temperature 550 C. RT damage was higher for same fluences compared to 550 C implantation. The damage was partially annealed by RTA at 1000 C, however, this was not enough to recover the PL signal even for the lowest fluence (1e14 cm{sup -2}). XTEM of as-implanted samples revealed small clusters of defects extended beyond the projected ion range. To recover damage completely, perhaps one needs to go either much higher RTA temperature and/or implant samples in a smaller fluence increment and anneal in between implants to recover the damage

The importance of chemosensory clues in Aguaruna tree classification and identification

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The ethnobotanical literature still contains few detailed descriptions of the sensory criteria people use for judging membership in taxonomic categories. Olfactory criteria in particular have been explored very little. This paper will describe the importance of odor for woody plant taxonomy and identification among the Aguaruna Jívaro of the northern Peruvian Amazon, focusing on the Aguaruna category <b><it>númi </it></b>(trees excluding palms). Aguaruna informants almost always place trees that they consider to have a similar odor together as <b><it>kumpají </it></b>– 'companions,' a metaphor they use to describe trees that they consider to be related.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The research took place in several Aguaruna communities in the upper Marañón region of the Peruvian Amazon. Structured interview data focus on informant criteria for membership in various folk taxa of trees. Informants were also asked to explain what members of each group of related companions had in common. This paper focuses on odor and taste criteria that came to light during these structured interviews. Botanical voucher specimens were collected, wherever possible.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 182 tree folk genera recorded in this study, 51 (28%) were widely considered to possess a distinctive odor. Thirty nine of those (76%) were said to have odors similar to some other tree, while the other 24% had unique odors. Aguaruna informants very rarely described tree odors in non-botanical terms. Taste was used mostly to describe trees with edible fruits. Trees judged to be related were nearly always in the same botanical family.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study illustrate that odor of bark, sap, flowers, fruit and leaves are important clues that help the Aguaruna to judge the relatedness of trees found in their local environment. In contrast, taste appears to play a more limited role. The results suggest a more general ethnobotanical hypothesis that could be tested in other cultural settings: people tend to consider plants with similar odors to be related, but say that plants with unique odors are unrelated to any other plants.</p

‘Sons of athelings given to the earth’: Infant Mortality within Anglo-Saxon Mortuary Geography

FOR 20 OR MORE YEARS early Anglo-Saxon archaeologists have believed children are underrepresented in the cemetery evidence. They conclude that excavation misses small bones, that previous attitudes to reporting overlook the very young, or that infants and children were buried elsewhere. This is all well and good, but we must be careful of oversimplifying compound social and cultural responses to childhood and infant mortality. Previous approaches have offered methodological quandaries in the face of this under-representation. However, proportionally more infants were placed in large cemeteries and sometimes in specific zones. This trend is statistically significant and is therefore unlikely to result entirely from preservation or excavation problems. Early medieval cemeteries were part of regional mortuary geographies and provided places to stage events that promoted social cohesion across kinship systems extending over tribal territories. This paper argues that patterns in early Anglo-Saxon infant burial were the result of female mobility. Many women probably travelled locally to marry in a union which reinforced existing social networks. For an expectant mother, however, the safest place to give birth was with experience women in her maternal home. Infant identities were affected by personal and legal association with their mother’s parental kindred, so when an infant died in childbirth or months and years later, it was their mother’s identity which dictated burial location. As a result, cemeteries central to tribal identities became places to bury the sons and daughters of a regional tribal aristocracy

Dispersal and diversity in the earliest North American sauropodomorph dinosaurs, with a description of a new taxon

Sauropodomorph dinosaurs originated in the Southern Hemisphere in the Middle or Late Triassic and are commonly portrayed as spreading rapidly to all corners of Pangaea as part of a uniform Late Triassic to Early Jurassic cosmopolitan dinosaur fauna. Under this model, dispersal allegedly inhibited dinosaurian diversification, while vicariance and local extinction enhanced it. However, apomorphy-based analyses of the known fossil record indicate that sauropodomorphs were absent in North America until the Early Jurassic, reframing the temporal context of their arrival. We describe a new taxon from the Kayenta Formation of Arizona that comprises the third diagnosable sauropodomorph from the Early Jurassic of North America. We analysed its relationships to test whether sauropodomorphs reached North America in a single sweepstakes event or in separate dispersals. Our finding of separate arrivals by all three taxa suggests dispersal as a chief factor in dinosaurian diversification during at least the early Mesozoic. It questions whether a ‘cosmopolitan’ dinosaur fauna ever existed, and corroborates that vicariance, extinction and dispersal did not operate uniformly in time or under uniform conditions during the Mesozoic. Their relative importance is best measured in narrow time slices and circumscribed geographical regions

Modeling resilience and sustainability in ancient agricultural systems

The reasons why people adopt unsustainable agricultural practices, and the ultimate environmental implications of those practices, remain incompletely understood in the present world. Archaeology, however, offers unique datasets on coincident cultural and ecological change, and their social and environmental effects. This article applies concepts derived from ecological resilience thinking to assess the sustainability of agricultural practices as a result of long-term interactions between political, economic, and environmental systems. Using the urban center of Gordion, in central Turkey, as a case study, it is possible to identify mismatched social and ecological processes on temporal, spatial, and organizational scales, which help to resolve thresholds of resilience. Results of this analysis implicate temporal and spatial mismatches as a cause for local environmental degradation, and increasing extralocal economic pressures as an ultimate cause for the adoption of unsustainable land-use practices. This analysis suggests that a research approach that integrates environmental archaeology with a resilience perspective has considerable potential for explicating regional patterns of agricultural change and environmental degradation in the past

Alzheimer Europe's position on involving people with dementia in research through PPI (patient and public involvement)

YesThis paper reflects Alzheimer Europe’s position on PPI (patient and public involvement) in the context of dementia research and highlights some of the challenges and potential risks and benefits associated with such meaningful involvement. The paper was drafted by Alzheimer Europe in collaboration with members of INTERDEM and the European Working Group of People with Dementia. It has been formally adopted by the Board of Alzheimer Europe and endorsed by the Board of INTERDEM and by the JPND working group ‘Dementia Outcome Measures - Charting New Territory’. Alzheimer Europe is keen to promote the involvement of people with dementia in research, not only as participants but also in the context of PPI, by generating ideas for research, advising researchers, being involved in consultations and being directly involved in research activities. This position paper is in keeping with this objective. Topics covered include, amongst others, planning involvement, establishing roles and responsibilities, training and support, managing information and input from PPI, recognising the contribution of people with dementia involved in research in this way, promoting and protecting the rights and well-being of people with dementia, training and support, and promoting an inclusive approach and the necessary infrastructure for PPI in dementia research.European Union's Health Programme (2014-2020), grant number 707934. This work received funding under an operating grant from the European Union's Health Programme (2014-2020), grant number 707934.European Union's Health Programme (2014–2020), grant number 707934

Loss of the interferon-γ-inducible regulatory immunity-related GTPase (IRG), Irgm1, causes activation of effector IRG proteins on lysosomes, damaging lysosomal function and predicting the dramatic susceptibility of Irgm1-deficient mice to infection

The interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-inducible immunity-related GTPase (IRG), Irgm1, plays an essential role in restraining activation of the IRG pathogen resistance system. However, the loss of Irgm1 in mice also causes a dramatic but unexplained susceptibility phenotype upon infection with a variety of pathogens, including many not normally controlled by the IRG system. This phenotype is associated with lymphopenia, hemopoietic collapse, and death of the mouse.Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD); International Graduate School in Development Health and Disease (IGS-DHD); Deutsche For-schungsgemeinschaft (SFBs 635, 670, 680); Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Max Planck Fellowship)

The IFN-γ-Inducible GTPase, Irga6, Protects Mice against Toxoplasma gondii but Not against Plasmodium berghei and Some Other Intracellular Pathogens

Clearance of infection with intracellular pathogens in mice involves interferon-regulated GTPases of the IRG protein family. Experiments with mice genetically deficient in members of this family such as Irgm1(LRG-47), Irgm3(IGTP), and Irgd(IRG-47) has revealed a critical role in microbial clearance, especially for Toxoplasma gondii. The in vivo role of another member of this family, Irga6 (IIGP, IIGP1) has been studied in less detail. We investigated the susceptibility of two independently generated mouse strains deficient in Irga6 to in vivo infection with T. gondii, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Leishmania mexicana, L. major, Listeria monocytogenes, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Plasmodium berghei. Compared with wild-type mice, mice deficient in Irga6 showed increased susceptibility to oral and intraperitoneal infection with T. gondii but not to infection with the other organisms. Surprisingly, infection of Irga6-deficient mice with the related apicomplexan parasite, P. berghei, did not result in increased replication in the liver stage and no Irga6 (or any other IRG protein) was detected at the parasitophorous vacuole membrane in IFN-γ-induced wild-type cells infected with P. berghei in vitro. Susceptibility to infection with T. gondii was associated with increased mortality and reduced time to death, increased numbers of inflammatory foci in the brains and elevated parasite loads in brains of infected Irga6-deficient mice. In vitro, Irga6-deficient macrophages and fibroblasts stimulated with IFN-γ were defective in controlling parasite replication. Taken together, our results implicate Irga6 in the control of infection with T. gondii and further highlight the importance of the IRG system for resistance to this pathogen