297 research outputs found
Ultrastructural immunolocalization of histones (H2B, H3, H4), transition protein (TP1) and protamine in rabbit spermatids and spermatozoa nuclei. Relation to condensation of the chromatin
The histones H2B, H3 and H4, the transition protein TP1 and protamine were localised using ultrastructural immunocytochemistry in nuclei of rabbit spermatids and spermatozoa. Histones are present in round spermatid nuclei and are lost during the elongation of nuclei. TP1 and protamine appear simultaneously in all nuclei during this period. TP1 is located at the periphery of chromatin cords, while protamine seems to be located at random in the same cords. TP1 is lost in most elongated sprematids during step 13 of spermiogenesis, and the protamine stays in all sperm nuclei. TP1 remains persent in some old spermatids and ejaculated spermatozoa. In the rabbit, 3--6% of sperm nuclei decondense spontaneously. Most are characterized by a retention of TP1. Respective roles of TP1 and the protamine in spermatid nuclear condensation are discussed
Hyper-Raman scattering from vitreous boron oxide: coherent enhancement of the boson peak
Hyper-Raman scattering spectra of vitreous BO are reported and
compared to Raman scattering results. The main features are indexed in terms of
vibrations of structural units. Particular attention is given to the low
frequency boson peak which is shown to relate to out-of-plane librations of
BO boroxol rings and BO triangles. Its hyper-Raman strength is
comparable to that of cooperative polar modes. It points to a sizeable coherent
enhancement of the hyper-Raman signal compared to the Raman one. This is
explained by the symmetry of the structural units.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Sex-biased mortality of common terns in wind farm collisions
We studied sex differences in collision mortality in adult Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) at a wind farm in the direct vicinity of a breeding site in Zeebrugge, Belgium in 2005-2007. In total, 64 fatalities were collected and sexed, of which 64% were males. Uneven sex ratio among these birds was most pronounced during the period of incubation and early chick feeding (15 May-15 June), when 78% of the 28mortalities were male. During prelaying and feeding of young, the sex ratio of mortalities did not differ from equality. We argue that sex-biased collision mortality in Common Terns does not result from morphological differences between the sexes, but rather reflects differences in foraging frequency between males and females during egg-laying and incubation
Partial spin freezing in the quasi-two-dimensional La2(Cu,Li)O4
In conventional spin glasses, the magnetic interaction is not strongly
anisotropic and the entire spin system freezes at low temperature. In
La2(Cu,Li)O4, for which the in-plane exchange interaction dominates the
interplane one, only a fraction of spins with antiferromagnetic correlations
extending to neighboring planes become spin-glass. The remaining spins with
only in-plane antiferromagnetic correlations remain spin-liquid at low
temperature. Such a novel partial spin freezing out of a spin-liquid observed
in this cold neutron scattering study is likely due to a delicate balance
between disorder and quantum fluctuations in the quasi-two dimensional S=1/2
Heisenberg system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Harbouring nature: port development and dynamic birds provide clues for conservation
During the twentieth century, many coastal areas in Europe changed dramatically due to coastal protection works, human expansion drift and booming beach tourism. As a result the natural area of suitable nesting habitat of many coastal birds has decreased enormously and a large number of species are now listed as threatened. Some species were able to exploit new opportunities offered by human activities, but most coastal birds are now confined to islands, protected areas or artificial sites (nature development projects, restored coastal habitats and even floating rafts). Protection of local resources, as well as further development and management of breeding sites is considered vital in maintaining the populations of threatened coastal breeders. The rationale behind nature restoration and development is often solely based on offering suitable habitat to the birds, while its success is mainly judged from the evolution in the number of birds present. As more and more information becomes available on the reproductive performance of coastal birds, it becomes clear that in some protected areas long-term reproductive success is below self-sustaining levels. Apparently humans are able to create artificial nesting habitats that are highly attractive from the birds’ perspective but are in fact pitfalls for the population in the long term. In contrast, the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium, is an excellent example of an artificial nesting habitat of high quality in terms of attraction as well as reproduction. Here, vast sandy areas were raised in a former marine habitat in the 1980s. The works mimicked natural dynamic processes and coastal breeding birds instantly reacted. Within 20 years, the area has developed from open sea to a breeding site of major international importance. Peak population figures by far exceed the 1% of the total biogeographical population. At present, Zeebrugge harbours more than 4% of the total north-west European Common Tern population, thus making it the largest colony in Europe. It is a highly productive population and acts as a major source of recruits for the biogeographical population as a whole. Until recently, the success of the bird populations was based on the ongoing creation of suitable nesting habitats and management measures, like removal of the vegetation and covering areas with shell fragments. Further development of the harbour, the arrival of the fox and competition for nesting habitat with large gulls are major threats for the bird population. Therefore part of the colony was allocated to a peninsula and further steps are now being considered to preserve this valuable population. Apparently feeding conditions are very good and the harbour itself and its direct surroundings function as a major source of small prey fish of which the availability is facilitated by the heavy shipping traffic and the sheltered conditions of the feeding areas
Sound modes broadening for Fibonacci one dimensional quasicrystals
We investigate vibrational excitation broadening in one dimensional Fibonacci
model of quasicrystals (QCs). The chain is constructed from particles with two
masses following the Fibonacci inflation rule. The eigenmode spectrum depends
crucially on the mass ratio. We calculate the eigenstates and eigenfunctions.
All calculations performed self-consistently within the regular expansion over
the three wave coupling constant. The approach can be extended to three
dimensional systems. We find that in the intermediate range of mode coupling
constants, three-wave broadening for the both types of systems (1D Fibonacci
and 3D QCs) depends universally on frequency. Our general qualitative
conclusion is that for a system with a non-simple elementary cell phonon
spectrum broadening is always larger than for a system with a primitive cell
(provided all other characteristics are the same).Comment: 2o pages, 15 figure
Light storage protocols in Tm:YAG
We present two quantum memory protocols for solids: A stopped light approach
based on spectral hole burning and the storage in an atomic frequency comb.
These procedures are well adapted to the rare-earth ion doped crystals. We
carefully clarify the critical steps of both. On one side, we show that the
slowing-down due to hole-burning is sufficient to produce a complete mapping of
field into the atomic system. On the other side, we explain the storage and
retrieval mechanism of the Atomic Frequency Comb protocol. This two important
stages are implemented experimentally in Tm- doped
yttrium-aluminum-garnet crystal
Anharmonic vs. relaxational sound damping in glasses: II. Vitreous silica
The temperature dependence of the frequency dispersion in the sound velocity
and damping of vitreous silica is reanalyzed. Thermally activated relaxation
accounts for the sound attenuation observed above 10 K at sonic and ultrasonic
frequencies. Its extrapolation to the hypersonic regime reveals that the
anharmonic coupling to the thermal bath becomes important in
Brillouin-scattering measurements. At 35 GHz and room temperature, the damping
due to this anharmonicity is found to be nearly twice that produced by
thermally activated relaxation. The analysis also reveals a sizeable velocity
increase with temperature which is not related with sound dispersion. This
suggests that silica experiences a gradual structural change that already
starts well below room temperature.Comment: 13 pages with 8 figure
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