Hyperspherical Description of the Degenerate Fermi Gas: S-wave Interactions

We present a unique theoretical description of the physics of the spherically trapped $N$-atom degenerate Fermi gas (DFG) at zero temperature based on an ordinary Schr\"{o}dinger equation with a microscopic, two body interaction potential. With a careful choice of coordinates and a variational wavefunction, the many body Schr\"{o}dinger equation can be accurately described by a \emph{linear}, one dimensional effective Schr\"{o}dinger equation in a single collective coordinate, the rms radius of the gas. Comparisons of the energy, rms radius and peak density of ground state energy are made to those predicted by Hartree-Fock (HF). Also the lowest radial excitation frequency (the breathing mode frequency) agrees with a sum rule calculation, but deviates from a HF prediction

Analysis of doping control samples using supercritical fluid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry: Ready for routine use

Supercritical fluid chromatography is proving to be a good separation and sample preparation tool for various analytical applications and, as such, has gained the attention of the anti-doping community. Here, the applicability of supercritical fluid chromatography hyphenated to tandem mass spectrometry for routine doping control analysis was tested. A multi-analyte method was developed to cover 197 drugs and metabolites that are prohibited in sport. More than 1000 samples were analyzed by applying a “dilute and inject” approach after hydrolysis of glucuronide metabolites. Additionally, a comparison with routinely used liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was performed with 250 of the 1000 samples and a number of past positive anti-doping samples. It revealed some features where supercritical fluid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was found to be complementary or advantageous to liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for anti-doping purposes, such as better retention of analytes that are poorly retained in reversed-phase liquid chromatography. Our results suggest that supercritical fluid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry is sensitive (limit of detection <50% relevant minimum required performance level required by the World Anti-Doping Agency for anti-doping analysis), reproducible, robust, precise (analytes of interest area coefficient of variation <5%; retention time difference coefficient of variation <1%) and complementary to existing techniques currently used for routine analysis in the World Anti-Doping Agency accredited laboratories

Protein and Polysaccharide-Based Fiber Materials Generated from Ionic Liquids: A Review.

Natural biomacromolecules such as structural proteins and polysaccharides are composed of the basic building blocks of life: amino acids and carbohydrates. Understanding their molecular structure, self-assembly and interaction in solvents such as ionic liquids (ILs) is critical for unleashing a flora of new materials, revolutionizing the way we fabricate multi-structural and multi-functional systems with tunable physicochemical properties. Ionic liquids are superior to organic solvents because they do not produce unwanted by-products and are considered green substitutes because of their reusability. In addition, they will significantly improve the miscibility of biopolymers with other materials while maintaining the mechanical properties of the biopolymer in the final product. Understanding and controlling the physicochemical properties of biopolymers in ionic liquids matrices will be crucial for progress leading to the ability to fabricate robust multi-level structural 1D fiber materials. It will also help to predict the relationship between fiber conformation and protein secondary structures or carbohydrate crystallinity, thus creating potential applications for cell growth signaling, ionic conductivity, liquid diffusion and thermal conductivity, and several applications in biomedicine and environmental science. This will also enable the regeneration of biopolymer composite fiber materials with useful functionalities and customizable options critical for additive manufacturing. The specific capabilities of these fiber materials have been shown to vary based on their fabrication methods including electrospinning and post-treatments. This review serves to provide basic knowledge of these commonly utilized protein and polysaccharide biopolymers and their fiber fabrication methods from various ionic liquids, as well as the effect of post-treatments on these fiber materials and their applications in biomedical and pharmaceutical research, wound healing, environmental filters and sustainable and green chemistry research

Between learning and schooling: the politics of human rights monitoring at the Universal Periodic Review

This paper explores the politics of monitoring at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a new United Nations human rights monitoring mechanism which aims to promote a universal approach and equal treatment when reviewing each country’s human rights situation. To what extent are these laudable aims realised, and realisable, given entrenched representations of the West and the Rest as well as geopolitical and economic inequalities both historically and in the present? Based on ethnographic fieldwork at the UN in 2010–11, the final year of the UPR’s first cycle, we explore how these aims were both pursued and subverted, paying attention to two distinct ways of talking about the UPR: first, as a learning culture in which UN member states ‘share best practice’ and engage in constructive criticism; and second, as an exam which UN member states face as students with vastly differing attitudes and competences. Accounts and experiences of diplomats from states that are not placed in the ‘good students’ category offer valuable insights into the inherent contradictions of de-historicised and de-contextualised approaches to human rights

Routine application of SFC-MS in doping control: Analysis of 3 × 1000 urine samples using three different SFC-MS instruments

Supercritical fluid chromatography-mass spectrometry (SFC-MS) has proved to be a beneficial tool for sample analysis for a wide variety of compounds and, as such, has recently gained the attention of the anti-doping community. We have tested the applicability of SFC-MS for routine doping control analysing approximately 3 × 1000 identical anti-doping samples utilising SFC-MS instruments from three different vendors: Agilent Technologies, Waters Corporation and Shimadzu Corporation. A ‘dilute and inject’ approach either without or after hydrolysis of glucuronide metabolites was applied. Most of the compounds included in our study demonstrated excellent chromatography, whereas some showed co-elution with endogenous interferences requiring MS discrimination. Retention times typically were very stable within batches (%CV ≤ 0.5%), although this appeared to be analyte and column dependent. Chromatographic peak shape was good (symmetrical) and stable over the period of the testing without any change of column. Our results suggest that SFC-MS is a sensitive, reproducible and robust analytical tool ready to be used in anti-doping laboratories alongside the currently applied techniques such as gas and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Even if instruments are designed slightly differently, all three setups demonstrated their fitness for the purpose in anti-doping testing

Bank Financing for SMEs – Lessons from the Literature

This paper surveys the recent literature on the relationship between SMEs, financial deepening and economic development. While a large SME sector is not associated with faster economic growth or poverty alleviation, financial deepening can have a pro-growth and pro-poor impact by alleviating SMEs’ financing constraints, enabling firm entry and entrepreneurship, and better resource allocation. It is important to differentiate between different segments of the SME population, most critically between subsistence micro entrepreneurs and transformational entrepreneurs. This paper also discusses the importance of market structure, competition and regulations for SMEs and their access to finance over the business cycle and during crises

The age-redshift relation for Luminous Red Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We present a detailed analysis of 17,852 quiescent, Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release Seven (DR7) spanning a redshift range of 0.0 < z < 0.4. These galaxies are co-added into four equal bins of velocity dispersion and luminosity to produce high signal-to-noise spectra (>100A^{-1}), thus facilitating accurate measurements of the standard Lick absorption-line indices. In particular, we have carefully corrected and calibrated these indices onto the commonly used Lick/IDS system, thus allowing us to compare these data with other measurements in the literature, and derive realistic ages, metallicities ([Z/H]) and alpha-element abundance ratios ([alpha/Fe]) for these galaxies using Simple Stellar Population (SSP) models. We use these data to study the relationship of these galaxy parameters with redshift, and find little evidence for evolution in metallicity or alpha-elements (especially for our intermediate mass samples). This demonstrates that our subsamples are consistent with pure passive evolving (i.e. no chemical evolution) and represent a homogeneous population over this redshift range. We also present the age-redshift relation for these LRGs and clearly see a decrease in their age with redshift (5 Gyrs over the redshift range studied here) which is fully consistent with the cosmological lookback times in a concordance Lambda CDM universe. We also see that our most massive sample of LRGs is the youngest compared to the lower mass galaxies. We provide these data now to help future cosmological and galaxy evolution studies of LRGs, and provide in the appendices of this paper the required methodology and information to calibrate SDSS spectra onto the Lick/IDS system.Comment: 26 pages, with several appendices containing data. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Fungal Planet description sheets: 1436–1477

Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: Argentina, Colletotrichum araujiae on leaves, stems and fruits of Araujia hortorum. Australia, Agaricus pateritonsus on soil, Curvularia fraserae on dying leaf of Bothriochloa insculpta, Curvularia millisiae from yellowing leaf tips of Cyperus aromaticus, Marasmius brunneolorobustus on well-rotted wood, Nigrospora cooperae from necrotic leaf of Heteropogon contortus, Penicillium tealii from the body of a dead spider, Pseudocercospora robertsiorum from leaf spots of Senna tora, Talaromyces atkinsoniae from gills of Marasmius crinis-equi and Zasmidium pearceae from leaf spots of Smilax glyciphylla. Brazil, Preussia bezerrensis from air. Chile, Paraconiothyrium kelleni from the rhizosphere of Fragaria chiloensis subsp. chiloensis f. chiloensis. Finland, Inocybe udicola on soil in mixed forest with Betula pendula, Populus tremula, Picea abies and Alnus incana. France, Myrmecridium normannianum on dead culm of unidentified Poaceae. Germany, Vexillomyces fraxinicola from symptomless stem wood of Fraxinus excelsior. India, Diaporthe limoniae on infected fruit of Limonia acidissima, Didymella naikii on leaves of Cajanus cajan, and Fulvifomes mangroviensis on basal trunk of Aegiceras corniculatum. Indonesia, Penicillium ezekielii from Zea mays kernels. Namibia, Neocamarosporium calicoremae and Neocladosporium calicoremae on stems of Calicorema capitata, and Pleiochaeta adenolobi on symptomatic leaves of Adenolobus pechuelii. Netherlands, Chalara pteridii on stems of Pteridium aquilinum, Neomackenziella juncicola (incl. Neomackenziella gen. nov.) and Sporidesmiella junci from dead culms of Juncus effusus. Pakistan, Inocybe longistipitata on soil in a Quercus forest. Poland, Phytophthora viadrina from rhizosphere soil of Quercus robur, and Septoria krystynae on leaf spots of Viscum album. Portugal (Azores), Acrogenospora stellata on dead wood or bark. South Africa, Phyllactinia greyiae on leaves of Greyia sutherlandii and Punctelia anae on bark of Vachellia karroo. Spain, Anteaglonium lusitanicum on decaying wood of Prunus lusitanica subsp. lusitanica, Hawksworthiomyces riparius from fluvial sediments, Lophiostoma carabassense endophytic in roots of Limbarda crithmoides, and Tuber mohedanoi from calcareus soils. Spain (Canary Islands), Mycena laurisilvae on stumps and woody debris. Sweden, Elaphomyces geminus from soil under Quercus robur. Thailand, Lactifluus chiangraiensis on soil under Pinus merkusii, Lactifluus nakhonphanomensis and Xerocomus sisongkhramensis on soil under Dipterocarpus trees. Ukraine, Valsonectria robiniae on dead twigs of Robinia hispida. USA, Spiralomyces americanus (incl. Spiralomyces gen. nov.) from office air. Morphological and culture characteristics are supported by DNA barcodes

Neural correlates of enhanced visual short-term memory for angry faces: An fMRI study

Copyright: © 2008 Jackson et al.Background: Fluid and effective social communication requires that both face identity and emotional expression information are encoded and maintained in visual short-term memory (VSTM) to enable a coherent, ongoing picture of the world and its players. This appears to be of particular evolutionary importance when confronted with potentially threatening displays of emotion - previous research has shown better VSTM for angry versus happy or neutral face identities.Methodology/Principal Findings: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, here we investigated the neural correlates of this angry face benefit in VSTM. Participants were shown between one and four to-be-remembered angry, happy, or neutral faces, and after a short retention delay they stated whether a single probe face had been present or not in the previous display. All faces in any one display expressed the same emotion, and the task required memory for face identity. We find enhanced VSTM for angry face identities and describe the right hemisphere brain network underpinning this effect, which involves the globus pallidus, superior temporal sulcus, and frontal lobe. Increased activity in the globus pallidus was significantly correlated with the angry benefit in VSTM. Areas modulated by emotion were distinct from those modulated by memory load.Conclusions/Significance: Our results provide evidence for a key role of the basal ganglia as an interface between emotion and cognition, supported by a frontal, temporal, and occipital network.The authors were supported by a Wellcome Trust grant (grant number 077185/Z/05/Z) and by BBSRC (UK) grant BBS/B/16178