1,100 research outputs found
Seasonal abundance of small cladocerans in Lake Mangakaware, Waikato, New Zealand
The seasonal changes in the dynamics and life histories of the Cladocera in Lake Mangakaware, North Island, New Zealand, were studied over 19 months by sampling at weekly or 2-weekly intervals. Lake Mangakaware is a 13.3 ha polymictic lake with high nutrient status, low Secchi disc transparencies, and an unstable thermal regime. The four planktonic cladoceran species (Bosmina longirostris, B. meridionalis, Ceriodaphnia pulchella, and C. dubia) exhibited disjunct population maxima. Only B. longirostris was perennially present. All species exhibited low fecundities and low lipid content, indicating that food resources were limited and that competitive interactions and resistance to starvation were probably important in determining species success. Increases in body size in cooler seasons were unrelated to clutch size, giving further support for the view that available food was limited. These results are consistent with previous experimental findings that subtle differences in life history can determine seasonal success and the outcome of competition between similar species
Neural Substrate of Cold-Seeking Behavior in Endotoxin Shock
Systemic inflammation is a leading cause of hospital death. Mild systemic inflammation is accompanied by warmth-seeking behavior (and fever), whereas severe inflammation is associated with cold-seeking behavior (and hypothermia). Both behaviors are adaptive. Which brain structures mediate which behavior is unknown. The involvement of hypothalamic structures, namely, the preoptic area (POA), paraventricular nucleus (PVH), or dorsomedial nucleus (DMH), in thermoregulatory behaviors associated with endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide [LPS])-induced systemic inflammation was studied in rats. The rats were allowed to select their thermal environment by freely moving in a thermogradient apparatus. A low intravenous dose of Escherichia coli LPS (10 ”g/kg) caused warmth-seeking behavior, whereas a high, shock-inducing dose (5,000 ”g/kg) caused cold-seeking behavior. Bilateral electrocoagulation of the PVH or DMH, but not of the POA, prevented this cold-seeking response. Lesioning the DMH with ibotenic acid, an excitotoxin that destroys neuronal bodies but spares fibers of passage, also prevented LPS-induced cold-seeking behavior; lesioning the PVH with ibotenate did not affect it. Lesion of no structure affected cold-seeking behavior induced by heat exposure or by pharmacological stimulation of the transient receptor potential (TRP) vanilloid-1 channel (âwarmth receptorâ). Nor did any lesion affect warmth-seeking behavior induced by a low dose of LPS, cold exposure, or pharmacological stimulation of the TRP melastatin-8 (âcold receptorâ). We conclude that LPS-induced cold-seeking response is mediated by neuronal bodies located in the DMH and neural fibers passing through the PVH. These are the first two landmarks on the map of the circuitry of cold-seeking behavior associated with endotoxin shock
Symmetry breaking and quantum correlations in finite systems: Studies of quantum dots and ultracold Bose gases and related nuclear and chemical methods
Investigations of emergent symmetry breaking phenomena occurring in small
finite-size systems are reviewed, with a focus on the strongly correlated
regime of electrons in two-dimensional semicoductor quantum dots and trapped
ultracold bosonic atoms in harmonic traps. Throughout the review we emphasize
universal aspects and similarities of symmetry breaking found in these systems,
as well as in more traditional fields like nuclear physics and quantum
chemistry, which are characterized by very different interparticle forces. A
unified description of strongly correlated phenomena in finite systems of
repelling particles (whether fermions or bosons) is presented through the
development of a two-step method of symmetry breaking at the unrestricted
Hartree-Fock level and of subsequent symmetry restoration via post Hartree-Fock
projection techniques. Quantitative and qualitative aspects of the two-step
method are treated and validated by exact diagonalization calculations.
Strongly-correlated phenomena emerging from symmetry breaking include: (I)
Chemical bonding, dissociation, and entanglement (at zero and finite magnetic
fields) in quantum dot molecules and in pinned electron molecular dimers formed
within a single anisotropic quantum dot. (II) Electron crystallization, with
particle localization on the vertices of concentric polygonal rings, and
formation of rotating electron molecules (REMs) in circular quantum dots. (III)
At high magnetic fields, the REMs are described by parameter-free analytic wave
functions, which are an alternative to the Laughlin and composite-fermion
approaches. (IV) Crystalline phases of strongly repelling bosons. In rotating
traps and in analogy with the REMs, such repelling bosons form rotating boson
molecules (RBMs).Comment: Review article published in Reports on Progress in Physics. REVTEX4.
95 pages with 37 color figures. To download a copy with high-quality figures,
go to publication #82 in http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~ph274cy
Experimental study of direct photon emission in K- --> pi- pi0 gamma decay using ISTRA+ detector
The branching ratio in the charged-pion kinetic energy region of 55 to 90 MeV
for the direct photon emission in the K- --> pi- pi0 gamma decay has been
measured using in-flight decays detected with the ISTRA+ setup operating in the
25 GeV/c negative secondary beam of the U-70 PS. The value
Br(DE)=[0.37+-0.39(stat)+-0.10(syst)]*10^(-5) obtained from the analysis of 930
completely reconstructed events is consistent with the average value of two
stopped-kaon experiments, but it differs by 2.5 standard deviations from the
average value of three in-flight-kaon experiments. The result is also compared
with recent theoretical predictions.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
Complex experiment on studying the microphysical, chemical, and optical properties of aerosol particles and estimating the contribution of atmospheric aerosol-to-earth radiation budget
The primary objective of this complex aerosol experiment was the measurement of microphysical, chemical, and optical properties of aerosol particles in the surface air layer and free atmosphere. The measurement data were used to retrieve the whole set of aerosol optical parameters, necessary for radiation calculations. Three measurement cycles were performed within the experiment during 2013: in spring, when the aerosol generation is maximal; in summer (July), when atmospheric boundary layer altitude and, hence, mixing layer altitude are maximal; and in late summer/early autumn, during the period of nucleation of secondary particles. Thus, independently obtained data on the optical, meteorological, and microphysical parameters of the atmosphere allow intercalibration and inter-complement of the data and thereby provide for qualitatively new information which explains the physical nature of the processes that form the vertical structure of the aerosol field
Search for CP violation in D+âÏÏ+ and D+sâK0SÏ+ decays
A search for CP violation in D + â ÏÏ + decays is performed using data collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fbâ1 at a centre of mass energy of 7 TeV. The CP -violating asymmetry is measured to be (â0.04 ± 0.14 ± 0.14)% for candidates with K â K + mass within 20 MeV/c 2 of the Ï meson mass. A search for a CP -violating asymmetry that varies across the Ï mass region of the D + â K â K + Ï + Dalitz plot is also performed, and no evidence for CP violation is found. In addition, the CP asymmetry in the D+sâK0SÏ+ decay is measured to be (0.61 ± 0.83 ± 0.14)%
Differential branching fraction and angular analysis of the decay B0âKâ0ÎŒ+ÎŒâ
The angular distribution and differential branching fraction of the decay B 0â K â0 ÎŒ + ÎŒ â are studied using a data sample, collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at sâ=7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fbâ1. Several angular observables are measured in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared, q 2. A first measurement of the zero-crossing point of the forward-backward asymmetry of the dimuon system is also presented. The zero-crossing point is measured to be q20=4.9±0.9GeV2/c4 , where the uncertainty is the sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties. The results are consistent with the Standard Model predictions
Study of B0(s)âK0Sh+hâČâ decays with first observation of B0sâK0SK±Ïâ and B0sâK0SÏ+Ïâ
A search for charmless three-body decays of B 0 and B0s mesons with a K0S meson in the final state is performed using the pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fbâ1, collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV recorded by the LHCb experiment. Branching fractions of the B0(s)âK0Sh+hâČâ decay modes (h (âČ) = Ï, K), relative to the well measured B0âK0SÏ+Ïâ decay, are obtained. First observation of the decay modes B0sâK0SK±Ïâ and B0sâK0SÏ+Ïâ and confirmation of the decay B0âK0SK±Ïâ are reported. The following relative branching fraction measurements or limits are obtained B(B0âK0SK±Ïâ)B(B0âK0SÏ+Ïâ)=0.128±0.017(stat.)±0.009(syst.), B(B0âK0SK+Kâ)B(B0âK0SÏ+Ïâ)=0.385±0.031(stat.)±0.023(syst.), B(B0sâK0SÏ+Ïâ)B(B0âK0SÏ+Ïâ)=0.29±0.06(stat.)±0.03(syst.)±0.02(fs/fd), B(B0sâK0SK±Ïâ)B(B0âK0SÏ+Ïâ)=1.48±0.12(stat.)±0.08(syst.)±0.12(fs/fd)B(B0sâK0SK+Kâ)B(B0âK0SÏ+Ïâ)â[0.004;0.068]at90%CL
Measurement of the ratio of branching fractions BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma)
The ratio of branching fractions of the radiative B decays B0 -> K*0 gamma
and Bs0 -> phi gamma has been measured using 0.37 fb-1 of pp collisions at a
centre of mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment. The
value obtained is BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) = 1.12 +/- 0.08
^{+0.06}_{-0.04} ^{+0.09}_{-0.08}, where the first uncertainty is statistical,
the second systematic and the third is associated to the ratio of fragmentation
fractions fs/fd. Using the world average for BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma) = (4.33 +/-
0.15) x 10^{-5}, the branching fraction BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) is measured to be
(3.9 +/- 0.5) x 10^{-5}, which is the most precise measurement to date.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, 2 table
Model-independent search for CP violation in D0âKâK+ÏâÏ+ and D0âÏâÏ+Ï+Ïâ decays
A search for CP violation in the phase-space structures of D0 and View the MathML source decays to the final states KâK+ÏâÏ+ and ÏâÏ+Ï+Ïâ is presented. The search is carried out with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fbâ1 collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. For the KâK+ÏâÏ+ final state, the four-body phase space is divided into 32 bins, each bin with approximately 1800 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 9.1%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 6.5% observed. The phase space of the ÏâÏ+Ï+Ïâ final state is partitioned into 128 bins, each bin with approximately 2500 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 41%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 5.5% observed. All results are consistent with the hypothesis of no CP violation at the current sensitivity
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