4,686 research outputs found
Visualisation of ectomycorrhizal rhizomorph structure using laser scanning confocal microscopy
A method for the observation of the three-dimensional structure of intact ectomycorrhizal rhizomorphs is described. The method is based on a combination of clearing the material with KOH followed by staining with congo red and subsequent imaging under a laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM). The images obtained are of a much higher three-dimensional resolution than those obtained previously by use of conventional light microscopical techniques. The structure of highly differentiated and undifferentiated rhizomorphs is described. Applications of the method are briefly discussed
Horizontal gene transfer-mediated bacterial strain variation affects host fitness in Drosophila
How microbes affect host fitness and environmental adaptation has become a fundamental research question in evolutionary biology. To better understand the role of microbial genomic variation for host fitness, we tested for associations of bacterial genomic variation and Drosophila melanogaster offspring number in a microbial Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS)
Analysing powers for the reaction and for np elastic scattering from 270 to 570 MeV
The analysing power of the reaction for neutron energies between threshold and 570 MeV has been determined
using a transversely polarised neutron beam at PSI. The reaction has been
studied in a kinematically complete measurement using a time-of-flight
spectrometer with large acceptance. Analysing powers have been determined as a
function of the c.m. pion angle in different regions of the proton-proton
invariant mass. They are compared to other data from the reactions and . The np elastic scattering analysing power was determined as a
by-product of the measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, subitted to EPJ-
The reaction from threshold up to 570 MeV
The reaction has been studied in a
kinematically complete measurement with a large acceptance time-of-flight
spectrometer for incident neutron energies between threshold and 570 MeV. The
proton-proton invariant mass distributions show a strong enhancement due to the
pp() final state interaction. A large anisotropy was found in the
pion angular distributions in contrast to the reaction . At small energies, a large forward/backward asymmetry has been
observed. From the measured integrated cross section , the isoscalar cross section has been extracted.
Its energy dependence indicates that mainly partial waves with Sp final states
contribute. Note: Due to a coding error, the differential cross sections as shown in Fig. 9 are too small by a factor of two, and
inn Table 3 the differential cross sections
are too large by a factor of . The integrated cross sections and all
conclusions remain unchanged. A corresponding erratum has been submitted and
accepted by European Physics Journal.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figure
Critical connectedness of thin arithmetical discrete planes
An arithmetical discrete plane is said to have critical connecting thickness
if its thickness is equal to the infimum of the set of values that preserve its
-connectedness. This infimum thickness can be computed thanks to the fully
subtractive algorithm. This multidimensional continued fraction algorithm
consists, in its linear form, in subtracting the smallest entry to the other
ones. We provide a characterization of the discrete planes with critical
thickness that have zero intercept and that are -connected. Our tools rely
on the notion of dual substitution which is a geometric version of the usual
notion of substitution acting on words. We associate with the fully subtractive
algorithm a set of substitutions whose incidence matrix is provided by the
matrices of the algorithm, and prove that their geometric counterparts generate
arithmetic discrete planes.Comment: 18 pages, v2 includes several corrections and is a long version of
the DGCI extended abstrac
Serological diagnosis of echinococcosis: the diagnostic potential of native antigens
Purpose: Human alveolar (AE) and cystic echinococcosis (CE) caused by the metacestode stages of Echinococcus multilocularis and E. granulosus, respectively, lack pathognomonic clinical signs. Diagnosis therefore relies on the results of imaging and serological studies. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of several easy-to-produce crude or partially purified E. granulosus and E. multilocularis metacestode-derived antigens as tools for the serological diagnosis and differential diagnosis of patients suspicious for AE or CE. Methods: The sera of 51 treatment-naïve AE and 32 CE patients, 98 Swiss blood donors and 38 patients who were initially suspicious for echinococcosis but suffering from various other liver diseases (e.g., liver neoplasia, etc.) were analysed. Results: According to the results of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), metacestode-derived antigens of E. granulosus had sensitivities varying from 81 to 97% and >99.9% for the diagnosis of CE and AE, respectively. Antigens derived from E. multilocularis metacestodes had sensitivities ranging from 84 to 91% and >99.9% for the diagnosis of CE and AE, respectively. Specificities ranged from 92 to >99.9%. Post-test probabilities for the differential diagnosis of AE from liver neoplasias, CE from cystic liver lesions, and screening for AE in Switzerland were around 95, 86 and 2.2%, respectively. Cross-reactions with antibodies in sera of patients with other parasitic affections (fasciolosis, schistosomosis, amebosis, cysticercosis, and filarioses) did occur at variable frequencies, but could be eliminated through the use of confirmatory testing. Conclusions: Different metacestode-derived antigens of E. granulosus and E. multilocularis are valuable, widely accessible, and cost-efficient tools for the serological diagnosis of echinococcosis. However, confirmatory testing is necessary, due to the lack of species specificity and the occurrence of cross-reactions to other helminthic disease
Towards T1-limited magnetic resonance imaging using Rabi beats
Two proof-of-principle experiments towards T1-limited magnetic resonance
imaging with NV centers in diamond are demonstrated. First, a large number of
Rabi oscillations is measured and it is demonstrated that the hyperfine
interaction due to the NV's 14N can be extracted from the beating oscillations.
Second, the Rabi beats under V-type microwave excitation of the three hyperfine
manifolds is studied experimentally and described theoretically.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure
A new mechanism for electron spin echo envelope modulation
Electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) has been observed for the
first time from a coupled hetero-spin pair of electron and nucleus in liquid
solution. Previously, modulation effects in spin echo experiments have only
been described in liquid solutions for a coupled pair of homonuclear spins in
NMR or a pair of resonant electron spins in EPR. We observe low-frequency ESEEM
(26 and 52 kHz) due to a new mechanism present for any electron spin with S>1/2
that is hyperfine coupled to a nuclear spin. In our case these are electron
spin (S=3/2) and nuclear spin (I=1) in the endohedral fullerene N@C60. The
modulation is shown to arise from second order effects in the isotropic
hyperfine coupling of an electron and 14N nucleus.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
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First-order model for durability of Hanford waste glasses as a function of composition
Two standard chemical durability tests, the static leach test MCC-1 and product consistency test PCT, were conducted on simulated borosilicate glasses that encompass the expected range of compositions to be produced in the Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant (HWVP). A first-order empirical model was fitted to the data from each test method. The results indicate that glass durability is increased by addition of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, moderately increased by addition of ZrO{sub 2} and SiO{sub 2}, and decreased by addition of Li{sub 2}O, Na{sub 2}O, B{sub 2}O{sub 3}, and MgO. Addition of Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} and CaO produce an indifferent or reducing effect on durability according to the test method. This behavior and a statistically significant lack of fit are attributed to the effects of multiple chemical reactions occurring during glass-water interaction. Liquid-liquid immiscibility is suspected to be responsible for extremely low durability of some glasses
Indications for the Nonexistence of Three-Neutron Resonances near the Physical Region
The pending question of the existence of three-neutron resonances near the
physical energy region is reconsidered. Finite rank neutron-neutron forces are
used in Faddeev equations, which are analytically continued into the unphysical
energy sheet below the positive real energy axis. The trajectories of the
three-neutron S-matrix poles in the states of total angular momenta and parity
J^\pi=1/2 +- and J^\pi= 3/2 +- are traced out as a function of artificial
enhancement factors of the neutron-neutron forces. The final positions of the
S-matrix poles removing the artificial factors are found in all cases to be far
away from the positive real energy axis, which provides a strong indication for
the nonexistence of nearby three-neutron resonances. The pole trajectories
close to the threshold E=0 are also predicted out of auxiliary generated
three-neutron bound state energies using the Pad\'e method and agree very well
with the directly calculated ones.Comment: 20 pages, 7 Postscript figures, fig.1 is corrected, uses relax.st
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