24,234 research outputs found
Behaviour of concrete filled stainless steel elliptical hollow sections
This paper presents the behaviour and design of axially loaded concrete filled stainless steel elliptical
hollow sections. The experimental investigation was conducted using normal and high strength concrete of 30 and 100 MPa. The current study is based on stub column tests and is therefore limited to cross-section capacity. Based on the existing design guidance in Eurocode 4 for composite
columns, the proposed design equations use the continuous strength method to determine the strength of the stainless steel material. It is found to provide the most accurate and consistent prediction of the axial capacity of the composite concrete filled stainless steel elliptical hollow sections due largely to the more precise assessment of the contribution of the stainless steel tube to the composite resistance
Generalized Background-Field Method
The graphical method discussed previously can be used to create new gauges
not reachable by the path-integral formalism. By this means a new gauge is
designed for more efficient two-loop QCD calculations. It is related to but
simpler than the ordinary background-field gauge, in that even the triple-gluon
vertices for internal lines contain only four terms, not the usual six. This
reduction simplifies the calculation inspite of the necessity to include other
vertices for compensation. Like the ordinary background-field gauge, this
generalized background-field gauge also preserves gauge invariance of the
external particles. As a check of the result and an illustration for the
reduction in labour, an explicit calculation of the two-loop QCD
-function is carried out in this new gauge. It results in a saving of
45% of computation compared to the ordinary background-field gauge.Comment: 17 pages, Latex, 18 figures in Postscrip
Macular Bioaccelerometers on Earth and in Space
Space flight offers the opportunity to study linear bioaccelerometers (vestibular maculas) in the virtual absence of a primary stimulus, gravitational acceleration. Macular research in space is particularly important to NASA because the bioaccelerometers are proving to be weighted neural networks in which information is distributed for parallel processing. Neural networks are plastic and highly adaptive to new environments. Combined morphological-physiological studies of maculas fixed in space and following flight should reveal macular adaptive responses to microgravity, and their time-course. Ground-based research, already begun, using computer-assisted, 3-dimensional reconstruction of macular terminal fields will lead to development of computer models of functioning maculas. This research should continue in conjunction with physiological studies, including work with multichannel electrodes. The results of such a combined effort could usher in a new era in understanding vestibular function on Earth and in space. They can also provide a rational basis for counter-measures to space motion sickness, which may prove troublesome as space voyager encounter new gravitational fields on planets, or must re-adapt to 1 g upon return to earth
Gradient Echo Quantum Memory for Light using Two-level Atoms
We propose a quantum memory for light that is analogous to the NMR gradient
echo. Our proposal is ideally perfectly efficient and provides simplifications
to current 3-level quantum memory schemes based on controlled inhomogeneous
broadening. Our scheme does not require auxiliary light fields. Instead the
input optical pulse interacts only with two-level atoms that have linearly
increasing Stark shifts. By simply reversing the sign of the atomic Stark
shifts, the pulse is retrieved in the forward direction. We present analytical,
numerical and experimental results of this scheme. We report experimental
efficiencies of up to 15% and suggest simple realizable improvements to
significantly increase the efficiency.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Genome-Wide Transposon Screen of a Pseudomonas syringae mexB Mutant Reveals the Substrates of Efflux Transporters.
Bacteria express numerous efflux transporters that confer resistance to diverse toxicants present in their environment. Due to a high level of functional redundancy of these transporters, it is difficult to identify those that are of most importance in conferring resistance to specific compounds. The resistance-nodulation-division (RND) protein family is one such example of redundant transporters that are widespread among Gram-negative bacteria. Within this family, the MexAB-OprM protein complex is highly expressed and conserved among Pseudomonas species. We exposed barcoded transposon mutant libraries in isogenic wild-type and ΔmexB backgrounds in P. syringae B728a to diverse toxic compounds in vitro to identify mutants with increased susceptibility to these compounds. Mutants with mutations in genes encoding both known and novel redundant transporters but with partially overlapping substrate specificities were observed in a ΔmexB background. Psyr_0228, an uncharacterized member of the major facilitator superfamily of transporters, preferentially contributes to tolerance of acridine orange and acriflavine. Another transporter located in the inner membrane, Psyr_0541, contributes to tolerance of acriflavine and berberine. The presence of multiple redundant, genomically encoded efflux transporters appears to enable bacterial strains to tolerate a diversity of environmental toxins. This genome-wide screen performed in a hypersusceptible mutant strain revealed numerous transporters that would otherwise be dispensable under these conditions. Bacterial strains such as P. syringae that likely encounter diverse toxins in their environment, such as in association with many different plant species, probably benefit from possessing multiple redundant transporters that enable versatility with respect to toleration of novel toxicants.IMPORTANCE Bacteria use protein pumps to remove toxic compounds from the cell interior, enabling survival in diverse environments. These protein pumps can be highly redundant, making their targeted examination difficult. In this study, we exposed mutant populations of Pseudomonas syringae to diverse toxicants to identify pumps that contributed to survival in those conditions. In parallel, we examined pump redundancy by testing mutants of a population lacking the primary efflux transporter responsible for toxin tolerance. We identified partial substrate overlap for redundant transporters, as well as several pumps that appeared more substrate specific. For bacteria that are found in diverse environments, having multiple, partially redundant efflux pumps likely allows flexibility in habitat colonization
Abelian Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effects
It is shown that the high-energy expansion of the scattering amplitude
calculated from Feynman diagrams factorizes in such a way that it can be
reduced to the eikonalized form up to the terms of inverse power in energy in
accordance with results obtained by solving the Klein-Gordon equation.
Therefore the two approaches when applied to the suppression of the emission of
soft photons by fast charged particles in dense matter should give rise to the
same results. A particular limit of thin targets is briefly discussed.Comment: 14 pages, LATEX, 1 Fig. ps, submitted to Mod. Phys. Lett.
Successful medical management of a domestic longhair cat with subdural intracranial empyema and multifocal pneumonia
A multispecies model for the transmission and control of mastitis in dairy cows
Mastitis in dairy cows is a significant economic and animal welfare issue in the dairy industry. The bacterial pathogens responsible for infection of the mammary gland may be split into two main categories: major and minor pathogens. Infection with major pathogens generally results in clinical illness or strong inflammatory responses and reduced milk yields, whereas minor pathogen infection is usually subclinical. Previous investigations have considered the transmission of these pathogens independently. Experimental evidence has shown cross-protection between species of pathogens. In this study a mathematical model for the coupled transmission of major and minor pathogens along with their interaction via the host was developed in order to consider various methods for controlling the incidence of major pathogen infection. A stability analysis of the model equilibria provides explanations for observed phenomena and previous decoupled modelling results. This multispecies model structure has provided a basis for quantifying the extent of cross-protection between species and assessing possible control strategies against the disease
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