148 research outputs found
Thermal bremsstrahlung probing the thermodynamical state of multifragmenting systems
Inclusive and exclusive hard-photon (E 30 MeV) production in five
different heavy-ion reactions (Ar+Au, Ag, Ni,
C at 60{\it A} MeV and Xe+Sn at 50{\it A} MeV) has been
studied coupling the TAPS photon spectrometer with several charged-particle
multidetectors covering more than 80% of 4. The measured spectra, slope
parameters and source velocities as well as their target-dependence, confirm
the existence of thermal bremsstrahlung emission from secondary nucleon-nucleon
collisions that accounts for roughly 20% of the total hard-photon yield. The
thermal slopes are a direct measure of the temperature of the excited nuclear
systems produced during the reaction.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings CRIS 2000, 3rd Catania Relativistic
Ion Studies, "Phase Transitions in Strong Interactions: Status and
Perspectives", Acicastello, Italy, May 22-26, 2000 (to be published in Nuc.
Phys. A
Miniaturized extinction culturing is the preferred strategy for rapid isolation of fast-growing methane-oxidizing bacteria
Methaneâoxidizing bacteria (MOB) have a large potential as a microbial sink for the greenhouse gas methane as well as for biotechnological purposes. However, their application in biotechnology has so far been hampered, in part due to the relative slow growth rate of the available strains. To enable the availability of novel strains, this study compares the isolation of MOB by conventional dilution plating with miniaturized extinction culturing, both performed after an initial enrichment step. The extinction approach rendered 22 MOB isolates from four environmental samples, while no MOB could be isolated by plating. In most cases, extinction culturing immediately yielded MOB monocultures making laborious purification redundant. Both type I (Methylomonas spp.) and type II (Methylosinus sp.) MOB were isolated. The isolated methanotrophic diversity represented at least 11 different strains and several novel species based on 16S rRNA gene sequence dissimilarity. These strains possessed the particulate (100%) and soluble (64%) methane monooxygenase gene. Also, 73% of the strains could be linked to a highly active fastâgrowing mixed MOB community. In conclusion, miniaturized extinction culturing was more efficient in rapidly isolating numerous MOB requiring little effort and fewer materials, compared with the more widely applied plating procedure. This miniaturized approach allowed straightforward isolation and could be very useful for subsequent screening of desired characteristics, in view of their future biotechnological potential
Survival or Revival: Long-Term Preservation Induces a Reversible Viable but Non-Culturable State in Methane-Oxidizing Bacteria
Knowledge on long-term preservation of micro-organisms is limited and research in the field is scarce despite its importance for microbial biodiversity and biotechnological innovation. Preservation of fastidious organisms such as methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) has proven difficult. Most MOB do not survive lyophilization and only some can be cryopreserved successfully for short periods. A large-scale study was designed for a diverse set of MOB applying fifteen cryopreservation or lyophilization conditions. After three, six and twelve months of preservation, the viability (via live-dead flow cytometry) and culturability (via most-probable number analysis and plating) of the cells were assessed. All strains could be cryopreserved without a significant loss in culturability using 1% trehalose in 10-fold diluted TSB (TT) as preservation medium and 5% DMSO as cryoprotectant. Several other cryopreservation and lyophilization conditions, all of which involved the use of TT medium, also allowed successful preservation but showed a considerable loss in culturability. We demonstrate here that most of these non-culturables survived preservation according to viability assessment indicating that preservation induces a viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state in a significant fraction of cells. Since this state is reversible, these findings have major implications shifting the emphasis from survival to revival of cells in a preservation protocol. We showed that MOB cells could be significantly resuscitated from the VBNC state using the TT preservation medium
Hard photon and neutral pion production in cold nuclear matter
The production of hard photons and neutral pions in 190 MeV proton induced
reactions on C, Ca, Ni, and W targets has been for the first time concurrently
studied. Angular distributions and energy spectra up to the kinematical limit
are discussed and the production cross-sections are presented. From the target
mass dependence of the cross-sections the propagation of pions through nuclear
matter is analyzed and the production mechanisms of hard photons and primordial
pions are derived. It is found that the production of subthreshold particles
proceeds mainly through first chance nucleon-nucleon collisions. For the most
energetic particles the mass scaling evidences the effect of multiple
collisions.Comment: submitted to Phys. Lett.
Suppression of soft nuclear bremsstrahlung in proton-nucleus collisions
Photon energy spectra up to the kinematic limit have been measured in 190 MeV
proton reactions with light and heavy nuclei to investigate the influence of
the multiple-scattering process on the photon production. Relative to the
predictions of models based on a quasi-free production mechanism a strong
suppression of bremsstrahlung is observed in the low-energy region of the
photon spectrum. We attribute this effect to the interference of photon
amplitudes due to multiple scattering of nucleons in the nuclear medium.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Family coordination in families who have a child with autism spectrum disorder
Little is known about the interactions of families where there is a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study applies the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP) to explore both its applicability to this population as well as to assess resources and areas of deficit in these families. The sample consisted of 68 families with a child with ASD, and 43 families with a typically developing (TD) child. With respect to the global score for family coordination there were several negative correlations: the more severe the symptoms (based on the childâs ADOS score), the more family coordination was dysfunctional. This correlation was particularly high when parents had to play together with the child. In the parts in which only one of the parents played actively with the child, while the other was simply present, some families did achieve scores in the functional range, despite the childâs symptom severity. The outcomes are discussed in terms of their clinical implications both for assessment and for interventio
Evidence for Thermal Equilibration in Multifragmentation Reactions probed with Bremsstrahlung Photons
The production of nuclear bremsstrahlung photons (E 30 MeV) has
been studied in inclusive and exclusive measurements in four heavy-ion
reactions at 60{\it A} MeV. The measured photon spectra, angular distributions
and multiplicities indicate that a significant part of the hard-photons are
emitted in secondary nucleon-nucleon collisions from a thermally equilibrated
system. The observation of the thermal component in multi-fragment
Ar+Au reactions suggests that the breakup of the thermalized
source produced in this system occurs on a rather long time-scale.Comment: Revised version, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters.
4 pages, 4 fig
Proton-deuteron radiative capture cross sections at intermediate energies
Differential cross sections of the reaction have been
measured at deuteron laboratory energies of 110, 133 and 180 MeV. The data were
obtained with a coincidence setup measuring both the outgoing He and the
photon. The data are compared with modern calculations including all possible
meson-exchange currents and two- and three- nucleon forces in the potential.
The data clearly show a preference for one of the models, although the shape of
the angular distribution cannot be reproduced by any of the presented models.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in EPJ
Data and Image Transfer Using Mobile Phones to Strengthen Microscopy-Based Diagnostic Services in Low and Middle Income Country Laboratories
Background: The emerging market of mobile phone technology and its use in the health sector is rapidly expanding and connecting even the most remote areas of world. Distributing diagnostic images over the mobile network for knowledge sharing, feedback or quality control is a logical innovation. Objective: To determine the feasibility of using mobile phones for capturing microscopy images and transferring these to a central database for assessment, feedback and educational purposes. Methods: A feasibility study was carried out in Uganda. Images of microscopy samples were taken using a prototype connector that could fix a variety of mobile phones to a microscope. An Information Technology (IT) platform was set up for data transfer from a mobile phone to a website, including feedback by text messaging to the end user. Results: Clear images were captured using mobile phone cameras of 2 megapixels (MP) up to 5MP. Images were sent by mobile Internet to a website where they were visualized and feedback could be provided to the sender by means of text message. Conclusion: The process of capturing microscopy images on mobile phones, relaying them to a central review website and feeding back to the sender is feasible and of potential benefit in resource poor settings. Even though the system needs furthe
Positive and negative outcomes of informal caregiving at home and in institutionalised long-term care: a cross-sectional study
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