2,452 research outputs found
On-surface and Subsurface Adsorption of Oxygen on Stepped Ag(210) and Ag(410) Surfaces
The adsorption of atomic oxygen and its inclusion into subsurface sites on
Ag(210) and Ag(410) surfaces have been investigated using density functional
theory. We find that--in the absence of adatoms on the first metal
layer--subsurface adsorption results in strong lattice distortion which makes
it energetically unfavoured. However subsurface sites are significantly
stabilised when a sufficient amount of O adatoms is present on the surface. At
high enough O coverage on the Ag(210) surface the mixed on-surface + subsurface
O adsorption is energetically favoured with respect to the on-surface only
adsorption. Instead, on the Ag(410) surface, at the coverage we have considered
(3/8 ML), the existence of stable terrace sites makes the subsurface O
incorporation less favourable. These findings are compatible with the results
of recent HREEL experiments which have actually motivated this work.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures and 1 tabl
Exact Ward-Takahashi identity for the lattice N=1 Wess-Zumino model
The lattice Wess-Zumino model written in terms of the Ginsparg-Wilson
relation is invariant under a generalized supersymmetry transformation which is
determined by an iterative procedure in the coupling constant. By studying the
associated Ward-Takahashi identity up to order we show that this lattice
supersymmetry automatically leads to restoration of continuum supersymmetry
without fine tuning. In particular, the scalar and fermion renormalization wave
functions coincide.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Talk given at QG05, Cala Gonone, Sardinia, Italy.
12-16 September 200
The beta functions of a scalar theory coupled to gravity
We study a scalar field theory coupled to gravity on a flat background, below
Planck's energy. Einstein's theory is treated as an effective field theory.
Within the context of Wilson's renormalization group, we compute gravitational
corrections to the beta functions and the anomalous dimension of the scalar
field, taking into account threshold effects.Comment: 13 pages, plainTe
Exact Flow Equations and the U(1)-Problem
The effective action of a SU(N)-gauge theory coupled to fermions is evaluated
at a large infrared cut-off scale k within the path integral approach. The
gauge field measure includes topologically non-trivial configurations
(instantons). Due to the explicit infrared regularisation there are no gauge
field zero modes. The Dirac operator of instanton configurations shows a zero
mode even after the infrared regularisation, which leads to U_A(1)-violating
terms in the effective action. These terms are calculated in the limit of large
scales k.Comment: 22 pages, latex, no figures, with stylistic changes and some
arguments streamlined, typos corrected, References added, to appear in Phys.
Rev.
Mouse and rat ultrasonic vocalizations in neuroscience and neuropharmacology: State of the art and future applications
Mice and rats emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), which may express their arousal and emotional states, to communicate with each other. There is continued scientific effort to better understand the functions of USVs as a central element of the rodent behavioral repertoire. However, studying USVs is not only important because of their ethological relevance, but also because they are widely applied as a behavioral readout in various fields of biomedical research. In mice and rats, a large number of experimental models of brain disorders exist and studying the emission of USVs in these models can provide valuable information about the health status of the animals and the effectiveness of possible interventions, both environmental and pharmacological. This review (i) provides an updated overview of the contexts in which ultrasonic calling behaviour of mice and rats has particularly high translational value, and (ii) gives some examples of novel approaches and tools used for the analysis of USVs in mice and rats, combining qualitative and quantitative methods. The relevance of age and sex differences as well as the importance of longitudinal evaluations of calling and non-calling behaviour is also discussed. Finally, the importance of assessing the communicative impact of USVs in the receiver, that is, through playback studies, is highlighted
What might the English NHS learn about quality from Tuscany? Moving fron financila and bureacratic incentives towards "social" drivers
Strategies to investigate membrane damage, nucleoid condensation, and rnase activity of bacterial toxin–antitoxin systems
A large number of bacterial toxin–antitoxin (TA) systems have been identified so far and different experimental approaches have been explored to investigate their activity and regulation both in vivo and in vitro. Nonetheless, a common feature of these methods is represented by the difficulty in cell transformation, culturing, and stability of the transformants, due to the expression of highly toxic proteins. Recently, in dealing with the type I Lpt/RNAII and the type II YafQ/DinJ TA systems, we encountered several of these problems that urged us to optimize methodological strategies to study the phenotype of recombinant Escherichia coli host cells. In particular, we have found conditions to tightly repress toxin expression by combining the pET expression system with the E. coli C41(DE3) pLysS strain. To monitor the RNase activity of the YafQ toxin, we developed a fluorescence approach based on Thioflavin-T which fluoresces brightly when complexed with bacterial RNA. Fluorescence microscopy was also applied to reveal loss of membrane integrity associated with the activity of the type I toxin Lpt, by using DAPI and ethidium bromide to selectively stain cells with impaired membrane permeability. We further found that atomic force microscopy can readily be employed to characterize toxin-induced membrane damages
Effective Average Action in N=1 Super-Yang-Mills Theory
For N=1 Super-Yang-Mills theory we generalize the effective average action
Gamma_k in a manifest supersymmetric way using the superspace formalism. The
exact evolution equation for Gamma_k is derived and, introducing as an
application a simple truncation, the standard one-loop beta-function of N=1 SYM
theory is obtained.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, some remarks added, misprints corrected, to appear
in Phys. Rev.
Contribution to the bryological knowledge of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines (Northern Italy)
The inventory of the bryophytes collected during the annual excursion of the Working Group for Bryology of the Italian Botanical Society is reported. This excursion was held in 2018 on the northern slope of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines National Park, in the Administrative Region of Emilia-Romagna. The field work led to the finding of 113 taxa (24 liverworts and 89 mosses), including eight new records and seven confirmations for this Region. The occurrence of rare taxa for Italy (Scapania uliginosa, Rhizomnium pseudopunctatum, Racomitrium fasciculare, Scorpidium cossonii, Grimmia lisae, Orthotrichum pulchellum) is highlighted
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