957 research outputs found
Male sexually coercive behaviour drives increased swimming efficiency in female guppies
Sexual coercion of females by males is widespread across sexually reproducing species. It stems from a conflict of interest over reproduction and exerts selective pressure on both sexes. For females, there is often a significant energetic cost of exposure to male sexually coercive behaviours.
Our understanding of the efficiency of female resistance to male sexually coercive behaviour is key to understanding how sexual conflict contributes to population level dynamics and ultimately to the evolution of sexually antagonistic traits.
Overlooked within this context are plastic physiological responses of traits within the lifetime of females that could moderate the energetic cost imposed by coercive males. Here, we examined whether conflict over the frequency and timing of mating between male and female guppies Poecilia reticulata can induce changes in swimming performance and aerobic capacity in females as they work to escape harassment by males.
Females exposed to higher levels of harassment over a 5-month period used less oxygen to swim at a given speed, but displayed no difference in resting metabolic rate, maximal metabolic rate, maximal sustained swimming speed or aerobic scope compared to females receiving lower levels of harassment.
The observed increase in swimming efficiency is at least partially related to differences in swimming mechanics, likely brought on by a training effect of increased activity, as highly harassed females spent less time performing pectoral fin-assisted swimming.
Sexual conflict results in sexually antagonistic traits that impose a variety of costs, but our results show that females can reduce costs through phenotypic plasticity. It is also possible that phenotypic plasticity in swimming physiology or mechanics in response to sexual coercion can potentially give females more control over matings and affect which male traits are under selection
Transport Coefficients of the Yukawa One Component Plasma
We present equilibrium molecular-dynamics computations of the thermal
conductivity and the two viscosities of the Yukawa one-component plasma. The
simulations were performed within periodic boundary conditions and Ewald sums
were implemented for the potentials, the forces, and for all the currents which
enter the Kubo formulas. For large values of the screening parameter, our
estimates of the shear viscosity and the thermal conductivity are in good
agreement with the predictions of the Chapman-Enskog theory.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure
Pattern of Reaction Diffusion Front in Laminar Flows
Autocatalytic reaction between reacted and unreacted species may propagate as
solitary waves, namely at a constant front velocity and with a stationary
concentration profile, resulting from a balance between molecular diffusion and
chemical reaction. The effect of advective flow on the autocatalytic reaction
between iodate and arsenous acid in cylindrical tubes and Hele-Shaw cells is
analyzed experimentally and numerically using lattice BGK simulations. We do
observe the existence of solitary waves with concentration profiles exhibiting
a cusp and we delineate the eikonal and mixing regimes recently predicted.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. This paper report on experiments and simulations
in different geometries which test the theory of Boyd Edwards on flow
advection of chemical reaction front which just appears in PRL (PRL Vol
89,104501, sept2002
Micromegas in a Bulk
In this paper we present a novel way to manufacture the bulk Micromegas
detector. A simple process based on the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) technology
is employed to produce the entire sensitive detector. Such fabrication process
could be extended to very large area detectors made by the industry. The low
cost fabrication together with the robustness of the electrode materials will
make it extremely attractive for several applications ranging from particle
physics and astrophysics to medicineComment: 6 pages, 4 figure
MEMPHYS:A large scale water Cerenkov detector at Fr\'ejus
A water \v{C}erenkov detector project, of megaton scale, to be installed in
the Fr\'ejus underground site and dedicated to nucleon decay, neutrinos from
supernovae, solar and atmospheric neutrinos, as well as neutrinos from a
super-beam and/or a beta-beam coming from CERN, is presented and compared with
competitor projects in Japan and in the USA. The performances of the European
project are discussed, including the possibility to measure the mixing angle
and the CP-violating phase .Comment: 1+33 pages, 14 figures, Expression of Interest of MEMPHYS projec
catena-Poly[[chlorido(methyl phenyl sulfide-κS)mercury(II)]-μ-chlorido]
The title compound, [HgCl2(C7H8S)]n, was isolated from the reaction of MeSPh with HgCl2. The HgII atom has a distorted tetrahedral geometry and is coordinated by one S atom and three Cl atoms. Two of the Cl atoms act as bridging ligands between the Hg atoms, forming a two-dimensional polymeric structure
High-performance work practices and employee wellbeing: organizational identification as a mediator
Aim: The aim of this study was to examine how high-performance work practices affect engagement and workplace bullying, two different aspects of employee wellbeing. Furthermore, the study sought to examine the potential mediating role of organizational identification in these relationships.
Method: A two-wave survey study (n = 213) was conducted among psychologists in Finland.
Results: The results showed that high-performance work practices (HPWPs) were positively associated with engagement and negatively associated with the risk of workplace bullying. Moreover, organizational identification acted as mediator of the HPWPs-engagement relationship, though alongside the significant indirect effect via organizational identification there was also a significant direct effect of HPWPs on engagement.
Discussion: The study adds knowledge to ongoing debates on whether HPWPs support or undermine employee wellbeing. In particular, it extends our understanding of the association between HPWPs and relationship wellbeing, a topic that has so far received scant attention. Furthermore, the study advances our understanding of explanatory mechanisms in the HPWPs-engagement relationship and points to the importance of organizational identification for explaining why HPWPs lead to higher engagement
Nonlinear interaction of charged particles with a free electron gas beyond the random-phase approximation
A nonlinear description of the interaction of charged particles penetrating a
solid has become of basic importance in the interpretation of a variety of
physical phenomena. Here we develop a many-body theoretical approach to the
quadratic decay rate, energy loss, and wake potential of charged particles
moving in an interacting free electron gas. Explicit expressions for these
quantities are obtained either within the random-phase approximation (RPA) or
with full inclusion of short-range exchange and correlation effects. The Z^3
correction to the energy loss of ions is evaluated beyond RPA, in the limit of
low velocities.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures To appear in Phys. Rev.
- …