An Open Inflationary Model for Dimensional Reduction and its Effects on the Observable Parameters of the Universe

Assuming that higher dimensions existed in the early stages of the universe where the evolution was inflationary, we construct an open, singularity-free, spatially homogeneous and isotropic cosmological model to study the effects of dimensional reduction that may have taken place during the early stages of the universe. We consider dimensional reduction to take place in a stepwise manner and interpret each step as a phase transition. By imposing suitable boundary conditions we trace their effects on the present day parameters of the universe.Comment: 5 pages, accepted for publication in Int. J. of Mod. Phys.

Determination of petroleum-degrading bacteria isolated from crude oil-contaminated soil in Turkey

In order to establish an experimental basis for bioremediation of soil  contaminated with crude oil, 33 strains of bacteria with hydrocarbon-degrading ability were isolated from the contaminated soil in Adana, Batman and Adiyaman, Turkey. The strains were identified as Pseudomons spp.,  Paucimonas lemoignei, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Eschericha spp.,  Enterobacter spp. Citrobacter koseri, Acinetobacter spp., Aeromonas caviae,  Sphingobacterium multivorum, Klebsiella pneumoniae. Pseudomons  aeruginosa, Pseudomonas putida biotype A, Citrobacter amalonaticus GC subgroup A and Acinetobacter genomospecies, respectively. The ability to utilize crude oil as carbon source for their growth was ascertained. These bacterial isolates obtained in this study have catabolic capabilities for the biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons. Further study under soil conditions may be necessary to determine biodegradation potential of bacterial mixture tested in contaminated soil.Key words: Soil, crude oil, soil pollution, bacteria, biodegradation

Effects of protein deficiency on testosterone levels, semen quality and testicular histology in the developing male rat

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of protein deficiency on plasma testosterone levels, epididymal sperm characteristics and testicular histology in the developing male rat. Twenty four Wistar albino rats were used in the study and were fed with a diet variously containing 3 %, 10 % and 20 % protein. Plasma testosterone levels were significantly lower in rats fed 3 % protein when compared to rats fed 10 % and 20 % protein (P<0.05). Testicular weight in protein deficient rats (rats fed 3 % and 10 % protein) was significantly lower than that of a control group (20 % protein) (P<0.05). No sperm was present in the epididymal duct lumen, but germ cells were observed in some duct lumens in rats fed 3 % protein. Epididymal weight decreased significantly in rats fed 3 % protein compared to rats fed 10 % and 20 % protein (P<0.05). The results of this study clearly show that protein deficiency in developing male rats adversely affects gonadal endocrine function, testicular histology and spermatogenesis

Effect of Ag2O addition on the intergranular properties of the superconducting Bi–(Pb)–Sr–Ca–Cu–O system

The effect of Ag2O addition on the Bi–(Pb)–Sr–Ca–Cu–O system has been investigated in terms of ac susceptibility, phase evolution, critical current density and critical temperature. It was found that as the amount of Ag2O addition increases, the intergranular critical current density decreases in our samples (Bi1.84Pb0.34Sr1.91Ca2.03Cu3.06O10) fabricated by ammonium nitrate technique. The analysis for comparison is based on the suppression degree of the diamagnetic behaviour with respect to fields, rapid or slow shift of the summit in χ'(T) to lower temperature with increasing field amplitude and the sharpness of the transition of χ'(T) for intergranular component for the same field amplitude. We also qualitatively discuss experimental results in the framework of the critical state model. The room temperature XRD diagram indicates the presence of large amount of high-Tc (2223) phase. The percentage of Bi-2223 phase in the phase mixture was estimated from the intensities of high-Tc (2223) and low-Tc (2212) phase peaks as 78% for the pure BSCCO sample. Among the Ag2O-added BSCCO samples studied, the one in which 5 wt%Ag2O was added shows the highest rate of Bi-2223 formation as 92%. The SEM analysis reveals some morphological changes induced by silver addition

Theoretical investigation of superconductivity in SrAuSi3 and SrAu2Si2

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Available online 8 April 2016The structural and electronic properties of BaNiSn3-type SrAuSi3 and ThCr2Si2-type SrAu2Si2 have been investigated by using the planewave pseudopotential method and the density functional theory. The electronic structures and phonon dispersion relations of these two materials have been analyzed with and without the inclusion of spin-orbit interaction, and similarities and differences highlighted. By integrating the Eliashberg spectral function α2F(ω), the average electron-phonon coupling parameter is determined to be λ=0.47 for SrAuSi3 and 0.42 for SrAu2Si2. The largest contribution to the electron-phonon coupling for SrAuSi3 comes from the Si p electrons near the Fermi energy and Si-related vibrations. Using a reasonable value of μ∗=0.12 for the effective Coulomb repulsion parameter, the superconducting critical temperature Tc for SrAuSi3 is found to be 1.47 K which compares very well with its experimental value of 1.54 K.This work was supported by the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) (Project no. MFAG-115F135)

Ab initio investigation of electron-phonon interaction in LaSn3 and CaSn3

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordWe present results for the structural, electronic, vibrational, and electron-phonon coupling properties of LaSn and CaSn adopting the simple cubic AuCu-type structure obtained using the the generalised gradient approximation of the density functional theory and plane wave ab initio pseudopotential method. Our electronic results show that both materials display metallic character with several bands, which have mainly Sn 5p character, crossing the Fermi level. The calculated phonon spectrum of LaSn accords very well with reported experimental measurements. The weights of the peaks in the Eliashberg spectral function of both compounds are enhanced with the use of experimental lattice constant in our electron-phonon calculation, increasing the value of average electron phonon coupling parameter from 0.876 to 0.937 for LaSn (by 7) and from 0.642 to 0.725 for CaSn (by 13). The use of experimental lattice constant also improves the agreement between theoretical and experimental values of the superconducting temperature for both compounds

Red deer algorithm-based selective harmonic elimination technique for multilevel inverters

This paper proposed a red deer algorithm (RDA)-based selective harmonic elimination (SHE) method for multilevel inverters (MLIs). To eliminate the desired harmonic orders, the optimum switching angles of the MLI have been calculated using the proposed RDA. The calculated switching angles have been applied to the 3-phase cascaded H-bridged 11-level inverter. In addition, the performance of the proposed RDA method was compared with the results of methods such as the Newton-Raphson (NR) method, LSHADE/EpSin technique (LSHADE), whale optimization algorithm (WOA), and particle swarm optimization (PSO) used for the SHE problem in the literature. The results obtained prove that the proposed RDA optimization solves the SHE problems more effectively than other methods. It has also been observed that RDA produces good solutions in different modulation indexes

Effects of Thiamethoxam on Vespula Germanica (F.) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Damage of pesticides used in agriculture on non-target organisms (except honey bees) is not sufficiently considered and neglected. Studies showed that wild bees, like honey bees, were also affected by pesticides. Wild bee species should also be protected because of their importance in pollination and biological control and also in order to protect biodiversity. Effects of pesticides on wild bees should be investigated without delay and precautions should be taken to protect the generations of wildlife. In addition, while increasing the agricultural areas, habitat for wild pollinators should be established.In this study, effect of Thiamethoxam, an agriculturally active agent in the neonicotinoid group, commonly used in agriculture fields, on the European wasp (Vespula germanica) was investigated. For this purpose, 2 molar carnation-flavored syrup in a petri dish was placed in a field where wild bees are frequent, and wild bees had got accustomed there. Trial doses were prepared with thiamethoxam dose commonly used in agricultural areas (15 ml/100 L water) and 50% dilutions of this dose (15.00, 7.50, 3.75, 1.87, 0.93, 0.46, 0.23, 0.12, 0.06 ml/100 L water) and fed in 2 molar syrup. Those who returned to the carnation petri dish after feeding were recorded at the 1st, 4th and 24th hours.At the end of the study, bees fed with 15.00, 7.50, and 3.75 ml / 100 L doses of the pesticide all died. One hour after pesticide ingestion, 84.73% of the control group and 13.33% of the bees fed with 1.87 ml / 100L dose, were alive and returned to the syrup petri dish

Ab initio investigation of BCS-type superconductivity in LuNi2 B2 C -type superconductors

Journal ArticleAb initio pseudopotential calculations have been made to calculate the structural, electronic, vibrational, and superconducting properties of the borocarbide superconductors RM2B2C(R=Lu,La,Y;M=Ni,Pd,Pt). Using the electronic and vibrational spectra, the average electron-phonon coupling parameter is calculated to be 0.78, 0.83, 0.96, and 1.48 for LaPt2B2C, LuNi2B2C, YPt2B2C, and YPd2B2C, respectively. From a detailed spectral analysis throughout the irreducible Brillouin zone (IBZ), we found that the highest contribution to the electron-phonon coupling parameter for these materials comes from the acoustic and low-frequency optical modes characterized with anomalous dispersion, instead of the A1g optical-phonon mode claimed in previous studies. Using the calculated electron-phonon coupling parameter values, the superconducting critical temperatures for LaPt2B2C, LuNi2B2C, YPt2B2C, and YPd2B2C are found to be 10.40, 15.94, 11.30, and 20.60 K, respectively, which are in good accordance with their experimental values of 10.50, 16.10, 10.00, and 21.00 K.This work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) (Project No. MFAG-114F192). Some of the calculations for this project were carried out using the computing facilities on the Intel Nehalem (i7) cluster (ceres) in the School of Physics, University of Exeter, United Kingdom