Morphological and cultural studies of a motile stage in the life cycle of Dermocystidium marinum.

Dermocystidium marinum hypnospores, obtained by exposure to thioglycollate (the Ray technique), were isolated from oyster tissue and placed in sea water under aerobic conditions. The cells differentiated into sporangia, and sporulation occurred by successive bipartition of the protoplast, resulting in the formation of motile cells within the hypnospore wall. The planonts escaped through one or two preformed discharge pores and tubes. All motile cells were biflagellated with both flagella attached laterally and subapically. The anterior flagellum had Flimmern and the posterior flagellum was a whiplash. The planont cell body was intermediate between reniform and pyriform. Sporulation morphology is discussed from light microscope studies. Infection of oyster organ and tissue explants was accomplished with motile cells from single sporangia and from populations of sporangia. Living oysters were infected with the hypnospore isolates, but it was not determined which cell type gave rise to the infections — hypnospores, prehypnospores, or planonts

Concentration effects on the dynamics of liquid crystalline self-assembly: Time-resolved X-ray scattering studies.

A manifold of ordering transitions relevant to chemical and biological systems occur at interfaces from liquids to self-assembled soft solids like membranes or liquid crystals. In the present case, we were interested in understanding the phase transition from the microemulsion phase to the liquid crystal phase in terms of their driving forces, i.e., activation energy and entropy. The purpose of this work was to clarify the influence of concentration effects of the amphiphilic molecules on the nature of these self-assembly processes. By photosensitization of the model system (polyalkylglycolether (C(10)E(4)), water, decane, and cyclohexane) with laser dyes, we could effectively induce and control the phase transition through the absorption of optical photons. The photo transformation conditions were chosen in such a way that the system was in thermal equilibrium. By application of time-resolved photo small-angle X-ray scattering we could monitor the conversion process and demonstrate that the surfactant concentration has a direct impact on the activation energy, which is observable through the length of the induction time

Structure and dynamics of the 4p -\u3e ns,md autoionizing resonances between the P-3 and S-1 thresholds in atomic bromine

The relative partial photoionization cross sections sigma(i) and photoelectron angular distribution parameters beta(1) are measured for all possible final ionic states of Br+ between the P-3(2) and S-1(0) thresholds. The decay patterns of the autoionizing 4p(4 3)P(1,0) nl, 4p(4 1)D(2) nl, and 4p(4 1)S(0) nl Rydberg series arising from the 4p ins,md excitations are observed at the fine-structure level in all available channels. For each Rydberg series, the energies, quantum defects, and photoelectron angular distribution parameters are determined, as well as the widths and shape parameters of the low-lying members. Relative total cross sections are derived from the partial cross sections and from ion-yield measurements over the lowest members of the P-3(1,0) and D-1(2) series. All major spectroscopic and dynamic properties of these series are reported for this open-shell atom. Conclusions are drawn from the comprehensive data sets in comparison with other halogen atoms and the neighboring closed-shell rare gas atoms. Our results, encompassing the entire autoionization regime, are compared with other experimental data and theoretical calculations, where available

High-Resolution Photoelectron Spectrometry Study of Conjugate Shakeup Processes in the Li 1s Threshold Region

Partial cross sections and angular-distribution asymmetry parameters of diagram and satellite lines associated with Li 1s photoionization were measured using synchrotron-radiation excitation. Special emphasis was given to a high-resolution study of the 1P and 3P conjugate shakeup satellite lines testing qualitative predictions of the conjugate shakeup model: increasing σ and decreasing β values towards threshold, both being verified. Comparison with recent relaxed Hartree-Fock calculations shows good agreement for the 1P satellite, but demonstrates also that the present theory does not seem to be able to describe the cross-section behavior of the 3P satellite correctly

Rigorous treatment of electrostatics for spatially varying dielectrics based on energy minimization

A novel energy minimization formulation of electrostatics that allows computation of the electrostatic energy and forces to any desired accuracy in a system with arbitrary dielectric properties is presented. An integral equation for the scalar charge density is derived from an energy functional of the polarization vector field. This energy functional represents the true energy of the system even in non-equilibrium states. Arbitrary accuracy is achieved by solving the integral equation for the charge density via a series expansion in terms of the equation's kernel, which depends only on the geometry of the dielectrics. The streamlined formalism operates with volume charge distributions only, not resorting to introducing surface charges by hand. Therefore, it can be applied to any spatial variation of the dielectric susceptibility, which is of particular importance in applications to biomolecular systems. The simplicity of application of the formalism to real problems is shown with analytical and numerical examples.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figure

Predictions of selected flavour observables within the Standard Model

This letter gathers a selection of Standard Model predictions issued from the metrology of the CKM parameters performed by the CKMfitter group. The selection includes purely leptonic decays of neutral and charged B, D and K mesons. In the light of the expected measurements from the LHCb experiment, a special attention is given to the radiative decay modes of B mesons as well as to the B-meson mixing observables, in particular the semileptonic charge asymmetries a^d,s_SL which have been recently investigated by the D0 experiment at Tevatron. Constraints arising from rare kaon decays are addressed, in light of both current results and expected performances of future rare kaon experiments. All results have been obtained with the CKMfitter analysis package, featuring the frequentist statistical approach and using Rfit to handle theoretical uncertainties.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables. Typos corrected and discussion of agreement between SM and data update

Natural Widths In Open-Shell Atoms: The K Absorption Spectrum Of Atomic Oxygen

Total-ion-yield measurements and Hartree-Fock calculations are presented for the 1s-- \u3enp, n=2 to 5 photoexcitations in atomic oxygen. Energies and relative intensities of the [1s]2s(2)2p(4)(P-4)np and [1s]2s(2)2p(4)(P-2)np series members are determined, and the apparent linewidths are measured. It is shown that natural widths in an open-shell atom can be deduced from an absorption spectrum only with the aid of theoretical input. The linewidth for the six individual components contained in the 1s--\u3e2p transition is determined to be 140(9) meV

Finite-Difference Time-Domain Simulation for Three-dimensional Polarized Light Imaging

Three-dimensional Polarized Light Imaging (3D-PLI) is a promising technique to reconstruct the nerve fiber architecture of human post-mortem brains from birefringence measurements of histological brain sections with micrometer resolution. To better understand how the reconstructed fiber orientations are related to the underlying fiber structure, numerical simulations are employed. Here, we present two complementary simulation approaches that reproduce the entire 3D-PLI analysis: First, we give a short review on a simulation approach that uses the Jones matrix calculus to model the birefringent myelin sheaths. Afterwards, we introduce a more sophisticated simulation tool: a 3D Maxwell solver based on a Finite-Difference Time-Domain algorithm that simulates the propagation of the electromagnetic light wave through the brain tissue. We demonstrate that the Maxwell solver is a valuable tool to better understand the interaction of polarized light with brain tissue and to enhance the accuracy of the fiber orientations extracted by 3D-PLI.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Partial Photoionization Cross Sections And Photoelectron Angular Distributions For Double Excitations Up To The N=5 Threshold In Helium

Partial photoionization cross sections sigma(n) and photoelectron angular distributions beta(n) were measured for all possible final ionic states He+(n) in the region of the double excitations N(K,T)(A) up to the N=5 threshold. At a photon energy bandpass of 12 meV below the thresholds N=3,4, and 5, this level of differentiation offers the most critical assessment of the dynamics of the two-electron excitations to date. The experimental data are very well described by the most advanced theoretical calculations. Weaker double-excitation series with K=N-4 are clearly visible in the beta(n) data, and even previously unobserved extremely weak series members with A=-1 can be discerned, showing the high sensitivity of the angular resolved measurements. The shapes of the resonance-induced variations of sigma(n) or beta(n) in the double excitations below a given threshold N change radically depending on the final ionic state n but display striking similarities when comparing the satellite states with n=N-1 and n=N-2 below each threshold N. These systematic patterns may indicate a general rule for the underlying two-electron dynamics