1,126 research outputs found
A new sex-specific genetic marker (fshr 1834G>T) for flathead grey mullet, Mugil cephalus, in Queensland, Australia
In this study, genetic sex marker candidates from northern hemisphere Mugil cephalus were tested to see if they could be used to sex a population originating from south-east Queensland, Australia. As such, a region of the follicle stimulating hormone receptor (fshr) gene was sequenced but did not contain previously published single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, further screening of the sequenced fshr region revealed a promising sex marker candidate for Queensland M. cephalus, fshr 1834Â G>T, which was accurate in 100% of fish tested (excluding intersex fish, which had the female genotype). While all females tested were homozygous G/G, males presented as either G/T (common) or T/T (lower frequency). Subsequently, a real-time high-resolution melt was developed to facilitate rapid and accurate genotyping of M. cephalus based on the fshr 1834Â G>T SNP. Initial results suggest that fshr 1834Â G>T is a useful SNP that can reduce the need for more invasive sampling techniques such as gonadal biopsy, provide information relating to the sex of captive stock prior to gonadal maturation, and may prove useful in wild population surveys and stock assessment
Room temperature magnetic stabilization of buried cobalt nanoclusters within a ferromagnetic matrix studied by soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism
Single dusting layers of size-selected Co nanoclusters (NCs) of sizes ranging from 1.5–5.5 nm have been deposited by a gas-phase aggregation method in ultrahigh vacuum, and embedded within a NiFe matrix. Magnetic hysteresis loops have been obtained using soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, which shows that these Co NCs embedded in NiFe exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism with identical coercivity to the surrounding NiFe film. The strong local exchange field at the interface between NiFe and Co NCs, combined with the magnetic anisotropy of the NiFe film, allows stabilization of NC ferromagnetism which persists to room temperature
Negligible evidence for regional genetic population structure for two shark species Rhizoprionodon acutus (RĂĽppell, 1837) and Sphyrna lewini (Griffith & Smith, 1834) with contrasting biology
Biodiversity of sharks in the tropical Indo-Pacific is high, but species-specific information to assist sustainable resource exploitation is scarce. The null hypothesis of population genetic homogeneity was tested for scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini, n = 237) and the milk shark (Rhizoprionodon acutus, n = 207) from northern and eastern Australia, using nuclear (S. lewini, eight microsatellite loci; R. acutus, six loci) and mitochondrial gene markers (873 base pairs of NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4). We were unable to reject genetic homogeneity for S. lewini, which was as expected based on previous studies of this species. Less expected were similar results for R. acutus, which is more benthic and less vagile than S. lewini. These features are probably driving the genetic break found between Australian and central Indonesian R. acutus (F-statistics; mtDNA, 0.751–0.903, respectively; microsatellite loci, 0.038–0.047 respectively). Our results support the spatially homogeneous monitoring and management plan for shark species in Queensland, Australia
Transinfection of buffalo flies (Haematobia irritans exigua) with Wolbachia and effect on host biology
Buffalo flies (Haematobia irritans exigua) (BF) and closely related horn flies (Haematobia irritans irritans) (HF) are invasive haematophagous parasites with significant economic and welfare impacts on cattle production. Wolbachia are intracellular bacteria found widely in insects and currently of much interest for use in novel strategies for the area wide control of insect pests and insect-vectored diseases. In this paper, we report the transinfection of BF towards the development of area-wide controls
Transverse Phase Locking for Vortex Motion in Square and Triangular Pinning Arrays
We analyze transverse phase locking for vortex motion in a superconductor
with a longitudinal DC drive and a transverse AC drive. For both square and
triangular arrays we observe a variety of fractional phase locking steps in the
velocity versus DC drive which correspond to stable vortex orbits. The locking
steps are more pronounced for the triangular arrays which is due to the fact
that the vortex motion has a periodic transverse velocity component even for
zero transverse AC drive. All the steps increase monotonically in width with AC
amplitude. We confirm that the width of some fractional steps in the square
arrays scales as the square of the AC driving amplitude. In addition we
demonstrate scaling in the velocity versus applied DC driving curves at
depinning and on the main step, similar to that seen for phase locking in
charge-density wave systems. The phase locking steps are most prominent for
commensurate vortex fillings where the interstitial vortices form symmetrical
ground states. For increasing temperature, the fractional steps are washed out
very quickly, while the main step gains a linear component and disappears at
melting. For triangular pinning arrays we again observe transverse phase
locking, with the main and several of the fractional step widths scaling
linearly with AC amplitude.Comment: 10 pages, 14 postscript figure
Directional vortex motion guided by artificially induced mesoscopic potentials
Rectangular pinning arrays of Ni dots define a potential landscape for vortex
motion in Nb films. Magnetotransport experiments in which two in-plane
orthogonal electrical currents are injected simultaneously allow selecting the
direction and magnitude of the Lorentz force on the vortex-lattice, thus
providing the angular dependence of the vortex motion. The background
dissipation depends on angle at low magnetic fields, which is progressively
smeared out with increasing field. The periodic potential locks in the vortex
motion along channeling directions. Because of this, vortex-lattice direction
of motion is up to 85o away from the applied Lorentz force direction.Comment: PDF file includes figure
Vortex states in 2D superconductor at high magnetic field in a periodic pinning potential
The effect of a periodic pinning array on the vortex state in a 2D
superconductor at low temperatures is studied within the framework of the
Ginzburg-Landau approach. It is shown that attractive interaction of vortex
cores to a commensurate pin lattice stabilizes vortex solid phases with long
range positional order against violent shear fluctuations. Exploiting a simple
analytical method, based on the Landau orbitals description, we derive a rather
detailed picture of the low temperatures vortex state phase diagram. It is
predicted that for sufficiently clean samples application of an artificial
periodic pinning array would enable one to directly detect the intrinsic shear
stiffness anisotropy characterizing the ideal vortex lattice.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
A low-lying scalar meson nonet in a unitarized meson model
A unitarized nonrelativistic meson model which is successful for the
description of the heavy and light vector and pseudoscalar mesons yields, in
its extension to the scalar mesons but for the same model parameters, a
complete nonet below 1 GeV. In the unitarization scheme, real and virtual
meson-meson decay channels are coupled to the quark-antiquark confinement
channels. The flavor-dependent harmonic-oscillator confining potential itself
has bound states epsilon(1.3 GeV), S(1.5 GeV), delta(1.3 GeV), kappa(1.4 GeV),
similar to the results of other bound-state qqbar models. However, the full
coupled-channel equations show poles at epsilon(0.5 GeV), S(0.99 GeV),
delta(0.97 GeV), kappa(0.73 GeV). Not only can these pole positions be
calculated in our model, but also cross sections and phase shifts in the
meson-scattering channels, which are in reasonable agreement with the available
data for pion-pion, eta-pion and Kaon-pion in S-wave scattering.Comment: A slightly revised version of Zeitschrift fuer Physik C30, 615 (1986
Temperature dependence and mechanisms for vortex pinning by periodic arrays of Ni dots in Nb films
Pinning interactions between superconducting vortices in Nb and magnetic Ni
dots were studied as a function of current and temperature to clarify the
nature of pinning mechanisms. A strong current dependence is found for a square
array of dots, with a temperature dependent optimum current for the observation
of periodic pinning, that decreases with temperature as (1-T/Tc)3/2. This same
temperature dependence is found for the critical current at the first matching
field with a rectangular array of dots. The analysis of these results allows to
narrow the possible pinning mechanisms to a combination of two: the interaction
between the vortex and the magnetic moment of the dot and the proximity effect.
Moreover, for the rectangular dot array, the temperature dependence of the
crossover between the low field regime with a rectangular vortex lattice to the
high field regime with a square configuration has been studied. It is found
that the crossover field increases with decreasing temperature. This dependence
indicates a change in the balance between elastic and pinning energies,
associated with dynamical effects of the vortex lattice in the high field
range.Comment: 12 text pages (revtex), 6 figures (1st jpeg, 2nd-6th postscript)
accepted in Physical Review
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