Twisted scroll waves organize Dictyostelium mucoroides slugs

Cellular slime moulds (Dictyosteloids) are characterised by at least two different modes of slug migration. Most species, e.g. Dictyostelium mucoroides, produce a stalk continuously during slug migration, while a few species, e.g. Dictyostelium discoideum are characterised by stalk-less slug migration and only produce a stalk upon culmination. Experiments on D. discoideum and theoretical model calculations have shown that D. discoideum slugs are organized by a cAMP scroll wave in the tip which produces planar waves in the back. These waves guide cell movement in slugs: spiralling in the tip and forward movement parallel to the slug axis in the back. Simple changes in model parameters can lead to the formation of a twisted scroll wave which extends throughout the slug. In order to investigate whether such twisted scroll waves occur naturally we have analysed the movement of fluorescently labelled single cells in migrating D. mucoroides slugs. The results show that cells in the prespore zone of D. mucoroides slugs move in a spiral path. Although the velocity of single cells in D. mucoroides is faster than in D. discoideum, the net forward component of their movement is less due to their spiral trajectories. As a result D. mucoroides slugs move more slowly than D. discoideum slugs. The entire D. mucoroides slug also describes a spiralling path leaving corkscrew shaped stalks behind. Based on these observations we propose that cell movement in D. mucoroides slugs is controlled by a propagating twisted scroll wave of cAMP which extends throughout the length of the slug

Effect of exchange interaction on superparamagnetic relaxation

We use Langer's approach to calculate the reaction rate of a system of two (classical) spins interacting via the exchange coupling $J$ in a magnetic field $H$, with uniaxial anisotropy of constant $K$. We find a particular value of the exchange coupling, that is $j\equiv J/K = j_c\equiv 1-h^2$, where $h\equiv H/2K$, which separates two regimes corresponding to a two-stage and one-stage switching. For $j\gg j_c$ the N\'eel-Brown result for the one-spin problem is recovered.Comment: 7 pages, 2 eps figures, fig.1 of better quality can be provided upon reques

Geometric Aspects of the Dipolar Interaction in Lattices of Small Particles

The hysteresis curves of systems composed of small interacting magnetic particles, regularly placed on stacked layers, are obtained with Monte Carlo simulations. The remanence as a function of temperature, in interacting systems, presents a peak that separates two different magnetic states. At low temperatures, small values of remanence are a consequence of antiferromagnetic order due to the dipolar interaction. At higher values of temperature the increase of the component normal to the lattice plane is responsible for the small values of remanence. The effect of the number of layers, coordination number and distance between particles are investigated.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Composition dependent magnetic properties of iron oxide - polyaniline nanoclusters

Gamma - Iron Oxide prepared by sol -gel process was used to produce nanocomposites with polyaniline of varying aniline concentrations. TEM shows the presence of chain like structure for lower polyaniline concentration. The room temperature hysteresis curves show finite coercivity of 160 Oe for all the composites while the saturation magnetization was found to decrease with increasing polymer content. ZFC - FC magnetisation measurements indicate high blocking temperatures. It is believed that this indicates a strongly interacting system, which is also shown by our TEM results. Monte Carlo simulations performed on a random anisotropy model with dipolar and exchange inteactions match well with experimental results.Comment: 9 (nine) pages, 6 figures (jpeg and eps

Role of dipolar interactions in a system of Ni nanoparticles studied by magnetic susceptibility measurements

The role of dipolar interactions among Ni nanoparticles (NP) embedded in an amorphous SiO2/C matrix with different concentrations has been studied performing ac magnetic susceptibility Chi_ac measurements. For very diluted samples, with Ni concentrations < 4 wt % Ni or very weak dipolar interactions, the data are well described by the Neel-Arrhenius law. Increasing Ni concentration to values up to 12.8 wt % Ni results in changes in the Neel-Arrhenius behavior, the dipolar interactions become important, and need to be considered to describe the magnetic response of the NPs system. We have found no evidence of a spin-glasslike behavior in our Ni NP systems even when dipolar interactions are clearly present.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Phase transition in nanomagnetite

Recently, the application of nanosized magnetite particles became an area of growing interest for their potential practical applications. Nanosized magnetite samples of 36 and 9 nm sizes were synthesized. Special care was taken on the right stoichiometry of the magnetite particles. Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements were made in 4.2–300 K temperature range. The temperature dependence of the intensities of the spectral components indicated size dependent transition taking place in a broad temperature range. For nanosized samples, the hyperfine interaction values and their relative intensities changed above the Verwey transition temperature value of bulk megnetite. The continuous transition indicated the formation of dendritelike granular assemblies formed during the preparation of the samples

Predicting tree distributions in an East African biodiversity hotspot : model selection, data bias and envelope uncertainty

The Eastern Arc Mountains (EAMs) of Tanzania and Kenya support some of the most ancient tropical rainforest on Earth. The forests are a global priority for biodiversity conservation and provide vital resources to the Tanzanian population. Here, we make a first attempt to predict the spatial distribution of 40 EAM tree species, using generalised additive models, plot data and environmental predictor maps at sub 1 km resolution. The results of three modelling experiments are presented, investigating predictions obtained by (1) two different procedures for the stepwise selection of predictors, (2) down-weighting absence data, and (3) incorporating an autocovariate term to describe fine-scale spatial aggregation. In response to recent concerns regarding the extrapolation of model predictions beyond the restricted environmental range of training data, we also demonstrate a novel graphical tool for quantifying envelope uncertainty in restricted range niche-based models (envelope uncertainty maps). We find that even for species with very few documented occurrences useful estimates of distribution can be achieved. Initiating selection with a null model is found to be useful for explanatory purposes, while beginning with a full predictor set can over-fit the data. We show that a simple multimodel average of these two best-model predictions yields a superior compromise between generality and precision (parsimony). Down-weighting absences shifts the balance of errors in favour of higher sensitivity, reducing the number of serious mistakes (i.e., falsely predicted absences); however, response functions are more complex, exacerbating uncertainty in larger models. Spatial autocovariates help describe fine-scale patterns of occurrence and significantly improve explained deviance, though if important environmental constraints are omitted then model stability and explanatory power can be compromised. We conclude that the best modelling practice is contingent both on the intentions of the analyst (explanation or prediction) and on the quality of distribution data; generalised additive models have potential to provide valuable information for conservation in the EAMs, but methods must be carefully considered, particularly if occurrence data are scarce. Full results and details of all species models are supplied in an online Appendix. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Spin Disorder and Magnetic Anisotropy in Fe3O4 Nanoparticles

We have studied the magnetic behavior of dextran-coated magnetite (Fe$_3$O$_4$) nanoparticles with median particle size \left=8 $nm$. Magnetization curves and in-field M\"ossbauer spectroscopy measurements showed that the magnetic moment $M_S$ of the particles was much smaller than the bulk material. However, we found no evidence of magnetic irreversibility or non-saturating behavior at high fields, usually associated to spin canting. The values of magnetic anisotropy $K_{eff}$ from different techniques indicate that surface or shape contributions are negligible. It is proposed that these particles have bulk-like ferrimagnetic structure with ordered A and B sublattices, but nearly compensated magnetic moments. The dependence of the blocking temperature with frequency and applied fields, $T_B(H,\omega)$, suggests that the observed non-monotonic behavior is governed by the strength of interparticle interactions.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 3 Table

Magnetic properties of polypyrrole - coated iron oxide nanoparticles

Iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared by sol -gel process. Insitu polymerization of pyrrole monomer in the presence of oxygen in iron oxide ethanol suspension resulted in a iron oxide - polypyrrole nanocomposite. The structure and magnetic properties were investigated for varying pyrrole concentrations. The presence of the gamma - iron oxide phase and polypyrrole were confirmed by XRD and FTIR respectively. Agglomeration was found to be comparatively much reduced for the coated samples, as shown by TEM. AC susceptibility measurements confirmed the superparamagnetic behaviour. Numerical simulations performed for an interacting model system are performed to estimate the anisotropy and compare favourably with experimental results.Comment: 11 pages,8 figure

Tailoring Fe/Ag Superparamagnetic Composites by Multilayer Deposition

The magnetic properties of Fe/Ag granular multilayers were examined by SQUID magnetization and Mossbauer spectroscopy measurements. Very thin (0.2 nm) discontinuous Fe layers show superparamagnetic properties that can be tailored by the thickness of both the magnetic and the spacer layers. The role of magnetic interactions was studied in novel heterostructures of superparamagnetic and ferromagnetic layers and the specific contribution of the ferromagnetic layers to the low field magnetic susceptibility was identified.Comment: 5 pages and 3 figure