4,740 research outputs found
Behaviour of dairy cows on organic and non-organic farms
There is an increasing number of organic dairy farms in the UK. The aim of this study is to compare behaviour of dairy cows on organic and non-organic farms. Twenty organic and 20 non-organic farms throughout the UK were visited over two winters (2004/05 and 2005/06). Organic and non-organic farms were paired for housing type, herd size, milk production traits and location. The number of cows feeding was counted every fifteen minutes for 4.5 h after new feed was available post morning milking. Behaviour at the feed-face was recorded for 60 minutes and aggressive interactions between cows were quantified. Farm type had no effect on numbers of cows feeding. There were more interactions between cows feeding at open feed-faces compared to head-bale barriers. At open feed-faces, there were more interactions on organic farms than non-organic. It is possible that organic cows were hungrier than non-organic cows after the arrival of new feed
Role of (p)ppGpp in Viability and Biofilm Formation of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae S8.
Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium and the cause of porcine pleuropneumonia. When the bacterium encounters nutritional starvation, the relA-dependent (p)ppGpp-mediated stringent response is activated. The modified nucleotides guanosine 5'-diphosphate 3'-diphosphate (ppGpp) and guanosine 5'-triphosphate 3'-diphosphate (pppGpp) are known to be signaling molecules in other prokaryotes. Here, to investigate the role of (p)ppGpp in A. pleuropneumoniae, we created a mutant A. pleuropneumoniae strain, S8ΔrelA, which lacks the (p)ppGpp-synthesizing enzyme RelA, and investigated its phenotype in vitro. S8ΔrelA did not survive after stationary phase (starvation condition) and grew exclusively as non-extended cells. Compared to the wild-type (WT) strain, the S8ΔrelA mutant had an increased ability to form a biofilm. Transcriptional profiles of early stationary phase cultures revealed that a total of 405 bacterial genes were differentially expressed (including 380 up-regulated and 25 down-regulated genes) in S8ΔrelA as compared with the WT strain. Most of the up-regulated genes are involved in ribosomal structure and biogenesis, amino acid transport and metabolism, translation cell wall/membrane/envelope biogenesis. The data indicate that (p)ppGpp coordinates the growth, viability, morphology, biofilm formation and metabolic ability of A. pleuropneumoniae in starvation conditions. Furthermore, S8ΔrelA could not use certain sugars nor produce urease which has been associated with the virulence of A. pleuropneumoniae, suggesting that (p)ppGpp may directly or indirectly affect the pathogenesis of A. pleuropneumoniae during the infection process. In summary, (p)ppGpp signaling represents an essential component of the regulatory network governing stress adaptation and virulence in A. pleuropneumoniae
Volume-preserving normal forms of Hopf-zero singularity
A practical method is described for computing the unique generator of the
algebra of first integrals associated with a large class of Hopf-zero
singularity. The set of all volume-preserving classical normal forms of this
singularity is introduced via a Lie algebra description. This is a maximal
vector space of classical normal forms with first integral; this is whence our
approach works. Systems with a non-zero condition on their quadratic parts are
considered. The algebra of all first integrals for any such system has a unique
(modulo scalar multiplication) generator. The infinite level volume-preserving
parametric normal forms of any non-degenerate perturbation within the Lie
algebra of any such system is computed, where it can have rich dynamics. The
associated unique generator of the algebra of first integrals are derived. The
symmetry group of the infinite level normal forms are also discussed. Some
necessary formulas are derived and applied to appropriately modified
R\"{o}ssler and generalized Kuramoto--Sivashinsky equations to demonstrate the
applicability of our theoretical results. An approach (introduced by Iooss and
Lombardi) is applied to find an optimal truncation for the first level normal
forms of these examples with exponentially small remainders. The numerically
suggested radius of convergence (for the first integral) associated with a
hypernormalization step is discussed for the truncated first level normal forms
of the examples. This is achieved by an efficient implementation of the results
using Maple
Pattern formation in annular convection
This study of spatio-temporal pattern formation in an annulus is motivated by
two physical problems on vastly different scales. The first is atmospheric
convection in the equatorial plane between the warm surface of the Earth and
the cold tropopause, modeled by the two dimensional Boussinesq equations. The
second is annular electroconvection in a thin semetic film, where experiments
reveal the birth of convection-like vortices in the plane as the electric field
intensity is increased. This is modeled by two dimensional Navier-Stokes
equations coupled with a simplified version of Maxwell's equations. The two
models share fundamental mathematical properties and satisfy the prerequisites
for application of O(2)-equivariant bifurcation theory. We show this can give
predictions of interesting dynamics, including stationary and spatio-temporal
patterns
Rayleigh and depinning instabilities of forced liquid ridges on heterogeneous substrates
Depinning of two-dimensional liquid ridges and three-dimensional drops on an
inclined substrate is studied within the lubrication approximation. The
structures are pinned to wetting heterogeneities arising from variations of the
strength of the short-range polar contribution to the disjoining pressure. The
case of a periodic array of hydrophobic stripes transverse to the slope is
studied in detail using a combination of direct numerical simulation and
branch-following techniques. Under appropriate conditions the ridges may either
depin and slide downslope as the slope is increased, or first breakup into
drops via a transverse instability, prior to depinning. The different
transition scenarios are examined together with the stability properties of the
different possible states of the system.Comment: Physics synopsis link:
http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevE.83.01630
Quantum process tomography of a controlled-NOT gate
We demonstrate complete characterization of a two-qubit entangling process -
a linear optics controlled-NOT gate operating with coincident detection - by
quantum process tomography. We use maximum-likelihood estimation to convert the
experimental data into a physical process matrix. The process matrix allows
accurate prediction of the operation of the gate for arbitrary input states,
and calculation of gate performance measures such as the average gate fidelity,
average purity and entangling capability of our gate, which are 0.90, 0.83 and
0.73, respectively.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. v2 contains new data corresponding to improved
gate operation. Figure quality slightly reduced for arXi
Experimental demonstration of Shor's algorithm with quantum entanglement
Shor's powerful quantum algorithm for factoring represents a major challenge
in quantum computation and its full realization will have a large impact on
modern cryptography. Here we implement a compiled version of Shor's algorithm
in a photonic system using single photons and employing the non-linearity
induced by measurement. For the first time we demonstrate the core processes,
coherent control, and resultant entangled states that are required in a
full-scale implementation of Shor's algorithm. Demonstration of these processes
is a necessary step on the path towards a full implementation of Shor's
algorithm and scalable quantum computing. Our results highlight that the
performance of a quantum algorithm is not the same as performance of the
underlying quantum circuit, and stress the importance of developing techniques
for characterising quantum algorithms.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures + half-page additional online materia
Female Mucopolysaccharidosis IIIA Mice Exhibit Hyperactivity and a Reduced Sense of Danger in the Open Field Test
Reliable behavioural tests in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases allow us to study the natural history of disease and evaluate the efficacy of novel therapies. Mucopolysaccharidosis IIIA (MPS IIIA or Sanfilippo A), is a severe, neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorder caused by a deficiency in the heparan sulphate catabolising enzyme, sulfamidase. Undegraded heparan sulphate accumulates, resulting in lysosomal enlargement and cellular dysfunction. Patients suffer a progressive loss of motor and cognitive function with severe behavioural manifestations and premature death. There is currently no treatment. A spontaneously occurring mouse model of the disease has been described, that has approximately 3% of normal enzyme activity levels. Behavioural phenotyping of the MPS IIIA mouse has been previously reported, but the results are conflicting and variable, even after full backcrossing to the C57BL/6 background. Therefore we have independently backcrossed the MPS IIIA model onto the C57BL/6J background and evaluated the behaviour of male and female MPS IIIA mice at 4, 6 and 8 months of age using the open field test, elevated plus maze, inverted screen and horizontal bar crossing at the same circadian time point. Using a 60 minute open field, we have demonstrated that female MPS IIIA mice are hyperactive, have a longer path length, display rapid exploratory behaviour and spend less time immobile than WT mice. Female MPS IIIA mice also display a reduced sense of danger and spend more time in the centre of the open field. There were no significant differences found between male WT and MPS IIIA mice and no differences in neuromuscular strength were seen with either sex. The altered natural history of behaviour that we observe in the MPS IIIA mouse will allow more accurate evaluation of novel therapeutics for MPS IIIA and potentially other neurodegenerative disorders
Climate bifurcations in a Schwarzschild equation model of the Arctic atmosphere
A column model of the Arctic atmosphere is developed including the nonlinear positive feedback responses of surface albedo and water vapour to temperature. The atmosphere is treated as a grey gas and the flux of longwave radiation is governed by the two-stream Schwarzschild equations. Water vapour concentration is determined by the Clausius–Clapeyron equation. Representative concentration pathways (RCPs) are used to model carbon dioxide concentrations into the future. The resulting 9D two-point boundary value problem is solved under various RCPs and the solutions analysed. The model predicts that under the highest carbon pathway, the Arctic climate will undergo an irreversible bifurcation to a warm steady state, which would correspond to annually ice-free conditions. Under the lowest carbon pathway, corresponding to very aggressive carbon emission reductions, the model exhibits only a mild increase in Arctic temperatures. Under the two intermediate carbon pathways, temperatures increase more substantially, and the system enters a region of bistability where external perturbations could possibly cause an irreversible switch to a warm, ice-free state.</p
Realization of a Knill-Laflamme-Milburn C-NOT gate -a photonic quantum circuit combining effective optical nonlinearities
Quantum information science addresses how uniquely quantum mechanical
phenomena such as superposition and entanglement can enhance communication,
information processing and precision measurement. Photons are appealing for
their low noise, light-speed transmission and ease of manipulation using
conventional optical components. However, the lack of highly efficient optical
Kerr nonlinearities at single photon level was a major obstacle. In a
breakthrough, Knill, Laflamme and Milburn (KLM) showed that such an efficient
nonlinearity can be achieved using only linear optical elements, auxiliary
photons, and measurement. They proposed a heralded controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate
for scalable quantum computation using a photonic quantum circuit to combine
two such nonlinear elements. Here we experimentally demonstrate a KLM CNOT
gate. We developed a stable architecture to realize the required four-photon
network of nested multiple interferometers based on a displaced-Sagnac
interferometer and several partially polarizing beamsplitters. This result
confirms the first step in the KLM `recipe' for all-optical quantum
computation, and should be useful for on-demand entanglement generation and
purification. Optical quantum circuits combining giant optical nonlinearities
may find wide applications across telecommunications and sensing.Comment: 6pages, 3figure
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